“Why do they say that the wild desert is gone? I mean sure, a lot of the mystique of it is gone, but it’s not like the scattered towns that cluster around the bigger cities have any real control over their land. None of you have seen it, but those towns out there are just stakes in the sand. If anything seriously dangerous attacks, they would do nothing but slow whatever the thing is down for a day.

“I mean think about it: Mount Averus is the most heavily fortified place in the whole Dust, but that’s only because of the fact that they keep all of their military forces in the same place. Something as normal as a single dragon could probably raze Green Oasis to the ground before their disparate military came to help them, never mind a manabeast horde. 

“That’s why them saying ‘We’ve conquered the Dust’ and ‘The Hunters are no longer needed’ is utter b.s.”

“Sure, but they’ve got to have a reason for saying it, right?”

“Yeah, they wouldn’t say it without having some sort of evidence.”

“They would and they do! Have you heard them talking about the towns beyond the city walls before? No! All they can see is the shining city upon a hill they’ve inherited from all our mothers and fathers. It’s all b.s., man.”

“So you’re saying that they’re underqualified for the job?”

“I never said that. All I said was that they’re talking about stuff they aren’t nearly qualified to talk about; our gunsmithing professor doesn’t try to teach us anything about metamagic and vice versa. But they do try to teach us their version of geopolitics.”

“You just sound like someone who doesn’t have a good enough argument to rebut theirs.”

“I don’t have a good enough argument? Did you hear a single thing I said to any of you?”

“I’m just saying that you sound like it. Whatever, it’s not like we’re getting anywhere with this. Hey, can you pass me the butter?”

-Argument over Gerid Tilath’s lecture about societal roles of the Hunters’ Guild, Gribnik University of War

*=====*

After a few dozen minutes of travel, Mori decided to break the silence between them, “So how do these skiffs work anyway?” she asked.

Fara looked behind her and to the lich, sighing, “You’re trying to cheer me up again, right?” 

“Is it working?”

Fara smiled, “Yeah, it is. But how do skiffs work, you ask? Well, this one is more runecraft than mechanical skill, but the basic idea is to propel a craft forward while sliding along the sand. Normally, mechanics from anywhere other than the Vast Dust would use something like wheels or tracks rather than skis. Some are also shaped like boats with it being possible to sail them in water.”

“Huh,” Mori wondered aloud, “So, how do they work on firmer ground? I mean, this one here is made of clocksteel, but are others made of wood or stone?”

“Wood, yes. Stone, only the mentally insane or suicidally genius. Wood is cheap if you go up north to Gribnik, but it’s expensive down here. Clocksteel is strong, cheap, and easy to get. The western empires have a lot of the stuff because of their constant war with the Clockworks. As for stone… Well, there’s only one person I know of who made something like a skiff with stone, and he was the legendary runesmith Milon. And it was a fortress the size of a city that, apparently, Mount Averus is built around,” she explained, Mori nodding with her as she spoke, “But that doesn’t really matter when skiffs are pretty bad on firm ground. The whole idea behind them is that the ground will be soft like sand and that nothing like a big rock will be there to throw you off. So, don’t take a skiff to a forest and don’t take a bike to a desert. That’s it, really. Anything else? We’re getting close to Gill’s Mouth Mesa, so be on the lookout.”

Mori took a brief look around them, and noticed a silhouette on the horizon. It was a large, rocky formation, so she assumed that it was Gill’s Mouth Mesa. She also saw some hints of green popping up from the soon-to-be coarse dirt. Mori took her eyes from the Mesa and returned her gaze to Fara, “Yeah, is there anywhere I can learn more magic from? The sigil magic is really interesting and I want to learn more.”

Fara laughed a bit, “I can ask my Ma to let you have some of her books. You were reading one of her books earlier, so you can already attest to their quality. Other than that, I’m with you. I need to learn more about runic magic to make my ideas come true. If I were to pick the best college to go to, then the Mount Averus College of Magic and Engineering would be my pick —though that may be a bit of bias, as my Ma worked there as a professor,” she explained. Mori nodded along as usual, but thought of something.

“Hey, now that I think about it, how much is tuition to go there? It must be expensive if they’re so good,” she mentioned.

Fara shook her head, “One of the benefits that come with working there is being able to let three people go through a full degree’s worth of courses for free. She used the first one for my Pa, and I’m sure she’ll be fine with us asking for the other two. I think. Anyway, we’re closing in on the Mesa, so keep your guard up.” Mori nodded and readied the cord to the power cell in her ribcage. 

As they got closer to the Mesa, patches of green grass poking out of the dirt around them became more and more frequent; soon, entire thorny bushes were dotted around the landscape and rocks became more frequent. Soon, the Mesa was in front of them and Mori stared at the high cliffs in awe. Gill’s Mouth Mesa was a ring of spaced out mesas that encircled a single pond that lay against the south-most cliff, a secondary cliff running around the pond and blocking the sun. Around the pond, animals that Mori had never thought of before drank from its warm water, wary of the newcomers but otherwise peaceful. Stout trees with broad leaves and bulbous roots dotted the dirt. Even in the late morning sun, the pond was shielded from the sun’s light, so the two women took a moment to relax in the shade.

