"Is that so?" The old man's eyes seemed to sparkle with a mixture of intrigue and caution at my words. "There's only one reason for someone so young to seek that place - you have the Talent, aren't you?"

"Yes, I do," I reluctantly admitted, still not too comfortable with discussing matters of magic with strangers. Yet, I had already wasted enough time wandering about this damn place, so I wanted to get to the heart of the matter as soon as possible. "Can you perhaps tell me how to get there, good sir?"

He contemplated my request for a while, but then he shook his head, showing an apologetic smile. "Although I had the honor of visiting those hallowed halls on a few occasions, I'm not the person you should be asking about the matters of navigating the Plains," he said, scratching his wrinkled face. “Sadly, our Guide went to scout ahead, so it will be some time before he comes back."

'Oh, that explains why they are sitting out here in the middle of nowhere,' I thought briefly, but then I remembered why I came here and turned my attention back to the old merchant. “That reminds me, could you tell me something more about the Guides? I heard about them in passing, but I'm afraid I never had the opportunity to meet one. '

The old merchant leaned back slightly, his weathered hands folding together on his lap as he regarded me thoughtfully. "Well, the Guides are descendants of an ancient tribe that used to roam the Plains in the past and are deeply connected with the earth, which in turn gives them an unparalleled ability to navigate these treacherous dunes."

I suppressed a sigh as I already knew this much, but I still pretended an interest, hanging on the man's every word since we were finally getting somewhere. "And would you perhaps know how they do it? Is it magic?"

The man chuckled as he leaned in closer, his voice barely above a whisper. "I wouldn't dare to presume I have any knowledge about their arts, and I doubt they would tell you either since they are notoriously protective of their secrets. Still, it’s rumored they can perceive the flow of magic through the earth and use it to chart pathways through the Plains... But that's all I can tell you."

I listened silently to his explanation, only marginally widening my eyes as a sudden realization dawned on me. "Oh, don't worry about it, good sir. You've been more than helpful with what you already told me!" I said cheerfully as I promptly stood up from the carpet. "Anyway, thank you for your help, but I'm afraid I need to resume my journey."

He blinked in confusion. "Is that so? I'm glad to be of help, but why don't you stay here with us for the night? Or, better yet, you can join us. We are heading north to Montbelle, but we'd be happy to escort you to the edge of the Borderlands, where you could wait for another caravan to take you where you want to go."

I pretended to briefly consider his offer out of courtesy, but then I shook my head as I already knew my answer.

"I don't want to abuse your hospitality. Besides, I already got this far; it would be foolish to turn back now. With what you already told me, together with listening to your subordinate's conversation, I have a rough idea of where we are, so I'll be able to continue from here."

"If you think so..." He looked at me dubiously yet said nothing more. But as I was leaving the yurt, he called out to me as if he had just remembered something.

"Oh! One more thing... Be very careful out there, young man. There are rumors of a new, terrible monster that recently began prowling through this area of the Plains," He said with a grave voice.

I turned around cocking an eyebrow in confusion. 'What is he talking about?'

"It is one of the reasons our Guide went to scout ahead. We began calling him the Devourer as his victims end up swallowed by the sands, and he leaves behind nothing but shredded bones... If you see a large swirling cloud of dust on the horizon, drop everything and run. There's no reason to waste your life."

Hearing this, my smile wavered a bit, but I didn't let it show on my face. "Ehm, thanks for the warning; I'll keep it in mind..." I said as I quickly left the tent and soon disappeared into the Plains' scorching dunes once again.

***

'Ah! That's more like it...' I thought pleasantly, sitting in the shadow of a large protruding rock while watching the colorful sunset on the western horizon.

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It took me some time to find a nice secluded spot where I could make camp for the night and where nobody would bother me, but now I was able to finally rest my sore legs after a whole day of walking through the unrelenting heat of the desert sun.

'So Leylines, huh? The old merchant was definitely talking about Leylines.' I grimaced, still trying to process everything I had learned that day.

