Chapter 141 Cancelled
All of the students from the expedition had been gathered and were taken to the First Year Assembly Hall. They weren't allowed to go back to their dorms or put away their equipment. All they could do was talk to one another and speculate why the expedition had been cancelled.
Slowly a strange atmosphere started to fill the room. It wasn't normal for such a thing to happen especially so sudden like that.
"I saw some of the mechs from the city leave the shelter." A student said.
"Seriously? Why would they mobilize those things, I thought they said the highest tier of beast on the planet was an intermediate tier."
"Didn't you hear?" Another student chimed in. "A student spotted black smoke off in the distance in the desert. It seemed like it was coming from a ship."
"You don't mean—?" the student gasped.
"That's right, I heard it might have been a Dalki." The other student replied.
A head count was made, and it was made more than once. After the counting had been completed it looked like the teachers had a worried look on their face as they talked with each other.
Fay stood in front of all the first years, prepared to make the announcement but she was still waiting for all the information to arrive. A soldier came up to her side and whispered something into her ear, after which they did several more head counts.
"Are you sure?" Fay replied. "Have you checked the school, perhaps they have come back?"
The soldier nodded in response.
All Fay could do was clench her fist, the report had stated that they had found both Hugo's and Ben's body out in the desert. They were able to confirm they had died from the Dalki, however, the other three in their group were never found.
The only thing they could assume was that the Dalki had also killed them. The five of them were part of the group so it was the most logical conclusion.
"Attention!" Fay shouted. The students immediately got in line and saluted her.
Then a holographic screen appeared behind them. It was the scoreboard with all the teams' scores.
"First things first, as you may know, the expedition has been cancelled," Fay explained. "What that means for all of you, is that the points you had obtained in the first two days before the expedition ended will be your final score for this exam."
"What?!" Erin blurted out and she wasn't the only one. Right now their group still had all the winged lizard crystals they had obtained from Berg's group. They hadn't had time to head back to the shelter to have them counted.
As Erin looked at their team's position they still had the same score as before and were placed around the middle of every other group. While Berg's group still sat at the top.
"Enough, there are more important things than the test!" Fay shouted, calming down the chatter amongst students. "Right now there is a high possibility that some of your fellow students have died on this test. And worst of all it was to the threat we have all been training against, the Dalki."
The chatter started once again and this time she slammed her weapon into the ground. It caused a loud banging noise to be heard, as its vibrations bounced from the walls and echoed around the entire hall.
"The Dalki has been swiftly dealt with, and it seems like this was not a planned attack but a stray ship. This was an unfortunate event but these things happen from time to time. But this is a reminder to you all why we need to train so hard every single day, and I hope you will remember that. You will have the next two days off to rest, after that classes will return to normal, rest up for the night. You are dismissed." Fay said, ending her speech.
Immediately after Fay had left, the noise in the hall returned to its peak. The students couldn't believe what had happened and soon started to realize which group had most likely been killed by the Dalki.
But Erin wasn't bothered about any of that. "You!" She shouted and pointed at Quinn. "Why did you hide your strength? If you had fought with us that day instead of hiding under that umbrella we would have gotten a better score."
"Wait, calm down Erin," Layla said as she tried getting in between the two.
"I'm not happy with you either Layla, you knew all this, didn't you?" Erin frowned at her before turning to Quinn, "And what's with your strange power? How did you heal Peter? He should have died! No more excuses, I want answers for everything that happened!" She screamed.
Erin looked at the scoreboard once again seeing that their position was in the middle and then looked at Quinn back again only this time her face was filled with tears. "If you were that strong then why didn't you help?" Tears streamed down her face.
Quinn knew this whole time, from Erin's actions, that this assessment was important to her, but the way she was acting now was almost obsessive. Everyone strived to be the best or come out on top but not like this. These actions weren't normal.
"I think it's best if we all head back to our room," Layla said. "We can explain everything there and I'm sure Peter has a lot of questions of his own."
***
While the first year students were being informed of what happened the three generals were having a meeting of their own. They were at the top floor of the academy and each of them was sitting at a round table in the Head General's office. The only chair that was left empty was that of the Head General.
Nathan, the head of the first years, Duke the head of the second years and the last general Mike who was head of communications. His job was to coordinate with the other military basis and plan either joint exercises or missions together.
The three of them sat there in silence, and Nathan and Duke just couldn't help having a staring match with each other. Until Duke finally broke the silence.
"I wonder how many of your students would have died on that expedition if it wasn't for that Sergeant Leo of yours." Duke said. "I doubt you even have the strength to take on a Dalki yourself."
"Are you upset because you can't bribe him to come over to your side with one of those Earth ability books of yours?" Nathan replied. "It's a pity that your tactics of recruiting only works on those weak minded fools."
Duke then stood up from his chair and looked like he was about to hit Nathan but at the same time, Mike stepped in front of the two. "Guy's both of you calm down, I'm telling you now, if I see an injury on you when I leave this room or when I walk around the academy, I won't be healing you, and I won't let you two go to my niece Hayley either."
Although Mike tried calming the two of them down, he knew most of his words would fall on deaf ears, these two had always hated each other. But then the one person who could calm them down entered the room.
The doors swung wide open and a middle-aged man wearing a business suit came walking in. He had neatly cut hair and a suitcase in his hand. He didn't look like he was part of the army at all. But as soon as he had entered the room all three of the men bowed in salute.
"We welcome the Head General!" They all said at once.
"Calm down, this whole situation has caused enough of a headache as it is." The Head General proceeded to sit down in his seat as he brought up an initial report for all three of them to see.
"We all know these odd attacks have been happening on our Beast planets for a while. It seems like these attacks are happening more frequently, but not just that, if we take a look at the Beast solar system. Every single time an attack takes place they seem to be getting closer and closer to our starting planet."
"Do you think they're aiming for the city station?" Mike asked.
"It would make sense." The Head replied. "For now I believe these solo Dalki are just sent as Scouts. They have no clue how strong we have become in this time frame and they have no clue what security measures we have but I fear this may mean, that the war will be starting again soon."
After speaking of these matters with the other Generals the Head General went on to speak about a few other things. It was rare for him to actually be in the school as he would often get called out for meetings, but after going through all the things that needed to be done there was one last thing he needed to mention.
"In a couple of weeks, we have a visit from Mr. True Dream, which means I will need you to prepare some students for him."
The three generals gave awkward glances at each other as they heard this piece of news.
"Duke, I expect you to do well like you always have." The Head General said.
"You can count on me sir," Duke replied.
****
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Chapter 142 You're a what?
It was already night, but there was still some time left for the group to talk, before their curfew would start. Therefore they all decided to head to the boys' room to discuss what on earth had happened during the fight with the Dalki.
At this point, the tears had stopped falling from Erin's anxious eyes, but none the less Layla continued to comfort and reassure her along the way. Quinn didn't know when it happened, but it seemed like the two of them were now closer than ever. It was strange seeing Layla being the one helping Erin.
When he first arrived at the academy this was a scene that he'd never imagined he would see. The entire walk through the hallway going towards the boy's room, everybody kept silent, it was eerie. None of them knew exactly how to explain what had happened. Peter was especially curious about what had happened after he jumped between Quinn and the Dalki.
"Hey, Quinn." Vorden whispered, as the two of them were walking in the front, leading the group. "Are you really going to tell her everything? Can't you just keep it about the shadow ability, and forget about the other thing?"
