Not much had been discovered beyond the basic fact of its lethality and the general observation that it affected mana beasts as well as humans.
Whatever the cloud was made of, whatever mechanism it used to produce its effects, it didn't discriminate by species or by the presence of mana.
Anything biological that entered it experienced the same incompatibility, the same rapid deterioration, the same outcome.
The research continued, apparently. Presumably from a safe distance.
As for its age — that too was contested in ways that the academy had presented honestly rather than resolving artificially.
The most conservative estimate, supported by the oldest reliable historical records, placed the black cloud at approximately a thousand years of existence.
