With the gauntlets equipped, Quinn's Strength increased to 15, which was just a single point lower than how high it was with the Knight Gauntlets equipped.
Quinn looked down at the gauntlets on his hands.
They were pitch-black in color, and had tiny horns going up the forearms.
The fingers were also sharpened, like the claws of a Beast.
Quinn then heard someone walking up behind him.
Turning around, he saw the blind, bald, old man standing behind him.
"What a strange choice, my boy." Leo said from behind him.
Quinn turned his neck back to look at him.
"It's not many people's first choice. You have to have no fear, and get up close and personal with your enemy." Leo continued, explaining. "But that's also why they're more sturdy than most, and can be used as a form of defense."
His piece said, Leo then began to walk away, to speak with other students picking their weapons, doling out his own words of wisdom to each of them.
Once everyone had finished picking their weapons, Leo called everyone to gather around the center ring.
Quinn sat towards the middle of the group.
He had Tsukuru standing to his left, while Layla stood to his immediate right. Leo let out a cough, getting everyone's attention.
"Now, I won't claim to be an expert in every weapon." Leo replied. "Some of you may know how to use your selected weapon better than me. But what I am an expert in is fighting with weapons alone. Fighting can be considered like a game. You can always try to predict your opponent's next move, measure your opponent's ability, and so on." Leo's gaze shifted from student to student in the crowd.
"For your first lesson, I want to see what you've got." He replied. "We will have a series of sparring matches, one-on-one. We will all watch the match and comment on what could be improved on. Now, are there any volunteers?" He asked.
Instantly, Erin's hand shot up.
Without even waiting for Leo to say anything, she headed into the arena in the middle of the circle and waited.
In her hands, she held a silvish longsword that shone bright.
It wasn't one of the weapons along the walls, so Tsukuru and Quinn assumed it was a weapon she already possessed.
Strange thing was, Tsukuru and Quinn knew that she hadn't had a weapon during the Ability Level test.
They would have remembered that.
At first, a lot of students were hesitant to go up against Erin.
Her reputation as a Level 5 Ability User was well-known.
It was then that Leo spoke up.
"Oh, I forgot to mention." He replied. "Today, the use of Abilities during spars will be strictly prohibited. It is important that you know how to use your weapons first, as only then can you draw out the full potential of your weapon by combining it with your Ability."
Instantly, hands began to shoot up.
They all wanted a chance to beat the infamous "Ice Queen".
Now that she couldn't use her Ability, it was their only chance.
A large man wielding a two-handed axe began to walk forward, a smug look on his face.
He made it two steps before he suddenly stopped moving.
He felt his feet were stuck in dried concrete.
Confused, he looked down, only to see that his feet up to his ankles were enveloped in an aura of strange, glitching pixels.
Behind him, Tsukuru could be seen.
The dagger in his right hand had been moved to his left, him holding both daggers in his left hand, leaving his right hand empty.
His right hand was reaching downwards, enveloped in the same aura of glitching pixels as the man's frozen legs.
Everyone looked at him in shock.
Leo narrowed his eyes at the boy, seeing how he had used his Ability on the other student.
"I'll go." Tsukuru said, walking past the stuck student.
He dismissed his Skill as he passed, so the boy could move again.
He reached for the handles of one of the daggers in his left hand.
He tightened his grip around the hand, and removed it from his left hand so he was holding one dagger in each hand again.
Tsukuru had a dark expression on his face.
"Somebody needs to knock this Ice Queen down a peg."
As Tsukuru entered the arena, standing opposite Erin, she looked at him with the same cold expression.
"Do you actually know how to use those things?" She asked, forming a sword-fighting stance. "Or are you just gonna keep using them as throwing darts?"
Tsukuru's eye twitched in annoyance at her words.
"Oh, I am going to enjoy this SO MUCH, you little frost bitch." He muttered in an irritated tone, holding his two arms out wide, a blade in each.
As Tsukuru looked at Erin in front of him, a System message popped up in front of him between them, although only Tsukuru could see it.
[An enemy Ability User has been detected. You have received a new Quest: Defeat the Level 5 Ability User Erin Heyley
Reward: 50 XP
An Ability Level difference of 3 has been detected. Quest Reward has been upgraded.
Reward: Instant Level-Up]
Seeing the message, Tsukuru let out a snort.
'Yeah, right.' He thought bitterly. 'Even IF neither of us can use our Abilities, I'm not beating a Level 5 Ability User. ESPECIALLY with such a low Level.'
This had a double-meaning. It referred to not only him being a Level 2 Ability User, but what he referred to as his "Player Level", his Level indicated by the System, being 2, as well.
'Still…' He thought, as his grip tightened around his daggers, and a dark expression appeared on his face. 'I would love NOTHING MORE than to knock that condescending look off her face!'
Within Tsukuru's vision, the message indicating his System's "Battle Mode" had activated appeared before him.
Instantly, his System's vector in his vision disappeared.
Like in his fight with Quinn against Riley in the park, a health bar appeared in the upper-left corner of his vision.
Underneath the very end of the bar, it read "15/15".
A health bar appeared above Erin's head, as well.
Erin looked at the boy standing across from her.
'He's that kid from the placement test.' She thought. 'The one with that weird 'creation' Ability.'
She tried to place a name to the face, but her memory was coming up blank.
As Erin was always focussed on getting as strong as possible, she paid little attention to those around her.
In fact, she had a bad habit of not even remembering the names of those she deemed as "weak".
