At noon, the fiery sun, known as "Atta" by the desert peoples, hangs high in the deep blue sky, baking the desert with an unbearable heat.

"Atta" baked the golden desert into a hazy scorching heatwave, the wind blew dreary and wearily through the golden dunes, a few white vultures languidly hovered on the other side of the dunes, Link stood in front of a hut made of earth and stone, holding a pergola and watching the vultures hovering in the distance.

This is where Teacher Nyata lived when she died, a hut, an abandoned well, and a few broken poplar trees are all here. For the past two months, Link and Njata have often come here to practice magic under the guise of collecting wild spices from the desert.

Link licked his dry lips, removed the water bladder he was carrying around his waist, opened the stopper, and smelled a not-so-wonderful smell of leather, Link didn't care, and drank the water in small sips in moderation, the water in the bladder was a little warm, and it was stained with a bit of leather, Link would definitely spit out if he drank such water before he crossed, but now Link only hoped that more water like this would be the better. A month ago, Link and Niata had started a water-saving diet in order to accumulate the supplies they needed to flee the tribe.

These days, Link has begun to learn the arcane script, but there is still a long way to go before learning the first level of magic, Niata thinks that Link will have to study for a few more months before he can learn the first level of magic, which is already very fast, but Link has learned the two apprentice-level magic of "illusion" and "archery", and can perform apprentice-level magic five times a day.

With the sound of the door opening, Niata walked out of the hut and handed Link a spell scroll, Link glanced at it, but it was a spell he had cast with the scroll, "Bigby Stumbling", a spell that could make the target wrestle, and could deal with cavalry at close range.

Niata walked out of the cooler room, suddenly exposed to the outside, her eyes were dark, and she stumbled under her feet, Link hurriedly supported her, and said with some concern: "In the future, it is better to copy less spell scrolls, copying scrolls will damage the essence of life." ”

Niata shook her head and said a little weakly: "This is the fastest choice to improve your combat effectiveness, the desert has not been peaceful recently, and the tribe in the east has even burned down the oasis, and I don't know who did it." Then he sighed and said, "I can't do anything about copying scrolls in the future, the gems and magic materials left to me by the teacher are almost useless, and I can't replenish them in the desert." ”

Link also sank in his heart when he heard this, although copying the scroll would harm the essence of life, but for low-level mages with limited daily spell slots, the scroll is undoubtedly the best choice to improve combat effectiveness, Link can only rely on the scroll to cast a first-level spell now, and the apprentice-level spell can only be lethal under special circumstances, once Link's scroll is exhausted, the lack of scrolls available Link can undoubtedly only become a burden, and the only way to replenish the copying scroll materials is through the desert caravan that trades with the tribe, but the two of them have no financial resources to buy, and secondly, they are afraid of exposing their mage identity by purchasing scroll materials, so they can't replenish the scroll materials at all。

Njata noticed the vultures above the dunes, and Link noticed Njata's gaze and suggested, "Maybe it's a desert lizard, let's go check it out." Niata nodded, and there was no reason for the embarrassed two to give up any chance to get food.

Link put away his scroll and spell casting materials, touched the scimitar on his waist, and walked with Niata to the sand dunes, the texture of the dunes is very soft, and it has a certain height, so it is very laborious to walk, Link also has to support the weaker Niata from time to time, which is more physically demanding, Link rested a little, let Niata wait on the side, and crossed the sand dunes first.

The other half of the dunes was a relatively flat sandy area, and Link noticed the corpse of a desert lizard in the middle of the clearing, a rider holding his bloody leg and whispering pain, a desert light horse guarding his master, the only weapon being a spear stuck in the lizard's body, and there was nothing but the sand dunes.

Link had a sneer in his heart, Link, who had been influenced by film and television works in his previous life, didn't believe that this was a coincidence, strange injured riders, precious horses and lizards, whether out of greed or good intentions, should come forward, shouldn't they?

Link discussed with Niata, who came up, and slowly walked down the dune, Link walked to the rider, the rider shouted for help, and was about to wait for Link and the two to walk into some to send a signal, suddenly there was a war drum in his ears, the rider looked at the sand dunes where his companion was hiding in amazement, but the companion did not rush out, and when he was stunned, the rider heard a strange and awkward sound, and turned around, but it was the kid who walked towards him who was muttering something in his mouth, his hands gestured strangely, and he took out a short bone arrow from his waist, the rider's pupils shrank sharply, and cold sweat spread all over his body, Thinking of the terrifying spellcasters he had seen, he couldn't help but tremble a little, but thinking of the current situation, it was useless to beg for mercy, his heart was ruthless, he stood up suddenly, not at all like a leg injury, and quickly took out an iron throwing axe from under his body, and threw it at Link in a spinning manner, "Ahh

Link was very excited to see that Niata's illusion technique had successfully confused the other party, but he didn't expect the other party to react so quickly, his own archery technique was not completed, and the opponent's flying axe flew over, at the critical moment, Link did not panic, the movements in his hands and the spell in his mouth did not stop, he lowered his head to avoid the spinning flying axe, looked directly at the rider who was rushing towards him, and shot the arrow in his hand into the opponent's neck at a distance that could almost smell the opponent's bad breath, and then held the opponent's hand holding the short sword, and took the initiative to fall backwards, unloading the force of the opponent's pounce。

Link was pressed under the dead rider, and felt the rider's body trembling violently, some fishy hot blood flowed out of the wound on the rider's neck, soaking Link's robes, Link smelled a strong smell of blood, felt the sticky touch of the robes on his body soaked with blood, and almost wanted to gag. But feeling the shaking of the ground, he hurriedly pushed the body away and stood up.

I saw five heavily armed riders running out from behind the surrounding sand dunes, with a strange howl in their mouths, the rider at the head saw the corpse on the ground, his face sank, and under a gesture order, the two riders put down the spears in their hands, took out the leather lasso mixed with camel tendons, and quickly waved in the air towards Link and the two, and two more riders dismounted, took out compound step bows, and aimed at Link and the two.