Bzzt! A ripple appeared, and purple-black mist materialized out of thin air.
Rumble! Peals of thunder echoed within the fog, which swelled to over twenty meters tall before stabilizing.
Jiang Yan waited quietly. A few hundred meters away, a plush red sofa had been set up; in front of it, a television. Hei Jin, hugging a bucket of popcorn, and Ba Yao were watching the screen.
"Hm? Starting again?" At the sight of Jiang Yan beginning his summon, Hei Jin grabbed his popcorn and sprinted over—he loved a good show.
Seeing this, Ba Yao rose as well, hands behind his back, strolling over.
Gold now held down the research institute, so there was little for it to do. Although Gold consumed a lot of energy, the final battle hadn't begun yet, so Jiang Yan hadn't ordered it to revert to Hei Jin's low-consumption form.
The rumbling lasted more than half an hour before the purple-black mist slowly dispersed.
Before Hei Jin, Ba Yao, and Jiang Yan appeared a colossal creature—sixteen meters tall, skin a slate blue.
At its top sat a two-meter-tall, naked, middle-aged man of the same hue, his hair writhing tentacles, gripping a three-meter ash-gray spear.
Below his torso bloomed a huge jellyfish-like mass of slate-blue flesh; dozens of tentacles thrashed beneath, each lined with circular, spiraling-toothed mouths.
Centered on its forward-facing, semi-circular body glared a three-meter crimson eye, vertical like a cat's.
"Master!" the man atop the creature rasped toward Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan studied the monster, eyes narrowing as he sank into thought.
Hei Jin glanced at it, lost interest at once, and sauntered back toward the sofa.
Lord of the Mist: an entity from a special world that dwells within fog.
Exotic Mist: opens a primary fog in the current world and a secondary fog in a random inhabited world; the two spaces share their interiors for one month. (Creatures in the primary fog can only enter/exit through it, and the same for the secondary fog. Only corpses or inanimate objects can cross between worlds!)
City of Mist: outside, the fog covers one to ten kilometers; inside lies a circular city one hundred kilometers across. (The city's layout can be edited by the Lord of the Mist.)
Mist Blessing: within the fog space, the Lord is the space itself; unless the entire space is destroyed, it cannot die. (Any body that dies inside is eroded by mist and reborn as a mindless monster loyal to the Lord.)
Reading these stats, Jiang Yan's eyes lit up: 'Isn't this the perfect scouting creature for other worlds—even alien planets?'
Though only corpses could be brought back, a single sample could massively boost his side's biotech level.
"Pull me into the Mist World," Jiang Yan commanded.
Before the Lord of the Mist could react, Hei Jin in the distance jerked its head around, interest sparked, and dashed back.
"As you wish." The Lord lowered its gaze to Jiang Yan, Ba Yao, and the approaching Hei Jin.
Its spear tapped lightly against its own slate-blue flesh.
Bzzt! White mist erupted from its body and swept outward.
Jiang Yan watched the fog roll toward him; he could feel a peculiar energy pulsing inside it.
The mist washed over him, swallowing his figure, Ba Yao beside him, and Hei Jin still running.
Inside the fog, Jiang Yan sensed nothing but that strange energy—otherwise it felt like ordinary mist.
"Master, we're entering another space," Ba Yao said at his side.
Experienced and knowledgeable, Ba Yao knew what was coming the moment the mist appeared.
"Wonder if this so-called Mist Space has anything special," Hei Jin muttered, arriving behind them and looking left and right.
Just then the surrounding mist thinned, revealing a vast city. They stood in the middle of a street.
Jiang Yan looked around and up: night reigned; the only light came from a small moon in the sky.
Its cold glow bathed everything in pale hues. At the city's edges, white fog loomed; ten thousand meters up, mist sealed the heavens, encasing the entire world.
Below sprawled rows of two- or three-story slate-blue cottages without windows; their interiors were pitch-black, moonlight unable to penetrate. Jiang Yan could feel gazes from within, as though living things hid inside.
As far as he could see, the city repeated these houses. Deeper in, they grew taller; at the very center rose a Gothic spire a hundred meters high, crowned by a huge bell.
Jiang Yan could see so far because they stood on a main thoroughfare, flawlessly straight and level.
"So this is the Mist Space. What are those things in the houses—eroded corpses?" He glanced around casually, then turned to the Lord of the Mist.
"Yes, Master," it replied respectfully. "Creatures killed here in the past; their bodies were eroded by mist and became mindless monsters that attack any being without my protection."
While they spoke, Hei Jin charged into a nearby house.
"Roar!" A low growl sounded, followed by a single thud.
Next, Hei Jin dragged out a rotting, wolf-like carcass a meter and a third tall.
"Seems weak," Jiang Yan remarked, noting the decayed wolf's neck clamped helplessly in Hei Jin's single hand.
Hei Jin was currently only Level Two; anything it could subdue so easily was probably no stronger than an average human.
"Stinks," Hei Jin muttered, inspecting the carcass before disgustedly flinging it back.
"Roar!" The mindless wolf, knowing no fear, lunged to attack again.
The Lord of the Mist merely glanced at it; the wolf lost the mist's blessing, collapsed mid-stride, and crumbled to ash.
"Move freely," Jiang Yan ordered, already strolling deeper into the city. Hei Jin and Ba Yao split off in other directions.
Jiang Yan headed for the central structure; the Lord's tentacles scuttled beneath it as it followed.
"Can beings that enter leave on their own? Any humans or humanoids among them?" he asked calmly while walking.
"The edge fog exerts strong mental confusion; those trying to exit unwittingly wander back in. Only those with powerful minds or souls might sense their way out," the Lord replied.
"When I was here alone, I'd pull creatures from random worlds for amusement. Many looked like you, Master. I'd set them a trial—survive and leave, or die and become mindless monsters." It kept explaining its abilities and the space.
Though it claimed they were alike, the Lord sensed within its master's harmless frame a terror that, if fully released, could shatter the City of Mist and slay even itself.
Jiang Yan and the Lord quickened their pace, soon reaching the hundred-meter slate-blue cathedral.
Inside, Jiang Yan found electric lighting.
"Anything special about this building?" he asked, noting the lamps and the rows of pews identical to any normal church.
"This is the safe zone I set up—the only place in the entire city where monsters won't attack," the Lord explained.