novelraw Chapter 186 - 185 - Unique Environment
Chapter 186 - 185 - Unique Environment
"Do it now!" Lind dropped a World Stone into a tube that lit up and launched a projectile like a grenade launcher. He was not the only one as other members of their caravan did the same as him. The caravan leader whipped the large animals drawing the carts forward as their massive bodies sluggishly began to move forward.
They looked like a mix between a bull and a shaggy dog to Lind but they were able to easily walk on top of the sand dunes without getting stuck in them. The carts had wheels but Lind had noticed arrays in each one to repel earth at the same time.
It was inefficient but for the Dread Desert, it was one of the many ways to get through the worst of the draining effect quickly. A heavily reinforced storage chest held World Stones of the lowest grade to power everything but the amount was far more than what Lind thought was needed until now.
It was only a week since they crossed into the true depths of the desert but the dread snakes had found them. It was clear from the driver's reaction that he had expected it. He distributed out the cylinders and Lind quickly saw it was a strange weapon.
His ability as a Forger was still only in grade 2 but his analytical ability was far above that in many aspects. The cylinder had simple inscriptions that used fire, air, and light to create a force behind a very sharp projectile inside of it.
The dread snake broke the surface of the sands to reveal its dark scaled body and its dark amber slit eyes stared hungrily at the caravan. Lind's Eyes were stunned to see Qi flying into the skin of the beast like it was a sponge.
The beast was a peak Iron Tier but the projectiles flew true as most cultivators in the World Realm had good hand and eye coordination. Lind expected to see bursts of blood but he realized how massive the snakes were in the desert.
The caravan had 50 cultivators attacking easily, but as the projectiles got closer, the snake's size became apparent. The projectiles were roughly the size of a hand and were very heavy yet compared to the snake they were nothing.
The sound of metal on metal came to them and the snake's eyes stared in anger at the caravan.
"Blast! It is steelskin!" The leader of the caravan finally looked worried but Lind felt an intense increase in Qi from an artifact pulled out from the storage. "This will hurt my reserves!" The pale man tossed the artifact that flared like a sun which pulled the snake's attention which followed it quickly.
"Move you blasted beasts!" The crack of a whip from the drivers to push their beasts harder and the carts jolted faster as more World Stones were put into slots on each cart.
The arrays lit up brighter and Lind felt himself get lighter as the caravan increased speed. A swift calculation made Lind realize they could not keep up this speed for long or they would be out of World Stones very quickly.
While he could help, it would reveal his storage ring as several storage treasures had already failed yesterday. The bracelet on his wrist was not doing much better despite his best efforts to covertly reinforce it with his Forging abilities.
He simply did not have the full understanding of storage treasures and could only feel where weakness was and reinforce it as best he could. It worked but only just. Much like his storage ring, he had put a patch on the very profound arrays and inscriptions that made up the bracelet's construction.
The snake was fading away and the tension finally fell but Lind felt his Eyes drawn out to the north and frowned. Now that he had seen a dread snake, he knew what to look for and there was an even greater suction ahead.
"Caravan Leader!" His voice cut through the sounds of the wheels and animals rushing along and the pale man turned back annoyed but then retracted whatever insult he had at the sight of the pale yellow robes on Lind.
"What, esteemed customer?" Several other people sneered at the weak display of the driver but Lind had no time for their petty feelings.
"I have World Eyes. I can see a suction of Qi ahead greater than the last snake!" Lind's words made the tension sky rocket but the driver seemed to not believe him. A strange artifact that looked like a compass appeared but the dials twisted for a bit until it glowed in the same direction Lind had seen the Qi being pulled out of the sky.
A sudden widening of the driver's eyes made him nod at Lind before more instructions were shouted and their course shifted. Lind was curious what that artifact was but considering an Iron Tier was clearly weaker than whatever was ahead, the caravan driver must have a tool to sense certain dangers.
Like everything else, it consumed a World Stone but he noticed it was a peak World Stone unlike the low World Stones for most everything else. His curiosity was curbed as they pushed the animals hard until the artifact had the glowing mark finally directly behind them.
"Push for 5 more stones then we will head to the oasis." The head driver yelled out and all his other drivers waved they had heard as more stones were inserted into the slots on each carriage. The bull like beasts were frothing a bit but were still going strong. "Make the graels the priority when we arrive too!"
Lind went back to Annabelle as he observed the course of the sun as they flew across the desert dunes. Their cloaks hid their features but more than half of the passengers were dressed in cloaks for the same reason.
Stars had begun to appear when a change came over the desert sands. An island of rock appeared that Lind felt refreshed as they passed through a narrow passage the carriages barely fit in.
The formations on the carriages now blazed as the Qi rose around them and they came to an open area full of lush greenery and the chirp of birds were heard. Lind examined the stones and saw they were natural treasures.
Compared to an artifact or elemental shards that formed in areas of high Qi concentration, the natural treasures were blessings of Heaven and Earth. A volcano, for instance, may be blessed with herbs that are also natural treasures that absorb fire Qi in massive quantities.
In the current case, the stones around them were acting as a natural shield to hold the Qi within and create a rich environment that not only allowed them to recover but to cultivate freelty.
