After encountering a few Desert Scorpions, Lyle and the Ghost Hound continued their march; the presence of living creatures at least indicated that there was a probability of intelligent life in this place.
As long as he could obtain even a little bit of basic information, for Lyle, this trip would not have been in vain.
But it was truly too desolate.
The air was dry, and the temperature at noon could reach over 40 degrees; besides sand, there was only gravel.
Even with Desert Scorpions, during Lyle's subsequent exploration, he was lucky if he could encounter one or two after half a day; it seemed that even monsters with tenacious vitality found it extremely difficult to survive on this land.
Furthermore! Lyle had also discovered a very critical point, which was that up to now, he had not discovered the existence of any water source on this desert-like Gobi.
From the time he arrived in this area until now, there were almost no clouds in the sky, and the scorching sun had been shining brightly the entire time.
The reason those Desert Scorpions were able to survive was very likely because they relied on groundwater.
Lyle's Item Box held quite a few spare water bags, so he didn't need to worry about the water issue; even if he used up all the water in these bags, he still had "The Urn of Endless Wine" obtained from the Lizardman.
The seventh day of entering the Gobi Desert.
Lyle brushed the dust off his clothes, his throat feeling a bit dry; after taking a few big gulps from the water bag, he handed it to the Ghost Hound beside him.
"Awoo～"
The Ghost Hound was panting, tongue lolling out, and hurriedly opened its mouth to catch the water flowing out from the water bag.
As a monster covered in thick fur that lived in forests, it was clearly unaccustomed to the desert environment before its eyes.
"Thank you for your hard work, let's continue searching." After pouring most of the water into the Ghost Hound's mouth, Lyle reached out and patted the Ghost Hound's head.
"Roar."
The Ghost Hound licked the water stains from the corner of its mouth and nodded, then its body rapidly shrank, transforming into a goshawk that soared into the air and flew toward the sky.
Lyle put away the water bag, scanned the surroundings, and walked toward a half-person-high black Rock not far away, raising his palm to press lightly on the black Rock: "Magic Mark."
Currently, every time he traveled a certain distance, he would leave a Magic Mark on a conspicuous Rock nearby, thereby ensuring that he would not get lost in this vast Gobi Desert.
He could also use this to determine the direction he was traveling through perception.
Bang!
Lyle had just taken his palm off the black Rock when he saw the black Rock begin to vibrate, and immediately after, the ground centered on the black Rock vibrated simultaneously.
"This is..."
Lyle raised his gaze, leaped backward with both legs, left his previous position, and put a distance of about six or seven meters between himself and this black Rock.
Boom! Boom!
The sand piles around the black Rock began to cave in, driving the surrounding gravel to form quicksand, continuously converging toward the center.
And the black Rock vibrated even more violently, as if some kind of creature had been suddenly awakened.
The black Rock, which was about half a meter high, suddenly began to rise and started to change slightly, actually turning into a stone head.
Accompanied by a loud "rumble" sound!
Arms made of Rock reached out from the desert and slammed heavily onto the sandy ground; a Rock giant, entirely black and over five meters tall, crawled out from under the sand pile.
Boom!
The Rock giant had stone eyes with a blurred face; looking down at the seemingly small Lyle below, it raised its thick, rocky arm and smashed it down toward Lyle.
"It's actually a living creature."
A look of surprise and astonishment appeared on Lyle's face; facing the Rock arm smashing down heavily, he stomped his right foot and shifted horizontally to the left.
Bang!
With a loud noise, a large pit was smashed into the sandy ground.
"All-Race Charm!" Lyle activated the magic; this was the first race he had seen since arriving in this area that resembled an intelligent creature.
This was not the northwest corner of the continent where humans lived; most areas of the entire continent were ruled by the demi-human race and xenomorph species.
Therefore, in this unknown region, it would not be strange to see any kind of strange race.
The magical fluctuation spread, flashing across the Rock giant's body!
Hmm?
Lyle was stunned and jumped backward again; the Rock giant's other arm continued to smash down, emitting a roar.
"All-Race Charm" actually had no effect!
Racial trait?
Some unique races indeed possessed the ability to be immune to mental effect influences.
"If I have disturbed your slumber, then I am very sorry."