Even though some of the monsters would show some colors, they would be bland while gray was occupying most of their bodies.
"Gray, gray monsters, gray environment, gray vegetation, everything is desolate, just gray and without a sign of life," Aethion said, as if in a trance, before shaking his head and scratching it.
'What is it, you got an answer?' Reign asked the old man who shook his head and sighed in frustration.
"It's familiar, I am certain that I have at the very least, read about this exact phenomenon, but I can't remember what it is exactly, I'm trying to remember, but it might take a while," Aethion said before he continued thinking about everything he had managed to see from inside of Reign while the latter told everyone about what was going on.
"Well, at least he is certain that he knows what it is, let's just hope he gives us an answer soon, this place is really starting to get on my nerves," Wolf said before looking around them.
They had crossed quite a distance, but they were still relatively far from getting to the source of the gray fog, and they doubted they would be able to get there thanks to the powerful monsters that lived inside of it.
Even though they had only come across weak, low-grade Tier IV monsters so far, they knew that many more monsters could be found here, and there were many powerful ones amongst them, if they came across a mid-grade Tier IV monster, they would be fine, even if there were two of them, but if they were unlucky enough to encounter a high-grade one, they would be in a lot of trouble.
"I have enough nutrients to create an elite monster now." M'azgara suddenly said, prompting all three to stare at her.
"It will take a bit of time, however, so I am not sure if I should do it now," M'azgara said before Reign smiled at her.
"It's alright, we can go back for a bit so that you can do it without being disturbed, if a monster comes our way, the three of us are enough to deal with it, I'm quite interested to see just how you can create a monster, and how it will look like."
Wolf and Greenie nodded at Reign's words, even though it might seem a bit dumb of them to do something like that in a place that could potentially be dangerous to them, they had already wandered around and inspected enough to be certain that only low-grade Tier IV monsters could be found where they were, making it relatively safe for them to take a short break and see how M'azgara creates a monster with her ability.
"The process will not only use up quite a lot of nutrients but mana as well, which could draw some monsters toward us," M'azgara said with slight worry in her eyes, only to once again be told that it was alright by Reign and the others.
As long as less than 7 low-grade Tier IV monsters attack them, the three of them would be able to defeat them, with each one of them being capable of going against two at the same time while being powerful enough to at least force a draw against three of them.
M'azgara nodded at them before they started their way back, traveling for about 15 minutes and killing two more monsters that showed up before stopping. They did a rough check on the surrounding area, and upon making sure that no monsters were nearby, told M'azgara that it was fine for her to start.
M'azgara suddenly closed her eyes before extending both her hands in front of her. She visualized what monster she would like to create. Her options were limited to her own race and the monsters she had devoured, and thanks to the fact she had not devoured any humans, she could only give slight human traits to the monster while the body parts of the monsters she had devoured would make up most of it.
Of course, if she wanted to, she could create an ant that had some qualities of the monsters, but she decided not to. Ants were generally weak when it came to fighting one-on-one and relied on their great numbers to overwhelm the opponent.
Even though there were exceptions for such things as the giant ant Majors and Super Majors, they were simply far too large and not nimble enough to be powerhouses. What the queen wanted from the 5 elite monsters she was going to create was the ability to stand on their own against powerful monsters or people of their own level, and she had to choose the best out of each of the monsters they had fought and killed so far in order to do so.
She had previously told Reign and the others that she would need to devour humans or humanoid creatures in order to create humanoid creatures, and although Reign and the others had no qualms about killing their enemies, even humans, they were slightly apprehensive about letting them be devoured by her, but in the end, if that was what it took to make sure their territory would be safe, they would allow it.
The demons, for example, would be great for that. If they could kill multiple Tier IV demons and allow her to devour them, she could create a humanoid creature that would become powerful in the future.
As Reign and the others stared at M'azgara, the monster she was creating slowly started being visible.
First came the skeleton of the monster, which was relatively long, about 5 meters. Then the blood vessels started being created, followed by the organs, muscles, and some necessary fats before being wrapped by tough skin and fur.
The monster in front of them was a combination of what they had fought against before. It stood on four legs and had a long neck that was covered in scales. That was the only part that was covered in scales and they were incredibly tough, even Reign would have to struggle a bit in order to cut through them.
The monster's claws were razor sharp, and it was evident that they came from the small monster they had fought which had incredible strength, with equally dangerous claws that could easily cut through armor.
The head was a combination of the flying snake and a tiger-like monster they had faced.
Its head was elongated, similar to a snake, but it had fur over it and the jaws were very different from the monster they had battled. One thing to note was that the fur was of different colors on some body parts, that was because M'azgara had used the parts from different monsters in order to create it.
The legs were dark red, the body was black and the head was gray, while the scales were blue in color, making for a weird sight. It was even weirder that it had such colors considering the fact all the monsters were gray.
"The color of the fur, that was their original color, before being tainted by the fog!" Aethion suddenly said with a shout before he placed his hand on his chin and started thinking.
"Fog that can block off the surrounding area and makes everything gray, as if it was taking the very life force out of the surroundings, the vegetation, and the beings inside of it, I know it, I am certain I do, damn it, what was it called?!" Aethion started walking around the area he was in, visibly annoyed by his inability to remember what the fog was.
Reign took notice of his words, but stared at the monster that M'azgara had created.
"It is not one of the five I will be giving consciousness to, nor will it be able to level up." M'azgara suddenly said to Reign and the others before explaining.
"It's simple, with how it looks like, and how powerful it can become, it is simply not worth it, there is much more I can do to create better creatures that are more powerful, so I believe that wasting one of the slots will not be worth it, especially since I won't be able to get it back until it dies, and even then, there is a cooldown for the slot."
"Then it really is better to wait, it's a shame though, I wanted to see how such a creature would behave after being given consciousness." Reign said as he stared at the monster, clearly agreeing with M'azgara as he himself did not believe that the monster would amount to being very powerful.
"Yes, it is a shame, but this is one of the best combinations I could think of," M'azgara said before the monster stared at her and approached her before licking the hand she extended.
"It is loyal and submissive, so it will be of help here," M'azgara said with a smile on her face as she rubbed the head of the monster.
"I know, I know what this fog is, damn it, to think I almost forgot such a thing!" Aethion suddenly shouted from inside of Reign, using his soul power to transmit his voice to Wolf and the other two.
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