Chapter 169 - Episode 169: Cursed Souls.

Grisell and the others are grinning mischievously while looking at each other. Every one of them almost got 100 Gold coins from just selling water, and thanks to them, the cost of a gallon of water is only 5 Silver coins. The money they got from selling water is now spent to buy gems and jewelry from the passing merchant that is almost 20 times cheaper than the price they sell in the Empires and the Alliance Kingdoms.

Francesca looks at Ivonna while nodding up.

"So? Have you found the place you want to go?"

Ivonna shakes her head, then she's pointing at me.

"I haven't found it, but Trevor wants to find the Oasis and he said that we should go there for now."

Francesca looks at me.

"The Oasis? Where is it?"

Aspen is pointing at the southeast.

"Based on the story I heard, it should be around over there. It will take us at least a month to get there."

Francesca and the others are surprised and look at Aspen with disbelief. Francesca raising her hand while chuckling with disbelief.

"Wait, hold on. A month? For real? In this kind of weather?"

Aspen nods in agreement.

"Yeah, that's exactly why it will take a month. The weather and the dehydration debuff will be slowing us down. But, if we go at nighttime, it will be faster to travel since the weather and the debuff are not going to affect us."

Emma is looking at Aspen.

"But still, either we start traveling at nighttime or daytime, it doesn't matter, right? In the end, we will still be getting dragged by the debuff in the daytime."

Aspen nods.

"That's right. But, if we use the nighttime to travel and daytime to rest, we can reach the river in 2 or 3 weeks top."

Aspen is right, the nighttime is the best way to travel in the desert since the debuff and the daytime are slowing us down by reducing our move speed and increasing stamina consumption. Not only that, but the monsters underneath the sand are also not going to attack us or ambush us since they will be resting and sleeping at nighttime.

Grisell is humming.

"I wish we can do something about the debuff so we can travel at daytime and nighttime without having a problem."

Aspen raises his eyebrows and nods.

"If there's a way, then that would be awesome. We can reach the river in less than 2 weeks without the debuff."

I scoff and then summon Azrael. Everyone is looking at me with confusion.

"Azrael, can you cover us with cold mist?"

Azrael nods.

"Yes, master!"

Azrael then flies above us and the white cold mist are surrounding us. The sunlight can't penetrate the mist. I look at the debuff and as expected the debuffs are gone. I smirk and look at them.

"Well, problem solved."

They're looking at me with confusion but then Grisell is gasping.

"The debuffs are gone!"

They immediately check on their status screens and laughing with disbelief. Ivonna looks at me and smiles.

"Thank you."

I smirk and tilt my head while raising my eyebrow.

"You're welcome."

Francesca then claps her hands.

"Alright! Let's get going!"

We all nod and then start going to the southwest of the desert.

Azrael is walking next to me with the enchantment stones in my hand. Azrael is eating those enchantment stones like it's a cereal. Grisell is looking at us with curiosity. I raise my eyebrows.

"What's wrong, Grisell?"

Grisell is pointing at the enchantment stones in my hand.

"You do know that those enchantment stones are very expensive, right? Are you really going to let Azrael eat all of them? You can make a lot of money with those enchantment stones in your hand."

I'm scoffing and raise my eyebrow.

"Do I look like someone who needs money?"

Ivonna and the others are chuckling. Grisell then looks down and shakes in defeat.

"Right... I forgot..."

Aspen is looking at us with confusion.

"Is Trevor that rich?"

They're all looking at Aspen and nodding without hesitation. Michael wiggling his index finger.

"Hohoho... you should know that he has 2 hypercars that worth more than a million dollars each. Not to mention that he has a mansion. In fact, we are living in his mansion right now."

I shake my head.

"Not my mansion. It's my friend's mansion that he lends to me, remember?"

Aspen is raising his eyebrows with his mouth open. He then looks at me with disbelief.

"Wow? Really? It's hard to believe that there's someone else that is as rich as that Aksevel guy."

Emma is shaking her head.

