Chapter 125 The First Day in the Sand Sea
Sand, endless sand. They are climbing up all the time, trying to devour everything. From the gaps in clothes, from the openings of boots, from mouths, noses, ears. Before Zhao Mai and his party climbed up the sand dune, they smelled of sand all over their bodies.
The reserve grain is basically unable to walk in this environment. Its foot pads are stepping on the sand without protection, and sooner or later it will emit the aroma of barbecue. Zhao Mai stuffed it into his backpack and stayed with the flower pot. The hot environment here is too harsh a test for these two little creatures.
This will increase the load, but Zhao Mai has decided to live and die with everyone. His only current plan is to find a shelter and stay there for three months while he figures out how to dig out the car. The environment here was neither suitable for survival nor cultivation, and he did not want to stay.
Climbing up the sand dunes is very difficult. The soft sand always takes Zhao Mai on the slide, constantly trying to wrap his legs and flow downward. He stepped down hard, using most of his strength to create a sand trap, but the ascending distance was very short. Sometimes he even took one step forward but took two steps back. It was obviously only a vertical height of more than 40 meters, but it took him more than half an hour to get up.
Looking around, it's hard not to have thoughts of despair. Endless yellow sand, layers of black shadows, and countless dunes are everything on the ground. The huge sun in the pale sky emits never-ending red flames, igniting the air, constantly expanding and making strange sounds, as if it is repeating one word "die, die, die". There were no trees, no grass, nothing to move except sand and wind. The natural force here is basically oxygen in the vacuum, water droplets in the flame, Zhao Mai can't release a single spell.
Their only hope is a mountain range in the distance. Maybe it will be harsher there. No one can be sure, but there will definitely be differences there, and change means vitality. Since there is no reference object, the distance is difficult to estimate. The only thing that is certain is that it is absolutely impossible to reach it today. Zhao Mai held his knees with his hands and gasped hard with his mouth closed. Not only did he want to regain his strength, he also wanted to take this opportunity to cheer himself up. "To give up is to die." He knew this very well.
Based on the height and direction of the sun, it is assumed that the mountains are farther north in the west. In a strange world, direction, time, and season are all impossible to confirm, and one cannot use experiences from other worlds to deal with this world. But if he can communicate with the force of nature, then Zhao Mai can figure out most of the situation. This is also the purpose of his going to the mountains to take a look.
"It's over there, let's go." Zhao Mai pointed and Butcher nodded without saying a word. Both men covered their mouths and noses with strips of cloth and used hoods to shield their eyes from the sun. If possible, they use only one eye at a time, take turns opening and closing it to rest, and try to find ways to reduce the evaporation of water.
It took them an hour to climb up the sand dune, but it only took a dozen seconds to rush down. This was their rare and only happiness. After that, shake off the sand hanging on your body. There is still a long way to go and you need to walk slowly.
Zhao Mai looked at his phone as he walked. The mobile phone has a function to open the map. The map of the places you have been to is bright, the map of the places you have seen but never been is gray, and the map you don't know at all is black. Relying on the shining walking track, Zhao Mai can determine the relative position between himself and the starting point, correct the direction of travel, and avoid deviating too much when walking around the sand dunes. They can't keep climbing over the sand dunes, as that would consume too much energy. Your best bet is to follow the top of the dune, avoiding up and down movement as much as possible.
A spider the size of a fingernail emerged from the sand and chased Zhao Mai desperately, trying to hide in his shadow. It seems that even the local creatures can't stand the scorching temperatures and unforgiving sunlight. This is the first creature Zhao Mai has encountered, so naturally he will not let it go. He asked for two crossbow arrows from Butcher to use as chopsticks, and picked up the little reptile from the ground.
It has eight legs like a spider, a swollen belly, and a pair of teeth of terrifying proportions. This little thing was very aggressive and kept trying to bite the dagger Zhao Mai stretched out.
"Its bite is poisonous. Did you see the droplets on the dagger? It seeped out from its mouth." Zhao Mai turned the little thing back and forth and looked at it carefully. Although the spider was very cruel to him, Zhao Mai was still quite happy. At least he saw creatures, which meant that this was not a desolate place of death.
From the little things, you can feel the unique natural force here. If you taste it carefully, there is a very original, more elemental feeling, which is completely different from Golarion. There are many natural creatures in Golarion, so the natural force is more of a cycle and a system. This spider is used to living in isolation, and its natural force is extremely conservative, but it carries a faint aura of water element.
At this moment, a larger aura of the same kind quickly approached, and Butcher also sounded an alarm, telling Zhao Mai to be careful. The sand dunes seemed to suddenly come alive. The rolling yellow sand raised bulges and then flowed along the steep slope. In the space below, a larger spider was lurking over.
Maybe this kind of raid works for other creatures, but it has no meaning for Zhao Mai and Butcher. The food reserve also screamed and jumped out of the backpack, ready to fight.
The sand suddenly stopped shaking and then exploded. The spider, which is about the size of a crocodile, opens its mouth, and a pair of scimitar-shaped teeth cut across it. Zhao Mai stabbed downwards with the gun blade of the megalodon, piercing the monster's mouth at once and stabbing it to the ground. Butcher rushed forward and was about to cut off its head.
"Wait a minute, I have an idea, don't kill it yet!" Zhao Mai shouted: "I sense the force of nature!"
The Force of Nature exists within all living things, and this spider is no exception. Unlike Golarion, the creatures here retain more Force power in their bodies, seemingly in order to cope with the extreme natural environment here. Only when you are wealthy can you exchange more. People who are poor in the Force will naturally continue to collect and store while reducing consumption.
Zhao Mai first tried to communicate wildly with this giant spider, hoping to tame it. It is obviously more adaptable to the desert environment than people like me. If it can be used as a mount, it will definitely save a lot of energy. Even if they cannot be tamed, being able to communicate and lead everyone to find water and oases in the desert will be a life-saving move.
The spider struggled, and Zhao Mai kept trying to comfort him, but with little effect. No matter how Zhao Mai explains it, there is only one instinct in the spider's mind, and that is to hunt. It struggled harder and harder, and Butcher was almost unable to suppress it. "Whatever you're going to do, hurry up!"
There is no choice but to kill it. Butcher swung his sword and chopped off the spider's head, while the remaining part continued to tremble. Zhao Mai put his hand on the spider, and then used the method taught by Wadsworth to mobilize the natural force and perform the water-making technique. The spider kept trembling, and its body quickly shrank, and its water was sucked out by Zhao Mai.