To my disappointment, devour does not activate, maybe the ant wasn't strong enough. Other than it destroying my magic items, it wasn't really that much of a challenge. My next thought is to make some new weapons and armor out of it, but I am disappointed again.

The ant's body may make strong materials, but for some reason it has no mana capacity. Meaning that I can't enchant it at all, which is something that shouldn't be possible. Even normal items have at least a little mana capacity, all living things do.

At least all the things in this world do, the ones that I have seen so far anyway. This desert just keeps getting more and more mysterious, it is annoying. I need to go back and ask the soldiers some questions, but I also need to do some experiments.

Grabbing the ant's corpse and dragging it behind me, I head for the nearest outpost. I am guessing that the patrol spread the word about me because the soldiers in the outpost don't seem hostile. They are alert, but they are not getting ready for a fight and as I get close the gates open.

Since the soldiers don't really worry me, I go ahead and drag the ant through the gates. The outpost is a small fort, the main building is stone but the rest and the walls are wood. All the soldiers are staring at me, but they seem to mostly be curious.

Outpost Commander says "Welcome. May I please verify the medallion?"

Taking out the medallion I dangle it from one claw so that he can see it. However, he only gives it a quick glance before turning to stare intently at the ant's corpse. I'm not sure why, but from the look on his face he is seeing something that he doesn't like.

Outpost Commander says "Why is it so big? We've never encountered one that big! Wait, don't tell me you killed it in the desert?!"

"Um, yeah, I did. I took its core and heart, but hopefully what's left is still useful to you. The emperor said that you needed corpses for research."

Outpost Commander says "Ah, yes it will still be useful. How did you manage to kill it in the desert? We have never been able to even hurt them?"

"So, you have fought them in the desert? Good, I have some questions. As to how I killed it, I used brute force. I am not human."

Outpost Commander says "Ah, right. What questions? I will answer anything that I can."

"First, when you kill the beasts outside of the desert, does the desert retreat? When the beasts win, how far does the desert advance?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Outpost Commander says "No. We have never seen the desert retreat. When the beasts win, an entire area will be consumed. Several miles at least."

"Alright. Second, have you run into the problem of magic items shattering on contact?"

Outpost Commander says "Yes, but only when we fight them in the desert. That is part of why we only fight them when they come out."

"I wish I had known about that ahead of time. Oh well. So, when I killed this thing the desert seemed to retreat by about a foot. Third question, have you noticed that the materials from the bodies cannot contain any mana?"

Outpost Commander says "The desert retreated? Seriously?! Um, no. The materials from the ones we kill outside the desert are perfectly normal. Do you plan to kill more inside the desert?"

"Yes, I do. My curiosity isn't satisfied yet."

Outpost Commander says "In that case, we will mark the current edge of the desert. If it does move we will be able to verify it and measure the movement. This kind of information will be very important for the empire."

"That works for me. I will bring back the corpses of anything I kill. Although, the cores and hearts will be gone."

Outpost Commander says "That's fine. We can still learn a lot from the rest of the bodies."

"Alright, I will be back in a bit."

Leaving the ant's corpse there, I leave the outpost and head back into the desert. I walk until I can no longer see the outpost of the edge of the desert. Now it is time for some experimenting, so I spread out my mana and search the area.

According to the scan, there is nothing near me but the sand, but I don't fully trust it. There is no way that this is just common sand, somehow it is hiding from my scans. The first experiment I want to try is burning the sand to see what happens.

So, I take a deep breath and then unleash my flames upon the sands in front of me. The sand quickly turns molten and starts bubbling, but I hear a faint scream. Looking closely, I spot a tiny worm writhing within the center of the molten area.

Even now that I can see it with my eyes, my mana scan says that there is nothing there. It is far too small for me to pick it up in my current form and as I watch, it soon dies. As soon as it dies my mana scan can suddenly spot it, but there is no mana within it.

At the same time, I also spot two beasts heading towards me from different directions. One is an ant, but I can't tell yet what the other one is, it will need to get closer. At first I think I am going to have to fight both beasts at once, but the second beast is moving much faster.

It only takes a minute before the beast comes within sight, it is a giant scorpion. I should have about two minutes before the ant catches up, I need to kill the scorpion before then. If I can help it, I don't want to have to fight both of them at once.

The scorpion charges straight at me, but luckily I have fought similar beasts before. As soon as it is close enough to me, the scorpion lashes out with its pincers. I rear back on my hind legs and lift my torso out of the way, but my eyes stay on the tail.

As expected, halfway through the attack with the pincers, the tail lashes towards me. However, that is what I was waiting for and I lash out with my claws in response. Instead of trying to block the tail, my hits redirect it straight down into the top of the scorpion's head.

1 Empowered Great Scorpion defeated! 250,000 Exp gained!

While the scorpion is probably immune to its own venom, it isn't immune to its own stinger. Considering the stinger itself is three feet long and has a needle-like point, it does plenty of damage. Despite the armor on the scorpion's head, the stinger went through it like it was paper.