Chapter 10 – Outpost Encounter

At an Observation Outpost.

An isolated stone tower, embedded at the top of a tall dune, was protected by wooden palisades that looked far too fragile to withstand attacks from the monsters that lived in the desert.

At the top of the tower, a guard yawned, adjusting his spear against his shoulder.

He wore the standard uniform, a rough set of grayish leather reinforced with thin plates of dull metal marked by scratches and stains of sand.

If he were devoured, the protection seemed to serve only to delay death by a few seconds.

The guard had a thin face burned by constant heat, covered by a metal helmet. His eyes showed deep dark circles that betrayed many sleepless nights.

“Two more hours…” Joren muttered, looking bored at the nighttime scenery of the desert. Today was his day to stay alone on duty, and the problem was that there was nothing here.

The climate and the silence made Joren feel like he was being watched by a monster.

He really had to agree with his veterans when they said that the night shift in the Ash Desert was a punishment.

If you were alone, without card games to pass the time, chatting, or gossiping about the lives of your superiors, there was only one option left: stare silently into nothing, waiting for something to happen.

Of course, it was still better if nothing happened.

Between the cold wind that slipped through the gaps in his armor and the constant fear of a monster appearing out of nowhere, Joren preferred the cold.

“Nothing happens in this hell. Not even adventurers are stupid enough to…”

But sometimes, solitude made his brain imagine things.

And today was one of those days.

Joren locked his gaze in one direction.

Down there, beyond the limit of the tower’s light, a silhouette emerged from the darkness.

“What…” Joren quickly went on alert. Adjusting his stance, he focused his eyes on the silhouette, trying to understand what he was seeing.

That shape looked like a…

Human?

A man was there, walking calmly over the soft sand as if it were a carpet. The man slowly approached the post under his attentive and cautious gaze.

The figure wore a worn cloak, hiding his body. But he could still see the pale skin of his face.

Joren felt the hairs on his arms rise.

Was there really someone walking through the desert at night?

Swallowing hard, he still had to do his job.

“S-Stop!” Joren shouted, his voice faltering for a second before recovering. “Identify yourself, traveler! This is a Luminaris outpost. What are you doing in the desert at this hour?”

The man stopped when he heard his voice.

He looked up, and for a moment, Joren had the impression that those eyes glinted when they noticed him.

“I am just a traveler.” The stranger’s voice was calm as he answered, seeming to echo beside his ear. “I am looking for the way to Luminaris. Is this the right direction?”

The ‘stranger’ was clearly Mark, lost in the desert after flying with Pippin for a while.

He had ended up losing his sense of direction, and the point of light had drawn him here.

Joren relaxed his grip on the spear, feeling more at ease when he heard that he was just a traveler looking for Luminaris. “Yes. Keep heading south. If you don’t stray, you’ll see the city lights before dawn.”

“Thank you.” Mark replied, but his eyes were fixed on the structure, evaluating it with curiosity.

He hadn’t expected to find a tower as lost as he was in the middle of the desert, so he was genuinely curious about what this post was doing here.

“What are you?”

Joren was stunned by the sudden question.

‘What are you? What kind of question was that?’

Did the man not know what a guard post did?

Despite the doubt, he still answered. “We are a Luminaris guard post. We are here only to signal the activity of large monster nests.”

‘Oh…’ Mark nodded.

So it was to deal with monsters.

But looking at the structure of the tower, Mark felt that thing didn’t look very reliable.

“Isn’t it dangerous to stay alone here?”

Joren let out a short laugh, tapping the shaft of his spear against the stone floor. “Ah, you’re really not from around here, are you? The tower is engraved with Third Circle repulsion runes. The magic here resists any monster up to Level 30. If something bigger shows up, the stones glow blue and we have time to use the transmission crystal to call for reinforcements.”

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Mark raised an eyebrow.

Level 30.

“And what is the strongest monster in this area?”

Mark knew, but still asked.

“The Sand Worms, of course! Their level ranges between 25, at most 30 if it’s an old specimen.” Joren replied with a dismissive gesture.

“They’re trouble for a group of Silver Rank adventurers, but they don’t come close to the tower because of the barrier. Why the question? Did you run into one?”

“…”

Mark looked back toward the direction where the nest used to be.

Level 25 to 30… he treated them like level 1.

The discrepancy was absurd.

In the game, his level 500 placed him on a scale where level 30 creatures wouldn’t even activate his passive defense abilities.

“I saw some tracks.” Mark replied with studied neutrality. “But it seems they were busy with something else.”

Thinking of something, Mark continued: “Does Luminaris have many guard posts?”

Joren let out a laugh, tapping the parapet of the tower. “Only in a few locations. The city of Luminaris pays poorly for guard posts. If you want to earn money, you need to join the internal forces, but I’d rather stare at the void than fight in the border wars in the East.”

Mark lightly furrowed his brow, taking in the information.

“Border wars in the East?” He tried to probe further, his voice tinged with genuine curiosity. “Where exactly?”

Joren froze for a moment, his eyebrows rising so high they nearly disappeared under the metal helmet.

The man in front of him didn’t know what a guard post did and didn’t know about the war either.

Joren looked Mark up and down before letting out an incredulous laugh. He didn’t seem to have even the most basic knowledge!