“So? Why did you gather us, Fabian?” Harris asked.

Adam was called to quickly come and have a spontaneous meeting.

Fabian looked at everyone cramped into his shed, no one even guarded the outside, mostly because the camp members would go to bed around this time.

“We’ll be going to the dungeon right now.” He said with a firm voice.

Everyone was stunned.

“But it’s nearly midnight and the miasma will reach its optimum density.” someone said.

“So? The Dungeon will have a denser miasma than any density reached outside.” Fabian answered.

“But to go we need at least one innate orb with us, which is why you’ll get your orb,” Fabian said while pointing to Adam.

Adam frowned, but before he could say anything Fabian continued.

“Your orb should contain some mana for it to keep going, so it is an extra amount of mana that doesn’t come from our pockets.”

Adam understood what Fabian is doing, he wanted to get back at Noelani in some way, so he wants to steal “her” innate orb and energy, Adam is just a tool to do so.

“Now that I think about it, I’m not really interested in the dungeon hunt, so you can all go by yourselves,” Adam said.

After what happened earlier between Fabian and Noelani, Adam decided to leave Fabian’s team. For the past two weeks, the conflict in the camp never got to the point of murdering each other, but now, the situation has escalated to another level.

“Oh? You have a problem with what I said?” Fabian said while taking out a knife.

But once he did, everyone tensed up.

“You’re going to force me to come with you?” Adam said with a dark face.

“Yeah, so if you want to keep breathing do what I say.”

“Fine, I’ll go get it,” Adam said and started going out.

“If Noelani were to find out, I’ll hunt you down myself.”

Adam slowed down for a moment when he heard this threat from Fabian, he did have such a plan to tell Noelani.

Adam opened the door of the shed and then slammed it behind him.

He kept walking towards the camp’s orb collection while thinking about what to do next.

If he ignored Fabian’s threat and tell Noelani, then what would she do? Would she fight Fabian for his sake? Even if she does, can she stop him?

Adam thought of Fabian’s dark gray skin that was able to stop a knife attack, there was also his augmented strength.

Besides, it’s not like Adam doesn’t want to go to the dungeon, he’s been really looking forward to getting some skills.

While thinking about his next actions, Adam reaches the location of his innate orb.

He knew it was his own because innate orb can be sensed by their owners if they’re not separated by too long of a distance.

Unless it was during midnight and that distance becomes significantly smaller, which is also why people did not leave during that time, otherwise, people would get lost in the dark miasma.

Adam knew this because he did notice it himself during the night.

Adam looks around nervously to see if there is anyone around, he plans to act like he’s checking his orb until it becomes midnight, and the orb enters the “nightlight” mode.

Then he’ll be able to take it.

But Adam saw someone looking at him, it was Noelani.

She already dismissed everyone and saw Adam by accident.

Usually, there is no one guarding the orbs, that’s because there is not much use in stealing an innate orb, especially since Noelani would be able to find it once one of her subordinated orbs were moved.

For a moment, he had eye contact with her, he had a sense of danger, he did not know why but he felt like he was in more danger than when Fabian threatened him.

But to Adam’s surprise, Noelani, who was looking at him through a window, turned around and went into her private room, as though she saw nothing.

***

Noelani was admiring the camp that she has built over the past two weeks after training her team.

But she saw Adam, at night, nervously walking to one of the innate orbs.

‘Strange, Adam never checks on his innate orb…’

Right after she thought that it took only a short moment for Noelani’s face to turn completely emotionless.

‘I see, that does speed things up. But …’

‘To actually dare and steal from me …’

Adam noticed her looking at him and flinched.

Noelani ignored him and started walking into her bedroom and shut the door behind her, her home is one of the few in the camp with multiple rooms.

Her face did not change since she figured out Adam’s purpose. Her expression was akin to a butcher examining livestock with callous eyes.

‘If that’s the case…’

‘Then your next.’

***

Adam did not see Noelani returning and assumed she had gone to sleep.

Seeing no one else he checked on his orb, which he hasn’t examined since he gave it up.

Innate Orb (lv 1)

Owner

Adam Amani (subordinate)

Noelani Hale

(superior)

Mana

5/100

Facilities

Orb Space Connection

lv 1

Appraisal

lv 1

Purification Dome

lv 1

Adam looked at the owner row and couldn’t help but lament the situation.

He also looked at all the lv 1 items, it has been two weeks, and no one was able to level up the facilities nor the orb itself.

If there is a person that knows how to do that, it would be Noelani, but she hasn’t shared anything about this.

Adam looked up to the sky, it still will take some time until the miasma completely covers the sky. Which gave Adam time to think about whether to go to the dungeon.

It was no doubt that Adam wanted to get his hands-on skill orbs, everyone knew how valuable they were. In fact, Adam heard that people who got skill orb and placed the skills inside the innate orb, then use appraisal, the info about the skill would appear.

One interesting info is the price, which is measured in terms of mana units, the same units seen when appraising the innate orb. since appraisal works off “general knowledge”, the price shown is linked to the value everyone gives it.

This means the prices fluctuate by a large margin from day today. Some days it’s priced at hundreds of points, while other days it can get close to zero.

But that also shows that the “general knowledge” is not only based on the camp, which has not diminished its desire for skill orbs, but also everyone that is in this world, or so it seems.

If this is true, then most people are struggling to get mana, otherwise, they would not value skill orbs so little when compared to the mana fuel in their innate orbs.

Adam was really curious to see these things in his own appraisal screen, but does he risk going with Fabian?

Adam looked at his orb for a while, until the dark started to settle, and the orbs had entered the “nightlight” mode.

‘I have improved my strength by a lot, as long as it’s not Fabian that I need to fight, I should be able to keep myself safe.’ Adam thought with a determined look.

He made sure once again no one was looking and picked up the orb, it is exactly as Fabian’s team said.

He hid it in a bag he was carrying and tried to cover it up as much as he could.

***

“You’re here, did you get it?” Adam entered Fabian’s shed and heard him say.

Adam nodded and took out the orb for others to see.

“Good! How much mana is in it?” Fabian asked.

“5 points.”

“Fine then, here take these mana stones and input it in,” Fabian said while handing a bag to Adam.

Adam took it, surprisingly there were more than 20 mana stones.

Adam did not think all these came from Fabian alone, but he still guessed most were from Fabian.

Even with the duplication ability, Adam was sure that Fabian was accumulating stones faster than himself, Fabian’s physical augmentations are not to be underestimated.

“Now let’s go!” Fabian commanded everyone and started going outside the camp.