Day of departure.
Altaïr, clad in a sandproof cloak with a face scarf tied securely, first helped the Professor, Erik, and Isis mount the woolly camels before climbing up himself using the stirrups along the camel's side.
To balance the weight and facilitate protection, he would share one camel with Erik while the Professor and Isis rode the other.
With a shout from him, the two woolly camels began moving, setting off on their journey.
Altaïr stroked the camel's hump before him, feeling a surge of excitement. It had been nearly ten years since he last rode a woolly camel after that night.
This brought back memories of when he was very young, being lifted onto a camel by elders of his tribe for migration journeys.
Erik, seated between the woolly camel's neck and hump, looked around with wide-eyed curiosity.
He had ridden horses before but never a camel, let alone such a rare woolly camel.
These large creatures moved with a slow rhythm but enormous strides. When they gradually picked up speed, they could reach about fifteen kilometers per hour.
In the difficult desert terrain, this was considered quite an impressive speed.
Actually, compared to speed, the greatest advantages of riding woolly camels were their endurance and stability.
Besides the riders, the two woolly camels each carried luggage weighing over a hundred kilograms.
Given their size, these supply-filled crates didn't appear as burdens but more like decorations, completely unable to affect their walking stability.
The sensation of sitting on their backs felt less like riding an animal and more like being on a boat, slow undulations without any sense of bumpiness.
After traveling like this for over fifteen minutes, the oasis containing Val Habar gradually disappeared from their view.
Erik's gaze gradually grew dull. This wasn't quite the journey he had imagined.
His imagined desert journey: dung beetles pushing dung balls, swift desert lizards darting past their feet, Konchu rolling everywhere, Apceros and Genprey fighting over territory, when suddenly a pack of Genprey would charge in for a brutal hunt.
The actual desert journey: before them, beneath them, and behind them, aside from some brittle Gobi stones, there was only coarse yellow sand.
He couldn't help turning back to ask Altaïr when they might encounter those fascinating desert creatures.
Altaïr felt somewhat speechless hearing his description. "Most areas of the desert are dead lands where you won't even see insects. Some of what you mentioned might exist in oases, but oases aren't true forests, the creature density isn't that high."
"If you think it's too peaceful, wait a few days. When we reach the depths of the sand sea, the desert will become lively, hehehehe."
Altaïr's laughter sounded rather eerie, but Erik didn't feel afraid. Instead, he turned around excitedly. "The depths of the sand sea? Become lively?"
"Ohhh! I know! You're talking about schools of Delex and Cephalos, right?"
"Do we really have a chance to see groups of Delex and Cephalos? And the legendary Jhen Mohran? Will we have a chance to see it? Is there any way to attract it?"
Seeing that he couldn't intimidate the stubborn child and instead got bombarded with questions, Altaïr's expression turned resigned.
"Don't even think about it. Jhen Mohran isn't a creature that appears so casually. As for Delex and Cephalos, we'll try to avoid areas where they gather."
"It'd be fine if it were just Isis and me, but if you get snatched by monsters, Guildmarm Sophia would roast me alive."
"But–"
"Let's play chess." Not giving Erik a chance to say more, Altaïr pulled out a small chessboard from the camel's side bag and placed it on the hump.
Thanks to the woolly camel's steady gait, nomads often used the hump as a table for eating, brewing tea, and even crafting. Playing chess was naturally no problem.
On another nearby woolly camel, Isis had laid out pine nuts and other small snacks on the hump, poking the Professor in front of her.
"Professor, would you like some snacks?"
The Professor, who had been holding a scroll of books, turned around and looked at the snacks on the hump. He initially wanted to scold her, but meeting Isis's expectant gaze, his reprimand ultimately remained unspoken.
Your parents had big appetites, but they weren't this greedy for snacks, were they?
Sighing silently, the Professor symbolically took two pine nuts. "You eat them yourself."
Just as Altaïr had said, with the woolly camels as transport, what should have been a arduous desert journey became quite relaxed and pleasant.