Unable to recall a name, she spoke.
"Wait." She asked, catching Tsukuru's attention. "Who are you, again?"
Her question caused a deep silence to fill the weapon hall.
Tsukuru's whole body shook with rage, and his eye twitched in irritation.
"Oh." He muttered in a dark tone. "So just because I don't have a high Ability Level, you couldn't even be bothered to remember my fucking name. Is that it?!"
Due to his life of dealing with assholes with high Ability Levels, Tsukuru had become subconsciously conditioned to see the worst in them, and thus, he just to the worst possible conclusion.
At his words, Erin at least had the decency to glance away slightly.
It did look kinda bad when Tsukuru put it like that.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, he reached his left arm back and threw his left dagger with all his might.
It flew through the air at high speeds.
Everyone looked in shock.
To them, it appeared as if the dagger had been shot out of a bow, not thrown from a person's hand.
A split-second after he threw the dagger, he dashed full speed at Erin.
As he moved he activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the hall, as pixels began to appear in Tsukuru's now-empty left hand.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
He was about to speak up about Tsukuru flagrantly breaking his "no Abilities" rule, but when an exact copy of Tsukuru's Beast Dagger formed in his hand, he held his tongue.
One of the students turned to Leo.
"Hey, he just activated his Ability!" The boy shouted. "Isn't he cheating?!"
Leo thought for a second.
"I'll allow it." He muttered. "Technically, he's not using his Ability to fight, merely replacing his weapon."
Leo narrowed his eyes.
"But I'll be keeping a close eye on him from now on."
Despite the blade traveling at high speeds, Erin saw it clearly due to her training.
She swerved her upper body slightly to the left, moving her shoulder out of the dagger's trajectory, and causing it to whiz past her.
Looking ahead, she saw Tsukuru crossing his arms, preparing to make an "X" shaped slashing motion.
Erin turned her hand so her sword was pointing downwards.
Her sword clashed with his two crossed daggers.
Tsukuru appeared to be struggling with all his might to try and break through Erin's Sword that she was using to block his attack, meanwhile Erin looked as though she was putting in minimal effort.
Erin looked at Tsukuru with a bored expression.
With a flick of her wrist, her sword swung forward, and Tsukuru found himself knocked back from the force, flying backwards.
The force of the impact forced his arms wide apart, leaving him defenseless.
As Tsukuru was flying, he saw Erin dash in front of him.
He watched on, powerless, as Erin swung her sword in a horizontal arc.
The group let out a gasp. Her sword sliced into his chest, the force sending him even further back.
Tsukuru landed on his feet, kneeling. He felt a stinging pain in his chest, and saw his health bar go down.
The number under the bar was reduced from "15/15" to "12/15".
Additionally, Tsukuru received a System message.
[-3 HP. HP: 12/15]
Looking down at his daggers, Tsukuru noticed that the left one was slightly chipped along the center of the blade.
His eyes widened in confusion.
'What?' He thought.
However, before he could delve into that detail any further, Erin appeared in front of him, and performed a downwards slice.
Immediately, Tsukuru held his arms crossed above his head, his daggers forming an "X" above him to block Erin's sword swing.
Tsukuru grunted as he strained.
'She's…strong.' Tsukuru thought. 'Even without her Ability.'
As Tsukuru strained to protect himself, his gaze focused on Erin's Sword.
A System message appeared in front of him.
[Would you like to Scan individual Erin Heyley's Beast Weapon?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought.
Instantly, the System vector reappeared, and focused on Erin's Sword.
Soon, the weapon's information appeared.
[Iron-Fanged Blade
Intermediate-Tier Weapon Weapon
A Beast Weapon forged using Glathrium and the Beast Crystals of the Intermediate-Tier Iron-Fanged Wolf
+5 Strength ]
Tsukuru's eyes widened.
'An Intermediate-Tier Beast Weapon?!' He thought. 'No wonder my dagger got chipped! How's it fair that she's using an Intermediate-Tier Beast Weapon when we're all stuck using Basic-Tier Beast Weapons?!'
Tsukuru conveniently ignoring the fact that, despite his daggers being Basic-Tier, he had brought them from outside of the Beast Weapons Hall, just like Erin's sword.
He continued to grunt and strain, as Erin pinned him in place.
Tsukuru's muscles bulged, as he attempted to gather enough strength to rival Erin's.
Seeing this, Erin quirked an eyebrow.
She placed her other hand on her blade, and applied force with both hands.
Instantly, Tsukuru felt the force against his two daggers double in intensity.
His arms began to feel like jelly, and slowly began to buckle, falling down.
As his hands began to fall down, Erin pressed forward, pushing her sword down further and further.
When her sword was hovering mere centimeters above Tsukuru's forehead, she stopped.
Tsukuru looked up at Erin, face defiant.
She looked down at him with the same cold look.
"No bad." She replied in the same, cold tone. "But still weak."
Tsukuru grit his teeth in frustration.
The two continued to lock eyes, until they heard a sudden clap.
Everyone's gaze shifted towards the source of the noise, Leo.
"That's enough, you two." Leo announced.
He pointed his hand over at Erin.
"Winner, Erin Heyley."
As soon as her name was announced, Erin lifted her blade off of Tsukuru's daggers, and stood back to her feet, sword at her side.
Slowly, Tsukuru got to his feet, as well.
He felt absolutely terrible, and the System message that appeared in front of him made him feel even worse.
[Quest Failed. Consolation XP awarded. 10 XP awarded. XP: 150/200]