It was a fine day to make trouble. Jin and, say, one hundred clones of his (albeit, he couldn't pull that off yet) would all much agree with this say and perhaps even make it a consensus. He was let into the underground by a few of the people, all of whom were special guards assigned to this role by the government official who resided within the subterranean settlement himself. 

Luckily, Jin was seen as Johnson as he walked across the underground pathways, and only because of this was he let into the base, to begin with. He had micmicked Johnson's form with the help of his shapeshifting skill of which he was now thoroughly content. 

It was indeed a useful skill that could get quite helpful in dire times and consequences. What's more, maintaining the form of another person took much less energy compared to invisibility. He could have retained a stolen form for days. 

This underground settlement was much darker than the surface was, and at least thrice as dark as the Wizard's village, which was also dark at certain areas when the walls blocked the sunlight almost entirely. 

There were a lot of lights at Jin's left and right as he walked. It was quiet. And a bit vacant. He saw no one at all. He didn't know that most of the citizens were on the surface, toiling in the fields with at least one Hunter keeping watch of them. 

Most of the other Hunter were underground ... where Jin walked. Citizens who toiled on the surface would usually return to the underground after work hours. 

"Hey, Johnson," said a voice from behind, "wait up!"

Jin stopped and looked over his shoulder. There was a man approaching him. This man went by Hughes. 

"Can't believe you're back so soon," Hughes said, "did you get your car wrecked as well? Came back on foot?"

"Car's pretty fucked," Jin said, "ran straight into a Void. The headache I got afterward was insane."

Hughes cackled. "Well, that's unfortunate. Not even an hour away from the base?"

Jin furrowed his brows. "I tried, okay?"

"We doubted you," Hughes said, "from the beginning of this plan of yours, you know that right?"

"Well," Jin said, "it's more damn obvious than that those strands of hair under your chin."

"I doubted you," Hughes said, "yes, but I never doubted your will. I know this fail won't stop you. Keep pushing forward. Sure, you might die up there on the surface, but at least you'd have a great story to tell your parents when you're up there in heaven with them."

"Harsh," Jin said, "but the truth hurts. I might just die up there trying. Either that or they won't let me

in despite having the tickets."

"Got the tickets on you?" Hughes asked. "I wanna see them. You didn't give me a look at it yet."

"Sure," Jin said, jamming his hands in his pockets. He felt around, then he gasped in mock shock. "Oh shit! I just remembered I left the tickets in the car!"

Hughes facepalmed. "Oh shit, man. You fucked up pretty bad there."

Jin faked a frown. "Looks like I'm gonna have to hit the road a lot sooner than I'd anticipated."

"Tragic, man, real tragic," Hughes said, "and hey, what are you doing down here anyway? Skipping out on the day work up there?"

Jin mulled for a bit. "Yeah, it's my first day back, man."

Hughes laughed. "Anyways, man. See you around ..." Hughes walked off. 

Jin nodded away. Albeit, he had no sense of destination whatsoever. He now planned to learn more about everyone and everything in the base in a day or two before deciding to start conflict. He didn't want to risk attacking someone powerful, and die because of it. The underground here was quite big and empty, and secured. 

It wouldn't be too easy getting out this place since the ceiling was so high, some good fifty metres or so away from the ground. He could teleport up there, dash, and then use his ghost ability to go through the ceiling and to the surface but the thickest of the ceiling was unknown to him. He could only hold his ghost for two seconds at most.

The second option was simple: teleporting to the surface itself. But this was not viable as he usually had problems teleporting upward. Still, he saw it working out just fine. 

The problem wasn't an escape, per se, but how jeopardizing fighting an unknown opponent could be. 

Ultimately, Jin had decided to learn the citizens a bit more before actually fighting them. In this way, he would know what he'll be going up against beforehand. 

This way of doing things suited him much more.

For now, he was a snake. Or perhaps a Jin in Johnson's skin.

Jin ended up taking the ladder to the surface again. He had decided to go where everyone was. He looked around for a bit. A guard did seem suspicious of him but then the man looked away. He ended up stumbling across the place where the villagers worked. 

It was a farm. Every man was busy including the Hunter who coached the farmers. These farmers weren't actually farmers at all. They were citizens without a choice. No other choice than to toil in the fields for their place in the underground. 

The Hunter saw Jin and approached him. He stopped. "Ah, Johnson, I see you've returned within two hours as I had expected of you."

This Hunter's name was Kolt. 

"Well, you guessed right," Jin said, "but only this time ..."

"Only this time my flat arse," Kolt said, "you know it's a death mission you're trying at."

"Since when?" Jin asked. "Others have made it to the domes, y'know."

"I know," Kolt said, "but those others had abilities of their own, unlike ... you."

"Doesn't matter," Jin said, "I'll still make it."

"Even if you do, there's no rubbing it in any of our faces, Johnson," Kolt said, "'cause you'll either be at the domes, or you'll be dead. We'll never know which is which when you don't come back here."

"Again," Jin said, "doesn't matter."

"Have you any idea how powerful some of those Voids are? I heard there's even a special one. One that doesn't take hits likes the others, and it doesn't wield a stretching sword."

"So?"

"Dangers, Johnson," Kolt said, "beware. Why don't you take a hint and stop being clueless? Even the powerful Hunters here know better than to go try reaching those domes. You don't even know if they're still accepting special signatures for entry."

"I don't care," Jin said. 

"Actually, why should you care? You've got nothing to lose and a prospective mind full of flowers and rainbows—never negative about those domes despite knowing nothing about what goes on in them."

"I bet the domes are better than here," Jin said, "they call them the 'The New World'. Plus, you don't get ridiculed for being powerless in there."

"People get ridiculed nowadays for being powerless all over what's left of this world, Johnson," Kolt said, "you're powerless, you're powerless. Accept your inferiority."

Jin scoffed. "Like you're any better ..."

"I'm a B-rank Hunter here for a reason, Johnson. I hone metal magic but don't mistake it for a weak ability at all."

Jin heeded his ability. 'Metal magic, huh?'

he thought to himself.

"What are some of the highly and excessively mind blowing things you can do then?"

"I'm not telling you that. Just know that hardening my skin isn't all I can do," Kolt said. 

Jin scoffed. "Fine. By the way, what have I missed?"

"You asked me the same question after your previous failure," Kolt said, "and I told you the same

thing before and I'm saying it again: nothing happened."

"Elaborate, please?"

"Just your average day here at base, Johnson. Citizens toiling from eight to five, while Hunters do whatever it is they do all day down in the underground."

Jin placed a hand upon his chin. "Yeah, what do they do anyway? Aren't you supposed to know that though?"

"I'm Kolt, the lesser Hunter who's gruff and commands the citizens all day and gets hate behind his back," Kolt said, "what do I know? The only thing I know about is that little girl they have in there. She's treated as a weapon they nurture."

"I've heard of her," Jin said, "but I'm still a bit confused."

"Same here, lad, same here." Kolt folded his arms. "Now it's time for you to get to work already. That little girl's hungry after the recent raid and it's us who's gonna feed her, and our crops and cows and pigs. So we need to work—if we truly desire a place in the underground. Johnson, since you're Mr. Optimistic, I want you to try fixing some fucked wires for the windmills there."

"Okay," Jin said, "as long as you're there giving me the instructions."

"You'll get the instructions from a distance," Kolt said.