Five hours later, as Alnea watched Enn dip towards the horizon, he could not help sighing, wondering if the curse of his fate was playing tricks on him once again. Thankfully, the curse had not done its best. At the very least, it had not drawn over some Adult Stage Oren Beasts, and neither did they have to face any Heterodox Wanderers, leaving just some Adolescent Stage Oren Beasts for them to deal with. As for the Wanderers driven by their curiosity…

  Without exception, once those Wanderers recognised the Wanderers recklessly bombarding the desert as if it was their mortal enemy, they quickly apologised and rushed back to where they had come from. A situation that the Star Seekers had become all too familiar with. Even before Alnea had begun taking the Black Desert Trial, his teammates had already earned quite a fearsome reputation for themselves. Their constant battles with the Lotus clan and their allies had only served to further fuel their infamy.

  Almost annihilating the Lotus clan, forcing them to replenish their manpower three times in the past six months… four, counting the recent withdrawal of the Lotus clan. Even if they were just defending themselves most of the time, their ruthlessness had made the entire city designate them as one of the teams that should not be provoked. Maybe that also had to do with all the exaggerated rumours that were going around. Especially the one which said that he, as the leader of the Star Seekers, liked to drink the blood of his enemies from their skull…

  In any case, Alnea was not surprised when he saw the Wanderers run away as soon as they recognised his team. As for whether they would inform other Wanderers, or bring more enemies, he was not afraid. After all, by the time those Wanderers could complete their quotas to return to the city, and ask for reinforcements, he would have already enjoyed the Fortune of the Fortune Spring, and returned back to the city. Or so he had thought. With Enn setting towards the horizon though…

  “…That’s enough,” Alnea said, beckoning all the Star Seekers to stop what they were doing, and gather around him, while he withdrew his senses, and left his Spirit State. The issue of the Spirit Power aside, fusing his senses with the light around him put too much pressure on his Spirit. Much more so than his other Arcanas. Coupled with Enn setting in the horizon…

  “It’s getting late. We should prepare our camp while Enn is still in the sky.”

  Although everyone complained, they still complied with his orders. After all, setting up camp before being enshrouded in the darkness of dusk was one of the most basic rules of exploring unknown territories. It was also the most logical decision, considering how they were getting attacked by Oren Beasts every half an hour or so. It was fine in the light of Enn, but in absolute darkness of the dusk…

  At the very least, they had to stick together until Orn rose up in the sky. Or so logic said. However, that they understood the logic behind his decision did not mean that they were happy with it. Seeing no result for their hours of hard work, with danger looming over them from all sides, their Heart was bound to have some dissatisfaction. And with the Fortune Spring’s influence, those dissatisfaction were amplified to the extreme…

  It took Alnea nearly a quarter of an hour to convince everyone to set up the camp, and another half an hour to actually set up the camp. A large blue tent, roughly about the size of his room back in the mansion. Enough to fit everyone at once, given that they did not run around. But after Alnea had reminded them of how their Heart had been disturbed once again, all of them were too busy trying to calm their Hearts to roam around. All except Alnea and the girls.

  “You did better this time,” Alnea said to Vestia, sitting around two to three hands away from him. “I did not expect you to restrain your Heart so easily.”

  “…I did not restrain my Heart,” Vestia said, shaking her head, before flashing her dimples. “On the contrary, I followed its voice.”

  “Oh? And what did it say?”

  “To trust you unconditionally.”

  “Vixen,” Cecilia grumbled, staring warily at the blue robed woman. She was sitting towards his right, ready to pounce on her archenemy if she were to make any sudden moves. “Next, are you going to say that your Heart is asking you to stick close to Alnea?”

  “…That sounds like a good excuse.”

  “You! I am warning you, don’t try—

  “Cecilia,” Alnea said, drawing Cecilia’s attention to herself. “What did I ask you to do before?”

  “But—

  “No buts. We are in the Black Desert right now. We cannot afford to make any mistakes.”

  “…Fine.”

  “…And you too, Vestia. Don’t provoke her… At least until we return to the city.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “…Understood.”

  “…Now, let’s come back to what we were discussing. Lia, your Arcana makes you perfect to keep watch in the darkness, so you will be up first.”

  “…Alright.”

  “Karl, you will be up next. Followed by Ralph, Norren, Aren…”

  After allocating everyone’s guard duties, Alnea took out a few dry rations from his storage pouch, and munched them down. Although it was nothing compared to the food in the Blood Hall’s canteen, or even the meals he had back in the Night Canyons, it was all he had. As for the beasts piled up in heaps outside of their tent, the Oren Beasts of the Black Desert were far too poisonous to be eaten without being processed by professional cooks.

