A while later Wyatt finished charging the skill balls, his Energy nearly drained once more. But he now had three uses each of Disgorge and Torpor, and four of Devitalize ready to go.
And they were all level-10 stacks.
With a grin, he stowed the item away and considered his next moves as he watched the group gathered around Tyler, who looked unconscious still.
As he watched them, a sense of déjà vu hit him.
This was what he used to do: sit and watch from a distance.
I should go check on him. I’ve been doing a bad job lately of acting normal.
Even the little monster Chekotae was with the group, looking concerned.
Sitting here smiling is probably not a good look.
So not really wanting to, he forced himself to get up and go over to the group.
Bailey glanced over at him as he approached. It looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t.
“How is he?” Wyatt asked Camila.
Tyler was on the ground, indeed unconscious, Olivia and Grace sitting by his side, the others standing around looking helpless.
She shook her head. “I’ve healed him multiple times, but he’s still out.”
Wyatt began to reply, but she hastily went on, desperation in her voice. “I can heal him! I just need time. I need more Energy.”
“How much longer?” Grace asked Camila.
“A few more minutes,” Camila answered.
“Yeah,” Patrick grumbled, “don’t worry about me.”
“Oh I’m not,” Camila said.
They’d come out of the battle alive, but far from unscathed.
Patrick was sitting on the ground, head in his hand. The back of his head where the giant had hit him was swollen enough to see the bump through his hair, but Camila clearly wasn’t willing to heal him again until Tyler was conscious.
Jasmine had a couple minor injuries from the ratapua, and Wyatt felt like he’d been put through a wash cycle.
But everyone was alive.
And despite the surprise attack, Wyatt thought that they’d worked together admirably.
“I think Nervous System might increase your skill’s ability,” Wyatt told Camila. “You have three points left, right?”
“No. I put them all into Energy during the fight to heal you.”
“Oh.” Wyatt felt… something. He didn’t know what. “Thanks.” He started to walk away, but then stopped himself. “Did you get an Empty Orb?” Augment Orbs turned to empty orbs once you used up all the points in them.
“I threw it up.” She waved vaguely. “I think it’s somewhere over there.”
He activated Perceive, the Analyzer permutation he’d unlocked in the fight with the quinametzin, to locate it.
Even though he didn’t have much Energy at the moment, the skill didn’t take much. It was a low, constant drain to keep active—though it was just enough to outpace his regeneration rate.
Still, it was quite useful. It showed nameplates for everything, and he could pin targets and get information about their status; things like health and Energy levels.
He could see for instance that Tyler was nearly but not quite at full health, the circle fuzzed out at the edges. There was also an icon, but unlike the ones on the giant for Emma’s Willbreaker and his Debuffer, he couldn’t see what this one was for.
The icon was red, and looked like it was maybe supposed to be a brain with a line through it, but he wasn’t certain what it was supposed to indicate. A concussion? Brain damage?
Maybe that was why he wasn’t waking up. Camila’s skill might not be able to remove it.
Thanks to Perceive, he was quickly able to locate Camila’s Empty Orb.
He was hesitant to pick it up in case it worked like Jasmine’s items from Waste Eater and would drain his Energy, but he didn’t have much left anyway.
He picked it up. Nothing happened.
It was level 2, but he tried his Reformation Orb on it anyway. It didn’t work.
Regan still hadn’t used all her points so hadn’t thrown up an Empty Orb yet. Lena had lost hers during the first attack while he and Emma had been in the pyramid. Patrick claimed to have done the same, though Wyatt saw that he had a suspicious ball-shaped bulge in his cargo pockets.
He activated Perceive, and Patrick’s nameplate and health and Energy levels popped up. There was also an icon that looked like the one on Tyler, except this was yellow instead of red.
But whatever was in his pocket didn’t get a nameplate.
Maybe I need line of sight for Analyzer too. Though that wouldn’t explain how I can see things behind me. Potential line of sight?
It shows things in someone else’s possession, because there’s a nameplate for his armor. But not his clothes. I wonder if he’s still wearing them under that.
He looked around and his gaze landed on Lena, yanking him from his thoughts. She wasn’t gathered with the group around Tyler, but was instead kneeling next to a monster corpse, cutting into it using Akira’s knife.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
He shook his head.
I don’t know that I’m going to get used to that. An attractive girl walking around without clothes bypassed all his higher brain functioning.
But only temporarily.
He refocused himself.
He knew Emma wasn’t wearing anything under her armor, and Faith didn’t look like she was wearing anything under her outer clothes.
His eyes landed on Kevin. There were nameplates for his clothes, but none for his underwear. There was one for the single sock he was still wearing, but he was wearing shorts so the top part of it was visible.
Carlos was wearing hiking boots and pants. No nameplate for his socks.
“Are you wearing socks?” Wyatt asked the man.
Carlos frowned at him for an unreasonably long time.
“Carlos?” It was a simple enough question, so Wyatt was unsure why it was taking so long to answer. Did he have something hidden in his boots?
“Why?” Carlos finally asked. Suspiciously.
Wyatt stared at the man, unable to think of an answer.
Carlos sighed. “Yes, I am. But you can’t have them. Use someone else’s socks if you want to make a weapon.”
Wyatt nodded and walked off.
So Perceive doesn’t show me covered things. Really wish I could use Analyzer on itself.
