Tsukuru, Quinn, and Peter quickly ran through the halls until they had finally reached the assembly hall.
It was currently a large, empty hall with marble flooring, and a stage in the front.
It hadn't been used for anything yet so far, but it was the area where the students would be called if they had a meeting.
When the three entered the assembly hall, there were already multiple students mumbling about some kind of commotion.
"Did you see what happened?" A boy asked.
"Yeah, that guy is a monster." A second replied. "How could he do that?"
A third voice piped up.
"Luckily, the second-years were here to stop him."
Looking around, Tsukuru saw that the assembly hall was completely trashed.
"Holy shit, it looks like a hurricane came through here." He muttered.
Craters and rubble had formed on parts of the wall and ground. Burn marks and the like were there as well, and there was even blood.
In fact, it was something Quinn had smelled the second they had entered the hall.
"What happened here?" Quinn asked. "And…where's Vorden?"
Clearly, a fight had taken place here, and Quinn feared the worst.
Looking ahead, Tsukuru spotted a group of second-years, and in the center stood Mono.
Tsukuru grit his teeth.
"Hey!" He yelled, as he stomped forward. "Future Boy!"
Upon hearing the voice, Mono's eyes widened, and his hand balled into fists.
Instantly, he whirled around, and saw Tsukuru stomping up to him.
"You!" Mono hissed. "EVERYONE around you is nothing but a headache!"
He stomped up to Tsukuru, until they were facing each other, Mono glaring down at Tsukuru, and Tsukuru glaring up at Mono.
The other second years backed away.
It looked to them like an old-fashioned Mexican standoff.
After a moment, Tsukuru spoke up.
"What happened here?" He asked.
Mono narrowed his eyes.
He still had nightmares from that three-day-long torture session, courtesy of Sergeant Shizuka, and Mono had directed all his trama from that event towards Tsukuru, as he was related to her.
"I am under no obligation to tell you shit, first-year!" Mono spat. "Know your place!"
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
'System, I don't suppose my new Video Stasis Skill would work on him, would it?' He thought.
Almost instantly, a System message appeared, essentially confirming his suspicion.
[Your Proficiency Level is far too low to affect this target.
Target far exceeds the Skill's weight limit at its current Skill Level.]
Seeing this, Tsukuru's face dropped.
'Yeah, I figured.' He thought. 'Worth a shot.'
Tsukuru and Mono continued their heated stare-down, neither one wanting to be the first one to look away.
Meanwhile, the second-years behind Mono all exchanged glances, with raised eyebrows.
They were all thinking the same thing.
'Is a Level 6 really playing a game of chicken with a Level 1?"
The two continued to stare.
Eventually, Tsukuru realized this was getting him nowhere.
He grit his teeth, and turned, walking back towards Quinn and Peter.
Seeing this, Mono smirked.
Then, his eyes narrowed, as his gaze locked on Tsukuru's wristwatch, which displayed a "2.3" Ability Level.
'He was just a Level 1.3 yesterday' He thought in contemplation. 'How does somebody jump a whole Ability Level OVERNIGHT?'
Mono turned to the other second-years, causing them to glance up at him.
"I have to go speak with General Duke about this." He replied, walking towards the assembly hall's exit. "I must…inform him about something".
His fellow classmates exchanged looks, before following after him.
Meanwhile, back with Quinn and Peter, they turned to Tsukuru as he reached them.
Tsukuru turned to Peter.
"What happened after I left?" He asked.
Peter looked away skittishly.
"After youtook off after receiving that message, Vorden agreed to go off with the second-years. Vorden told me not to worry." Peter explained.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes as he listened.
"But naturally, I did worry. I followed them, and saw the second-years leading Vorden into the assembly hall. I tried to follow them, but they had two second-years guarding the entrance who wouldn't let me in!" Peter went on.
"That's when I went to go get you guys!"
The group then started going around asking other students what had happened.
But when they did, the students seemed to avoid the question, or completely ignore them.
It was as if they had been told not to speak a word of what they had seen.
While the group continued to ask the students still in the hall about what had happened, Quinn had already come to the realization that they wouldn't be giving them any answers.
So, he decided to do some investigating of his own.
He walked over to an area of dried blood in the hall, and used his Inspect Skill on it.
[Name: Vorden Blade
Race: Human
Blood Type: O-]
Quinn then tried to use his Inspect Skill on the other patches of dried blood. However, the results were…less than successful. It wouldn't show him any information, just a row of question marks.
