Kyle looked at the gigantic river in front of him.
At this moment, Kyle was in the northeastern part of the Wild Warden's territory.
The river he was looking at was about as big as the Ocean's Life, the big river east of Deep Cove.
This was the Royal River, and it led directly to the capital of the Skysand Kingdom.
The river was a couple of kilometers wide, but its flow was pretty slow.
From time to time, Kyle could see a couple of big fishing boats floating on it.
Compared to other rivers, the Royal River had almost no powerful beasts.
It was surprisingly calm and tame.
After looking at the river for a while, Kyle followed it towards the north.
Some minutes later, Kyle saw a gigantic wall of Skysand.
This was the dividing wall between the territory of the Wild Wardens and the Skysand Guild.
As always, there were tunnels leading below these kinds of Skysand walls.
Kyle walked through one of these tunnels, and when he emerged on the other end, he looked at the landscape.
'I don't know what I expected,' he thought as he looked at the sand dunes.
'I mean, it's called the Skysand Kingdom for a reason, right? It would be weird if the capital were in some kind of jungle.'
Kyle looked to his right and noticed that the river was still there.
'Seriously? Not even any plants directly beside the river?'
"You have to be careful here," Theodor said. "Every bit of sand you can see is a weaker form of Skysand."
"Weaker form?" Kyle asked, looking at the dunes in surprise.
He slowly took a step onto the sand, expecting his shoes to start sizzling.
Yet, it just felt like normal sand.
His armor was not, in fact, sizzling.
"As you know, the Skysand emerges from the Dividing Ridge," Theodor explained. "It is created there and spreads across the entire kingdom in the shape of clouds."
"Near the Royal River is a very advanced formation that filters and redirects the Skysand. The powerful and corrosive Skysand ends up in the walls between territories, while the harmless Skysand continues to the capital."
"Harmless Skysand?" Kyle asked with a raised brow. "How is there harmless Skysand? Wouldn't it just be sand at that point?"
"It is, and it is not," Theodor explained. "It has the properties of regular sand, but metaphorically speaking, its Ether retains the outcropping for the corrosion Fragment of Skysand."
Kyle looked around the area for a bit. "So, you could theoretically understand parts of Skysand by looking at the sand here?"
"Correct," Theodor said.
"Cool," Kyle commented. "Just sucks that I don't have an Earth or Sand Affinity."
"You have more important things to focus on," Theodor added.
"Yep," Kyle said.
A couple of seconds later, Kyle resumed walking.
He traveled north for a couple of minutes, jumping from sand dune to sand dune.
'I haven't seen a single Ferocious Beast or Monster,' Kyle thought. 'Not sure what I expected. I mean, are the beasts around the capital supposed to be the strongest or the weakest beasts?'
'The strongest people stay here, which means the beasts shouldn't be able to get a foothold. So, it would make sense that the beasts would be super weak.'
'But on the other hand, strong people want strong beasts, and they would want the beasts to become far more powerful so that they would become more valuable. So, it would make sense that the beasts would be very powerful.'
'Literally both options make sense.'
Kyle scratched the side of his head.
'Yeah, well, doesn't matter. The beasts here suck.'
After traveling for a while, Kyle stopped on top of a big sand dune and looked forward.
On the horizon, Kyle could see a huge crater.
It was several kilometers wide and deep.
A couple of people stood around and inside the crater, but they weren't really doing anything.
They were just looking around.
"That's the Ether Essence, right?" Kyle asked, looking at the crater.
"Correct," Theodor said. "The capital was built north of the Ether Essence. This is the safest source of Ether Gems and Ether Crystals in the entire kingdom, and nobody is allowed to enter the crater."
Kyle looked at the crater for a while before continuing his journey.
He walked around it and continued towards the north.
Soon enough, he saw the capital.
The Royal River ended just a bit outside the capital, creating a beautiful beach.
The city itself was on top of an enormous dune of sand, which was almost two kilometers high.
The edge of the city was on the edge of the sand dune, while the center was on top of the sand dune.
Naturally, the center of the city had a humongous castle made of yellow sandstone.
"That's where the King lives, right?" Kyle asked.
"Correct," Theodor said. "Hieronymus is almost always present."
Kyle looked at the city for a while longer.
It was a bit luxurious, but not overly so.
There were not a lot of shops and stalls, which surprised him.
'They probably barely have any customers, which is weird. I mean, the capital is supposed to have a bunch of customers, right?'
Kyle took out one of the sheets of paper from the gigantic wagon of stuff he was pulling with him.
It was an entry permit for the city.
'Guess that's the reason. Probably not easy to get into the city.'
Kyle walked forward and approached the closest gate, which was almost completely empty aside from some guards.
Without being asked, Kyle just handed the entry permit to the closest guard, who wordlessly opened the gate.
Kyle received his entry permit back and entered the city.
As he traveled through it, he noticed that it was really quite empty.
From time to time, he saw a couple of rich people on wagons going from A to B.
There were also some rich kids occasionally, but that was basically it.
There wasn't a lot of life in the city.
Eventually, Kyle reached the gates of the castle.
The guards were a bit more serious there, but after Kyle showed his permit, they quickly gave him a quick but respectful bow.
The big gate of the royal palace swung wide open in front of Kyle.
For a moment, Kyle just looked at the castle in front of him.
'Huh, I'm actually here.'
'King Skysand's royal castle.'
'Even more, I'm literally living here now.'
'Kinda crazy.'
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