"Then how would I explain what happened to Peter? How about all the blood that Layla was collecting?" Quinn replied.
"You have a good point, but what if she freaks out and starts telling everyone?" Vorden asked.
Quinn looked back at Erin who was behind him. To be honest, it seemed to him that her priorities weren't geared towards learning about Quinn or Peter, but on why he had to hide his strength from her in the first place.
"Actually," Quinn said. "I'm more worried regarding how Peter will react about the whole thing."
Eventually, they arrived at the boys' dormitory and they were all able to enter the room in peace. The three boys promptly sat on Vorden's bed while the two girls sat on Quinn's.
"I suppose I should be the one who starts explaining first." Quinn said while standing up, he moved towards the centre of the two groups. "Recently, as you may all know, Vorden and I had entered the Red portal planet. While we were there, I discovered a strange ability book – one that allowed me to control shadows. It was a strange book, because it disappeared the moment I learned the ability."
Quinn then tapped the surface of his wristwatch three times, the number suddenly changed from a one to a six, when he tapped it another three times, it changed back to one again.
"I knew it," Erin said. "But, why did you have to hide it from us? If you wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, we could have just hidden and hunted away from others. Because of you, we probably would've lost our chance at becoming first."
At that point, Quinn took in a deep breath.
"That's because I have an even bigger secret that I was hiding..."
Layla and Vorden stared at Quinn, they struggled to keep their gazes on him. They knew this must have been hard to say for him. Vorden wasn't too sure if it was the right thing to, but he had already prepared himself for whatever would come of this. He knew that Quinn was too kind-hearted to deal with this himself. If Erin wasn't going to keep it a secret, then Vorden would be the one to do something about it.
"I'm a vampire," Quinn said, looking at Erin and Peter with a nervous look on his face.
Peter gave no reaction at all, but it wasn't because he had figured it out or anything, he just couldn't believe the words he was hearing. Still, it all started to make sense in a way, with the umbrella and Layla collecting the blood. However, he questioned himself if vampires were actually real, though Peter's train of thought was quickly interrupted by Erin.
"What's a vampire?" Erin asked, the innocent ignorance showing on her face.
The others then all turned their heads, now looking towards Erin.
It wasn't that rare for someone not to know what a vampire was in this modern day and age. A lot of entertainment products connected to vampires had lessened over the years. There weren't many films, books, or even games that had been made featuring them. However on TV, there were plenty of times when old films would be shown, and this was where most of the others got their knowledge of what a vampire was.
However, Erin had been raised without a life of entertainment. There were no fantasy books, games, or movies provided for her. All her time and education only had to do with fighting or learning about the current state of the world.
She wasn't the only one in this position since a lot of them shared her ignorance. Quinn was in a similar situation himself. He had heard the term vampires, but didn't really know much about them, so he had to rely on Layla to explain it to him.
With that confession, the others slowly started to explain what a vampire was to her – How they were weaker in the sunlight and most of all, they required Human blood to keep on living. All of this news was coming as quite a shock to Erin because it sounded so fake in her mind.
"So this is what you guys came up with to try to give an excuse why Quinn didn't use his powers." She said. "Well, I'm not buying it. I don't believe that a human that needs blood to survive exists. If there were such creatures as vampires, why haven't they revealed themselves to the world already?"
Erin then went towards the door, pulling it open before saying her final words.
"You guys disappoint me. I was starting to think that we were a team, not a bunch of liars."
With that, she closed the door behind her and stormed off.
"Do you think she'll tell anyone?" Quinn asked
"Are you kidding? With a reaction like that?" Vorden replied. "She didn't even believe it herself. She'll have an easier time convincing someone that she's a boy rather than you being a vampire. Well, how did we expect her to react? 'Oh it's okay, you can have my blood any time? She's not Layla, for goodness sake."
Layla was annoyed at Vorden's remarks, but at the same time, she couldn't deny that she had the same reaction when she found out.
"I'm going to go check up on her, just to make sure she really doesn't tell anyone. I'll give you an update about it tomorrow, Quinn."
Although Erin didn't seem to believe it, Peter for some reason did. He didn't know how to explain it, but ever since he had left, his body felt different. His hearing was better, and he didn't feel as weak as before. There was some sort of connection that he felt between Quinn and him.
It was as if the two of them were now connected, somehow. The last thing that convinced him was the fact that he wasn't dead. He remembered seeing the Dalki's fist go through his own stomach.
"Quinn, does it mean that I'm a vampire now too?" Peter asked.
As Peter asked that question, Quinn didn't know what to reply because Peter wasn't the same as him. While Quinn was originally a halfling, Peter was something known as a ghoul.
'Just what was a vampire ghoul?' Quinn thought.
"I'm afraid it isn't good news." The system said. "Out of all the possibilities he could have turned into, this was the outcome I was hoping for the least."
The system's words didn't give Quinn great hope, and what he was about to hear lessened his optimism even further.
*****
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Chapter 143 Vampire Ghoul
Lately, the system seemed to be the bearer of bad news more than bringing good. Quinn already had a feeling that the word ghoul didn't have the best sound, but at the moment Peter seemed fine and Quinn decided to put his worries behind him.
"What's with the look on your face?" Peter said worriedly.
"Oh, it's nothing I just think maybe we should note this down on a piece of paper or something so you remember what I tell you," Quinn replied.
He then went over to his desk and pulled out a piece of paper from his drawer. Vorden and Peter were hovering over his shoulder taking a look at what he was writing. First Quinn put his name at the top and by the side wrote down the word: Vampire.
He then listed all the strengths and weaknesses he had. Super strength, abnormal healing, and the ability to see in darkness. He also listed down the powers he had along with it.
Then underneath with a line branching off from the top he wrote down Peter's name and wrote the word ghoul.
"I'm a ghoul?" Peter said looking at the word. "What does that mean?"
"First, do you feel any different Peter, or has anything changed like voices in your head or weird things in your vision." Quinn was trying to see if Peter also had a system, but he needed to tiptoe around the word.
"Other than my body feeling better, there haven't been any other changes."
"What about your ability?" Vorden asked. "I remember when Quinn asked me if I wanted to turn into a vampire he said I would lose my ability.
Peter then quickly went over to his desk where he always had a small ball of earth to practise on he held it on his hands and tried to do what he usually did, but there was nothing. "What it's not working do I really have no ability at all!" Peter said all panicky.
"Calm down." Quinn interrupted." Don't worry about it too much, although your ability is gone you can learn a new one. We just need to find one that's compatible like my shadow book."
"You mean I can have the same ability as yours?" Peter asked.
Quinn started to laugh nervously.
"Unfortunately after learning the ability is got destroyed by a beast." Vorden quickly interrupted.
"Anyway, let me try to explain everything I know," Quinn said as he grabbed the pencils and wrote a pros and cons list right next to Peter's name.
"Are you ready?" the system asked. While the system explained the difference between a vampire and a vampire ghoul Quinn would write it down on a piece of paper while explaining it out loud to the others.
"Why don't we start with the positives?" the system said. "First unlike a vampire, a ghoul is not affected by sunlight."
Peter breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. "I thought I might have to start carrying an umbrella around everywhere."
The system continued and so did Quinn.
"Ghouls are stronger, faster and can see better than a human. But their main strength is their incredible healing abilities, they are even more impressive than yours Quinn. Broken bones chunks of flesh will be instantly healed on the spot."
