Edward extended his hand and tried to touch the floating divinity, but his hand passed right through it.

“What happened?” asked Fenrir from the side, staring at the same divinity ahead of them.

Coming back to his senses, Edward turned back toward her.

“I don’t know. I met the same god we did in the forest or an image of him…”, Edward proceeded to slowly explain everything the god has told and showed him inside the dream he had experienced.

Fenrir lowered her head with a thoughtful look, but Edward could see the anger hidden in her eyes. He was angry himself, as anyone would be once they found out they were raised as cattle by a tree to feed on.

“So, he said nothing about how to form your source?”

Edward shook his head, but he wasn’t too worried about that. He mostly got the sense of what he should do from his talk with Apis.

“What is the wolf doing?” asked Edward, as he sat down and kept staring at the floating divinity.

“The same as usual. Looking for beasts to feed upon.”

Edward nodded, and they waited for the wolf to have its fill. A few hours later, Edward’s consciousness blurred, and he appeared back in the real world. Looking at the sand all around, he heaved a sigh and sat back up. His theory proved right, and his body was no longer decaying.

“I feel so weak right now…” he muttered as he clenched his fists before trying to activate his shifter skill, but nothing happened. His wolf form was gone as well, which was not completely unexpected.

With another sigh, he started traveling west, toward Oasis, since the wolf had taken him to the far east. On the way there, he tried feeling the water energy around, but he was not showing any progress in his endeavor.

After walking for a few hours in which he used Fenrir’s senses to avoid any beasts in the desert, his throat was parched from the heat and he had to stop and take a rest. Looking at the sky, he noticed it was already close to evening and decided to continue traveling at night.

“I guess I’ll not make it to meet the girls in two days…”

[You can try to let the wolf out from time to time. He might cover more ground.]

“I will probably have no other choice at night. We’ll see how it goes.”

After the desert started turning slightly colder, Edward stood back up and continued his journey. The night was indeed a lot more dangerous, and he had to knock himself out after landing in a sticky situation after the first ten minutes. Most beasts were roaming the desert at night, looking for prey.

He kept alternating between consciousness and unconsciousness as he pressed on. The good thing was that the wolf feeding on beasts also cured some of his hunger and thirst.

“I really didn’t miss this feeling of weakness. Having to eat, drink and sleep.” Muttered Edward as he stood back up after another transformation.

By the morning of the next day, Fenrir said he might make it to the city in about three hours. The wolf didn’t let him down now and brought him closer to the city.

With light also returning to the land, fewer beasts were roaming the desert and he could once more avoid them. After three and a half hours, he could finally see the city’s tall walls.

Sighing in relief, he walked to a side of the city wall and used it as cover from the sun as he rested with his back against it.

“Let’s hope I can hang on until the meeting time.”

Closing his eyes, he started focusing on feeling water energy again. It was the energy he was most familiar with and, while he knew he had other affinities, it felt better to start with the one he was most familiar with.

A few hours went by, time in which he just remained unmoving with his eyes closed. When the sun appeared from behind the tall city wall, Edward’s day only worsened.

The scorching heat felt like it was cooking him alive and he had no way of protecting himself. He also couldn’t focus anymore, his mind becoming slightly cloudy.

Sitting back up with difficulty, he started walking away from the wall. He knew he couldn’t hold on for much longer before he passed out from the heat and didn’t want to let the wolf roam free so close to the city.

He walked for a few hundred feet until the entire world started spinning and he fell flat on the ground, unconscious.

Waking up inside his soul space, he heaved a sigh of relief as he turned towards Fenrir. “What is it doing?”

“It’s not attacking the city, just running around in search of other prey.”

Edward nodded and rested for a moment, enjoying the absence of the scorching desert heat. After so many hours in which he didn’t make any progress in his source creation, he was already getting worried.

Looking at the silently revolving divinity in his soul space, his nervousness calmed down slightly.

“I guess I can only keep trying.”, muttered Edward as his consciousness was pulled back inside his body.

Making his way back towards the city, he looked at the sand all around and asked: “Fenrir, could the fact that I can’t feel water energy be related to this place?”

[The scarcity of water energy in the atmosphere can be one reason, but I don’t think that’s the main one. I think you just need to keep practicing.]

When he arrived back in the city, it was already evening. Walking to the place where he planned on waiting for the girls, he closed his eyes and resumed his training.

A refreshing feeling came over his body a few hours into the night and Edward opened his eyes to look towards the city. He figured it must be Minx, but there was no sign of her presence at all.

After waiting for a few minutes and noticing no sign of any newcomers, he frowned and closed his eyes again.

