As soon as the desert halfling Fuyi appeared, it fixed its wary and unfriendly gaze on them.
Although it didn’t immediately shout and threaten to fight, its eyes clearly showed hostility. Moreover, beneath the halfling’s feet, the region of flowing sand was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it wouldn’t be long before it engulfed the entire area they were standing on.
At this moment, Loga spoke up and revealed its name.
The desert halfling clearly hadn’t heard of Loga, but since Loga shared the same earth element nature and had a stone-like appearance, the desert halfling immediately understood that Loga came from their kin-like ally—the Wild Rock Wasteland.
Thus, the desert halfling didn’t rush to threaten them but hesitated for a moment and said to Loga, "Wait a moment, I will go verify with The Patroller."
After speaking, the desert halfling sank into the flowing sand and disappeared.
About three minutes later, the halfling’s figure resurfaced, swirling within a thin breeze, finally reappearing before them.
Compared to before, its expression had shifted from guarded to somewhat more amiable: "So it’s Junior Brother Loga."
Junior Brother? Loga’s eyes lit up as he looked at the halfling opposite: "Are you also a student of the teacher?"
The halfling opened its wide mouth, smiling and nodding: "Yes, but that was over three hundred years ago, so Junior Brother Loga probably hasn’t heard of me."
"By the way, once The Patroller knew of Junior Brother Loga’s return, it notified the teacher. I’m sure the teacher will be very happy to see you." With that, the halfling moved aside, pointing Loga to the direction forward.
Loga cast a glance at Angel beside him, hesitated for a moment, and said to the halfling floating mid-air, "I have a request..."
"Fly over to the teacher’s location?" The halfling looked at Loga in surprise, thinking, this guy doesn’t seem like he can fly.
Loga briefly explained, clarifying that it wasn’t him who could fly but rather using Angel’s tool to do so.
"I see." The halfling feigned understanding, though it didn’t really grasp the concept; it just didn’t want to appear ignorant.
"Junior Brother Loga surely knows about the flight prohibition, and I can’t make that decision. How about this—I’ll have The Patroller inform The Sage and see what the teacher says."
With these words, the halfling sank into the flowing sand once more.
A few minutes later, the halfling emerged again: "The Sage has agreed. However, according to the rules, you need to find a native flying creature of the Baya Desert."
At this, the halfling showed a hint of sympathy: "I can tell you that within a hundred miles, there are no flying earth element creatures."
Which means if Loga couldn’t find a flying companion, it would still have to walk slowly to the core area.
Loga’s eyes showed frustration, as his gaze involuntarily shifted to the halfling... This halfling not only looked like the genie from a fairy tale but also had the characteristic of hovering mid-air, so it should be able to fly, right?
The halfling seemed to read Loga’s mind and quickly waved its hands, "I can’t help you; I am what you’d call... The Keeper. I can only move around here—I can’t leave too far."
The halfling’s refusal left Loga sighing helplessly.
Seeing the small flowers on Loga droop, the halfling couldn’t help but suggest, "Why don’t you search as you walk? Once you find one, then you can fly over."
Loga turned his head, handing the decision back to Angel.
Angel pondered for a moment and asked the halfling, "Does the flying companion absolutely need to be able to fly? What if it can’t fly?"
"The rules don’t specify that the companion must be able to fly..." the halfling muttered.
Angel gently waved his hand, releasing the gondola, which floated in the air: "My flying boat can carry one earth element creature. If I find one that can’t fly and just keep it on the boat, would that count as a flying companion?"
The halfling hesitated for a moment, feeling its brain spinning, but eventually nodded: "It should be possible."
After getting confirmation from the halfling, Angel quickly turned around and, a few hundred meters away, gently picked up a small sand rat that had just been born a week ago.
"This little one must have been born during the World’s Harmony, right? Is it okay if I take it along?"
The halfling remained silent for a moment before finally nodding: "The rules don’t prohibit creatures in the sprite phase from being flying companions."
Angel smiled slightly and placed the struggling little sand rat into Loga’s hand: "Then we will take our leave now."
With these words, Angel took Loga and Dangross back to the gondola, and under the halfling’s complex gaze, they navigated the flying boat off into the distance.
On the gondola, Loga, who was comforting the frightened little sand rat, had a thoughtful expression: "I never expected it could be done this way. Ah, I always restrict my thinking. After all, it stands to reason that I should have thought of such a simple method earlier."
"Indeed, as Teacher Platinum said, I need to study more, otherwise my perspective will always be limited to the established framework."
As Loga mentioned studying, a bright light shone in his eyes.
Since Angel arrived at the Tidal World, it was the first time he witnessed such a knowledge-hungry elemental creature.
The more he understood elemental creatures, the more he found they were no different from any intelligent beings—each with their own personalities. There was Dangross, who lived by idolizing characters; the Wind Sand Brigade, with their free-wheeling nature; and Loga, who pursued learning.
Previously, whenever Angel heard of elemental creatures, even when wizards deemed them as "partners," he inevitably thought of them as emotionless tools.
Having now witnessed these vibrant elemental lives, he was beginning to let go of his past prejudices.
...
"Stop for a moment." Emerging from the rolling dunes, a desert giant waved its hand to halt the gondola in the sky.
Angel and Loga exchanged a glance, sighed helplessly, and slowly brought the gondola down.
On the journey to the Baya Desert core zone, in just an hour, this was the tenth time they were stopped.
As before, this seemingly mighty desert giant carefully, with gentle movements that didn’t match its size, handed over a tiny, palm-sized kitten to Loga.
"Thank you." The desert giant breathed a sigh of relief seeing the little kitten embraced by Loga and then extended its gratitude to them.
Angel replied in a deep voice, "It’s nothing... it’s along the way."
After bidding farewell to the desert giant, the gondola continued its flight. The route remained the same as before, but now it had many new passengers.
There was not only the little sand rat and this little sand-element kitten but also small creatures like snails, foxes, mushrooms, worms, lizards, and other desert gremlins, who chattered and played on the gondola, with sand getting tossed around occasionally.