All around them were golden grass blades reaching past their ankles. Stepping onto the soft earth, their soles sank in slightly with a subtle elasticity, like the thickest and softest of carpets.
This sensation was a novelty to Altaïr and Sajji.
In the desert, there were only sand and stones. Even in an oasis, one only saw moist, loose sandy soil, not this substance that could truly be called "soil."
Sajji dashed about in wild delight, while Altaïr seemed as if he had forgotten how to walk, cautiously tiptoeing along.
Isis watched the two of them with a strange expression, wondering what kind of madness had taken them.
"It's so soft! But no matter how much I run, my paws don't sink in, meow!"
"Can you really step directly onto this grass?" Altaïr lifted a foot to check his heel. "If I trample so many plants, won't there be some kind of divine retribution?"
Standing there waiting for a moment, seeing that Altaïr and Sajji were still acting skittish, Isis finally lost her patience.
"Hey! Stop playing around, we're moving!"
Hearing her shout, Sajji zipped over with a "whoosh!", but instead of stopping by her side, he began running circles around her.
"By the way, is there anything special to watch out for when moving on this kind of ground? Like specific footwork or something?" Altaïr kept looking back at the ground he had stepped on, hesitating over whether he should prop up the flattened grass.
Isis rolled her eyes at them and, without another word, broke into a run with her long legs.
This tactic was effective. To keep up with her pace and maintain formation, Altaïr and Sajji subconsciously accelerated, following behind her.
They ran like this for several minutes until their movements became normal, at which point Isis gradually slowed her pace.
Compared to walking, a person's senses dull significantly during a fast run. They weren't just traveling; they were scouting the state of this region, so they couldn't just keep their heads down and bolt.
Isis slowly came to a halt and tilted her head, asking, "Adjusted yet?"
"...Adjusted." Altaïr steadied his breathing.
Anyone born in a desert region, whether nomadic tribes or town dwellers, has a habit of protecting plants.
If they saw a few blades of green grass in an oasis, they would walk around them, being careful not to step on them.
That was why he had felt so out of place when he found there was "nowhere to place his feet," until he truly realized that the grass around them didn't number in the dozens or hundreds, but in the tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even more.
Never mind one or two people stepping on it; even if a massive herd trampled over it and grazed the turf until it was patchy, it would return to its original state before long.
Altaïr adjusted his emotions, pulling his attention away from "how many blades of grass his foot had crushed."
He scanned the surroundings and found that this grassland was indeed flat and open, with visibility stretching extremely far. However, this presented a problem, a lack of landmarks; it would be easy to get lost after walking for a while.
There were some mountain masses in the distance that could serve as references, but the distance was too great. The range they needed to scout was roughly several kilometers around them; distant landmarks would be of little help.
If he were in the desert, he would choose a high sand dune to climb, memorize the shapes of several surrounding dunes, and then use those dunes to build a "grid."
But this method seemed useless on this flat prairie.
All of his experience came from the depths of the Great Desert. Once he left the desert regions, many of the techniques and methods he had mastered were no longer applicable.
He suddenly recalled that Madam Marydan's husband, Mr. Lamarck, had once reminded him not to focus solely on the sand sea.
This was the first time he tangibly realized his deficiency in this area.
"Isis." Altaïr looked at his companion. "I am very unfamiliar with this environment. You will lead the operation this time."
"Eh?" Isis was stunned for a moment before nodding.
Due to personality factors, and because Isis herself admitted that Altaïr's mind was more flexible than hers, Altaïr was usually responsible for operational command.
But the latter had stated clearly that he was a stranger to the plains. While she couldn't call herself an expert on flat terrain either, having grown up in the central part of the continent, she was relatively familiar with such geography and wouldn't be completely blind.
"Mm... then, let's find a river first," Isis said after a brief thought.
"A river?"
"Meow?"
To the vast majority of people in the world, this was a very familiar word, but to the ears of Altaïr and Sajji, it was quite obscure.
