"Your feast obsession will never go away, huh?" Oliver commented on Omar's declaration of a feast.
"Sister, why did Henry leave in such a hurry?" Aisha asked Sophia in a low voice while everyone was unloading their gear in the lounge.
As soon as they stepped foot into the town, Henry didn't even wait to sell today's gains and ran off.
"I don't know, maybe he promised one of his girlfriends to meet earlier," Sophia replied while putting away the only storage bag in the entire Candy Complex—aside from Kai's.
Henry having many girlfriends wasn't a secret; many members of the Candy Complex had even met them.
But Henry had never acted like this before—he wasn't even willing to wait for the total estimate of today's spoils. Previously, he would always wait to get his share, eat dinner, and then leave.
After securing the storage bag inside a safe engraved with many runes, Sophia headed toward her room to change into something more comfortable.
Soon after, Aisha followed her. As for the others, they made their way to the backyard.
"Don't you think she has superhuman stamina?" Kai asked Tony, watching the exhausted Orion and the energetic Yara, who hardly broke a sweat.
"I think so too. Maybe she awakened those Life Veins or something," Tony replied. Unlike the others, Tony had a habit of reading books and wasn't ignorant of some basic information about the Verse.
"I think that might be true," Kai said. When Tony mentioned the possibility of Yara having Life Veins, Kai began to wonder.
Back when he was trying to figure out how to use Ki outside his body, he had read many books on how different worlds had their own unique ways of stepping onto the path of Ki.
The most common ways to step onto the path of Ki in the Verse are Life Veins, Life Seed, and Life Body. Aside from these three, there are many other methods, but these are the most popular because they have the fewest side effects and the highest success rate of helping someone become a Saint.
As for what kind of special awakening Yara underwent—that still needs to be tested.
While Kai was thinking of taking Yara for testing, Eric, Oliver, and Omar arrived.
"Kai, what happened yesterday? I heard you didn't return the whole night," Oliver asked as soon as he saw Kai.
Yesterday, when Oliver was returning from buying supplies, he bumped into Kai, who had told him he took some kind of pill and was going out to digest it. Now he wanted to know what happened after.
"I took a Vitality Pill. But my Source Ki had reached its limit, so I had to put my body under stress—in simple terms, exercise—to force-feed the Source Ki," Kai replied calmly.
Yesterday, he didn't have time to explain everything in detail.
"They're paying you so well now that you can afford a Vitality Pill?"
"Wait, Source Ki has a limit to how much Ki it can assimilate?"
Both Eric and Omar asked at the same time—though their priorities were very different.
Omar was thinking that if Kai could afford a Vitality Pill, then maybe his salary had increased significantly. Maybe he could even invite him to eat out sometimes—with Kai footing the bill, of course.
As for Eric, when he heard that Source Ki had a limit to how much Ki it could assimilate, he was shocked.
Why did no one tell him about this?
After all, he had been saving money to buy some Greater Vitality Pills so he could quickly undergo his fifth Heavenly Trial.
"They aren't paying me that well," Kai replied to Omar. "I get points for any extra pill or potion I make, and I exchange those points for pills."
Then, turning to Eric, Kai took out the book [Secrets of Source Ki: Great Gift of His Majesty] and handed it over.
"Yes. I think this will help," he said.
Receiving the Secrets of Source Ki: Great Gift of His Majesty, Eric was surprised. Although he didn't like reading books, he didn't reject it—since it might contain information useful for getting stronger.
As for Omar, when he heard that Kai's salary hadn't actually increased, it felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head. All his dreams of dragging Kai to fancy places—with Kai paying—were instantly crushed.
"How was today's harvest?" Tony asked.
Since there was no sign of stress or loss on Oliver's, Omar's, or Eric's faces, he guessed they didn't encounter anything too serious.
After all, a Monster Tide couldn't be taken lightly. It was a period when monsters became the most aggressive.
The most dangerous thing about a Monster Tide was that you never knew when a monster you'd just killed would resurrect.
"We did encounter a few monsters with Ascend Credit, but it wasn't much of a problem with Sophia keeping an eye on the corpses," Eric answered.
Today, they came across three Elite Monsters with Ascend Credit. However, it seemed those monsters had used most of their Credit to become stronger and didn't have much left for resurrection.
One had to be killed four times, and the other two had to be killed twice.
This was different from before. During the first Monster Tide, even common monsters had a lot of Ascend Credit—they kept resurrecting and killing humans, which in turn earned them even more Ascend Credits.
In that first wave, many common monsters evolved into Elite Monsters.
However, since the second Monster Tide, which happened a month ago, not many humans have died at the hands of monsters.
This meant fewer Ascend Credits for the monsters—and fewer chances for them to become stronger or resurrect continuously.
"So, having a few extra hands was a good idea?" Tony asked.
After all, it had been his idea to let everyone—aside from Orion—get help with hunting monsters.
"Good idea? It was a great idea! We even hunted three Elite Monsters!"
Usually, only half the members of the Candy Complex go out hunting, while the rest stay home to recuperate.
Although this time Eric, Oliver, Omar, and Aisha weren't performing at 100%, with Henry and Sophia's help, they didn't have to face as much pressure as before.
They even managed to hunt three Elite Monsters—normally, on a good day, they might only manage to take down one.
This shows just how difficult it is to hunt Elite Monsters.
Although these Elite Monsters had only recently evolved, it didn't change the fact that they were still Elite Monsters—and the fact that they could resurrect made them even more dangerous.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" Tony asked again. Ever since he got injured, Eric had been the one leading the team.
"Tomorrow? Me, Oliver, Omar, and Aisha are exhausted, so I was thinking we'd rest."
After thinking for a while, Eric answered. Although he could still keep going, he knew the condition of his teammates. After today's battle, they deserved a much-needed rest.
"Since we aren't going out hunting, don't you think this calls for a celebration?" Omar, who had been quietly listening to Tony and Eric's conversation, leaned toward Oliver and said in a low voice.
"Why don't we try that barbecue guy you told me about last time?" Oliver—Omar's partner in crime—usually went out eating with him.
"Good idea."