When the group finished writing their incursion reports to hand them over at the Cryptid hunting agency, none of them knew the amount of attention they would get. And how could they know, the army loved to keep their secrets and they never made any information about the skinwalker that haunted the lost city public.

It was only after the students turned in their reports to the cryptid hunter agency that they dared to make some information about the shapeshifting creature public, and that was only thanks to the essence orb they showed as evidence that the creature had been vanquished. Now, instead of keeping it a secret, they used it to feed the government propaganda picturing the young ascended as brave heroes.

Their loot was also the center of attention to many people, especially inside the Cryptid hunter agency. It wasn't everyday that a group of novices came back with so many valuables, compressed plastic and essence orbs. They made it to the top of that week's loot and on their first incursion no less.

Uriel too would have enjoyed the attention of the general population and some of the perks that came with it, if not for the fact that he asked everyone to lie in their reports to keep his trait hidden. He didn't want any attention, if anything, he wanted to be completely invisible to the government and the army alike. But that had unwanted side effects.

"What do you mean I'm getting a smaller share than everyone else!?" Uriel shouted his complaint to the clerk behind the counter, the same woman that humiliated him days ago.

"I don't make the rules, it said in your reports that you took no part in the killing of the skinwalker and that makes you unsuitable to receive any bounty for it. You should be grateful that your team allowed you to get an equal share of the credits you gained from recycling. If a trash like you was on my team I would have kicked you out right there and abandoned you." The clerk scoffed at Uriel because on their reports he had abandoned his team during the fight to take cover.

It wasn't that his share wasn't equal to his companions, but Uriel wasn't entitled to a single credit from the huge bounty on the skinwalker.

Still, to avoid any quarrels in the group, Miss Dragonfang decided to give the full amount of the bounty to Atomic's family, because he fell valiantly fighting against the sly creature.

Back on his dorm room, Uriel found himself playing on his newly acquired smartphone. For the first time on his life he had one and there was a lot of catching up to do. He created a social media account, something he had been trying to avoid for a long time because he didn't have means to keep his profile updated. The only computers he had access to were those in the faculty.

It was also the first time he stayed in his dorm room during the day, because now he didn't have any class or homework to do. Sam, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. His stuff was still in the dorm, but he wasn't there in the whole day.

'He must be with his family.' Uriel thought.

Already bored to death, he decided to call Luna, but she didn't reply his call. The only other person he could call was Medusa, but she was currently under medical care and, of course, she was unreachable.

'Would it be ok if I called Miss Dragonfang to hang out?' He thought about this for a few minutes. She wasn't his same age, but she was fun to be around and there would be nothing wrong in asking her out for coffee. But in the end he decided against it.

Apparently, everyone else in his group of friends was either scarred or too tired and he was the only one in a somewhat good mood.

The only thing that kept him down was that he couldn't keep any of the essence orbs since the cryptid hunter agency was always hungry for essence orbs and they bought every single one of them. The price was more than fair and Uriel received more money than he ever seen in his life, but he wanted to test out if he would be able to become stronger by crushing more orbs.

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Uriel stored his phone inside his museum and got ready to head over to the library, he didn't have to work but at least he might find a book to keep him distracted from all the excitement of his past days. It was the most exciting weekend in his whole life.

'Now I finally understand the Chinese curse that said: I wish you live in interesting times.' He thought back at the memory. Living in boring times wasn't a bad thing, it was interesting times the ones that were dangerous, still, boredom was driving him crazy.

Uriel walked towards the exit of the building, when a strange sound distracted him. It was a small beep, a bit annoying, but the weird part was that it came directly into his mind.

>System notification:

Luna: I can't answer the phone, I'm too busy in a project. Don't bother me.

'Wow, so cold! Who would say we were part from the same hunting party.' Luna's indifferent message felt like a stab in the heart. But Uriel's setbacks wouldn't end there, because someone was waiting for him right outside his dorm and it was no one but his old 'friend' Mark.

"What's up Urinal, I heard you pissed your pants during your incursion." Mark said with a smug grin.

"Hi Mark, It's nice to see you too." Uriel replied dismissively trying to avoid conflict. But how can someone avoid conflict when the other person's intention is to cause trouble.

"You see... I was wondering how come you got invited to an incursion, you know, being an evolved and all. But then I realized something, every group needs their luggage carriers." Mark ignored Uriel's indifference. "I've been invited to an important incursion, no, even more than an incursion it could be said it's an expedition. It's an incredible opportunity for you, so, how about you come along with us and carry our supplies? I'll even pay you."

Had Uriel received that kind of offer before, he might have accepted, he might have even been thrilled. But right now he had a hefty sum of credits on his bank account and he didn't trust Mark that much.

Every single essence orb was sold at near 10k credits, the skinwalker's essence orb made even more money and there was even a bounty on the creature's head, not that any money of the bounty got to Uriel's pocket though. But that wasn't everything, along with the scraps they found and the valuable articles that were still in good condition, Uriel had a bit over 80k credits on his bank account right now, it was almost enough to pay for a full year of his college and living expenditures and way more than he knew how to spend.

"Sorry, not interested."

"Then how about this, why don't you call your friends and ask them if they're interested? Especially the tall one with the tight ass. Oh, sorry, I forgot she's dying."

Uriel's face turned into an ugly grimace, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as usual, but this time it did nothing to lower his anger. Something else did the trick, he remembered how Mark attempted to get him inside the elite unit in the army during their first incursion.

Thinking that Mark did it in order to save him because he considered him as a friend, even though reality was something different, Uriel thought that maybe Mark was making an honest offer right now. Maybe he was truly attempting to help his friend out by inviting him into an incredible opportunity.

"Please don't speak about Medusa like that, last I heard she was still recovering."

"Anyway, so, are you coming or you'll chicken out like usual?"

"Fine, tell me what is this 'incredible' opportunity you're talking about."

"We can't discuss it in here, I'll buy you dinner and we'll talk about it."

Uriel followed Mark to the parking lot with a displeased expression, he didn't like the idea of spending any time with him, but he was also free and there was no harm in having a free meal. Once they were in front of Mark's car, which was of course the latest Mercades Bonz available in the market, Uriel was in awe. Not because of the luxurious black car in front of him, but because Mark showed his intention of taking him on a ride. It was Uriel's first time inside a car like that because he always used public transportation.

The bitter afternoon encounter with Mark was becoming more and more pleasant as Uriel realized where Mark was taking him. It was a fancy restaurant, not the usual synthetic fast food places he was already familiar with.

"Is it really ok for me to come to this place?" Uriel asked dubiously.

"Why do you ask? Is it because of your cheap clothes or your country boy face?" Mark laughed.

"Ha, Ha." Uriel followed with an ironic laugh.

"No one would dare look down on any of my friends, if you're with me they'll treat you like their top customer." Said Mark as he parked in front of Dolminico's restaurant.