Almost too pleasant. Isis had been snacking all day without finding an opportunity to move around, feeling somewhat bloated, while Altaïr himself felt restless.
Woolly camels weren't like Aptonoth pulling sand sleds, they were much faster. He couldn't exercise with weights while walking alongside them like he did on the way to Val Habar, so he had to wait until they made camp at night to spend two hours moving his limbs.
—--
At night, the group set up camp in a rocky beach area full of bizarre stones.
After dinner, Altaïr informed the Professor and took his Iron Gospel to practice basic swings nearby.
This training wasn't just for honing sword skills, it also greatly benefited physical conditioning.
Isis joined him.
Her weapon for this trip was the Defender Gunlance; she hadn't brought her Bone Shotel, so she had no tool to practice basic swings with.
At first, she borrowed Altaïr's scabbard, thinking she could make do with it for practice. Unfortunately, the scabbard was too light and provided no resistance. She ended up using her Gunlance for basic swings instead.
Her clumsy form gave Altaïr a headache. I'm practicing basic swings because I've just started using Long Swords. You're planning to switch to Gunlance, why are you drilling this so intensely?
When asked, she said it had become a habit after years of Long Sword training.
Helpless, Altaïr could only remind her that Gunlance and Long Sword, being completely different weapons, used different muscle groups. She should focus on practicing basic Gunlance movements instead.
Only then did Isis realize her mistake. She quickly picked up her large shield, assumed a standard stance holding the shield, and began practicing Thrusts, upward sweeps, and downward smashes with her Gunlance in one hand.
The nearly meter-long steel blade at the lance tip cut through the air with "whooshing" sounds, catching the attention of the Professor, who had been reading by the campfire.
As a field scholar who frequently worked outdoors, he had collaborated with no fewer than a hundred hunters, many of whom were Gunlance users.
But those Gunlance users most frequently practice the thrust in their daily training. After all, lowering their center of gravity and clamping the Gunlance handle under their armpit in a thrusting motion is also the anti-impact posture when firing the cannon.
The attack cycle alternating between thrusts and cannon fire is the most commonly used combat method for the majority of Gunlance users. It's quite rare to see a Gunlance user like Isis who primarily relies on swinging attacks.
If you're so fond of slashing, why not use a Long Sword or Great Sword instead?
"Huh?" Erik, who had been staring blankly at the campfire, suddenly lifted his head.
"What is it?" The Professor withdrew his gaze and looked at the young man.
He knew his young disciple had keen senses, he must have noticed something.
"I think I heard... the sound of mosquitoes?" Erik said uncertainly.
"Mosquitoes?" The Professor's first thought was that Erik must have misheard. There wasn't even a small pond nearby, so where would mosquitoes come from? But then he realized something.
"You two, stop! Quiet!" he raised his voice and called out to the two hunters who were vigorously swinging their weapons.
Altaïr and Isis stopped their movements, puzzled. The surroundings fell silent, leaving only the faint crackling of the campfire.
"Bzzz..." An unpleasant, faint buzzing sound reached their ears.
"Just as I thought, it's Vespoids." The Professor stood up.
The reason they weren't taking the convenient Airship but insisted on traveling by land to Sun Worship Town was to investigate along the way whether the desert Vespoids had undergone some abnormal changes.
He hadn't expected to be so lucky as to make a discovery on the very first night.
"Follow me!" The Professor showed no hesitation, jogging briskly in the direction from which the erratic sound was coming.
Erik followed excitedly, while Isis and Altaïr exchanged a glance before quickly catching up.
Their duties on this trip weren't limited to guiding, they were also acting as guards.
After chasing the sound for several dozen meters, it suddenly went quiet. But relying on his extensive experience, the Professor located the brownish-yellow insect clinging to the wall inside a narrow nearby cave.
It looked like a mosquito, but its size was hundreds, if not thousands, of times larger than an ordinary mosquito?
Even with its wings folded, its body length alone exceeded one meter.
"It's a bit small," the Professor muttered to himself. "Do desert Vespoids really suffer from malnutrition so easily?"