Just as Maya had mentioned to him, the airship was eventually unable to get any closer to the edge of the Scorched Wastelands. The heat itself was a problem; he could tell just how much thermal energy the enchantments on the ship were absorbing and redistributing. It was a constant power drain, and he expected that it was using a lot of mana to sustain itself.

The ship was forced to land after passing through a large barrier. It was barely visible, just a tinge of reddish hue, but there was an unmistakable barrier in place. He didn’t know who was behind this barrier, but he suspected it served an important purpose.

Kora exited the ship and settled next to him. They had been traveling for a couple of days, and during this time, they had become closer. She was easy to talk to, and it helped that Drasil enjoyed her presence too. Her aura wasn’t an issue at all. Now that he knew what to expect, he didn’t have any issues with dealing with it.

Her friend, Zev, still seemed a bit wary of Julius, but she told Julius to ignore him. According to her, Zev was a paranoid person all the time and didn’t trust anyone.

As they all exited the ship, Elder Huan addressed them, telling them what he expected from them and what they were doing there. Julius sort of listened, though he admitted most of his attention was placed on the secondary barrier surrounding the wastelands and making sure to regulate the immense heat.

If it was this hot on the edge of the barrier, he couldn’t imagine how hot it was deeper in the wastelands. He had the distinct feeling that the barrier was a containment field and the radiating heat was simply a byproduct of it. Perhaps it was similar to how the outside edges of an oven got hot when it was on.

Furthermore, the barrier was using this heat. It wasn’t going to waste; he could feel that this barrier was converting the heat into fuel for its own stability. He wondered if he could somehow replicate something similar during his time here.

He had a powerful resistance to fire and heat, but if the wastelands were going to be this hot, it would be a waste to let it just cook him alive. He might as well make use of it.

He finally perked up as Elder Leon spoke after Elder Huan finished explaining some things.

“The first thing we are going to do is send groups to specific locations to handle the most pressing dangers to the outlying areas. We are also going to set up a rotation for all of the disciples. Some of you will remain here to establish an operations center, and as time goes on, those in the field will be able to take a break here. You already know which of those people you are. It remains of the utmost importance that we keep a protected supply and transportation line. If anyone gets cut off, the danger of the wastelands increases dramatically. I won’t have anyone fooling around. Got it?”

Julius was surprised to hear that they were taking this so seriously. Though it was one of the most dangerous regions, it wasn't too unexpected.

“Furthermore, as some of you might already be aware, the Inferno Array Sect will be arriving shortly behind us. They will be supporting this expedition, and they are an ally of the sect, so I don’t want to hear about any issues regarding you and one of their members. If I do, you will be punished appropriately. We don’t have time for that kind of nonsense. If there is any unavoidable issue, come and see one of the other elders or me, understand?”

“Yes, elder!” The crowd roared out, and that satisfied the man. The man quickly began giving more instructions, and everyone moved into action.

Julius already had his own little plan. He was going to go with Kora and a small team of other disciples as they established a foothold deeper in the wastelands for future goals. The plan was to scout the area while the other disciples handled the nearby monsters. Once the closer dangers were dealt with, they would all head deeper into the wastelands.

Once everyone was ready, they all entered the second barrier together. Julius felt himself gag, not from the smell or anything, but the sheer amount of fire mana in the air. It was so intense and concentrated that it was nauseating.

He wasn’t the only one, either. Almost everyone, except the elders, was experiencing similar symptoms. They were given enchanted gear before entering. Specialized robes and rings that would help combat the harsh environment, ranging from heat resistance to moisture retention.

Most people here already had an innate resistance to heat and fire, but it was clear why they were given such things now. He was forced to rely on his mana control to delicately absorb the heat and sent it outward before he passed out from heat exhaustion. Almost immediately, he felt a difference and was able to stand on his own two feet.

“Get comfortable, once you are, get ready to move out. Time is of the essence,” Elder Huan ordered.

He noticed that he was among the first to get themselves situated. The other ones were Kora and Kev. Surprisingly, Aaron adapted really quickly, too. Julius sensed some surges of life mana from the guy. Aaron glanced over at him and immediately turned away when he found Julius’s stare lasered on his back.

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He held back a small chuckle; he had been pretending to be ‘mad’ at Aaron for the past few days, and it had given him more joy than expected.

“You seem to have gotten a handle on it quite easily,” Kora noted with a smirk.

“So have you.”

“I got a unique constitution that helps with this. As annoying as it can be, it is good for certain things,” she admitted with a shrug and stood beside him as they watched the rest of the disciples deal with the environment in their own ways.

