On the third day in this sandy world, Sain finally realized that this was not the world he used to live in.
From the thin air to the gravity, from the surrounding environment to the concentration of elements, Sain couldn't feel a single familiar thing.
What's more, even after three days, Sain could only tell the passing of time by using a crystal ball.
And in these three days, the sandy environment around him was always in broad daylight.
It seemed like there was no night in this world.
After finding out about this, Sain couldn't help but be curious and looked up at the sky wearing his Pale mask.
The bright light made Sain's eyes a little dizzy.
But what shocked him more was that he saw three suns in the sky...
All of this made Sain feel surreal and absurd.
"The Academy wouldn't send us to this sandy world just to scatter us around using a space portal generator. "
"There's only one possibility - all the apprentices were forced to scatter and lose each other after entering this parallel world."
"Maybe some apprentices were lucky enough to end up in the same place, but as for me..."
Sain leaned against the back of a sand dune he dug out himself and thought.
Why are magicians the representatives of wisdom?
Because no matter how bad the environment is, they can use their wisdom to create a better one for themselves.
This desert and sandy environment were new to Sain.
But after a few days, he was able to use his experience and wisdom to create a comfortable resting environment and reduce his own physical exertion.
A red-hot orb appeared in Sain's hand.
This thing was an elemental orb that Vice-Dean Martin gave to Sain and the others before they entered the space-time rift.
Sain found that the orb produced more heat when he moved in a certain direction.
Conversely, the heat of the orb would decrease when he moved in other directions.
Sain speculated that besides other mysterious uses that he didn't know yet, one important function of the orb was to help the apprentices who entered the parallel world to gather together.
Vice Dean Martin wouldn't have brought it up if it weren't for the fact that he requires lower-level apprentices to hand over their element pearls to stronger ones when they meet.
Holding a homemade Nutrient Potion in his hand, Sain pondered while cautiously drinking one-third of the potion.
He didn't dare to waste any of his resources since he didn't know when he would find the rest of his group or how long he would have to stay in this godforsaken place.
Until now, Sain hadn't seen any living creatures other than himself.
Luckily, he had a spatial ring that contained some precious resources like Nutrient Potion and Restoration Potion.
But what about the other apprentices?
Not every apprentice had an Alchemist as a mentor like Sain did, and they definitely didn't have top-tier equipment like a spatial ring.
With no living supplies, no living creatures around, and no water source, surviving for two or three days would be tough even for Dark Magic Apprentices like Sain.
What if it were five or six days or even longer?
At this point, Sain regretted not learning a water spell or any other low-level magic or tricks from different disciplines.
He could only rely on the negligible amount of water in the Nutrient Potion to replenish his dry body.
If Sain was struggling, the Intermediate apprentices who came with him would be on a dead-end path if they couldn't find the Advanced apprentices and quasi-Magicians in the academy.
At this moment, Sain had a deeper understanding of Mosido's previous warning of the "nine deaths, one life" situation.
This kind of exploration in different dimensions was not something that apprentices could easily handle.
Only formal Magicians with extensive knowledge and mastery of various spells could adapt and explore such a harsh environment in different dimensions.
How far had Sain traveled in this world of yellow sand, and how big was it?
In this dangerous world where he hadn't discovered anything valuable for exploration, he hadn't seen anything that Dark Magicians were interested in looting.
...
On the ninth day since Sain arrived in the world of yellow sand, he finally saw something other than sand.
It was a tattered black robe buried halfway in the sand.
Against the backdrop of the endless yellow sand, it stood out like a sore thumb.
Sain couldn't help but feel a little excited and rushed over.
The lower gravity of this yellow sand world made Sain feel like he had a permanent Feather Walk spell on him.
When he reached the black robe, Sain dug out a handy tool from his space ring without hesitation, despite the scorching hot sand.
However, his excitement gradually turned into shock and despair when he saw what was inside.
What lay before him was a desiccated corpse that had lost all of its moisture.
This was probably an Intermediate Apprentice with strength similar to Sain's, as evidenced by the iconic black robe that marked him as coming from Mosobla City, and likely from the same group of people who arrived in this world from another realm as Sain did.
But unfortunately, this talented Dark Magic Apprentice had turned into a lifeless corpse in just nine days.
Sain couldn't even make out his original appearance from the dried-out remains, but some organ features indicated that he was a male apprentice.
"Wait a minute, there's no way he arrived in this world only nine days ago!"
"Although the air density, elemental concentration, and overall environment of this world are far different from that of the Shadowy Territory."
"Considering that he must have survived for some time after arriving, it's impossible for him to become like this in just a few days!"
As a Dark Magic Apprentice who has dissected many bodies and has even been praised by the official Dark Magician Colonso, Sain made his most rational and scientific judgment.
"Could it be that he has been in this sandy world for more than nine days?"
"Or is it that even though we are from the same group of apprentices who entered the Space-Time Rift, the order of entry could cause some slight differences in the specific time of arrival in the parallel world?" Sain thought with suspicion.
He was the last of the Intermediate apprentices to enter the Space-Time Rift.
If his hypothesis was true, it could indeed explain why the apprentice who had turned into a corpse before him had arrived in the sandy world a few days earlier than him.
With no sufficient supplies and no live prey to hunt, and without the ability to perform water magic to replenish water...
Sighing softly, Sain ignored the unlucky apprentice's body, now reduced to a dry corpse with even his eyeballs turned to cotton-like fluff.
Instead, he lowered his head to search for anything useful to him.