Master Of None



Mordant's sudden questions about appraisals didn't catch Walker off guard at all. He had expected that one of the dragons would be asking him more questions at some point. There was a sure chance that the dragon blood that had been passed down in to whatever ancient race this was would have some effect on their history. 

However, Walker also understood that this was just part of things. If there were dragon ruins somewhere under the sands, it would be imperative that the dragons found it. The undead in the ruins the army was marching to might hide secrets that involved this. It was just something everyone understood. 

The Fel angels were paying close attention to the fact that Mordant had begun to carefully listen to every single all around appraisal. This had made them sure that the dragons might share some of their love for researching. They didn't have enough information to fully understand why Mordant was curious about all of this. 

"I think that whatever is going on, it won't be the cause of dragons. You said that there is always the chance that a dragon might become undead or a rogue dragon can become evil. It's fine since there have also been unique dragons like the bone dragons. Midnight's father should have been one." Walker looked at Mordant. He wanted him to understand that Walker would not at all be holding him or the dragons accountable for the actions of others. 

"Basically, those causing issues now aren't even around. Even if they are undead, there is no way that they have the same mentality after who knows how long. Their minds will be warped. Even if they were the greatest of heroes, they might not be able to act as one today." This was just Walker trying to put Mordant at ease. Yet, it did make Mordant relax a bit. 

"There are light crystals too." Alice had been mainly focusing on those that had begun to suffer from dehydration or heat related ailments. It had been a lot to handle since some of the Genesis forces looked fine one second and then were walking like they were drunk another. This was just the reality of the desert and the fact that none of them were used to it. 

Only a few of the demi-humans had the characteristics to easily resist the desert conditions. One was a feline trait demi-human. They had never been in the desert before but always had an affinity for the hotter seasons. Now that they were here in a desert for the first time in their life, they found that they were surprisingly more energetic and had an easier time moving through the sands than others. It was enlightening for them. 

This was a very rare occurrence though. It made said demi-human and others similar to them have to join the healers as assistants. The fire affinity dragonkin had also been made to become assistants to the healers, and Alice in particular since she couldn't keep up with everyone due to the number of soldiers they had. Luckily, there were still some life mages that had remained with the group from the Fel empire. Their buffs were helping very much. 

"More elemental crystals? We aren't just finding the earth crystals now?" Walker looked at the small light elemental crystal that Alice had brought Walker after finding it on the ground. It may have been small and lower quality but it was important. 

"I haven't seen one yet, I wonder if this is because we are passing deeper in to the desert. Why is it not above the sands?" Mordant had even more questions as he had not seen anyone finding one. He had expected that the earth crystals would be more common and that even a darkness crystal might be found here and there. But a light crystal under the sand where light didn't hit at all was odd. 

"I'm not sure, if the light hits the right spot constantly, then it makes sense that the light elemental crystals will form. But if it was buried then it may have degraded from whatever it was." this was not unheard of and Mordant had been thinking the very same thing. But that would mean that the light elemental crystal had been much larger. It had formed on the top of the sand during a very long period of constant light before it had been buried by a sand storm or other means. 

"There are more though." Alice's small voice spoke up pointing ahead of the font line of soldiers marching. The small glittering of over a hundred tiny light elemental crystals made them all wonder just what had been uncovered next. There were too many things uncovered by the sand tornado that created new mysteries for them to wonder about. 

'Sand won crystal bed

This is a great span of stone that used to be a mountain. Over time, the water from rain and storms broke it down. Many years later, the constant exposure to hotter temperatures caused fire and light crystals to form. Over more time, the crystals were buried by the natural formation of a desert from high amounts of silt and hot weather. What was left is the base of the mountain forming the perfect crystal bed. 

The mana crystals that are left are poor quality but will create spaces for high quality earth mana crystals to form within a hundred years.'

Walker read the all around appraisal out loud. He was certain that this wasn't some act of the desert expanding or a great mystery. Instead, this was the sign that they had entered the inner circle of the desert. "We aren't in the expanded section of the desert now. This is the spot where the desert naturally began to form." Walker was very happy to see this. 

These signs were telling him that the desert did indeed belong here. It was an act of nature and would have formed anyways. But the race that had somehow come here had managed to expand it beyond this area. Knowing the start of the desert might not seem that important, however, it could assist in the Fel empire's maps. 

"You said this was the start of the desert!?" Ethan called over the mages that had shown him the maps before. In just a few seconds, they had the sand and earth map made yet again. This time it was less detailed to just show distance. 

They were able to use their location, the time they had traveled, and the new information to show the massive expanse of sand that had grown. "We can learn how many years it has been expanding. If we trace it back, we might be able to understand when the undead began excavation. It may have been a mana signature or a set of runes that caused this, stored mana running out or a sealed monster." Ethan was making less sense. 

"Can it help them? Will it make it easier to fight the undead?" Alice was still interjecting here and there. But her focus was the very same as Walker's, she and he, were both focused on how this information might directly be used to face the undead. 

"The more information we have on anything is always better. We can use it in too many ways to count. We might be able to use it to counter the expansion and return life to the lands around here. Do you know how much we found just up to this point? You stored it all away with your spatial skills. The number of items that we will find under the sands could build entire cities!" Ethan's rambling was echoed by the other Fel empire angels. It was clear that this could be extremely valuable information to them in more than just this instance. 

Soon the Rize angels were mumbling more. They clearly saw that this was a threat. The recovery of this desert region would cause the Fel empire to expand its strength rapidly. They couldn't let this happen while the Rize empire wanted for the mountains to slowly become occupied again. They would not be able to keep up with the Fel empire in this case. 

"No, you can't just start digging this place up. There will be years and years before you can manage the storms, the monsters, and whatever else is buried here. You haven't forgotten the dangers just because you are excited?" Mordant looked down on the Fel and the Rize angels getting worked up. To him, these were just the ramblings of foolish people. 

This let Walker breathe a sigh of relief. The angels getting all worked up could have caused many more issues. If they had gotten on each other's nerves too much with the situation, then they may have failed to cooperate as they moved further forward. "Can we take these light elemental crystals? We can use them to strengthen ourselves before we get to the undead." The Rize angel captain asked quickly as he saw the topic being forcefully changed by Mordant. 

….

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