[You have arrived at the 'Desert of the Luminous Scorpion']
[Warning: Pain Reduction is NOT available]
[There will be NO Pain Tolerance]
[Every stat, rank, and skill was retained in the Virtual World as per the Virtual Capsules settings]
...
A redhead woman with a bob hairstyle and ruby-colored eyes took a glance at the Virtual System Messages before scanning her surroundings.
There were another four students in her group who were glancing around, observing the same environment they were thrown into.
They saw a vast desert where a portion of sand was traversing in the air.
There were also ruins that were at least 50 meters tall from their line of sight, as well as oases from a hundred meters away.
As they glanced around, they took note of what they'd seen before and during Elizabeth and Rumia's match.
Elizabeth who used Teleportation along with her teammates managed to find various resources in that amount of time before finding Rumia's group, leaning on Rock Turtle's shell.
"Everyone, conjure your weapon and armor first."
The redhead woman said, prompting the other four students that consists of two women and two men.
"... Alright, Anya, what's the plan?"
It was difficult to come up with a plan before the battle without knowing the location of the Virtual Dungeon that would serve as their Virtual Battleground.
Anya Amasawa, the redhead woman that has ruby-colored eyes looked at one of the men who asked her before saying...
"Let's find resources first. Anything that could help."
The two women and two men nodded their heads before following behind Anya who looked at one of the oases a hundred meters ahead.
Before the start of their match, each of them said what they were specialized at, not their actual professions as it was a personal matter.
Although similarities could be seen with one's role, professions could still be different in many ways.
Anya Amasawa's group members and Anya herself could make some guesses based on the weapon they conjured.
Anya conjured a 'Chained Double-Sickle' weapon with an ominous aura as if it was hungry for death.
The strange thing when comparing it to other conjured weapons of her teammates, it looked very ordinary that one might think that Anya's poor in resources.
There were only numerous lines scattered across the two Sickles attached to a long chain that separates them.
One of the two women conjured a 'White Staff with an attached Blue Crystal Ball on its end, as well as two White Feathers protruding on both sides just a few centimeters below the Crystal Ball.
While the other woman conjured two 'Black Gloves' which were automatically attached to her hands.
It was plain black gloves that didn't have anything to stand out.
On the other hand, one of the two men's weapons was a 'Platinum Bow' that looked like it was made from various gems due to the luster it's giving, and the remaining member was holding a 'Metallic Shield', unintentionally implying that he was a 'Tanker', but at the same time, he was holding a 'Spear' that looked like a Trident based on its tip.
As Anya's group traverses the vast desert, they felt cautious with the unfamiliar virtual world because there might be traps under the uncountable sand, at the same time, monsters of desert-kind.
Just fifty meters away from an oasis, Anya's senses were triggered causing her to stop in her tracks.
Just as one of the members would ask her, monsters jumped out from the sand, five meters away from them.
Not waiting for them to be observed by the intruders on their territory, the monsters leaped from their position, lunging to Anya's group.
But before it landed on them, a metallic arrow was shot, piercing the abdomen of the monster.
[Your Group Member, 'Arash Hood' has killed a Topaz-Tailed Scorpion]
After twenty or thirty seconds, subsequent Virtual System messages appeared on the side of Anya's vision.
[Your Group Member, 'Arist Stallion' has killed a Topaz-Tailed Scorpion]
[Your Group Member, 'Celiya von Elydine' has killed a Ruby-Tailed Scorpion]
[Your Group Member, 'Erina von Elydine' has killed an Emerald-Tailed Scorpion]
Even though they didn't tell each other about their professions, Anya Amasawa already knew as she pried into their Status Windows using a Status Appraisal Skill.
Arash Hood has black hair and grayish eyes that wields a Platinum Bow with his profession's name as 'Metal Archer'.
Arist Stallion has black hair and brownish eyes that wields the Metallic Shield, as well as a Spear that looked like a Trident.
Celiya and Erina were sisters and nobles from the major country, Cassiopeia.
Celiya has slightly long blonde hair and yellowish eyes, her weapon was the 'White Staff' with Blue Crystal Ball on its tip, and strange White Feathers that felt like it's alive attached just below the tip. Based on Anya's memory, not wanting to trigger her Skill again just to check, Celiya's profession was Battle Priestess, while Erina, who was wearing a pair of Black Gloves that has the same hair color as Celiya that was ponytailed, but has red eyes has the profession of Weaver Master.
Just as Anya was recalling the details of her group members as each of them was inspecting the dead Scorpions, she frowned as she remember something randomly.
'That Russell Moon from Banquet... Tsk.'
She used the Status Appraisal Skill on the student named Russell Moon who was invited by Samantha Hall to dance during the Banquet of Obelisk last month.
She couldn't find any reason why someone like him was close to Samantha, or at least superficially.
That's why she found that man 'suspicious' for some reason.
Or maybe she just couldn't understand the train of thought of the number 1 Rank in the first year of Obelisk Academy.
...
After a minute or two, as they checked the bodies of Scorpions that had peculiar names based on its tail, they found some loot aside from points that they received from killing them.
Specifically, they acquired two Health Potions, three Stamina Potions, and one Mana Potion.
"It's strange..."
Celiya, who heard Anya's muttering asked her what she was thinking about.
