Reborn as an Extra Chapter 541: The Angry Sea of Miasma.

"Hmm... it’s in worse shape than I thought it would be..."

Perched atop a towering cliff, Rio gazed at the broken tower ahead, his face showing clear disappointment.

"Was this tower wrecked after Fabian turned rogue from the miasmic corruption?"

Within the original story, the tower suffered severe damage too, yet only by witnessing it firsthand did Rio grasp the full extent of the ruin.

The top levels had been blasted off by a mighty force, while the surviving bottom sections were badly worn down by relentless rain and harsh conditions.

Just a handful of years had passed since the tower was left deserted, yet its exposed spot left it vulnerable to brutal weather assaults.

Rio turned his gaze southward, where an endless ocean stretched out to meet the distant horizon.

’Storms and whirlwinds must have worsened the tower’s destruction once its upper parts were demolished...’

Shaking his head, Rio unleashed his sword intent and swept it across the whole tower, searching for the item he sought.

He was well aware of the tower’s decay, but his visit wasn’t for this crumbling structure; instead, he aimed to catch a view of the infamous ’Sea of Endless Miasma.’

Most folks dread the miasmic sea and avoid even glancing at it, terrified of the mental taint it could bring.

Rio, however, paid no heed to such fears.

He had no cause to dread it, though he couldn’t completely dismiss the risks.

With his sword intent, Rio flung aside or smashed blocking rubble, unearthing a compact pair of binoculars buried beneath the mess.

Sword intent cleared the grime from the binoculars with pinpoint accuracy, banishing every speck of dust.

At last, he grasped it in his own hand.

"Who would leave an SS-rank artifact just lying around in this forgotten spot... it’s like they meant for Fade to claim it..."

Rio shook his head while recalling details from the original tale.

In the story, Fade stumbled upon this potent tool that let him view distant spots effortlessly!

It was simply abandoned amid the wreckage!

"Never mind, I’ve snatched so many absurd protagonist opportunities already that I wouldn’t bat an eye if some crumbling roof tile hid a game-changing secret..."

Rio had even claimed ’limitless’ talent by taking Fade’s fortunes; a simple pair of binoculars paled in comparison.

Shaking his head once more, Rio pocketed the binoculars and leaped to the tallest remaining pillar of the tower.

’If my memory serves, this item displays a sharp view of any spot in your direct sightline, provided you have a basic idea of what it looks like...’

The artifact works solely for places you’re familiar with, rendering it quite limiting and impractical.

Against other SS-rank treasures, this one lacks overwhelming might, yet it boasts a special trait.

Namely, it shrugs off heavy miasmic disruption when peering into areas thick with miasma and decay.

It even functions in the spirit realm for broad vistas.

Typical far-seeing artifacts falter against miasmic distortion, but this one endures.

It once belonged to Fabian, who labored here alongside fellow scholars, focused on charting and decoding the miasmic sea’s shifts.

Fabian’s betrayal probably led to the site’s abandonment.

The tower of sea gazers had been a prime tourist draw across the country, but the miasma’s advance and Fabian’s chaos drove visitors away for good.

Rio spotted no tourists during his journey here, nor any flying transports or rides, leaving every path deserted.

’Tourists be damned; I just need this gadget to function right...’

Rio cleared his mind of stray thoughts and raised the binoculars toward the heavens.

Locating the sea of miasma posed no challenge, given its colossal presence in the void—impossible to overlook.

Truth be told, glimpses of it were possible from various planetary spots, but this vantage offered the clearest sight.

As Rio channeled sword intent to power the artifact and focused on the sea of miasma while aiming that way, his sight stretched onward endlessly.

At first, it captured views within the solar system, then the range surged outward at breakneck pace, nearly spinning Rio’s head.

It felt like his gaze pierced through space-time itself, racing toward the sea of miasma.

Countless galaxies whizzed past in a blur.

Stars of all sizes dotted the expanse, alongside black holes, wandering worlds, vast nebulae, neutron stars, and more.

In that instant, Rio took in the spectacle, hurtling ahead with growing velocity.

The display drove home why some folks spiral into existential dread upon grasping the cosmos’s immense scale.

The universe dwarfs everything; their solar system shrinks to less than a speck beside its grandeur.

Moments later, after building speed, Rio’s vision neared the Sea of Miasma.

All around loomed a boundless ocean of liquid miasmic rot—raw, dense miasma in its purest form.

And it stretched without bounds.

It swelled outward in all directions, obliterating anything it encountered upon contact, wiping it from being.

Rio viewed it from afar, several galaxies distant, as that marked the artifact’s boundary.

Though it countered miasmic corruption, the tool couldn’t pierce the sea’s enigmas; the miasma’s barrier proved too formidable.

Rio shifted his gaze to explore different angles.

Right as Rio prepared to examine further, an abrupt shift occurred.

’Hmm?’

He spotted the ’Sea of Miasma’ quaking fiercely, its growth halting briefly.

The artifact delivered a live ’vision’ feed!

Meaning it broadcast events from that remote realm in perfect sync, no delay.

’What’s going on?’

As Rio sought to probe the cause of the jolt, a sharp snap echoed.

The binoculars cracked and fell apart.

Rio froze in shock, seeing miasma density spike around the binoculars, tainting them with corruption!

He tried his sword intent, but the artifact dissolved into fluid miasma and vanished utterly.

"What the hell!?"

The sight left Rio so stunned that a curse escaped his lips unbidden.

"Did it sense me watching it!?"

This wasn’t some trivial trinket; it was a true SS-rank artifact, bolstered and shielded by Rio’s sword intent!

Destruction like that couldn’t happen casually under his control.

Only the sea of miasma detecting an observer and striking back could explain it.

’It wrecked my freshly swiped binoculars already... sigh...’

For anyone else, the melting into toxic sludge would have corrupted their eyes and hands.

Staring at the sea of miasma could even shatter minds outright, but Rio felt no such threat.

He simply dispersed the miasma from his grasp with sword intent as he descended the pillar.

"Ugh... such a pity, I hoped to study it longer... It reacted way too quick..."

Rio held no fear of the sea of miasma targeting him personally, though the event startled him.

’But why the trembling? Did my gaze annoy it so much that it lashed out in rage?’

Lacking answers to his puzzles, Rio strolled to the cliff’s brink and settled down, legs dangling over the edge.

"Tch! Whatever! When I hit SS-rank, I’ll march right up to your doorstep! Let’s see you try to block me then!"

Rio admired the stunning vista to steady his thoughts, then pulled out his phone for a selfie before messaging it to Lia.

’The day’s weather is perfect here; heading out too soon would be a shame...’

With that notion in mind, he drew forth his flute anew and poured vast quantities of sword intent into it, coaxing out a haunting tune.