'Do I have to use the Inspect Skill on them in-person?' Quinn thought.
Quinn thought about how it was a shame that the blood on the ground had already dried up.
Otherwise, he and Tsukuru could have "collected" some using a syringe courtesy of Tsukuru's Ability.
Eventually, Tsukuru and Peter came up to Quinn.
Quinn turned around to look at them.
"Doesn't look like anybody's talking." Tsukuru muttered, eyes narrowing. "Figures."
Quinn put his hand under his chin, thinking.
Finally, he spoke up.
"Let's return to the dorm." Quinn replied. "He might have already returned."
Tsukuru and Peter nodded, and the three of them headed back towards the dorm room.
As the three entered, they were surprised to actually see Vorden inside.
However, something was wrong. Vorden wasn't his normal self.
As Tsukuru glanced at him, he noticed that the positioning of the three images had shifted alignment.
Now, it showed Raten's image on the left, and Vorden's image on the right.
'This must be Raten, then.' Tsukuru thought.
Just by looking at him, the group could tell he was in a fight.
He had bruises and scuffs everywhere. He even had large cuts on his back. He had clearly been in a tough fight.
Not only that, but Vorden hadn't even greeted them when they entered.
This was not the same Vorden they had come to know.
Raten just laid on the bed, not even looking at them.
"Vorden, all you alright?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Raten muttered, waving his hand dismissively. "Just leave me alone. If you stay near me, you'll just get hurt, anyway."
Peter took a step forward.
"What are you talking about, Vorden?" Peter asked. "Look at you! You need to go to the doctor's office!"
Raten glanced back at him.
"Just go!" He yelled. Peter and Quinn exchanged looks, and walked away, deciding to give "Vorden" his space.
However, Tsukuru stayed behind.
He smirked, and opened his System interface.
He scrolled down to the "Shop" section.
Some new items had unlocked after his Level Up, but nothing overly substantial.
He did notice that a slightly stronger version of the "Minor Health Potion" had been added:
[Health Potion
Consumable Item
A flask filled with a liquid of a deep, red color. Heals 20 HP. Can be consumed or applied externally as a salve. The potion must be fully used to take effect.
Cost: 8 Bronze Coins]
As Tsukuru pressed it, a new System message appeared.
[Convert 80 credits into 8 Bronze Coins?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru thought the word 'Yes'.
He then watched as the same process that had occurred whenever he bought something off of the System occurred.
The credits on his watch drop from "10,950" to "10,870", and the "Bronze" line in the upper-right corner of the Shop's screen changed from "0" to "8".
A System prompt appeared, asking Tsukuru if he wanted to purchase the item.
He thought 'yes', and the sound of a cash register could be heard.
Pixels began to appear in his hand, as if he was activating his Video Creation Skill.
The pixels clustered together, into the shape of a glass beaker, similar to the ones used for chemistry.
When the pixels solidified, Tsukuru looked down at it.
It was a glass bottle filled with a red liquid, just like the "Minor Health Potions", but it appeared to be much larger, and more ornate.
Additionally, the glass "cork" on the top of the bottle looked as if it were modeled after the claw of a Beast, the Beast gripping the bottle.
While the "minor" potions looked like slender bottles, the regular one spread outwards near the bottom, appearing to be shaped like a downwards diamond,
Tsukuru smirked as he popped off the glass cork, making a slight popping noise.
Meanwhile on the bed, Raten was sulking.
"Even they think I'm a monster." He muttered bitterly as he remembered seeing Quinn and Peter walk off, even though it was him who told them to leave in the first place.
Suddenly, he felt a cold liquid being poured on him.
"Hey, what the hell?!" He yelled, as he began rolling around.
As the liquid poured over him, he felt his wounds closing up, and his body stopped aching. He could feel his strength returning to him, as well.
He looked up, and saw Tsukuru looming over his bed, an amused smile on his face, and a now-empty bottle in his hands.
The bottle began to break apart into pixels, similarly to how it looked when Tsukuru placed an item into his System's Inventory.
However, this was just what happened when Tsukuru used up a one-time consumable item from the shop, its container simply disintegrated itself.
Raten then realized that it was him who had dumped that strange liquid all over him, the liquid seeming to magically heal his wounds.
"Well, hello to you too, Raten." Tsukuru replied, using "Vorden"'s true name.
Hearing this, made Raten's heart jump and his eyes widened.
Seeing this, a wide smirk crept across Tsukuru's face.