"That isn't too bad." Vorden said. "Peter, this means we can just say you have a self-healing ability, there are a few of them out there. Although we will have to keep it a secret from the school since they all think you have an earth ability."
"What if someone sees, or tries hurting me and finds out?" Peter asked.
"Don't worry, not many people know of the other students' ability other than the staff, but if push comes to shove, I can try clearing their mind with my influence skill." Quinn replied.
"Now the next bit of information is more for you Quinn." The system said. "Ghouls are most loyal to their maker, the main reason for this is because your blood resides inside their body. Unfortunately what this means is you will need to supply Peter with your own blood otherwise his body will start to deteriorate and eventually will cease to exist. As long as he gets a supply of your blood then he will live on forever by your side."
"What do you mean by loyal?" Quinn asked.
"Similar to how your charm skill works, whatever you command, Peter will feel like he has no choice but to obey, although this does depend on the amount of your blood that remains inside his body. The longer he goes without a new does of blood the less inclined he will be to follow your orders."
Right now Quinn was feeling bad for Layla and Vorden. It seems like a bloody business was taking place. While Quinn would get his blood form Layla or Vorden then Peter would need to get his blood from him, which would require Quinn to get more blood from the others.
"What about Human blood, will I need to drink that," Peter asked as he gulped. Feeling a strange new hunger in his stomach.
"No there is no need to drink human blood," Quinn replied. "Actually, unlike me who gets stronger from human blood, it will have no effect on you."
Right now it seemed like they were getting a clearer picture of how a ghoul worked. It had superhuman capabilities similar to a vampire but had none of the vampire skills Quinn had at his disposal. But it did have supernatural healing that surpassed his own as well as being able to retain his strength in the sun.
Although he wasn't too strong now once Peter had an ability the others could see him becoming quite powerful. The only con so far was the fact that he needed Quinn's blood. Although Quinn decided to leave the loyalty part out of his explanation.
The two of them already felt this strange connection without having to say anything, and Quinn had a feeling if he asked Peter to do something, he would.
But Quinn knew the system wouldn't have said this was one of the worst options if this was the only issue with being a ghoul.
"Now, time for the cons." The system said.
Hearing these words made Quinn's hand shake a little, and the others could see this as he was getting ready to write down what the system was telling him.
"First off, the ability for Peter to eat regular food has completely disappeared. If he eats regular food, he will immediately throw it back up."
This didn't sound too bad. After all Quinn himself was only in a slightly better situation. At the moment the only food he could enjoy was meat. Everything else seemed to give him quite the allergic reaction to thinks, similar to that time he had eaten the food pill. But as long it was meat, and more specifically red meat he could still enjoy the taste of it quite well.
"Then does he just have to live off my blood then?" Quinn asked the system.
"No, the blood is a rare thing and will hardly be needed. I would more often feed Peter just to keep him loyal to you but still, a Ghoul needs a food source." The system replied.
"Well just tell me already what is it?" Quinn responded in an annoyed way.
"A ghoul needs to feed on human flesh..." The system said, sounding softer at the end.
The pencil in Quinn's hands had dropped onto the table and rolled onto the floor.
"Quinn is something wrong," Vorden asked.
He then turned to look at Peter.
"Peter, you are not feeling hungry by any chance, are you? Quinn asked.
"I'm feeling a bit peckish, I haven't eaten since this morning after all." Peter replied honestly.
Human blood was fine, But human flesh, it wasn't like Quinn could chop off Layla's finger and feed it to Peter every day and more than anything, what would Peter think of all this.
****
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Chapter 144 Worst case?
During this whole time, Quinn had basically been repeating to the others what the system had told him. Making sure to leave out the parts that weren't needed. They had a right to know about the vampire stuff, especially since the two of them were closely involved but there was no reason for them to know about the system.
But when the system had said the last line he couldn't hide the shock of the words that had been spoken and now was thinking how to break the news to Peter.
"Peter... maybe, it's best if you sat down for this." Quinn said.
"What why?" Peter looked at him, fidgeting. "You're making me even more scared."
"Just sit down." Quinn said, but as he said these words his eyes started to glow a little. Peter didn't know why but he felt like he needed to complete the task immediately. After sitting on the bed, Quinn was trying to find the best way to put the bad news into words.
"I can see this is troublesome so let me give you a solution for now." The system said. "As a temporary measure he might be able to last a few days on raw animal meat, but sooner or later you will have to grab him human flesh."
He looked Peter in the eyes and finally found the courage to tell him.
"Being a ghoul means you can no longer eat regular food, you're going to have to eat raw meat from now on."
"Raw meat, as in uncooked food?" Peter questioned. "Won't I get sick from it though? They carry so many diseases and the human body isn't designed to process raw food." As Peter continued to speak his words got faster as he panicked even more. "Maybe you're wrong, why don't I just try eating some normal food and see how it goes?"
"For goodness sake Peter listen to yourself!" Vorden shouted. "I know this must be a scary thing but listen. Quinn is just trying to help you here."
Just then, Vorden and Quinn decided to head to the nearby convenience store to grab some things as a test while they asked Peter to stay in the room. Once again although Peter was scared and wanted to come with them, a certain feeling was passing from Quinn and onto Peter making him feel like he had to obey.
'I guess this is what the system was talking about, I can feel a connection between the two of us.' Quin thought.
As the two of them walked to the convenience store Quinn was keeping awfully quiet, which made Vorden suspicious that Quinn was holding something else back.
"Go on, tell me then." Vorden said. "You could have gone to the shop on your own but you wanted me to come along."
"It's about Peter...." Quinn said quietly. "I didn't tell Peter everything, being a ghoul doesn't mean he has to eat raw meat, he needs to eat raw human meat. Raw animal meat will only work for a short time."
Suddenly Vorden stopped in his tracks.
"Quinn I'm being serious when I suggest this here, but wouldn't it be better to just kill Peter... and before you say anything hear me out. He already tried taking our lives and we know the reason behind it now. But I'm afraid this will just cause you more problems in the future. He saved your life and you saved his, and if I kept a scoreboard, he still needs to save you one more time to make it even. He's not the type of guy who can handle this and if he gets caught then don't think he won't give you in."
"He won't, he can't" Quinn replied.
"How can you be so sure?" Vorden asked, a bit surprised by Quinn's sudden answer.
It was hard for Quinn to explain, but he could feel the connection between the two of them now. Essentially Peter's whole existence now depended on him and as long as Quinn asked for it Peter would do it.
"Well I can tell you won't take my suggestion but let me tell you this then." Vorden said. "Taking a life isn't as easy as you think."
Although Quinn knew the weight behind Vorden's words, what Vorden didn't know was Quinn had already done just that and it was easier than he had expected. Perhaps for a human, it wasn't so easy but the same couldn't be said for a vampire like Quinn now, especially those people that deserved it.
The two continued to go to the shop and bought all sorts of packs of meat, Vorden was ready to use his wrist watch but Quinn just straight up paid for it instead.
"When did you become so wealthy?" Vorden asked.
"I have my ways." Quinn winked back with a smile.
Finally, the two had returned to the dorm room where Peter had stayed waiting for them, he was in the same spot as when the two had left him.
"That smells nice." Peter said. "What did you bring?"
Quinn then pulled out the packs of food. Some were raw pieces of steak and pork while the others were pre packed food that had already been cooked, Peter didn't need to see anything because his nose was already telling him which one smelled better.
