"Now… Where the hell was I thrown?" After hugging Acrypha for a while, Talon finally rose up from the hot, rough sand and looked around him. The only thing he could get from this environnt was that it was a desert, a very large one that seed to stretch hundreds and potentially thousands of kiloters in each direction.
'And I guess a horribly hot weather… It feels like I'm getting cooked inside a furnace right now.' Putting a hand over his eyes, he looked up only for the two suns to make him squint.
The weather was certainly way hotter than on earth even during the sumr. If Talon had to estimate how hot it was, he would say that it was well into the 70 degrees or even 80 degrees.
A normal human wouldn't be able to survive with weather this hot but Talon's body was able to handle it well enough. Though, with all the salty water he swallowed, his throat was very dry and he wanted to drink so water.
"Can you recognize this place, Acrypha?" He turned to his companion and asked.
The woman closed her eyes for a second as if she was trying to feel sothing before she opened her eyes.
"We have been sent to really far dinsion… This is actually… Way too far…" She frowned as she looked around her.
"Far? How do you even calculate how far this dinsion is from my original one?" Talon asked confusedly.
The concept of dinsions was still bleak for him so things like distance and locations didn't fit his mind well when talking about sothing conceptual rather than physical.
"Hmmm… How should I explain this." Looking down, Acrypha thought for a mont before she crouched down and lifted one grain of sand.
"See this grain of sand?" She asked.
"Yeah." Talon nodded.
"Let's say that this was the original dinsion we were in and this vast dessert which stretches for about a few hundred million kiloters is the Dinsionverse."
"Wait, wait, hold on… This dessert stretches for hundreds of millions of kiloters?!!" Talon blurted out loudly in shock.
"Yeah, this entire planet seems to be made of sand, I can't feel any water or any other form of land anywhere." Acrypha replied.
"...." Talon looked around with a stunned expression.
To put it in perspective, the earth's entire diater was around 40 thousand kiloters. The sun's diater was 600 thousand kiloters. So, with a simple calculation, this planet was at least hundreds of tis the size of the sun.
'How is it this big… and its gravity is still not that different from earth?'
He couldn't feel any different standing there then on planet earth.
"It's not that uncommon for a planet to be this big. The Core Dinsions is said to be bigger than entire universes with how much we discovered of it and what is left uncharted." Acrypha explained with an even tone.
"... My brain hurts." Blinking silently, Talon decided not to think about it anymore. This only got him confused.
The scale of these things is simply too grandiose for him.
"Anyway, continue your explanation."
"Good, ehem, as I was saying, this desert is every single dinsion discovered so far. Now, if this grain of salt is earth, then our current location is probably a few dozen million kiloters in that direction." Then, she pointed east.
"... Damn, so we really went far… Very far…" Talon scratched the back of his head with a sigh.
What Acrypha just explained was as fascinating as it was weird to think about. The fact that he was this far away from his ho and the people he cared for… It was very odd indeed.
"Oh man… Well, what am I supposed to do now? Since I'm here it ans my test has begun, correct?" He asked as he looked at Acrypha.
"Yeah, it begins the mont you step into the gate."
"Then… Where is the quest or the things I need to accomplish to pass it? All I'm seeing in my interface is…. Oh, I got a new skill… Well, nothing else." He replied as he rubbed his chin.
"You won't get a particular instructions as to what you need to do. You will simply have to find what the Core Dinsion wants you to do on your own."
"Really? Oh well, that's another problem to think of."
With how vast this world turned out to be, Talon didn't know whether it was going to be easy or not. But, since Acryphad had explained to him before that the difficulty of the test is set to fit his current power level, he had to anticipate so big problems on the road.
'I also have to sohow survive in this god-forsaken desert with little to no water and food. That's another problem.' Sighing, he decided to put all of these to the back of his head now and instead focused on the first thing he had in his hand at the current mont.
"Let's first see what this skill is."
