As Vorden jumped through the Portal, he felt a tingling sensation all over his body.
The world around him started to warp and displace, and his mind felt like it was melting.
'So this is what going through a Portal feels like, huh?' Vorden thought. 'Kinda reminds me of having the Teleportation Ability used on me…'
It wasn't a horrible feeling.
In fact, to some, the sensation of going through a Portal was…addictive.
A few moments later, a portal of red energy opened up on a barren planet with a darkened sky.
As Vorden fell through, the portal vanished, trapping him there.
Vorden looked from side to side, observing his new surroundings.
The first thing he noticed was that the place was incredibly dark.
As he looked up, the only source of light was the moonlight coming off of the two moons.
Around him were the crumbled remains of buildings and structures, as if at one point, the planet had been inhabited.
This was most likely the remains of the military base that was created here before the planet was designated as a Red Portal Planet, and thus abandoned.
Back in the dark space of his mind, Sil finally calmed down, and slumped down.
Raten released his grip, and let him fall to the floor.
Vorden looked back at the two, and let out a sigh.
"Well, at least he seems to have finally calmed down." He replied.
Raten's head snapped up to look at him.
"What does that matter?!" Raten shot back. "Do you even realize what you've just done?! You jumped through a Red Portal!"
In the outside world, Vorden continued looking around at the ruins.
It was strange to him, seeing building structures.
Building structures were the sign of humans or an advanced civilization, and so far, none of the undiscovered planets had anything like this.
Whenever they did find such a structure on uncharted planets, it was usually a Dalki encampment.
However, this was clearlyhuman-built, not Dalki.
"Aren't Red Portals meant to lead to unsheltered planets?" Vorden asked. "This place looks like a broken shelter!"
In the dark space, Raten narrowed his eyes.
"That's because it probably is." He replied.
Vorden turned his head back to look at him.
"Remember what Tsukuru had said when Del had him explain the Portal colors." Raten replied. "While Orange Portals mean that the planet is in the process of being taken over, Red Portals indicate that the planet is too dangerous for colonization. It was most likely either abandoned or…everyone was killed."
Raten then grit his teeth.
"Like you said to Peter, you've essentially given us a death sentence."
Vorden raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
Raten narrowed his eyes at him, a look of deep irritation on his face.
"You can be really stupid sometimes, you know that?" Raten spat. "Sure, you ran through the Portal to stop him from killing your friend…" Raten replied, jabbing his thumb back at Sil. "...But what's the point if we die, instead? The only Ability we have access to is that weak Level 1 Earth Ability you copied from Peter."
Raten grit his teeth.
"You should have copied Tsukuru's Level 3 Original Ability when we met in the hall. Now, we're shackled with this useless Level 1 Ability! The second we run into a Beast, we're doomed!"
However, that wasn't the only problem.
This place wasn't exactly teeming with life.
Not many people had access to Portals in the first place.
Only Green Portals were publicly available, and even then, they were strictly monitored by the company that owned them.
Meaning that the only people around here would be Travelers.
With no people around, and only Beasts, Vorden was stuck with Peter's Level 1 Earth Ability.
And even then, it would only last for 24 hours.
Then, a thought came to Vorden's mind.
Quinn and Tsukuru.
Since the three of them had been sent through one-after-another instead of holding hands, the Portal would spit them out in three completely random locations, all within a ten-mile radius of each other.
And ten miles was a huge distance to cover.
And with the chance of Beasts popping out at every corner, it would be almost impossible to find his two friends.
For now, Vorden would look for the Portal back to the base, while also searching for the two.
At the same time in another location on the planet, another red portal opened up.
"Ah!" Tsukuru screamed, as he fell through the Portal.
He fell to the ground with a thud falling on his face.
The Portal closed behind him.
Tsukuru then stood up, and brushed himself off.
"Alright, 'Shizuka's first rule of traveling to another planet, find your bearings'." Tsukuru recited from memory.
Tsukuru looked around him at the ruins.
"Looks like an abandoned military shelter." He muttered.
Tsukuru looked down at Quinn's bag, still held tightly in his right hand.
'Quinn…' Tsukuru thought. 'Don't worry, I'll get this back to you!'
He then imagined placing the bag in his System's Inventory.
Instantly, a System message popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to place Quinn Talen's Backpack in your Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru thought 'Yes', and the bag broke down into pixels, vanishing.
Suddenly, Tsukuru heard a growling noise from behind him.
Confused, Tsukuru snapped his head around to look behind him.
When he did, he saw three creatures approaching him.
They were all black in color, and looked like rats the size of a large dog.
Instantly, Tsukuru's System's "Scanner" function automatically activated, identifying the Beasts.
[Name: Rattaclaw
Basic-Tier Beast]
The Rattaclaws all growled at Tsukuru, and lunged towards him on all fours.
