Night came and passed over the military base, and soon it was the next day.
As Quinn woke up, the familiar System message popped up.
[Daily Quest 2 has been completed. 5 Exp received. Exp: 370/800]
The day started as normal, with Tsukuru being the first one in and out of the shower.
However, to all three roommate's surprise, when Tsukuru opened the door, he wasn't wearing his military uniform.
He was wearing the same Glathrium-fiber robes Quinn had seen him wearing yesterday when he got out of the VR Pod.
Peter and Vorden stared at Tsukuru's strange attire for a moment.
Eventually, Vorden spoke up.
"Tsukuru, what is that?" He asked. "And…aren't you required to wear the military uniform to classes?"
Tsukuru smiled.
"It's an outfit made with Glathrium fibers. I'm gonna be using it as pseudo-Beast Equipment on the Portal Outing." He explained. "I got permission from the Head General yesterday to wear it until then. Besides…"
Tsukuru grabbed the side of his lower robes, right where his left thigh was.
He lifted it up slightly, revealing the navy-blue and gray pants of his military uniform beneath.
"...I'm still wearing my military uniform." He replied.
The rest of their group took their turns in the shower, and got changed into their military uniforms.
Together, they all headed down to the canteen for breakfast.
Like always, Quinn, Peter, and Vorden waited in line, while Tsukuru sat down at their table, and just made his breakfast.
Like yesterday, he made a small, breakfast pizza.
As the group ate, they couldn't help but notice everyone staring at Tsukuru.
Or to be more specific, his attire.
Even Quinn had to admit, Tsukuru's outfit did look out of place.
After breakfast, they all headed to Del's homeroom class.
"Listen up, everyone!" Del replied from the front desk, him holding a tablet in the air. "Since the Portal Outing will be at the end of the week, we need to record your chosen teams. Team Leaders, please stand up. When I call your name, please provide a list of your teammates!"
Instantly, ten of the students stood up at attention.
These were the "team leaders" of each team, the one designated to be "in charge" of the group.
Between Tsukuru and Quinn, Vorden stood up.
While Erin had argued that she should have been Team Leader, Vorden argued back by saying "list the names of our group".
To Erin's credit, she had tried, and she had listed names.
However, the only ones she actually got right were Vorden and Tsukuru.
The others weren't even close.
In fact, the closest was Layla.
And even then, she only got her first letter right, calling her "Lisa".
One-by-one, the students began listing off their teammates.
When one Team Leader in specific listed off "Amelia Graylash", a majority of the class all winced.
They all gave that Team Leader, a boy, sympathetic looks, as if he was walking towards his own execution.
Instantly, the boy felt a cold chill run down his spine.
Slowly, he turned around.
There, in the back row, he saw Tsukuru glaring daggers at him, a dark expression on his face.
The boy gulped.
He knew that if anything happened to Amelia out of the Portal Outing, the consequences would be…dire.
People who antagonized Tsukuru and his groups of friends…tended to wind up dead.
Riley Blake's mysterious "disappearance" could be written off as a "coincidence".
However, Brandon Richardson winding up dead…established a pattern.
"Vorden Blade!" Del announced, before looking back down at his tablet, ready to write down the names.
"My team consists of myself, Quinn Talen, Peter Chuck, Hikiko Tsukuru, Layla Munrow, and Erin Heyley!" He replied.
Instantly, the room became dead silent.
Even Del's eyes widened in surprise.
He snapped up his head to look at Vorden, sure he had heard him wrong.
The other students all snapped their heads back to look at the group, as well.
It wasn't surprising.
After all, they were the only group with such a high difference between Ability Levels.
Most low-Levels stuck with other low Levels, and the high-Levels stuck with high-Levels.
Meanwhile, their team consisted of two Level 1s, a Level 2, a Level 3, and two Level 5s.
Something like this had never happened in the school before.
Eventually, homeroom ended, and they all separated into groups and headed off into their combat classes.
As the group of Tsukuru, Quinn, Layla, and Erin entered the Beast Weapon Hall, they heard Leo speaking to the class.
"Alright everyone, continue your independent training!" He announced. "And if you wish to spar with a partner, remember to politely ask!"
During class, Leo would go around, and give tips to the students when he could.
Eventually in the afternoon, the day's classes were over.
Just like before, Quinn and Tsukuru headed off in a group towards the VR Room.
Once there, Tsukuru paid for an hour for each of them, and they went their separate ways.
Quinn to Power Fighters, and Tsukuru to the Battle Arena.
Almost an hour later…
Nate watched in the stands, as Quinn defeated his tenth and final opponent of the day.
A System screen popped up in front of Quinn.
[25 Exp received. Exp: 525/800.]
Unfortunately for Quinn, however, the more people he played against, the more traction the Power Fighters forum post about him got.
And the worst part was, Quinn was completely unaware.
He didn't even know there was a forum for the game.
Quinn had never really had access to games growing up.
He had TV and internet, but didn't really know much about games.