It was one of the first clear signs that he had changed. Immediately when they entered the room the sweet scent had filled the entire room, and it wasn't coming from the cooked meat.
"Well do you want to try the packed precooked meat first?" Quinn asked. "But I'm telling you, you're going to get sick from this."
"No it's okay," Peter said, with the sound of resignation in his voice. "Just give me the other stuff."
They placed the raw steak out on a plate and put it right in front of Peter.
"Is he really going to eat it?" Vorden said.
"I don't know it looks pretty good to me as well," Quinn replied.
"I can't tell if you're trying to be funny or what man." Vorden said, with a disgusted look on his face.
It didn't take long for Peter to dive in. Seeing the raw steak in front of him, suddenly caused his hunger to grow more and more to the point he couldn't hold back, and without even using the knife and fork by his side he picked up the steak with his two hands and started biting into it.
His once dull teeth had turned sharp like a lions, helping him rip the meat to pieces and after only a couple of minutes the whole steak had been devoured.
Sobbing then could be heard from his chair.
"I'm a monster." He cried.
"Peter." Vorden said. "You're less of a monster now then you were before, at least you know what you are and what you did before was wrong. How do you think Quinn feels after saving your life and you saying that right in front of him?"
Peter knew Vorden was right so he wiped his tears and stood up smiling at Quinn, as he did his teeth were all bloody from the meal. "Thank you Quinn, I'm sorry for being so selfish."
With the experiment done and the other two feeling a bit better they placed the remainder of the raw meat in their fridge. But the only one that got a good night sleep was Peter, the other two were lost in thought.
Vorden couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he was sleeping in a room with a cannibal, at least Quinn would only suck his blood but with Peter, he might wake up with an arm missing.
While Quinn was thinking along similar lines.
"System, do you know how long until he starts craving for human flesh, and will I still be able to control him?" Quinn asked.
"His hunger will outgrow your commands, but he will not attack you, however about a time frame I am unsure, best case scenario is a week."
"And worst case?" Quinn asked.
"Tomorrow."
****
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Chapter 145 The Crystals
The next day had arrived and when Vorden had woken up, he had faint bags under his eyes. Quinn eventually managed to get some sleep, but he didn't seem to have fared much better either.
"Didn't get much sleep?" Quinn asked.
Vorden shook his head while looking at Peter who seemed to still be sleeping peacefully away. "At least he still looks like a human."
All of the first-year students had gotten the next two days off after the expedition.
With the next two days off Quinn knew he needed to hurry and find a solution for Peter's situation. It was a large city that not only had the people from the school but the workers and soldiers outside as well.
There was bound to be a morgue in the city. Although crimes that lead to death did not occur, like in a regular city since most of the citizens were soldiers, but that didn't mean there weren't any. One thing was for sure, they didn't want to get a body from the morgue in the school they were in. It would be too obvious and another investigation would be carried out.
While Quinn was thinking about what to do a knock was heard at the door. When they opened the door they were surprised to see Layla there. She was on her own though but came to update them on the situation with Erin.
"It seems like she has calmed down a bit," Layla said. "And I'll be honest it was strange. She really wasn't upset by the fact you were a vampire even after I tried explaining it to her, but just that you could have helped us out more during the assessment. Anyway, what about him?"
Quinn then went on to explain about what had happened to Peter and how he had turned into a ghoul. When Quinn mentioned this, her face immediately dropped, she had read enough books to know some of the downsides of being in close proximity to a ghoul. Some of them were blood hungry starved creatures, while others constantly craved human flesh.
And after hearing Quinn's explanation it seemed like she was right.
"You know after seeing you turn Peter, I thought you were hiding something from me, but I guess this was something you were afraid of and honestly being a vampire is cool and all, but being a ghoul not so much," Layla said.
Quinn started to think about what Layla had just said, before everything had happened, he was seriously considering turning Layla into a vampire. However, the system had stated that this outcome, someone turning into a ghoul, was one of the options.
"System, if I was to use the blood ritual on Layla would it be the same result?" Quinn asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure, it depends on the person and the situation they were in. Perhaps Peter had turned because of how close to death he was when the ritual was formed but maybe he would have turned into one anyway considering how weak his mind was. I can't say that it won't happen, but I believe that Layla would have a higher chance of turning into something else."
For now, Quinn decided to keep the words of the System to himself. He already had enough problems to deal with, and he didn't need another one if Layla was to turn into something else even more problematic than a ghoul.
"Oh. I almost forgot." Vorden said, as he went under his bed and pulled out a small bag before throwing it over to Quinn who caught it.
Quinn opened the bag and noticed that it seemed to be full of crystals.
"Since, the expedition ended early, we got to keep all of those."
"You mean these are?" Quinn asked, with a look of excitement on his face.
"Yep. The winged Lizard crystals you asked for. " Vorden replied, with a smile.
Looking in the bag there looked to be around thirty of them, Quinn couldn't imagine what the group must have done to be able to obtain this many. But now he realised why Erin was incredibly upset, with this amount of crystals, their group would have come out on top of the whole leader board.
Right now, though he had enough crystals to create a costume for himself. The cape that Sam used was hard enough to block Quinn's blood swipes while also being flexible. If he could use this to create a full set of clothing then he would finally be able to fight during the day.
Although at first, he wasn't sure who he could go to for help to design a costume, suddenly someone came to mind. Logan, if there was anyone who was good at creating things and knowing if something was possible or not, he would be the one to go to.
Still, he couldn't just leave Peter as he was, not with the chance of him turning into a flesh hungry monster.
Vorden could see that Quinn seemed to be struggling with something. There must have been a reason why he had told him and Layla to gather as many of those crystals as possible.
"Just go do whatever you need to do," Vorden said. "Layla and I can deal with the problem; I have an idea anyway."
"Are you sure, what about the others do you want me to pay you guys for these?" Quinn asked.
"Are you joking," Layla said. "Quinn if it wasn't for you back then when the Dalki attacked, we would have all lost our lives and that includes Erin. As much as she says she's angry at you she can't deny that you saved our lives. The least we could do is give you these crystals for free.
Quinn looked at them one more time, and knew that if there was anyone he could rely on, it would be Vorden, and even more so with Layla helping him. "Alright, just let me know if there are any problems, I should be in the VIP area just above."
After that Quinn quickly rushed out of the room with the crystals in his hand.
"In the VIP area?" Layla said. "I wonder what he's doing there."
"Who knows?" Vorden said as he shrugged his shoulders. Just then Peter was starting to wake up and rub his eyes. "But right now, we have a bigger problem to deal with."
*****
Inside the second year building duke was sitting down at his desk smoking a cigar in his office, he wasn't much of a smoker but when he was under immense pressure, he found that he tended to smoke a lot more cigars than normal.
"Damn that Truedream guy is coming again!" Duke said to himself.
The door to the room then swung open as one of the sergeants with an afro on the top of his head and sunglasses on came walking in. His name was Raphael and was one of the teachers for the second year students. "Sir I have brought the list of names that you asked for."
Raphael then came forward and handed over a little stick to Duke. When placing it on the table a digital display of students had appeared.
"Let's see... It looks like we have a good mix of abilities here." Duke said. "And you've checked the background of all of these? There will be no complaints from important families if something was to go wrong correct?"
"Yes sir."
At the top of the list of names, one of the students' picture was being displayed. It was of a picture of Peter Chuck.