"No no no... that kid is only rich because of his parents' money. Trevor is rich because of his hard work."

I'm not saying a single word and just listening to them. To be honest, I'm not that different from Axel. I got this money because Becker gave it to me as his last will. So basically I didn't do anything and just receiving the money for royalty, but I can't tell Aspen the whole truth because why should I? I'm not that close to him to tell him everything.

Aspen then looks at Azrael.

"Is that your Amruchi, Trev?"

I look at Azrael and nod.

"Yeah. This is my Amruchi. His name is Azrael."

Aspen is humming with understanding and approaches him and looks at him closely. Azrael is just glaring at him while keeps eating the enchantment stones in my hand. Aspen then nods and humming with understanding.

"Are you planning to sell your Amruchi, Trev?"

Azrael immediately growls and shows his fangs at Aspen. He's slowly releasing a way colder mist around him that Aspen starts getting a freezing debuff that slowing his movement speed by 50%. Aspen is surprised and raises his hands while backing away so slowly. Azrael is slowly walking towards him while glaring at him.

I scoff and look at Azrael.

"It's okay, Azrael. I won't let you go. Come back here and eat your food."

Azrael then looks at me.

"But Master! He said something unforgivable!"

I chuckle and smile.

"He's just asking, Azrael."

Azrael then walks back and flying on my back. I lift my hand and put it on my shoulder so he can keep eating the enchantment stones. Aspen looks at me weirdly.

"You can understand what your Amruchi is saying? Didn't Amruchi can't communicate with the players? Is your Amruchi is special?"

Michael sighs and looks at Aspen.

"What do you expect? Since he's the best player in the game, of course, he will get the best thing in the game as well. We are all already get used to his achievements, and it's not going to surprise us anymore. Although we still can't believe how can he be so lucky."

The others are just nodding in agreement and not going to argue with Michael's statement. Aspen then looks at me.

"Well, I guess some people have better luck than us, huh?"

They're all nodding in agreement while I'm just scoffing and shaking my head.

Grisell is pointing at something in front of us.

"Guys, are those people in front of us are players or NPCs?"

We are looking at where Grisell is pointing at. A silhouette of a group of people is standing still in the middle of the desert. Aspen is humming while squinting his eyes.

"I think those are NPCs by the looks at their attires. They're Pasheer people, and I believe they're a bunch of passing and traveling merchants who sell goods to the villages in the desert."

Emma is looking at us.

"We should approach them and maybe they might know where the Oasis is at, right?"

Ivonna nods in agreement.

"Yeah, let's go."

As soon as Ivonna said that, the people in front of us disappear. They're all confused because there's no way that they're hallucinating and seeing the same thing that there were a group of people in front of us. By the look of Aspen's expression, I think he hasn't encountered those people before. This is why I hate this desert because of those things.

I look at the ground.

"Stop moving..."

Everyone stops moving and looks at me with worries. One by one they're looking down and they start to feel the sand is moving. Francesca is gulping and readying her sword while keep staring at the sand below her.

"Trev... this is a good time for you to tell us what is going on right now..."

I'm rubbing Azrael's cheek and look around.

"It seems that you haven't encountered them before, Aspen?"

Aspen looks at me and shakes his head.

"No. We were just traveling without encountering anything."

I'm humming with understanding.

"Then, you're very lucky because right now we are facing the Cursed Souls of Pasheer people."

Hans is looking at me with confusion.

"And what are Cursed Souls of Pasheer people mean?"

I raise my eyebrows and tilt my head.

"To put it simply. The majority of Pasheer people used black magic to gain the power to survive the harsh world in the desert, and once they died, they're not ascending to another world. They stayed here. To be exact, they stayed and live underneath this sea of sands and dragging whoever they see down with them."

Emma looks at me.

"You're saying they're ghosts?"

I shake my head.

"Ghosts are not really a threat. But these are far worse than a ghost..."

Emma is furrowing her forehead.

"What is that mean?"

I look at Emma and smile.

"You will see it soon."