Seeing this, Tsukuru rolled his eyes.
This was no different than fighting Swarmers in his System's Battle Arena.
Instantly, he withdrew three of his stockpiled Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Daggers instead of creating them with his Ability, as withdrawing them was faster.
Tsukuru then grabbed the three daggers with his Video Stasis Skill, and launched them at the three Rattaclaws.
Thanks to his System's "Auto-Targeting" feature, he hit all three of them dead-on between the eyes.
Black blood spurted from their wounds, and they all fell to the ground, dead.
Soon, pools of black blood began to appear around the three dead bodies.
A moment later, a series of three System messages popped up in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed three Basic-Tier Rattaclaws. 300 XP received. First time killing a Basic-Tier Beast. 200 Bonus XP received. First time killing a Rattaclaw. First-Time Kill Bonus: 100 XP received.
XP: 736/3200.
You have killed your first Beast. You have received a Bonus Reward.
New Skill Plunder - Lv. 1 has been acquired.]
[Plunder - Lv. 1
Active Skill
No MC Required
You can extract the Beast Crystal from a slain Beast via direct contact. Extracted Beast Crystals will be automatically placed in your Inventory.]
Seeing the Screens, Tsukuru raised an eyebrow in intrigue.
Curious, he walked over towards the closest Rattaclaw corpse.
When the Beasts had died, they had fallen on their left sides.
Tsukuru knelt down, and placed his hand flat on the chest of the Beast.
Instantly, a System message popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to activate the Skill Plunder?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought.
As he did, a new System message appeared.
[Skill Plunder has been activated. One Basic-Tier Rattaclaw Crystal has been extracted. Basic-Tier Rattaclaw Crystal has been placed in your Inventory.]
Tsukuru repeated the process with the other two Rattaclaws, extracting their Beast Crystals, and placing them in his System's Inventory.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes as he thought about his new "Skill".
"This 'plunder' Skill…it sounds just like what Ray's System did on its own." He muttered.
In the "fictional" book Tsukuru had been reading, Ray Talen's "Dragon" System had a feature where it automatically placed the Beast Crystals of any Beast Ray killed within his System.
Then, Tsukuru's eyes narrowed further.
He remembered that there was one other thing that Ray's System could do.
Immediately, Tsukuru withdrew one of the Rattaclaw Beast Crystals from his System's Inventory.
Instantly, pixels began to appear in his hand.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of a circular object roughly the size of a tennis ball with rough edges.
When the Beast Crystal fully manifested, Tsukuru looked down at it.
It was an opaque, white crystal, looking like a giant chunk of rock salt.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
This was his first time seeing a Beast Crystal, but he had heard from Shizuka that the higher a Beast's Tier, the clearer its Crystal.
Given how opaque this Crystal was, it proved that the Beast was of a low Tier.
Tsukuru clenched his hands around the Crystal, and imagined absorbing the Crystal's Beast Energy.
Nothing happened.
Tsukuru tried again, his body straining from the effort.
Still, nothing had changed.
Tsukuru took a few deep breaths, and looked down at the Crystal.
"Oh well." He muttered. "It was worth a shot."
Tsukuru then placed the Beast Crystal back in his System's Inventory.
In truth, he had pretty much expected this result.
Unlike Ray, who used the Beast Energy in the Crystals to "evolve" and regain his true, Dragon body from his reincarnation process, Tsukuru was fully human.
Tsukuru let out a sigh, and continued to walk forward.
***
However, Tsukuru wasn't the only one attacked by the Rattaclaws, for in another location on the planet, a Rattaclaw lunged at Quinn,
Almost out of instinct, Quinn swiped his arm out, letting out a Blood Swipe.
A System message popped up in front of him.
[-1 HP. HP: 24/25.]
The attack managed to hit the Beast, and sent it flying back.
The attack also caused a large cut to appear on the Rattaclaw's stomach, and black blood the spray out, just like Tsukuru's daggers had done.
While the Rattleclaw was taking the time to recover, Quinn decided to use his Inspect Skill on it, which showed him the same information Tsukuru's System had shown him.
[Name: Rattaclaw
Basic-Tier Beast
HP: ?/? ]
Unlike with humans, Quinn had only received the Beast's name and Tier.
However, seeing that the Rattaclaw was only a Basic-Tier Beast, Quinn felt a little less frightened.
He had just arrived on an unknown planet, and just because a Beast was small didn't mean it was a low Tier.
However, something like the Rattaclaw should be something that even Quinn could take care of.
The Rattaclaw had recovered, and charged straight for Quinn.
Seeing that the Blood Swipe was effective, Quinn waited for the Beast to get close.
"Blood Swipe!" Quinn yelled, swiping down his hand, and unleashing the line of red aura.