“…Lia, turn on Dark Sense.”

“…What are we searching for?”

“Ignore all the intermediate and advanced phase Oren Beasts unless they come after us on their own. Focus only on peak phase Oren Beasts.”

“Got it.”

“…Also, don’t let Forne run around too much, or it might drag us into unwanted trouble.”

“…I will try.”

“…Yuri, prepare your Glyphs.”

“To bind, to trap, or to kill?”

“…To bind.”

“Anything else?”

“There is nothing else I can think of now… Forget it. Act as you see fit. I trust your judgement. Just try to conserve your Spirit Power as much as you can. Since only the three of us will be acting for now, you will be our last back up in case things turn sour.”

“…I will make sure nothing happens to either of you.”

“…Don’t just worry about us. Think of your own safety too,” Alnea said, before turning back to the Star Seekers standing in front of the city gates, staring at the three of them. “As for the rest of you… Just follow behind us, and see for yourself how a team should behave.”

“…Right away?”

“…In the darkness?”

“Or else? Wait until dawn so that other Wanderers can follow behind us? Why do you think I led you out of the city before dawn?”

“…Because you forgot that it was dark outside the city?”

“…Stop talking nonsense, and just follow us,” Alnea said, and rushed towards the depths of the desert before Karl could say anything else to disturb his rhythm, marvelling at the man’s intuition. Was he a Wanderer or an Oren Beast? Maybe he was using some Arcana or Martial Style to forcefully boost his instincts? If there really was such a Martial Style, then he wanted it too…

Making a mental note of the matter to ask about from his master, Alnea focussed his attention back to the darkness in front of him. This was not the Night Canyons, where they could encounter Oren Beasts every two to three hundred metres. Of course, it did not mean the number of Oren Beasts in the Black Desert was less than the number of Oren Beasts in the Night Canyons. It was just that most of the Oren Beasts in the Black Desert lived thousands of metres under the sands, coming out only in search of food.

Or for playing, if Oren Beasts even liked playing. Alnea did not know. In any case, the number of Oren Beasts roaming the desert at any given time, although not low, was not very abundant either. Not to mention the fact that the Oren Beasts of the Black Desert rarely ever roamed in groups. Most of them time, they hunted all on their own.

What Yuri had said earlier, about searching for Oren Beasts being a part of the Black Desert Trial, was not a lie. In fact, for most Wanderers, searching for Oren Beasts was often more difficult than hunting them. Thankfully, the terrain of the Black Desert was not as dangerous, or varied, as the terrains of the Night Canyons. Coupled with the low density of Oren Beasts in the desert, just walking around in search for Oren Beasts did not seem like a good idea.

Still, they could not just blindly rush into the desert either. Especially under the dark skies of dawn, enshrouding Black Desert in an eerie pitch-black darkness. Even the canyons did not used to be so dark… most of the time. So, just for the sake caution, while Cecilia ran ahead in an inverted ‘V’ formation, using Dark Sense to probe for enemies, Alnea and Yuri also spread the senses of their Spirit around them, each covering their side of the formation, while keeping an eye out for any sudden attacks from behind their backs.

Not that they needed to guard their backs. After all, they were not alone. Behind them, the seven other Star Seekers were doing their best to keep up with their pace, while keeping enough distance so as to not interfere with their actions. It was the gap of these fifty metres though, that needed to be guarded the most. A lesson that he had learned the hard way. Back then, the Shadow and Dark Earth Moles…

Focus, Alnea told himself, subduing all unnecessary thoughts to the bottom of his Heart, while urging his Aspects, getting them ready, and be on standby for his call. A call that he did not have to make until Enn’s light finally tore through the darkness, and began illuminating the black sands under his feet. After a while, when darkness had retreated completely, Alnea could not help but ask the girls to stop.

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“…Change of shifts,” Alnea said. “I will be the scout from now on. Lia, you take my position—

“It has barely been half an hour since we began running though,” Cecilia said, looking at Alnea in confusion. It was only when Alnea pointed at Enn rising from the horizon that she understood why was asking to change shifts. Still, understanding his reason did not mean that she agreed with him. “I can still use my Spirit…”

“Which will be of little to no use against the Oren Beasts hiding under the sands. You will only be able to find the Oren Beasts we can see with our eyes, which would take too much of our time. And we also have to hunt Oren Beasts with everyone else, not to mention the quota we have to complete. Unless you want to spend the night in the desert, let us just change our positions.”

“…Then do you have any solution for finding Oren Beasts hiding in the sands?”

