Dungeon Raider System

"Please don't tie me up! What if the black dog we're chasing is really an entity level cryptid? What if we can't defeat it?" Sam said worriedly as he bit on his fingernails but did nothing to defend against Luna's efforts to tie him up.

"Tying you up will make it impossible for the black dog to appear from your shadow Sam." Uriel explained and Luna nodded as she kept trying to tie an unruly Sam.

"How am I supposed to defend myself!?"

"You don't need to worry about that, Sam. We have the advantage now, all we need to do is wait for the black dog to appear." Medusa said as she gave Sam a back rub, though he was too frightened to bask in her attention.

"Entity level cryptids are at the same level as a heavenly rank hunters, but from what I've heard they can also be much more powerful. If that was the case, though, I doubt it would have ran away from us." Luna explained as she started tying Sam up. "There's also the possibility it may have a weakness like the skinwalker did, but there's nothing I can think of. Uhm, what about you Uriel?"

Uriel wasn't so sure if they really had the upper hand against the black dog and raked up his brain in search for answers. Problem was, he had no previous knowledge about the black dogs.

"As far as I know, there's no mention of black dogs in any archaeological documents." He shrugged. "However, I do have an idea on how to beat it."

"Anything! I'll do anything! Just don't let her tie me up!" Sam cried.

"Remember the Jaguar spirit I showed you? Well, turns out it's an entity level cryptid too." Uriel's words were met with the gleeful expressions from everyone in his group. "I can't hold the summon for long, though. Things would be different if I had a tier 3 Battery, but I don't think tier 1 batteries are enough to power the figurine."

"Wait, that thing can use electricity!?" Medusa exclaimed with an expression similar to Luna's whenever she was around cryptids.

"I can't be absolutely certain. When the figurine was found it was made of nothing but clay, but when I crushed flux orbs nearby it peeled off. Something similar happened whenever I crushed flux orbs near the buildings."

"I see... so, crushing flux orbs near the clay figurine provided it with 'substance' and you think you can also provide it with energy from batteries, but lower tier batteries can't channel flux and you're not certain it will work." She nodded knowingly.

"That's actually pretty accurate!" Uriel exclaimed.

"What else did you expect from the top of the class at the engineering course!? I am a genius after all." Medusa patted her chest proudly.

"Engineer? Why did you take the anthropology class with Professor Pangiotis then?" Uriel was shocked, as anthropology was only useful for people who aspired to have a future in humanities, not so much in science.

"Well... that is..." Medusa put her hands together and wiggled in shyness. Although she looked like the kind of person who would speak their mind without issues, she was actually pretty timid, especially when speaking to Uriel.

"Well, this means we won't have to look for an engineer for our party!" Uriel smiled. "So, do you think you can do something to recharge the figurine?"

"I don't even know the theory of how it works, but if all you need is a tier 3 battery I could turn all of our tier 1 batteries into something similar to a tier 3, only less powerful and short lived. Also, after this we won't have any batteries left and we would have to go back to the city."

While none of them had any weapons that required batteries, if they lost their ability to communicate between each other or to the city they were as good as dead. In fact, carrying a battery was indispensable even if someone didn't possess any electronic devices because they were just too convenient.

Everyone agreed and handed over their batteries to Medusa who quickly got to work. She took a small tool case from her backpack and started disarming the batteries showing incredible ability. In spite of her tall stature, Medusa's hands moved swiftly with amazing precision and finesse. She then connected them to each other and started tinkering with the wiring.

"These batteries work on the same principle as Nikola coils, they can provide energy to any electronic device set on the same frequency at a small distance." Medusa explained while still focusing on her work. "But something like this wasn't possible before 'the arrival' and so Nikola was deemed as a mad scientist and died in poverty."

"Why wasn't that possible?" Uriel asked.

"Nikola's theory was in the right track, but he was missing something critical, flux orbs." She replied as she took a flux orb from Luna's backpack and then went back to her gadget. "These small things are incredibly powerful. Not only they contain flux, they can also channel it properly. It's almost as if they can be taught to perform their task."

"All batteries possess a flux orb inside?"

"No, they would be much more expensive if they did. With a single beast rank flux orb you can make a bunch of tier 1 batteries. Making a tier 3 battery is a different story because they need to channel a lot more energy much faster, to make single tier 3 you need a monster rank orb but since we only need to recharge the figurine we can afford to use a beast rank orb.

Its life expectancy will be short, but it should get the job done."

"Wow! When did you learn all this?" Uriel asked with a tone of voice that conveyed all the admiration he felt towards his friend. Not long ago they were all clueless about flux orbs and now she even learned how to utilize them to craft a battery.

"While you were in your fancy expedition she spent all her time in the libra... mhmhmm" Sam tried to speak but Medusa covered his mouth. She didn't want Uriel to know that she had been stalking the library on a daily basis just in case he showed up.

"It seems we will also need to gag you, Sam...." Medusa said with a wicked smile.