Chapter 432.2: The Legends Under The Sand

After hesitating for a moment, the woman seemed to make a decision, removing a ring from her finger. "Maybe you can take this, see if you can exchange it for something..."

The man quickly grasped her hand. "Don't... Let me think of another way."

Sisi glanced at them, guessing they probably fled from Oasis No.9 or Oasis No.3, and had spent all their savings.

While Sisi was assessing them, the man also noticed the two girls coming up the stairs. He hesitated for a moment, then approached.

"Lady, I'm very sorry to bother you, but could you exchange some money with us?"

Sisi glanced at his money pouch, which contained Lion Coins. There were quite a few, perhaps 300 or 400 of them. It wasn’t difficult to discern their origins.

The man probably felt his request was a bit abrupt as he quickly began to retract his hand.

He knew the currency of a defeated kingdom was worthless. If it had been a few months ago, his pouch could have been exchanged for at least 400 Camel Coins.

Even removing two zeros was difficult now. Moreover, even if he was desperate, he didn’t wish to swindle these two young ladies.

However, Sisi still took the pouch from his hand and gave him a bag of money.

"Deal, after this trip, we're actually planning to go to Oasis No.9. With this, we won't need to exchange the money there."

Looking at the money pouch the young girl handed him, the man was stunned before he spoke guiltily, "This... is too much."

From the weight of the pouch, there was at least 300 Camel Coins. It was enough to live frugally for half a year.

It could even be used to start a small business.

Sisi weighed the money pouch in her hand and casually said, "Your kingdom hasn't lost yet. There are still many resisting. Their determination is worth this price, take it."

The man gulped once, his face a mix of gratitude and shame.

After a brief silence, he took the money pouch and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your generosity, may the Spirit of the Desert bless your journey. My name is Charlie... Though it's an insignificant name, not worth remembering, but if fate allows us to meet again, I will repay your kindness to me and my wife."

Finding the guy quite interesting, Sisi grinned. "Don't take it too hard, it's just a transaction, just be good to your wife."

Tail also giggled and said, "Oh! It’s alright! We’ll just borrow your luck then! I hope we find a bunch of treasures on our way back! By the way, we are from the Order of the White Bear. Our leader is a talking white bear. Please make our legend even more extravagant!"

The man stared blankly at the two young girls, then bowed deeply again and went back to his wife to share the good news.

Under the grateful gaze of both, Sisi and Tail walked towards their room in the deeper part of the hallway.

Watching Sisi pulling out the keys to open the door, Tail touched her chin, pondered for a while, then as if she had discovered some incredible secret, she started speaking in a serious tone, "Incredible, I didn't expect our Sisi to have a soft heart! she didn't even suspect that the couple might be swindlers."

Sisi nonchalantly replied, "No, I just felt that if I didn't buy it, I might not get another chance. I bought it to keep as a souvenir... Oh right, just deduct this expense from my share of the profits. It’s a personal transaction after all."

Though it seemed like nobody really cared, she felt it was better to be clear.

She had seen too many guilds that were once on good terms fall out over equipment that wouldn't last two versions.

Tail looked surprised as she watched Sisi pushing the door open. "Eh! Is Sisi going to hoard the vintage coins?"

Sisi was taken aback, then smiled and stuffed the money pouch into her hand. "... Then consider it a part of yours too!"

The room for 9 Camel Coins was much more spacious than the one for 3. It had bright windows, a soft large bed, and even a private bathroom.

Petra Fortress wasn't an oasis, but it was still part of the Camel Kingdom's territory. Freshwater was slightly expensive but not scarce.

And unlike other oases, not all the freshwater came from dams. the Tzobar River flowing from the mountains to Silvermoon Bay also irrigated a vast area.

In the local language of the Camel Kingdom, the name Tzobar carries meanings of greatness and motherhood, which was also a cultural aspect that has formed during the Wasteland Era.

Just after dropping off their luggage, Tail rushed into the bathroom like a whirlwind, and soon the sound of water running came from inside.

It had been a month since she last bathed.

Sisi sat by the window, listening to the street vendors outside, and placed the book she had bought on her lap, carefully flipping through it.

The author's name was Dove, likely a pen name, who briefly narrated his life story on the title page, claiming to be from the Wandering Swamp. Upon discovering this hidden gem under the mountains, he gave up his employer's task, stayed locally, married a fisherman's daughter, and continued teaching and writing.

This book, written in the 150th year of the Wasteland Era, and its author were both equally well-known. It mainly recorded the geography and local customs of Oasis No.4 and the Camel Kingdom.

If one were to compare the Tzobar Mountains with the Roof of the World on Earth, then the location of the Camel Kingdom somewhat resembled an alternate-world version of

Bangladesh

.

But it was much smaller, covering only 80,000 square kilometers with a population of about 1.5 million. There was a total of 12 city-states, including Petra Fortress.

The capital was Camel City, where a third of the oasis's population lives, located at the southwest corner of the bay.

If one were to pass through Petra Fortress and follow the Tzobar River south to the estuary plains, one would reach the most prosperous Silvermoon Bay of the entire oasis.

Located on the plains, Silvermoon City was the most thriving port city of the Camel Kingdom, its unique cityscape marked by tiny islands and canals winding between buildings.

Although it had only 300,000 people, over 70% of the kingdom's revenue was generated there.