****
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Chapter 146 A Ghoul's power
It was their day off and early in the morning, Quinn was going out to meet up with Logan. He had left both Layla and Vorden behind to keep an eye on Peter. Quinn had told them that at some point, Peter would be required to eat human flesh, it could take up to a week, but it could also be tomorrow, there was no way to know for sure.
'It could also be as soon as today.' Vorden thought to himself. 'We can't be that unlucky right?' He certainly hoped this was not the case.
Unfortunately, the tasks that Quinn had given to them were quite difficult. Not only did they need to look out for Peter's safety, but they also had to find a way to get human flesh without letting him find out about it.
"Come on Peter," Vorden said. "Let's head outside."
"Outside?" Peter asked, his tone slightly confused.
"Well, if I were you, the first thing I'd want to do was to test out my new powers. Quinn said that you are some kind of superhuman, right? Well, why don't we take a look at what you can do now?"
"I think that's a great idea," Layla said while bobbing up and down. Although she didn't like the sound of being turned into a ghoul, perhaps it also had its good sides.
The three of them grabbed a few things and got ready to go outside. Layla even took her beast equipment with her. A lot of the students carried around their beast weapons as they walked through the city, but some chose not to. Mainly because currently, they were in one of the safest places on the planet. However, since the Dalki had attacked some students during the extra-planar expedition, everyone seemed to be more on edge and always ready for battle.
Just as they were about to leave, Peter stopped by the entrance.
"Don't worry," Layla said. "Even Quinn doesn't burn under the sunlight. He just feels weak and sluggish. Besides, just in case Quinn was wrong, I brought an umbrella with me."
'What are you doing' Peter thought to himself. 'You spent your whole life as a weakling and now, just maybe, it can start to change.'
After convincing himself, Peter closed his eyes and stepped outside to where the sun could touch his skin. Just as Quinn had said, he didn't feel any weaker than before. He felt the same on the inside as he did outside. With this information, a smile appeared on Peter's face. At the least, he could live a somewhat normal life without having to hide in the shadows all the time.
The group walked towards the park, and once they arrived, they headed deeper into the park woods. They followed the man-made trail that was often used for people to hike through, until eventually leaving the trail, as they travelled farther away from the beaten path.
They continued to walk until they had finally found a quiet and clear area in the woods that was devoid of trees; it was also hidden from view. "This place is perfect. Besides, if anyone comes close, we will be able to hear them in time." Vorden said.
"What should we test first?" Layla asked.
"How about strength and speed?" Vorden said as he walked up to Layla, holding out his hand. "Do you mind?"
Layla looked at Vorden. These days, he seemed to be more reliable than before. She still felt that he was a bit crazy in the head, but couldn't call him an outright bad person, not without any evidence anyway.
"Fine." She held out her hand and allowed Vorden to copy her abilities.
The two of them then lifted a bunch of branches and stick's off of the ground. Because Layla's ability was quite weak, the maximum they could lift was two each, making it four.
"Just do your best to avoid the sticks as much as you can!" Vorden shouted as the two stood around five meters away from Peter.
"Looks like, not only has his speed gotten better, but his reflexes as well," Vorden said. "But... He's still Peter."
Peter nodded when he was ready, and the two of them immediately started to hover the sticks up in the air, aiming to hit Peter with them.
The sticks were light, allowing Vorden and Layla to move them quite fast. They were easily as fast as regular attacks, and with four of them coming from different directions, it was like two people were fighting against Peter at the same time.
For Peter it was the first time that he felt confident during a practice, it was like he could see the attacks coming towards him. When he told his body to move, it followed what he wanted to do, avoiding the branches of sticks. It was amazing since whatever Peter thought in his head, his body reacted and did it, unlike when his body didn't respond to his thoughts against other people before.
Just then, Vorden timed both sticks at the right time – When one went in for the attack, if Peter was to avoid it, the other one would be right in time to strike him. Peter pulled his body back, avoiding the first stick. Then, the second one from behind came right at his face, but he still managed to catch the second stick out of the air at the last second just as he pulled his face back.
However, the tip of the stick still managed to cut his cheek, drawing the smallest amount of blood.
"Oh sorry, Peter!" Vorden yelled as the two of them rushed over. But by the time they reached him, the blood had fallen on the ground, and the cut that was once on Peter's cheek was no longer there.
"Looks like the super healing can be checked as well," Vorden said with a smile on his face. He was actually glad that this had happened, because he was afraid that if they were to test out the super healing any other way, then it would cause Peter to grow hungrier even quicker.
The next test they had for Peter was his strength. For this trial, they used a simple tree. Although Vorden was considered one of the students at the peak physical fitness for his height and age, even he wouldn't be able to damage a tree with his bare hands. That was unless he was wearing beast gear or had some type of ability to help him.
"So you want me to just punch the tree?" Peter asked, looking at it carefully. The tree was mighty, and its trunk was thicker than Peter himself. Just imagining punching the thing, he could already feel the pain in his knuckles.
"Just go for it," Layla said. "You already know that you have super healing. "
"But that doesn't mean that I don't feel any pain," Peter said.
But he was also curious to see how much stronger he had gotten. He readied himself and looked at the tree, then pulling back his fist, he swung it outward. However, at the last second, he tried pulling back his power for fear of hurting himself.
As he hit the tree, he had done so at an odd angle causing his wrist to bend on impact. He screamed out in pain. As the two went to take a look, they could see that a part of his bone had come out and pierced through his skin, but at the same time, it was healing then and there in an instant. When they looked at the tree, there was a large dent that had been made.
Not one large enough to cause the tree to fall over, but one that would be impossible for most humans by using their bare hands.
Once Peter's wrist was healed, he started to twist it around and move it about – It seemed to be working just like normal.
"Well, we know you have abnormal strength that's for sure, but I think there's a clear difference between you and Quinn," Layla said.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked, still rolling his wrist around, making sure everything worked okay.
"Well, let's say if Quinn was to do the same thing, even if he didn't punch the tree dead on, his wrist probably would have been fine. I think that's because his body is stronger than that of a regular human." Layla explained. "While yours, although you have super strength, your body is still just like ours, made of regular bones and flesh. If you attack at full power, you will probably end up hurting yourself, breaking a bone just like what you did back then. Heck even humans break their bones when they fight, so for you with your extra strength it's a little worse. You're going to have to learn to control it."
As soon as Layla had finished explaining, the wristwatch on Peter's arm started to light up. When he looked at it, he could see a voice message that had been left.
"This is General Duke. Peter Chuck, you are required to come to my office in the second year building immediately. I have some important things to discuss with you."
As soon as Vorden heard the message, there was no longer any need for him to ask Peter who was behind everything. He had already figured it out. Why else would the head of the second years have anything to do with a first-year?
The only problem now was, how could he go up against a general of a military base.
****
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Chapter 147 Bite me or love me
An order from the general was absolute and a strict punishment awaited those who disobeyed them. Although there weren't many rules when it came to what happened between the students themselves, the same couldn't be said for those who were above them.
If you broke the rules enough times, then you would be led to an underground dungeon. The school couldn't just kick you out. Those who went in almost never came back out, and the ones who did come back, came as different people.
There was also a rumour that had been going around that the students who were sent into the dungeon came back without any abilities at all.
Because of this, even Vorden was worried about going up against a general of the school. Perhaps he could use his family's power to influence the military's decision about Duke, but that would require evidence and a lot more than a single testimony from Peter.
So the group had no choice but to follow Duke's command.
