Julius searched his storage ring and brought out two pieces of cloth. He then handed them to Alexa and Ray.
"The fog affects the mind. The cloth should be good enough to block a lot of the fog," Julius explained as he gave it to them.
This was also one of the reasons why the Valley of Forgotten Dreams was so dangerous. The fog makes the target hallucinate and lose their way, eventually killing them with even more illusions.
"What about you?" Alexa asked, and Julius pulled out a smaller piece for himself and tied it around the lower part of his face.
He couldn't be affected by the fog because of his attribute [The Omniscient].
'I hope it really works. I chose this place only because the attribute can make the fog ineffective against me,' Julius thought, and then they entered the forest.
Alexa and Ray could barely see anything as they began to walk inward. Julius knew that there was no turning back from here...
The winds howled violently, yet the fog refused to dissipate, spreading itself all over the surroundings. Julius only kept his eyes on the straight path that would lead them straight past the valley.
*Crack!!*
Julius looked down to his feet and closed his eyes as he had just stepped on a human skull.
The forest was very mysterious. No one truly knew much about it, which was why a lot of people wouldn't take the risks.
The ones who took the risk to explore, however... Died of the fog.
...
The way to cross the valley was very long, with paths that had dangerous plants or spiked branches on trees.
Julius managed to evade all those and kept moving forward. Alexa and Ray could only trust Julius as the fog was too thick to see anything through it.
It took them more than seven hours to walk through the valley. Ray was finally able to see and his eyes widened as he saw a tall mountain in front of them. Alexa, too, had the same shocked expression.
"W-where are we?" Alexa asked as she looked at Julius with a raised brow.
"We're in the middle of the Valley of Dreams. The fog was only preventing people from coming here," Julius said as he stored his sword into the ring on his finger.
"I guess no one would have thought," Ray mumbled as he gazed up at the peak of the mountain.
Ray was very suspicious of the prince. He wasn't like this at all before; he wasn't even the studious type. Now he had the ability to see through this mysterious fog, which even powerful individuals can't cross.
They decided to just trust the prince on this one, even if he was just a kid. He seemed to have successfully taken them through the valley by himself. How he did it, they could not understand.
The mountain itself seemed quite normal. Ray sheathed his blade and then knelt in front of Julius.
"I'll carry you," Ray said, and Julius wasted no time, gazing towards Alexa, who was beside them.
Ray leapt towards the walls of the mountain. He crashed into the mountain, stabbing his hand into the rock as he climbed upwards.
Alexa started from the bottom, making her way towards them. She seemed to be able to control invisible fields, allowing her to step on air. But she still used the gaps and ridges on the slope to carry herself. It was as if she was limited.
'Her ability is quite interesting. Force fields. What form of magic is that?' Julius thought hard but couldn't figure it out.
He decided to peek into her status, and in the next moment, a transparent blue screen appeared in front of him.
_
Name: Alexa Bermaunt
Rank: Adept Mage
Attributes: Aberration lv2
Skills: Space factor
Status: Personal caretaker of the fifth prince of the human kingdom. Disowned daughter of the Bermaunt main family
___
'Bermaunt?!!' Julius couldn't help but be surprised.
The Bermaunt clan was one of the five great clans of the human kingdom, training solely in magic and all arts associated with it. They have produced many powerful mages from their one clan, and now he was seeing that Alexa was one of them.
'But why would she be disowned?' he thought to himself.
'The only explanation would be that she wasn't talented enough. By her age, she would've been a master mage by now. But she doesn't even seem to be able to control the four primary elements.'
The Bermaunt clan is one of the clans which has held its head high for centuries. They have always been very outstanding and active during the time when the nations fought to protect themselves from the crawlers.
'Space factor is not a bad skill too, similar to telekinesis, and weaker than space manipulation.' Julius nodded as he gazed back at her, dismissing the screen in front of his face.
He shouldn't use his earth sense to judge the situation. She's even from the main family, so she could've at least gotten to serve that family as a servant instead.
'Whatever the story is, I'll make sure to find out later,' Julius thought and then looked upwards towards the mountain they were climbing.
'She's keeping up well,' Ray thought as he looked down at Alexa, who was holding her own.
He could use his magic to run up, but what if there's danger and she's not able to defend herself?
They climbed for more than two hours, and then Alexa started to feel tired. They soon arrived at a cave on the side of the mountain and decided to rest there for now.
The cave was quite spacious, the entrance being more than ten meters tall. They couldn't help but suspect that something was inside.
Ray went ahead, pulling his sword out. Julius finally had a good look at it, and his brows raised when he saw the weapon.
[Item: Wyvern Slayer]
[Grade: Legendary Grade Item]
'I remember how rare it was for the author to even mention a legendary grade sword. Why wasn't someone like Ray mentioned in the novel? Did he die or retire?' Julius questioned himself as he looked back to see the Valley of Forgotten Dreams from up high.
They've come a long way; now is the time.