Elyonari was used to the unbearable heat, since her home in the rainforest was used to the heat.
Elyonari brushed a strand of her silver hair behind her pointed ears, her movements so delicate despite the oppressive desert heat.
The oasis shimmered before her, which was a rare refuge in the middle of the barren sands. She knelt by the water's edge, the sunlight catching on her glistening skin, where a light sheen of sweat outlined her lean, elegant form.
Her attire was minimal, designed for practicality; a flowing, pale silver top cropped just below her ribs, paired with a thin skirt of layered fabric that moved like water with every step she took.
The translucent material shimmered faintly, catching the light like dew clinging to a leaf.
The young men gathered at the oasis couldn't help but stare.
Her beauty was otherworldly. Her pupilless, glowing emerald eyes, her silver hair glimmered as droplets of sweat clung to it. She stood apart from the mundane, an elven enigma in the heart of the desert.
She raised her hand, her expression almost bored as a sphere of water rose from the oasis at her command. The liquid coiled in the air like a living serpent before she directed it to pour over her head, sending a cascade of coolness trickling over her shoulders and down her slender frame.
The water soaked into her skin, and her lips parted in a sigh of relief.
Her mind drifted momentarily to Thereia Borough, nestled deep in the lush rainforests of the Kingdom of Mintheris. Unlike this scorching wasteland, her home was an emerald paradise, protected and sustained by the towering World Tree, Mintherenia.
The tree's gargantuan roots coiled through the earth, drawing up life-giving nature energy that flowed through the rainforest like veins, ensuring the perpetual growth of vibrant flora and fauna. The Borough itself was a network of elevated walkways and treehouses, harmoniously blended into the natural landscape.
Here, under Mintherenia's perpetual shade, Elyonari had grown accustomed to the heat of the rainforest. But this desert heat was different.
It was harsh, hot and suffocating. She didn't flinch though. She had survived far worse in her training as a guardian of her people.
The murmurs of the men around her snapped her back to reality.
She could feel their eyes on her, watching her every movement, captivated by the sight of her cooling herself with such ease. Her beauty was something they couldn't place, far removed from anything they had encountered.
And they were all the academy students who were sent to the Epoch Cycle.
Elyonari frowned slightly as she directed a stream of water to her arms. She was used to stares, used to the hushed whispers of admiration or awe, but the intensity of their gazes made her feel like a lone flower blooming in a wasteland.
She flicked her fingers, the water dispersing into a fine mist around her.
Without looking up, she spoke, her tone calm but laced with annoyance.
"Do none of you have anything better to do than watch a woman cool herself?"
Her words sent the young men into a flurry of embarrassed murmurs, some turning away in a poor attempt to feign disinterest. Elyonari's lips curled into a faint smile, her annoyance tempered by a flicker of amusement.
'Humans. Always so predictable.'
She rose to her feet, her light clothes clinging to her damp skin, and looked out across the sands. Somewhere beyond this sweltering desert lay her goal, and she had no intention of letting the heat—or the stares of the students—distract her from her path.
For 27 grueling sand-filled days, Elyonari had been navigating the desert. The Epoch Cycle had flung her from the academy straight into a sea of scorching dunes, and she had barely managed to keep herself upright before realizing she wasn't alone.
Around her sprawled over 600 students, most of them from the Fifth Enlightenment and the rest from the Sixth, all looking just as lost and miserable as she felt.
It didn't take long for them to band together. After all, nothing screamed survival like being trapped under a blazing sun with limited water and endless horizons of absolutely nothing.
Thus, a caravan was born, consisting of a ramshackle mix of students clinging to what little order they could muster. Elyonari, however, had no interest in leading.
That was a job for someone else. Someone who enjoyed being bombarded with questions, complaints, and the occasional desert tantrum.
Instead, she naturally slid into the role of scout, partly because she was good at it and partly because nobody could argue with a Seventh Enlightenment student.
The job suited her. As a scout, she had free rein to wander ahead, mapping out safe paths, sniffing out hidden oases, and dodging whatever monstrosities the Epoch Cycle decided to throw at them.
Her elven senses were sharp, her instincts sharper, and her endurance unmatched... though even she couldn't deny the desert's assault on her patience.
Despite the admiration she garnered from the group, Elyonari wasn't above indulging herself. Whenever they stumbled upon an oasis, she would unapologetically take the chance to clean up. While others fretted about conserving water, Elyonari simply conjured her own.
Elyonari is a Nature High Elf, meaning that she can control any aspect of nature from elemental power to flora and fauna itself. And being a Nexus's daughter made her all the more powerful.
She just used the water of her oasis to cool herself, which was surprisingly colder than she expected.
To everyone, she looked like she was just doing fine in the sandy landscape. The truth, though? Elyonari was just as done with the desert as everyone else. She just hid it better.
She sat on a boulder and looked at her stats from the system, revealing a green hologram.
____
Name: [Elyonari Mintheris.]
Age: [17.]
Title: [Elven Princess], [Heiress of Dynasty Mintheris], [Scout Of The Desert]
Species: High Elf (Nexus Bloodline)
Affiliation: [Dynasty Mintheris].
Status: [First Phase Ascender, 990/1000]
Principal Tether: [Flora Control], [Elemental Control]
Base Tether: [Circlemancy], [Enhanced Senses], [Nature Adaptation], [Nature Energy Control], [Inventory], [Fast Healing], [Nature Resonance], [Nature Vision], [Language of Nature]
Major Divinity (Inactive): [Nature.]
Minor Divinities: [None]
Codex: [None.]
Artifacts: [Touch], [Mintherenia's Branch], [Reliable Compass.]
Boon: [Extreme Luck]
Bane: [Dependency Curse]
_____
Elyonari was an Ascender too.
After fighting desert Krepsunas day by day, she managed to become stronger, their souls and bodies enhancing her body and power.
Once a Krepsuna dies at the hand of an Enlightenment Student using the system of Natas, its body and soul is converted to energy that makes its killer stronger.
Elyonari had lost count of the thousands of Krepsunas she killed. Thanks to her extreme luck, she got more power from them, not that she used it.
Boons and Banes can be used and controlled and Elyonari knew how to use it than most.
Her Boon, Extreme Luck, was her greatest weapon and her greatest risk. Every Krepsuna she felled yielded more power than it should have, as though the universe itself bent in her favor.
Drops of power, rare treasures, and even survival during ambushes came so frequently that the other students whispered that she was blessed by the gods.
But Elyonari knew better.
With each stroke of fortune came the lurking shadow of her Bane, Dependency Curse. The curse compelled her to rely more and more on her luck, subtly nudging her to tap into it with every fight.
And every time she did, the cost became steeper. The sands would shift unpredictably beneath her feet, forcing her into more dangerous encounters. Her spells would fizzle, her oasis retreats interrupted by sudden sandstorms.
Elyonari adapted. She didn't stop using her Boon—no, that would've been foolish—but she learned how to manipulate the balance.
Her strategy worked. She limited her use of Extreme Luck to the moments that truly mattered, like odging a fatal strike or finding a weak point in the Krepsuna leader's carapace.
Elyonari could feel it her energy reservoir brimming to near completion.
990 out of 1000.
She was so close to ascending to the Second Phase, something that would put her on par with—no, beyond—Narisva, who was a Third Phase Ascender according to her.
And yet, she hesitated to advance to the next level.
She knew the risk. One wrong move, one miscalculated reliance on her Boon, and her Dependency Curse could spiral out of control.
"Princess Elyonari! Something urgent has come up!"
Elyonari turned to face a member of her scout team. She panted as she got close to her, fear on her face.
"What is it?"
"A sandstorm is approaching..."