The caravan made their way across the tough landscape with ease thanks to their vehicles being perfectly customized for that precise purpose. The scenery shifted from ti to ti leaving the students amazed by both the natural beauty of the wilderness and its apparent calm.
Living inside a gacity didn't just an being deprived of the natural sunlight but also of the calm and quiet of an open space. Just looking towards the horizon was a beautiful experience that deeply moved those who lived in the slums.
Things changed the mont they arrived at their destination since as soon as they opened their doors they were t with the reality of being outside a city. The searing breeze of the desert was also a new experience, one that contrasted heavily with the comfortable inside of the air conditioned vehicles.
"Damn! This feels just like ho." Nika exclaid first thing after stepping out.
"I'm quite sure xico isn't this hot." Uriel scoffed after joining her while the rest of the students grabbed their backpacks.
"How would you know? Huh?" Nika challenged.
"It's because this was one of the hottest deserts on the planet and after the arrival it beca even hotter. It's all in the folder I gave you." Uriel glared at Nika while she put on sunscreen and shades.
"Well, I didn't read it." She shrugged dismissively.
"How are you going to explain everyone what we're doing here?"
"I'm not good with the geeky stuff." She defended herself.
"Geeky stuff my ass..." Uriel grumbled as he gathered the students. "Listen up, we're here to get as many artifacts as we can get our hands on. Your findings will be evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively and your grade will be assigned based on that."
"Uhm, Sir, I think there's cryptids over there." One of the students pointed at a distance after using her trait which allowed them to zoom in on her view.
"They're far away, we should be safe here." Scoundrel grinned as he carried more tools than he could possibly need. While all the students were eager to find artifacts, Scoundrel was the most excited since he not only wanted the money but also the academic credit for his discoveries.
"We are, work safety is one of the basic principles of archaeology. That's why Professor Pangeotis didn't give permission for this expedition until after Professor Nika assured him we would be safe and it's also the reason why she ca along. But safety doesn't just include cryptid. Bear in mind that although we're all hunters we still need to keep hydrated and be wary of heat strokes.
Sunscreen also doesn't hurt, especially for those who've never been in the wilderness before."
"What about the other principles or archaeology? Are we supposed to follow them too?" Alice asked with curiosity. She carried a pickaxe on one shoulder and a shovel on the other, but had completely ignored tools for a more delicate work.
"In this occasion your grade will depend solely on your findings, but if you can avoid destroying the context of an artifact I'll appreciate it and give you bonus points. We cannot follow the stewardship protocol or docunt everything properly because we're short on ti," Uriel replied with a wry smile. "but that doesn't an you can be careless.
Keep in mind that if you destroy an artifact you won't get any points for its finding."
Simon kept a frown from the minute he stepped outside his Kenworth truck as the trip didn't turn out to be what he expected. Nika did agree to go with him on his truck and she also used the Jacuzzi which allowed him to see her in a bathing suit. This alone would have made the trip worth it, but he took it even further and attempted to join her which resulted in him getting a black eye.
He was already mad about that, but Uriel refusing to ride on his truck also didn't help. He couldn't care any less about archaeology and the only reason he signed up for Pangeotis course was because his family told him to. Because of this, he spent most of his ti playing or dating and his only chance to pass this assignnt was if he got on Uriel's good side.
To make things even worse the desert was too dry, air too hot and he didn't have a clue where to start digging.
"I found sothing!" Scoundrel exclaid as he turned in his first artifact.
"This is interesting, it's an obsidian arrowhead. It's worth roughly 200 credits. It's not much but it's a good start." Uriel explained with an apologetic tone, but instead of being disappointed Scoundrel was actually excited.
"This is worth two hundred credits!?" Scoundrel knew artifacts were valuable, but he had never seen that kind of money in his life which brought a huge smile to his face. Prompted by Scoundrel's success other students doubled their efforts and soon showed up with pieces of pottery and other artifacts of little value.
Finding artifacts wasn't supposed to be so easy, but hunters had enhanced senses and they were able to find so before even using their tools.
"If you find sothing on the surface it's probably worth the effort to dig beneath. If you stumble upon a tomb, then digging beneath it it's a must as there's probably more artifacts in the vicinity. They're called clusters because..."
"We know, we're taking the sa course." A students scoffed.
"Look what I found!" Simon turned in a small flint knife while looking directly at Scoundrel who didn't seem to care and the sa applied to Uriel, but things changed when the wealthy students channeled flux on the knife which resulted in a low pitch sound. "It's really sharp!"
"You obviously bought this on the city and brought it along with you." Uriel said after giving the knife a quick look.
"Huh, no, I found it right over there." He pointed at a small hole where other students nodded to back him up.
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