Lux's Magic Penetration Rod

After making the decision to leave this desert and find a way out elsewhere, the Shurima tribe began intensive preparations.

Stock up on food, prepare drinking water, pack luggage...

These things are all very familiar to the Shurima tribe who are used to wandering between oases, but this time, Setaka personally watched everything and asked everyone to show the most rigorous attitude.

Trying to get out of the desert is an adventure.

And sometimes, it may be a trivial detail that determines the success or failure of an adventure.

At the same time, Kalya is also using his influence to "blackmail" other tribes as much as possible, especially those tribes that occupy a certain oasis, have average strength, and are very worried that the Shurima tribe will list them as targets.

Kalya used intimidation methods on them without any bottom line, making them tremblingly spend their resources to buy peace.

For this reason, Kalya specially made a batch of security orders. As long as he provides sufficient resources to the Shurima tribe, he can exchange them for a security order that guarantees safety.

Since Kalya has been the "diplomat" of the Shurima tribe before, his words can fully represent the opinions of the Shurima tribe. Therefore, in the face of his threat, other tribes can only grit their teeth and come up with supplies, even if they are unwilling to do so. In exchange for a safety order - Kalya was very precise. For these tribes, the price of a fight with Shurima was always greater than spending some supplies in exchange for a safety order.

In this way, by patchwork, the Shurima people filled all of Sklash's backpacks.

It was at this time, according to Kalya's calculations, that the most suitable time to set off had arrived.

There are very large-scale desert storms outside the area where the Shurima tribe conducts their daily activities, and there are very few oases. Therefore, most of the desert residents who have lived here for generations have no intention of going further away—— That would be running headlong into a desert storm.

Note that the desert storm here is not the kind that can be overcome by relying on Scarash. Once this kind of violent wind blows, the 100-meter-high sand dunes can move hundreds of feet in an instant. Scarash will also be completely submerged in a few breaths, and it is almost impossible to resist just relying on human power.

But this kind of sandstorm does not stop all year round. According to Kalya's observation, its existence has certain rules.

As long as you find this pattern, you can avoid sandstorms as much as possible.

Kalya had the idea of ​​​​leaving here a long time ago, so he has been paying attention to the birth and subsidence of the sandstorm since he had the opportunity. Five years later, he finally figured out the window period of the sandstorm.

The aftermath of the last sandstorm has completely dissipated, and the next sandstorm will not be born for at least three months. Taking advantage of this three-month window, the Shurima tribe can completely get out of this sea of ​​death!

In this way, the Shurima people who had made all preparations, led by Kalya and Setaka, left the last supply oasis, took all their belongings, and rushed to the south.

……………………

At the very beginning of the journey, the entire Shurima tribe seemed to be just carrying out routine supplies between oases. Everyone followed the Skalash at the front, maintaining a steady pace and stepping on the sand ridges of the dunes. .

And on the back of the leader, Scarlash, was Kalya, who was the general guide of the trip.

Different from usual times, Kalya, who focused all his energy on guiding the direction, was very silent. Except for basic eating, drinking and eating, he spent most of his time playing with the various wooden utensils in his hands.

In addition, Kalya would also raise his utensils to face the sun during the day, and face the stars at night, often observing his own shadow. From time to time, he would write and draw on the gravel, and then cherish it carefully. A number is recorded on a sheepskin.

Although the desert people at this time had mastered the ability to rely on the stars to determine the direction to a certain extent, what Kalya did was obviously not just as simple as determining the direction - even the most experienced guide in the tribe could not I completely understand why Kalya did this.

In fact, Kalya's main purpose of doing this was to estimate the straight-line distance he had traveled and prepare to draw a map.

It's not the kind of map that desert people have now that marks what is in which direction, but a standard map with a scale!

Of course, given the crudeness of the instrument and the fact that Kalya was a second-guessing at this, the map he drew might not be very accurate.

But even so, it is very necessary, because in a sense, the map represents the horizon!

If we have a map and a means to accurately determine the direction, even the Sea of ​​Death will have the opportunity to come and go freely in the future!

