After Emma finished recounting everything that had happened leading up to her death, Wyatt just stood there, thinking, Quetzalcoatl spinning in the air behind them.

After a moment she leaned closer, raising her eyebrows. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“You’re certain I died?”

“Considering you got your head bitten off, pretty sure.”

“So death isn’t final here…”

“It wasn’t the first time. I wouldn’t count on it not being so the next time.”

“I don’t intend to let there be a next time.”

“Did you the first time?”

“No, but now I can be extra careful. And I have more capabilities.”

Which reminded him of the skill reward he had yet to look at.

“What did you get for your reward?”

She frowned. “What reward?”

“For your task. Did you get a task?”

“Yeah. A redemption task. To find you. The reward was avoiding torture.” Her frown deepened. “Wait, did you get an actual reward?” She considered him. Mysteriously.

Interesting. Hers had no reward. Unless she’s lying for some reason. She seems genuinely surprised, but I thought the acting in The Meg was top-notch, so I’m not the best judge.

But why lie? And if her task was to find me, it seems likely mine was to find her. Hunter.

The more he interacted with her, the more mysterious she became. Which was ironic. It was supposed to be the opposite.

Something she’d said earlier registered. “You were wearing a dress?”

Wyatt didn’t know much about clothes, but what she was wearing now wasn’t a dress, that much he was sure of. It looked like a single piece bodysuit, and covered her from her feet all the way to her neck.

“Oh, yeah. I woke up naked. That was fun. One of the monsters I killed dropped something called an Item Orb.” She gestured at herself. “This is what it gave me.”

“What does it do?”

“Makes it so I’m not naked.”

“That’s it?”

“What does yours do?”

“It’s armor.”

She shrugged. “This is tougher than it looks, but I wouldn’t quite call it armor. It got sliced open, but it repaired itself. Honestly I would have preferred a weapon over it. But I wasn’t given a choice.” She shook her head. “You’re so lucky. Three items. And you got a reward for the task?”

“Hm,” he said absently, pulling up the task message again and focusing on the reward.

Task Reward: New Foundation Skill

Accept reward Foundation Skill [Analyzer]?

Is Analyzer what it sounds like? Most other things so far have been, and if I could actually see even a little information about other skills in the future, it would be worth it.

Did it respond to my wish for more information?

If I decline it, will I get another choice?

Decline task reward [Analyzer]?

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Declining this skill will cause it to be permanently lost

So it looks like I have to accept it or lose it. But I only have three skill slots. Will that expand?

“Sure just ignore me,” Emma huffed.

Wyatt had forgotten about her.

What had she asked? Something that made him think about his reward. Right, if he’d gotten a reward.

Should I tell her? I don’t see what I have to gain from doing so. I’ll keep it to myself for now.

He realized he still hadn’t said anything. “I’m thinking about how to get out of here.”

She pointed at his shield. “That looks powerful. What’s it do?”

He glanced down at it. “It… blocks things.”

“There’s no special power? What level is it?”

She can’t tell what level it is? Is that because it’s mine now, or because I’m running Energy into it?

He tried examining her armor, but couldn’t.

“What level is your armor?”

“Two.”

“Is it special?”

She shrugged. “The item type is listed as Special, if that’s what you mean.”

“And it came from an Item Orb?”

She nodded.

“What does putting Energy into it do?”

The armor became thicker, a bit like his had. “This. It’s not really worth it though. More padded, but not any tougher.”

“Can you change its shape?”

“No, it’s not— No.”

She was being mysterious again.

“Did your skill change at all?”

“What?”

“Willbreaker. You said you’re still level zero, but what about your skill?”

“It reached D-Grade. Yours?”

“What’s its rarity?”

“It says one slash one. What about you?”

He frowned. “Not out of five? Then it’s percent? A hundred percent? That’s not rare at all. Or maybe super rare. Percent for rarity’s a bit strange…” Maybe it wasn’t a rarity ranking, but a count? Like the number of people with the skill? That would mean Emma was the only person who had Willbreaker, and only four other people had Debuffer. How many other people had been affected by whatever this was? More than just their group if it really did represent the raw number of people with the skill, because no one else in their group had Debuffer.

Well, they hadn’t before. Maybe they’d gotten it now?

“Did that give it any new abilities? What’s your scion capacity?”

She crossed her arms. “You know it would be nice if you answered questions instead of just asking them.”

Have I been doing that? I think I answered all her questions.

But just a cursory recall of the conversation made him realize he hadn’t.

There’s no reason to antagonize her, so I’ll try to answer her questions.

Wyatt nodded to himself, and spoke. “Okay.”

No, that wasn’t enough. “I’ll make sure to do that.”

“You don’t have to be a dick.”

Wyatt frowned. Why would doing what she asks me make me a dick?

People are so weird.

“So?” she said. “Did it?”

“Did what?”

She sighed in annoyance. “Did your skill reach D-Grade?”

“Oh. Yes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“My god you’re frustrating to talk to. Did it change at all?”

“It got another type of debuff. A slow.”

She nodded. “I thought that level three cipactli was moving slower. Wasn’t sure if it was because of my skill though.”

“What did yours get for reaching D-Grade?”

“Other than the interface, no extra effects, but it seems more powerful.” She shrugged. “Can’t say for certain. Still barely worked on a level two. Not sure I’d fare any better against another level three.”

Wyatt wondered if the fact that Debuffer needed more than one stack to fully take effect on higher level monsters was actually an advantage. The higher the level something was, the more stacks it took to get the full effect, but at least he could get the full effect. He remembered her using Willbreaker on the level 3 cipactli and how it had barely affected it.

“Can’t you just put more Energy into it?”

She shook her head. “It takes more Energy against a higher level, but I can’t just put more into it to increase its effect.”

“So you know what it does now?”

“What it says. Breaks wills. I’ve only fought a few monsters, but it seems like it stops them from doing whatever it was they were doing. If they try to do something else, I have to… I’m not sure how to describe it, not use the skill again, because I have to constantly put E— Energy into it, but refocus my efforts. Then if they do something else, I have to change again. It’s a pain.”

She’s telling me her skill’s weakness. Does she trust me, or is she only trying to make it seem like she does? Or is she trying to gain my trust?

I wonder if I took Analyzer if I could use it on her skill.

His thoughts drifted to whether to accept the skill or not. He wished there was more information. The only reason he was hesitating was because he only had three skill slots, didn’t know if he’d get more, and didn’t know if he could remove a skill. He’d try removing Debuffer, but he was concerned that it would not ask for confirmation and just do it. He could—

“Holy crap spaceman,” Emma said, drawing his attention. “How have you survived so long?”

“Normally getting distracted isn’t life or death. Also, it’s not like I’m asleep. If something happened I would react. I have fast reflexes.”

“Against that?” She pointed at Quetzalcoatl, who Wyatt had also forgotten about.

“Yes. My reflexes aren’t dependent on others. Fighting a strong enemy wouldn’t alter my reaction time. I’m generally unbothered by the state or actions of others.”

“No kidding,” she muttered.

“But it might be faster than I am.” He considered her, then nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Use your skill on me.”

“Now?” She looked at the giant level-99 serpent. “You’re joking.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m not. We need to experiment. See if it works on me now that it’s reached D-Grade.”

“How about we wait to experiment until we get out of here?”

Wyatt considered this. “There’s nothing here that’s going to hurt us. Unless you using your skill on me somehow triggers it…”

That actually seemed possible. A hostile action, even if not taken against the serpent, might activate it.

He sighed, realizing his eagerness had gotten the better of him. “We should look for a way out first.”

“What a great idea,” Emma sighed. “Why didn’t I think of that?”