Chapter 53: 53 Sandy Dunes
"So, since the two of you have got your plan, you don't need the rest of the info," stated the Informant.
"No no! Sorry, we got a little ahead of ourselves!" quickly interrupted Striga.
Looking the two of them up and down, the informant continued.
"As I was saying, Dr. Gilbert is currently under a mission by one of the Nobles, so even if you guys go over there, he may or may not be able to help you. He's investigating a den of lower tiered Sandracons that have mutated, and the frequency of mutations happening in the area. I suggest looking for him in the sandy alcoves if he's not at his quarters," said the Informant.
"Now, for the eyes that you saw. Please, is there anything you can tell us to narrow down the search?" asked the informant.
"Of course. The eyes were a golden colour with vertical pupils bisecting them. They seemed to start off small but over the course of about 10 minutes I swear I saw them increase in size. It could have been an illusion because I could hear whispers trying to pervade my mind. I was able to resist the whispers, but it still left a residual fear," explained Donis, doing his best to be as accurate as possible.
"Hmm, that sounds like a few different spells, with a touch of mind magic. We'll take the matter upon ourselves to delve deeper than the resources allocated here. This may cost more, it depends on the resources required to accomplish this task. We'll get in contact with your captain, Striga. Hopefully it'll be done before you guys officially finish whatever it is you'll want to do with Dr. Gilbert," said the informant.
Donis was incredibly surprised not only by the seeming accuracy of the information, but by even the helpful comments the informant had made. It made him feel like information might be a bit more readily available than he thought. Though a question was starting to burn up in his mind.
"I have one more question, actually. How can you know all of this? I haven't seen you peruse through too many files nor folders or anything. Also, how can you give away so much information for a thing as simple as a fee? Couldn't that be abused?" asked Donis looking around the desk of the informant.
"Ah yes, well, you see this device here?" said the informant as he pulled out a small oval shaped bead with a light blue inscription on it emitting a soft glow in the runic language.
-Etheric Dimensional Reader IV-
[Grade: Epic]
[Special Property: Can instantly provide information to the [User] taken from their dimensional storage items. Can be multi-linked between other Etheric Dimensional Readers to increase the amount of potential information transferred.]
After casting [True Inspect] Donis mind was abuzz with ideas for such an item. If he stored entire libraries in his [Inventory], with such an item he'd have all the knowledge within them at a moments notice. Nothing could escape his thirst for more knowledge, and this just whetted his appetite.
"This here lets us access info quickly, it's really handy for such a job like this, where information is dense and as numerous as the water droplets during a storm. I'll give you that one on the house lad, don't worry, it's good to be curious," smiled the Informant at Donis.
"Also, we sell info that isn't considered classified, otherwise only the correct authorization is going to get info out of us. We still answer to the royals, and whatever they say, goes. I suppose the royals are strong enough to not care about such petty things as information of us low levelled beings," sighed the informant.
"Oh, okay! Thank you so much for this, it's been a great help!"
"Thank you very much, we'll be on our way!" said Striga politely as the two made their way out of the hush zone.
The informant didn't even get a chance to say his goodbyes before the duo was outside of the hush zone.
"Oh well, they'll be fine. She seems strong enough to handle him," said the informant to himself.
***
In the carriage, on the way to Baoruin.
"So, where is Baoruin?" asked Donis, still envisioning himself owning one of those readers.
"It's about an hours ride from here, not too far. The landscape'll change relatively quickly. It's a sandy area close enough to an ocean, though the ocean isn't the reason for the sand," said Striga still looking out of the window.
"Hmm, I don't like sand. It's all coarse, and rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere. Though what is the cause of it if it's not the ocean?" said Donis grumbling a little.
"The Sandracons. They're like a miniature disaster on the locals. Normally they're cleared out from any area they inhabit that's close to humans, or other important species, but I don't really know why they're still inhabiting that spot," said Striga with a hint of melancholy to her voice.
"Still inhabiting that spot?" asked Donis.
