Troublesome news

"Mister, I swear we didn't spend it! W hid it for safekeeping as you asked us, but this morning we wanted to get it to you and it was gone from the hiding place we put it in!"

Although she was literally trembling from fear, Laor clenched her fists and declared in a loud voice while clenching her fists while her knees trembled.

"Oh...?"

"...!"

Viria tended to not say much when he was angry, so his response to the child's explanation was rather short...

...and unbelievably intimidating from the kids' perspective...

"Mister...! We really don't know how it happened...! Uuuuu... We... we didn't even talk about where we hid the bills! They were in place when we were going to sleep, and they were gone in the morning!"

Kirri bit her lips and explained in the calmest way she could, although her chin trembled horribly and she felt her eyes sting when she tried to make eye contact with Viria but was unable to withstand the cold glare.

"You already started transporting today's haul, right? Continue."

"Mister...! Than... Ah...!"

Viria declared almost dismissively and Kirri let out a relieved voice before she looked up at the young man's face and let out a muffled yelp of fear the anger in his eyes was not what she expected to see.

"If you already started. Continue."

Viria repeated and moved through the gate, passing the three trembling kids who huddled together in shock.

"Oh, inmate Viria, right?"

"...see you around..."

One of the two guards by the barrier called out to him in a rather expectant manner, but Viria merely waved his hand at him and hurried by. Whether the guard expected another bribe or not, there was nothing that Viria could bribe him with at the moment.

The young man wasn't thinking about it either. If the kids were saying the truth things could go in two different directions.

Either it was just someone being at the right place at the right time and seizing the opportunity, or he, Viria, was under watch and his belongings were in danger.

Viria reached his shack in no time and pushed the detached door away before going inside and looking around.

Previously he was too preoccupied with the mana stones and the way cultivation made him feel to realize it, but the bones of the rare spawn whose monster core gave him such a huge boost in cultivation were nowhere to be seen.

Were they still there before the second talk with the warden, or...

...were the disappearance of the materials and the bills something that happened as a direct result of said talk...?

"..."

It was a good thing that no one other than Viria was in the shack at the time of the young man coming to that conclusion – the face he made would definitely start a fight.

Nonetheless, Viria sat down cross-legged and immediately started the cultivation.

"Hmm~"

... and even despite the absolute fury overflowing his heart, the ecstasy that his body basked in during the process that was at least ten times faster than training with the low grade soul artifact caused him to hum in content and grin.

This time there were no leftover monster core shards – the efficiency of the medium grade artifact was just perfect for efficient use of the monster cores of monsters up to the medium medium levels.

It was a bit of a shame because that meant no augmentation material, but for Viria's current situation the trade-off was worth it...

...although since he already knew that he could turn his soul artifact to a lower grade one whenever he got the right trash at hand, it was definitely not something that he would give up on.

That said, the very next crystal he used was that of the mole-trap.

The mole crystal didn't differ all that much from the one of a mole-rabbit, it was just slightly bigger and of a slightly brighter shade of red.

"Hmm, hmm~"

The large-jawed beast's energy coursing through Viria's body was definitely more pleasu... had more beneficial effects on his body, but it was still nothing compared to the one of the rare spawn mole-rabbit.

At that point, Viria's stomach began to rumble but he completely ignored it and took out another core crystal.

The sessions of the cultivation with mana stones were short but far more stimulating than previously, leaving the young man wanting to forego everything else just to get more of the kick he never felt before.

Therefore, even with his stomach cramping in pain from the lack of necessary nutrition, Viria reached out for his second-to-last monster core feeling his body both being at the peak condition because of the monster energy boosting his cultivation and on the verge of collapse due to exhaustion, both at the same time.

A person in the middle of cultivation is vulnerable.

For a random bystander, it isn't difficult to misunderstand and assume they are just sleeping, especially because during the spiritual training, the senses of the cultivator are focused inwards and not outwards.

And although only the actual masters and high level cultivators have to be cautious over not getting their meditation to be disturbed because of the backlash they would face with the monster energy going awol, even the ones in their low levels are not safe from consequences...

"Prisoner Viria, it has been reported that you left the spawning grounds carrying two potentially dangerous objects and did not trade them in at the required post."

A guard who did not interact with Viria before was standing in front of his shack and speaking in a loud voice, seeing that somebody was inside thanks to the cracks in the construction.

"Prisoner. Don't make it hard for yourself. Come out."

After waiting for twice as long as it would normally take someone to respond, the guard repeated himself and advised in a demanding tone.

...but there was still no answer...

"I swear... who the hell do those convicts think they are...?"

The guard scoffed, rolling his eyes and materializing his soul artifact.

A low-grade bronze round shield.

With the protective gear put in front, the man slowly approached the shack and pushed away the detached door, and backed off expecting a dangerous encounter.