As Ver, Tonya, and Augen departed for the center of the city, Wu and Lera traveled along the well-trotted path along the outer region of the capital city with the sights and sounds of the central areas far out of range.

Having examined the maps that were posted on the city outskirts for the benefit of the traveling traders, Wu and Lera then pinpointed the northwest corner of the Dune’s Eye, where the sandy landscapes slowly transitioned into the ‘land of the stone’ as labeled on the map.

“I wish we could just hop on a chariot and move along…” Wu murmured as they watched the camel riders move past them slowly, “Or…we could just rent a camel? Live a little?”

“Think about the money!” Lera reminded as they continued moving along, “which we have none of after the whole clothing situation.”

There were a series of snorts from around the corner, and Wu quickly hopped ahead as half a dozen camels were resting in the shadow under a shed.

“Well look at that...” Wu watched the animals with the saddles attached to the trough between its humps as one of the camel carers walked past with feedstock and water.

“Don’t even think about it…” Lera said quietly, “We are supposed to be the good guys, remember?”

“Right…” Wu lowered his head and signed when a brand new camel was brought under the shed by a guard dressed in white robes. He cracked his neck and turned around as the red rose over his chest flashed across Wu and Lera’s vision.

Then, he mumbled something unintelligible before heading to the inn across the street.

Wu looked at Lera once again, who signed and shook her head.

With a quick projection Cast, Lera hid the entire shed in darkness briefly just as Wu let out the camel and hopped right on. He nearly clipped his head along the ceiling of the shed before the camel trotted out hastily.

“Good boy…good boy…” Wu calmed the camel by rubbing his hand along its back when Lera hopped on on the bump right behind him.

“It’s a she, actually.” She said, gesturing down towards her hanging tits.

“Good girl…good girl…” Wu kissed it on the back of the neck as the camel snorted happily and picked up its pace.

Thanks to the generous donation of the PORA guard, they made it to the land of stones in no time as the sounds of the camel hoofs striking the ground transitioned from the soft swooshing of the sands to audible clicks of the stones. The road was more clearly defined and traders sat along either side of the streets with their goods spread out on blankets while groups of women moved around with baskets over their heads and men dragged around long heavy mining tools in their big boots.

It all looked so normal to Wu, yet to Lera, it was completely alien. Besides the adaptations Necrovian people had to make to survive in the harsh desert without the ability to use the Wave, she then started to wonder why anything important would have been located around this area, yet that’s where Tonya told them to start looking.

The outskirts of the Dune’s Eye were by no means well-off compared to the central areas with the fancy stone housing and the artificial river running along, but it still demonstrated its luxury compared to this mining town just to the outside of the city.

With tired and unfocused eyes, the everyday people glanced at Wu and Lera atop their ‘borrowed’ camel before carrying on about their own business, and soon, Wu and Lera also got off their camel and moved on foot instead.

That was their best effort to blend in, and it worked absolutely flawlessly as the people seemed to have ignored them completely.

“What’s your business here?” An accusatory voice came from behind them as Wu and Lera turned to see a man wearing light-reflective armor standing in the middle of the road. He had his arms crossed, and his tiny eyes from under the tin hat were locked onto Wu’s face directly.

So that’s the reason why people have ignored them… Wu sighed.

“What do you mean? We are just travelers.” Wu delivered his pre-thought-out answer swiftly as the man shifted his weight to the right and rested his hand intimidatingly on the blade by his waist.

“No one travels to this town.” The man replied sharply, “There’s nothing here.”

“We are just passing by as he said. Not traveling to here.” Lera glanced towards the man and tried to probe through his Wave, however, like with Wu, she couldn’t sense anything in the man.

“Listen, smart ass, you don’t just come through the turf of the Gray Falcons without paying a protection fee.” The man stepped forward all the way into Wu’s personal space.

So that’s how it is. Wu looked around the area before crossing his own arms, “So…this isn’t the jurisdiction of the capital anymore? They just let you run wild out here?”

“Oh no…they didn’t let us do anything.” The man drew his blade and pointed it casually at Wu’s face, “We made them.”

“Ok ok! We don’t want any trouble…” Lera said, putting her hands up, “But we don’t have money on us, and nothing with have is worth anything…”

“I see this fancy ride you got though.” The man pointed the tip of the blade at the camel who looked at the man before looking at Wu with her eyes getting teary, “I’ll take that as tribute, and let you walk because I am generous.”

