Chapter 94: Howling Desert

  Two days later, Emilia waited before the entrance for the next challenge. To enter, at least 80% of the participants had to gather; otherwise, the rest would be unable to advance unless they used keys or other special means. However, that proved unnecessary. Once nearly everyone had assembled, a massive teleportation formation activated, and the participants were whisked away to a hot, stifling desert.

  Countless high dunes of reddish sand stretched out in every direction. The wind howled between them, kicking up vast amounts of dust and making it difficult to breathe. Emilia pulled out a piece of cloth and tied it like a scarf over her mouth to protect herself from the sand. She also began using her mana to create an additional barrier against the oncoming particles.

  A short distance ahead lay a small oasis—a tiny pool of water, a few palm trees, and some cacti. Several instructions were written there in ancient symbols from the classical language of the last era.

  The most important directive was that they had to cross the desert and that their storage rings would not be accessible everywhere, only at specific locations. Everyone had to prepare in advance what they wanted to carry and place it in their backpacks.

  Emilia spent a long time examining her ring. In the end, she took plenty of talismans and materials for writing and laying down formations, food, water, and items for fire and cooking. She added a blanket and a few clothes, three knives, and a very thin, light rope.

  Scanning the crowd, Emilia quickly spotted Rumi among the participants. They soon found Elion, and the three of them set off in the indicated direction.

  Before long, a long column formed from the oasis. The more determined participants took the lead, the cautious ones stayed in the middle, and at the very back were those who had failed to pack their bags carefully.

  Many were lugging enormous backpacks filled with all sorts of useless things. Emilia simply shook her head and kept walking. They would realize their mistake soon enough.

  The weather was wretched. The wind was relentless, the temperature was scorching, and the air was bone-dry. Sometimes the sand seemed to move on its own, and for some unknown reason, their feet sank deep into it with every step.

  Emilia recalled the books she had read about the adventures of Harun al-Rashid and his many exploits in his youth. He had fought numerous djinns in the desert and had written detailed accounts of his raids on several tombs and pyramids. Emilia immediately remembered how he had met a camel driver named Jafar, whom he later made his Grand Vizier and from whom he learned many useful techniques for managing his mana.

  For instance, he had learned to place three very thin layers of mana around his mouth, nose, and eyes to shield himself from the sand particles. Over time, he refined this technique, and it served him throughout his entire life. The books did not mention the specific details, but Emilia decided to try it. She possessed exceptionally strong mana control and quickly managed to set the first layer.

  Soon, however, that proved insufficient. It could slow down the particles or even stop the weakest ones, but Emilia wanted more than that. She began searching for a way to create a second layer over the first.

  She started releasing and directing mana into the correct zones, but the energy either dispersed rapidly or piled up chaotically on top of the first layer.

  She tried again and again, testing different angles and densities for the released mana. Finally, after about an hour of endless attempts, she succeeded in forming a second layer.

  The second layer was quite crude, however, and not very effective. Furthermore, maintaining both layers placed a significant strain on her mental energy, requiring her to constantly direct the mana within them.

  "I must find a way to improve these two layers before I move on to the third," Emilia decided after numerous attempts. She then focused entirely on her task.

  Time pressed forward step by step, and many participants stopped, exhausted by their heavy luggage, attempting to discard one item or another. Others, however, showed their endurance and moved toward the very front.

  Periodically, Emilia recognized an interesting herb; for instance, she nearly stepped on some dry gray grasses poking out from beneath the higher dunes. These grasses were the favorite food of sand scorpions, which often laid their eggs around them.

  Further on, she saw a tall cactus bravely pointing its spines toward the sky, undisturbed by the heat and the eternal winds. At its tip were two purple fruits, though they were not yet ripe.

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  Emilia did not try to pick the grasses, nor was she tempted by the fruits. Although they were valuable, she lacked access to her ring and did not want to carry them for an unknown length of time.

  A little further ahead, they saw a group of glowing scorpions fighting an enormous beetle, as large as a dog. They fiercely attacked it with their poisonous stingers, while the beetle defended itself with its hard scales and occasionally struck back using its superior mass.

  Emilia saw the bodies of several scorpions, and desire immediately awoke in her heart.

  "The bodies and venom of these scorpions are highly saturated with mana. Who knows how much money they will fetch if I manage to sell them in the city."

  She pulled out a small bowl she had set aside for treasures, then moved with lightning speed to snatch the carcasses of the dead scorpions.

  The two fighting groups froze for a moment, but after seeing her retreat quickly, they resumed their battle.

