Drizzling rain fell ceaselessly like threads of silk.
It struck the oilcloth draped over Leilin with a cool, tingling sensation.
Riding atop a Lipan direwolf that had rested through the night, Leilin kept a calm expression, peering through the gray haze to make out the scenery ahead.
Pop!
It was as if a curtain had been torn apart—Leilin felt as though he burst through the mist, and a blindingly bright sunlight poured directly down upon them.
Swish!!
The wolves' claws sank slowly into the countless grains of sand underfoot.
The drizzle and overcast clouds had vanished at some point. Overhead blazed a fiery sun, its searing radiance spreading ceaselessly across the vast desert.
What met the eye was a panorama of golden hues and undulating sand dunes.
"The Golden Desert—we've arrived!" Leilin felt the temperature around them climbing steadily, at least twenty degrees higher than during the earlier drizzle.
A stifling humidity filled the oilcloth enclosure, and even Leilin's constitution found it somewhat uncomfortable.
Whoosh! He hastily tore off the oilcloth and shed a few layers of clothing before feeling some relief.
Such sudden temperature shifts were commonplace in the Maglie Grand Canyon. For an ordinary person, they would have been torment, but for Leilin and his companions, it was merely a slight inconvenience.
"Awoooo!"
The lead Lipan direwolf let out a long howl—whether of excitement or alertness was unclear—and the wolves beneath Leilin and the others joined in, roaring in answer.
As the wolves howled, Leilin noticed that the fur of the Lipan direwolves began to change.
Normally, the Lipan direwolves were entirely black, with only a splash of vivid red fur on their heads. But now, under the blazing sun, the color of their fur gradually lightened, eventually turning completely white. Then a faint blue glow emanated from their bodies, and their entire coats shifted to an icy blue.
A cold aura radiated from the wolves' backs—cool and refreshing, especially in this desert.
"They've even leveraged the difference between dark-spectrum and light-spectrum patterns!"
Leilin couldn't help but marvel at the direwolves' adaptability. Under intense sunlight, icy-blue fur was clearly far less heat-absorbent than black fur. That the Lipan direwolves actually understood this was genuinely surprising.
Moreover, they supplemented this with a subtle application of ice-element energy particles.
The Lipan direwolf truly deserved its reputation as the most suitable creature for crossing the Maglie Grand Canyon!
Six massive wolves, their bodies coated in icy blue and radiating tendrils of cold, quickly carried the wizards on their backs and set off once more, venturing into the Golden Desert—dozens of times more perilous than the Grey Stone Wasteland!
The dazzling sunlight beat down relentlessly, and Leilin took another sip of water.
With his own keen eyesight and the Chip's detection, he had already spotted numerous dangerous creatures in the surrounding desert.
To put it bluntly, in terms of danger, the Grey Stone Wasteland was the least threatening region in the entire Maglie Grand Canyon.
Over the past ten-odd days, Leilin and his group had traveled easily, much like a leisurely outing, encountering very few dangerous species.
But here, things were clearly different.
With only a cursory survey, Leilin spotted several dangerous creatures lurking in the desert.
Six-eyed venomous serpents, golden stinging scorpions, highly poisonous compound-eyed lizards—species after species from the bestiaries Leilin had studied appeared before his eyes, along with a few bizarre, oddly shaped creatures he had never seen before.
"Even the energy concentration in the air has recovered, and it seems even higher than the outside—no wonder there are so many troublesome things here!"
Feeling the abundant energy particles in the air, Leilin exhaled softly.
"Everyone, stay sharp! The dangers of the Golden Desert are nothing compared to a place like Grey Stone!"
The woman Lanse at the front began calling out orders.
No reminder was needed; all the wizards present shed their previously casual expressions.
A bit of relaxation in the Grey Stone Wasteland was one thing, but doing the same in the Golden Desert was tantamount to courting death and stupidity. Those who had advanced to first-rank Wizard on the South Coast were rarely the type to make such a mistake.
"Awoooo!"
Just then, Lanse's mount suddenly roared, its massive claw raised high, the sharp tip gleaming with a trace of icy blue frost, and slammed down with tremendous force!
Smack!
From the sand in front of the direwolf, a pitch-black scorpion with an eye pattern on its back suddenly appeared, pinned beneath the razor-sharp wolf claw. It writhed and struggled ceaselessly, letting out shrill hisses.
Crunch! The Lipan direwolf lowered its massive head, opened its gaping maw, and swallowed the scorpion whole, its razor-sharp jaws grinding down with the sound of cracking chitin.
"Common creatures like these, the Lipan direwolves can handle for us. But dangerous species like the Gleid vultures—we'll have to deal with those ourselves!"
Lanse urged her Lipan direwolf forward slightly and addressed the wizards behind her.
"This is…"
When the Lipan direwolf had attacked, it had thrown up a great deal of sand. With his sharp eyes, Leilin spotted several gleaming golden grains among it.
Leilin reached out and scooped a handful of the golden sand into his palm.