In this way, the Shurima tribe's large army marched southward for seven whole days.

The scouts who had been snooping around since the third day finally brought back a very good news on the evening of the eighth day.

"To the east, there is a small oasis!"

This is a saltwater oasis.

There is a small lake in the oasis with a radius of less than half a mile. The lake is very deep, like a piece of black jade at the bottom of a bowl, embedded in a circle of surrounding sand dunes.

After arriving at the oasis, at Setaka's urging, a camel was brought over.

The tribesman who raised the camel tried to make it lower its head to drink water, but unfortunately, after taking a shallow taste, the camel snorted and refused the order to continue drinking water-even for the camel, the water was too salty.

So, a Scarash was led over.

The water that a camel couldn't drink, but Skalash drank happily, and even started excreting happily while drinking, wagging his tail.

After drinking enough water, Scarash was quickly taken aside and carefully observed by the old herdsman. It was not until the sun set that he assured Setaka that the lake water was only salty and should not be poisonous.

After reaching this conclusion, Setaka finally let out a sigh of relief.

Although the Shurima tribe still carries a lot of water, when traveling in the desert, the more water the better - although this kind of salt water that even camels don't drink is not drinkable by people, but as long as Scarash It's okay if you drink it, that's enough.

You must know that when the desert tribes migrate, the most critical thing is to meet the drinking water needs of Skalas. These big guys can go without drinking water for ten or twenty days, but if they do not drink water for more than twenty days, they will quickly weaken.

Therefore, if they want to migrate long distances and there is no oasis for twenty days, the tribe will have to use precious drinking water to feed Scarash, because once Scarash collapses, the tribe will never be able to go further.

On the contrary, as long as the drinking water of Skalas can be ensured, even if there is no fresh water for human consumption, a small amount of Skalas can be slaughtered when necessary and the blood can be used as fresh water supplement - in the hands of these frugal desert people, an adult Skalas Kalash's blood is enough for a hundred people to last for more than three days; if other body fluids and internal organs are included, this number can reach five days.

Scarash was led one by one to the lakeside to drink heavily.

The Shurima tribe also quickly cleared a clearing, cut down some plants in the oasis, and lit a fire.

I had a rare hot meal tonight.

While everyone was busy, Kalya found a quiet corner, sat cross-legged, and placed a narrow wooden board on his legs.

Then, he unfolded a brand new and complete sheepskin, compared it with the data he had recorded before, and began to record the previous trip stroke by stroke.

"We are still heading south, right?" When Kalya finally completed the final marking of the [Salt Water Oasis] and carefully rolled up the sheepskin, behind him, Setaka, who had been watching silently for a long time, finally spoke. , "Always heading straight south?"

"If there's nothing wrong with my eyes, that's the case." Kalya nodded, "Besides, I've traveled five hundred miles."

"It seems that we are lucky. We encountered an oasis five hundred miles away." Setaka handed a bowl of paste to Kalya with a smile. "The water quality of this saltwater lake is good. Except for too much salt, there is nothing wrong with it." The problem - Ah Chuo even caught a big fish just now."

"Ah, I heard this too." Kalya put the sheepskin away, took the paste, and then nodded with a smile, "[How do you know that fish is longer than my arm], I don't understand this sentence. I’ve listened to it almost ten times.”

"It's a pity that the fish is not edible." Setaka shrugged, "Kutata said it is a salt lake catfish, and its skin and flesh are poisonous. Fortunately, although the salt lake catfish itself is poisonous, the water they live in is very clean."

"It's just a little salty." Kalya tasted the paste, and then couldn't help shaking her head, "I guess the paste was made by Zell."

"how do you know?"

"He is the most frugal." Kalya stuffed a large spoonful of paste into his mouth again, and then swallowed it directly. "I dare say that when he was cooking, he definitely put too little fresh water."

"Is it salty?" Setaka was a little surprised, "Let me taste it-"

Halfway through her words, a spoonful of paste was stuffed into her mouth.

