After his emotions calmed down, Adam frowned. A priceless treasure lay before him, but he was troubled about how to deal with it.
As much as he trusted Teacher Mark's character, he equally mistrusted Magus' greed.
He didn't want to be forced to hand off half of his spoils. He wanted this pond all for himself.
His only problem was that he didn't have anything to hide it in…
"I'm such an idiot!" Adam exclaimed, slapping his forehead.
If there was nothing to carry it in, he would just create one. His Gift would make it easy to hide the pond.
First, though, he needed to recover the Spirit he had lost. Adam scooped a mouthful of the essence liquid into his mouth and swallowed.
The essence spread through his body, and he could feel his fatigue fading away. Even his broken ribs seemed to recover.
As he waited for his Spirit points to recover, Adam monitored his status.
Slowly but surely, the number ticked upwards: 15, 17, 19, 25, 35...
Finally, after a few minutes, his Spirit points reached 69 and stopped.
"Looks like this is my limit for now," Adam thought, unsurprised.
Spirit could be raised based on soul aptitude, and the higher one's aptitude, the more they could increase their spirit in a short period.
With his third-level aptitude, Adam usually could only increase his spirit by 1 point every month.
But the pond seemed to have another miraculous effect, allowing him to exceed his usual limit by 4 points.
"Now, let's hide this precious, shall we," Adam said to himself, a plan already in mind.
Using Visionary, he created a special inventory linked to the status panel.
The cost was steep: 60 Spirit points for a two-cubic-meter inventory. Adam winced, feeling a pang of regret.
"Damnit, what a bloodsucking ability," he cursed, shaking his head.
He could already imagine the terrifying amount he would spend in the future.
He saluted his poor future self and wished him good luck in avoiding bankruptcy.
With a wry smile, Adam drank more essence to recover his lost spirit before putting the cauldron inside the inventory, along with the golem books he had gathered earlier.
He also went back to collect a few pieces of mana-absorbing metal and some golem heads from the first room.
They might be useless to him, but they could still fetch a decent price from collectors.
After making sure he didn't miss anything, he leaned against the wall to rest.
This dungeon dive was by far the most dangerous and exciting one he had ever been on.
But despite the danger, the rewards were equally generous. Hopefully, he would stumble upon something like this again.
"It's just a pity that Max and Elly ended up like that."
It wasn't like he didn't try to use a visionary to get them back, but they were already dead.
As for whether his ability could bring back the dead, he didn't know. But either way, the price would be ridiculously high.
After waiting for a few minutes, a familiar sinking sensation enveloped his body before he found himself back in front of the dungeon gate.
"Waha! Is it finally over?"
"Haha, I made it!"
"Jackpot! Today's risk was differently worth it."
Around him stood The other Adepts had different reactions.
Some sighed in relief while others screamed in joy while clutching their pouch.
Adam looked around and only sighed in relief when he saw Evan unharmed.
"Hey, you made it out again." Adam slapped his back.
Evan flinched before glaring at him with a pale face. "Don't greet people this way. Feel like you're expecting me dead."
"Really. Well then, sorry, that wasn't my intention." Adam smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Yeah, you too, man." Evan smiled before turning toward Liz. "What's wrong with her?"
Adam followed his line of sight and saw Liz seemingly in deep thoughts.
That was weird. Usually after every dungeon dive she would run to him to compare their spoils, but her behavior now seems different.
'Did something happen to her inside?' he wondered.
"Hey Liz, what's up?" Adam asked, walking towards her.
Liz didn't respond immediately, her eyes still fixed on the point in the distance. "There's smoke coming from that way."
Adam's eyes snapped to the direction she was looking, and he could see a faint haze rising into the air.
His heart sank as he realized the smoke was coming from the direction of the town.
"Are they preparing a banquet for us or something?" Evan looked around. "Come to think of it, it's weird that teacher Mark isn't here. Usually he would be the first to greet us…"
Adam didn't wait for him to continue and bolted toward the town.
He didn't know why, but his heart sank when he saw the smoke.
"Please… don't be that."
As he approached the town, the smell of smoke grew stronger, and he could hear the distant sounds of panic and shouting.
An uneasy feeling rose to his stomach as he raced toward the town, even reinforcing his body with mana to go faster.
Once he arrived, he was shocked to find the town in ruins.
He saw rubble, destroyed houses, and fires. He also saw bodies on the ground and people screaming around.
He didn't have time to process the scene; his focus was on getting to his house.
He sprinted through the streets, dodging debris and leaping over obstacles.
"No no no no…please no, please God. Don't let anything happen to her."
Unfortunately, his prayers were in vain. As Adam ran up to his house, he was met with a devastating scene.
His home was in ruins, the walls partially collapsed, and fires spread across the remaining wooden roof.
Adam's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the destruction. "No, no, no..."
[Mana detection] directed him toward what he was looking for, but he only saw a collapsed wall.
"No…!" He screamed, mana bursting from him unconsciously.
He ignored the flames and dove straight into the ruin and started lifting and tossing aside debris with a frantic urgency.
As he dug through the rubble, his fingers scraped against something soft.
Adam's heart skipped a beat as he frantically cleared away the debris, only to find his mother's lifeless body, covered in dust and blood, eyes staring blankly into the distance.
"No, no, no, please no!"
Adam's face contorted in anguish as he stared at his mother's body. He felt a scream building in his chest, but it came out as a choked sob.
He collapsed beside her, his body shaking with grief.
It was all his fault. If he had listened to her and stayed home, nothing would have happened. He could have saved her.
Now, she's gone.
With trembling hands, he hugged her cold body and burst into tears.