Bear School Astartes

The glaring sun hung high in the sky, the air over the sand distorted by the heat.

Even the air inhaled into one’s nose and windpipe carried the heat that dried out moisture.

Rong Buqiu had barely stepped onto the sand when he quickly lifted his furry hind paws, hopping on the sand.

As he hopped, he pulled out a small cloak suitable for his size from his spatial expansion bag and deftly covered himself.

In this environment, if armor directly exposed itself to the sun’s rays, you could fry meat on it after a while.

Belengar, dripping wet from head to toe, was relatively comfortable at this time, but the Old Demon Hunter estimated that the water on him would dry up within an hour in these conditions.

Lann came over last, and as he arrived, the pressure disturbed by the Celestial Sphere Convergence Rift and the swirling dust settled.

"Is this the Otherworld?"

Tishaya, a Warlock who would use the Teleportation Technique as a carriage if she could, felt only mild dizziness.

The desert was unimpressive, yet she gazed in wonder at the towering, rock-like Great Ant Mounds standing over the sandy sea.

"Welcome to the New Continent."

In his role as specially recruited hunter for the Fifth Period Team of the New Continent Expedition Team, Lann spoke with a half-local tone to Tishaya and Belengar.

"Believe me, there’s no place more exhilarating than this."

"You mean it’s good for a vacation?" Tishaya frowned slightly, "But the weather is too hot, and the desert is quite barren."

"This is a New Continent, Tishaya. What’s the concept of a continent?" Lann spread his hands, smiling, "The desert is just one corner of this continent."

"And you say other things, I don’t care, but if you say the ecology here is ’barren’... Tsk tsk tsk."

The young Demon Hunter clicked his tongue, his disapproval evident along with his amused observation.

Tishaya raised an eyebrow, "This is a desert."

Lann responded firmly and confidently, "This is the New Continent’s desert."

"Alright, alright." Belengar tried to spread out his wet clothes to quickly dry in the environment, "We’ll discuss barren later, right now it’s too hot; how about finding a path?"

Lann naturally agreed.

Suddenly falling into a desert environment would be enough to kill ordinary people.

But this place is different.

The life force of the New Continent is far more abundant than the normal world.

Although the Great Ant Mound Wasteland appears to be a desert and wasteland, the New Continent’s flourishing life force should not allow such natural environments to exist.

According to the research by the elders at the Ecological Research Institute of the New Continent Expedition Team, this might be because the excessively strong life force on the New Continent creates temporary accumulation and blockage during its circulation, forming this environment.

In other places, deserts form due to natural environmental evolution, but the wastelands on the New Continent are essentially ’unnatural.’

Because they are unnatural, the natural and ecological resources of the Great Ant Mound Wasteland show no sign of becoming impoverished.

There are plenty of rivers and marshes in the Great Ant Mound Wasteland.

Now, humans on the New Continent are basically specialists from the Expedition Team. If they encounter accidents due to the natural environment in this desert, it might be the more difficult thing.

"Mentos, start adjusting the time and determining location."

"In progress, sir."

Mentos had already begun his work the moment Lann stepped onto the New Continent.

Working in his mind alongside the biochemical brain, Lann also asked the Qilin nearby.

"Which direction is the Land Coral Plateau, can you sense it?"

Advancing measurement progress using the computing power of the biochemical brain, Lann was also gathering more information to ease measurement difficulty.

At this point, the Qilin appeared quite comfortable; its species was naturally highly adaptive, with sightings of Qilin activities recorded in volcanoes, ice fields, mountains, and basins.

With its advantageous Ancient Dragon Species physique, it adapted well to the desert.

"Pfrf~"

The Qilin’s moist nostrils expelled two streams of air, its hooves hesitating on the sand for a few seconds.

Then extending its neck, its nearing fully-grown azure horn pointed in a direction.

Having been born in the New Continent and lived in the Land Coral Plateau before meeting Lann, the terrestrial seaweed there was its favorite.

It was familiar with the electromagnetic environment of that place, enough to recognize it even upon its return.

With a rough direction as a reference, Lann quickly teamed up with Mentos to establish the current time and regional range of the New Continent.

"I have a general idea now." Lann took the large backpack off Belengar’s back, placed it into the Qilin’s spatial expansion saddlebag, and beckoned everyone along.

"This way, where I recall an Expedition Team set up a camp nearby. Given the New Continent’s shortage of manpower, existing camps aren’t abandoned easily."

