The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 983: Thor In The Sun

The afternoon sun in the desert was blistering hot, and the dry wind had picked up, turning the whole region into a crude facsimile of a blast furnace.

Karl considered calling a stop so that they could rest in the cooled shelter of the carriage, but Thor was loving the heat and sun on his scales. To the Cerro turned behemoth, this was as good as a spa day.

He was even singing to himself, a warbling bugle of happiness, as he trotted along the sand.

Only when the sun started to go down did Karl instruct him to pull into a relatively sheltered spot for the evening, so they could rest.

Once it was dark, Rae would take over the watch, and until she was ready for her evening duties, the Lamia Bodyguards would keep watch. Their species also liked the heat, and werenʼt as inclined to wetlands as the Naga were. The Naga, Remi included, did fine in the heat. But the sand irritated them on a deeply personal level.

”Do you think it was so quiet today because of the Sand Worm? Normally, any wilderness area at least has some roaming monsters.” Lotus asked as they sat down for dinner.

Karl nodded. ”That sounds likely. That thing was huge, so it would have a big appetite. Once weʼre out of its territory, we should start seeing more monsters. Maybe we will find a desert cat.”

Tessa burst into laughter. ”Donʼt encourage her. Now that she has a Class Skill to make animals not run away from her, sheʼs definitely going to go after the first fluffy thing that she sees.”

Karl shrugged. ”I do still have one more beast space open. The power level out here is supposed to be the highest we have seen so far, so we might luck out and find another sibling.”

Rae tapped the table. ”I will have you know, we have standards. Weʼre not taking in just any fluffy creature.”

[Yeah, it has to be Fluffy and Powerful.] Cara agreed.

[And we need a brother. We canʼt just let the sisters overwhelm us like this.] Hawk added.

[Oh, we should find one with healing skills. An extra healer would be good now that the Lotus Tree keeps getting stuck in one spot.] Thor added through the mental link.

Dana poked Karl. ”Youʼre talking to everyone in your head again.”

Karl shrugged. ”Theyʼre discussing what sort of sibling they want next. There isnʼt a consensus yet. But they have some standards.”

Rae nodded in agreement. ”We need to find something that is preferably Totem Ranked as an infant. That way it can grow up to be Mythic, and we can all follow its lead.”

Dana smiled. ”You think that weʼre going to find a Totem Ranked infant here? And how do you propose that we get it away from its mother?”

Rae smirked. ”Let me worry about that part. First we need to find one.”

Lotus was riveted to the conversation. ”Totem Ranked infant? Does that mean we get a dragon? Another dragon, I mean.”

Nachtia laughed. ”I suspect that there would be severe fallout if Karl stole a baby dragon.

Well, left with a baby dragon. Because I can guarantee that the hatchling would likely agree to follow us just to see what happened. Baby dragons are curious like that.”

Lotus nodded in agreement. She had a baby divine green dragon staring through her eyes all the time, and giving her fun advice. They were definitely curious.

Ophelia looked between Thor and Rae. ”I donʼt even know what sort of new friend you would need. The group can already do nearly everything that they need to, and your regeneration speed is insane.

If anything, you need a second voice of reason, so someone is there to give good advice while Thor is asleep.”

Rae giggled and stuck out her tongue at the Berserker.

”I give good advice.” She insisted.

Ophelia just stared at the spider, and Rae shrugged. ”Well, I enjoy my advice.”

Everyone but Karl and Dana moved to the [Tiny World] to sleep, while they took the folding bed in the carriage, with Rae incorporeal on the roof.

They were going to leave as well, but then there would be no bait to lure in monsters during the night, and that seemed much too dull for Raeʼs liking.

Thor was up and ready to move before it was fully light outside, so Rae got him hooked up, and the Lamia took the guard spots on the side runners of the carriage, the way that the Naga Bodyguards did when they were playing merchant.

Because the carriage was moving, Tessa made breakfast in the [Tiny World] and brought food out to Karl, who was pretending to drive the wagon.

”Thanks. It looks like the speculation was right. Now that weʼre further from the Sandwormʼs territory, there are plenty of monsters in the distance.

Nothing that has tried to approach us so far, but I can see them every once in a while between the dunes.” Karl greeted the war cleric as she came to sit beside him.

”Anything dangerous?” She asked.

”Nothing yet. There are some scorpions off to the north of us, about a half kilometre. Then there is a lone Royal Rank monster off to the south, but I couldnʼt make out what it was.”

Tessa looked at the rising sun and sighed. ”Itʼs actually really nice out here in the desert. At least first thing in the morning. Much less humid than in Drodh. But I get the feeling that whatever the Undead were doing in the cities isnʼt going to just go away because we moved away.”

Karl nodded. ”I expect that we will be seeing more of them soon. The monster spawn felt like the start of something. Like it was just the opening act to something much larger, or a side effect of whatever else was going on.

I think that it might be possible that the System Stones everyone has been looking for might be similar to the ones we found back home. Stuck in a Trial Instance, or a time warp, where they fade in and out.

It would explain why things have gotten so strange here, and why Lord Bomgon has been sending troops.”

Tessa frowned. ”Like how Monster Spawns intensified around areas where Dungeons and other major Trials formed. You might be onto something. Not something good, but something important.”