The Author's POV

"Let me have a look."

Moving towards the control system that overlooked the dampening system, I placed my palm on the holographic screen.

Right as my hand touched the hologram, a map of the entire building presented itself before me. Marked on it were a multitude of red dots that depicted the areas where the dampening devices were installed.

The range they covered was also displayed on it.

Scanning the holographic map before me, my brows knit tightly.

Placing my hand under my chin, I softly muttered, "Hmm… This is a lot more troublesome than I had expected."

Tapping one of the red dots marked on the map, a small window popped up in front of me.

On the window were a series of complicated numbers and words.

As I looked through the long, complex numbers and words displayed on the window, the chip inside of my head started processing the information in my mind.

But it was useless. Even with the chip inside of my head, I could barely understand what was happening.

The more I looked the greater the frown on my face became.

'…I should've expected this from the beginning. There's no way the dampening system wouldn't have some sort of defense mechanism installed.'

Getting into the place was the first hurdle, and the second hurdle was now deactivating the system, which, honestly, I knew very little about.

Massaging my forehead, I tried my best to make heads or tails of the data before me.

Turning my head, my eyes paused on Ultruk. He was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

'…No, that won't do.'

I thought about asking him if he knew anything, but after remembering that orcs weren't the brightest of creatures, I promptly gave up.

"Here."

But just as my head was about to ache even more, Waylan arrived next to me and passed me a small, black-coloured rectangular object.

"What's this?" I asked in wonder as I took the device from Waylan's hands.

Feeling it in my hands, the black object was sized and shaped to resemble a USB device. It wasn't exactly a USB though, since it looked like a black metallic stick.

Flipping it around and seeing nothing particularly special about the stick, I lifted my head and looked up at Waylan.

"…What exactly is this supposed to do?" I repeated, sounding mildly curious.

With a weak smile, Waylan explained, "Before coming, Jomnuk gave me this. He seemed to have already known that you would have trouble figuring out how to disable the system."

"He did? Well…"

Turning to look at the window filled with numbers, I couldn't deny Waylan's words. Or Jomnuk's, for that matter.

"Although Jomnuk did say that you could've done it by yourself, he also added that by the time you'd be done, hours would've already passed… And so, before coming here, he told me to pass it to you."

"Good idea…"

For a moment, I thought that I was going to be spending the next couple of hours trying to figure out how to enter the system.

Fortunately, Jomnuk had great foresight. He had given Waylan the necessary equipment to help me disable the system.

Given that time was of the essence, it was nothing short of a life-saving grace.

Pointing at the holographic map in front of me, Waylan explained to me the uses of the stick.

"According to him, all you have to do is put this thing over there and it should automatically disable the system within the next couple of minutes."

to his words, I nodded my head repeatedly before

in and let

it, I'll

USB stick-looking device inside of a small

Clink—

inserted the device into the socket, the

[Database synchronisation]

0%________________100%

message window, my eyes lit up in

"It worked."

smiled in relief from the side, "We would

the clear yet," I

now moved up to 2% progress, I solemnly said, "I'm sure that the elders have been made aware of what happened here by this time. If my estimates aren't wrong, they'll

Waylan, whose complexion was extremely pale, and Ultruk, who, well, still looked green but had a tired look on his face, I could tell that in the state they were currently in, another fight would only lead to

"Oh, right."

thought suddenly occurred to me as I looked

a small

on his broad shoulder to get his attention,

help you

"Huh?"

briefly glanced at my face before looking at

are these?" His deep voice echoed

I picked

was none other than Immorra, but he didn't need

get from that place, there were a few things

bag, they were useless to me. I wasn't exactly sure on how precious they were because I could not ingest them, but they would hopefully be of some

recover like we did with mana. They

retrospect, they did recuperate their aura at a much faster rate than us, but it still took a bit

he would have

what is inside,

bag in my hand

"——?!"

bag and saw what was inside of it, his eyes

expressions was so amusing I couldn't

bag, his eyes

How… No, where did

slight

Ultruk hurriedly moved towards where I was and grabbed me by my

did you get this

free myself from Ultruk's grasp, I was left powerless as he shook

Wait a… minute!

brief moment, I felt my life flash before my

grasp of his hands, they wouldn't budge an inch. It was

to

You're killing

only after Waylan spoke to him that

the back of his head and apologised, "Oh, sorry. I was a bit

a little surprised by the sincerity in the huge orc's

of the bag, Ultruk took out a pale fruit. Somehow, the fruit looked really

As he looked at it, hints of nostalgia

world, I would eat this everyday with my comrades and friends. It was a time where we basked in the sunshine, and enjoyed

more he talked. I had never seen him talk so much, especially

surprise. Turning his attention towards the fruit,

any mana

fruit is not

in two, a subtle energy sprang forth

a familiar energy that Waylan knew all

"Aura…"

"Correct."

Ultruk took a bite of the fruit. With the fruit's juices dripping from his large