In the desolate desert, the image of an oasis suddenly appeared in the distance.
And not just one, but four of them.
"Some kind of choice of Destiny?"
Caleb frowned.
"No. In reality, there's only one oasis."
When it came to geography, Sivir was still far ahead of both Caleb and Kai'Sa.
So at least in name, Sivir was the captain of this little team.
She was the one planning the route and deciding how they moved.
Even if the two humans and one cat under her command did not look especially convinced.
Still, since Azir had personally assigned these two to carry out the mission, they had to be reliable enough.
At the end of the day, though, why did the great emperor of the desert trust these two at all?
Sivir did not know.
Caleb, on the other hand, knew exactly why.
The Void.
That was the thing Shurima feared more than anything.
Back then, how terrible a price had they paid before the God-Warriors finally forced down the monsters that had crawled up from beneath Icathia.
Even if Caleb and Kai'Sa were not Shuriman, the fact that they could speak of the Void at all meant they were already far from ordinary, even if they were lying.
And it just so happened that Sivir, Azir's descendant, needed more tempering.
Compared to Nasus, a scholar-official, or the sand soldiers under Azir's command, someone like Sivir was far better suited for investigation.
Her skills were flexible and varied, and she was not the kind of presence that hit the water like a boulder.
If Sivir ever found herself in danger, the blood in her veins would naturally awaken the golden sand beneath her feet.
And then it would be Caleb's turn to experience the kind of pressure Renekton once had.
Even though Caleb liked needling Sivir whenever he opened his mouth, when it came to choosing the route, he wisely kept quiet.
Compared to this desert heroine who had spent years surviving in Shurima, he knew better than to show off in that area.
Self-awareness was a good thing, and Caleb had plenty of it.
As for Kai'Sa, she had recently become completely obsessed with Yuumi, so now she only concerned herself with combat.
After all, her specialty was dealing with the Void, not tracking down some arcane entity.
"You really know what you're doing..."
Caleb looked at the oasis ahead, which still had not disappeared, and could not help sounding impressed.
When he first saw four oases at once, he had been suspicious too.
But before he could even start figuring out what the giveaway was, Sivir had already made her call.
Later, as they continued along the road, Caleb compared the oases he had seen and did in fact notice the problem.
Some parts were just too similar. You could not tell at a single glance, but if you looked carefully, it became obvious.
Yeah, this woman was definitely worth making friends with.
Caleb quietly turned that thought over in his mind.
People like Ekko and Viktor, brilliant talents overflowing with ability, naturally felt familiar to him.
After all, in his previous life, games themselves had been a product of science constantly moving forward.
Sivir was different from the people of Zaun and the twin cities. She was calm, and she had seen blood.
The mercenary company she ran with probably earned its living the hard way too, with their heads on the line every day.
Working with her for profit would be easy.
Becoming real friends with her, that would be the hard part.
Caleb knew very well how important that trace of Shuriman royal blood was.
If Sivir successfully completed Ascension with his help, then he would almost certainly have built a relationship with the future ruler of Shurima.
And with the power the system kept giving him, it should not be hard for him to live long enough to see her take the throne.
"That tribe's territory starts up ahead." Sivir stopped the other two and signaled for them to hold.
"When we get there, remember to have some manners."
She stepped forward first and headed toward the camp within the oasis.
The moment the people in the oasis saw Sivir with the Chalicar hanging at her side, almost every one of them drew a weapon.
"So this is what passes for a polite welcome around here..."
Caleb muttered coldly from the back.
"Shut up," Sivir said, her lips barely moving as she glanced back.
"We're here for the skallashi taming ritual."
The moment those words left her mouth, the residents' attitude softened a little.
"It's by the spring. Go there yourselves."
The wariness in their eyes did not lessen in the slightest, but now it was mixed with a trace of longing.
Apparently this tribe had not managed to tame that skallashi yet, they were only following it to find water.
The little fruit and water the oasis had to offer had already been gathered up by the tribe. What remained was so scarce even livestock would struggle to live on it.
Plants were rare in the desert to begin with, and most of them were not edible.
Fortunately, before coming to the desert, Caleb had stocked up plenty of water in his system inventory.
And with ingredients he could customize himself, he had enough supplies that he could probably take a bath every day and still have enough left over to toss flower petals into the basin.
In less than a dozen steps, the three of them arrived in front of the skallashi as it drank from the water.
The creature looked a little like a camel from Caleb's previous life, with a huge hump on its back.
That was probably where it stored fat and water.
Its body, though, was far larger than a camel's. Those four long legs alone were close to two or three meters tall.
The thinner tail behind it was likely used to drive away insects.
And on either side of its head grew two horns that looked like they could put someone down in a single hit.
"Now I get why these things are so hard to tame."
Caleb tilted his head back and stared up at the skallashi, which had to be seven or eight meters tall.
Anyone would resent being tamed by a creature so much smaller than themselves.
"So what exactly is the taming ritual?"
Kai'Sa finally set Yuumi down and leaned in between the other two as she asked softly.
"One way is to make the skallashi acknowledge you, whether through your character or something else..."
Sivir explained in a low voice. In all her years, she had only ever seen two or three successful skallashi taming rituals.
If a tribe managed to claim one of these beasts, it would be hard for them not to prosper.
"And the other way?" Caleb joined the discussion too.
"Beat it into submission." Sivir's answer was immediate and absolute.
Letting strength speak was also part of Shuriman culture.
Most of the people under Shurima's rule revered the Ascended.
And among the Ascended, even someone like Nasus, who had the bearing of a scholar-official, was still overwhelmingly powerful by ordinary human standards.
Virtue and strength were both essential to the faith of Shurima's people. Neither could be missing.
The sacred markings painted across the beast's hide, along with the totems and charms hanging from its horns, made this species exceptionally durable.
As for its attack power, that went without saying.
Those four long legs, and the hooves that could carry it across vast stretches of desert, gave it a level of speed and force ordinary people simply could not endure.
"We try the first way first. If that fails, we go with the second and wear it down."
Caleb's words matched Sivir's plan exactly.
Judging from how candid Caleb had been with her before, the folding longbow in his hand was clearly going to be his main weapon on this trip.
Kai'Sa's hands did not give her much range, but she made up for it with agility.
Sivir herself could use her returning blade to keep harassing the skallashi.
Yuumi, as support, would stay ready for the worst-case scenario and use Zoomies to give anyone who took a kick a burst of renewed energy.
That way, the three of them would not keep getting forced out of the fight in a drawn-out battle.
On top of that, if things went smoothly, Prowling Projectile would also be a good tool for harassing the skallashi.
Of course, if Sivir could tame it the first way, then none of the rest of that would be necessary.
Caleb ran through the plan in his head at top speed and said nothing else.
When the time came, the three of them would not need much coordination anyway. They could each fight from their own angle.
At that moment, Caleb and Kai'Sa both tensed, ready to break off to opposite sides at any moment.
After that desperate escape from Renekton before, the two of them had already built real unspoken teamwork.
Sivir, meanwhile, stretched out a hand and slowly approached the skallashi, which was still drinking from the spring.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810