Chapter 403: Investigating the Western Continent

The Sands of Time is the relic that Adrian needs to find but he does not know where to start. He looked at the forums but there is not a large number of players that starts in the western continent for certain reasons.

Players often avoid the western continent even though there is a starting section there for one reason. That one reason would be that the western continent is not a safe environment like the central continent. Although, the upside is that there are many undiscovered dungeons on the western continent.

The benefits might be good growth but for people who are not great at the game, it is different. Many still regretted it and sailed towards the central continent but those who succeeded are in the top rankings. The western continent is basically the treasure trove for those who are skilled.

Adrian could only use Glamour to become like a native of the western continent. Thankfully, there are many nomadic groups in the western continent so he could just pretend to be one of them. He also changed his clothes to fit what nomadic groups would usually wear.

He is wearing something that covered his whole boy because those sexy clothes advertised in movies would make any person die in the intense temperatures of deserts. He is covered from head to toe and he even changed his hair to black and adopted a tanner skin tone.

"Greater Summon: Sirius!"

"Greater Summon: Kanlaon!"

"Greater Summon: Saena!"

"Greater Summon: Charon!"

"Greater Summon: Dodu!"

Adrian summoned all his soulbounds and they all surrounded him like they missed him. He became cuddled for ten minutes which would make one horrified upon seeing the scene. A ball made of a giant wolf, a dragon, a giant bird, a horrifying undead and a small slime would make anybody runaway.

Adrian knew that he needed to hide his soulbounds or polymorph them into something else. Sirius went inside Adrian's shadow while Kanlaon became as small as a lizard that settled on Adrian's left shoulder. Saena was polymorphed to look like a small bird and perched on Adrian's right shoulder.

He made Charon into a what he looked like before. Instead of a lamp dangling on his land, it was a small casket. Dodu was not difficult to hide because all Adrian needed to do is turn him invisible. With the perfect disguise, Adrian strolled towards an oasis he sees in the distance.

Adrian proceeded to walk but it seems that the distance that his eyes perceive, and the real distance is not the same. From Adrian's perspective, he could reach the oasis with his walking speed in just two hours, but it has already been three hours and it is not becoming shorter.

"Is this what they call the desert mirage or something?" Adrian thought as the deserts in the real world that he has visited are more modernized than the desert he is seeing today. The people in the real world made even the deserts convenient.

"The game really did make the environment like that of the old world. I am impressed but I feel like hitting the guy who designed this desert. Why do I feel farther to the destination? What!" Adrian stated in surprise.

Adrian did not immediately recognize that his stamina bar is immediately running low. He has been walking for three hours but that does not warrant the huge drop in the stamina bar. He then saw the reason of the huge stamina drop as he is affected by a debuff that he did not even noticed that he received.

Adrian clicked on the debuff to see more of the effects that it gives him. The icon of the debuff is a scarab that looks like it is made of gold.

[You are affected by the debuff Fury of the Desert.]

Debuff: Fury of the Desert

Effect: You will consume three times the stamina as you are not protected by any other god of the desert. This debuff will only disappear once you reach an oasis and offer your prayers to one of the gods of the desert.

Description: Feel thy Desert Wrath!

Adrian has never heard of this debuff before because no one has posted it on the forums. It seems that debuff is only for people who traveled for far too long inside the desert without giving appreciation to the gods of the desert. If he does not travel quickly then he would die from exhaustion in the desert.

The most embarrassing way to die in Adrian's thoughts is to die from exhaustion. He wanted to teleport there, but he noticed that there could be watchful eyes in the distance. The western continent might not be as technologically advance as the central continent, but they are more advanced in certain magics.

The western continent is famous for is scrying magic or observation magic. Each kingdom in the western continent is basically well protected from thieves. Thieve and marauders are so abundant in the western continent that they developed their scrying magic to the peak of perfection.

Kings and Queens of the western continent have abundance in jewelries and gold due to the land formations in the western continent. The harsh environments with extreme opposite temperatures make a particularly good environment for natural stones to be naturally made.

Although that also means that more thieves would try and steal that treasure because the social standing of the people are also largely different. The gap between the royalty and peasants are so far that even after five generations, the peasants will still remain as peasants.

Contrary to belief, the scout job class is the most famous job class for the players of the western continent. They always pair this job class with explorer for the sunken tombs in the sands of the desert. Players who chose the western continent are either thrill seekers or idiots who think they can become someone like Indiana Jones.

"Should I actually just teleport that short distance?" Adrian begun assessing his options.

Either he dies of starvation and just revive on the spot or teleport there with the risk of getting seen by scrying magic. Just as about Adrian is about to teleport, the sands started to rumble, and he thought that an earthquake is happening.

"Is there an earthquake?" Adrian stated but he then looked around him and saw sands rolling in the distance.

"Just my luck! A sandstorm!" Adrian commented but he suddenly saw silhouettes of a dozen or so monsters in the distance.

Adrian did not care for much else and ran for his life. The monsters are huge as the silhouette is already large just from a distance then the actual monster would be larger. But the desert is not a favorable environment for a demon and the monsters eventually reached Adrian.

Adrian just ducked down and acted like a helpless lanky prey as that usually works. The earth shaking became louder and more aggressive. Adrian, who ducked, fell to the ground as the sand rumbling even made him tumble a few inches away from his position.

A few seconds later, the rumbling and shaking stopped. Adrian began to be thankful that he did not get squashed or eaten but he did look pitiful as sand has covered his clothes. Adrian then saw in the distance that there were people riding the monsters, but they are already too far to recognize what type of person they are.

"Kanlaon, can you transform yourself into a giant lizard form?" Adrian asked as the monsters that blew right past him looked like large Komodo dragons.

"I could master but my arms are not really meant to be used for the desert." Kanlaon replied.

"Any ideas Paradox?" Adrian asked his weapon as it is an AI. He wanted to test how far the AI could think for itself.

"My critical thinking capacities are limited to the knowledge of my master. I could however use in depth analyzation to see the components of things like the sand we are standing in." The Cube of Paradox replied.

"Ouch. It is like you flamed me for being dumb but in a subtle way that would not hurt my feelings." Adrian rebuked but then an idea came to mind.

He still made Kanlaon transform to a giant land lizard but instead of using his arms to move, he will be flying. Adrian commanded Kanlaon to hover just an inch above the sand and roll of the dust to hide the fact that he is flying.

With that brilliant idea, Adrian proceeded the sands without reducing his stamina. Kanlaon is also blending right in and he reached the oasis in about an hour. It was actually still far given the fact that Kanlaon travels five times faster than Adrian.

What greeted Adrian is walls made of hardened sand and soldiers equipped with armors of gold. The soldiers' armors only covered the most important parts while ivory cloth covered the other body parts. The most surprising thing that Adrian saw when he arrived is that there is a tall floating pyramid in the distance where thousands of people are going in crowds.