Of the orbs they got from the three tlilcoatl corpses Lena had brought back, two were the—apparently most common—Essence Orbs, but one—the one Wyatt himself had just looted—was an Augment Orb.
They weren’t as rare as Wyatt would have extrapolated from he and Emma not getting any in the temple, but still uncommon. Not counting the ratapua since those had only dropped shards, they’d killed a total of twenty-seven monsters and gotten seven of the Augment Orbs, compared to fifteen Essence Orbs and only four Item Orbs. And then the rarest of all was the Reformation Orb Wyatt had gotten.
Which made him really glad he hadn’t used it up based on it coming from a level 1 monster.
For some reason, only the Item Orbs Wyatt and Emma had gotten gave item types of Special.
Patrick had gotten his armor, and Carlos the crossbow, from Item Orbs, but they had no type listed.
Carlos’s crossbow was interesting since it created bolts without Energy. He could fire a couple of them, then the regeneration rate slowed down. Wyatt was curious if putting Energy into the bow would make them regenerate faster, but not enough to give Carlos the Augment Orb to find out.
It was a bit like Patrick and Emma’s armor, both of which healed on their own, but only physically. Emma’s armor had lost a percent of cohesion, while Patrick’s had lost two.
Physical damage was somehow different than whatever cohesion was.
“Okay, so that’s everyone with Energy.” Wyatt looked at the Augment Orb, which Patrick was practically drooling over. “If I’m remembering correctly, the rest of your skills are… Bailey has Explorer, Grace has Catalyzer, Jack has Mesmerizer, Olivia Dreamweaver, Maria Berserker, Carlos Poacher, Professor you have Recapitulator, David has Tanker, Camila Restorer, Faith Violator, Brandon Trueshot, Akira Retaliator, and Kevin has Comforter.”
“Maybe you’ll turn into a giant comforter and be able to fly!” Olivia snickered.
“Oh, that joke’s so much funnier the tenth time you’ve told it,” Kevin groused.
“You’ve got a scary good memory,” Grace said to Wyatt.
It was only thirteen pieces of information, discounting the ones they’d already gone over. It didn’t seem like a lot to remember to Wyatt. Especially given how relevant their skills were to their survival.
Plus, he’d misremembered what Faith’s was called.
“Vitiator,” she corrected. “I looked up the word and it means to spoil or impair.”
That reminded him he had words he wanted to look up, and he made a mental note.
“Is there anyone else who’s skill I got wrong?” he asked. He was pretty sure there wasn’t, but it never hurt to confirm one’s assumptions.
“Uh, about that,” Bailey said.
“Did I get yours wrong?” He was pretty sure he hadn’t, but he had sustained a concussion. And died.
She looked down at her feet. “Well… not exactly. I said I have Explorer… but that’s not what I have.”
“What do you mean? Did it change?”
That would be interesting. He was about to launch into a series of questions, but she spoke first.
“I lied earlier. My skill isn’t Explorer, it’s…” She hesitated, taking a deep breath then looking around at the group. “It’s Murderer.”
“Why lie about that?” Wyatt asked. Going by name alone, that was among the best skills in the group. He wondered if it had anything to do with their team name.
“Because my skill is Murderer!”
“That’s awesome though!” Tyler exclaimed. “Bailey, the Monster Murderer. You’re like Buffy, except monsters. And murderer instead of slayer.”
“Who’s Buffy?
“You don’t know who Buffy is?” He threw up his hands. “What’s wrong with my generation? The Vampire Slayer!”
“What, is she cool or something?” Bailey asked with feigned indifference.
“She’s beyond cool! She’s a badass. Just like you!”
Bailey smiled slightly. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, the skills are to use on monsters, not people. I didn’t know that then.”
“Tell that to him,” Kevin grumbled with a handwave at Wyatt.
“Exactly!” Tyler agreed, ignoring Kevin.
Kevin grumbled something about checking if the shrine was recharged and got up.
Bailey nodded, to herself more than to any of the group. “Yeah, okay. I can kill monsters.”
“You can murder their asses!”
“You already have,” Olivia chuckled. “Even without your skill.”
Bailey’s grin grew. “Yeah, I guess I have.”
From what they’d told Wyatt, the split ratapua hadn’t sounded particularly tough, but he didn’t point this out.
It was the kind of thing she used to get mad at him for. Or get quiet at him for. Which he’d eventually learned was her being mad at him.
Wyatt turned his attention back to the situation at hand. “We need a strategy. With over two hundred monsters left, we’re going to need a solid plan to take them down efficiently.”
Patrick chuckled. “Strategy? Here’s our strategy: kill them, don’t panic. Don’t die. Though that didn’t seem to stop you. You still haven’t explained what happened.”
Emma replied before Wyatt could. “There’s nothing else to explain. We weren’t given more information than I already told you. We woke up naked inside the pyramid, killed some monsters, then pressed a button and left.”
“I wasn’t naked,” Wyatt corrected.
“Right. Just me.” She threw up her hands. “Hurray.”
“And without a plan,” Wyatt went on, “we died.”
Patrick shrugged. “Look healthy to me.”
