392 – Desert Crossing (3)

Humans are adaptable creatures. This means that no matter where we go, we can adapt as long as the conditions are right.

At the same time, humans are also animals that evolve slowly. This logic can be proven by the fact that races differ from region to region.

But adaptability and evolutionary speed are two separate things. Just because you adapt quickly doesn’t mean the race itself changes.

In that sense, my change is at a truly heterogeneous level. In just two or three days, I have transformed into a race that fits the environment.

Even the races are not so much changing as they are completely ‘evolving’ to their environment. Remember Frozen?

Frozen wasn’t human, but rather had hair all over his body, like a yeti.

‘Is it because he’s definitely not human but a demon? No. But even demons don’t show this level of adaptability?’

Demons also feel heat and cold. They just mask it with their extraordinary magical abilities.

But I am the type where color exists completely and the body itself changes.

It is absurd to think that this change is simply due to the flow of demon blood. It is literally a strange case.

“This happened overnight?”

“yes.”

“The level of race has changed?”

“I rode it.”

“······Isn’t it too black?”

Most people had similar reactions when they saw how I changed overnight.

Question. What on earth happened to make you change like that while you were sleeping?

The skin was not simply tanned, but had turned brown enough to warrant the belief that the race itself had changed.

My skin is originally so white that it’s almost pale, so it’s strange that it’s not noticeable.

“What was that? It reminds me of that animal. An animal that changes color to suit its environment.”

“chameleon?”

“Ah. That’s right. A chameleon. It really is just like a chameleon.”

It must have been so serious that such a story came up. By the way, that’s not what Luna said.

“It’s more like an octopus than a chameleon?”

“Do octopuses change color?”

“Yeah. I saw a freshwater octopus change in my hometown. I almost missed it.”

“··· ···”

Luna is saying something like that. By the way, don’t octopuses live in the sea?

Since it’s a fantasy world, there seem to be freshwater octopuses. We can just ignore that.

Anyway, the incident where my skin color changed only caused a little confusion, and it went over without any problems.

Just because my skin color changed, it didn’t mean that I had changed as a person. Especially my eyes, which glowed red, proved that.

But if you look at it from afar, it would be easy to get confused because it looks like a local person.

“Please wear this for the time being.”

“A red turban? Why that?”

“It’s already hard to find, so it’ll be a headache if it disappears.”

“··· ···”

In the end, I decided to wear a red turban. I heard that red is a meaningless color.

No one denied that my symbolic color was red, so I just wore it on my head.

“This is why you really seem like a Korean.”

The desert crossing resumed. Kara muttered as she observed me here and there.

I know I adapt to my environment, but I didn’t know it would happen so quickly.

She circled around me, not caring what other people were saying, and ran her fingers over the back of my hand.

“It’s not just tanned skin. It’s really your natural skin.”

“How do you know?”

“If your skin is tanned, there should be at least a little bit of redness. But there isn’t even that.”

That’s true. I’ve heard that black people also get tanned, although it’s not noticeable.

The same goes for blushing. Sometimes, whenever Kara gets embarrassed, doesn’t her face get blushed?

“At this point, I’m curious. How things will change in the Matra Empire.”

As Kara was observing me, Grace approached and opened her mouth.

The Matra Empire is characterized by mild weather all year round, making it a perfect place for people to live.

It’s a perfect place for people to live, so it’s also a perfect place for monsters and bugs to live.

“I wonder if the Matra Empire is anything but ordinary. I’m more curious about the East.”

This time it was Dan Ye-rin. The others nodded in agreement with her curiosity.

Orientals are of the yellow race. They have yellow skin and have more dense facial features than Westerners.

If I go there, will I turn into a yellow person or will I just stay the same?

Honestly, I expect the latter. I change according to the environment, not the region.

“I’m more curious about Shivar Ai than that.”

Here’s Luna dropping the bomb. She spoke as if she had no idea what was going on.

It was a very sensitive topic, but Luna didn’t seem to care. But other people didn’t.

The look in the eyes of the people around them changed and the atmosphere also became unusual.

“······What are you talking about? Are you talking nonsense again?”

Kara read the mood and spoke while looking around. She said it was nonsense, but her voice was slightly trembling.

Luna answered in a calm voice.

“I was wondering what the skin color of the child would be like if he were born in that condition. Are there any foreigners who have married Tatars?”

“In the old days······ there weren’t many, but recently there have been a lot.”

“What color are the skin of those people’s children?”

“It feels more like a mixture rather than something that is completely similar to one side?”

“That’s amazing.”

It seems to have been pure curiosity, and its impact went beyond purity.

As the strange atmosphere continued, Ellie approached me and whispered softly.

“I like any color.”

“··· ···”

It was fortunate that no one heard the whisper. Everyone was so focused on crossing the desert that they had no time to spare.

I sighed inwardly and looked ahead. The line of people crossing the desert was continuing.

There were no risk factors in the middle, but there were other problems.

Heat. And······

“hungry······”

“I clearly ate earlier, so why am I hungry?”