"Isn't it salty?" Setaka was a little surprised after swallowing the gooey paste, "Have you lost your sense of taste...bastard! I ate it myself!"

"You've eaten less and less in the past few days." Kalya simply stuffed the bowl of paste back to Setaka, "Do you think I can't see you?"

"Aren't you worried about the lack of supplies?" Setaka was a little embarrassed by the explanation. "And my appetite is indeed not very good recently."

"Don't be so nervous." Kalya shook his head and signaled Setaka to eat honestly. "So far, everything on the journey has gone smoothly - believe me, we are on the right path."

"Really?" At Kalya's urging, Setaka took a spoonful of the paste and said vaguely, "It's not that I don't believe you, it's actually... I only discovered after we set off that when you don't know When it comes to where my next goal is, I feel like I don’t have the confidence.”

"..."

"Besides, I'm not the only one taking risks." Setaka swallowed his confusion and continued, "It's everyone, three thousand people, three thousand people are looking at me..."

"Only three thousand people." Kalya interrupted her at a very subtle moment and motioned Setaka to eat more, "You have to get used to this responsibility. The power to control the destiny of others is something many people dream of -"

"Kalya!" Setaka couldn't help but raise his tone, "This is no time for jokes!"

"Yes, now is not the time to joke." Kalya nodded, "It is not the time to be worried or unwilling to eat - since you have everyone's trust, you must naturally show your best."

"but I……"

"Sister Setaka is at her best when she is full of confidence and tells everyone that she will win." Kalya did not give Setaka a chance to speak and stuffed a spoonful of paste into her mouth again. "If you no longer have confidence, then no one in Shurima can."

Setaka blinked and seemed a little choked.

"Besides, you have to at least believe me, right?" Kalya took his water bag from his waist, pulled out the plug, and brought it to Setaka's mouth, "Believe me, we are going in the right direction. .”

Setaka took a sip of water mechanically.

"Continue to move forward, at most three thousand miles." Kalya gave a number that Setaka could hardly imagine. "The boundless oasis, the rushing river - if you think of something good, we might be able to give that river a resounding How about the name Shurima River?"

"Don't lie to me." Setaka blinked, "If there really was a big river, then I'm afraid it would already have its own name..."

"That's not important." Kalya shook her head slightly, "As long as we find it, it will be called Shurima River - I said so."

As he spoke, a confident smile crept up the corner of Kalya's mouth, and looking at his smile, Setaka gritted his teeth, scooped up a full spoonful of paste, and stuffed it directly into Kalya's mouth.

"My front teeth -" Kalya chewed the paste vaguely, "Go and get yourself a bowl..."

Seeing this scene, Setaka finally couldn't bear it anymore. She didn't serve herself a new bowl, but smiled and took a spoonful herself.

……………………

A month later, after losing one-third of the Skalas, the Shurima tribe miraculously came to a raging river.

When everyone looked in disbelief at the miraculous river flowing in front of them, Kalya, who was walking at the front, was already standing on Scarash's back.

"From today on!" Kalya's voice was hoarse, but her tone could not hide her boldness, "This river is called Shurima River!"

All eyes were focused on Kalya, and after a moment of silence, the cry of "Shurima River" resounded from the banks of the river.

"Of course." Pressing down his hands, the excited Kalya made a rare effort, "You can also call it Sister Touhe——"

Before he finished speaking, Setaka, who was ashamed and annoyed, turned into a bolt of lightning and threw Kalya directly into the river, interrupting his ecstatic teasing.

"I can't swim!" Kalya fell into the water at a loss and was at a loss. "Help..."

The next moment, just when he was about to choke, Setaka, who looked slightly angry, held his waist and head.

She first glared at Kalya fiercely, shook her wet long black hair, took a deep breath, and finally closed her eyes slightly, treading water to keep her body balanced while giving him fresh water. air.

On the bank of the river, the Shurima people who saw this scene laughed, shouted, and made noises one after another.

But... who cares?

The main plot has reached the banks of the Shurima River, and the prequels must follow!