While the others were discussing the things we had learned that day, I decided to take a look at my status.

HP: 64/64

MP: 69/69

STA: 64/64

Evolution Orbs: 111/1960

Evolution Coins: 8214

Little progress, but I was progressing. Since I broke my sensorial limit for the twenty-fifth time, the necessary amount of evolution orbs for me to break the limit again went up by 20%. At that rate, in a few more weeks it’ll take a week or two to break the limit a single time. Maybe a little less, after all, new powerful monsters were appearing. But, our growth in comparison to the strength of the new monsters was a joke.

A weapon or two wouldn’t help us; we needed something else. Like I thought before, we needed something far better than weapons, but what? The only things that I could believe it was better than my metal crossbow were Rose and Sarah skills. Telekinesis was too damn convenient, but I couldn’t create skills using the statue, right?

‘Did someone already try this?’

Although I didn’t talk a lot with them, I was pretty sure that they would tell me if they succeeded in creating a skill using the statue. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I decided to try. I approached the statue, and I touch it.

‘Let’s see… I want to learn the skill telekinesis.’

Skill: Telekinesis

Info: it grants the user the ability to move anything with the power of the mind.

Price: 500000 Evolution coins.

‘Holy crap! It’s possible! But it’s also too damn expensive. Rose hit the jackpot when she obtained this skill.’

But I wondered how I would learn. A book will appear and teach me how to learn telekinesis step-by-step? The hologram didn’t show anything other than information about the skill. I don’t think that will be the case; after all, with a single book, many people would learn the skill just by studying it. According to Rose, the knowledge on how to control objects with the power of her mind suddenly appeared in her mind. Besides, she couldn’t explain to any of us how she was able to use it.

‘Maybe it’ll be the same with the other skills…’

“Hey,” Claire said after slightly hitting my shoulder. “What are you doing? We have important things to discuss.”

That annoyed me a little, but she had a point, I was too focused on myself. For now, the persons who were in charge in the north weren't causing problems for me. But eventually, I would have to face a lot of issues because of them. First, those guys with the firearms are trying to monopolize the evolution orbs and coins to themselves. While the people reloading the guns could receive a part of the reward too, it was too little in comparison to those who used the weapon. I knew that because the one who obtained more orbs and coins thanks to the truck was Harry. But that was intentional since he couldn’t kill the monsters outside the truck.

“Did you know that we can also learn skills using the statue?”

“What? Really?” Claire asked, astonished.

“Yeah, but the most useful skills will be pretty expensive.”

“I see,” Claire said thoughtfully. “But we can discuss this later; the others want to hear your opinion.”

“Opinion? About what? And why?”

“About the survivors in the north,” Claire said after sighing. “We have more than eighty survivors now, so we thought that we should increase the numbers of the council, you are our first option.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. The last thing that I want now is to waste my time thinking about solutions to the problems of other people.”

Maybe I had been to direct, but Claire was speechless. I left her behind and joined the others. Just by the looking at them, I could understand their opinions about the survivors in the north. They wouldn’t be good allies and possibly in a not so future distant; they will become our enemies.

“I don’t know why you guys want to hear my opinion, but I don’t have any good idea to offer. Let’s just ignore them.”

Half of the survivors agreed with me, while the others, including Harry’s group, didn’t like my opinion. But most of cowards survivors agreed with me, and that bothered me. Was I a coward? I thought I was just practical.

“Ethan,” Harry said, looking very disappointed. “This isn’t something that we can do. All the survivors have to help each other and fight together. We can’t abandon those in the north.”

“I agree with you, but do you have any good idea on how to help them? Do they really want to be helped? Sure, they aren’t obtaining a lot of orbs and coins, but I bet no one is forcing them to stay there, yet they don’t leave. I’m sure you understand what that means.”

“It means that they are afraid,” Harry added. “It means that they don’t any other option besides stay there.”

“In other words, it means that until now, they refused to fight for their lives. And now they are paying the price for their choice. Besides, according to Sarah, they looked pretty healthy. For some people, being alive is enough. So, why bother?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Claire said.

“Of course it is, but what are the chances of you guys succeeding? They have ten times more people on their side; they also have dozens of machine guns. Probably they are breaking their physical and sensorial limits since they are using other survivors to reload the guns. But even if they are not brave enough to fight against monsters without using some baits, I’m sure that they will be brave enough to fight against other humans who are weaker than them.”

“What do you mean by that, Ethan?” Harry asked, showing a surprised face. “Won’t you help us?”

“Oh, I’ll help. With everything else, I’ll help because that will benefit us. But I don’t intend to throw away my life doing something crazy, so don’t count on me in any job related to the survivors in the north. Also, choose another person to join the council. Sorry, but I already have too many problems in my head.”

That tired me, being politically correct is good, and all, but everything had a limit. Sure, we got stronger, and we obtained some crazy skills. However, that doesn’t mean that we should try to do the impossible. Besides, what did they intend to do with those responsible for that situation? Put in jail? That was another crazy thing, if they really wanted to solve that problem, they will have to kill all the leaders in the north, and I didn’t want to kill another person again even if that person deserved. The bald criminal’s last moments still haunts once in a while before I go to bed.

