Ventus powered the sandboard to go as fast as it could, while also executing his technique to maintain his mana level at its highest at all times, of course, he only did so because there was no danger at the moment, and as such, he could afford dual tasking.

As he travelled and left waves of sand and clouds of golden clouds rising behind him, he took the opportunity to improve his control over the board as well as practising how to better ride the board with less effort and with the ability to better manoeuvre amidst the sand.

He would jump, twist, turn, rotate, flip and sway whilst riding the board. As the minutes passed he got better and more fluid at controlling the board, his control over it rose in the same ratio that his mana usage was reduced even further as his finesse and practice improved.

In the end, he even stopped executing the whirlwind revolution and rode the board till he mana was almost completely emptied again. Thanks to the optimization of his mana usage as well as his reduction in the size of the board from the previous 2 meters to 1.5 meters, he was able to ride the board at full speed for twelve full hours. His understanding of the earth element and its applications increased as well, and somehow, he felt as if his affinity with the earth had improved as he felt himself closer to the earth.

Apparently, he rode for so long that and so far that when he finally stopped to actually rest the sun had moved in the sky and dusk arrived. The sun was setting down and the moon was already in the sight in the azure heavenly dome above. The sky looked ever so beautiful as it darkened, the stars covered the sky as the deep blue filled the scenery. Strangely, even as the night came, the golden sand that he thought was just regular sand being brightly illuminated by the sun continued glowing with golden light, retaining their metallic sheen.

Ventus had stopped at a flatter land than the rest of the desert and so he decided that it was a good spot for him to rest and recover. He laid down on the golden sand and used the sandboard he earlier reduced in size as a makeshift pillow, and to maintain the constant mana flow he connected mana threads on his hands to the board to guarantee it wouldn't be unmade whilst he slept. The tracking device he was given before he entered the portal also had the function of showing time, and before he fell asleep, he saw that it was around 9:00 PM.

As he was accustomed to waking up early with little rest he ended up sleeping up until the clock showed 3:00 AM. He yawned and stretch as he was still laid down on the soft sand, he noticed that he didn't feel cold at all and attributed that to the desert's never-ending heat and the sands absorption of said energy.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He stood up and watched the still dark sky. It was still as beautiful as it was before he fell asleep, he admired the sky for a bit and after that, he contracted his mana strings pulling the sandboard to him before jumping on it and riding away.

He decided he wouldn't search for the king viper just yet as he knew he would need extensive planning to face it and its underlings. So, he would first undertake the easier task, finding the Corona Cactus and acquire Its flower. But as his plans crossed his mind, he immediately found himself stumped. How was he to find a cactus in the midst of this endless desert? he had no idea what it looked like as he had never seen a cactus in his life before.

He kept riding straight for three hours at full speed before he finally found a change in scenery, surprisingly, he discovered a totally sandless spot surrounded by dunes. It had a dark brown color and it seemed very fertile as it had dozens of tiny green plants filled with spikes and beautiful white, purple and/or red flowers above them.

This place emitted a pleasant fragrant smell that made Ventus feel relaxed, renewed, reenergized and also made him experience a sort of renewal within him. He felt as if his very cells began to breathe fast just so that they could absorb more of the sweet and vigorous aroma emitted by these strange plants.

Since he had not seen any sort of plant life forms in the desert beside the ones before him, he figured that these had to be specimens of the cactus plant he was supposed to find. He used his mana threads to stick the board to his back as he stepped on to the new land, Immediately he was astounded as the land felt soft and slightly caved in when he stepped on it.

"Now, how do I find the flower of the corona cactus?" he murmured, "Apparently, considering its name, the corona cactus has to be the "crown" cactus, the "king" amongst these plants."

"There must be some kind of specific trait or perhaps an aura or even some distinct fragrance or characteristic that must discern the "king" from the "commoners" right?"

He began to walk to slowly walk amongst the plants and carefully felt their scent, but, he found no difference between the smell of any of them. He then began to look carefully at every single one of the exactly 74 cactus plants on the dark brown patch of earth, and to his dismay, he found no discernible characteristics amongst them.

"Ah damn, even though the sun has risen allowing me to fully see this place, I still can't find anything that shows me exactly which one of them is the one I should take the flower from! And to make it all worse, these bloody things have only a single flower on then, so when I find the corona cactus, sure enough I'll probably face Luna in combat since she'll want to pass as well and she'll need to take the flower from me to do so!"

"Ugh what a pain!" he whined as he held his head between his hands.