When Adam reached the camp, the clouds were already darkening.
Adam saw the camp was covered by 3-meter-high walls made up of densely lined up trees. There were not many leaves or branches on the trees.
Adam knew it was Noelani's wood-controlling facility that caused the trees to be like this.
There were several curved trees on one side of the wall forming a gab to allow entrance to the camp.
There was a lineup happening in front of the entrance, so Adam stood in line.
This is because Noelani has set up a tax for anyone who returns from hunting outside.
It was recently found out that mana stones could help improve strength and stamina after swallowing it.
This caused a frenzy in the camp to get more stones.
However, the camp still needed mana to run the purification dome and the wood facility, so Noelani set up a tax system.
Since everyone was being rotated between hunter and gatherer duties, Noelani declared that those who are rotated to have a turn to hunt and go outside must pay a mana stone as a tax.
The tax was not much of an issue early on when there were more corruption shadows walking around but they are becoming more and more sparse.
Adam only saw a single shadow for today's outing, though he was not actively searching for them, it still shows how sparse the corruption shadows have become.
However, people can pay the tax in other ways, like using corrupted green peaches and other plants as a fee.
Adam was able to gather enough useful plants before returning to the camp.
While waiting in line, Adam was reminiscing on the time he first found out about the improvement gained from eating the mana stones.
It's unfortunate that the enhancements are not endless, Adam heard that after Gan used 9 stones, he found that taking more was not useful and could only help with recovery and exhaustion relief.
Adam remembered the first time he consumed a stone; he could feel strange energy moving around his body without his control. Adam tried controlling it but got nothing.
He realized then that mana stones could also help with his mana exhaustion and reduce the time needed to duplicate again.
He was so excited back then, but after multiple tries, he found out that the mana gained from ingesting the stones is the same, if not lower than, the mana spent on duplicating the stones.
This means that after the physical improvements hit a limit, there is not much point in duplicating the stones except for storing his mana for later use.
Soon Adam reached the end of the line where he saw Gan and a few others guarding the entrance and collecting taxes.
"Ah Adam, you're here. Your group is very disorganized, you all should move together." Gan recognized Adam, the camp is only made up of less than 200 people, it didn't even take a week for everyone to get to know each other.
"That's just how our group is, even if we were to move together, we would just keep arguing over who gets what," Adam replied.
To make rotations more successful, groups were made, so instead of rotating individuals, it's teams that are being switched between hunter and gatherer duties, this way it is easier to track rotations and helps with building teamwork.
But Adam was placed in Fabian's group.
Fabian, with several people who have not joined their innate orb with the rest of the camp's orbs, has been slowly isolated from the rest of the camp.
However, because Adam had been asking for his orb to be separated and combined with his poor hunting performance early on, it made the only team he could join is Fabian's.
A defining quality of Fabian's and his bunch is that it is a lot looser than other groups. So, Adam is more able to move on his own and do what he wants.
However, Fabian has been in constant arguments with Noelani, but Adam, who was lumped with Fabian, had his relationship with the rest of the camp members strained.
Gan shook his head; he's gotten to know Adam relatively well and knows he is an agreeable person.
"Suit yourself, anyways, take out the items you got," Gan said.
"Here you go." Adam gave his basket over.
"Oh, you were able to get a contaminated stone." Gan noticed in Adam's basket, it has been established that anyone that wanted to purify anything, must declare it.
But what surprised Gan a little was that Adam is known for avoiding shadows and only gathering plants when going outside.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, I got lucky to find a trapped corruption shadow under a rock, so I killed it easily."
Adam had already hit a limit with the mana stones strengthening, but he still did not want to showcase his improvements yet, so he made up an excuse for having a contaminated stone.
"Ah, that has happened a few times before. Well, I assume you're going to use the plants for the tax, right?" Gan asked.
Adam nodded, he wanted everyone to know he gained another mana stone.
Gan nodded and moved the items to the purification dome to purify.
But his actions were interrupted once a sound of arguing occurred behind Adam.
Adam saw Gan turn and a dark look was on his face. To keep the order in the camp for the past two weeks, Gan has been taking aggressive physical actions to stop any fights that occur.
Adam wanted to turn towards the conflict but saw a fireball flash beside him and go straight to a nearby tree.
*bang* *crackle*
A portion of the tree combusted quickly with a bang.
"No fighting! Anyone who does has to answer to me!" Gan shouted after using his fire skill.
That's right, more and more people in the camp have gained a skill orb, Gan was one of the first since he's mostly guarding the camp.
After that outburst things quieted down.
Adam tried hard not to show his jealousy on his face. Even after his improvements from the Mana stones, he could not physically compare with Gan.
Even though there are physical improvements gained from the mana stones, the improvement amount is different from person to person.
It's been shown that people who are already fit and athletic would have a bigger strengthening limit. Gan, who was one of the camp's strongest before the mana stones consumptions, has now become a "beast" in Adam's eyes, let alone after Gan gained a fire skill.
Skill orbs can only be gained through killing a skilled corruption shadow.
However, those are nearly impossible to find normally.
There is however a place that contains more of those skilled shadows, the camp has been calling this place a dungeon!