Chapter 1233: Secret Pocketing

The Leader of Team Nightshade looked at the Leader of Team Wooly Sheep with a bit of realization. He could already tell what this was all about. Incidents like this one were not rare. He also realized that Kyle had used their presence to basically air his grievances and to get down to the bottom of things.

He smelled a good business opportunity and showed a friendly smile.

"We didn't originally plan on forcing confirmation oaths on you, but a precedent has been established, and I believe the majority of people in your alliance support the confirmation oaths," he said, keeping things a bit vague.

Abyssal Depths and Sebastian had realized what had happened, and they also started to feel a bit of justified rage. Kyle had been nice to them, but they had still done something.

"I swear on my Karmic Luck," Spring of Joy transmitted, "I have not been present when the fruits were harvested. I have not touched or interacted with the plant in any way. I have merely acted as an advisor. I have not taken or touched any of the fruits."

"I swear on my Karmic Luck, I have not touched or interacted with the plant or the fruit in any way," the Formation Array Master from Team Wooly Sheep transmitted.

This only left the other two Adept Immortals in the team, and everyone else was looking at them expectantly.

The two just looked forward evenly. They seemed confident and calm.

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Ever since Kyle had sworn his oath, the two of them had been in constant contact, trying to find a way out.

"I swear on my Karmic Luck," one of the Adept Immortals transmitted, "I have followed my Leader's orders."

"Excuse me, while I am thankful for your oath, it doesn't truly mention the relevant matter at hand," the Leader of Team Nightshade transmitted. "The internal workings of your alliance are your matters. We are simply here to make sure that the numbers we have been given are correct. You only need to swear a confirmation oath about how many fruits you have taken, and if you have taken none, simply confirm that you have taken none."

The others were already 90% sure that this Adept Immortal had done something. His oath had been very vague. However, they couldn't tell what he had done. Everyone had seen the vine when it retreated. It still had exactly 29 Law Comprehension Fruits left. How could they have taken more fruits? 79 minus 50 was 29. That was an undeniable fact.

"I swear on my Karmic Luck," the other Adept Immortal transmitted, "I had 17 Law Comprehension Fruits in this Avatar's Soul Space when we found the plant, and this Avatar still has 17 Law Comprehension Fruits right now. I have not transferred any fruits to any other Avatar, person, or object within the last days."

To be frank, the Adept Immortal could tell that nobody was buying his oath. This had just been a desperate attempt to get out of his current situation. Deep inside, he knew that he couldn't possibly swear an oath that would satisfy everyone around him.

While the two Adept Immortals hadn't shown it, they had been absolutely terrified ever since Kyle had sworn his oath.

They had seen a large quantity of Energy Stones, and they had decided that the potential rewards were worth the risk. Since the Leader wouldn't even know about their actions, the alliance also wouldn't suffer... too much. Sure, they would gain a bit less Karmic Luck, but the hidden actions of two rogue members couldn't be put on the Leader's conscience, and since the Leader represented their team in the alliance, they would only lose a bit of Karmic Luck.

They had tried to find a way out of this mess. Their first attempt had been to convince their Leader not to swear an oath. As long as she didn't swear one, nothing bad would happen. Sadly, they also couldn't tell her why she couldn't swear one since that would expose them.

When that didn't work, they were put in front of a brutal choice.

Come clean or hope that their Leader wouldn't swear an oath that would hurt her. It all depended on how she worded her oath. In the end, they decided to take their chances. The fruits were simply too valuable.

And then, Kyle had stopped her, and her subsequent oath basically forced the other members to swear oaths.

Now, they were singled out. At this point, they weren't even thinking about the fruits anymore. They just wanted to somehow get through this without becoming everyone's targets.

Funnily enough, the way the Adept Immortal had phrased his oath basically told everyone what these two had done.

"That's a good oath," the Leader of Team Nightshade transmitted with a smile. "Could you just add one last bit to your oath? Could you swear that all 17 Law Comprehension Fruits that are currently in your Soul Space have been in your possession for the last days? Naturally, we would not request you to hand over any of those."

The two Adept Immortals glanced at each other.

Finally, one of them took a deep breath.

"I swear on my Karmic Luck, I have harvested two Law Comprehension Fruits from the vine. I took them and replaced them with Law Comprehension Fruits from my Soul Space. I believed the vine's Law Comprehension Fruits were of a higher quality," he transmitted.

'Ah, that's how they did it,' Kyle thought. 'When they grabbed the vine, their hands also covered some Law Comprehension Fruits, isolating them from our Divine Consciousnesses. They tore two off and rammed another two into the stems. Now that I think about it, the stems looked a bit weird and crooked, but that wasn't suspicious. I mean, they were literally holding the vine in place. Wouldn't be strange if some stems broke.'

Spring of Joy simply shook her head with a small smile. She had seen plenty of teams that had broken up due to disagreements over loot. Luckily, she was not an official member of Team Wooly Sheep. Her relationship with them would end as soon as they were back in Wild's Summit.

Everyone looked at the last Adept Immortal, who swore that he had done the same thing. Team Wooly Sheep had harvested four additional fruits.

Moments later, Kyle could see the Karmic Luck around the Leader of Team Wooly Sheep becoming unstable. She had entered the alliance as the representative. If she didn't know about a break in rules, she couldn't truly be held accountable.

But now, she knew.

The world was giving her a warning. She had to make this right, or it would count as her breaking the alliance agreement.

The Leader's eyes had become cold. Deep inside, she almost exploded with rage. Not only had they ignored her orders, but they had also almost cost her several levels of Karmic Luck!

She had been about to swear an oath on her Karmic Luck! If Kyle hadn't stopped her, she would have lost all of her Karmic Luck! Five entire levels! She would have lost her Fifth Blessing of Karmic Luck and would have fallen to neutrality! So much Karmic Luck far exceeded the value of just four fruits!

This could have crippled her future!

"I am giving you the order to hand over all of the harvested fruits to me," she transmitted. "I am ordering you to confirm the identity of the fruits with a confirmation oath."

The two Adept Immortals looked around. For a moment, they looked at the Formation Array Master on their team, but he just looked back with cold eyes.

In the end, they followed the Leader's orders and handed her the four fruits before making confirmation oaths.

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