"What should I do?" Peter asked as he walked back to the military base with the other two.
"We'll follow along as far as we can go, but if they see you with us then they'll think you're no longer on their side. Just agree to whatever they ask of you for now and we can figure it out later," Vorden said.
Just then, as they were about to exit the forest, Vorden suggested that Peter walk up ahead while they followed him from behind. They needed to be extra careful just in case, but before Peter left the forest Vorden had a few words to say.
"Peter, I'm taking my chances with you this time. I don't know why but Quinn seems to completely trust you, and while I have forgiven you, it doesn't mean I trust you. Not yet, or maybe ever."
Layla nudged Vorden in the ribs. "Give the guy a break will you?" She whispered, "He went through a near death experience, and now he's just been told that he's a ghoul. You don't have to say out loud what he already knows." She gave Peter an encouraging smile.
However, Vorden was dead serious; he still saw Peter as a liability and if it wasn't for Quinn, he would have gotten rid of him by now.
They had finally arrived at the second year building which was stationed on the east side of the school. From this point on, Vorden and Layla could no longer follow as there were second year students standing just outside, and they didn't have a good reason.
Still, Peter managed to walk straight past the two second year students, as they had been expecting him, but Vorden and Layla knew they couldn't because they would be stopped.
Peter entered the building and walked into Duke's office.
"Please, come and sit down, Peter," Duke said as he closed the door behind him before sitting back in his seat.
"It seems the two of us haven't been able to talk since the last task I had set for you." Duke then went under his desk and pulled out several books and placed them on the table. There were three earth ability books numbered from two, up to four.
"Although things didn't go quite according to plan, you still held up your end of the bargain, and I don't want to seem like a person who doesn't keep his promises," he said smiling.
If Peter didn't notice it before, he could definitely notice it now, there was something sinister about Duke's smile.
'Just why was he trying so hard to get rid of Vorden in the first place?' Peter thought. Isn't everyone on the same side, to fight against the Dalki? But Peter remembered Vorden's words and grabbed the books.
"Thank you sir, is there anything else you would like me to do?" Peter asked.
"We have a visitor next week and I'm going to need you to learn the earth ability up to level four. It's why I also gave you books two and three. It should be easier for you to learn the abilities quickly if you do them step by step. In a couple of weeks, come back and report to me. You are dismissed."
Peter then bowed down to the general before leaving the room.
'Looks like I've been able to convert another one. In the end, everyone wants to be at the top,' The Duke thought.
As Peter left the room, he spotted Earl waiting just outside to be called in. "What are you looking at you dog!" He snapped back. Earl still hadn't recovered from what Vorden had done to him before the outing, and because he was weaker than Vorden, he couldn't take it out on him. So he decided to take it out on Peter instead.
Hearing those words and seeing Earl again, sudden images started to appear in his head, unpleasant images, very unpleasant.
"Hey, I know. Why don't you wait for me out back after this? Me and the boys have a little surprise for you," Earl said.
"Whatever you say, Earl." Peter replied, secretly smiling on the inside.
As Peter walked down the hallway and towards the back exit of the school he couldn't suppress the smile that suddenly appeared on his face. "I'll be waiting for you alright."
*****
While the others were busy doing their own thing, Erin had eventually calmed down from it all. She thought back and had to admit that even if Quinn had hidden his powers in the end, he had saved their lives from the Dalki, she couldn't stay upset about not coming first.
When she thought back to the image of the Dalki, her body started to shiver uncontrollably.
'Calm down Erin, deep breaths.' She thought to herself.
She had regained her composure, but now she started to think about Quinn a bit more. Just what was a vampire actually?
Even though Layla had tried her best to explain it, it really wasn't something she could comprehend. It didn't sound like an ability, but more like an entirely different species altogether. But the strangest thing of it all was what species could survive only on the blood of humans?
'Maybe I can think of them as humanoid mosquitoes. Yeah, that sounds right. They're humanoid mosquitoes.' Erin thought to convince herself.
If there were no humans how would vampires survive and what would happen to Quinn if he didn't get any blood? While she was fine with keeping Quinn's identity a secret, she was nervous about covering her own back, and curious to see just how dangerous this "vampire" thing actually was.
Eventually, that led her to the library. At first, Erin went down the nonfiction aisle to see if there was anything she could find, but there was nothing. There were no vampires and there didn't seem to be anything close to describing them in the first place.
If it wasn't in any of the official records, it was slowly starting to make sense to her why everyone wanted her to keep it a secret.
This left her with no choice but to head to the fiction section and nearly instantly, she found several novels about vampires. But just from looking at the covers, she found it really hard to tell what vampires were.
"Vampire: The Last Blood"
"Bite Me or Love Me"
"Thicker Than Blood"
Some of the covers even seemed to have men in suggestive poses, while other books deemed Vampires as vicious killers. But the one thing they all had in common was the theme around blood. Erin decided to just pick up one of the books at random.
She picked up the book titled, 'Bite Me or Love Me'
She stood there in the aisle and started reading it, but before she knew it, she couldn't put the book down. "My word, what are they doing?" Just from reading the novel, her face started to go red.
"So, you're interested in vampires, huh?" A boy's voice said, coming from her left side.
As she turned her head to see who it was, she could see a student, one she hadn't come across before, or maybe she had. Erin had a bad habit of only remembering people she cared about. But when looking at this boy she had a feeling if she had seen him she would have remembered him, as something was pulling her towards him.
"I didn't expect to see a beautiful girl like you here," The boy said as he swept back his black hair. "The name's Fex. Nice to meet you."
****
Want another mass release? Then remember to vote. Stone goals are in the author notes below!
Chapter 148 A problem
Outside the second-year building, out in the open field, Layla and Vorden were still patiently waiting. Peter had gone in a while ago, but now they started to wonder what was taking him Peter so long.
"Do you think something might have happened to him?" Layla asked, looking at the two second years that stood directly outside the building, like they were guard dogs.
"I'm not sure. He doesn't look like the type that's good at lying," Vorden replied to her question. "Then again, he did fool me and Quinn before, without us having a clue."
"Would you stop being so salty about that? It's getting annoying," Layla said, getting sick of the fact that Vorden seemed to be putting Peter down whenever they talked about him. "Right now, all of us are trying to help each other. That's how it should be. That's how this world should have been in the first place before the introduction of powers came and changed everything."
Vorden could tell that there seemed to be some sort of pain behind Layla's words. Then again, it was normal for people, who were of the lower class, to be unhappy with the current system. Before the war with the Dalki, everyone had a voice in some way. They had a right to vote and they had the chance to change things.
But after the war that all changed. Now, if you were of a lower class, the people in power don't care about what you think.
"It's not the powers themselves that are at fault," Vorden replied. "It's the people at the top who made the current system, who are at fault."
Eventually, the two of them felt they had waited for far too long. They came to the conclusion that it wasn't likely that Peter was going to come out anytime soon, they had a feeling something might have happened. With that in mind, the two of them decided to stop waiting out front, and started to head around the back. There was no entrance to get into the school from the back since the second-year building was up against the school walls which surrounded the entire military camp.
But perhaps, they could find some other entrance, either by climbing some walls, or through some other means.
The two of them needed to be careful that they weren't seen while they were sneaking around, so the two of them would be using Layla's abilities to make sure of that. When they got around to the back side of the building, they could see another student standing guard there. Using Layla's powers, they both lifted up a couple of stones, and threw them to distract the student.
