I became a god by treasure hunting after arriving 500 years early

Without a grievance or grudge, and even possibly a future teammate, Lu Yuan still had some principles.

Of course, whether to be teammates was still up for observation...

Lu Yuan finally issued an invitation, "Since you have nowhere to go, why not join us on our journey to Sky City?"

Conch muttered to herself, "The evil being who wants to stew me has issued an ill-intentioned invitation. But obviously, I have nowhere to go, I can't even move."

"If I refuse, he'll definitely cook me, how despicable."

"Um... esteemed Mr. Traveler... let me direct you, maybe far, far away. You should be mentally prepared."

Lu Yuan was embarrassed, what kind of mental case was this?

He cleared his throat, "Teammate, what do you need right now?"

"I want a little water to clean the conch shell... and besides that, I want to... chat? How about it?"

"I have never left this conch, I want to witness a bigger world."

"We don't have much else here, but people to chat with? There's a surplus."

Lu Yuan got on the tricycle and slowly made his way into the distance.

Tracks from the two tires appeared in the dunes, quickly disappearing under the breeze.

Only a green vine quietly emerged from the Conch's mouth, gazing far into the vast expanse of trees.

Everything had collapsed before, yet not a single memory was preserved, only the knowledge that this seemed like home.

The moon in the sky was still the same moon, but the world was no longer the same world.

It was time to leave this place.

In the end, the great tree in the sky vanished amidst the golden sand dunes.

...

...

Picking up a new friend from the desert made the team even less serious.

Lu Yuan was actually quite polite.

Because the new friend had a pleasant voice, soft and polite.

One shouldn't bully a very polite life form—this was Lu Yuan's personal code of ethics!

But other members of the team didn't care so much. Bully you? What's the big deal?

The newcomer seemed really like a newly born baby, not understanding many concepts.

Every minute, asking questions here and there, absorbing knowledge like a sponge.

Lu Yuan finally understood what the request to "chat" meant. My goodness, you can't talk 24 hours a day, can you?

Even the two lychees hanging from Old Wolf's butt had to be questioned as to what in the world they were. Explore new worlds at empire

"What is that thing, could it be used to attract others to attack?"

"Are you male or female?" the Undying Giant Turtle crudely explained.

"What... what does that mean?"

"Those that can have babies are usually female. Those who have that thing are all male! Mr. Turtle has one too!" the Undying Giant Turtle lifted its tail.

Its organ actually grew inside its bum, only coming out during reproduction.

"An eye-opener," Lu Yuan exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah, you are a lecherous turtle!"

The sinisterly charming wolf, feeling a bit guilty, twisted its body and approached.

Now with low strength, it had been completely reduced to a pet.

After cultivating its character for so long, it regained some vitality, and upon hearing the turtle discuss those matters, it looked contemplative.

It missed its mother wolf a bit.

"Howl! Howl!" That sound, mournfully chilly, filled with grievances and reminiscences of an era.

"You must be boasting!" the Undying Giant Turtle bit Old Wolf's tail.

Chaos ensued once again.

...

After several days of communication, Lu Yuan gave the newcomer a name—"Miss Conch."

She seemed to be a female life form.

Well, that's good.

It also brought a balance of yin and yang to the squad that suffered from excessive yang to the point of mental illness.

"Miss Conch" had only one soul, didn't know her own name, didn't know what her true form should look like, clueless in many aspects, and even couldn't sunbathe.

She only hid inside the tiny conch.

Getting emotional, she would stutter and morally berate the other person as "stupid."

When calm, she regretted why she argued.

A chatterbox through and through, she kept asking "why" all day long.

Even Old Wolf was driven crazy by her.

In the end, Lu Yuan stuffed an "Advanced Mathematics" book to her, finally shutting her curious baby-like mouth.

"Study it slowly! I, Old Lu, suffered for so many years, now it's your turn to suffer." Lu Yuan darkly watched "Miss Conch" being tormented by mathematics, feeling a sense of pleasure.

"Cough, cough, my good brothers, all are good teachers with their own survival skills. Following them, you can benefit a lot."

"But sometimes you need to think independently," Lu Yuan pointed to his brain, "Don't catch the mental illness."

"Okay, Mr. Lu. I understand, you are the only normal person here without a mental illness," Conch sweetly flattered.

Lu Yuan nodded in satisfaction, very pleased with this flattery.

This lady could indeed discern the direction from which the "demon" had come, also somewhat guiding Lu Yuan in the relatively correct direction.

The tricycle struggled to ride through the golden desert!

...

...

Days went by, and the vast harshness of the desert far surpassed their psychological expectations.

The farther they moved from the "Demons," the fewer the insects became.

