Paul stared at the closed door.
'Hikiko Tsukuru.' He thought. 'Just what does he want now?'
Eventually, Paul cleared his throat, causing the others to turn to him.
"Come in." Paul replied.
The "chunk" sound of the doorknob was heard, and the door swung open.
When it did, Tsukuru was revealed in the doorway.
However, he looked different from normal.
Instead of wearing his standard-issue military uniform (even if he wore the blazer unzipped), Tsukuru was now wearing a set of black robes with a hooded cape.
The clothes had a slight, metallic sheen, as if they were at least partially made of metal fibers.
The whole group just stared at Tsukuru for a moment.
Eventually, Sergeant Faye spoke.
"Hikiko Tsukuru, what are you wearing?" She asked.
Hearing this, Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"That's actually what I'm here to talk about." He replied, walking into the room.
Tsukuru glanced up at Paul.
"I was wondering if I could have…special permission to wear this instead of my uniform for the next few days." He replied. "I want to get used to it before the Portal Outing."
The six lower-ranked officials all glanced towards Paul, as if waiting for his answer.
Head General Paul squinted his eyes at Tsukuru.
"You're wearing that on the Portal Outing?" He asked. "What is it, some kind of Beast Equipment?"
Tsukuru glanced to the side.
"It's…a replacement for one." He replied, piquing everyone's attention. "It's made out with a 40% Glathrium fiber lining."
Hearing this, Shizuka put her hand under her chin.
"Hmm…" She mused.
She reached down to a leather holster attached to her left thigh.
As she flipped it open, an assortment of sharp needles could be seen.
She picked one between her first two fingers, and swung her arm out towards Tsukuru.
At the same time, she flicked her fingers, launching the needle towards him like a projectile.
Seeing this, both Sergeant Faye's and Sergeant Leo's eyes widened in astonishment.
However, the needle made contact with the robes, a metallic "tink" was heard, and the needle rebounded off, spinning in the air.
Tsukuru momentarily glanced down at the point of impact, before looking back up.
"Not bad." Shizuka said with a smirk of acknowledgment, as she closed the holster back up. "It'll protect him against Basic-Tier Beasts, at least."
Head General Paul's eyes narrowed, him deep in thought.
Eventually, he spoke.
"Wear the bare basics of your military uniform underneath it at least." He replied.
Tsukuru nodded, and walked back out of the room.
The group continued to watch Tsukuru's retreating body, until he vanished out of sight.
***
Back in the Dormitory, Quinn opened the door to the dorm room, and walked in.
Looking around, he saw that the room was completely empty.
It seemed that Peter and Vorden were still training in the training room.
Quinn threw his bag against his cupboard.
As it did, it slightly bounced off the box containing the twenty Beast Daggers Tsukuru had given him, which was laying flat on top.
Unlike Layla and Erin, Quinn had yet to sell them on the marketplace.
Quinn laid down on his bed, his arms rested behind his head.
With nothing to do, he closed his eyes, and sleep soon took him.
A short while later, Logan's room in the VIP section of the dormitory…
Both Tsukuru and Logan exchanged glances.
They then looked back down at something laying on a table in front of them.
It was a pair of Tsukuru's gauntlets.
However, these ones were heavily damaged.
There were countless, long cracks running across the front of them from top to bottom.
Logan glanced over at Tsukuru.
"Tell me again, how did this happen?" He asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed in irritation.
"I told you already." He hissed. "They got damaged when I was trying to block the Minotaur's greataxe in the Battle Arena."
Logan stared at him for a moment.
"In the VR Pod." He said, a statement of confirmation.
Tsukuru let out an annoyed huff, and glanced to the side.
"Yes, in the VR Pod!" He replied.
Logan glanced back down at the damaged gauntlets.
'This System…' He thought. 'The more I learn about it, the more it both bogglesmy mind…and piques my interest…'
He turned back to Tsukuru.
"I'll run some tests, but you'll probably need to have a Forger reforge them if you want to use them again." He replied.
Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"Keep them." He replied. "I've already created a replacement pair."
With that, Tsukuru walked out of the room, and headed back down towards the first floor.
Even after Tsukuru had long-since left, Logan continued to stare at the gauntlets.