"... The locals trade with the southern islands and the southwestern Poro Province. The big-horn cattle in the desert are actually imported from Poro Province, which was said to have gill-bearing fishfolk and acid-spitting giant frogs... Incredible."

"Oh! Poro! Can we see a Poro there?" Toweling her wet hair, Tail, who had just come out of the bathroom, heard Sisi muttering to herself and immediately approached with curiosity.

Sisi looked at her and blushed, hastily pulling the curtain closed. "You... At least wear something!"

Tail stood proudly with her hands on her hips and a huge grin on her face. "What's the problem?! I heard that everyone doesn't wear clothes in the dorm!"

Sisi awkwardly shifted her gaze. "... I might have gone to a fake university."

After a playful moment, Tail finally regained her decency. She put on a shirt and sat down next to Sisi. She wrapped her hair in a towel, apparently planning to let it air dry.

Despite the presence of androids, there were no hair dryers, truly a hallmark of the wasteland.

Tail, now sitting close to the book, stared brightly at the illustrations, hoping to discover new clues for the map, so she could later boast on the forum.

Sisi coughed lightly, returning to the previous topic. "It's just a coincidence that the pronunciation is similar, translated directly it's 'the land south of the towering mountains,' I prefer to transliterate it as the Poro Province. It feels like its location is a bit like an enlarged version of the Italian Peninsula. This place is like Innsbruck, Camel City like Ravenna, Silvermoon City like Venice... Well, that’s if you only look at the geographical location."

The Tzobar Mountains to the southwest blocked their path, so from Oasis No.4 to Poro Province, one had to travel by sea.

According to the book, the sea also hosts exotic creatures, supposedly at the level of sea monsters.

However, those creatures usually only thrived in the deep sea and were very sensitive to smells.

Locals have found that those creatures detested the smell of black ironwood, so they used it to make wooden steamships for longer-distance trade. For relatively shallow nearshore waters, they would sometimes use iron ships.

The author of the book, Dove, had a very rigorous narrative style. He was probably a researcher from the Academy.

Sisi was thinking to herself with her hands on her chin when Tail suddenly sighed, "I never imagined the world was this big!"

"Yes indeed..."

"Across the sea..." Tilting her head to the side, Tail suddenly became serious. "Do you think there are enemies there?"

Sisi was momentarily stunned, then laughed. "... Tail... That might be a little off script.”

"Hehe..." Tail sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

At that moment, she noticed the scroll on the nightstand and remembered the treasure map, so she stood up with a whoop and grabbed it.

Looking at the map spread out on the floor, Sisi raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, it's pretty big."

Guess it wasn't too bad a deal after all.

"Wow! Sisi! There's a red X marked on the map! It really is a treasure map!"

"Anyone can draw something like that with a pen..." Watching the overly excited Tail, Sisi casually replied. Her gaze lingered on the map for a moment before she furrowed her brows.

Her index finger subconsciously flipped through the pages, finding the description of the Lost Valley.

The ‘treasure’ seemed to have a profound impact on the kingdoms of this oasis.

There was quite a lot regarding it described in the book. “According to local legend, that was where the Sky God fell, and his burning scepter turned the plain into a massive valley. That's where Oasis No.7 was, according to known documents. I suspect there are radioactive materials and Mutant Slime Mold there... Or should I say, remnants of a curse."

"I should go there and see, but my body can't take it anymore. For my beloved son, I have to put aside the urge for adventure. Maybe someday in the future, when I have no more ties, I'll go there and see, if I could fix that place up, that would be perfect, although I have no hopes."

"Those from a century and a half ago, who were living gods, tried to solve the problems of the gods with wrenches and screwdrivers. Hah, it’s better to light a candle and pray."

As she read on, Sisi was almost certain Dove was a researcher from the Academy. Or at the very least, an explorer.

That pessimistic self-mockery was just like a certain coffee machine-obsessed researcher.

"The more you know, the more pessimistic you become. Be glad you have an optimistic administrator, I would have given up on treatment long ago!” That was what that NPC often said.

Fixing her gaze on a certain phrase, Sisi whispered, "... Titan."

Tail excitedly looked up, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Titan?"

That was definitely a hidden quest!

Sisi nodded, her gaze moving across the page, and after some thought, she added, "Yeah... The author collected rumors about the Sky God and, referencing the locals' descriptions, he thinks it might be some kind of large land combat equipment with escort ship specifications, equipped with a mobile reactor, heavy artillery, and starship-grade shields."

A machine wielding holy fire battling against a creature with many tentacles, ultimately perishing under a scepter fallen from the sky... It sounded like a battle of

Transformers

against some

Hent– monsters

.

If one interpreted the tentacle monster to be a Hive, then the machine wielding holy fire was easy to explain.

It was probably similar to the Mechs from

Civilization VI

or the titans from

Titanfall

.

Of course, it didn’t sound like something that happened recently. Instead, it was something that could have only happened in the Federation Era.

"Hmm, there might really be something incredible there, but..."

It was best not to complicate things at this moment.

After all, compared to an unknown difficulty quest and profit from a strange ancient relic, the cargo worth millions they had on hand was obviously more important.

However...

When she met those expectant eyes, she couldn’t help but show a helpless smile.

Closing the book in her hand, Sisi set it aside, patted off the dust, and stood up. "... It would be a shame not to go and see."

Tail jumped in excitement. "YEAH! LET’S GO!"