Into The Portal: Monster Invasion

"What kinda orb is this?" Maria asked as she walked towards Miles. Miles's hand twitched but he hid it right away.

"I don't know." Miles calmly said. And passed the orb. Maria took it and her wristwatch released electricity. Orb shone for a second but nothing happened.

"The fuċk?" Maria looked at it dumbfoundedly. "Defective?"

"It is definitely not a core." Carlo walked closer and took a look. "Can it be a rare type of Orb?"

"Yeah, I can see a silhouette inside of the orb, so it can be a rare type but why can't I activate it?" Maria asked..

"Can it be Frenzy-Rank, so electricity is insufficient?" Dorian asked.

"Might be. But how can I charge it? Our wrist watches can't discharge more electricity." Maria shook her head while raising the orb and shaking it.

"What if it's just faulty?" Xavic asked innocently. Miles gave him a mental thumbs up. He was hesitant ever since he saw the orb. He didn't want to lie to steal the orb after promising, but it was too valuable.

"Might be. My shitty luck." Maria cussed.

"Why don't you sell it to researchers? You can purchase better orbs with the money." Miles offered.

"You think?" Maria looked expectantly. "Would anyone buy this faulty orb?"

"Sure. My family is working in the science team. I can purchase in their stead." Miles asked with a poker face.

"And what is the price?" Maria asked with a squint.

"Well, the monster was pinnacle-tier. So, how about an equal-tiered orb?" He didn't want to offer too much to arouse suspicion. But too low wouldn't awaken the greed in them either. He didn't have many orbs at pinnacle-tier, but for a Blood Orb, he was willing to give more than that.

"Hmm, not a bad deal." Dorian scratched his chin. "We earned a lot on the other hand so should we really do it. What if it is something valuable?"

"True," Maria said with greed. "We will get %80 percent of everything and this. So, there must be a couple of pinnacle-tier orbs lying there right?"

"As you wish." Miles shrugged his shoulders and walked to dead monsters to cut open their heads. Xavic also walked to help, and in no time they cleared the battlefield. There were 143 monsters rushed in to die. Most of them were low-tier. Rarely there were pinnacle-tiers, but under joint power of 7 of them and the Moth-woman, all of them perished.

"70 low-tier cores, 37 middle-tier cores, 10 high-tier cores, 2 pinnacle-tier cores. 18 low-tier orbs, 3 middle-tier orbs, 2 middle-tier orbs, and 1 pinnacle-tier orb." Zall noted down their findings.

"20 to 80, don't forget," Maria said.

"Of course." Miles nodded. "We can't calculate their worths on the nose, but we can make a rough guess."

"Alright, we would like orbs more if you are interested in cores," Maria added.

"Sadly, we require orbs too." Zall countered. "But if you give us that orb for research purposes, we can forgo orbs and take our share from cores."

"What do you think Maria? There is only one pinnacle-tier orb." Dorian asked. "Damn chanter didn't have any other valuable orbs with him."

"Axe and sword, can you give them to us?" Maria asked.

"Sorry, the deal was you get 80 percent of everything and the rest of the orbs on Chanter. When we made the deal I already had these two." Xavic rebutted.

"It is not fair." Maria snapped.

"It is what it is." Miles looked at them with his eyes squinted.

"Chill down all of you." Carlo walked between them and said, "We don't wanna fight with you guys. You are strong, so let's come to an agreement."

"Terms are set already. If you get the pinnacle-tier orb, you will be taking fifty percent of everything. You know how the pricing works, right?" Miles said without any hesitation. Pinnacle-tier orbs were rare and expensive.

"How the hell is it fifty percent?" Maria asked in anger.

"The orb is a lightning element, meaning you save the electricity to charge pinnacle-tier orb which is quite useful and valuable." Miles started, "It is also a bow type. Bow and Crossbow orbs can cover arrows with their elements even if arrows are not elemental. That bow is worth at least 200 million UD, that is the minimum amount you can get from it."

"You don't know that." Maria retorted. "You are overestimating it on purpose."

"Fine, sell it to me then. I am willing to buy it for 200 Million." Miles didn't budge at all. That bow was too valuable.

Maria looked at Miles with hatred and gnashed her teeth. "Fine fifty percent."

"All the cores would cost around thirty percent in value so we will be taking the rest of the orbs," Miles said.

"You can't." Dorian objected.

"Why not?"

"Pinnacle-tier orb, although valuable, is one item. We cannot divide it among the three of us."

"That is not really my problem." Miles crossed his arms.

"Right, it is not." Maria sighed as he said, "I am willing to sell this orb to you."

"And?"

"We will take all the orbs, and you can take all the cores. Deal?"

"Deal," Miles said, trying not to be so eager.

"Miles!" Xavic jumped in but Zall held him back.

Miles pulled out the pinnacle-tier dagger he got from Takeji and gave it to Maria. Maria looked at the Blood Orb hesitantly but in the end, gave it to Miles.

"Glad to do business with you." They shook hands and got separated.

"Miles, what the hell?" Xavic looked at the cores on the ground and asked.

"You know what this orb is, don't you," asked Zall.

"I know." Miles grinned as he changed the color of his eyes. "There are some rare orbs drops from humanoid monsters only. They are called Skill Orbs."

"When used, it changes the body genetically and bestows an ability. Same as my eyes." Miles explained. He wasn't worried for the two of them to recognize his abilitiy's origin. Firstly, they weren't there when he stole the orb from the vampire, secondly, even if they were, it wouldn't prove anything.

"Wow! Such a valuable orb!" Xavic exclaimed.

"It is." Zall nodded.

"But how do you use it? How come Maria failed?"

"You have to use energy," Miles explained.

"What? So we cannot use it before F-Circle." Xavic depressedly said.

"Wait, if you cannot use it without energy how come you have one?" Asked Zall.

"I accidentally used energy. That is how I discovered them." Miles explained.

"What? You used energy? You said it was lethal before the F-Circle!"

"It is. It might be because I have used two Strengthening Serums that my body is stronger. Still, both times, it hurt as if my body was cut from inside."

"So, you can use it again?" Xavic looked at the orb with dėsɨrė.

"No, I can't use energy willingly, and I don't want to use another Skill Orb. So, I want you to have this." He passed it to Xavic.

"Bro!" Xavic hugged Miles by jumping on him. Miles dodged it timely.

"Haha. Calm down. Zall, since you have the mask, and Xavic has the Skill Orb, I will take the cores. Is it fine?"

"Of course Bro Miles." Zall nodded with a smile. "But what does this mask do exactly?"

"That is something you should discover."