"Yeah, that town is one of the first towns I was sent to clear out the Sandracons when I was about 19. I don't have the most pleasant memories here , but I'm sure I'll be fine after a stiff drink or two. Let's hope Gilbert can drink," said Striga putting on a brave face.
"Sure Cap'n!" beamed back Donis.
"God, don't pick up his speech habits, please," laughed Striga.
***
A couple of minutes outside of Baoruin.
The scenery had quickly changed from somewhat moist grasslands to an overpowering sandy tone. The wind had become dry, the land an off-golden beige, even the sky seemed to have lost it's clouds. An arid wasteland somehow situated deep into a grassland, it reeked of odd.
The town had built up some walls to keep out the harsh wind that carried sand. The walls were made of what looked like concrete mixed with sand, and there were guarded entrances into the town with large gates that looked like they attempted to keep the sand out as much as possible.
The guards around the entrances wore steel chest plates with fabric undergarments, that fluttered in the wind and looked to keep the sand out of the joints. It didn't look the coolest either, but Donis guessed that they were fine, since when he cast [True Inspect] on them, one of the chest pieces had a Temperature Regulator rune.
Going inside the town, the carriage took them to their supposed location where they were going to find the Dr. Gilbert, but as luck would have it, he wasn't home. The informant mentioned he may actually be out in the sandy dunes, but Striga just wanted to get a stiff drink at this point and Donis wasn't going to deny her if what she said about this place being a rough memory.
An hour or two later, Striga had beat 4 men in an arm wrestling competition, drank enough ale to kill 3, and yet was standing alongside Donis as if nothing had happened.
"You're a monster you know that, right?" said Donis.
"I've been called worse. The thing I hate about this place now is how weak the ale has become, and how weak the men here are," sighed Striga.
"You're just freakishly strong," laughed Donis.
"I suppose, I suppose, I gotta be if I wanna be the Cap'n right?" laughed Striga.
The two decided to hit up the sandy dunes, but before even taking another step, they realised that they maybe should have asked for better information.
"Sandy Dunes… in a fucking desert? Are we stupid? We should have asked for everything," exhaled Striga.
"Yeah, I blame all of you for making me stupider, normally I take very measured decisions," pouted Donis.
"Whatever, lets head back and wait for him at his Inn. He may be into dragons like you, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume he hasn't actually become one, so he'll need to sleep in a bed at some point," sighed Striga as she turned on her heel to try and go back.
Donis though didn't answer, his gaze was fixed on something further, something that was moving in the sandy dunes ahead. It was a yellow mass that Striga couldn't quite figure out. Yet her experience as a captain let her assume that it was probably a Sandracon. Thankfully, Sandracons are usually only level 30, so even if 10 or 20 surround them, she'd be able to protect him.
They always hunted in packs, but she assumed that they'd be far outside of it's range to detect the two of them. If they lacked something, it was good eyesight.
While Striga was analyzing the creatures diving patterns in the sand, Donis was lost with what he's currently experiencing. He saw the scaly creature diving in and out of the sand as if it were water. It had a long tail, and a spiky back. The whole body was flat and relatively smooth looking outside of his back.
It was too far away to see much more than that, but that was enough for Donis. Though, as if fates themselves were answering Donis's call, he spotted more and more yellow dots jump in and out of the sand, with one of them looking over in his direction.
A single half screech, half roar permeated the air which was quickly followed by a cacophony of other similar screeches. They were still too far away, Donis couldn't cast [True Inspect] on them just yet, so he did the next best thing; looked at Striga.
She seemed pretty relaxed, but also a little on edge – she was waiting for the battle that was coming. So he did the next best thing, prepared a dragon versus dragon fight and began stirring the flames of hatred within him to release the Dragonfury.
"Lad, just stay behind me and try to not get yourself killed okay? We're off the clock, but I'd still appreciate it if you caught a little bit of an explanation from the [Monster Logger]," said Striga calmly.
"Me? Killed? I've never done that one before, not planning on starting now cap'n."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Nospacess
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