The System had been oddly specific that his body required human blood when he had first evolved into a Halfling.
This was starting to think that the blood of animals wouldn't work.
When Quinn had asked Tsukuru about examples of Vampires who didn't want to drink human blood in fiction, he had said that there were a few examples of them who had drunk pig's blood as a substitute.
It would make sense.
Pig's blood and Human blood were both red in color.
However, the more Quinn learned about the System, the more he came to think that wouldn't work for him.
Quinn narrowed his eyes, as he realized that there was one person who knew all of the answers Quinn was looking for.
That blonde-haired Vampire from the Tutorial Videos.
Quinn turned back to the dead Rattaclaw.
There was one last thing he had to do, extract the Rattaclaw's Beast Crystal.
However, unlike Tsukuru, Quinn had to do it the old-fashioned way.
But just as Quinn reached forward to begin, he heard the sound of running again.
As Quinn looked up, he saw the sight of ten more Rattaclaws running towards his direction, ironically, like rats to a carcass.
Quinn grit his teeth in irritation.
Although Basic-Tier Beasts were the weakest Tier, it was unusual for them to travel alone.
They usually traveled in packs.
Quinn had just gotten lucky to run into a single one.
And after struggling against just one of them, he knew that he had no chance against ten.
All he could do was run.
He ran down the empty street, not knowing where he was heading.
But the Rattaclaws were fast, and Quinn knew that they would catch up soon.
That's when Quinn noticed a building, one that was far less damaged than the others.
He went through the doorway, but the space was still too large.
That's when he spotted a stairway to his immediate right.
Quinn quickly ran up the steps.
Once he had reached the first platform, he stopped and turned around.
He knew he had no choice but to fight back.
And luckily for him, the staircase was narrower, and he had the high ground.
Quinn opened his palm with it facing downwards towards the stairs.
"Alright, let's test you out." He muttered.
Standing on the top platform, Quinn had a clear view of the Rattaclaws as they came in closer.
Once they were halfway up the stairs, he activated the Skill.
"Blood Spray!" He yelled.
His arm jerked backwards as the Skill activated, like the recoil from a gun, as the blood bullets left his hand.
A System message popped up in front of him.
[-5 HP. HP: 25/30.]
The five Rattaclaws closest to him went flying back, toppling over and tumbling down the stairs.
However, the attack had only hit the five Rattaclaws in front, and soon the five from the back rushed forward, climbing over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Quinn grit his teeth.
He ran further up the stairs to create more distance between him and the Beasts.
But then, he came across a problem.
In front of him, part of the ceiling from the above floor had crumbled, falling onto the floor below, and blocking Quinn's path.
There was no longer any space for Quinn to go up the stairs.
He turned around, and as he did, he saw that the Rattaclaws were just starting to ascend the second set of stairs.
The fallen Rattaclaws were quick to recover from his previous attack, and were behind the group, as well.
This time Quinn held both of his hands out.
"Blood Spray!" Quinn yelled.
The first spray of blood bullets left his hand, and knocked the Rattaclaws over.
A System screen popped up in front of Quinn.
[-5 HP. HP: 20/30.]
Then when the group of Rattaclaws behind the first started to ascend the stairs, Quinn used the Skill again.
"Blood Spray!" He yelled, shooting the spray of blood bullets from his other hand.
Another System screen appeared.
[-5 HP: HP: 15/30.]
The Rattaclaws fell over, and were badly hurt from the attack.
But Quinn knew that they would soon recover.
There was several holes in their body where the black blood was leaking out, but they were too shallow of wounds to cause any serious damage.
Quinn grit his teeth.
Although the Blood Spray was good for hitting multiple targets, it wasn't as strong as the Blood Swipe. They only had a powerful knockback effect.
In fact, if Tsukuru had been with Quinn at this moment, he would have pointed out to Quinnthe fact that most of the time in video games, attacks that could hit multiple targets were made weaker than single-target attacks to compensate.
Despite this fact, Quinn made sure to keep his distance away from the Rattaclaws, staying in his current location.
He was afraid that if he got too close, the Rattaclaws might recover and surround him.
There was only one thing he could do.
He started swinging his arms down rapidly, letting out a Blood Swipe barrage at the Rattaclaws.
"Blood Swipe! Blood Swipe! Blood Swipe!" Quinn yelled three times in succession
With each use of the Skill, a System screen would pop up in front of Quinn.
[-1 HP. HP: 19/30]
[-1 HP. HP: 18/30]
[-1 HP. HP: 17/30]
Two of the Rattaclaws had been killed from his Blood Swipes, causing two new System messages to appear.
[You have killed a Rattaclaw. 100 Exp received. Exp: 495/1600.]
[You have killed a Rattaclaw. 100 Exp received. Exp: 595/1600.]
Quinn continued his Blood Swipe barrage until all of the Rattaclaws had been killed.
When he did, a series of System messages popped up in front of him.
[You have killed a Rattaclaw. 100 Exp received. Exp: 1595/1600.]
[Congratulations, Skill Blood Swipe has Leveled Up. Skill Blood Swipe is now Level 2.]
[HP: 5/30. Skill Blood Bank has been automatically activated.
HP: 30/30. 50 Milliliters of Blood has been consumed.
Blood Bank: 50/100ml.]
Instantly, Quinn collapsed onto the ground.
He sat on the stairs for a few minutes, breathing heavily as he tried to recover his strength.
Eventually, Quinn finally was able to stand back up.
He stared at the System screens still in front of him.
Only half of his Blood Bank supply remained.
Normally, he would only need to consume 10 milliliters of blood every two days.
However, if he got injured and self-healed, that time would accelerate.
This meant that his remaining Blood Bank reserve would last him at mostten days.
Less if he kept using his "Blood" Skills like his and depleting his HP.
"I need to be careful when using my Skills here." Quinn muttered.
He clenched his hand into a fist, and looked down at it.
"From now on, if I get into a fight, I have to rely on my fists." He replied. "Blood Skills are a last resort."
Quinn looked back behind him.
"Who knows if there even is another Human on this planet?" He muttered.
The only good things to come out of this situation was that his Blood Swipe Skill had Leveled Up.
There was no change in the Skill's description, but seeing as now it had Leveled Up, Quinn hoped that it was stronger.
If the System was like a game, then it meant that the more he used a Skill, the quicker it would Level Up.
The only thing Quinn was unsure of was whether or not spamming Blood Swipes in Power Fighters had helped it Level Up quicker.
There was no way to tell, as there was no "meter" for his Skills, telling him how close his Skills were to Leveling Up.
The second good thing that had come out of this was the Exp he had gained.
He had gotten 1,000 Exp from killing the ten Rattaclaws.
Normally, he would have had to fight forty people in Power Fighters to get that much.
And seeing as how he could only fight a max of ten people a day, it would have taken him four days to get to this point.
And he had gotten it in a matter of minutes.
He was now only 5 Exp away from reaching Level 6.
Quinn walked up towards the dead bodies of the Rattaclaws.
Before, when he had killed the first Rattaclaw, he didn't have time to extract the Beast Crystal.
But now, safe within the confines of this building, Quinn was safe for the moment.
Using the fingertips of his gauntlets, which mimicked the claws of a Beast, Quinn tore open the chest section of the Beast's body, and began searching for the glowing Crystal.