“Won’t you see it if you let me be the scout?”

“…Fine,” Cecilia grumbled, as she changed her position with him. “I did not even want to be the scout in the first place…”

“…Alright,” Alnea said, as he reached towards the golden, black, and silverish blue thread connecting his Spirit, and his Spirit World itself, to the Origin Sea. More specifically, to his Domain within the Origin Sea. “Let’s get going.”

It was still a part of the Origin Sea though, so it did not matter.

“Seeping into the breath of all things alive…”

When he sent the summons to the Mysteries of the Origin Sea, they responded to him regardless of where the summons had come from.

“The grace of almighty in the sky…”

Travelling along his Roots, they came his Spirit World, before tearing through the barrier of the worlds, and manifesting around him.

“I call upon the Lord of Light…”

Gathering around his fingers, wrapping around it like the vines on his robe, they made their way up his shoulders, all the way up to his eyes.

“To grant me the Sense of Light…”

And from his eyes, they seeped back into his Spirit, granting him a special sense. Or rather, they gave special properties to his senses. It was as if he could see—feel everything that the light around him reacted with. Even the things up to five metres under the sands, soaking in the warmth of Enn’s light, could not escape his sight. In places like a desert, or even forests, Sense of Light was simply the perfect Arcana for scouting out his surroundings.

Or at least, it was the best Arcana that he had. When he had created the Arcana, Alnea had even thought that he might have created his first High Grade Arcana. Unfortunately, the Arcana was still flawed, putting too much burden on his senses, effectively reducing its range to just fifteen to twenty metres around him. Still, to deal with Adolescent Stage Oren Beasts, that range was enough.

Spreading his enhanced senses around him, Alnea rushed through the desert, combing every inch of the black sand along the way. Sands, reeking of rotten blood, even five metres under the ground… Just how much blood had been spilt in these lands? Just how many years had it taken to create these sands? Just…

Alnea subdued his unnecessary thoughts once again, as he used his special senses to carefully parse through the sands. Although Enn had just risen over the horizon, these sands had already begun to warm up, and shine in the senses of his Spirit. So, the places in the sands which did not light up were far too conspicuous not to notice. The hollow areas under the sands… Were they burrows? Or something else? There was only one way to find out.

Unsheathing his sword, Alnea urged his Aspects to gather around its blade, and swirl around it, creating several spiralling bands of all sorts of light, before plunging his sword right above the place where the hollow area in the sand was. Of course, his sword was not large enough to reach the hollow, but he was not trying to reach the hollow with his sword anyway. The moment he plunged his sword into the ground, the inertia, along with a little push from his side, forced the spiralling Aspects to rush towards the hollow—

Alnea pulled his sword out of the ground, and jumped back, signalling the girls to get ready—though they had already taken their stances, readying themselves for a battle, the moment he had unsheathed his sword— just as the ground before him burst apart into a fountain of sand, flying as high as five metres in the sky. It even had its own special sound effects, the screeching cry of an angry beast.

Alnea did not have the time, or the leisure to enjoy the special show though. The Oren Beasts that he had just provoked, a two metre large creature, looking like a mix between a mouse and a mole, with a strange pouch on its belly, and sharp claws that extended for more than two tenths of a metre from its paws, was eyeing him with an incomparable hatred. Understandable, considering the large wound on its back, and the fact that the beast must have been sleeping when it was hit by his Aspects. How could anyone be in a good mood after being woken from their sleep with a sneak attack?

It was just that… Why was the first beast he encountered in the Black Desert a Greedy Sand Mole? He was not afraid of the beast itself. Judging from the size of its tail, less than a metre in length, the beast was probably only at the advance phase of its Adolescent Stage. Maybe at the peak phase at best, if he counted some fortuitous encounters for the beast. That was still not enough to make him worry. But Greedy Sand Mole…

One of the most cunning and vicious Oren Beasts that could be found in deserts, Greedy Sand Moles, thought to be descendants of the Greedy Mouse, were not too much of a threat themselves. As suspected descendants of the Greedy Mouse though, they put their greed above everything else. Even their lives. Him attacking its lair, where it had probably kept all its treasures…

Before Alnea could recall more about the beast, and think of ways to counter it, the mole let out a screeching cry, and spat at him. Alnea, of course, easily dodged the mole’s spit, but it did not matter. The mole’s spit was just the cover. The true attack was the silent wave the beast had released, seeping into his body the moment he dodged the spit. The mole’s Innate Ability of marking something with its life.

“…Perdia’s boots…”