"Perfect. It's not on that map, but there's a small village on our way if we take a quick detour. I recommend we stop there for the night."

While Arie speaks about this mysterious village, I stare down at the clear crystal ball in my left hand.

The blue text from earlier still glows over it in my mind's eye...

[Use Advanced Mana Manipulation]

Advanced Perk: [Temporary Minion]

Enter Desired Level: 0-423

[YES][NO]

Maria looks over at me while my gaze stays glued to the palm-sized sphere gem. I finally raise my head as she speaks up.

"Looks like there was at least one item drop from the boss!"

The blond-haired ice user reaches into her item box, pulling out the black fragments of broken core from our earlier defeated golems.

The moment they touch the air, the black crystal fragments begin dissolving into nothingness. I activate my perception skill to watch the tiny mana particles disperse into the air.

I drop my sword into the sand and do the same, while my other teammates check their item boxes too. All of the black fragments of cores dissolve before our eyes.

All that remains is the empty clear crystal core from the boss. I turn it over in my hand a few times, then look up to my teammates.

"Well, at least we got something out of the first break. Mind if I hold onto this core?"

I get a reply of 3 simultaneous nods, then Arie starts looking out into the desert again.

"1 down, 5 to go. Let's start moving before it gets too late."

I throw the core into my item storage while putting my sword and armor back into the item box around my waist. Later, I'll have to take a closer look at this new item.

We venture further into the open desert wasteland.

The mountains far off in the distance seem to get larger with every step we take. The further in we get, the farther away they seem.

All of the abandoned twisting roads and remains of human-made structures are now non-existent this far out in the desert.

They were much more common closer to the wall.

We travel straight ahead for 2 full hours.

Maria and I follow Abby and the archer as they take the lead up front. All of us continuously drink from my water supply, but with the heavy sun above forcing sweat from our pores, each new bottle never seems like enough.

It's a good thing I have over a 60-day supply of food and water on me. For the 4 of us, it should be more than enough to last the week.

Arie speaks up as we take another break under one of the few light brown rock structures left in the rapidly flattening desert plane we walk across.

"I know it's far, but we're almost a quarter of the way through."

I choke on my water, looking up at him while sitting on the sandy ground under a shady portion of cover.

"A quarter of the way through?? We've been walking for hours-"

He smiles.

"They don't call these the sun-scorched flats for nothing. It'll get even hotter once we get to the center. Don't worry though, it'll be worth it."

Once we continue, Abby and I take turns creating barriers of stone above the four of our heads to block out the incredibly hot sun.

The MP used is minimal compared to the energy exertion it'd take to handle this heat.

Even with my fire aptitude, natural heat from the sun still takes a toll on my skin and bodily systems. Even for awakened hunters like us, some things are still a challenge.

We continue onward.

As Arie warned us, the sand beneath our feet and the sun overhead does get much hotter. Drinking MP potions and chugging water we make it through. The archer doesn't seem to be phased by the heat one bit.

Abby is toughing it out, and I am too. Maria starts to glow blue nearby, giving off a cool refreshing aura.

About 4 more hours pass and we've hit the hottest portion of the desert.

The sun beats down on us from above, and it feels like the sky is on fire. Every time the blazing sun touches my skin I swear I can feel it sizzle.

Thankfully, by now we have our system all worked out. With shade from the rock above and the cool melting ice below from Maria's magic, our traveling situation has actually become quite comfortable.

"Just a few hours left, this is the hottest it'll get! The village is nearby, I'm sure of it! Although, the landscape has changed out here a bit..."

I look ahead, seeing the rippling waves of heat distort my view of the desert ahead, so I activate my All-Seeing Eye to get an unaltered view.

As soon as I do, I sense an approaching mass of pure mana coming our way.

It isn't very close, but it's not what I expected to pick up on my radar.

I activate my Enemy Detection skill along with Inspect and Appraisal, reaching them as far out as they can all go.

The abilities pick up a reading that puzzles me at first glance.

___________________________

[1100m]

[Lv. 256]

___________________________

Active items:

[NONE]

Active Skills:

Combat Magic [Fire Summoning]

___________________________

Something or someone is approaching fast. From what I can tell, it seems like this is a monster... all the way out here...

I speak up in a serious tone.

"Hey. There's a monster approaching, and it has fire magic... Level 250 or so. There's nothing else in sight, it's just one."

The archer nods while Abby holds our cover of stone magic overhead and Maria silently takes the rear.

Arie responds.

"Well, it's coming from where we're headed. So we'll have to take it out either way. Maybe the break has already gotten worse."

We continue forward for a few minutes, and the reading I picked up comes closer and closer until I can see it with my un-aided eyes.

The creature kicks up dust as It charges toward us. With light red skin and beady black eyes, waving its long flaming tail back and forth, I watch a 3-meter-long salamander run straight at us with a look of determination on its face.

I go to grab my sword but stop as I hear Arie laugh.

"This far out? One of these... Really?"

The archer pulls back his bow and lets a barely charged thin white arrow fly out at the fast-approaching beast.

It glides directly through its head and the monster collapses skidding to a halt at our feet. The flame on its tail flickers out and the lifeless body of a unique-looking monster sits still in the middle of the open desert.

We wait for a few minutes, confirming that the monster isn't going to dissolve anytime soon. We leave it on the desert floor.

Once this next break is taken care of, it'll disappear anyways.

We continue to walk deeper and deeper into the hot wavering air of the desert for 2 more hours.

Until finally, I see green...

I rub my eyes a few times to make sure I'm not hallucinating. Through the wavering heat waves of the desert.

I really do see green....

Every time I blink, and re-focus my vision it's still there.

Activating my Enemy detection and expanding its range, I'm in for another surprise as I pick up on over 100 readings. They range from single-digit levels to triple digits rivaling my own.

"This must be it. There's... a village ahead, and a lot of people too..."

Maria peaks out from behind me to squint and take a look too.

"Ohh! I see trees! And- is that? People! And buildings! We made it!"

Arie smirks while Abby takes in the view ahead, making a comment as well.

"I guess it was worth the wait. You were right..."

As we walk forward, a small desert town comes into full view. With kids playing on the sandy roads and vendors with tents and tables set up leading all the way to the center of the village.

There's a whole community of people living out here in the desert.

High dome-shaped buildings can be seen in the background, maybe 2-3 stories tall with orange and blue painted markings on their roofs.

Most of the houses that surround these larger buildings are small and made from desert stone with minimal wood and orange fabrics.

There aren't more than 3 dozen buildings in total.

Off to the back side of the town, there's a small stone well with shrubbery and trees nearby. It has a crowd of villagers and children around it patiently waiting their turn for water.

No one has noticed us approaching just yet.

Arie turns to us.

"First impressions are everything in places like this. Follow me, and don't do or say anything stupid."