This camp was constructed for a large-scale operation to stop the Molten Mountain Dragon, not far from the valley where the battle took place.

If Lann wasn’t mistaken, what they were about to find might not just be a small camp; it could even be a large facility established by the New Continent Expedition Team.

Under Lann’s confident guidance, the group began trudging through the desert.

Tishaya and Belengar were genuine Northern People; they could count the times they had seen a desert on one hand. Naturally, they couldn’t adapt to walking on the desert.

But just as Lann had confidently described to them earlier, after walking three to four hours in the seemingly barren desert, they heard the sound of trickling water.

Though it was expected, Tishaya and Belengar were still a bit surprised.

Because if they weren’t incredibly lucky to have landed at the very edge of a desert, it would mean this desert truly had water veins flowing across and crisscrossing through it.

Water veins in the desert... how curious.

Indeed, as the sound of flowing water became clearer, the fine sand beneath their feet also became increasingly compacted.

Gradually, it turned from sand into dry earth, and then into common soil with moisture.

Rong Buqiu was very happy, even though it usually had an optimistic and diligent personality.

But after returning ’home,’ it had already planned to find its two friends from the Thief Adventurer Group it had once formed.

The Qilin felt the same, but it yearned for the land seaweed of the Land Coral Plateau.

As for that Golden Lion that broke and gnawed on its Qilin azure horn...

Hey! That guy, now without a tail and unable to control its own energy, is probably already dead from its own rampant energy!

That irritable fellow deserves a short life!

The Qilin thought smugly, after all, it had put in great effort to chop off that guy’s tail back then.

As it thought about this, the Qilin’s simple emotions were reflected in its actions, as all four of its hooves bounced as if dancing.

But the others weren’t in such good spirits.

Tishaya and Belengar, who hadn’t spent much time in the desert, were now sweaty and panting heavily.

Although Lann hadn’t spent much time in the desert either, a myriad of high-tech enhanced organs in his body were regulating the internal physiological balance.

The temperature difference didn’t bother him.

Earlier, after a friendly exchange with the Qilin, Tishaya gained permission to sit on the back of the Ancient Dragon.

However, there was no Chaos Magic Power in this world for the Female Warlock to use, only a little bit left in her own body to cast spells.

So now, though the Female Warlock was trying her best to maintain her proper attire, the neckline that was considered standard among Female Warlocks but daring among average people...

The exposed skin on her chest was already covered with beads of sweat, glistening and slick.

Maintaining just the right restraint and self-respect while belonging to a group known for their unrestrained boldness was, in a way, Tishaya’s unique charm.

Belengar’s clothes had long dried, now clinging to him with the sweat he produced.

Originally, upon hearing the sound of water, everyone felt relieved, for even if they couldn’t find the so-called camp, they wouldn’t be in trouble as long as they had fresh water.

But as they got closer to the sound of babbling streams, Lann’s brow gradually furrowed.

"What’s going on?" Belengar mumbled as he wiped away the sweat, "Is it because of the humidity? Why is it feeling hotter?"

Not only him, but also Rong Buqiu, who had been active in the New Continent for many years and fairly adapted to the desert environment, had now opened its mouth, unintentionally sticking out a little tongue to cool down.

"Too hot indeed... why does it feel hotter than the desert, meow?"

However, after walking a bit further and finally seeing the water flow, they confirmed: something wasn’t right!

It wasn’t due to a sensory error or humidity; it was genuinely hotter here than in the desert!

"This is..." Rong Buqiu stood on the semi-dry land by the small river, surrounded by drooping waterside weeds swaying.

The Three-Floral Kitten stood with its mouth open, staring at the slow-moving water surface.

On the surface, several large fish with a distinct New Continent wild style were belly-up, motionless, carried away by the current.

These are bitefish, a common species in the aquatic systems of the Great Ant Mound Wasteland.

Each was at least half a person long, with ferocious teeth, covered in tough fish skin and strong muscles.

An average large dog standing by the shore could be dragged into the water by these fish.

But now...

"They were boiled to death." Lann took one look and concluded.

Even these fish, which are listed on the Hunter task roster and considered small monsters, were boiled alive in the water.

Let alone the other ordinary aquatic life.

The bodies of sashimi fish, and the knife-sharp mackerel with scales that can serve as a whetstone... all were carried downstream by the current.

And further upstream, a black-and-white Elu Cat was paddling a tiny inflatable boat suitable for its size, anxiously drifting downstream.