In fact, Power Fighters was the first game that he had ever played.
And even then, he only knew about it because of Vorden.
***
At the same time within the "Battle Arena" of Tsukuru's System, Tsukuru leaped towards the Minotaur from behind.
"Argh!" He roared, letting out a battle cry.
He had his arms raised above his head and held the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword above his head.
He held it in a reverse grip, intending to stab it into the Minotaur's back.
However, the Minotaur's upper twisted backwards, and she swung her greataxe in a long arc.
The greataxe cleaved Tsukuru cleanly in half, and the two halves exploded into pixels.
Instantly, Tsukuru found himself in the dark room with the green and red System screens.
Seeing it, Tsukuru's right eye began to twitch in annoyance.
"GOD…DAMMIT!" He roared, stomping his foot on the ground multiple times in frustration.
It was his secondtime in here today.
It seemed like a vicious cycle.
He would blitz his way through the first two waves, beat the two groups of Swarmers, and then immediately get curb-stompled by that damn Minotaur.
And even worse, even though he had barely made a dent into Wave 3, he still only got 10% XP from defeating the two groups of Swarmers!
Apparently, the System considered that him "repeating the wave"!
Tsukuru spent the next few minutes taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
Eventually, Tsukuru let out a sigh.
He brought up his Status Screen.
[Name Hikiko Tsukuru
Race Human
Level 5
XP 1516/1600
Title Little Rookie
Ability Video
Ability Level 2
______________________
HP 30/30
MC 60/60
______________________
Strength 11
Stamina 14
Agility 12
[Stat Points: 0] ]
Seeing it, Tsukuru's eye still twitched in annoyance.
"At least I'm almost there." He muttered.
Tsukuru dismissed the screen, and brought up the Battle Arena's Exchange Corner.
At the very bottom, there was a rectangular bar that read "BP: 8".
Tsukuru smirked.
While it wasn't enough to unlock the Hobgoblin Summon Race, it was enough to unlock the Dark Elf's one.
'Time to unlock my next Summon.' He thought.
He scrolled down to the very bottom of the list, and pressed the rectangular bar for the "Dark Elf Summon Race".
As tapped the rectangular bar, causing it to light up.
An electronic "beep" was heard, and a System message popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to unlock the Dark Elf Summon Race?
Costs 6 BP
BP: 8
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru smiled as he pressed "yes".
The "yes" option lit up brightly, and an electronic "beep" was heard.
Instantly a set of two System messages popped up in front of him, overlapping each other.
[Dark Elf Summon Race has been added to your Video Arsenal.
1 Pawn Grade Dark Elf has been added to your Video Arsenal.]
[You have received one Basic-Tier Elven Shortbow.
Basic-Tier Elven Shortbow has been placed in your Weapons Tab.]
Tsukuru smiled in satisfaction.
He then dismissed the System message, and returned to the screen for the Exchange Corner.
There were four items that he could buy with his remaining 2 BP, the "XS XP candy" and the three kinds of red pills.
With how close he was to Leveling Up, Tsukuru could buy the "XS XP Candy" to Level Up right away.
However, if he kept the two Battle Points and added them to the eight points he'd get tomorrow, he'd have enough to buy the Hobgoblin's Summon Race.
Tsukuru then dismissed the screen.
Thinking back to the new piece of Beast Gear he got when he bought the Dark Elf's Summon Race, Tsukuru imagined taking it out of his System's "Weapons Tab".
Instantly, a new System screen appeared.
[Would you like to equip the Basic-Tier Elven Shortbow?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru thought the word 'yes', and instantly, pixels began to appear in his hand.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of a bow.
When the bow fully manifested, Tsukuru looked at it.
It looked exactly like the bows he had seen the Dark Elves wielding in the arena.
It was a bow that looked as though it was carved out of the bones of some Beast, with twine being used as the drawstring.
As Tsukuru looked at it, his System's "Scanner" function automatically activated, the System's "vector" appearing over the bow.
A line extended from the left side of the bow, leading to a square in the left side of his vision.
The square showed an up-close image of the bow, and it displayed text beneath the square.
[Elven Shortbow
Basic-Tier Beast Weapon
A Beast Weapon wielded by a Dark Elf.
+3 Strength
+4 Agility ]
Tsukuru smiled.
'My first piece of Beast Gear for one of my Summons other than my Haunted Knight.' Tsukuru thought.
Tsukuru smirked, and imagined returning the bow back to his Weapons Tab.
A System screen popped up in front of him, which he thought "yes" to.
As he did, the Elven Shortbow broke down into pixels, returning to his System's Weapons Tab.
With everything he needed to take care of done, he pressed the red, "RETIRE" Screen.
A new System screen appeared.
[ What would you like to do?
[Transfer to Power Fighters]
[Exit VR Pod] ]
Tsukuru pressed the "Exit VR Pod" option.
Instantly, his body began to break apart into pixels, and his vison went to black once again.