CHAPTER 158: LOOKING AROUND THE DESOLATE LAND

While KiRA reached the city earlier, he had to go through various security checks on the airport.

Even with the documents given by Ziggy, the security here was much tighter than back home.

The procedure wasn’t that complicated so KiRA played along for the time being. And thanks to his connections within the association, the process was completed soon.

[{ They’re being too careful with these things, master. Why do they do this? }]

When they reached their accommodation, the hotel room they had booked in advance, Unity became curious about all the things that they had gone through.

The city itself did not have a great population. In fact, even though the entire structure here was similar to the middle eastern countries with the high buildings and clean streets, the place did not have a great population.

The city itself was located by an oasis, a rare water-source that had appeared alongside the tower and the great desert.

The pool of water contained rich minerals and healing properties, making it the best base for the potion materials.

However, the association was not harvesting the water of this oasis on a large scale just yet.

They were perhaps waiting till the players had more experience or till they got their classes.

Working with precious materials like these was much better when you had an appropriate class.

Even KiRA did not want to obtain this water for the time being. The goal for his visit this time was the desert.

"You see, Uni. Thanks to the dangerous desert that has many strong monsters, the association fears the loss of players that come here just to go out in that field.

Many of them go out there without any proper permit or licence, like illegally entering a territory you might not even survive in.

You know how it is in these kinds of fields, right? The danger is too great and the association doesn’t want to lose the potentially good players. So, they do these strict checkups."

There was only one way to come all the way here, with an aircraft. Only the authorised aircrafts had permission to approach these lands, so if one wanted to come here, they would have to come through a certain aerial channel.

There is a great barrier placed around the desert borders to prevent even the smaller monsters from coming out. It is a system restriction so the players have no say in this.

Unless they go through the only available channels that the association has secured, the only way inside the desert is through the rough cracks present all around the border edge.

’But people still try to sneak inside the desert for the great treasures and profits that the vast field contains.’

The monsters may be stronger out there but there were better rewards for taking them down. The coins that one gets from them, especially, is a great amount.

"Anyways, we should wash up and get ready. We will be going out there tomorrow morning which means we only have a little time to look around the city."

"Viii~!" (Yes~!)

The oasis by the last remaining city in this entire region was the only reason the monsters that do manage to slip out of the barriers don’t approach the city directly.

They go to the lake for even a drop of water.

"I’m also hungry so let’s try some street food while we’re looking around as well."

The beings that live in the desert had adapted to the harsh heat and the dryness that’s present all around there. But that did not mean they lived without water.

There were different sources of water within the desert as well, and all beings craved these sources.

The fight amongst the monsters for even a gulp of water was sometimes a sight that would need to be documented.

And, the oasis was simply too attractive to the thirsty monsters.

For this city, for Radion, the oasis was not only a source of sustainability but also a protective barrier that guarded it from the threats that had overthrown every other nation around this part of the continent.

"Let’s go look around this place now." KiRA freshened up quickly and got ready to get out into the city while wearing a white robe that matched the social dress code of the city.

There were mostly common people here with the player population being 12% of the total population.

Most of the players were here from different parts of the world, all trying to earn the permit to go into the desert from the association.

KiRA was able to skip the standard process thanks to Ziggy’s request, so he wasn’t going to suffer like the majority of the players who were maintaining their ethical boundaries.

Aside from the foreigners here, the city was filled with association individuals as well as different military and authoritative forces of the world.

The city was a strategic hub for the association and there were many things happening here in the name of ’official’ work.

KiRA knew the shady things the association was doing underneath this city since he already read the confidential reports that Ziggy was able to get his hands on.

There were different lab projects happening under this city that were more than just some research work.

They were using different creatures, alive and dead, even monsters of different levels to test out different things.

They were seeing what the monsters were capable of, seeing how the different levels affected their strengths, stats and body structures.

The projects that were happening underground were still shrouded in mystery with not even KiRA knowing the true extent they were going to, but these were pretty common things among the growing civilizations.

As someone who had cleared the Tower of Beginning, he already knew how the different civilizations react when faced with different situations.

There were different things that the different species of the tower had done when the tower first invaded their worlds.

It is said that the elves who lived in a utopian land could not bare seeing the deaths that were happening because of the tower’s cruel nature and thus learned how to wield weapons and spirit magic.

The dwarves did not always create weapons and artifacts. They did not always possess a deep thirst for creation... It was a response that developed after they realised they could not go against the tower with just their tiny bodies and relatively stronger bodies.

The orcs were taller and stronger than them, the elves knew magic and were favored by nature, so the dwarves focused on the natural resources of the tower instead.

The different special chose different routes and their answer to survive against the tower were different. For humans, it has always been adoption and learning.

They were nothing like any other race, or possessed favors or blessings form any of the natural elements.

Humans know how to build structures like the Trolls do, if they train for long enough, they could become strong enough to contend against an Orc, with their weapons, they might even defeat one in a one-on-one fight.

Their powers aren’t limited to a specific aspect of life. Their biggest strength is their adeptability... slimes might even pale in front of the humans when it comes to adapting to different scenarios simply for the sake of survival.

’Living is what matters, huh?’

As KiRA looked around himself, at the high buildings that were mostly turned into hotels for the foreigners, there were things that came to his mind, things that he did not think much about over the last few months.

’It’s... not that bad.’

Things were still not that bad for them.

They were on the 4th floor now and they were already developing different magical things with the knowledge and resources available on the lower floors.

The other races did not have the literature that would popularise the concept of towers and powers or skills or systems.

Humans were the only ones who had folklores, stories, and an imagination that had brought them this far.

"Mmmm~."

The street food that he was eating right now was made from monster meat, something that was getting popular in their part of the world as well.

The monsters were edible once cured and prepared well. Even though a street vendor had made it, the taste, the texture, and even the fragrance was similar to what he used to eat within the tower.

It was a good feat for him, a nostalgic one for sure as well.

"Hmm... we should be good to go now, right?"

He was in deep thought just a moment ago, thinking how they ere going to find the runes and how they were supposed to do anything at all against the monsters that were just too strong for them right now.

If he made the wrong choice anywhere within his strategies when fighting against the stronger monsters, he knew there would be severe consequences.

He did not want any of that, so he was ready to do things that wouldn’t be appreciated by his family... but survival was the top priority in that desert hell.

[{ Don’t worry, master~. I’ll protect you~. }]

"That much I know already."

With Unity by his side, he should not have to worry about most of the things like the heat and the desert curses.

But still, he was being cautious as he always does.

Things going wrong wasn’t something he was looking forward to in these dunes of hot death...

"Alright then."

The rest that he was going to get this night won’t be much. And since he was here, he needed to call his family as well.

Or else he will be facing greater consequences for forgetting that.