Finally, everyone seemed to have adapted to the changes and were ready to go. Kora and her team were among the first to head off. They had been chosen because of their strength, even compared to the gathered talent here. Every single one of them was among the first to adapt.

Julius, on the other hand, followed behind and observed the wastelands. To be honest, he was a little disappointed by what he saw. The danger was clearly present, but the view was awful. It was nothing but sand and dirt for miles around.

To be fair, the name was a fairly good descriptor, and he shouldn’t be that surprised. Still, he was hoping for maybe an exploding pillar of fire or something to liven the place up. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking, they came across their first monster. It came out of nowhere, buried deep beneath the sand. Julius hadn’t even been able to sense it with his spatial skill. The nature of the wastelands messed with his overall perception and limited the distance his skill could cover. It was quite annoying, and he would have to remedy that particular issue sooner rather than later.

The poor disciple who had been attacked got the worst of it. If Julius wasn’t able to sense the monster, what chance did they have? Fortunately, the guy reacted with incredible speed, moving with a powerful burst of fire mana. Still, the monster’s limb shot out too quickly and stabbed into his shoulder.

Upon closer inspection, what he thought was a limb wasn’t a limb at all. It was the tail of a scorpion monster. The monster revealed itself, the sand falling to the side. It was easily ten feet long, including the tail. But it was fast, and it was hard to detect even now that it was exposed.

The way the fire mana moved around it was quite fascinating. It used it like a cloak and was partly the reason he was having a hard time sensing it with his spatial skill.

He watched on as the disciples moved as one. Various skills bloomed all around them. One of them summoned a spear made completely of fire and threw it at the monster. Another girl sent purple, cursed flames at the beast.

The scorpion staggered back from the onslaught, and this gave the guy who was stabbed the chance to rush in. He had pulled out a hammer from his storage ring and summoned a suit of red armor made up of flames. Then, with a shout, the guy smashed the hammer into the monster.

The shell, which had held up against the other attacks, finally cracked. The scorpion let out a piercing shriek and erupted in fire mana. But the mana was tinged with some kind of poison. However, it didn’t get very far.

Kora stepped forth, and her aura blasted out. It met this mana head-on and completely swallowed it before it had the chance to affect any of them. An overwhelming authority with powerful pulses of purity and radiance detonated across the wastelands. And it was all targeted toward the monster.

He had no idea what she did with her authority, but the creature was paralyzed and unable to move. Then, before it could recover or realize what was happening, a pillar of flames tore down from the heavens. It was equally beautiful and bone-chilling. As if a god of fire had been summoned to this plane and was enacting its punishment.

His ears rang as the attack devastated the land around it.

When the light finally cleared and the heat died down, all that was left was a scorched patch of dirt where the scorpion had been. The remnants of Kora’s powerful authority still ring across the sands.

It was at that moment that he finally realized that she was not like the other Tier 4s. There were signs of power that he hadn’t seen from anyone else’s authority, other than his own. And he found himself being impressed.

Once there was no longer any danger, he immediately went over to the injured guy.

“Are you okay, Marcel?” the girl who threw the cursed flame asked worriedly as she dropped to her knees beside him.

Marcel grunted. “Yeah, I’m fine, Yelena. It missed anything important, but it is a stubborn poison, and my body cannot break it down. I also drank a potion, but it is barely holding it back.”

Julius examined the injury for a brief moment. He saw where the poison was, and Marcel was smart enough to keep the poison from spreading and infecting the rest of his body. He could also sense a surge of healing magic going through the guy’s body, indicating a self-healing skill of some kind.

Still, that meant the poison was extremely strong. Not only that, but it was heavily influenced by fire mana, almost burning the mana channels and flesh from the inside.

Julius dropped to his knees and began infusing life mana into the injury right away. His constant training with his life mana technique had greatly improved his ability to handle life mana, and he was confident he could handle it.

He started slowly, recalling Healer Gui’s words and advice. He used the properties of his ruinous aura and fire mana to gently destroy the poison. His fire mana was less effective, but the aura worked quite well.

He made sure to be careful, and whatever was left over, he let his life mana take care of. His Phoenix Concept lent a hand, and before long, the poison was entirely gone. Only when he was sure that there was nothing left did he heal it.

The wound was quite large, but to him it might as well have been a papercut. He healed it in no time, and when he was done, he found himself being stared at by everyone in the group.

He looked around and touched his cheeks. “What? Is there something on my face?”