Sandworm
Even after enjoying the water park alone with Daiyen, Suhyun invited various people for soft openings to test it out. He'd designed it recalling Korean water parks, but how much the people of this world would love a water park was anyone's guess—so he used these previews to gauge preferences. By inviting a diverse crowd, he spotted areas for tweaks and improvements. On Aurelia's advice, he enabled nobles to charter the place or created exclusive passes for them, even building a new venue where they could host parties.
When the orphanage kids came, Suhyun was floored by their wild creativity. In the deep end of the wave pool, they figured out how to reduce the life jacket's buoyancy to touch the bottom, then max it out to rocket themselves out of the water like human missiles. He thought it looked fun but immediately restricted the jackets—misjudge the angle and you'd smash into the pool wall, or even if you launched right, crashing back down into someone spelled injuries.
Other fixes included a gritty, painful surface in spots to deter running and slipping on wet floors. The water park exploded in popularity inside Nautilus once open. Kids who went came back bragging wildly at school, making the others jealous enough to pester their parents.
Young couples without kids yet found it a perfect spot to show off their bodies and spark new romances. Merchants jumped in, crafting and selling water park-friendly gear. The swimsuit fabric Suhyun had made for Daiyen got mass-produced, sending tailors into a frenzy designing varieties. Most aimed for cute without overexposing, but some went all-in on flaunting curves.
"Kyaa! Isn't this too sexy?"
"But it's pretty, right?"
With Nautilus on the move, residents had plenty of downtime, so Suhyun hadn't expected the water park to thin out much. Time flew, and soon they reached their destination.
To procure the sandworm stomach lining Suhyun deemed essential for Bostain's underground city, their destination was the vast Saramar Desert along the empire's border. A fantasy world's desert bore no resemblance to Earth's. Real deserts scorched by day and froze by night with scant water—but here, it was different.
The sand absorbed solar mana by day, taking on yang energy that made it flow like liquid. Step wrong, and you'd sink slow like quicksand, only for monsters to swarm from the churning depths.
Desert sharks—reptiles with atrophied hind legs and claw-finned forelimbs—lurked there. Desert piranhas clustered in hibernation, swarming at any motion to strip flesh to bone. Exploding cacti blasted spiky seeds into prey to propagate. In a barren waste short on food and drink, human flesh and blood was prime dining—daytime assaults were relentless.
Night brought fresh horrors: desert rats prowling rocky zones, harpies snatching sailors from decks, giant scorpions scaling ship hulls vertically, mirage foxes luring vessels onto hidden rocks by day for nocturnal hunts. To brave such hostile terrain, one needed colossal ships riding seasonal east-west winds.
Built from light, flexible, abrasion-resistant woods and bristling with weapons, these sandships repelled ceaseless monster attacks while shuttling rarities between east and west: mana-storing jade, ley line mana crystallized into liquid etheroil, ginseng boosting mana and lifespan, high-conductivity silk, mana-purifying tea. No substitutes existed for East Continent goods, so merchants risked all.
Aldamina, the massive oasis city serving as the last stop before the East, saw sandships queued in its harbor each winter, awaiting the great eastward gale. Perched on a hard outcrop piercing the sands like a cliff, it offered final resupply from the springing oasis waters and the nearest stable saryu (sandflow) for departure.
The port, hardened by Golden Sand Mage Tower's alchemical fluids, stretched grandly with ships angled into the wind. But something dwarfed even those behemoths, emerging near Aldamina.
"What in the world is that?"
A Golden Sand Mage Tower mage observing winds through his sand-crystal telescope spotted a dark bluish hue amid the sunlight-shimmering sands and focused in. Saramar teemed with mana, spawning dunes overnight or oases from nowhere—another phenomenon, he figured. But his eyes betrayed him.
Nautilus surfaced, sands parting to reveal part of its bulk. The mage screamed.
"Emergency!"
"What? Winds already?"
Other mages scrambled up at the cry—they hadn't fully loaded cargo yet; early winds meant heavy losses. But the spotter bellowed,
"Something huge just appeared!"
They stared blankly—what's new? Desert monsters targeted Aldamina often, and sand knights prowled stealthily below. Worse?
"What, a sandworm?"
Other beasts hit people; sandworms hit cities. Countless trade outposts like Aldamina had failed over the ages. Funds or water shortages played a part, but sandworm raids were the killer.
Caravans prepped for visible threats, but sandworms? Rare sight, and countermeasures were futile anyway. They pulverized magic-fortified hulls in seconds, devouring crews and cargo—cities included. No wall withstood hundreds of giant-pick teeth in jaws like a titan's. Sandworms nullified most spells with resistance, shrugged off sword auras.
Ingesting desert metals layered their carapaces harder than dwarf-forged steel plate; teeth rivaled actual giant picks. Aldamina endured only via its founder's artifact. Activating
"Sun-Infused Radiance of Sand"
drained three years' tower mana, barely repelling one.
Dismissing the fuss, mages peered through—then gaped at Nautilus, dwarfing any sandworm.