  Further on, Emilia saw more scorpions fighting various strange creatures. Apparently, this was their territory, and they were guarding the grasses where they laid their eggs. Whenever she could, she gathered the bodies of the scorpions so she could extract their venom later.

  While hunting with Boss Titus's group, she had learned the simpler methods of processing carcasses. She simply had to carefully cut open the scorpions' bodies, find where they kept their venom sacs, and drain the poison using her mana. She was used to drawing vital blood from the hearts of animals, and that experience would help her greatly here.

  In the beginning, many of the other participants attacked the scorpions and other creatures with their stronger weapons, but they soon gave up on wasting their energy. Emilia regretted that she could not collect more venom, but she was grateful even for what she had gathered so far.

  As they walked forward, they saw a strange place where the sand was black. Its aura was heavy and gave off a strong sensation of fresh blood. Not a single scorpion or any other animal approached the black sand.

  Naturally, everyone began to bypass this strange place, but Emilia stopped for a moment. She felt something odd buried deep within the black sand. It possessed three different types of spiritual energies, but they were somehow faint and appeared distant, as if through a fog.

  Emilia investigated her senses for a long time, but in the end, she decided not to risk it and continued forward.

  Toward noon, everyone ate the delicious food they carried, but it was often covered in sand and very difficult to eat. Emilia had taken three enormous turnips; she peeled them with her knife and cut thin slices from them. She also had salted boar meat drizzled with honey from bees that gathered from herbs rich in spiritual energy.

  She had fashioned a sort of small tent from three thin pieces of cloth, and together with Elion and Rumi, she ate without being bothered by the wind.

  "Finally, a break from this disgusting sand," Rumi said, while snacking on the shoulder of a level three antelope, a delicacy filled with rich, thick mana.

  Elion nodded and stirred his pot, which contained various boiled vegetables and several pieces of mushroom. The rice inside the jar was imported from the city of Tyre; it came from special gardens reinforced with numerous enriching formations and was tended by master herbalists. It was quite expensive and served as a substitute for monster meat.

  "How long are we going to be walking in this heat?" Rumi wondered.

  Emilia looked around, but before her eyes, there was nothing but endless dunes.

  "It wouldn't be a real challenge if we finished it in just a few days. And concepts like time and space are always flexible here in private dimensions. Most likely, this entire place is located within a complex natural formation. It is impossible to tell what is real and what is an illusion."

  "Really?" Rumi wondered, wiping her mouth from the fatty meat of the shoulder.

  "Why not? There are often mirages in deserts. Perhaps whoever created this place decided to add a few illusions as well. At least, that is exactly what I would do."

  “That’s twisted,” Rumi grumbled, while Elion, for some strange reason, could not take his eyes off the juicy antelope shoulder.

  Emilia had eaten such delicacies with Rumi using her father's credits. They were indeed exceptionally delicious. She sighed and took a sharp bite of her radish.

  "You should learn to train your mana to block the sand."

  Emilia gave a quick account of Harun al-Rashid and how she had begun working with the second layer of mana. She demonstrated the technique several times; Elion caught on quickly and created the first layer of mana almost immediately. However, just like Emilia at the beginning, he experienced difficulty with the second layer.

  Rumi also decided not to give up, and after they had eaten, she trained with her mana for a long time, eventually forming the first layer of mana before her eyes, nose, and mouth.

  After drinking three cups of tea and resting with pleasant conversation, the three of them continued to walk forward, trying to stay in the center of the long column while concentrating on the effort of maintaining their mana layers.

  Emilia recalled the previous challenge with the stairs and thought about the mana and aura in her feet. Everyone here was using mana to walk more easily, but not everyone was successfully managing to tune their auras. Even Emilia, with her rich experience in talismans and formations, had not yet grown accustomed to the heterogeneous aura of the desert. Some dunes had different auras, and mana was often lost between the sand particles. The constantly flying sand further hindered concentration, and progress was slow.

  And so, late in the evening, hours after it had begun to grow dark, they reached a small oasis. Emilia hurried forward and rushed to collect water in several skins.

  "But this water is filthy," Rumi complained.

  "Don't worry, I know how to purify it."

  Emilia had a small cloth device with several layers. One layer consisted of special crushed charcoal from a "Lussenovo" tree, and there were two layers of sand.

  The water first passed through the first layer of sand, where larger particles were left behind, then through the charcoal layer where it was disinfected and filtered further, and finally through a layer of crushed magic stones that she powered with her mana.

  There were several glyphs there that made this layer very dense, and the water slowly strained through the device. Afterward, Emilia would use a talisman to further purify the water.