NOVPUBWith the entity level flux orb they acquired, Medusa was finally able to upgrade the ship’s engine. She could add up to ten orbs to the coil, each one increasing the maximum speed and reducing the energy consumption but here were a few requirements.
First, the orbs added to the engine had to be of the entity level; Second, they needed to be from different cryptids; And third, she needed to reassemble the engine from scratch.
Acquiring the orb was as much a blessing for the group as it was troublesome, since it also meant they were stuck in the swamp until Medusa finished tinkering with the engine. It was a slow process that needed all of her focus and it was also a very delicate work only she could perform.
Nika tried to assist her as best she could, but in the end all she could do to help was bring coffee and snacks from time to time.
In spite of his broken arm, Uriel dedicated himself to working out in the ship’s gym during his spare time and going hunting with Luna at night. Each day they were able to come back with a decent amount of beast rank orbs, but monster rank cryptids were quite elusive and entity level cryptids were more trouble than they were worth.
Especially because it would mean Medusa would need to start working on the engine from scratch again.
The problem was Emma. She was the weakest of them all and also the only one without anything to do.
It wasn’t that there was nothing to do on the ship, but they didn’t trust her enough to let her roam free on the ship without supervision and it was easier for Nika to take care of things by herself as she was able to perform all the chores in little time thanks to her ability to blink through the shadows.
"Come on, just this time..." Emma begged.
"Am I speaking Sumerian? The answer will always be no." Uriel replied without stopping his weight lifting.
"Please, you’ll be famous. Just think about it, kids will want to be like you, girls will want to date you and other hunters will wish they were you. Plus, you’re already used to the cameras since you make a Vlog."
"My Vlog was made for research purposes, I’m not interested in sharing anything about hunting. Besides, It’s not like I have much to tell about that fight, I just set a trap and then summoned the jaguar spirit."
"That doesn’t explain the cast on your arm."
"That’s... none of your business."
Uriel rubbed the cast Luna put on his arm. It was filled with mock get well messages from his friends since they knew he was a heavenly rank hunter now and would heal from that in no time. A regular human wouldn’t be able to heal from such injury, but a heavenly rank hunter would be capable of even regrowing a limb in a couple weeks.
Although Uriel’s arm was healing nicely, he still felt it took too long since he was accustomed to regenerating thanks to Water warlock’s blessing. Pain was nothing new to him and he didn’t mind it too much. Working out with pain was one thing, but he couldn’t tolerate Emma pestering him about telling the tale of how he defeated the rougarou on camera any longer.
"Why don’t you want to cooperate? We could be famous!"
"In case you haven’t noticed, I already am famous. In fact, by now I bet everyone in this ship is also a wanted person. Before the doctored video Sam aired I was already wanted, but now I’m public enemy number one. I cover my identity on my Vlogs so it should be fine, but what you’re asking me is too much."
"Alright... I get it, just promise me one thing. If you ever need a journalist, you’ll hire me." Emma poked him on the ribs, causing his hand to shake and the heavy weight he was lifting with a single hand almost fell on his face.
"Fine! Just leave me alone!" Uriel grunted, not knowing he was setting himself up for a lot of trouble in the long run. At that time, all he cared about was for Emma to leave him alone and didn’t think of the consequences of agreeing to have her near him in the future, it was essentially the same as inviting her to form part of the Dungeon Raiders company.
To him, Emma was just an annoying girl with a know-it-all attitude who might be distantly related, but that was only a possibility because they shared a last name and there was no way to confirm it unless they figured out their family tree.
It wasn’t that hunters couldn’t submit to DNA testing, but since hunters had mutated cells it was impossible to confirm whether or not two people were blood related.
Even if the name Sage was uncommon in America, that didn’t mean the same held true in Europe. Besides, they weren’t similar in the slightest, at least physically, because when it came to their character they were so eerily similar it brought the others to think they had to be siblings.
Just when Uriel thought he would finally be able to finish his workout session in peace and earn the 10 trite reward from the level 2 training, a loud sound violently shook the ship as though they were experiencing a turbulence, only the ship was still earthbound since Medusa was still working on the engine.
In a hurry, Uriel didn’t even bother to put on a shirt and hurried to the source of the noise, where he found a very upset Medusa cursing like a slum dweller.
"This fucking shit!" Medusa shouted, her face and clothes covered in black.
"What happened? Are we under attack?" Nika, the first one to arrive on scene, asked in a hurry.
"It broke! This piece of garbage broke!" She replied pointing at what used to be the ship’s engine but was now a pile of debris.