It wasn't that they didn't know what a river was, but in all their years, they had never actually seen something that could be called a "river." Even in large oases with underground springs, there were only "lakes."
Isis gestured with both hands. "It's... it's what the instructors at the training camp taught. Any area with lush vegetation, whether it's Forest and Hills, Jungle, Swamp, or Plains, will have surface water to some extent.
And as long as there is an elevation change, surface water will form rivers, streams, and waterfalls.
For wild animals, a water source is a necessity, so it's easy to find tracks of various creatures near rivers.
Furthermore, rivers are the best landmarks. When you're unsure of your position, look for a river, then compare it to the map, and it's very easy to confirm your direction."
"So that's how it is." Altaïr took out his notebook and quickly recorded this little trick.
To people outside desert regions, this sort of thing was about as basic as "the sun rises in the east and sets in the west," hardly even a trick, just common sense.
His teacher, Karin, hailed from the stream-and-forest regions where water resources were abundant. Subconsciously, she had overlooked this knowledge and had never specifically taught it to him.
"According to the map, there is a water source flowing down from the northern mountains, dispersing into this grassland, so there should be plenty of ponds and streams nearby.
Judging by the terrain and the density of the vegetation... it should be this way!"
Isis waved to the dazed Altaïr and Sajji and took large strides in a certain direction.
Her steps were incredibly firm, and the man and cat following behind her gained confidence as well. After walking like this for several minutes, they saw a long, narrow ravine in the distance.
Isis felt a secret sigh of relief; thank goodness she didn't lose face.
"See, I told you there was a river here!" She quickened her pace, but when she reached it, she froze.
That wasn't a stream at all, much less a river. It was a fissure in the ground caused by geological activity. The fissure wasn't wide, but it was long, stretching beyond sight, and over ten meters deep at its lowest point.
Altaïr and Sajji looked at Isis.
Isis's face turned red. Pointing at the bottom of the fissure, she insisted, "Isn't there some flowing water down there? This counts as a stream! It... it's just that the water level is a bit low!"
"Right, right." Altaïr and Sajji kept straight faces and nodded along with her, but Sajji couldn't hold it in and let out a "pff-meow" laugh.
Isis's ears turned red. "No! If we follow this fissure, we'll definitely find a stream!"
With that, she started running. Altaïr tapped Sajji on the head, and man and cat gave chase.
Unexpectedly, Isis was right this time. After running along the fissure for a short while, they actually found a winding little stream.
The surface of the stream was no more than one or two meters wide, but the water was crystal clear, and they could even see several small fish, no longer than a little finger, swimming in the water.
Seeing a clean water source, the first reaction of Altaïr and Sajji was to crouch down and drink their fill, then refresh the water in their water skins.
Even though they weren't thirsty and the water in their skins had just been filled that morning.
Having regained some face, Isis straightened her expression. "If we continue along the stream, we'll find lakes or a water network where multiple streams converge to form a small river.
In any case, it will attract animals to drink."
When she said this, Altaïr understood the rest.
Vegetation flourishes near water sources, herbivores come in herds, and carnivores follow the scent. It was the same logic as finding an oasis to more easily track a monster.
"We'll follow this stream. Watch your step; there should be some biological tracks left behind. By judging the state of the tracks, we can roughly confirm when the creature passed through..."
"Wait, how exactly do you judge that?" Altaïr took out his notebook again.
Isis stared at him with wide eyes. "Track interpretation, did your teacher not teach you that either?"
"Actually, she did," Altaïr said with a dry laugh. "But in the desert, tracks don't stay for long before being smoothed over by wind and sand.
Teacher Karin couldn't find suitable examples, so she could only use verbal descriptions. I didn't hear it very clearly, either. It was something about how different terrains correspond to different climates and have completely different methods of judgment?
I fully mastered the desert portion. She said that when she had the chance to take me outside the desert in the future, she would teach me each one in detail, and then..."
"And then?"
"And then I ran away from home."
Isis: "..."
You with your imbalanced skills! Go back to the Hunter Training Camp for remedial classes!
(Translated by yourtl.app)