"Boom!"
Moen unleashed a Pegasus Meteor Fist, directly blasting dozens of huge-bodied monsters into chunks of flesh, yet even that could not stop the monsters behind them from fearlessly hurling themselves at him.
"Good grief, the beast tide in this place really is different. This is exhilarating!"
Moen showed not the slightest fear or hesitation. He followed with another Diamond Dust, freezing large numbers of monsters into ice statues, which were then smashed and shattered under the charge of the other monsters.
Within the forest, the vast beast tide seemed endless, stretching beyond sight. Until a moment like this, it was hard to imagine there were actually so many monsters in this forest. Now all of them had become frenzied.
These monsters were not only attacking outside humans, they were also slaughtering each other. Otherwise, they would not remain in the forest; they would surely have rushed out to massacre elsewhere.
So this mission, as long as one did not go deep into Nord Forest, was actually relatively safe. One only needed to intercept as many stragglers as possible and prevent monsters from rushing out of the forest to wreak havoc.
But Moen was obviously not going to behave so obediently. He handed the work to the crows, then entered the forest alone. He wanted, in the literal sense, to become one with these monsters in battle.
Thus, the monsters of Nord Forest discovered that a terrifying hairless upright ape-monster had suddenly entered the forest, immediately going on a grand slaughtering spree, utterly insane far crazier than even the native monsters of Nord Forest themselves.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Explosions rang out one after another. Waving his fists, Moen fought all the way from south to north, directly punching straight through the entire Nord Forest.
"So this is the coastline."
After coming out of the woods, Moen looked ahead. Before him was the boundless sea. He truly had fought all the way from the southern entrance to the northern shoreline, punching through the whole Nord Forest, kicking and striking, smashing no one knew how many monsters along the way.
"The enemy is beyond the sea!"
Standing by the shore, Moen thought of a classic line.
But as for the exact situation of the northern continent Guiltina on the other side, Moen did not really know. He only knew that the earliest Mage Guild, Magia Dragon, had been founded on the northern continent Guiltina.
That was a very long time ago. By now, exchanges between North Continent Guiltina and Ishgar were not especially frequent. At least, Moen rarely heard any news from over there.
One could only say that North Continent Guiltina's only sense of presence was probably being the location of the Hundred Year Quest, not even as memorable as the western continent Alakitasia, which had suddenly caused a huge incident before.
Previously, the nation on the western continent Alakitasia, the Alvarez Empire, had suddenly sought to invade Ishgar, causing no small amount of chaos and making everyone remember the western continent with its difficult information exchange, along with that terrifying Alvarez Empire.
"So in other words, there are still quite a few hidden threats, the Hundred Year Quest, the North Continent Guiltina where no one has ever returned from, and the western continent Alvarez Empire eyeing Ishgar greedily..."
Moen had always felt that Fairy Tail did not seem to have much of a main storyline. At least, he had not found anything that resembled one, such as some Demon King waiting to be defeated.
But now it seemed that perhaps the Hundred Year Quest and the Alvarez Empire were two extremely important storylines.
After gazing from afar at the unknown continent beyond the sea, Moen turned and left. It was not yet time to explore over there. No one could say what might exist on that mysterious unknown land.
"Boom!"
Moen threw a punch, sending the monster that looked like a pangolin flying backward, yet the armor on its body had not been shattered.
"As expected, there are powerful ones among these monsters too."
Moen looked surprised. To withstand one of his punches, this pangolin was no ordinary monster. The armor on its body was exceptionally sturdy, perhaps it would make excellent material for forging armor.
During these past days, Moen had not only been indulging in battle. At the same time, he had also been researching the matter of making his own Cloth. Earlier he had obtained the Cloth Repair Manual, and now he had also gained the Aries Gold Cloth. It was practically a complete set now.
The all-seeing eye ability that came with the Aries Gold Cloth, along with its powerful telekinesis, were all essential for repairing Cloths, and naturally these abilities were also needed for crafting one himself.
Moen had never thought he could recreate the abilities and durability of authentic Cloths at a one-to-one level, but using the many Cloth materials he had accumulated in daily life to make some inferior "Black Iron Cloths" would at least put all those materials to use.
Since they were inferior products anyway, Moen naturally did not mind mixing in some materials from this world into those "Black Iron Cloths."
"Don't run! My Cloth material!"