I should see what the other substats do.
He went over to the sacellum, away from everyone else, then sat down and let his Energy recover.
When it had, he pulled up his status.
Wyatt Willaby Johnson
Level: 1
Stats:
┍ Nervous System: 13
┕ Regulates Senses, Speed, Skill Use, ?
┍ Immune System: 9
┕ Regulates Resistances, Recovery, ?
┍ Hard Tissue: 11
┕ Regulates Durability, ?
┍ Soft Tissue: 11
┕ Regulates Toughness, Strength, ?
┍ Energy: 6
┕ Increases available Energy, ?
Skills:
• [Debuffer]
• [Analyzer]
• Empty
There was no difference using Interrogate on this message, so he went through each substat one-by-one, getting their expanded descriptions.
He made it to Strength under Soft Tissue before running out of Energy.
He considered what he’d learned as he waited for it to recharge.
It was mostly what he’d thought, with only a few deviations.
Nervous System would improve all senses, including smelling monsters; movement speed and reaction time; and how well you could use your skills as well as the skill’s effectiveness. Immune System improved resistances in general and against skills specifically. It also improved recovery of Energy, and general healing. Hard Tissue seemed to only influence resistance to physical damage, while Soft Tissue toughened your skin and increased your strength.
There were still the question marks for each stat that he couldn’t get information on, so they probably affected other things as well, but at least now he wasn’t going in totally blind to his build.
What kind of build am I going for? I should think of it like HC. Survivability is most important.
Or is it? Maybe it’s more like normal mode and there isn’t permadeath. I’ve died once and been fine, after all.
Would the same thing happen if I died again? Another redemption task? Maybe Emma was right that it wouldn’t since the pyramid collapsed.
He glanced over at Tyler.
I might get to find out.
He pushed the thought away. There was practical and then there was heartless. Wyatt had always struggled with where that line was.
Assuming I can come back if I die, then dealing damage would be the priority. In that case, I’d want to prioritize Nervous System and Energy, since there doesn’t seem to be a max number of stacks of Debuffer I can accumulate, unless the skill balls are somehow special in that regard. I was able to put what seemed like two level-10 stacks on the quinametzin with them. How much would Nervous System increase the skill’s effectiveness?
Too bad Analyzer doesn’t give more hard numbers. It’s hard to pick an optimal path without them. More Energy would let me use more stacks at once, but Immune System would let me recover Energy and heal faster.
Energy almost seems like the worst stat to boost, since the only effect is to increase my Energy pool. Then again, maybe that question mark is boosting skill effectiveness as well. Or efficiency.
Okay, if I can’t die for good, I’ll go with Nervous System first, that way I can see how large of an effect it has, and it will increase my speed and senses as well. Tyler was moving noticeably faster during the fight with the quinametzin and his Warrior skill only boosted it by four points.
If I can die, that’s a much harder choice…
He sighed, his thoughts looping through possible builds. He still didn’t have enough information. Heartless or not, if Tyler died it might answer his question. But it was a bit like the single sun not telling him whether they were on Earth or not. If Tyler died and came back, that would answer his question. But if he died and didn’t come back? Well, maybe he resurrected somewhere else, or died again after resurrecting before completing whatever redemption task he was assigned, if he was assigned one. And maybe in that case you really would die.
For now, it didn’t matter. Wyatt didn’t have any Augment Orbs, and he hadn’t decided whether to wait to try to boost his level with quintessence.
What he did have, however, were Essence Orbs. Enough, hopefully, to reach level 2 with.
He placed his hand on the fully recharged sacellum, and was consumed by darkness.
🞠
Reaching level 2 felt much like reaching level 1. Wyatt felt stronger in a way he couldn’t quite define, though again his status showed no difference other than his increased level.
Wyatt Willaby Johnson
Level: 2
Stats:
┍ Nervous System: 13
┕ Regulates Senses, Speed, Skill Use, ?
┍ Immune System: 9
┕ Regulates Resistances, Recovery, ?
┍ Hard Tissue: 11
┕ Regulates Durability, ?
┍ Soft Tissue: 11
┕ Regulates Toughness, Strength, ?
┍ Energy: 6
┕ Increases available Energy, ?
Skills:
• [Debuffer]
• [Analyzer]
• Empty
Something he noticed this time was that leveling up fully recharged his Energy. He was pretty sure even using even one Essence Orb did so partially, but he hadn’t noticed it till he’d leveled up. Something to pay attention to the next time he got Essence Orbs.
For now he tried analyzing level, and this time actually got something.
Increases resistance against skills, ?
He wasn’t sure if it was from reaching level 2 or from Analyzer reaching D-Grade, since he hadn’t thought to try it when he was looking at his substats.
It only affects resistance to skills? So, ignoring the question marks on each of them, increasing Immune System would have the same effect, plus increasing recovery.
But how many points in Immune System would it take to match one level-up? Or maybe it’s some kind of multiplier.
Wonder if there’s some way to see what those question marks are.
He let his mind wander as he stared at his status, trying to recall if he’d ever had one of them revealed. Nothing was immediately coming to mind.
He realized the Prime Redeemer thing wasn’t listed here.
Why is it only listed on team status?
Then he remembered he still hadn’t examined it with Analyzer.
He pulled up the team status and tried doing so now.