Location: Deep Desert – Glass Valley.
Time: Day 2 of Entry.
On the second day, the heat intensified, but the internal cold was far more dangerous. Rowan began to cough, his spit flecked with fine black threads.
"Stop," Lirion ordered. He placed a hand on Rowan's back. Pure blue mana flowed from Lirion into Rowan, but the corrupted mana in his system resisted fiercely.
[Alert: External purification attempt consumes double energy.]
"Continue," Lirion commanded the system, bracing against the backlash of the tainted energy. Rowan's black threads turned gray, then vanished.
"Thanks," Rowan whispered, pale and drained.
"Don't thank me. Save your energy," Lirion replied.
Suddenly, the sand beneath them trembled. It wasn't a natural quake, but a rhythmic vibration.
The sand exploded around them. No fleshy monsters emerged. Instead, creatures made of fused glass and compacted sand rose up, shaped like massive scorpions. Their eyes were red lenses that rotated and focused light.
"Constructs," Lirion shouted. "Artificial beings!"
The first scorpion lunged at Garek. Garek struck with his sword, but the blade rebounded off the scorpion's glass body with a high-pitched sonic spark.
"Its hide's too hard!" Garek yelled.
Lirion noticed something: with every impact, the red lens on the scorpion's head flashed.
"The lens is the control node!" Lirion called out. "Don't strike the body—shatter the lens!"
Lirion drew his First Circle, but instead of water, he compressed the mana into a fine needle.
"Ice Needle!"
He fired. The needle struck the red lens. A sharp sonic feedback echoed, the scorpion froze in place, then shattered into ordinary sand.
"Focus on the heads!"
The battle raged. The team was exhausted. The corrupted mana in the air made drawing circles increasingly difficult, as if the atmosphere itself resisted the formation of lines.
Lirion activated the Stone to stabilize his circuits.
[Stabilization Assist Activated. Additional Consumption: 10%.]
With the Stone's aid, Lirion's circles fired with surgical precision, shattering the lenses one by one.
After five minutes, silence fell once more.
Lirion approached the scorpion's remains. Among the sand, he found a tiny chip, similar to the black shard but crimson in color.
[System Analysis: Remote Control Unit. Source: Matches the capital's signature.]
"They aren't just here," Lirion said, holding the chip. "They're running this desert remotely. It's a testing ground."
Garek shivered. "Who has the power to control an entire desert?"
"Not power," Lirion corrected. "Technology that surpasses our magic."