Taking deep breaths, the mana around me was blowing hard as I meditated. The intense magically charged location I was in was none other than the Holy Land. With Flor riding the Gold Steel Emperor Desert Scorpion who was taking the hive on himself, I took the time to train.
Specifically I wanted to improve my mana, previously I had gained Mana Aura through meditating in the Holy Land. Obviously, to walk in the holy land I need Mana Aura that covers my body and it went without saying that since my Intelligence and Wisdom rose the mana capacity increased.
Although I already have Basic Level 5 Mana Aura, suffice to say, it's barely enough for the more than doubled amount of mana that I have after using my stats points to increase the mental stats that drastically rose the amount.
The reason I am training it as well is to buff up my defense before reaching the new region where I will not have the protection of the guild.
Mana Aura has leveled up
Mana Aura
Basic Level 6
By covering your body with mana you can improve its defense and even the offensive power. Besides your own body you can also cover a weapon in her hands in aura like you would when coating mana directly but the aura is much stronger.
Passive: Protects you from suffocating pressure or killing intent.
Active: Improves defense and attack by 7.5%
Cost: 1% per 16 seconds
A smile momentarily appears on my face but I keep it up to obtain the most out of this. Oh right, Meditation improved my mana by 10% for 1 hour now, which is why the mana gets denser but there was another benefit of training in the Holy Land.
By training with my own mana, I am actually helping to purify and improve the quality.
After an hour I sigh and get up before walking to where the Vampiric Mosquitos are. They were many times larger now, before they were at most 60 cm in size but with the improvement of the Air quantity, even the cocoons grew but they also grew naturally and it was already long and about the size of a human child and wide.
“Drone, how much longer until the Vampiric Mosquito finishes becoming Tier 4?” I asked.
“Estimate for one or two months. Mana quantity is in the low-mid range allowing a quicker growth rate.” She replied.
My brows twitched when she was still calling it a Low quantity but i could only sigh for now and thought it was because everything was low ranked and I had only three high Quality gems as compared to the more abundant regular and Low quality.
I just sigh and nod without much else to say, the Vampiric Mosquitos are a very important bug for me since they bleed everything so fantastically but the lack of more than half of them is quite hard.
Looking over to the Lightning Bulb Beetle I didn't feel as much lack due to them being a less used race. I had the Thunderbolt Striders after all and their ability to channel lightning is much stronger. Of course, these would surpass them after this since they will have true magic.
I open the message system to Flor, [Hey, I’m coming out.]
A moment later she replied, [Alright, the emperor is free and you can come out right on top.] She said.
Opening the portal, i step out and find the portal perfectly moving with the scorpion so i step on it’s back and feel the wind on my face and quickly adjust myself to the sudden 60 mph speed.
Coming out and sitting down, the first thing I noticed is how there was no Sea sand. “Are we out of the Sandora Sand Sea?” I asked.
“Yeah, we just got out about half an hour ago. From what the Royal Knights informed us, there are around 100 to 150 kilometer depending where we came from and which direction we are following. Then there is the chance that we might be going in circles…” Flor replied.
I nod and look up at the noon sun and form the antenna, “Are you guys tired?” I asked the scorpions.
“No tired King. Weak one tired.” the emperor replied and I looked back. They were indeed quick low to the ground. “Guys, your mounts are tired, let’s switch them out.” I shouted to the others.
They all looked down but didn’t have a method to confirm it. Still the new ones soon flew out of a portal and they soon noticed that it was much higher than their own so they stepped onto the other one mid flight and the others happily returned to rest after the tiresome exercise. This wasn’t the first time of course, even the emperor had to rest a few times along the way.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The others soon flew over towards me, “So what are we going to do after we arrive at the Savanna?” Avent asked.
“Obviously, we are going our own way. Of course, how fast we move and how we search is clearly very different from the other players.” I said jokingly.
“How is that exactly?” Gelot asked.
“We will most likely arrive at night, it's currently already afternoon and we are moving at about 60 km/h. By the time we arrive, the sun would already be setting or set so to invade a savanna, where many predators are nocturnal, would be stupid but at the same time, i have a race of bugs perfect for scouting.” I replied.
We chuckled and looked at the Dark Guild. They had strength to invade but we had our own unique methods to survive this wild untamed wilderness.
“Did you guys find any information on the bases yet?” I asked.
Avent flew forward, “Yeah, the update already happened and everyone is in a frenzy to arrive first. XCom released information as well. A Base is a village that comprises a determined amount of land, there are villages of humans who have lived in these lands. The Lore is that during the initial expansion era when the nations arrived, they occupied these lands but something happened that blocked the path and these villages aren’t any more advanced than villages. That said, it was informed that there would be lots of hidden secrets throughout this and the future regions that would be tied to the Lore of the game itself.” Avent explained.
