Walking through the desert and fighting constantly, all the members of the group had already become quite close. Sometimes out of boredom, they even had light sparring sessions. Their combat system was already a bit fine-tuned, Gontas even offered to go on other missions together after Mr. Fabian's mission was over. Even Alisud and Verik were becoming more talkative.
Lately, everyone had started to feel a slight change in their surroundings. The temperature seemed to have risen by an order of magnitude and there were more cracks in the ground.
Mr. Fabian assumed that they had already advanced very far into the Wasteland, so the climate had even started to change. The vast Wasteland to the east hadn't been explored that well.
Over the course of the journey, Kai had learned things that shocked him a bit. But as it turned out, it wasn't great news to others.
If one went northwest for a very long time, crossing the entire wasteland, one could come to the ancestral domain of the ferocious beasts. It turned out that if the ferocious beasts were to evolve for a long time, much less have a strong bloodline. They will not differ much in intelligence from humans.
They will form an Energy Core, as an analogue of the Energy Center in humans. And then, they could also cultivate and learn the techniques of their race. They even had their own Sect, on par with the Shadow Sect.
Just as the Shadow Sect did not directly participate in the affairs of the Boundless Wasteland, neither did the Beast Sect. In this territory, there were simply different members of both races fighting for resources. Although what was mined here was valuable, it was not as valuable as Kai had previously thought.
While talking about it, Fabian explained that the regions near the mountains, the central zone of the wasteland, and the entire northwestern part were more or less explored. But since the east had fewer resources, and the forces of both races weren't particularly interested in it, it hadn't been explored much. Therefore, it was very rare for people to go there.
Only fanatics of their own who were explorers like Mr. Fabian would be interested in it. Others had more material and pragmatic motives.
Kai also wondered why they hadn't seen any very strong beasts here. They had encountered at most in the early stages of the Cloud Sphere. As it turned out, there was simply no interest for strong members of their race here. Kai realized that the strength of their group wasn't very great. It was unlikely that they would go inland for the same distance but to the west. It was mostly big clans that fought there, not small groups like them.
Right now, Kai was sitting near a small stone and looking at his finger, operating the sixteen 'cooties'. He thought that was not a bad result. But for others, a similar result would be terrifying!
"If I see an uncomplicated array, like a door lock, I can probably replicate it easily. It will most likely be possible to overpower even more complex arrays." - Sitting up thought Kai.
"Considering what was described in the array book, I'm already firmly at the apprentice level, even a little higher. If I have more time, I think I can even become a practicing Array Master. Once I return to the Border Beast City, I'll look into it. Hehe." - Planning his next actions, sitting down Kai smiled.
- Why are you smiling, did you discover something again? - Keshi's cranky voice sounded again.
- Ooh, Keshi! Did you get fed up with Fabian already and decided to switch to me? - Said Kai seriously. Actually just joking. He used to tease her like that all the time, it was really funny since she fell for it every time.
- No! Am I pissing you off? I'm just here to talk, we're almost the same age. Everyone else is already old, I'm not interested in them. - The girl said with a frown.
She was actually a few years older than Kai, but neither physically nor psychologically you could tell. Though if you compared them to the other members of the group, they did look to be of the same age.
- Older? Aren't you afraid that Sisters Solina and Hika will hear? That's it, I'm off to tell them. - Calmly saying that, Kai defiantly started to stand up.
- No! Please don't! I didn't think it through. Don't tell anyone, please! - I started begging Kashi.
- Oh, my God, are you stupid? I'm just kidding, you need to learn to take other people more lightly. - Kai shook his head. Sometimes, it wasn't even funny to mess with her anymore.
- Okay, did you want something from me? - Looking her in the eye Kai said.
- It's nothing, Master said that in an hour we'll move on and maybe even reach our destination in the evening. We'll probably camp there for a few days. Because Master will need time to study the terrain and compare it with the maps. - The girl said quickly. She was still worried that Kai would go to tell everyone about her previous words.
- Okay, thanks for telling Kashi. - With a smile, Kai replied.
Lately, he'd gotten used to her. He realized that she wasn't so bad, even if she was a bit annoying. He even talked to her sometimes about Array Mastery to learn some nuances. Although she was very good for an Array Master apprentice, but even now, Kai was already more skilled than her.
But he didn't even try to compare himself to her. Giving her a grade, he truly realized that she was a genius. Without the vision of Essence Energy, it was unlikely that he would have been able to reach her level, even in a long time. Still, with his gut, he was completely immersed in martial arts.
After a while, the group began to move forward again. Kai noticed that even the air was already different in this area. It seemed more humid and salty, it was the first time he had ever experienced such a thing.
"I wonder if there was once some ancient Sect or city here, when did it exist? In all this time, we haven't seen even a hint of signs of any ruins... I wouldn't go to the edge of the world to look at some rocks. And to do it just for research interest, like Mr. Fabian, and even more so." - Kai reasoned while shaking his head.
The group kept moving until the sun began to set. They even came across a pack of huge subterranean worms that managed to get close enough. Although they were only at the initial stage of the Cultivator, there were over two dozen of them and they had a good fight on their hands. Alysud was even slightly injured, but as a Cultivator, it wasn't a serious wound. In a few days, he would have recovered by now.
- So guys, we've roughly arrived at our destination! - Mr. Fabian shouted excitedly, ''Let's break camp a hundred meters away from here. From tomorrow, I will start exploring the area as soon as the sun rises. If you'd like to join me, I think we'll be here for a few days. If we don't find anything, we'll head back. - He explained with a smile.
- I'll be the first one on duty! - Shouted Hika.
At the rest stops, they constantly took turns on duty. Each of them was always fighting for the first shift, because once they did it, then they could sleep all night. Hika hated being woken up and being on duty in the middle of the night was tantamount to murder for her. Everyone constantly made fun of her because of it and jokingly scored their seats first.
- Hey, Hika! You were first last time! - Solina began to grumble. She wouldn't have minded taking first shift either.
While the girls argued, Kai began to observe the situation. He noticed that there was quite a lot of energy in this place, which was slowly seeping inside the cracks in the ground...
"Hmm, that's strange... Something like that I saw while looking at the Tower of the Source." - Watching thoughtfully, Kai pondered what was happening.