"Are you ready?" Layla asked with a smile on her face. When she realised what kind of face she was making, she quickly stopped. She couldn't believe she was actually having fun sneaking around and causing trouble. And with Vorden of all people.
"As I thought, you do look a little cute when you are smiling," Vorden said as a response.
*****
Peter was patiently waiting outside the place where he had suggested. While waiting, Peter started to look around the place. Since there were no exits, there weren't many students moving about back here. There was also a plain wall, but it was nearly impossible for someone to scale unless they had some type of ability.
As Peter continued to look at the wall, he was wondering if he, in his current state, could do such a thing. But just as he was in the middle of this thought, he heard a voice from behind.
"Hey! Hey, Peter! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Earl said, as he walked closer before adding: "You know, lately, Duke has been blaming me for all of the failed attempts against Vorden, so I haven't been getting any rewards, how are you going to solve that for me?"
While walking closer towards Peter, Earl looked at what was in Peter's hands, which were the level 2, 3 and 4 earth ability books. Although Earl was already a level four earth user and had no need for the books himself, he could always sell them on the market to earn some money.
"Hand them over, you piece of crap," Earl said as he slapped Peter across the face, leaving a red mark.
The truth was, Earl didn't really care about the books. And if he asked for them, then Peter was likely to give them to him. All he wanted to do was vent out his pent-up frustrations on someone, and Peter was the perfect target.
Just a few moments ago, Duke did not give him any reward for his efforts, unlike what he had promised. 'Did he fail his task?' Earl pondered. Not at all. He managed to convince Peter to push his friend, just like they had asked.
With that in mind, why wasn't he being rewarded for it? On top of that, after everything he had gone through, he had been beaten up by Erin. Soon after that, his friends had abandoned him, saying they no longer wanted to help him.
To them, it was too dangerous and they didn't want to get hurt by Erin as well. Then, later on, he was further punished by Vorden. He still couldn't sleep right after what Vorden had done to him.
Peter looked at the mark on his face. Usually, in a situation like this, his hands would be shaking. In the past, he had been so mentally broken that even Earl raising his hands would make him flinch...but not today. Something felt different.
After the scenes of Earl's neck being ripped out had appeared in his head, strange thoughts started to appear in his mind. 'What if I could make that a reality?' Peter thought.
Earl then proceeded to kick Peter in the stomach before grabbing him by the collar and throwing him onto the ground.
Peter was now in a space between two buildings, namely the second-year building and one of the storage rooms. It was a place that was quite dark, and unless someone purposely went around the back to find them, no one would find out.
"Well then. Isn't this a quiet little place for the two of us to carry on our usual business?" Earl asked with a smile.
Peter then stood up and responded with a smile, "Indeed, it is."
*****
After distracting the students who were standing by the side of the building, using the floating stones, they were able to gradually make their way towards the back of the second-year building without being seen.
When they arrived they didn't see anything. It was totally empty, nothing was there, even the set of windows they saw was too high for them to climb up to.
"Come on. Let's keep looking," Layla said. "There must be some way to get into the school."
They looked around, but unfortunately they didn't find anything...until Vorden spotted a little alleyway just between the second-year building and the storage room. "Maybe there's a pipe or something we can us to climb up to the windows."
"You have been watching way too many martial arts movies," Layla said.
Still, they decided to check it out now that they were here anyway. They had already come this far, and the least they could do is try everything before giving up. As they made their way to the space between the two buildings, they started to hear strange sounds. Certain cracking and gobbling noises were made, as if some type of wild dog was wolfing down its meal.
Finally, they turned the corner, only to see Peter there. However, he wasn't alone. His hands and mouth were covered in blood while a dead body wearing a student's uniform laid in front of him.
The student's body had parts of its limbs torn off, also some bones with little bits of flesh still attached could be seen, and they looked as if someone had hungrily ripped the meat right off the bone.
"Peter?" Layla said. "What have you done?"
Chapter 149 Strange Device
The VIP dorm rooms of the first years building were on the third floor. Quinn had decided to head here to meet one someone. That someone was, of course, Logan, as he was the only VIP Quinn knew. Although he wasn't sure if Logan could even help him or not.
Quinn's plan was to use the winged lizard crystals to create some type of costume or suit that would cover his entire body. He needed a flexible material so it could wrap around him but he also needed it to be strong enough to survive in a fight.
It was easy enough for him to find a black suit that covered his entire body that would help him avoid the sunlight. The problem was the second Quinn would be hit and the suit ripped then he would be weakened by the sun again.
That's why, when he learnt of Sam's cape through the VR game he had come up with an idea. Now that he had the materials the only problem left was to craft a costume out of them.
Most blacksmiths and tailors had a blueprint they would follow. These blueprints specified the techniques used and which materials needed to be mixed when creating weapons and armour. But because Quinn was asking for something that hadn't been made before, he would have to ask someone at the expert designer level to custom make one for him.
This would be very costly and even if he sold all the crystals and used up the ones in his hand he wouldn't have enough to pay the cost. This led him to Logan. He saw how many crazy things Logan seemed to create for himself in his room. He thought perhaps he might have an idea or, if not he might be able to introduce him to someone who could do it at a lower price.
At first Quinn knocked on the door but there seemed to be no answer. It was strange because for the week that Quinn trained using Logan's machine. He hadn't seen him leave the room once.
When trying to push the door open he was surprised to see that it wasn't locked nor shut properly. "Hello?" Quinn asked as he crept into the room.
Just at the other end of the room, he could see Logan in his chair. He had some sort of metallic tool glove in his right hand while a giant pair of goggles seemed to be hovering over his eyes.
'Oh, he was just busy as usual.' Quinn thought to himself
Quinn then started to look around the room at all the gadgets around him. He knew when Logan was in his concentration mode no matter what you did you wouldn't get his attention. So the best thing to do was just to wait until he was done.
While walking around the room Quinn continued to look at all the storage devices and whenever he found something interesting he could use his inspect skill.
What he noticed was, some of the devices the system didn't seem to have any clue what it was. While for other items it would give basic descriptions, such as what materials the item was made from.
For the others, it would simply show a line of: ?????
These were items that Logan had uniquely created and didn't exist in the world. But there was one thing they all had in common and that was the name of the creator, Logan Dyson.
But as Quinn was looking around he spotted a strange circular object on one of the shelves. It stood out compared to the rest because most of the things in the room seemed to be covered in dust but not this one.
It was a square-shaped device no bigger than a laptop and on the top, it seemed to have some type of digital display.
[Inspect]
[A return portal device, when the correct access code has been entered it will return you to the destination that has been pre-set]
[Creator Richard Eno]
Quinn moved in to take a closer look. It seemed to be the only item that wasn't made by Logan and on top of that, it was a teleporter. But it was one that he had never seen before. The portal teleporters they currently carried were quite large devices but this one was small and compact as if the technology was ahead of their current time.
Quinn reached out to grab it, but just then a voice from behind spoke to him.
"Hey, if you want to get your fingers blown off, then please, be my guest, carry on and touch it," Logan said sarcastically, his seat was turned around and he was staring at Quinn. "Then again I would love to see which ability is stronger mine or yours." He continued.
"Sorry about that" Quinn said as he pulled back his hand. "It looks kind of interesting. What is it exactly?"
When Quinn finished talking, the robotic gauntlet that was on one of Logan's hands started to break down. It appeared to break into smaller parts until they looked like little bugs. Then the bugs went over to where Quinn was, they grabbed the case and brought it over to Logan.
