Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 255: Idle Rooms

The group returned back to the faction hall and lounged around the living room. There were lights and how they ran without electricity is something no one can answer.

Edward and Sheila happily greeted Jun. They haven't had time to talk since Jun took an early rest yesterday. They chatted about the place they scouted and cleared, together with the numerous adventures they had. Adrian only watched in the back and a simple nod of the head was all he needs to make sure that he still works for Jun's interest. 

After eating dinner and chatting nonstop, everyone returned to the Black Haven compound to rest. Although the faction hall seemed cozy, everyone was still used to the familiar mall they call home.

Adrian's group escorted the bus back to the compound. With only Nik's group remaining here, Jun decided to tour the place. 

There was nothing noteworthy in the living room, so he moved to the kitchen.

He found out that the kitchen's cabinet had dimensional storage as storage, even the refrigerator was of the same standard. All of the cabinets had twenty slots available while the refrigerator had fifty slots.

Next to the conference hall, the table and chairs seemed antique and made from unique wood. He walked to the end and sat at the only chair with exquisite designs. 

Initiating Conference Mode...

Not enough people in the room...

Initiation canceled. 

Jun closed the notification and stood up. He looked around for useful and odd-looking things and found a map on the wall. The map had three buildings on it and had numerous green and blue dots.

[Territory Overview locked. You need at least 1000 citizens and 10,000 altar prayers to unlock the feature. "Prayer" can be obtained by offering energy to the altar. 100 energy is equivalent to 1 prayer.]

The notice disappeared after Jun read everything written on it. When he finished searching the room for anything, he moved upstairs to search the rooms. He didn't spend much time inside of the rooms since there wasn't much to look at.

It was already late in the night and the Scavengers were already back in town. The whole faction base was out in the open and he can't force people to stay. Even if he did, he doesn't have enough food or housing to feed them.

Jun stayed at the faction hall together with Nik's group. Each of them took their own rooms and rested for the night.

Jun who was meditating in exchange for sleeping received various strange feelings. He was inside the dark secluded place he refers to as one's "inner self", busy observing the mysterious orb of light with a small patch of blacklight coming from the small black orb. It looked like Yin and Yang from Chinese culture except that the white portion took 95% of the orb.

The next day, Jun finished meditating and everyone woke up. Everyone was then shocked to see the notification in front of them. 

Everyone received a [Well-rested] buff together with a passive experience earned while sleeping.

Jun listened to everyone and found out that he had double their earnings. Everyone received 100XP while sleeping while Jun got 200XP while meditating. True, they weren't large amounts but they didn't do anything to earn them.

Everyone looked at each other when they realized what this could possibly do. Noncombatants or a lot of children could level up without having to fight monsters!

There were ten rooms available and this could only be kept in the inner circle of Black Haven. Jun hastily reported their findings to Evo and let the planning, together with other complicated matters to him.

With nothing to do so early in the morning, Jun and Nik's group moved all the resources piled on the ground to the Faction Hall's backyard. Even though there's only a wooden fence separating the outside and the backyard, people still can't enter unless Jun gives them permission.

As the morning sun rose from the east and showered energy to everyone, a tricycle could be seen zooming towards the Northern Plains.

Dominic Sison stared at the rumored new base for Black Haven. He didn't join the crowd yesterday since he felt it would take too long and was too troublesome. He wasn't even the one working and buying things, so he doesn't need the discount they were giving.

However, the HR Manager of Black Haven came looking for him. He doesn't know how he found them since he didn't talk much about him being a farmer, and the only a few people who know about it was that group that saved them in the mines.

Afterward, he received a mining job. The HR Manager told him that if he impressed his employer, he could become a regular and teach a few young recruits how to mine. He would then become the manager, and be in charge of mining operations.

As an old veteran miner, the only thing that stopped his conviction in mining was his aging body. However, with the advent of levels and stat points, if he manages to allocate a few power and endurance points, then he could freely move like his drinking buddy, Black Haven's farmer, Felipe.

As the tricycle reached the destination, his heartbeat became faster. He took his first step into coming back to his beloved career.

Jun could easily know whether the man sent by Bernard was the real deal. He just had to place all the minerals they found in the cave and have the man inspect it.

"Hello and good morning. My name is Jun and I think we've met before but I wasn't really interested at the time, so I don't know your name."

Dominic smiled wryly but kept his composure. "It's only natural. We didn't really have a good thing going even back then. I guess me and my daughter can be called burdens at that time."

Jun shook his head. "Not really, there were just things that happened that day, so please don't take offense. Your daughter, is she here too? What happened to your plan? I thought you guys were going back to your home town?"

"We saw people get robbed and killed on the road. I can't risk it. I can't take the risk of having my daughter going out there. Coz' you know... she's frail, not used to the violence."

Dominic became sullen after getting reminded of his hometown. If he had a beer by his side, he would already have drunk some to make him forget sorrows. Not knowing whether people you love survived or not was a type of torture that gnaws a person's sanity.

Sensing Dominic's feelings, Jun stopped asking questions and placed a batch of common and unique ores he found inside the mine on the table.

"Do you recognize any of these?"

"Yes. This is Titalerite, a phosphorous gem. How did you get this? Did it not explode?" said Dominic rubbing a glowing blue gem on his palm.

"I literally mined all the ores surrounding it before excavating this gem. By the way, what are your basic skills? Can I know about them, or is it kind of top-secret?"

Dominic wondered why Jun was asking long-windedly about his skills but decided not to ask. "It's okay. I have Precise Strike and Invigorate. Precise Strike helps me attack precisely while Invigorate helps recover health and energy faster, but I have to remain still for the duration."

"Then, do you recognize all of them?" Jun said pointing to the minerals on the table.

"Starting from the right, Titalerite, Papaingite, Copper Ore, and Iron Ore. This Adamantite Ore is really interesting though. It only says that it's a tough mineral and nothing else."

Dominic picked the black ore and felt it on his palm. The adamantite ore had a rough texture despite its smooth appearance.

Jun nodded after hearing Dominic identify all the ores. To be honest, he already asked Nik and his group members to try and discern the items. Most of their answers were the same as his and Dominic's.

Jun asked a few more questions about mining before they headed towards the Northern Mine.