The sun began to dip below the horizon causing temperatures to plummet. Even though the cloak Keith wore was thick and prepared specifically for this change, he still shivered. Goosebumps began to dot his arms.

  ‘Damn, I should have prepared better. Even a small fire would’ve been helpful instead of having to suffer throughout the night waiting for dawn.’

  There was no excuse. He should’ve thought about such a situation and brought kindling and some branches from the oasis. It was common sense to do so when the weather would change drastically at night. Maybe he was stressed? Perhaps it caused him to make rash decisions. Either way, he would have to live with the choices he made; there was no reason to dwell upon past mistakes as long as he learned from them.

  Observing his surroundings, there was no place that was safe, so he chose to continue to trek onwards. There were a few outcrops of rock. Occasionally there was a crevice, or small cavern that was probably the home of some beast. Otherwise, there were only sandy dunes around him. But it wasn’t the same as the sand of Earth. These types had multiple colors, each signifying a different effect. Brown sand was the standard of the Kavala Wastelands; it didn’t do much and gave stable footing as if it was paved ground.

  When it was different colors, then it became more difficult. If the sand was reddish-gold, it was extremely flammable. Although he didn’t know why, but something in it made this type of sand explosive. During the day, walking on it was like walking on embers, even with armored boots it was painful and tiring to traverse through.

  White sand didn’t do much; however, it was extremely finely grounded like flour used for cooking. When the wind blew the sand created a dust storm, it would cause disorientation. Novice adventurers would not be able to tell left from right, and they would be blinded. The sand also stung the skin. While it didn’t seem like much, for new adventurers at the E-Rank it could be deadly if they got into a fight. The inhabitants of this realm, unlike adventurers, were adapted to this phenomenon since they lived here and the environment posed little threat to them. But, these two types of sand were not the worst. There was one more; the turquoise colored sand was the deadliest. It released a scent into the air that dulled the senses and was like a tonic to the beasts of this world. Adventurers would be weakened, whereas the beasts would be strengthened. All too often, this type of sand was what caused a parties death.

  Keith had seen many newbies annihilated because they didn’t gather information about the Kavala Wastelands. They thought that since it was an E-Rank Realm, they would not die. This type of thinking was the reason most parties could not advance past D-Rank, they did not have any cautionary thoughts.

  The Hunters Association refused to let anyone advance to C-Rank no matter how talented they were until that person or party learned that they weren’t invincible. As such, nearly seventy percent of all parties were made up of D and E Rank parties. The other twenty percent was C-Ranks to A-Rank. The final ten percent was S to SSS Rank.

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  It would usually take a near death experience before someone would learn their lesson. If they didn’t die, they would benefit from their ego’s being crushed, and eventually they would be able to advance to C-Rank if they didn’t become cowards.

  Luckily, Keith knew this lesson well. Even if he was not even a true adventurer, or as they were called by the Hunter’s Association, Hunters, he still knew not to be arrogant. He’d seen far too many times the outcome of someone who thought they knew everything. There were three outcomes.

  First, they die. Second, they barely survive but are physically or mentally handicapped from the experience. Or there is the third outcome, which has the lowest chance to occur. These people survived, even if they were permanently crippled. These people changed not just physically, even their personalities would seem different. These were the few people that learned from having their ego’s crushed. They would have a future, and surely advance to C-Rank and beyond if they chose to stay as a Hunter.

  Trekking onwards, Keith climbed a sandy dune. Off in the distance, from what he remembered there should be another oasis along the river. He was using the river as a landmark to travel back to the gateway to Earth. At the rate he was going, it would take four to five days to reach the gateway.

  Once he climbed over the sand dune, as he expected there was the oasis roughly eight-hundred meters away. Once he arrived there he would be able to rest for the night. The Kavala Wastelands was sinking into twilight. It wasn’t quite night time, yet the sun had set and two moons were rising into the sky.

  The moment he started to head towards the oasis, Keith felt a sense of foreboding. There was no reason for it. He could never explain it, however whenever he had such a feeling, something will happen. The last time he felt this way, his group was ambushed by the Sand Wolves, and he was thrown away resulting in his current situation.

  Brandishing his weapon, Keith’s eyes darted left and right. He looked up and scanned the sky then he looked at the ground. The sand was brown; he didn’t have to worry too much about it. He would have stable footing. However, when he looked into the distance it was a vast expanse of white. Even if he walked it would still kick up a dust storm. If he were to fight there, he would be at a serious disadvantage. He would essentially be blinded. The beasts of this realm would be able to rely on their superior senses of hearing and smell.

  Keith didn’t lower his weapon despite not seeing anything. Even if he couldn’t see anything, it didn’t mean he was out of danger. It might be foolish, but so far his “Gut” feeling had never been wrong yet. Picking up his pace slightly, Keith stepped out onto the vast expanse of white sand, almost immediately small clouds of dust gathered at his feet as they sunk into the earth. Unlike the packed down brown sand, there was no stable footing here.

  Resolving himself to pick up his pace even more, Keith coughed slightly as he travelled through the white sand. Dust clouds gathered around him. When he was roughly two hundred meters from an oasis was when he heard it. Off in the distance, there was the sound of Sand Wolves. He had been tracked.