Sure, Karen’s true identity was the Keeper, the elite assassin, but every achievement she had stacked up on her way to becoming an A-rank adventurer was genuine.0

Even Ryan, the Guildmaster of Area 13, had said it himself. Unless someone had “special circumstances” that let them skip ranks, anyone who rose from the bottom all the way to A-rank was a veteran who had survived every trial imaginable.0

And compared to mercenaries, whose commissions mostly involved fighting other people, adventurers were the more seasoned lot. Among them, rogues specialized in scouting and exploration, giving them no equal among their peers.0

The synergy of Karen’s dual professions only amplified that. The instincts honed as an assassin, combined with her experience as a rogue, produced results beyond imagination.0

“Broadly, there are two types of deserts,” she explained without hiccup. “The borderlands of the Kingdom of Artium that we passed before—that was a rock desert. What we’re crossing now is a sand desert.”5

If a rock desert was a surface of gravel and stone with a dusting of sand, then a sand desert was, quite literally, endless fine sand covering everything in sight. In terms of sheer difficulty of passage, rock deserts were harder. The terrain was so uneven...0