“No! That’s my baby!” Wu stepped forward when suddenly, the blade swirled through the air and pinned against his neck in a flurry. The passing crowds all stopped to look at them before the man leaned in close and lowered his voice.

“You sure that’s the last thing you want to do? Spill your blood for a piece of meat?” The man widened his eyes as the darkness within started to spill out.

“Just let him take her…” Lera grabbed onto Wu from the back, “Let’s go!”

“But!”

“I said, let’s go.” Lera yanked Wu back and away from the man before he laughed and gave Lera a thumbs up.

“Listen to your woman, always.” He said before looping the rope of the camel around his hands, “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

With Wu and Lera disappearing into the alleyways and heading back where they came from, the man handed off the camel to someone else before he returned to what he was doing before.

“Damn.” Wu powered down his gauntlet and returned the Wave quickly into his One-Shotter gemstone, “I was so close to blowing his guts out…”

“Too obvious.” Lera reminded before she comforted Wu lightly, “Everybody’s watching, and it’s clear that more of the lackeys were among the crowds…”

“Yeah…” Wu agreed before he turned to make sure that they weren’t followed, “And as much as we made it sound simple, I don’t think it’s going to be easy at all to get down into the mines and figure things out…”

“What are you saying?” Lera asked with her hands on her hips, “You don’t think I am good enough to get us past all these people?”

Wu looked at her before he chuckled and brought her in for a hug.

“Of course, we are.” Wu smiled, “Together, we can figure out anything.”

“That’s right.” Lera said, rubbing him in the back, “So…Mr Savior, got any ideas?”

“Always. But before we leave tonight...I want my baby back.”

Without more information than what was given, they couldn’t really make a move on the origin of the underground river. Therefore, the first order of business was to gather as much information as they can, and from the look of the roaming guards around town after the harassment from the man earlier, the only safe times for them to move around seemed to be the middle of the night. And so the two of them hid in the wild until then before reentering the small town under the guise of darkness.

As opposed to light Casts that were spread throughout the roads in any other cities in this world, the people in the land of stones each carried a torch with them at night, and the group of guards strolled around at regular intervals across the main roads of the town created periodic lights and shadows that swept along the walls of the small buildings.

And hidden within the shadows were Wu and Lera. With the simple aid of a small projection Cast and the Wave they saved up for a whole day, they snuck along the outer edge past the townhouses and headed straight into the mines which were completely silent at night. The guards seemed to have deliberately avoided the creepy shafts and empty workshops, sticking to the main village roads.

“I’ll set up things here…” Lera murmured, creating her Cast array at the entrance of the mine as her Wave lines traveled straight through the rocks and pierced deeper into the ground. To conserve her Wave, she condensed the detailed writings of the array into a single line and reached it as far down as she could, learning from her previous experiences navigating the underground.

At the same time, she handed Wu a different piece of paper from her Book of Casts before he set it down and activated it with a jolt of the Wave from his gauntlet.

“There it is.” Sensing the gradient of the Wave once the outer limits of her cast Array reached around a hundred meters underground, she then retracted it quickly, “Is the alarm set up?”

“Yes.” Wu nodded before he placed his hand around Lera’s arms, “Are you…okay?”

“Just a little tired.” Lera nodded, “But I can do it.”

Wu nodded before he rubbed her arms some more, hoping to transfer some of his energy to her somehow. However, they needed to focus on the task at hand, and they need to carry on.

With the cast Array recycling around them, Lera was able to illuminate the tunnels with a dim light as Wu slid on his goggles upgraded from the Kraken’s shells and looked ahead.

“Wait…” Lera said quickly as she slowed down her pace and crouched down as Wu tried to ignore the fluttering of noise in his goggles. He felt her hand holding onto his, and they shuffled their way to the edge of a major opening as trios of lights far underneath were the only other source of light within the caves.

Then, as Wu continued watching with his goggles, the chaotic grains of projections soon started to organize themselves, and the pattern morphed into the outlines of a handful of individuals and massive balls of…something next to them.

“Just miners…but what are they doing at this time in the night…” Lera murmured as she squinted her eyes and tried to get a better look when Wu adjusted the sensitivity of his goggles, reducing the exposure in exchange for better resolution. Then, the balls next to the workers started to become clearer.

They were not shiny rocks like the ones that they have encountered back on the Eastern continents, but rather tightly written Casts that were packed along the surface of the spherical rocks…

“What the…” Wu tried to look closer when suddenly, a low vibration came from beside him. He looked sharply to the right as Lera cursed, and a chill was felt through his spine.

“Someone’s coming.”