'These gauntlets…they weren't made using the conventional process.' He thought. 'They were created using Tsukuru's 'System', and if what he told me about them being able to 'upgrade' themselves is true, they're heavily interconnected with his 'Summons'.'
A slight smirk crept across Logan's face.
'I want to run every test POSSIBLE on them.' He thought. 'I want to analyze and understand every part of them.'
***
When Tsukuru entered the dorm room, he found it completely empty, with the exception of Quinn, who was sleeping in his bed.
Tsukuru walked over to his bed, and sat down on it.
As he did, he thought back to the last two groups of enemies in the second "wave" of the Battle Arena.
After he had created his Glathrium-Fiber Robes, he had completely depleted his in-game MC, and was forced to fight hand-to-hand.
Tsukuru grit his teeth.
'While that's fine for the Swarmers, the Hobgoblins, and the Dark Elves, I absolutely cannot find myself in that situation against the MINOTAUR.' Tsukuru thought, glancing to the side. 'I'm barely making a dent even with access to my Ability!'
Tsukuru thought back to how taking objects in and out of his System's Inventory and System Tab cost him no MC.
Instantly, a wide smile came across his face.
He outstretched his right hand to the side, towards the front of the bed.
He activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear on the bed, slightly illuminating it with blue light.
Roughly two hours later…
As Tsukuru created his latest creation, he started breathing heavily.
His face looked exhausted, and he felt completely drained.
As if to agree with him, a System message popped up in front of him.
[-10 MC. MC: 0/60]
He looked down at his bed.
It was currently covered in Beast Gear.
In fact, it was covered in so much of it, that Tsukuru had to get up and stand to the side of it just to make room.
On his bed, there were thirty copies of his Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword, which lined the bed from side to side.
Tsukuru outstretched his arm out, his hand hovering above one of the swords.
Over his multiple attempts over the past two hours, Tsukuru had discovered something.
It seemed that he didn't have to actually touch the object he wanted to put in his System.
As long as his hand was within 5 feet of the object, he could place it in his System's Inventory or Weapons Tab.
As Tsukuru imagined placing the swords in his Inventory, the familiar System screen appeared.
[Would you like to place the thirty Intermediate-Tier Knight Swords in your Weapons Tab?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought.
Instantly, the thirty swords simultaneously broke down into pixels, and disappeared.
Tsukuru opened up his System's "Weapons Tab" with a mental command, and looked at it.
It currently had six items, all categorized by when he had "acquired" them.
Additionally, the first five each had a small "30" at the lower-right corner of the square, indicating that there were thirty of each in his System.
Going in order, they were the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword, the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets, the Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Dagger, the Intermediate-Tier Firebomb Arrow, the Intermediate-Tier Frostnet Arrow, and the Basic-Tier Elven Shortbow.
"There." Tsukuru said with a deep, exhausted breath, as he swiped away the screen. "Now, even if I do run out of MC, I'll always have access to a weapon."
Of course, he still couldn't use his Video Stasis Skill without MC, so he would have to manually throw them, but one problem at a time.
"Oh god, that took forever." Tsukuru muttered, as he collapsed on the bed.
It had been a long, arduous process.
First, as he only had sixty MC total, he had to make a group, then wait a whole half-an-hour for his MC to recharge to make the next one.
Whenever his bed got full, he would put away groups of items in his System's Weapons Tab to make the required room.
Additionally, it seemed that the amount of MC required for his Creation Skill was determined by the object's size.
While the daggers and gauntlets only cost 1 MC each, the arrows and swords cost 2 MC each.
This meant that he had to make the weapons in four bursts.
The first was the daggers and gauntlets, the second and third were each different kind of arrows, and the fourth was the swords.
Additionally, it seemed that his Ability had a quantity limit, as well.
He could only make a maximum of five objects at once.
This meant that he couldn't just make thirty items and be done with it.
He had to make six bursts of five items.
As Tsukuru laid back on the bed, he accessed his System's Inventory.
Like every night, he decided to take his Handheld Gaming Console out of his System's Inventory, and play it until he completed his System's "Daily Quest".
Roughly ten minutes later, the expected System screen popped up in front of him.
[Daily Quest has been completed. 10 XP received. XP: 1274/1600]
Seeing the message, Tsukuru turned off his Gaming Console, and place it back into his System's Inventory.
He then closed his eyes, and went to sleep, as well.