In the desert, Liu Ji and his companions seed to have good luck today. So ti in the afternoon, Osar managed to catch a faint scent of seaberry trees in the air.
It was just that the location of the seaberry trees was slightly off their intended path. They couldn't confirm their intended direction a second ti, and if they first went to find the seaberry trees and then continued in their original direction, their route wouldn't closely parallel their initial path.
Thus, to avoid deviating, they decided to leave rvant behind as a landmark, while the other three went to find the seaberry trees.
"It doesn't seem far, and we'll definitely be back before dark," Osar said as he walked briskly through the desert.
Liu Ji followed closely behind him, feeling no pressure in keeping up. In fact, knowing he had a chance to taste water elent sashimi made him want to move even faster.
The only one unhappy with the speed was Yaine, who, due to her slower pace, had to be carried in the back basket.
"If~it's~not~far~don't~walk~so~fast~!" she protested, her voice vibrating from being shaken so much.
Despite her complaints, she understood Osar's reason for maintaining this pace.
In the desert, the concept of distance could sotis be deceptive. Sotis "not far" was indeed close by, but other tis it could be inaccurate.
At least when using a landmark, say a mountain, one would know they're heading in the right direction, but relying solely on scent in a desert of only sand that stretched into the horizon, gauging the distance was tricky.
Still, as it turned out, Osar's judgnt was correct. Even with their accelerated pace, it took them about two hours to find the few seaberry trees.
A round trip would take over four hours, and had they moved any slower, they might only return to rvant after dark.
There had already been two consecutive blood moon nights, and no one could be certain if there would be a third. They definitely couldn't leave rvant alone outside overnight.
"I'll pick the berries, you guys collect water, and be quick," Osar said, lifting his back basket. With agility that didn't match his sturdy build, he climbed to the top of the tree and began gathering seaberries.
Yaine reached into her magical space and pulled out several shriveled water skins, stuffing them into Liu Ji's arms. While it was impossible to determine how much water they could extract from the air around them, they needed to collect as much as possible.
Liu Ji understood what Yaine was planning. He quickly opened each water skin and held them together with their mouths facing up.
Yaine drew out her staff from her magical space as well. Although this was just a basic spell, having the staff as a dium would enhance the effect.
She chanted a brief incantation, which Liu Ji understood ant "water elent condense," but she also added so complex auxiliary words.
Before long, a fist-sized sphere of water ford in front of Yaine. This sphere of water kept expanding until it reached the size of a basketball.
However, once it reached this size, the water sphere's growth slowed significantly and then stopped after expanding a bit more.
Yaine pursed her lips, seemingly dissatisfied. But for now, she focused on filling the water skins.
She pointed her staff, and the floating water sphere split into three streams, filling three water skins. The auxiliary words in her spell were ant for this.
As they finished filling the first round of water skins and Yaine was about to summon a wind to circulate the air before going for another round, Osar, hanging from the tree, suddenly exclaid, "Huh? Strange, it looks like soone has already picked the berries from this tree."
"What?" Yaine looked up in surprise. "Are you certain?"
"Mm. The best seaberries on this tree are gone, and the cuts are fairly fresh," Osar replied. "Could Calidora and the others passed by here earlier?"
"I'm not sure, but it's certainly possible," Yaine said, a rare glint of excitent showing in her eyes. "If they really entered a special area that disrupted the heartlink disc, then we might be close to finding that place ourselves."
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In the desert, rvant sat cross-legged on the sand, serving as a human landmark, his constantly shaking right leg revealed his impatience.
Or, to be precise, he had been very impatient all along, itching to rush in the designated direction. Now, forced to stay behind as a marker, his impatience grew.
However, despite his urgency, he remained rational and knew what needed to be done.
"Sigh, hurry up… Didn't this big cat say it wasn't far? It's already been over two hours," rvant muttered to himself to pass ti, keeping his voice low to avoid his mouth drying.
Just as he was brooding, his keen hearing picked up so noises from a distance. Instinctively, rvant assud it was Osar and the others returning and nearly jumped to his feet.
But as a seasoned swordsman, his reflexes quickly brought his thoughts back into focus. The footsteps were unusual—six of them, appearing out of nowhere.
He recognized this rhythm imdiately. Almost reflexively, black dragon wings unfurled from his back, and his form blurred as he blended into the desert sands. Silently, he flew toward the source of the noise.
Cresting a tall sand dune, he saw the source of the disturbance. Six individuals stood before a slowly dissipating portal—a shield guard with a massive shield and warhamr, a scout with twin blades, a masked mage, an archer with a short bow, a necromancer holding a lantern, and a warrior clad in black armor with a heavy sword, all of them with crimson capes.
"An elite squad, led by a commander…" rvant's eyes narrowed. "Damn it, why are they here?"
Despite their smaller numbers, this squad's configuration was leagues above the cannon fodder squads. rvant had seen a similar six-person squad easily overrun a stronghold defended by hundreds of Dragonblood warriors.
He knew that facing this squad with their current setup would be suicide. Fortunately, his racial ability granted him strong concealnt, and the six hadn't noticed him.
But then, rvant's blood ran cold as he saw the squad heading in the direction he least wanted them to go—the direction where his link to Calidora had been cut off.
rvant instinctively wanted to rush out. Not to fight them but to find Calidora before they did and get her to safety as quickly as possible.
However, he stopped after taking a single step. He couldn't abandon Yaine and the others. Without his directions, they might get lost in the desert. Worse, if they followed his direction, they might run into this elite squad from behind.
After so hesitation, he waved his hand, creating an illusion of himself at his original spot, pointing toward the direction out of the desert.
"Sorry, though this is a bit presumptuous, I'll bring Calidora back. You guys head back and wait for ."
With that, he turned around, maintaining his concealnt, and flew as fast as he could toward his target direction.
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