I was a bit shocked and inadvertently looked at DD who was grabbing my shoulder and holding on.
“Could my class bring about some kind of event?” I thought and DD looked at me and chuckled,
“That would be really fun.” He mumbled.
I frowned and looked at Avent, “So is there anyone who arrived in either region yet?” I asked.
“Yes, in the North, unexpectedly none of the top 3 guild succeeding taking 1st place there, the guild that showed that off was actually #12, The Witches Cult.” Avent said, “The leader is a woman that obtained a hidden female only Mage class, the Witch class. It’s super powerful and even has many unique abilities. Like she gained a grimoire where other women could convert into the class meaning the guild is made entirely of Witches and she is the Witch Queen, as people call her nowadays. One ability they have is their unique flight ability by using uniquely crafted magical broomsticks and their, more than three times stronger, magic when compared to magic classes of the same level.” Avent said with envy.
My face darkened greatly when I heard what he said.
“I heard rumors about them though. It was said that around two months ago they began a huge man hunt but stopped just before going to the north.” Orion said.
My face turned even darker and the others noticed the extremely gloomy expression below my mask.
“What’s going on?” Gelot asked.
“Originally, the Witches are the ones that wiped out the tribe that held my class.” I explained in a quiet tone only they could hear over the wind.
They all looked shocked and frowned, “Are you sure?” Flor asked.
“That is what the book explained when it told their entire history. Never tell anyone about my bug breeding class. It will lead them right to me and is probably their mission as well.” I said.
They nodded.
They move away and don’t remain bunched up in case of an attack. They had to learn how to drive the scorpions during the time they travelled. Even fighting on their backs is incredibly hard for everyone except for magic users like Orion who is a Magic Swordsman, Harm who is a Mage and Hawk who is an archer.
That said, in the Sand Worm attacks, I was able to cover a few more ships than just the primary one with the portal. As expected though, the worms couldn’t sense the movement of the scorpion and it was down to luck but other monsters could by simply seeing us but those that got close would be hit away.
As my prediction had noted, as the sun began to set, we saw it, far in the distance. Trees and grass covered the land and sand began to hold rocks and the ships slowed down until they stopped.
From the primary Royal Knight’s Ship a shout came. “People of the Dark Guild, the ships are incapable of continuing from this point. Sand is turning to rocks and dirt which is like a ship being land bound.” the loud voice shouted.
The scorpions floated around and soon I stopped near her boat and the others did a round around me as the scorpion's tails came out killing the forward thrust and slowing down to a stop.
“It seems here is where we split.” I shouted.
“Indeed, you have your own mounts so…” she sighed as she realized that we might get 1st dibs at the new region after hitching a safe ride with them. She smiled wryly but before that, I had the Drone prepare a small sack and tossed it to her. “This is for your help getting us here, I doubt we would have gotten here so fast if not for the protection of the ships.” I shouted.
The bag drew an arch and landed in her hands. Before she could call out though, I tell the Scorpions to move out and we leave them behind as we head towards the line between the Savanna and the Desert.
“Is it okay to leave like that? It’s like we hitched a ride to get here 1st?” Gelot asked.
“I compensated them rather well.” I said with a smile.
You have entered the Sandora Savanna.
* You are the first to Discover this new region.
* Your Fame has increased by 10,000
* The reward obtained from all monsters in Sadora Savanna region will increase by double for a week. (If you are the first discoverer of a dungeon, then the EXP reward obtained will overlap).
* The Guild Fame of the Guild ‘Emporium’ has increased by 100,000.
“What…” We froze as we entered the region and were actually the first and what is more, each of us had gained 10,000 fame, unlocked Fame and Infamy stats, gained the double rewards and even gained such a huge amount of Guild fame.
“Stop!” I shouted and the Scorpions stopped. “Let’s first do a thorough check of the region or else we will be seriously sorry.” I said and everyone nodded.
Stretching my hand out, four portals opened and from it, a wave of black 40 cm large pure black spiders that, in the shadows, seem to almost vanish. “Shinobi and Kunoichi! Spread out and scout, don’t be spotted or sensed! Only scout!” I exclaimed. At once, they all spread out throughout the region. “Let’s find a place to camp and draw a map.” I thought and smiled as I summoned Torturer Wasp, whose stinger kept coming in and out.
We eventually find an outcrop of rocks and through Flor’s magic manipulation we make a cave with a small vent on top and start a fire while I bring out a few light crystals to brighten the space around me and a small flat piece of wood and parchment while closing my eyes to access the Hive Mind with the antenna on my head so that I could use the Ninja Spiders to start drawing up a map and seeing what kinds of monsters exist in this region.