As they came closer to the Sand Mirage Desert, the scenery started to change. Before, they would see some trees or bushes growing here and there in the white sand. But now, everything around them was barren. There was no greenery in their sight.
Laura felt that the sun had become intense. Being a mermaid, she was already feeling uncomfortable in this weather.
"This weather is already unbearable." They stopped flying for a moment and landed under the shade of a large boulder.
With the snap of her finger, a small fist-sized ball of water formed. With her palm, she gently touched her cheeks and forehead before moving on to her neck and throat.
"Come here!" Laura wanted to do the same for Aditya.
Aditya did not refuse the nice gesture. He stepped forward and used some of the cold water on his face. Even though he did not feel uncomfortable even in this weather, it felt nice and refreshing to wash his face with cold water.
"Do you want to eat anything?" She asked before.
Aditya shook his head.
She took out a watermelon and began to cut it.
"Are you that hungry?" Aditya couldn't help but ask.
"No, I just want to use this excuse to stay in the shade for a little longer." Hearing this, he did not stop her. She was already enduring a lot because of his selfish reasons.
After cutting the watermelon into triangular pieces, she handed one to Aditya.
Aditya accepted it and both began to eat. The watermelon was really sweet and delicious.
As they were eating, a group of cultivators who were flying saw them and decided to stop.
They flew above the duo.
"Are you two okay?" Asked a kind old man. Their group had about 11 people. Around five people in the group wore similar outfits. A red scarf showed that they belonged to the same group.
Aditya and Laura looked up.
Laura looked at them and then continued eating. As for the trouble that came knocking, she let Aditya handle it.
"Yeah, we are fine. We are just taking a short break."
The old man wasn't done. "You two look new here." Aditya did not respond.
The old man continued. "If you want, you two can come with us. Our group will escort your group to Brightmoor City. We will ensure both of your safety with our own lives."
"And you will only need to pay once we reach Brightmoor City."
Before Aditya could say anything, the old man added. "I have been doing this for nearly 20 years. So when I say I know this desert very well, I am not joking. And also, I have successfully escorted over a thousand travellers to Brightmoor City. This is our job."
If it were anyone else, then by now, he would have joined this group.
But Aditya preferred to travel alone. The fewer people they interacted with, the less others would know about them.
"Thank you for the offer. But we will have to decline."
"My partner isn't comfortable travelling with any group." Laura had no choice but to nod her head.
He was anticipating a rejection. Many groups used to escort travellers from Stoneford to Brightmoor City, but since this group hadn't opted for an escort, he assumed they would still turn him down even if he invited them.
"Alright!" The old man and his group soon flew away.
"Let's continue eating." Aditya took out two chairs to make them comfortable.
While eating, another group led by another elderly man stopped and offered them the same deal. This old man also repeated the same words as the previous one. But this one exaggerted his numbers.
"I have safely escorted over twenty thousand travellers." Hearing this, Aditya nearly rolled his eyes.
"Alright, let's continue." Laura did not refuse. Aditya picked her up in his arms while she wrapped her arms around his neck.
As they flew up, she took out a long cloth and held it over their heads.
But his flying speed nearly made her lose grip of the cloth.
Seeing this, Aditya laughed while slowing down. "This won't work."
"I knew, but I still wanted to try." The sun's rays were very intense here. There was no sun in the Tunnel World, but there was a system that created the cycle of day and night that existed here.
And in this region, the sun's rays were really strong. Or maybe they felt the ray was too strong because they had gotten really close to the Sand Mirage desert.
After a few minutes of flying, they had finally reached the area that separated the white desert and the Sand Mirage Desert. From above, a line separating both sides could be easily observed.
It wasn't a straight line. Instead, it wavered, rising and falling as far as they could see.
"From this point, we will have to walk." While carrying her, they slowly descended.
It wasn't just them, but others who came before them and groups that will come after them will also have to do the same.
The flying speed of any magic animal, cultivator, or even any object will be slowed down by half. Also, if one stayed in the sky for more than 5 seconds, then countless powerful rays of light known as Cannon Beams would destroy any and every cultivator.
Each of these Cannon Beams are said to be so strong and fast that even a Beginner 7th Order cultivator wouldn't be able to dodge them. And just a single shot would be able to explode their bodies like a water balloon.
"This means the desert must be crossed on foot." Laura nodded and then began following Aditya.
As soon as Aditya stepped onto the yellow sand, he felt something inside his body react or change; the feeling was so strange that even he couldn't accurately describe what happened.
The next second, his mouth started drying up.
Every drop of sweat that was on his body started to dry up within a second.
Any trace of saliva in his mouth had dried up.
His mouth and throat had become so dry that he couldn't even gulp anything.
Cracks appeared all over his tongue, and his lips, parched from the relentless heat and thirst, split open and began to bleed.
'Shit! I have never felt this thirsty in my whole life.' This wasn't the intense heat that was making him the most uncomfortable. Being a Crimson Dragon, he had really high tolerance to heat. It was the unbearable thirst that was making everything really difficult for him.
"Aditya, are you okay?" Laura saw his state and became worried.
"I am fine...!!" He replied in a low tone.
"Anyone who steps into the Sand Mirage desert will experience this. In fact, the more Mana a cultivator has, the thirstier He/she will feel. So right now, you are suffering from having too much Mana."
The effect of thirst wasn't exaggerted on other cultivators.
Even Laura felt thirsty, but it wasn't as extreme as Aditya's.
"Let's cool you down." A ball of cold water gently fell above his head.
Aditya felt very refreshed for a second, but within the next second, everything became dry. His wet hair became dry.
"It's not gonna work. I will just have to endure this and continue forward." To Aditya, this was one of the many tests to reach Mount Soulripper.
Harder tests are ahead in their journey.
Drinking water in this situation won't help. People who've experienced this say that drinking water would quench their thirst for a few seconds before everything returned to normal. This thirst wasn't from water loss and intense heat.
Aditya felt the heat but it wasn't entirely because of the heat. There seems to be this strange rule in this place that the more Mana a cultivator had, the thirstier that cultivator would become.
"The Ancestor of those dwarves really wanted to make sure that the Sand Mirage Desert becomes an impossible-to-penetrate fortress for the dwarves who live and look after the super valuable ores and minerals in Mount Soulripper."
"Let's continue." So Laura and Aditya started walking.
The journey wasn't easy. But both of them supported each other in whatever way each of them could. Since Aditya was feeling thirsty, Laura gently dropped a water ball on top of his head every few minutes. As she was weak and no longer in her Prime, he kept a cautious watch on their surroundings to ensure that no one could harm her.
After travelling, every few hundred meters, both of them stopped. They would take out the map that they got from William and check the positions of the Special Zones.
"We have to be careful! According to William, there are around 50 Special Zones where one can move around the desert. The only way to escape these Moving Zones is by staying dangerously close to the border of the Special Zones." This was because the two zones would never come close to each other.
And the border of a zone is about 5 meters wide, more than enough for them to walk comfortably. But both of them needed to be extremely careful as each Zone came in all shapes and sizes. Meaning, they cannot just keep walking in one straight line.
They have to carefully navigate the terrain without falling into the special zone and also while avoiding Magic Monsters that have adapted to the elimate and harsh condition of this desert to live and thrive here.
This was gonna be a really challenging journey for them.
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