Despite not telling me much, the old man still gave me a few very important clues. And when combined with all my magical knowledge—courtesy of Lily's previous lessons—I was able to piece things together fairly quickly.

Since this was quite an advanced subject, my master spoke of it only in passing. But apparently, Leylines were the magic "veins" that wove through the earth, carrying the essence from the world's core to the surface.

I knew the Guides were apparently important, but I didn't think they were that essential in safely crossing the Plains, as every mention of them was vague at best.

Yet if they were truly able to perceive the flow of magic through the Leylines and use it to navigate the desert, that certainly changed things as that would mean they must have some ability akin to my magic sense - which was one of the reasons why I didn't want to stick around and wait for the Guide to come back in case he could somehow sense my own magic.

Although being forced to figure things out on my own was quite a bummer, I couldn't help but smile. I was a mage, after all, and I had a magic sense, too, so there was no reason why I couldn't do the same thing. But the million mark-of-gold question was how?

Whenever I used the magic sense at its full power, I could faintly feel the background essence of the world at the edge of my mind, but every time I tried to concentrate on that, it felt wispy and vague - like trying to grasp air with bare hands.

Still, if I could attune my magic sense to be able to perceive this background energy, perhaps I could also learn how to use it to navigate through the Plains and escape this damned desert even without a Guide.

***

It was a weird feeling for sure, trying to sense the Leylines. Before, I disregarded it as background noise, but if I stretched my magic sense to its maximum capacity and tried hard, I could perceive a faint hum coming up from deep underground.

However, anything more concrete was still beyond me. Not to mention trying to use it to navigate. 'Well, it simply means I have to try harder...'

I concentrated, trying to suppress the growing headache while attempting to make anything out of the low-pitched buzz that forced out any other sound.

Meanwhile, the background essence was a riot of colors, ethereal and confusing. But remembering the old man's words that the Guides used their connection with the earth to sense the movement of magic, I tried to do the same.

I used the earth beneath my feet as a solid anchor through which I filtered the disorienting threads of background essence, letting them enter only in a thin stream. I was soon able to get a glimpse of it without the terrible headache that accompanied all my previous attempts. Still, I was a long way from making any sense of it.

I took a deep breath, concentrating on that weird feeling. At least now, I could clearly differentiate the diffused essence in the air and the sand from the much more profuse, concentrated tapestry of essence particles deep below.

'So that's what Lily was talking about. It really feels like veins of some enormous being,' I silently wondered, exhausted from all the failed attempts. ‘It really was moving like a river; if only I could make a sense of which way is which...'

***

There, in the distance, I could see it—a tiny black spire soaring into the heavens. "I've made it!" I exclaimed, suddenly overcome with a mixture of joy and excitement.

It took me almost a month and countless attempts by trial and error before I was able to reliably determine the correct path based on the essence flow through the Leylines.

Strangely enough, it seemed that the majority of the Leylines in this area of the desert were pooling toward the assumed location of the Tower as if there was some enormous source of attraction pulling all the essence toward it. 'That must be the Great Labyrinth,' I thought.

Nevertheless, I was able to use this strange phenomenon to finally start heading in the right direction, and now I was here, at last.

Still, even after getting my first glimpse of the Grand Tower, it took me another week to arrive next to it - a testament to its sheer size.

Coming up to its base, I couldn't even see its peak, which disappeared somewhere inside the thick clouds above.

But the Tower was not the only thing I found. An entire city sprung up under its mighty shadow, somewhat able to prosper here despite its arid location.

The summer was about to end, but it was still a long way before the acceptance ceremony for the next batch of Aspirants would begin, but I didn't mind.

This would allow me to familiarize myself with the area and learn all the important information in advance so that I won't look like an idiot when the actual learning period begins.

Of course, I still had to pass the initial exam, but I wasn't too worried about that. Since they apparently accepted peasants without any magical prowess or education except their Talent, I figured it couldn't be that difficult to pass, given all my previous knowledge and experience.

With that, I put on a confident smile and approached what seemed like the only entrance leading inside the sprawling city beneath the Tower.