“We can’t count on coming back again,” Emma said.
“Why not?” Patrick asked.
“The pyramid collapsed. What if that’s the only place you can resurrect?”
“Why would it be the only place you can resurrect? It just happened to be what you died near.”
Emma looked frustrated.
Wyatt was pretty sure it was the first time he’d seen that emotion on her.
“We just shouldn’t count on it,” she finally answered. “What if we’re wrong?”
“I agree,” Camila said. “It’s one thing to be a guinea pig for the orbs. Dying…” She shook her head.
Patrick scoffed. “Whatever. As I said, part of the strategy is don’t die. Look around. We’re stronger now. We’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing. Nothing out there can hurt me.”
“You’re only level two,” Emma pointed out.
“And the highest level we’ve encountered is three,” he countered. “Which I demolished.”
“Well we’ve already seen things above level three. There was a level ninety-nine in the pyramid.”
“Ninety-nine?” Tyler asked, with far too much excitement.
Patrick scowled. “You didn’t tell us that.”
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Emma shrugged. “Must have slipped my mind. Quetzalcoatl. Said it was hostile, but it didn’t attack us.”
“Oh great,” Camila said, “a god.”
The little monster started jumping up and down.
Jasmine frowned. “I think he’s trying to warn us about Qetsa-whatever.”
“No kidding,” Faith said. “Level ninety-nine is way beyond us.”
“There’s twenty of us,” Brandon said thoughtfully. “Maybe if we get to like, level five each, we can take it down?” His voice grew excited. “Like a raidboss.”
Chekotae shook its head vehemently. So hard that its hat flew off.
It rushed over and picked it up, slamming it back on its head and glaring at them all.
Wyatt wished someone had a translator skill.
I wonder if Emma can tell what something’s intention is when she uses Willbreaker on it.
“If it’s in the temple,” Maria said, “we’ll just stay away from there.”
Chekotae calmed at this.
“We’ll scout the area properly,” Wyatt said. “Mark where the monsters are and their levels. Figure out a plan to take them out. Maybe lure them back here so we have the sacellum to protect us. We might be able to exploit that.”
“Only if they don’t have skills,” Brandon said. “Or ranged attacks. Not sure which. Maybe both.”
“But the tlilcoatl couldn’t attack you, right?”
“Not until he used the shrine and drained it,” Camila said with a gesture at Patrick, who only sighed slightly.
“The snakes had this sucking thing they did,” Brandon said. “Not very strong, but it was like they were trying to pull us away with it.”
“And they shot venom,” Jack added.
Wyatt looked to Lena. “Did you get their skills?”
“I can do the air thing, not the venom though.”
“And the one you imprinted on could?”
“Not sure. It was level one, so maybe not? It didn’t try it against me. Just sucking and biting.”
“Sounds fun,” Olivia said.
Wyatt nodded. “It’s something at least. But first—”
He needed to decide who was going to use this Augment Orb. For that, he needed more information.
“—I need a dictionary.”
They all just stared at him.
Even Chekotae tilted its head.
He stowed the Augment Orb in his belt and went up to Jasmine. “I saw you using your phone earlier.” He held out his hand. “May I borrow it? I’ll give it back.”
She pulled out her phone and handed it to him with a faint smile. “Just don’t go poking around in my nudes.”
This was an odd thing for her to say, considering she’d gone skinny dipping with Lena the night before, but maybe it was because she’d been drunk. She’d tried to show him her OnlyFans, but from what he’d seen, she wasn’t fully naked there.
He nodded. “Sure.”
She rolled her eyes at him for some reason.
Now, what did I want to look up?
He brought up search and looked up evanescence, the local dictionary displaying a result.
ev·a·nes·cent
adjective mainly literary
soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing: a shimmering evanescent bubble.
• Physics denoting a field or wave that extends into a region where it cannot propagate and whose amplitude therefore decreases with distance.
So something temporary, or a physics concept I’ve never heard of.
Which means Energy Evanescence would be either a temporary boost to Energy, a drain to it, or some sort of wave of Energy. Probably a drain or boost, since a wave of Immune System doesn’t make any sense.
He looked up the next word he was unsure of, the scion capacity of his Debuffer skill.
sci·on
noun
1 a young shoot or twig of a plant, especially one cut for grafting or rooting.
2 a descendant of a notable family: he was the scion of a wealthy family.
That doesn’t help explain anything. Can I imprison nobles or something then? Or maybe grow or propagate the skill somehow?
Wyatt looked up sacellum next. No results. Same for delubrum. Are they real words?
Too bad I don’t have internet.
Wyatt frowned. Could he get internet? Or something like it?
He tried his Reformation Orb on the phone.
• Missing Formula
• Missing Formula
• Missing Formula
Well, that’s not surprising. Still three though. It must always be that. Maybe that’s what prototype or blueprint is? Wonder what I would need to add more formulas. So far all the loot we’ve gotten has been orbs. Maybe there’s a store. No currency so far though, unless Essence Orbs are currency.
That would be pretty messed up, making us choose between items and money and leveling up.