Moen reached out and grabbed the pangolin-like creature that was trying to burrow underground. The shell on this thing was very suitable for being added into a "Black Iron Cloth."
In a sense, these imitation Cloths were actually somewhat similar to the Dark Cloths, because Dark Cloths were themselves imitations.
Only after catching several of those strange pangolin monsters and obtaining a few sets of shells did Moen return to his camp.
"This really is only possible in another world. If it were my original world, killing a few things that look like pangolins would probably get me imprisoned for life."
Throwing the shells onto the ground, Moen complained. Of course, these things only looked somewhat like pangolins. The hardness of their shells was not something pangolins could compare to at all. They were on a completely different level, these could withstand Moen's punches head-on.
"I'll try imitating one set first."
After simply eating a little, Moen began preparing to imitate a Cloth. It sounded simple when spoken of, but in actual operation it was extremely complicated and tedious.
Imitating a Cloth and repairing a Cloth were completely different concepts. Repairing meant patching and restoring something that already had form, while imitation meant building something from nothing.
"Come forth, Lyra Silver Cloth."
Moen summoned the Lyra Silver Cloth. The first imitation target he thought of was naturally the Lyra Silver Cloth, because he had taken on a disciple whose main direction was Lyra.
After summoning the Lyra Silver Cloth, Moen immediately donned the Aries Gold Cloth as well, because all abilities related to Cloths had to be performed through the Aries Gold Cloth. This was the key to imitating a Cloth.
"X-ray Vision."
Looking at the Lyra Silver Cloth, which resembled a large vertical harp, Moen formed a triangle with both hands before his eyes, then carefully observed the Cloth through that triangle.
X-ray Vision was an ability the people of Jamir excelled at. Their eyesight could even penetrate into the interior of a Cloth, see through its atomic structure, and precisely determine where repairs were needed.
To be exact, this ability could be considered a lower version of the all-seeing eye. Its effects were not as powerful as the all-seeing eye.
However, X-ray Vision itself was never meant for combat. It consumed little energy and was more convenient for everyday use.
To imitate a Cloth, one naturally had to thoroughly understand the Cloth's structure first—what materials were used in each part, what methods were used in crafting it, how the atoms combined together, everything had to be seen clearly.
Different ranks of Cloths, and even Cloths of different constellations, could use completely different crafting techniques. The difficulty of imitation was entirely different. For example, the Phoenix Bronze Cloth would be extremely hard to imitate, because that Cloth itself was highly unique, and the methods used in its creation were clearly no ordinary techniques.
"The Lyra Silver Cloth also has some special qualities. What makes it special is those strings. Ordinary materials would be difficult to reproduce."
After scanning the entire Lyra Silver Cloth once, Moen clicked his tongue in discomfort. This was another Cloth that was not easy to imitate. Sure enough, imitating Cloths was not such an easy matter.
Moen still remembered that among the Dark Cloths, the best imitation results were the Bronze Cloths. The imitations of Silver Cloths and Gold Cloths were very poor. Even the Bronze Cloths were far inferior to the originals, so higher-level ones naturally did not need to be considered.
Of course, that might also have something to do with the excessive materials required for Silver and Gold Cloths.
These imitation Cloths naturally could not luxuriously use piles of Orichalcum, Gammanium, and Stardust Sand in their construction—especially Orichalcum. The durability of a Cloth was closely tied to how much Orichalcum it contained, and could even be said to be one of the deciding factors.
"As long as I'm willing to spend enough materials, even if my technique is worse, the imitation Cloth I make should definitely be stronger than a Dark Cloth, right?"
Moen smiled. Sure enough, no matter what the matter was, as long as one had abundant capital, twice the result with half the effort could be achieved. At worst, just smash it with money!
"What material should these strings use? Animal tendons?"
Moen thought to himself as he rummaged through the materials box. During these days of gathering materials, he had also collected plenty of animal tendons, horns, leather, scales, and similar things.
Some materials that required proper preservation had also been directly placed into the "refrigerator." The ice he created truly was an extremely useful "refrigerator." Even under blazing sun, it could endure without melting.
"I'll try making one first. No need to force perfection at the start. I'll practice my hands first."
With the materials prepared, Moen was ready to begin. His mindset was relaxed. He was not afraid of failure, or rather, he had long since mentally prepared himself to fail.
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