“Yeah. That’s weird.”

They were hungry. The students were complaining of hunger even though they had just finished lunch.

That’s because crossing the desert is no different from marching. Marching is the flower of military operations.

The exams I’ve taken at the Academy so far have been intense in terms of calorie consumption, but it’s been easy to get food.

But it’s not a desert. It’s all sandy ground, so it’s not easy to find food.

Even if you do get one, you shouldn’t expect a large animal.

‘At least there is a camel······’

Killing a camel, the ship of the desert, is like killing a horse. It is madness.

Have any of the Academy students ever gone hungry? I don’t know about the commoners, but it’s unlikely that the nobles have ever gone hungry.

This is the purpose of field experience learning: to experience in advance what might happen in real situations.

-Gulp

The problem is that I’m hungry too. I frowned as I heard the alarm sound coming from my stomach.

It’s a country where you can eat anything, but if there’s nothing to eat, it’s meaningless. In times like this, the Forest of Chaos would be better.

The Forest of Chaos is a place where anything is poisonous. But the desert doesn’t have anything like that, so it’s hard to find.

“Everyone, let’s take a 10 minute break!”

As I continued walking, I arrived at a shelter. It was a shelter built by Tatar to ensure a smooth crossing.

There is shade and water, and best of all, you can stock up on emergency food. But that’s the locals’ job.

The students’ share was sorely lacking. Naturally, I couldn’t help but complain, but I held on, thinking that I would just endure it this time.

“Shibar student! Don’t go in pretending to be a local!”

“ah.”

Not me. I got caught pretending to be a local and trying to get emergency food.

I knew this would happen, so I changed my clothes, but how did he know? I scratched my head, feeling embarrassed for no reason.

‘I’m so hungry.’

I wandered around the shelter, looking for something to eat. It didn’t matter if it was a snake or a scorpion.

As long as there’s something to put in your mouth and chew on, it’s all good.

“······There isn’t any.”

There wasn’t any. It seems like they manage it meticulously because it’s a shelter.

Eventually, I had no choice but to return to my seat as the crossing began again.

As time went by, I started to feel hungrier and hungrier. If I keep going like this, I feel like I’m going to starve to death… or maybe even cause trouble.

“··· ···”

Then there was one thing that caught my eye. But if I were to eat it and it were to go wrong······

‘No. Let’s think about it later.’

Right now, the priority is to fill the stomach. Above all······

-Ouch. Ouch.

Isn’t that camel chewing and eating with great relish? If camels can eat it, there’s nothing I can’t eat.

So I cautiously approached the ‘plant’. That plant is widespread in the desert.

‘What does it taste like? Olive flavor?’

I was a little excited.

*****

After a 10-minute break at the shelter, the desert crossing that had been underway was briefly interrupted.

There was no particular reason for the interruption. It was simply because an injured person appeared out of nowhere.

It’s not like I got heatstroke, or got bitten by a snake, or got bitten by a scorpion or anything like that.

To make matters even more ridiculous, one of the students got sick while eating food.

No, I didn’t get sick or eat anything. To be honest, I did something that even a child wouldn’t do.

“Okay. Say “Ah~” loudly.

“Ah~”

At the local doctor’s instructions, a brown-skinned local opened his mouth wide. At first glance, it looked like a local was treating a local.

But the patient, not the doctor, was not a local. It was Shivar, whose skin had turned copper-colored overnight.

As Shivar opened his mouth, the doctor began to carefully examine the inside of his mouth with a small magnifying glass.

“Oh my. I had high hopes, but it turns out that my hopes are true.”

Kara, who was watching the situation from the side, muttered in disbelief.

At her muttering, Shivar only glanced at her and silently received the doctor’s diagnosis.

Ellie, who had been standing as the local doctor’s assistant, asked in a puzzled voice.

“Tatars don’t eat cactus?”

“Why are you eating that? It’s hard to digest in the first place.”

Yes, the absurdity that Shivar committed this time was none other than eating.

I just ate a cactus without any snakes or bugs.

What kind of plant is a cactus? Isn’t it a plant that grows thorns like a hedgehog to protect itself?

No matter how strong Shivar’s body was, it could not prevent a small thorn from getting caught in his neck.

An unprecedented situation occurred where a scorpion’s tail did not get caught in the neck, but a cactus thorn got caught in the neck.

“Hmm. That’s interesting. The thorn didn’t pierce my esophagus, but if I just break it, it should be gone. Or at least, I should be able to melt it.”

The doctor who examined me made the diagnosis: to dissolve the thorn rather than remove it directly.

Shivar, who had opened his mouth wide, looked around while touching his neck. It seemed like he also knew what kind of accident he had caused.

The doctor then asked Ellie for a suitable potion, then gave advice to Shivar with a hearty laugh.

“No matter how hungry you are, you should never eat it raw.”

“Can I eat it?”

The doctor answered that question.

“If you’re going to eat it, at least put on some thorns before you eat it. That’ll be better.”

“oh.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Just don’t eat it!”

Kara screamed.

[Faith rises!]