"The bodies of the monsters didn't dissipate."
Anya pointed out what she was thinking, pricking the eyebrows of her group members as they came to realization before Erina asked with a bit of hesitation.
"...Should we collect their bodies?"
"That might be the right thing to do."
Celiya answered her 'younger' sister, looking at Anya, Arash, and Arist.
The three of them just nodded before they proceeded in collecting the corpses, stuffing them inside each of their own Dimensional Inventory.
After five minutes of processing and collecting the dead Scorpions, Anya spoke to Arash, the Metal Archer.
"...Arash, do you have trap detection and scouting skills? I suggest you observe first from a distance the oasis up ahead."
Arash nodded and agreed to advance first upon hearing Anya's suggestion.
As the wind that contained some sand was swirling in the air, the visibility of the oasis, even though it was less than a hundred meters, was quite terrible.
[Activating Skill: Light Walk (D-)]
[Activating Skill: Dual-Eye Enhancement (D-)]
The Light Walk skill helps him to be nimbler in rough terrains as well as giving him a bonus of 30 Agility for 20 minutes, while the Dual-Eye Enhancement helps him to not be obstructed by objects in his vision such as sand or snow, it also enhances his vision by two-fold, and allowed him to 'detect traps' with the minimum distance of two meters up to five meters, depending on what kind of traps.
After five minutes of arriving at the perimeter of the oasis, Arash scanned the surroundings with his enhanced vision and found some burrows, circling a small lake in the middle.
'...There are no traps... I guess they're the trap itself...'
Upon inspecting for another time as he circled the whole oasis' perimeter, he managed to confirm that no traps were lying ahead.
...
After another five minutes, Anya, Arist, Celiya, and Erina saw a figure running toward them.
It was Arash who went ahead earlier.
~ Hup-...
Slight breathing was heard from him, prompting Anya to ask...
"Do you need Stamina Potion?"
"...No, I'm good... By the way, I've confirmed..."
Arash Hood recounted everything he saw at the oasis up ahead.
'No traps, some burrows circling a small lake...
'Is there something in the lake?'
Anya was making deductions as she saw Celiya and Erina were thinking deeply, too.
'They are not on Rank 8 and 9 for nothing...'
After ten seconds, Anya spoke the plan she had in mind.
...
~ Ploing-!
After stretching his right arm, and pulling the bowstring, Arash released a magic arrow, drilling into one of the burrows surrounding the small lake.
This 'magic arrow' has an invisible, magical string attached to it.
This could also be used for grappling.
[You have killed, 'Sand Beetle']
[You have gained 0 points]
Anya was also notified about his teammate that killed a Sand Beetle hiding under the burrow.
'...Being a leader is really troublesome, getting notified for your member's achievement or whatever.'
Anya lampooned inwardly as she checked the other burrows that didn't have any reaction.
One of their plans was to try if they could lure out what was hiding beneath the burrows.
Then, they would check if whatever's beneath the other burrows would be alerted by a sneak attack.
"One more..."
Anya said to Arash, prompting him to nod before she shot again a magical arrow with an invisible thread. She noticed the zero points they gained as a group.
[You have killed, 'Sand Beetle']
[You have gained 0 points]
Anya looked again at Arash, then he understood what that look meant so he didn't question her.
~ Ploing-!
With the stretch and release of his bowstring, the same magical arrow was fired inside the 'same' burrow. This was the third shot.
~ Shriekkk-!
[You have killed, 'Topaz-Tailed Scorpion']
[You have gained 1 point]
Anya, who received a different Virtual System message, but signified the same thing as having her teammate kill a monster and gain a point, thought...
'I see... It looks like those Sand Beetles were acting like a shield... but why without points?? Hmm...'
~ Ding!
As she pondered, a group notification sounded in their ears.
Anya, as well as the others, looked at the holographic screen from the Virtual System, wearing various expressions.
[Group Notification!
Quest Title: Liberation of the Sand Beetles
Type: Sub-Quest
Description:
Free the 'Sand Beetles' from the grasp of the Scorpion Leader.
Rewards: Mount the 'Sand Beetles' to traverse the desert.
Failure: Accumulated points will be reduced to 0.
Time Limit: 12 hours]
...
Anya didn't know what expression she should make as her expression turned deadpan, but somehow she found the situation 'cute'.
'...Normally, quests in real life are only applicable to players with contracted Constellations...'
She recalled what her father told her... To further strengthen the 'Authority' given by the Constellation, or to receive 'New Authority', the player must complete the given quests of the contracted Constellation.
'I remember father took at least 7 years to finish his given quests...'
Anya recalled as she looked at her group members with the looks of what they should do.
'I guess they made it like this for some fun...'
Anya thought as she felt like she was in a game, soon, a playful smile formed on her lips.
She looked around again at the environment, seeing some trees on the perimeter of the oblong-shaped oasis, a small lake in the middle, and tens if not hundredths of burrows on the ground.
"Let's take a detour first..."
Anya said casually because, in the 12 virtual world hours duration, they could find more resources before attempting to finish the quest.
Arash, Arist, and the Elydine sisters nodded their heads as they followed Anya, going West of the desert.
...
At Leon von Obreyon's side.
Leon and his group which consists of all men arrived at towering Ruins due East of the desert.
[You have entered an unknown Ruins]
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