"This should make for a good container now." Said Wolf as he stopped heating a large part of a scorpion's exoskeleton. The chitin was molded to be more like a container thanks to his powerful flames and could be used for them to fill it up with Mia's ice before it melted and have a water supply.
With Wolf's flames being used to heat up the chitin and mold it, they were all certain that no flesh or blood was on the chitin, even if the scorpion's venom was somehow there, the powerful flames had made sure to evaporate it all.
As the party finished the battle, they made their way to the oasis. They were going to rest up a bit there and wash themselves a bit. Of course, they weren't going to get in the water and dirty it, they were going to simply scoop up water with the chitin container and use it to wash their face and armor.
Since it would take too long if they only used one container, Reign and Wolf made more. Reign cut off the chitin from the scorpions while Wolf used his flames to heat them up before molding them a bit.
With multiple containers, the two teams were able to quickly get the blood off them and the heat of the desert worked in their favor as it dried them up real quick. After all of them had finished, they all sat down in order to eat and drink.
The meat of the coyotes and the foxes could be used as food. For normal humans, the meat of Tier I monsters could be overwhelming and hard to digest, but for Tier I fighters such as them, it was perfect as it had much more nutrients and contained traces of mana as well.
If a human ate the meat of a high-level monster that was below Tier I, they would be able to obtain stats, even drinking some of the monster's blood was beneficial. Reign and the others were told that information by Eldar and got properly mad after he had told them.
They were already Tier I combatants, and even though their stats were much higher compared to others at the same level, they lamented the fact that they never tried eating meat from monsters that were stronger than them, most of the time they would simply leave the corpse there or let Beast's monsters to devour it.
They knew from Beast that their stats rose from doing so, but they never thought the same would go for them.
Of course, in order to get stats, the monster whose meat they ate needed to be at least 10 levels above them, and a variant, normal monsters were simply unable to give them any stats unless they were 20 levels above them.
The behemoth, the giant ape, the crocodile, all of those were monsters that were incredibly powerful and were above their level, and their meat and blood were simply wasted.
As for the monsters they had just killed, they weren't going to give any stats to Reign and the others, they simply weren't powerful enough. But for the angels, even though it was barely anything, they were able to get 1 – 2 stats from eating the meat.
Of course one wouldn't get an unlimited increase simply by eating monster meat as it had its limits, usually, one or two monsters of the same kind or level would be the limit for getting stats, any more would do nothing.
As the party ate their food and drank the water, Beast was using his eagle to observe their surroundings. Thanks to its sharp eyesight, Beast was able to see far away using its eyes and could spot things easily.
The desert however was a place where one would rarely find anything and thus, he spent a long time simply flying around with his eagle and trying to find any place that could be used as shelter.
They couldn't stay at the oasis since more monsters were bound to come here. If the monsters were as strong as the ones they had just fought, then it would be no problem to get rid of them.
But if the monsters were more powerful, then perhaps they might end up with injuries or even casualties. There was also the problem of them getting attacked at night at the oasis.
If they didn't have a good shelter that would allow them to hide and minimize the directions from which they could be attacked, then more people would need to stay up and guard the others while they sleep.
All of that made the oasis a pretty bad place to stay during the night, not to mention the fact that it would be harder to warm themselves that way as well.
The best-case scenario for them would be to find some rock formations since that way they could be certain that they would be well protected at night.
That was their goal for this challenge, finding rock formations, hoodoos, and such. They would be able to create a cave by destroying a part of the rocks and create a temporary shelter for themselves which would in turn allow them to be well-guarded at night and they could warm themselves up with Wolf's fire.
The rocks also retained heat far longer than sand and that would also be beneficial to them.
Of course, there was no way of knowing whether such a rock formation could be found in the desert, or if it was safe.
There was always the possibility of them finding a rock formation and a powerful monster there, they were ready for such a thing to happen, but of course, they would much rather not have to go through that.
As the party was sitting at the oasis and enjoying the sun, Beast finally opened his eyes. He was able to walk and even talk during the time he watched from the eagle, but the farther the eagle went, the more he had to concentrate.
This was the farthest that he had ever let the eagle go and he needed to sit down and close his eyes in order to fully concentrate on it. After more than 20 minutes of the eagle flying and observing, he finally managed to find what they were looking for, a rock formation.
"It will take us around 3 hours to get there, luckily the sun is still up and we should have more than enough time to arrive and make a shelter before the evening arrives," Beast said as everyone sat down and listened to him.
The way to the rock formation was behind them, they would need to backtrack and pass the area where the giant monster resided once more before continuing forward and reaching the rock formation.
The eagle was currently resting there and Beast could sense it, which made it almost impossible for them to go the wrong way.
The two groups held 3 of the chitin containers with them, each could hold enough water for 8 flasks to be filled up and this way, they could minimize the time it took for them to fully replenish their water supply.
As for the food, they simply couldn't bring the meat with them. In this heat, it would spoil in 1 to 2 hours, of course, the meat from Tier I monsters was different and it could last longer, but it definitely wouldn't last until they reached the rock formation.
They still had the rations that were given to them when they arrived in the desert luckily. The rations were some cookies, but from the smell, they could infer that they were definitely not just cookies.
"Since we were given this when we arrived, I guess it's safe to assume it has enough nutrients to fill us up, at least as much as a normal meal." Inferred Wolf as he looked at the cookie in his hand before taking a small bite.
"Hmmm, it does feel like eating a cookie, but the taste is weird, I can taste the dough, but also meat and, is it vegetables?" Asked Wolf with a weird expression before looking at the cookie again.
He thought about tasting it once more but decided against it. They would probably need them later on, and even if they didn't, it was best to have them with them in case of an emergency.
"Well, we won't starve, at least not for a while." Reign said as they all made their way to the rock formation with Beast taking the lead.
The heat in the desert was unbearable, but thanks to Mia who was using her ability they were able to feel at ease as the temperature around them was about 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
Even though it was still hot, it was at least not to the point it would normally be. With Mia with them, this challenge was much easier to overcome, and surviving for multiple days shouldn't be an issue.
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