Annabelle looked so relieved as water Qi was much stronger than most others in the air. Light Qi was everywhere during daytime but very thin due to being everywhere. Even so, Annabelle joined many others as they recuperated from the draining first leg of the journey.
"Esteemed guest, thank you for the warning." The pale skinned leader of the caravan had come to find Lind. He seemed curious that Lind was not recovering but Lind said nothing about that and pointed at the still visible compass object.
"What does that reveal?" The pale yellow robes worked as the leader did not pry about Lind's strange behavior. He held up the disc item and smiled at it forlornly.
"For a steep price, we avoid the most dangerous dread snakes, the Diamond Tiers. They are rare and thankfully do not care much for us unless we reveal our trove of World Stones." Lind felt his blood chill as he looked at the chest in worry and the man nodded. "We have to regularly change them out or any caravan would be snake food."
Lind nodded as he began to appreciate how on the edge everyone living here accepted. It made him reconsider the official stance that only the fringe rogues lived here as only those that truly wanted to survive no matter what could stay alive in the Dread Desert.
The beasts were unhitched from each carriage or cart and brought to a gorgeous pool of water. It was only the size of the coliseum arena in Cimmeria which seemed large in the current moment but compared to the massive size of the Dread Desert it would not even be an ant.
Right then, however, it was a blessing as beasts and cultivators recovered. Lind allowed his senses to stretch out and was stunned to feel the density of Qi was so high near the water compared to the stretch of land to the natural rock walls around them.
His Eyes roamed but he could not find the source of Qi generating it so had to let it go. Annabelle's feeling of illusion flowed over him at last and he smiled as she pulled her hood down to drink from the water as well.
Lind tested the waters and found no issues so they both drank their fill and refilled flasks of water from his storage bracelet.
Many others eventually joined but the caravan personnel made no move to hitch up the graels as clearly they had to recover. They had been pushed but Lind was interested as he could finally examine them without drawing attention.
The element of earth was not a surprise but what was was that they were all peak Sand Tier at the highest. Not a single beast was in the Stone Tier. He also saw that some had light Qi but the more likely combination was fire.
As he looked on, he suddenly realized none of them showed characteristics of manifestation at all. The aether beasts were raised into the World Realm from birth in a herd most likely.
"How long will we stay here?" One of the other passengers asked as clearly the caravan men were setting up tents for the night. The caravan leader used the compass once more and frowned at it.
"At least 1 day. We pushed our beasts harder than expected and there is a Diamond Tier dread snake nearby. We do not want to provoke it so we will repair our arrays here tomorrow." Lind frowned as he pushed his Eyes past the dense Qi and was stunned to see the suction of Qi beyond the natural rock wall had moved closer!
It had definitely not moved until after they were in the oasis. Why had it come closer?
"Esteemed guest, you see it?" The caravan leader had come over as fires were built to start making soups for them to eat if needed and they would since Qi drain was so severe here, but Lind only nodded. "It is not a good sign. It could be getting ready to break through to the Sky Realm."
Lind felt goosebumps appear on his skin. He wanted to see a tribulation for a breakthrough but even the weakest power knew tribulations were risky not just for the cultivator experiencing it. It was a danger to anyone nearby if the Heavens thought you were interfering.
"How likely is it?" Lind wondered what made the caravan leader say it but the man then held up the compass for Lind to look it over. There were several fine inscriptions engraved into it but he quickly understood what the dial with the red pointer indicated.
There were 3 others and it simply had the words low, mid, high, and peak. The peak was the crimson glowing section but he saw there were divisions even further and the peak was at the very edge of the dial.
"This was created by the demons, believe it or not. The dread snakes, like any aether beast, have valuable materials that are far more Qi rich than others in the world. It was quickly learned, however, that tribulations could strike at a frightening frequency if they were not careful." Lind understood instantly. These dread snakes clearly absorbed all Qi and could likely extract it from corpses easily.
"So they made this to measure the flow of Qi and confirmed an estimate of where in the tier the snakes are?" The man nodded but then pointed at the glowing crimson section once more.
"I have only seen this once before, a little over a century ago. Thankfully, it was much farther away, but that tribulation haunts my dreams. It is terrifying." The man glanced at the passage they came from and sighed. "We may not be able to leave this place and it may be struck down by the Heavens if that beast does not leave."
Lind suddenly felt a chill in his spine as he grasped the true nature of their problem. A tiny human cultivator would be unlikely to draw attention from the snake or its tribulation but they were sitting inside a giant source of Qi.
It was as good as a magnet and they were just waiting for the hammer to come down on them.
"Can we get by it?" The caravan leader shook his head.
"They get smarter the closer to the Sky Realm they get. It wanted us to come in here. It knows its time is soon. Either we stay here and draw off some of its tribulation or we become the final meal before it ascends." Lind felt fear once more. He had seen tribulations but only in partial ways or as a matter of course as creating grade 4 items.
That was a night and day difference from cultivation tribulation. He looked up at the moon and wondered if there was anything they could do.
"I will let you know if I have any ideas." Lind bowed to the caravan leader and headed over to Annabelle to set up their tent. They were going to be in the oasis a while.