Then again, that’s what my Analyzer skill needs. So maybe that’s exactly how it works.
He stared at the Reformation Orb’s message.
Reformation Orb
Level: 1
• Prototype: ?
• Formulas: ?
• Blueprints: None
• Empty
Genesis seeds: 3
He was still really curious what that empty slot was for. And how to get formulas or blueprints. And to find out what the prototype was.
He frowned, and used Analyzer on his Reformation Orb.
Reformation Orb
Level: 1
Genesis seeds: 3
Reforms items using genesis seeds.
Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information
Yeah, nothing I didn’t know.
He tried the phone, just out of curiosity, but saw nothing interesting in the message.
Portable Computer
Level: 0
Multifunction communication device.
Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information
He glanced up to find everyone had moved away except for Emma, who stood nearby. The group had split up into smaller groups: the adults, the college and high-school guys, the college and high-school girls. And Patrick. Who was watching Wyatt.
Emma was watching Patrick.
Great, now I have two weird and mysterious people to worry about.
Most of the adults were going through Jasmine’s pile of items. He wasn’t sure why, since they couldn’t use them. Maybe they were experimenting.
That wasn’t a bad idea. But Wyatt had more pressing research. He also didn’t like that any experiments with the items involved being drained of all your Energy.
He approached them.
Jasmine and Carlos were arguing not about the items directly, but about Jasmine eating the remaining corpses in the camp.
“I eat all of them, there’s no mess left behind.”
“It’s disgusting.”
“Then don’t watch!”
“It’s the sounds.”
“Plug your ears.”
“I have earplugs in my…” Maria trailed off, face falling as she remembered she’d lost the contents of her purse.
“Do you know what a delubrum is?” Wyatt asked Jasmine, interrupting their argument.
She gestured at her phone in his hands. “You’re the one with a dictionary.”
He handed it back to her. “I tried. Can you ask Chekotae?”
“I’m not his translator.”
Wyatt stared at her, thinking.
She sighed, putting her phone away. “Fine.”
She went over to the little creature, who was standing near the sacellum as Kevin guarded it. He was really paranoid about getting attacked.
It turned to her and seemed to listen, then pointed.
Wyatt looked in the direction it pointed, but the jungle made it so there was nothing to see.
Jasmine came back over, pointing in the same direction Chekotae had. “Whatever a delubrum is, is apparently over there.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. He can’t talk. Or, he chooses not to. Not sure.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
Maybe Dave or David would know.
Conveniently, they were standing nearby. And already looking at him.
He asked if they knew what it was.
Dave had no idea, but David—rather proudly—explained that they were ancient Roman shrines of worship.
“Or Greek.” He frowned. “Maybe both.”
Wyatt considered what to do next.
He had one level 1 Essence Orb left, and they’d looted a level 3 and level 2 Essence Orb from the tlilcoatl. It seemed like you needed 3 level 1 orbs or one level 3 orb to go from level 0 to level 1. Patrick had claimed it had taken the same to reach level 2.
If that were true, then Wyatt could use half of them to reach level two himself.
But would it be better to get two others to level 1? And what about the Augment Orb? Who should get that?
He pulled the orb from his belt and stared at it.
It was obvious he should give it to Camila.
So why haven’t I?
He thought to use Analyzer on it.
Augment Orb
Level: 2
Consume to increase stats.
Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information
He wondered again how much it was relying on his own knowledge when he didn’t use an Essence Orb.
There was a pile of random items in front of him, so he tried it on something he didn’t know anything about.
Starlight Sling
Estimated Level: 1
Autogenerates ammunition through light exposure. Ammunition cannot be lost.
Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information
I definitely didn’t know that. And it wouldn’t be obvious from just looking at it. Am I subconsciously inferring the description from its name?
He tried it on another item in the pile.
Scroll of Durability
Contains basic effect of Durability.
Use ⦗Essence Orb⦘ for more information
No level this time, not even an estimated one. Do scrolls not have levels?
He was about to ask Jasmine if she had tried to use the scroll, but stopped himself.
I’m just stalling now. I should give the orb to Camila.
But first, maybe I can use it to motivate the others.
He stowed away the orb and clapped his hands, startling several people.
I really need to work on my method of getting the group’s attention. Startling people with magical skills could lead to disaster.
“Have you tested what the stats do?” Wyatt asked the group.
People just stared back at him.
“Tested what stats?” Jasmine finally asked.
“Ours. Soft Tissue, Hard Tissue. How they affect you.”
“How would we do that?” Brandon asked.
Wyatt was about to answer but Brandon went on. “Ooooh. I guess Tyler could lift something heavy, then increase a stat with his skill to see which ones affect strength. Same for speed too. We could use a stopwatch to time him.” He frowned. “Oh yeah, that’s what you wanted to do earlier. Arm wrestle or lift bodies and test reflexes, right? So we could compare to each other.”
Wyatt nodded. “Yes. And now, we have plenty of corpses.” He removed the Augment Orb again and held it up. “We need to figure out who’s getting this. So let’s get lifting.”
Several groans greeted this suggestion, but this time, Wyatt wasn’t giving in.