In the withered forest filled with corrupted trees, Adam is walking freely.

Adam looked at the light clouds that have now appeared, looks like the time won’t take long before the miasma would reach density levels equivalent to the morning’s concentrations.

The time should be still midnight, but as Noelani said, the dark miasma is “rebounding” and getting thinner.

Normally the orbs can’t be moved when the miasma is so thin and the clouds can shine through, but he looked at the orb he’s carrying which is now layered with an earth crust thanks to his skill.

“It is true, if you can completely cut off the connection from the clouds, the orbs can be moved even when the clouds are out.”

Adam looked in front of him; it seems he has reached his destination.

Here is the stash of stones he could not reach till now.

Adam did not go to the dungeon even after learning about his ability to control the shadows.

He saw how powerful the snake light elemental following Noelani was, it was able to kill two level-2 creatures quickly, there was no way to defeat that even if he can gather dozens of corruption shadows.

There was also Noelani, who Fabian, the previous dark spawn, could not beat even when leading shadows against her. Even though she is not with her team, in Adam’s eyes, that light creature is stronger than her entire team combined.

He was confident that if he went there right now and Noelani notices his transformation, she would attack immediately without question.

So his plan right now is to grab his stash and find a hole to hide in.

‘let’s put this down’ Adam put down his orb.

He wants to purify each of the stash’s contaminated stones individually.

This way, the orb won’t be overwhelmed with the influx of purification targets and drains the mana instantly.

Adam had the purification dome near the tree, he stretches out his hand while keeping the rest of his body in the dome.

“Hmm?”

Adam noticed something.

He strangely felt curious.

The next moment, he left the dome and fully stepped out into the miasma.

His eyes flashed and, slowly, a weird smile started to form on his face.

***

Back at the dungeon.

“The luminous snake has increased in intensity,” Noelani noted.

‘It seems the transformation is speeding up, that probably means Adam has left the camp and entered the miasma.’

It was difficult for Noelani to accurately sense the improvement of the light child trait in her body, but, she could more accurately judge by observing the luminous snake and the dome.

The dark miasma has a very simplistic cognitive ability, the best it can do right now is feel pain or fear and has a rudimentary communication with the dark spawn.

‘If Adam fully transforms, he will be called here by the miasma and heed the call mindlessly.’

‘This way I can get rid of him here, without any real issue.’

She smiled.

‘The dark spawn is limited to the number of shadows they can control and there is no level-2 dark elemental that can help him.’

In the future, all the creatures that emerged from the dark miasma are known as dark elementals. This means the corruption shadows and the creatures the camp faced during the tribulation are dark elementals.

Thinking about the dark elementals, this month’s tribulation not only had two level-2, but also a level-3.

‘I didn’t think a level-3 dark elemental could be sent in the first tribulation.’

Noelani had a solemn face on, she told the camp that the tribulation would have higher levels of creatures and a level-3 could appear. But that was not the truth, at least it should not have been.

A tribulation may only bring out a dark elemental of only one level higher than the current max level dark elemental.

That means this tribulation should only bring out a level 2, Noelani did not even hear of a tribulation that can bring out two levels higher above the current max.

There would be tribulations that don’t increase the max level, but that is because some levels have higher restrictions than others, those levels are used as separators to classify ranks, a group of levels.

The first rank is level 1 to 7.

‘It seems my fears are right, the miasma is adapting to the changes I have been making but at least it must have paid a cost for it.’

She guessed that the miasma increased the tribulation, this could be because of the persistent hunting of shadows, the powerful purification dome, Fabian becoming a dark spawn, or it has deduced Noelani’s regression through Fabian’s mind.

Noelani doubted the last possibility, even though the dark spawn and the miasma are closely interlinked and could communicate, she has been making passable excuses and the miasma is still in its rudimentary cognitive development, which makes this possibility improbable to be true.

But the unnatural increase of difficulty must have a price, most likely, the miasma had to weaken the surrounding islands’ tribulations.

***

‘This is so good.’ Adam thought while standing in the dark miasma.

However, in the next moment, his face changed and rapidly rushed into his purification dome.

“wha – what was that?” Adam said with a terrified face.

Once his hand touched the dark miasma, he felt something was entering his hand and his body craved more of that “substance”, so he stepped out.

“Is that what Fabian was experiencing?” Adam remembered the dungeon he went to with Fabian, Fabian was going crazy on all shadows, and each time he left the purification dome, he would grin from ear to ear.

“Dammit! Damn all of this!” Adam was shaken up by what just happened. He has been under a lot of stress for the past month and has always just barely avoided mental collapse.

Losing control of his mind and body, combined with the influences of the ooze, made him snap.

“It’s all those people’s fault! If only they could let me purify using the camp’s dome, I could avoid this!”

“Damn that Noelani! If only she hadn’t made my life harder”

“It’s all their fault! IT’S ALL THEIR FAULT!”

Adam was getting angrier and angrier.

“I-I want to hurt them! I want to KILL-”

Adam still had reservations against murdering others, so once he said this he snapped out of this blind rage.

He could feel this outburst was helping the ooze grow.

However, his anger was persistent, each time he tried calming down, his anger would boil and come back less controllable.

“AHHHH!” Adam shouted as hard as he could to vent out all his frustrations.

Thankfully for him, this allowed him to get a better handle on his emotions.

Next, he sat down for a bit trying to relax some more, he even took out a green peach and started eating.

Soon, he felt much clearer than before.

Feeling this relaxed state, Adam began to think about his situation as rationally as he could and rethink his plans.

‘Knowing Noelani, she would execute me if she were to find out I’m becoming a dark spawn, so there was no way I can stay in the camp.’

Adam remembered how uncaring Noelani was when she killed Fabian, though he was a dark spawn, the smile on her face when she did it is still clear in his mind.

‘She also won’t let me stay running around as I like, so I’m going to be hunted once she comes back. I had planned to dig a hole to hide in, but that does not work anymore’

‘Previously, it was not a big deal to leave the camp, especially after Noelani decided to sacrifice Adam’s innate orb, whether he stays, or leaves should not matter to Noelani or the rest of the camp. But now, he has become a dark spawn, a big threat to the camp’s safety.’

‘With Noelani’s hint talent, there is no hole I can dig that can hide me from her. So my previous plans are down the gutter.’

Adam's face was becoming more solemn and darker, there was even some hesitation until it changed to a determined one.

‘That means, if I want to survive, Noelani must die.’

Adam remembered the threat from Gan and Simone, like them, he must also do what he needs to survive.

Adam looked in the direction of the dungeon, he still could feel something calling him there, but the call seems to have gotten weaker.

‘The only way I can do this…’

Adam focused on the miasma; he plans to leave the dome again.

That’s because…

When Adam entered the miasma he could feel the energy pulsing through him, and his mana was restored.

Which means…

When he is in the miasma, his mana is infinitely replenished!