  Besides, it was not as if the dry rations were bad. They might not be as fulfilling as the meals in the cafeteria, but they were enough to satisfy his needs. They even had a unique, chewy texture, and a strange fruity taste. Or so Alnea comforted himself, as he forced himself to eat the dried strips of meat, before closing his eyes to meditate, and rest his Spirit. After all, the jerky that he had just gobbled down was worth around four to five Blood Coins, nearly five times as expensive as the meals in the canteen…

  Suppressing the useless thought, and forcing it out of his Heart, Alnea concentrated within himself to search for conflicts hidden within the depths of his Heart. After nearly two years of practising, it had become like an involuntary habit. He did not even need to do it consciously. Every time he closed his eyes, he would inadvertently think about all the things that he had done, and how he might have done better. And in that retrospection, he often managed to find a few conflicts that he did not even know existed…

  But that was what meditating, and tempering his Heart was all about. Finding the conflicts hidden within himself, and resolving them. Tempering his Heart to be Settled and Serene in all sorts of situations. Maybe even find a trace of Clarity that could help him see through all his thoughts at just a glance. And with that Clarity as a base, build an Impenetrable wall around himself that could stop him from being influenced by his thoughts. Going beyond Impenetrability though… that was a realm of its own.

  But those were all things to worry about in the future. At the moment, Alnea was more worried about the Oren Beasts attacking them from time to time. Every time he heard the sound of fighting outside the tent, he hoped with every part of his being, that the beasts attacking them was not in its Adult Stage. Although he had been confident in front of his teammates, he did not dare to imagine what might happen if he was wrong…

  “Wake up, Alnea.”

  Alnea opened his eyes to Vestia’s smiling face, just a couple of inches away from his. They were so close, that he could literally see her individual eye lashes, and the strains of brown lines in her eyes. Then there was also the hot breath blowing on his face, or the beats of her heart ringing in his ears…

  If he did not know better, Alnea might have mistaken the blue robed woman’s intentions. Vestia… she had a weird sense of humour. And she liked to tease him too much. Thankfully, it was not the first time his face was so close to hers. And it surely was not the first time he was so close to a girl. Smiling wryly, he put two fingers on her forehead, and pushed her face away from his, before getting up, and stretching out his limbs.

  “…Do you know how many people would beg me to wake them up like that?”

  “I do,” Alnea said, glancing at Vestia with a smile. “Or have you forgotten what you showed me?”

  “…You promised not to tease me about those memories,” Vestia said, pouting at him, with a slight hint of red on her cheeks. Even when angry, she looked as beautiful as ever.

  “…I made no such promises. And I did not tease you, did I?”

  “…I did not know that you would change your mind after you have taken advantage of me,” Vestia said, with a hint of mist in her eyes. “I thought that you were different from other men. That I could trust you… But you…”

  “…Stop saying such misleading things,” Alnea said, smiling wryly at the girl who was no less mischievous than Yuri. “What if others hear you? Are you not afraid that they will misunderstand you?”

  “…Are you worried about others, or just about your little girlfriends?”

  “…They will never misunderstand me. Lia might throw a little tantrum, but she will believe me. And so will Yuri.”

  “…For some reason, I don’t feel so good anymore.”

  “…Just as you will believe me.”

  “…No wonder Cecilia is always so defensive about you. If we do not keep an eye on you, then who knows how many girls you might attract.”

  “…Stop thinking about useless things, and get some rest,” Alnea said, ruffling through Vestia’s hair with a grin, earning her glare in return, before walking out of the ten with a laugh. Once he was out of the tent though, he quickly restrained himself, and subdued all his unnecessary thoughts, pushing them down to the bottom of his Heart, before unfurling the senses of his Spirit.

  Although Orn was rushing towards the horizon, she had yet to set in, providing enough light for him to keep a watch without relying on Arcanas. But he could never guess the means of Oren Beasts who had reached their Adult Stage. Just to be sure, he decided to use an Arcana anyway.

  “Lurking in the void between Day and Night…”

  “The shadow that comes from the absence of light…”

  “I beseech the Lady of Night to grace me with her light…”

  “And grant unto me, the Domain of Night.”

  Alnea felt the darkness around him stretch its tendrils, and merge with his senses, becoming a part of his domain. A temporary domain, but a domain, nonetheless. And it was not just the darkness. Even the dim rays of Orn’s silvery blue light, the countless grains of sand, and the cold wind blowing through his robe, everything within the range of his senses became a part of his domain. Everything, except for a dune around forty metres away, that kept releasing strange, intangible waves into the desert.

  “…Wake everyone up, Yuri,” Alnea said, staring towards the dune with a wide grin. “I have found the Fortune Spring.”