After roughly an hour of flight and anticipation, the planet finally came into range of their scanners, revealing a visual of its surface. To Alistair's surprise, deep blue oceans covered roughly half of the planet, contrasting beautifully with the red continents. Patches of green stood out vividly along the rivers and in perfectly circular spots dotting all three continents. It was a profoundly beautiful planet from space, and Alistair's excitement grew as the images grew sharper as they approached.

"What the hell are those green dots?" Simon asked, leaning in and squinting his eyes as if it would improve his view of the screen.

"I presume they are patches of greenery," Braxik replied. "Perhaps there are craters that are filled with water, creating oases where the surrounding plants can thrive."

Riseth disrupted their theorizing with a frown. "I've got some bad news; the scanner isn't picking up any major mountain ranges, so the odds of finding strong dragon veins are rather low," Riseth reported. "The planet will probably mostly have ley lines."

Alistair clicked his tongue in frustration; this meant the planet wouldn't suffice even as a potential backup. However, as they got closer, their visuals improved, and what they had thought were oases turned out to be plateaus brimming with magical power. These plateaus transformed the earth on top and in their immediate surroundings into spirit soil, likely supporting herbs and plants that thrived in dry environments, like cacti. They decided to aim for one of the plateaus near a river for their landing site.

Reluctantly, Alistair stored Viv away, unwilling to let her roam until they had a better idea of the local beasts' strength, much to her displeasure.

As they touched down, Riseth quickly stored the Artemis, and they took in the scene around them. A reddish landscape stretched out, broken up by patches of greenery. The wind whistled softly, carrying with it the sounds of distant insects. They scanned the area for any signs of danger but sensed nothing amiss. The air was dry, yet it held a pleasant mix of floral scents and the earthy smell of soil and vegetation. The ground beneath them was a rich red hue, yet not as parched as Alistair had expected. Most notably, the mana in the air was dense and plentiful, far from the suffocating thinness of some other subspaces they had visited. While it wasn’t quite on par with Earth, the difference was subtle enough not to be a concern.

Alistair summoned King before he and Riseth took to the skies to survey the area. After a few minutes of reconnaissance, they determined that the surroundings were safe enough for now. From above, they spotted small herds of large, bison-like creatures, each with axe-blade antlers lined with sharp, spike-like protrusions along the non-edged sides, and white stripes covering their bodies. A quick identification marked them as [Kocno - lvl 57], confirming they posed no significant threat, especially since they seemed incapable of flight.

As they descended, they noticed Simon and Braxik constructing a rudimentary shelter fortified with spiked walls, using their earth magic. They were also busily setting up turrets and automata to secure the landing site. Overhead, Desily observed as King indulged in the local wildlife, effortlessly taking down one of the bison-like beasts, causing the rest to scatter. Alistair landed beside the outpost, considering their next steps.

"Let's explore the plateaus while they finish setting up," Riseth suggested.

"Should we bring King along, or let him roam on his own?" Alistair asked, watching the wyvern tear into the Kocno's carcass.

Riseth tapped her chin thoughtfully before replying, "The plateau is nearby. Have King capture a few of those beasts intact if they taste good. Then, set him to patrol the area and alert us if he comes across anything interesting."

Alistair nodded and used his Summoner skill to relay instructions to King, while Riseth communicated the plan to the others through the Akashic Link as they made their way toward the nearby plateau. As they drew closer, Alistair immediately noticed the spike in mana density. The perfectly circular plateau ahead of them harbored a dragon vein—less powerful than the one in the Study Dungeon, but potent enough to nurture the unique flora that thrived on the peculiar landscape.

The plateau, standing about 100 meters high with a circumference of roughly 2 kilometers, resembled a smaller, more overgrown version of Devils Tower on Earth. Alistair briefly wondered what had become of Devils Tower after the advent of magic, regretting not having looked it up. His musings were cut short when Riseth landed near the base of the plateau and began examining a reddish plant with pink fruit, resembling a large, thornless cactus. After a quick inspection, she plucked one of the fruits and tossed another to him.

They both tried a bite, and Alistair looked at the fruit in disbelief as it tasted like sweet bubblegum. Riseth's reaction was similar; she was surprised before she tilted her head and ate the rest.

"Definitely something we could turn into a dessert of sorts. Does your identify have a name for it?" Riseth asked before uprooting the plant and storing it in her storage.

He ate the rest of his fruit before trying to Identify one of the other plants in the area, but it also spat out [Alien Cacti].

“Might be a new discovery or just something obscure. We should gather more; Barton could probably whip up some great desserts with these,” Alistair said, examining the pink fruit.

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They continued collecting the plants, which turned out to be plentiful around the plateau. Alistair decided to call them "Gumcacti" for now. As he gathered the last few, it occurred to him that the planet itself didn’t have a name yet. He briefly considered naming it but dismissed the idea—choosing a planet’s name should be done with care, to avoid ending up with something ridiculous like ‘Bob.’

