Aside from exploring the area, Zhao Kai also labeled everything he had witnessed and the dangers of the area.
The meticulous work done somehow made Xu Feng suspicious of something and as he pondered deeply, piecing the puzzles together, he finally understood one thing.
"Shadow Blade, did you drop a few levels because you died too many times from marking these?" Xu Feng asked coolly.
Sure enough, redness rose from his face, clearly indicating that he had indeed died too many times which resulted in his drop of level.
'Damn, so he was actually higher level than me, but lost it because of dying.' Xu Feng cursed silently, having realized the debuff was truly taking a toll on him.
"How many more secrets are you concealing from me?" He subsequently asked, clearly wanting to know just how far he had advanced.
"Well, not as much as you, that's for sure." Zhao Kai responded cheekily.
"At the very least, you can expect me to know my way and how to fight. These monsters are truly too realistic and unpredictable." He added, having been reminded of his early struggle of fighting the monsters.
"They're not that unpredictable once you figure out their pattern." Xu Feng explained.
"I've tried to, but it's hard to comprehend their patterns." Zhao Kai frustratingly said.
"Obviously, it's not going to be easy to predict them. Otherwise, everyone would have become a pro. It takes time and experience to comprehend their patterns."
"Tsk, you speak as if you have a lot of experience. Didn't you just play a few hours earlier than me?"
"Do you want me to smack you again?"
"Huh? What did I just say? Ugh, I can't remember. This amnesia of mine is getting worse." Zhao Kai suddenly clenched his head, feigning a painful expression.
Unamused, Xu Feng fixed his glasses and ignored his crappy acting as he began to wonder how to proceed forward.
'The eerie fog will obstruct our vision, and I'm afraid Kai might not be able to aim properly. The status ailment is probably the challenging part and not the monsters.' He knitted his brows, feeling the pressure.
Unlike the Scorched Caverns, he was not overly familiar with the Verdant Valley. Thus, he needed to be cautious and tread every move carefully.
Meanwhile, Zhao Kai suddenly stood next to Xu Feng and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, pulling him somewhat closer. "Stop thinking so much, Feng. The worst thing that could happen to us is death. It's just dying, and I've already experienced it."
"What happened to you worrying about my safety earlier?" Xu Feng twitched his lip.
"Tsk, your attitude earlier clearly told me not to worry about you." Zhao Kai rolled his eyes. "We're brothers anyway. What's there to be afraid of a mere fog?"
"Fine, but make sure to listen to me if I ever make a command." Xu Feng said, albeit with some grumble as he pushed his arm aside.
Sometime later, the two entered the eerie fog, and soon a System prompt appeared, warning them of the status ailment.
System: You have been exposed to the eerie fog! Your strength and defense are reduced by 12 percent!
"As expected, status ailment as usual. Though it didn't even bother mentioning how our vision is now limited." Xu Feng smiled bitterly at the system prompt.
As helpful as the warnings were, the system prompt doesn't always list out everything for the players. After all, this was not some nanny or babysitting game.
"Our vision might be affected, but our senses remain." Zhao Kai remained optimistic and exclaimed.
He was not a bit afraid of having his vision limited. It wasn't like he became blind or anything. It was just going to be a bit hard to navigate and detect danger from afar.
"I supposed it's not that bad." Nodding his head, Xu Feng proceeded to buff Zhao Kai early on. His mana was full at the moment anyway, so using his spells now and letting it regenerate slowly while advancing forward was more probable.
By buffing him constantly, Xu Feng won't need to worry about not being able to react in time to assist Zhao Kai.
"Our map might be blurred, but we can still make our own mark." Xu Feng advised, glancing at his map.
Upon entering the fog, the original clear map was covered in fog, preventing the players from being able to take advantage of the map feature to navigate around.
Nevertheless, that didn't mean there was no loophole to such implementation.
Although most of the path was blurred by the fog, they were still able to plant their footsteps. By doing so, they could see their previous footsteps and prevent themselves from walking in a circle.
"Hehe, I'll leave those tedious tasks to you, Feng." Zhao Kai laughed heartily.
"I'll just remain a bit forward to tank for you in case of any danger." He added, holding his gun with a vigilant expression.
Despite knowing he was being handed the tedious work, Xu Feng didn't mind as he couldn't trust Zhao Kai in his attention to detail. He would rather make his own navigation mark than let others do it.
As they advanced forward through the fog, random noises started to echo from all directions. The unsettling ambiance intensified with each step.
Eerie howling pierced the silence, as if distant wolves were mourning under a pale moon. The sporadic dripping of water resonated like the tapping of ghostly fingers on ancient stone.
Occasionally, a creaking sound emerged from the sides, reminiscent of old, wooden doors slowly opening to reveal unseen horrors.
"Damn, is this a horror game or what? What's with all these random sounds constantly?" Zhao Kai snorted, waving his unoccupied hand around to brush aside some of the fog. Luckily, his courage was commendable and no goosebumps were appearing.
"Don't be distracted, Kai!" Xu Feng warned sternly, his instincts practically screeching at him that they were being locked on already.
"Get ready to shoot when I tell you the coords." He narrowed his eyes and instructed.