Though safer, the seemingly endless distance was enough to cause a mental breakdown.

Occasional severe storms forced Lu Yuan to use the abilities of Different Space for evasion.

Different Space had a flaw, it couldn't move.

If a sand dune happened to drift over and coincide with their spatial position, it was as if everyone was buried by sand.

Today, another massive sandstorm hit, completely halting the group's progress as they took shelter near the Tree of Life.

"Damn it, how many days has it been?" Lu Yuan muttered, his lips dry and cracked.

"Today marks 612 days since we left Rize Civilization, 5832 days into the Ninth Epoch," Old Cat reported coldly and precisely, "We've been in this desert for a whole 12 months now, stopping and going, theoretically advancing 12,000 kilometers."

The largest Sahara Desert on Earth, stretching from east to west, is only 4,800 kilometers.

Now at 12,000 kilometers, they had covered a quarter of the Earth's circumference, yet still hadn't reached the end of this desert.

Lu Yuan looked up at the bleak sky, sensing the despair of tackling an endless level.

The most despairing thing under the heavens is that "God doesn't bleed."

Even a one percent progress bar would be nice!

Right now, this limbo was unbearable.

[I told you it was far. You can't blame me…]

[Alright, gentlemen, do you need such reassurance? It's really disappointing. Since you all look discouraged, I'll give you some face and tell you that we're almost there.]

[I reckon it'll be one more day, by tomorrow we'll arrive.]

[Let's keep pushing together!]

Lady Conch gradually adapted to her role: the Flatterer!

As the lowest rank in Society, less powerful than Old Wolf, she had to survive in the Dark Forest's ruthless environment by flattery.

Even Mr. Turtle made peace with her.

Lu Yuan glanced at Conch expressionlessly. You started saying we'd be there 'tomorrow' last year, and now a year later you still recite the same line?!

It proved that having Divine Attributes wasn't the same as intelligence. How could your 33 points of God make you look like a fool?

Alright, 33 points of God Attributes were indeed useful.

In just one year, Lady Conch self-taught herself advanced mathematics, an efficiency that made Lu Yuan man enough to cry—how many years had I studied since elementary school? Am I really that dumb?

With 33 points of God, even Engravings could be forcibly learned, no abilities needed, just force it!

But in terms of talent, she was far inferior to Lu Yuan.

She still hadn't mastered it yet, but it had occupied much of her time, making her less talkative—which became the last thing Lu Yuan could pride himself on, you're still trash at Engraving, aren't you?

"Tell me the truth, how much longer will it really take? Speak honestly, my dear Sister Conch!"

[One year… at this pace, at least one year… If it's slow, maybe two years,] Miss Conch said weakly.

"Two more years?!" The Undying Giant Turtle sprung up, bumping into the tent, nearly bursting into tears on the spot.

The damn sentimentality.

"How much water do you have left?" Old Cat asked Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan didn't respond, instead he looked up to the sky and sighed deeply, how many people could really make it through this damn desert?

He was starting to lose confidence.

"Never mind… When the time comes, I'll fill a pot with sand to comfort you, to sustain you till we reach our destination."

The Crash Artist turned around and in the desert sand scripted a few lines.

[We are all in the desert,

In the time it takes to pee, the sand buries us.

I am in the sand,

All my teammates inside.]

Another bucket of water was consumed, and Lu Yuan felt bewildered.

The rough sand was blowing against their faces.

"Mr. Turtle won't drink water anymore! Call me when you reach the destination!" The Undying Giant Turtle suddenly decided, and retracted its limbs and head back into its shell.

A grey light flashed, and the patterns on its back continuously changed, transforming it into a stone.

The "water guzzler" suddenly entered a state of hibernation.

If it was just Lu Yuan and Old Wolf drinking water, they could last twice as long.

"Old buddy… alright, let me take on the next part of our journey…"

Lu Yuan indeed felt grateful to this old buddy.

Because the desert was full of insects, even though the tricycle had a Concealing Rune, it wasn't safe, so most of the journey was undertaken by Mr. Turtle, with Lu Yuan resting inside the carriage.

Its skin was tough and its flesh firm; even if it suddenly got attacked and bitten, it wasn't a big issue.

Now that they had finally moved away from those insects, the Undying Giant Turtle could confidently and boldly enter hibernation.

This old buddy truly was another form of a wise fool.

Thus, as water consumption significantly decreased, Lu Yuan and the others changed their strategy from hiding by day and moving by night to riding 18 hours a day and resting for 6, speeding up once again.

...

Time once again passed, another 13 months went by...

As the team kept moving, Lu Yuan always had the illusion that the air humidity was rising, and the temperature was dropping a bit.