'A beast tide?'
Ethan's gaze became serious.
For some reason, the more he looked at the things left behind by those who came before, the more he felt that this game was like a worm-raising game.
Although he didn't know why the mastermind behind everything wanted to raise worm, everything seemed to point toward one place, the other side of the frontier, the Land of Demons.
'Perhaps...'
'The answers to everything is there?'
'Unfortunately, has the last player of the previous generation also died?'
Ethan had originally planned to use this magic book to ask about what had happened before and whether it was the same as what they were experiencing now.
After all, this player from Region Z3 had lived in this world long enough.
Maybe he knew some inside information about the game, or the dangers that would come next.
That would definitely be a huge help to him.
But...
It seemed he was dead too.
After turning another page, Ethan discovered more messages from the player of Region Z3.
They were still from ten years ago.
However, this one was posted ten days after the previous message.
In other words, not long after leaving that final message, he had left another one.
[Player Happy of Region Z3: Lord Alexander, who spent decades deep inside the Land of Demons, has returned!]
[Player Happy of Region Z3: We're saved!]
[Player Happy of Region Z3: Any players still alive, come out already! I'm so lonely. For all these years, there hasn't been a single person left to talk about Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer with. It's so boring...]
[Player Happy of Region Z3: Lord Alexander brought back a huge secret. If anyone wants to know it, send me a private message. This secret can save everyone, and it can even...]
[Player Happy of Region Z3: Let you return to your original world!]
Flip! Flip!
Ethan turned several more pages.
He found that everything after that was blank.
There were no player messages, no upgrade tree, and no other content.
Every page was empty.
But Happy's words left Ethan shocked.
First, there was someone named Alexander who had infiltrated the Land of Demons for more than ten years and returned with a secret that could save the Frontier Lands and even allow players to return to their original world?
Although Ethan remained skeptical, he was still stunned by what Happy had said.
And that wasn't all.
Happy had mentioned Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen.
But both anime adaptations only started in 2019.
The earliest message from this person was from twelve years ago.
If Ethan counted back another twelve years from the time he had transmigrated, it would be 2009.
In 2009, neither of those works even had a manga yet.
There was no way Happy could have seen them.
That meant, happy had most likely come from the same era and point in time as Ethan.
But he had arrived in the Mist World twelve years earlier.
'The flow of time in this world and on Earth doesn't seem to run in parallel.'
Hiss!
After learning such an unbelievable secret, Ethan sucked in a deep breath.
And while he was still shocked by what was recorded in the magic book...
"Lord!"
Bird One suddenly shouted, "Those spores seem to have changed again!"
"What?"
Hearing that, Ethan quickly turned toward the outer area around the Desert Tree.
But with just one glance, he was stunned by what he saw.
This wasn't a challenge that didn't let people clear it.
It was a challenge that didn't let people live at all.
[Level 3 Spore Form: Split! Each spore can split into ten new spores. This is also to help the Boom Boom Mushroom reproduce more effectively.]
[Level 3 Spore Form: 27/300]
[Level 3 Spore Form: 35/300]
[Level 3 Spore Form...]
'Damn!'
Only a few minutes had passed.
Those red spores had already multiplied several times over.
In an instant, several thousand spores had become tens of thousands.
When Ethan looked around now, all he could see was red spores filling the sky and earth.
The desert... semed to have become an ocean of spores.
Even the tornadoes no longer seemed capable of holding so many of them.
The wind speed of the tornadoes was dropping.
One of them was almost stopping entirely.
The tornado broke apart into several streams of wind and could only stir the spores around.
"Damn it!"
After cursing under his breath, Ethan immediately tossed the magic book aside and began searching through the rest of the dead man's belongings.
Soon... Ethan found a diary.
A diary that had been soaked until it was nearly ruined.
Fortunately, whatever pen the man had used, the writing had somehow survived.
[If you want to know the secret I left behind, promise me this: take my remains to a place with flowers and grass, bury me there, set up a gravestone for me, and remember my name, James Hammond.]
[In the name of a Lord, I accept your condition.]
Ethan had no time to negotiate slowly with Richard.
It was only a matter of arranging a grave anyway.
Without hesitation, he agreed.
He then stored Richard's remains inside his Tail Ring, planning to bury them after returning.
And the moment Ethan agreed to Richard's request, new words mysteriously appeared in the diary.
[🫠 New Fanfic—"ReZero: I Transmigrated, But My Life is Still Miserable". Add it to the collection and leave some powerstones. I really want it to reach collection and popularity ranking so I would be glad if you all helped. Have a great day~]