Land of the Dunes

3: The Remains of Hamberck

The soft breeze of the winds constantly blows as the group makes their way towards the remains of the Hamberck spaceship. They had been there once before, so they knew the path leading to the site well enough.

The walk to Rointger Outpost had taken them an hour, and it took them around 10 minutes to reach the remains using the hoverbike. Although it may seem that the distance is much shorter in comparison, walking to the remains would've taken another hour to reach. The hoverbikes were simply a decision made by Montri for convenience, seeing as he already had connections with Juno anyway.

Eventually, huge scraps of metal began to appear on the horizon, marking their arrival at the point of interest. The sun perfectly sits behind the remains and stays there even after they've reached the spaceship.

The sun has never moved at all, in fact, and has stayed exactly at that place for their entire lives. The planet stays in eternal dawn, and the concept of day and night is unfathomable for its inhabitants.

"It's kinda something I've always wondered, y'know. How is it like to know when to work and when to sleep just by looking at the sky?"

"It's definitely not as convenient as you think," Montri scoffs. "Who needs to look up when you can just pull out?" he states as he gestures taking out his phone.

"It's not just about the time y'know," Raya then refutes, waving his finger. "I can imagine all the different variations of already beautiful views of this place."

"Beautiful views of sand, sand, and sand..." He murmurs behind him.

After a while of circling around the colossal structure, they reach a suitable opening to enter through, that being one of the engines of the ship. Before they enter though, they take a moment to stop, knowing that the path forward will be dangerous.

"Alright, gang. Ready to get in? No backing around once we enter," Montri mocks.

Raya only laughs at this warning, taking it very lightly. "Oh please. We're experienced, and we've been here before anyway."

"I'm just making sure, just in case." Montri gives a quick laugh.

"Oh, that does remind me of something though," Akatsuki informs, making the two pause for a moment as he searches through his bag.

"Here you go." Two cans of soda were tossed at Montri and Raya. "Your favorites, as usual."

"Sweet!" Montri exclaims, before taking a sip of his soda. "These are the next best things to booze."

"Thanks for the treat!" Raya happily voices as he drinks the soda as well.

Kisakyu also joins in on their quick energy boost, chugging down on his own soda can. "Ilanta..." he thinks. "Disgustingly good."

After the quick break, they waste no time and head inside the gigantic spaceship, with the goal of extracting artifacts from the desert worms that live there.

The artifacts that are used to channel energy can come in many different forms. Some more complex artifacts used mainly for combat purposes can be found in the ruins of the previous civilization that used to live on the planet, while other purer sources of energy are naturally found in some plants and creatures.

The desert worms that frequently reside in the remains of the spaceship contain an exceptional amount of energy inside of the artifacts that are a part of their organs. Because of that, the place has become a risky but rewarding place to earn lots of money at once.

"Alright! The sand should get deeper ahead of us. You don't want to damage any of Juno's property, after all. The repair costs are ridiculous!"

As they near the aforementioned spot, they start to slow down their hoverbikes to a point of full stop. Getting off, they slowly walk through the now treacherous territory of the giant desert worms, fully preparing that at any moment, something might try to swallow them.