The Gumcacti plants likely didn’t hold much value beyond culinary uses, but chefs like Barton or Luca had the skill to magically enhance and refine them into higher-tier dishes. These refined creations could offer various benefits, including permanent stat increases, similar to those provided by potions. Barton, in particular, had made significant strides in this area toward the end of the trial. After discovering how to properly refine ingredients, he became adamant about improving the grade of the lomies once they settled, hoping to enhance the benefits the meat already provided. According to Barton, certain ingredients were naturally better suited for cooking magic, and the taste was often the best indicator of their potential. Despite lomie meat coming from a low-grade beast, it had proven to be a high-tier cooking ingredient, making it invaluable for their culinary endeavors.

"Did your nose pick up any nearby treasures?" Alistair asked after he collected the last of the plants, watching a cat-sized lizard flee from his presence.

Riseth had spent a significant amount of time cultivating her nose with luck essence, aiming to refine and mold the augmented body part to literally sniff out treasures. Although it had been challenging to test on the Artemis, she had undergone several iterations. She had finally managed to sniff out items Alistair had hidden around the ship for testing. Meanwhile, Alistair had immersed himself in studying the Dragonheart Manual. Despite weeks of preparation, he was still in the early stages, as the Dragonheart transformations were extraordinarily intricate. The tiny changes, molds, or rather enchantments, required all his control and focus to shape them one by one. This would be his most elaborate augmented organ by far, potentially taking months or even years to complete, depending on how much time he could dedicate to the task. He needed regular breaks, as the constant focus was draining.

"No, the range is fairly limited, but I’d wager some credits that the plateau itself holds some valuable treasures."

"I'm not betting against that," Alistair replied. "My Conceptual Awareness already picked up several intriguing concepts when we flew over it."

They took to the air, and Alistair inspected the vines and flowers growing on the side of the plateau. Although they didn't seem to possess any inherent magical properties, they looked quite appealing. He sent an image of them to Braxik to see if they were worth collecting for decorative purposes. Braxik responded negatively, explaining that he preferred using local flora in his designs and believed that architecture should be beautiful enough on its own without the risk of overgrown vines requiring maintenance or damaging structures.

Upon reaching the top, Alistair and Riseth landed on the edge and began making their way through the underbrush. Alistair immediately noticed the teal sheen of spirit soil grass, which also appeared on the odd trees as if it were moss covering the roots. He knew they could harvest spirit wood from the trees or leave them to age, allowing them to slowly increase in tier and value over time.

"These plateaus are like natural greenhouses; we might be able to use this in the future," Riseth remarked, tracing her fingers along a gnarly-looking tree brimming with mana.

Alistair nodded but had some reservations. "It all depends on where we end up settling. These plateaus are quite scattered, and we would need to set up both teleportation and defensive arrays, which would consume a significant portion of the dragon vein's output. If there are strong monsters here, it might be difficult to defend these locations with just arrays against beasts that could devour the treasures growing here."

"I guess you got a point. We can't really hide these plateaus. Did any of the others find anything of interest?" Riseth asked as she inspected a perfectly circular leaf with a red flower at its center.

Alistair figured that if they had discovered anything significant, they would have notified him, but he checked his messages anyway. To his surprise, King had sent an image of what appeared to be a giraffe-like wyvern. Alistair hadn’t known King could do that, but guessed the wyvern had somehow developed a limited version of the Akashic Link skill through his Summoner skill. On closer inspection, though, he wasn’t sure if the creature in the image was truly a pseudo-dragon. While it had front legs, its hind legs sported flaps of skin that likely functioned as secondary wings. Its face resembled a beak, with much sharper horns than a giraffe’s, and its long tail ended in bright orange feathers. The creature’s body was covered in orange and white scales patterned like a giraffe’s spots. Intrigued, Alistair sent the image to Riseth, who also found it an amusing coincidence.

"If there are enough strong beasts, we could earn a Slayer title from them," Alistair remarked. But after checking with King, the wyvern informed him that the giraffe-like pseudo-dragons were only late Grade 9 and would only pose a challenge for their weaker members.

As they looked around and walked back to the edge, Alistair spotted some of the beasts flying in the distance. He managed to identify them as [Giraffon - lvl 89]. Considering the age of the universe, these beasts were reasonably strong and could potentially grow even stronger in the future. They could also make for decent summons. He sent this information to Simon, Desily, and Braxik, knowing that most of them only had placeholder summoning contracts with weak beasts.

Simon, for instance, had a Lomie and a goat-like beast, both of which were due to reach the next grade soon. They had chosen these beasts with the intention of increasing their grade to see if the goat's fur and the Lomie's meat would improve as a result. Simon had named the Lomie 'Steve', and they had no plans to eat him. Instead, they used him as a breeder to observe any differences that might arise from the grade increase, hoping the offspring would start at a higher level. Unlike Enlightened species, most beasts did not start at level 1 when they were born, and their levels and records heavily depended on the species and records of the parents.

Riseth called Alistair over and pointed to three small, bird-like creatures perched together on a branch of one of the gnarly trees. They were quite ugly, with pale, skin-like coloration and a distinct lack of feathers covering their bodies. Feathers were only present on their wings and the tips of their overly-long tails. They had mohawk-like skin flaps, adorned with red and green patterns, which they could erect or retract. Alistair found them thoroughly unappealing, especially when one of them yawned, revealing a mouth that opened to almost half its body length.

"God, those things are ugly," Alistair remarked, and Riseth stifled a laugh.