The same feeling came over him again. He could feel it now. It was a familiar feeling. Scarce wetness floating around the dry atmosphere of the night desert.

“Water…” muttered Edward as he tried to slowly attract that energy towards him. The water energy left the surrounding space and started floating towards him, making its way inside his body.

The energy was indeed scarce, and the rate of absorption was horrible, but he could do it. He could manipulate it the same way he did with water magic after reaching advanced mage class.

Edward spent the entire night slowly gathering the water energy and adding it to his body. In the morning, before the sun appeared on the horizon, the sound of rushed footsteps made Edward open his eyes.

Looking towards the south, he spotted Minx rushing towards him, carrying a worried Violet on her back. The two quickly approached Edward and Violet jumped down before asking: “Are you alright?”

Edward smiled and hugged the two girls before explaining the situation he was in. In the meantime, he also wore a pair of trousers Violet brought him. He was now as weak as she was, but his curse had become a problem again. He also told them he could finally focus energy inside his body, but the progress was quite slow.

Violet remained silent, but Minx tilted her head to the side and asked: “Why aren’t you eating cores as I do? The energy inside can be absorbed into my core, so maybe it can also be used by you.”

Edward lowered his head and thought about it. He obviously couldn’t eat cores as Minx did, or his body might explode from the amount of energy inside, but that didn’t mean they had no use.

“That’s not a poor plan, but I mostly need water cores. I will have to head someplace else to find them since most beasts in the desert have earth and fire cores…”

Violet perked up and said in an excited voice: “The tideless depths.”

Edward looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Violet continued: “It’s a dungeon not that far south from Oasis. It connects with the ocean and there are only water monsters inside.”

“A dungeon…” muttered Edward. “that might work. It’s also a good place to release the wolf since now I need to sleep almost every two nights. Have you been there before?”

Minx nodded and said:” It’s my favorite place to hunt and the only dungeon we’ve been to ever since we came to Oasis.”

Edward sighed and said: “I guess we can try hunting there, but what about going inside? I imagine it’s somehow under Oasis’s control.”

“We can talk to the beast hall leader and tell him of your plan. He should be able to help you get inside.”, said Minx with an excited look in her eyes. She wanted to go dungeon hunting with Edward again.

After Edward went through a few more things with Violet and Minx, the girls returned to the city to speak to Apis, and Edward resumed his gathering of water energy from the atmosphere.

At around noon of the same day, Edward spotted both Echo and Violet riding on Minx’s back as they approached him. Looking towards Echo, Edward said: “I should have imagined you’re going to come as well.”

Echo walked up to him with a smile before looking Edward up and down.

“How could I miss such fun? Did you break your status tablet? How did you do it?”

Edward smiled wryly and said: “I had the wolf eat it. Let’s hurry to the dungeon. I’m already quite tired and I’m going to need to sleep soon.” Turning towards Violet, he asked: “How did it go with Apis?”

Violet showed him a small card, which gave Edward access to the dungeon before the group mounted Minx’s back and rushed south.

With Minx’s power and speed, they reached the ocean in just a few hours. The sight of people and their beasts camping outside a giant blue door made Edward quite nostalgic.

“It’s been a while since we went dungeon hunting.” Said Edward with a smile toward Echo.

Echo chuckled and nodded before being the first one to jump down from Minx’s back: “Indeed it has. Let’s go.”

The others followed and Minx took her human form as they passed the camp of beast tamers and approached the entrance.

“What level are the monsters inside?” asked Edward.

“Not strong. From 20 to 50. Minx could easily kill any of them on her own.” Replied Echo. “The environment is a little troublesome.”

Edward nodded, and they were soon in front of the two guards at the door. The guards took a quick look over the group of four before moving to the side and letting them pass with no questioning.

Edward raised an eyebrow and asked: “Why did they let us pass so easily?”. He didn’t even need the pass he got from Apis.

“Some guards here know us. I am the daughter-in-law of the richest merchant in the city, while Violet has also gained quite the reputation as a beast tamer.” Replied Echo while shrugging her shoulders indifferently.

Edward smiled and wrapped an arm around the blushing Violet’s waist as he said: “Quite the renown beast tamer.”

Violet blushed even harder as she grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek.

Echo looked at the two and grabbed Minx’s waist as well. Minx looked to the side with a raised eyebrow, but Echo just smiled and didn’t explain herself.

Like this, the new party slowly continued forward until they reached a small gulf with an endless ocean expanding outwards. The water looked peaceful from the surface, not even a ripple passing through, but Edward could feel the danger it hid in its depths.

Looking at the strange dungeon, Edward turned towards the rest in confusion.

“What now? Do we swim?”