"We must activate the artifact—now!"
But they spotted people emerging topside. At first unsure if human, mages confirmed as sand-trapped carriages struggled from the vast maw—it was a ship.
"Gods! A vessel that size?!"
"Impossible."
"Bigger than a sandworm, isn't it?"
They nearly sent apprentices to aid the stuck wagons when Suhyun appeared. With catalysts, he cast—wagons rolled over sand like pavement. Dozens of them!
"How?!"
"What catalyst?"
"That mana pool!"
Mages drew lots with rock-paper-scissors; the loser grumbled off through the sands to report to the elders.
Mages each wielded unique mysteries. Even fire: Lucy's gentle warmth versus a blaze devouring all differed wildly. Destructive suited offense; hers, defense or support.
Towers paired apprentices with mystery-matched masters. Magic's triad—mystery, mana, incantation—likened to tool, material, blueprint. Same beans: steamed to sprouts, ground to tofu, fermented to paste. Same mana, varied mysteries yielded wildly different results.
Fires from yin-yang, four elements, Zoroastrian sacred flame—all distinct. Mages geeked over novelties, swapping lore and catalysts on meets. Hearing of Suhyun's colossal vessel, Golden Sand Mage Tower dispatched Elder Habubra to greet him.
"Pleased to meet you. Elder Habubra of Aldamina's Golden Sand Mage Tower."
"Likewise. Suhyun Lee, graduate mage of Sage's Cauldron Tower."
Habubra wore a thin robe woven from daytime desert heat (warp) and nighttime chill (weft), arms laden with bracelets of alluvial gold, iron sands, and gems.
"Ahem. Our tower holds sway in Aldamina. In exchange for aid, might we inspect that massive ship?"
Brawny yet youthful, Habubra eyed it hungrily. The tower doubled as sandship shipyard. Magic underpinned their slick-yet-sturdy hulls; even buyers needed their coatings against abrasion.
As shipbuilding elder, Habubra had elbowed past peers to come. Blunt barter over noble circumlocution? Suhyun preferred it.
"Of course."
"Excellent. Intro letter forthwith."
Habubra signed parchment over a sand slate with ink-laden grains from his sleeve, handing it over. Daiyen, thrilled for her Aldamina trading permit, pecked Suhyun's cheek and vanished. He then guided Habubra inside Nautilus.
The elder gawked slack-jawed at the city-scale interior—far beyond the "slightly large ship" he'd guessed from the surfaced hump.
"Lived my life in Aldamina, but no city's more astonishing than this Nautilus."
"Haha, plenty more wondrous out there. Care to swap theses? I've one on Nautilus's creation magic."
"Really? But as a young elder, I lack authority for valuables."
"Any fresh knowledge suffices."
"Big thinker—I like it! Mine comes with a prized reagent. East Continent exotics—you'll be pleased!"
Chuckling, Habubra toured with Suhyun, learning speeds and navigation. Eyes distant, he mused,
"This size and pace... could ply the East at will."
"Don't we already?"
Habubra laughed. "Once yearly—'at will'?"
Saramar's ecosystem fed twice-yearly on crossers' blood and flesh. Sandships rode winds east then west, armed against monsters—yet perils abounded. Sand sharks yanked sailors under yearly by dozens; night watches chained ankles against harpies, yet shifts found severed feet. Groundings? Wait for death.
They persisted for East's treasures and imperial fortunes. Lifelong Aldaminan Habubra spat bitterly,
"I can't forgive those bleeding our city-folk like picking bread from a box."
His potent mystery stirred sands in agitation; he grinned sheepishly.
"So, what brings you?"
"Sandworm intestines."
"Sandworm?"
Habubra gaped anew. Empire saw sandworm byproducts only from strays nearing Aldamina—once a decade if lucky. None ever hunted them, yet here to procure? Suhyun's grin widened the elder's eyes.
"You mean to hunt one?!"
"Yes."
"Madness!"
Saramar's sandworms were desert devils to Aldamina's folk—apex, untouchable. Sand-flesh-maimed, they grew immense, muscles like steel cables. Teeth infused with mysteries weakened any hardness incrementally—hundreds meant swift ruin. Carapace from smelted minerals defied knight blades; hit, and it burrowed.
Raw power? Others stronger. Elusive in desert? Unmatched.
"And faint dragon blood—how?!"
Dragon mystery trumped all affinities. Fire weak to water, etc.—dragons overwhelmed. Direct or indirect spells? Crushed. Time-resistant, dimension-tearing eternals. Even diluted draconic traces earned "wyrmkin" awe.
Sandworms dismissed human mana like birdflaps. Aldamina warped reality via artifact just to repel. Slay a 100-mana dragon? Need 1,000. But muster 100,000 for a sandworm? Impossible. They didn't even dream.
"No offense—quit while ahead. Pray one comes to us?"
Habubra listed doomed archmages and swordmasters. Suhyun just smiled.
"No worries. Not hunting a big one."