I wondered why they looked so eager to help a bunch of strangers. When the city became filled with small fries, they understood that it would be too dangerous to walk around without protection. Was it because of the truck? That vehicle could protect us from regular bullets, but even the truck couldn’t protect us from dozens of grenades or rocket launchers. If a group was commanding the other survivors in the north, they would do anything to destroy possible threats. Even if they have to use a lot of evolution coins, they will use any weapons to make an example out of us. We couldn’t even deal with the monsters, why would they think that we would be able to deal with the more powerful humans?

“For now,” Sandra declared showing a conflicted expression. “We should forget about the survivors in the north, and we should observe the survivors’ camp in the west. All of you should rest, we’ll observe them tomorrow.”

At least Sandra was smart enough that we didn’t have yet the necessary power to change the situation in the north. We couldn’t even fight the monsters outside the truck, how would we help hundreds of strangers who maybe didn’t even want to be helped? When they heard about the situation, the other survivors in the hotel didn’t feel surprised or shocked. I bet a few of them would gladly offer themselves to serve as ‘’batteries’’ for the persons who are commanding the survivors in the north.

Since thinking about that was making me feel tired, I decided to resume my business with the statue. Unfortunately, I had to think about a skill before learning the price and what it could do. So I was having a hard time thinking about a useful but cheap skill.

‘If only this damn statue could show a skill list…’

But the statue couldn’t show that. It was a convenient object, but not all that convenient. I needed a skill that would help me immediately, and in the long run, something that would make protect me and help me to kill the monsters faster.

‘What kind of thing can stop a monster and cause some damage?’

I couldn’t find an answer for such a question, but when I looked outside, and I saw a mutant polar bear, I had an idea.

‘A bear trap!’

Skill: Iron trap

Info: The user can create an iron trap. It can be automatically put in any place within ten meters around the user. The user can set a new trap every ten seconds.

Cost: 05 MP

Price: 1000 Evolution Coins.

It was handy, but if one could see it, one could avoid it. Not even monsters would fall for an obvious trap; I had to be more creative.

‘How about an invisible trap?’

Skill: Invisible Iron trap

Info: The user can create an invisible iron trap. It can be automatically put in any place within ten meters around the user. The user can set a new trap every ten seconds.

Cost: 20 MP

Price: 8000 Evolution Coins.

The cost was too high, and it wasn’t something I could buy at that moment, but I still could change the skill a little bit. It didn’t have to be invisible, as long as it was well hidden, it was good enough. After a few more attempts, I found what I needed.

‘Seriously, how didn’t I think about this sooner?’

Skill: Land mine

Info: The user can create mines under the ground; the mines can be automatically put in any place within ten meters around the user. The user can set new mines every ten seconds.

Cost: 15 MP

Price: 10000 Evolution coins.

‘Perfect! I don’t even need to dig holes! It’s a bit expensive, but it will, without a doubt, cause damage and give me a few more seconds to continue my attacks.’

It was a brilliant idea; if I use well my head, I could even kill monsters kilometers away from them. I just had to set the mines in the right places. Not only that, if I put a few of them in the same place, the damage could be enough to kill even the mutant polar bear. Although it’ll take a while to create those mines and I’ll have to lose almost all my MP.

‘Who cares? I’ll be able to defeat them without even suffering a wound.’

But then I remembered, the land mines would make a lot of noise. Thanks to the sound, new monsters would appear, and I would have to face them with low MP. The land mines would be useful on some occasions, but not in most of them.

‘Damn it! Why my ideas are so full of flaws?’

The metal crossbow couldn’t be used repeatedly, at least for now, and the land mines were noisy. However, I didn’t give up. I didn’t have anything better to do anyway, at least trying to find a good idea would keep my mind busy.

I had many ideas, but all of them had huge flaws. For example, I tried to create an earth trap hidden in the ground, and it could only be activated when some monster step on it. But since it was made of earth, it wasn’t sturdy. It could even break before it could paralyze the target. Ice traps wouldn’t work in those monsters; electric traps would lose a lot of power thanks to the ground. But then I had an epiphany after analyzing my previous ideas. I was too focused on dealing damage; I didn’t have to learn an offensive skill. I had to learn one which could amplify my attack power and protect me.

‘Can I become invisible?’

Skill: Invisibility

Info: It makes the user invisible. Deal or receive damage cancel this effect.

Cost: 10 MP per minute

Price: 20000 Evolution Coins.

‘Wow! It’s possible!’

I hoped to keep myself invisible even after attacking, but nothing is perfect. However, it was too expensive. It would take a week at least to obtain so much evolution coins.

‘Maybe it’ll be less expensive if I create an item with this effect.’

Forest Guardian’s Cape

Info: it grants the user the skill to become invisible. Deal or receive damage cancel this effect.

Cost: 10 MP per minute

Price: 10000 Evolution Coins.

‘Now that’s more like it. Even if I lose this effect after attacking, I won’t have any problems as long as I explode the monsters nape or the back of their heads.’

After a few minutes analyzing that green cape which could cover almost my entire body, I didn’t notice any flaws or possible problems. That cape would solve most of my problems, and now I just had to obtain the evolution coins necessary to buy it.