The first rule of infiltrating an enemy base is to have information about the personnel, their routines, and any surveillance.
Luke could check that off with no issue his days of scouting had provided him with albeit even too much information.
The second rule is to be good at being stealthy, even with all the information in the world. If you can't keep quiet, what's the point?
The third rule is that you've got to always assume something is gonna go wrong. Something goes wrong, someone takes a different route than expected, more surveillance, or maybe you've been fed the wrong info.
Always prepare a few backup plans in case things don't go your way. Those are the key tenets of being a good thief.
Luke, however, wasn't a good thief. He didn't have any formal training or any prior experience with it.
Back on earth, he was the founder, leader, Ceo, and primary shareholder of his small but powerfully connected company.
So whilst he had indeed come up with a very flawed yet decent plan it was mainly due to his cheat of spiritual sense that he was able to get by unseen.
Unlike the labor camp which was in the outskirts of the town, the storage place of the spiritual stones was located near the center.
If Luke were to give a percentage of how well he knew the town it would range from 65-70%.
He extensively knew the layout of the outskirts and a little of the area around the storage place for the spiritual stones but the real inner circle? Not a clue.
The heart of it all? Not really.
He had his reasons though, he didn't want to risk himself getting spotted or caught. It would've not only made his task of stealing the spiritual stones harder but also his plans to take over.
The less time the village had to get ready for his arrival the better the chances he would succeed.
Moving through the outskirts? It was so easy that Luke could've done it with his eyes closed.
With the darkness of night covering his infiltration, it wasn't too hard for him to get by. Not when most of the guards were half asleep and lazy to their core.
It took only half an hour for him to arrive at the building that stored what he needed.
On the outside, it looked like a small wooden office but he knew better than the outward appearance.
The question became how to enter. There were glass windows but the sound from the shattering of glass would be too loud.
After having made sure no one was looking in a 100 meter radius he decided it would be best to simply check if the front door was open.
And as luck would have it was actually unlocked. Sometimes it was the simplest solution that would work.
Using his spiritual sense to scan inside he actually found the entire building to be empty. Luke smiled at how easy things were going.
Despite searching through every drawer, looking under desks, and opening every cabinet he found nothing.
With every empty compartment he found his smile began to fade, replacing itself with a frown.
It took an hour of searching through every nook and cranny before he began to doubt his memories.
Even though the evidence showed that there was nothing in this small 3 room office building he vividly remembered the monkeys transporting the spiritual stones into this specific building.
He was absolutely sure that his memory wasn't leading him wrong but what could he say when the hard evidence proved him wrong.
Looking outside it was clear that the night was still young, he had plenty of time left.
While it still bugged him, he decided for his own sake to search the other buildings adjacent to this one.
Just like the first one they were office buildings, but there was one subtle difference between the two.
Unlike the first building, their cabinets weren't empty, they contained paper, books, and pens.
While they were much bigger than the ones on earth it was a striking difference that Luke picked up on immediately.
His memory hadn't been wrong, that house was most likely where they stored spiritual stones; it was just hidden more deeply than he had thought.
Again and again, he searched for anything that looked out of place or suspicious. He tried relying on his spiritual sense but even only showed an ordinary building.
It was a mind-numbing process checking every corner, every cabinet twice and thrice to see if there was anything he had missed the first or second time around.
He was on the verge of giving up when his ears picked up on the slightest creak under him.
With extreme caution he crept towards the adjacent room, doing his best to hide his presence.
A few moments later he heard the sound of the floorboard creaking open and the presence of three creatures.
Using his spiritual sense he could see two monkeys exiting a hidden passage of stairs with a young man in one of their arms.
Though Luke could've stepped in to help the poor lad, he decided not to. Not only would it expose him early, but the kid would be a liability that Luke didn't have time for.
He waited a few minutes after the pair had left before he exited his hiding spot. Approaching the hidden passage where they had come from he only found a flawless floorboard.
It took a little bit of fiddling but he was actually able to light a large portion of it. Inside revealed a set of stairs that lead down to somewhere deeper.
The thing that caught his eye though was the inscriptions that were carved under the hatch.
Seeing that there wasn't any other mechanism around it looked as if the reason why the hidden entrance was flawlessly hidden was due to these simple carvings.
Despite being intrigued he left his curiosity for another time. Deep inside this hidden passageway was the thing that he truly needed.
It was a dark steep and winding staircase, for anyone without dark vision, a miss-step would've led to a tumble that might have broken bones.
Luke took his time, hugging the wall and gripping his wooden spear. Yes, he brought his spear with him.
The fact that there stood a possibility of conflict didn't escape his mind. Though Luke certainly hoped there wouldn't be any unnecessary fight.
A few meters before he reached the end of the staircase, he chose to use spiritual sense to scout what lay before him.
He saw an open cavern a little larger than a football field(91 m). Inside he didn't see hordes of spiritual stones but rather cramped and compact living spaces for human women.
Huddled together in corners were mothers and expecting women, captured, afraid and helpless.
The sight brought shivers down his spine as a wave of silent anger and disgust erupted inside his mind.
The women here were being treated as baby-making machines, not as humans, not even as slaves but rather as machines.
He had always wondered why there were so few women in the outside slave camp. He had assumed them to be in the centralmost area of the town.
He had expected the worst when he realized the position of humans in this world, but seeing it in person was something entirely different.
Hidden away from the sun and locked away in an underground cavern, what kind of life was that?
There was no more planning. There was no more going back to prepare. He had already checked the strengths of the monkeys who guarded the cavern.
They had spiritual energy, they were cultivators yes. But they were weaker. Through using spiritual sense, he knew there was only one monkey that stood a good chance against him.
He understood the risk, he understood the more logical way to go through things. But emotions were one hell of a thing.
And what would humans be without it?