While Fara rested in the cool shade, Mori spun her custom sigil spell together. The triangle that surrounded the circle mesmerized as it slowly rotated around the circle. She had designed it with the help of Molly’s Sigil Basics book. It outlined the role of sigil magic, as well as the ways it could be used. Her ‘Deathbolt,’ as she began to call it, was a spell designed to seek out usable materials to raise into undead. There were four parts to the spell: the bolt itself, the seeking aspect, the target of the seeking, and the speed of the bolt. She had to make it slightly more complicated than normal due to her lack of any type of mana that could track corpses or the like, but in general, it was a slow-moving bolt of mana that followed corpses and raised them slow enough to let Mori follow.

Skull grinning with pride, she held it in her skeletal hand while Fara rested. The woman was soon ready to get moving, so Mori showed her the sigil, “Now! This will be my first spell, so… wish me luck?” she said.

“You can do it,” Fara replied with a small smile, “Just be sure it’s safe, okay?” Mori nodded and cast the spell. The thick bolt lazily drifted up from her hand and floated toward the edge of the ring of mesas. Mori motioned for them to follow, and the two trailed behind the bolt.

While they were walking, Mori gazed at the massive walls of the mesa and to the pond in the shade. A question popped into her head and she turned to Fara, “Hey, I was wondering, why isn’t there a settlement here? It’s well protected, has water, and is pretty close to… what was your town called again?” she asked.

“Hard Sand. That’s the name of my little town. As for why we don’t move here… Well, I’m not entirely sure, but it might have to do with the caves in the mesa. There was something about a dangerous beast around here that terrorized anyone camping in the mesa. A hunter team was sent after it, but they never found it. Most still don’t do more than pass through here,” she retold.

Mori nodded, refocusing on the bolt in front of her. It continued its lazy journey until it reached a small drop near the westernmost cliff. It dived down sharply and Mori followed it. In the ditch below, the bolt dug into the soil and Mori saw the familiar system message. 

[You have created a basic undead with a spell made from your natural death mana. Experience has been awarded.]

Mori raised a metaphorical eyebrow at the box, as the box counted her spell as a separate achievement from her earlier feat. Shrugging, she looked around the ditch while she waited for the undead to break the surface. The ground had obviously been torn up, with fresh dirt and the occasional plant root showing on the surface of the soil. The other thing that caught her attention were the claw marks that ran around the ground. They seemed to be pointing in one direction, towards the opposite side of the mesa. 

Just before she was about to track the markings, the soil erupted with a clawed hand. Fara, who had been looking around herself, almost jumped from the sudden appearance of the undead but was able to restrain herself. The creature was able to dig itself out of the ground, revealing its true form. It was a large beast made of the bones of a large, clawed animal and covered in the sharpened bones of other, smaller animals. Mori nodded to herself and looked at the Minion Page to see the beast’s Status Page.

[Name: (None)

Species: Bonebeast

Variant: Large Spiked Bonebeast

Level: 0(0%)

Traits:

Physical: (None)

Spiritual: (None)

Granted Traits: (None)]

“Huh,” Mori said, “It’s level zero. And it has the granted Traits line, but has nothing there. Fara, do you know about that?”

Fara eyed the beast before turning to Mori, nodding, “Yeah. Everything alive starts at level zero. You simply gain enough experience to get to level one by your seventh birthday. For animals, it’s the equivalent to that. By adulthood, you have enough experience to be at level two if you do literally nothing else during that time.”

Mori listened and thought about the information a bit, like the fact that everyone gains experience on their birthdays or that being level three is just above a useless adult, and simply filed it under things that she would make an effort to learn about later. She nodded to Fara’s explanation and motioned to her. Fara walked over and examined the scratch marks in the dirt with a troubled expression, “You get it as well, don’t you?” Mori asked. Fara nodded grimly and pulled her rifle from its place on her back and looked around warily, “Something smart enough to bury the bones of its prey is bad news,” Mori muttered to herself. 

With a nod to each other they followed the claw tracks slowly and carefully, keeping an eye out for any movement and letting the bonebeast take the lead. Eventually the trail led to a steep cliff on the side of the mesa, claw marks showing that the creature had climbed the rocky wall. Mori and Fara crouched down and looked for another way up the cliff, scanning the walls of the mesa. While Mori was looking, Fara tapped her shoulder and pointed to the top of the cliff to their right. Instead of a way up, all she saw was a lone stake on the cliff. A single human head was impaled on the spike, dried up blood coating the wall it hung over. 

Just as Mori figured out what the sight meant, the Bonebeast lunged over to Fara and tackled her. A scraping sound echoed off of the mesa walls and Mori had just enough time to see an arrow scratching her bonebeast’s head before she dodged backwards to avoid another arrow. While the bonebeast was protecting Fara, Mori took a good look to the top of the cliff. There she saw their quarry —a 9-foot tall, thin, skin-and-bones, pale creature with a hairless canine’s head, deer antlers, and long, claw-tipped hands gripping a bow and arrow. It had little in the way of clothing, only having an arrow quiver that hung from its waist loosely. 

It’s clawed fingers pulled another arrow from its quiver and notched it, pulling the bow back and aiming at the two women. Mori gripped her hands and dove under her bonebeast, narrowly missing the arrow that was aimed at her. She held her arm-bound contraption over Fara to protect her and glared up at the creature as it rained more arrows onto the duo.

‘Dammit… Since when could they use arrows?’