"This thing has been the bane of me and my family's life," Logan said looking around it. "As you know my family are originals who hid their abilities from the world. Before the war started they were researchers who worked privately for different corporations. Sometimes even governments, different armies and all sorts of companies. Anyway, on one of their trips around fifty years ago, they discovered this device. At the time no one knew what it was and it seemed like our ability didn't work on it either.
Of course, my family tried to research it and eventually when we discovered the Dalki technology we found similarities between this and the Dalki technology. It appears to be some type of teleporter. But the question is, why Dalki technology would exist on earth before they even arrived. Then that just brings us even more questions, why did the Dalki attack us? Were they here before? But did we just never know about it?"
Hearing all of these questions were causing Quinn to think about it. Perhaps Logan was on to something before he would have taken everything the government had told him as fact. He knew they hid things, governments always did, but just like his vampire system were they hiding even bigger secrets from the public?
"Anyway." Logan said." It's not like I'm expecting you to know any of these answers. The one thing we do know is whoever was able to create a compact teleporter such as this is a genius. Oh, how I wish I could meet him one day."
"Wait, what did you say?" Quinn replied. "Did you say you don't know who created it?"
"Of course I don't. If I did, my family and I would have been chasing him for generations."
This made Quinn sink even deeper in thought. Richard Eno was a well-known scientist, the person who had discovered not only the power of beast crystals but also how the Dalki portals worked. Could he have really known everything all along?
Right now though this was too big of a problem to solve especially for someone like him. He was just one person in this whole thing and he had his own problems to deal with.
"Anyway," Logan said. "What did you visit me here for, did you want to play the game again?"
"Actually," Quinn said. "I was wondering if you could help make me a suit."
Chapter 150 Special Mask
Quinn had explained the specifics of the suit he wanted to Logan. He elaborated on how it needed to be made using the crystals he had obtained, and how he needed it to completely cover him from head to toe, making sure that no sunlight could touch him.
At first, Logan had some good news for Quinn.
"Well, it seems you've come to the right person," said Logan. "I can design you one myself."
"Really?" Quinn asked, surprised.
"Of course, it will be easier than making some of my other contraptions, since most of them are powered by beast crystals anyway. I know my way around them. The fusion process I am using is also one of a kind." He said smiling.
Logan was clearly proud of his work, and Quinn could see this. Whenever he used to come by for his training, he would often praise his inventions, even if some of them seemed pointless or a bit out there. Because of this, Logan started to have more than just professional interest in Quinn, but also started to like him more as a friend.
However, like with everything, there was also a slight problem.
"What about breathing and seeing?" Logan asked. "If you're going to be covered from head to toe, you won't be able to breathe. Judging from the cape you described, the material won't be breathable, and if you cover the eyes you won't be able to see anything either. I can place a sensory display in front of your eyes. It will work like the VR game and allow you to see outside, but that doesn't solve the problem that you won't be able to breathe"
Quinn then started to look around the room while trying to come up with an idea. It looked like creating this suit wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. He proceeded to spot a small figurine, with a type of gas mask on it, in the corner of the room. It reminded him of the mask he first used when he went out hunting.
"Could we create something like this? Maybe if we put some tubes, sticking out from the side or something, I can still breathe."
"Yeah, that could work, but you definitely won't get any points in the fashion department," Logan replied.
"Oh and one more thing. If we could make the mask open and close that would be great, you know, just in case I wanted to grab myself a quick snack while on the move," Quinn said smiling.
The two of them then sat down together. The crystals were placed in a seemingly special container while they were going through some type of melting process. Out of the 39 crystals obtained, Logan had said they would only need thirty, leaving the rest for Quinn.
Quinn had offered to pay for the process, or even give the remaining crystals to Logan, but he kept refusing. Stating that he could earn in a minute the amount of money used to create such a thing, so there was no loss on his side.
On top of Logan's desk, a large metal sheet was placed. Logan then placed his hand on the sheet and closed his eyes. Just like with the Gauntlet before, the metal started to break down and move. Eventually turning into little metal bugs again.
The metal bugs started to form a human figure until it moulded something that vaguely resembled Quinn. The two of them continued to go through the design process, altering what the metal model looked like.
Each time Quinn would give a suggestion, the robots would move in place. There was not much that could be done with the suit. It had to be black in colour and fit skin tight. However, the mask could be altered greatly.
When using the outfit and mask, Quinn wanted to strike fear into his opponent's hearts – He wanted something quite scary looking. They went through several designs until it was finally done.
Soon after, Logan went straight to work. The beast crystals that were in the container had been liquefied, and now Logan had once again put on his tool glove. He went over to his workbench and started working straight away.
Listening to every detail and simultaneously thinking so much was starting to make Quinn tired. He eventually drifted off at the desk, until finally he fell asleep.
After a while, Logan nudged the young man to wake up.
"Hey, wake up sleepyhead," Logan said. "It's done."
As Quinn opened up his eyes, he was greeted with a metallic life-size model of him. It was in the same height and the same body proportions to him. Although, it had none of his facial features.
But the big difference between the creation and him was the fact that it was wearing both the outfit and the mask they had designed together.
"It's amazing," Quinn said as he walked over to it and started to stroke the model.
The black suit was skin tight but had a scaled pattern like that of a snake throughout its entire surface. However, there were a few design touches added to it from Logan that Quinn hadn't asked for.
"Do you like the additions that I made?" Logan asked.
On the forearms going up to the shoulder, three red claw like marks could be seen on both sides. Although it looked nice, Quinn was hoping for the suit to be all black in colour. If he was to also use this at night, he probably would've been seen.
Nevertheless, when he looked at Logan's bags and his tired face, he found it hard to say no.
"It's great," Quinn replied.
Still, what looked the best out of all to Quinn was the mask – It was made out of a metallic material that went over the black suit. It covered the mouth all the way to the top of the nose. On the outside, by the cheeks, two squares could be seen that stuck out slightly. Over the mouth, a pattern of teeth could be seen protruding.
The teeth were moulded outwards to look more realistic, like that of a beast. It wasn't painted on the outside and when opened, it would look like a large beast was about to hold you in its jaws.
"Now, I do have to warn you. Although expensive metals were used when making this, there is a limit to how much it can endure." Logan explained. "They were only basic tier crystals after all. It will fare well against intermediate weapons, but anything stronger than that and it will be cut."
Quinn made sure to make note of that, for it would be the same when facing against beasts. If he was fighting during the day he would be sure to pick and choose his opponents.
Although suddenly, Quinn's body started to feel a strange sensation. It was a similar feeling to when he consumed blood, only a tad different. His eyes started to glow once again, a strange power was surging through his body.
'What the hell is happening?' Quinn thought.
"Hey, are you okay?" Logan said. "Do you need me to go get a doctor or something?"
As Logan stood in front of Quinn, he could see the colour in his eyes change, and even Logan stepped back a bit. At the same time, little metallic bugs started to come over and built a metallic suit of his own over his body.
Eventually, the bugs had completely formed a metallic suit that looked like that of a small mech suite, only without all the clunky parts and more in line with the shape of a human. These were all precautions that Logan took, just in case Quinn was to go out of control.
But then, the feeling died down and his eyes returned to normal, but a message had appeared.
[A family member has grown stronger]
"What is this?" Quinn said. "Does this have anything to do with Peter?"
Then a dreaded thought hit his head.
****
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