[Ding!]
[You have gained a new skill: All For One.]
[All For One (Level 1): Power is the ans to control and destroy. Whether it is for good or for benefits, power determines the balance. Using this skill, the host can allocate all their physical power into one single point for a short mont.
Flaw: Heavy damage to the spot used. The higher the level of the ability the less damage dealt to that part.]
"Interesting…" Talon murmured curiously. "This sounds like a useful ability even though it has a sowhat bad flaw."
Even without using it, he could imagine many uses for this skill. In so situations Talon might need all his power in a single hand or leg. That could help do things he wouldn't be able to do usually.
"It is very good. Quite a unique one too." Acrypha said as she held his hand. "Though, overusing it could be a huge problem so keep it only for when you have no other choice."
"Yeah, I understand. I don't want to break my body over stupid things. Sigh, well, that's over now. What should I do next?" Wiping the sweat off his face, he started looking around completely lost.
"Where do I even go?" Then, he looked at Acrypha. "O lady Acrypha, grace with your benevolent guidance in these tough tis." He said jokingly.
Acrypha rolled her eyes as she turned around. "Hmm, I can feel a city in that direction. It's quite far, though."
"How far?"
"3000 kiloters."
"... Oh god…" Just hearing that number made Talon's legs wobble.
"You better start moving, it's going to be a long journey." She said as she tapped his shoulder with 'I feel your pain, but good luck' look on her face.
"Ugh!!! Dammit, I can't let this break ! Let's move! I will reach this goddamn city in no ti!" The young man slapped his face a few tis as he yelled with more energy than ever.
With that, Talon picked up his spear, Aetherial Blades and his wet backpack before he started walking down the hill he was standing on.
The feeling of the sand beneath him was rather uncomfortable since it was basically burning hot. So much so he could see steam coming out of it.
'Where is that steam even coming from when there is no water?' Talon could only frown. Then, he simply put his backpack on top of his head to cover it from the sun. anwhile, Acrypha moved next to him silently.
"You don't need so kind of shade?" He asked.
"Hm? Oh, no, I actually like hot weather. It's quite pleasant." She replied.
"What? How is this good? I'm being boiled alive."
"Back where I ca from, the weather is usually over two hundred degrees. This is a cold day by our standards."
"Y-You're amazing…" With a cough, Talon decided to stop complaining and started hurrying his steps to cut more distance quicker.
'With this pace I might be able to move a few hundred kiloters before I need to get so rest.'
If he wasn't completely exhausted after what happened back on earth, Talon would've went for the entire 3000 kiloters in one single attempt but he knew that his body wouldn't be able to handle such a pressure.
'I have a few bottles of water with so I need to be careful with how I consu them.'
But, since his throat was dry at that mont, he decided to drink so to regain so energy for the long trip ahead of him.
Chugging down a good mouthful of water, he made a low groan of satisfaction as the sweet water rolled down his dry throat and quenched his thirst. Then, he washed his face from all the salty, sticky water and put the water away before he increased the speed of his walk.
'Let's do this.'
***
A few hours passed since then as Talon continued walking and walking with no end. All he could see around him was the empty desert and the dunes of sand. Gushes of wind moved across the hot area, carrying grains of sand in a beautiful harmonical dance of nature.
'I would've appreciated this more if it didn't smash into my face every ti.' He thought to himself as he covered his nose with his jacket. Since the weather was hot, he didn't need that jacket and only walked with a shirt on.
"One, two, three, four…" As he walked, he counted each step he took. That helped him to pass the boredom of walking in such an empty world.
The trip was a smooth sail. He didn't et any monsters or even any plant whatsoever.
'Is this desert devoid of life?' Talon thought to himself.
"Maybe it is aft-"
Before he could even finish saying that word, the ground beneath him started shaking all of a sudden as he noticed sothing rising from under the sand in front of him.
"Well, I should've not spoken!"
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!
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