Usually, when someone was extracting the Beast Crystal from the body of a dead Beast for the first time, it would affect them.
Maybe they would even throw up a few times while searching for the Crystal around the inside of the beast's organs.
But for some reason, Quinn felt like he was completely unaffected by the process, and it didn't bother him at all.
He couldn't help but think that ever since he had become a Halfling, his view on what was "normal" and wasn't was vastly changing.
After searching around for a while, Quinn finally found it.
Like with the Beast Crystal from the Rattaclaws Tsukuru had killed, it was a white, opaque crystal, roughly the size of a tennis ball.
A System message popped up in front of him.
[You have obtained a Basic-Tier Rattaclaw Crystal. Would you like to place it in your Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
Seeing the last part of the message, made Quinn's eyes widen.
Inventory.
That word made him think back to one of the biggest changes between Tsukuru's and his Systems.
While Quinn had to carry all of his stuff on him, Tsukuru was able to place objects in a special "storage" that seemingly had no size limit.
In fact, it was due to this fact alone that Tsukuru was the only student in the school who didn't need to carry around a bag.
Quinn grit his teeth.
"So I did have one of those!" He muttered bitterly.
Quinn selected the "Yes" option, and slowly, the crystal in his hand began to turn into smoke.
The smoke dissipated into the air, and the crystal vanished.
Quinn continued to stare at his now empty hand for a minute.
"That looked…quite different from how it looks when Tsukuru places something in his Inventory." Quinn replied.
When Tsukuru placed something in his System's Inventory, the object would break down into blue, light-blue, translucent square pixels.
It honestly looked like his Video Creation Skill being used in reverse.
Quinn narrowed his eyes.
"Is the difference caused by his Ability?" Quinn asked.
Quinn then opened up his Status Screen, and there was now an "Inventory" tab along the side with the others.
It seemed that the tabs were organized by when he obtained them, as the "Inventory" tab was right below the "Tutorials" tab.
As he selected the tab, a new screen opened up.
It was a large grid consisting of squares, however only the first square was filled, containing the Beast Crystal.
Unknown to Quinn, this was the exact same layout as Tsukuru's Inventory.
"I wonder what else I can put in here?" He muttered.
Quinn then imagined placing his damaged Basic-Tier Black-Horned Gauntlets into the Inventory.
If his Inventory worked anything like Tsukuru's, then it would be really handy for future trips.
However, no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened.
Quinn's eye twitched in annoyance.
He placed one hand over the other, imitating what he had seen Tsukuru do when placing something in his Inventory, and tried again.
Still nothing.
Although he was able to make the Crystal appear and disappear, it seemed that his Inventory didn't work on anything else.
"What the crap!" Quinn muttered, growing quite annoyed. "I can only put Beast Crystals in this thing?!"
Quinn let out an annoyed snort, and went on to extract the Beast Crystals from the other nine Rattaclaws.
Each time, he found it easier and easier to locate the Beast Crystal, and every time he held the Crystal in his hand, the same message as before had appeared.
In the end, Quinn had obtained all ten Basic-Tier Beast Crystals, and he could help but feel pleased with himself.
The Beast Crystals could be used to turn into Beast Weapons or Beast Gear, but looking at the physiques of the Rattaclaws, Quinn couldn't imagine what they could be used for.
Each type of Beast could only be used to create a certain type of Beast Weapon or Beast Gear.
It wasn't as simple as melting down the Crystal with metals and just pouring it into the mold for whatever you wanted to make.
Specifically defensive Beasts, such as turtles, could only be used to make Beast Armor, and offensive Beasts, like snakes and wolves, could only be used to make Beast Weapons.
Trying to force a Beast Crystal into a shape it wasn't designed for would only create an inferior product.
But, even if the item created was useless to him, he could at least sell the Basic-Tier Beast Crystals.
Each Crystal would sell for 100 Credits on the Marketplace.
This meant that he could either use the money to purchase Beast Gear himself, or he could use it to rent longer hours in the VR Room.
After tinkering around with his System, and his stamina had fully recovered, Quinn decided it was time to leave the building.
Even though the building was safe.
He was on a strict time scale, and needed to find the Portal back to the base as soon as possible.
As he walked around, he looked for any cracks or gaps he could find in the stairs.
Eventually, after making a few detours, he had reached the roof of the building.
The building was about three stories high.
While it wasn't the tallest building Quinn had come across, at least he now had a better view of where he was.
As he looked around, all he could see was the crumbling remains of buildings that resembled human structures.
That was when he spotted something.
One of the buildings had the same crest of the school on it.
"So this really is a human shelter." Quinn muttered. "But if that's true, then why is it all ruined and destroyed?"
The large building in question was large in size and square in shape, but was only two stories high.
Also, out of all the buildings that Quinn could see, it was in the best shape.
Quinn instantly recognized the building, as there was a similar one in the city on the base.
It was a Storage Room, where they kept all their high-end equipment, Ability Books, Skill Books, and Beast Gear.
"If the Portal back to the base is anywhere in this shelter, it's got to be there." Quinn replied.
***
Back at the base, the next day had begun.
As the students all walked through the school to the canteen for breakfast, they noticed a tense atmosphere, as almost all of the military officials and teachers seemed on edge.
The military officials had all unanimously decided to keep the fact that the three students had disappeared last night under-wraps.
They wanted to keep the fact that Hikiko Tsukuru had vanished a secret for as long as possible.
Not because they were incompetent, but because Hikiko Shizuka would be livid when she found out.
It was like being in a building that you knew had a live bomb in it, but you had no way to defuse it.
Your only hope was to delay its detonation, and pray for a miracle.
Sergeant Faye walked down the halls at incredible speeds.
Even though she was only walking, she caused gusts of wind to hit the students as she passed them.
Using her Ability, even her walking speed was faster than most people's top running speed.
Eventually, he came to a halt outside General Nathan's office.
"Can I come in?!" She asked in a frantic tone.
"Yeah, sure." Nathan's exhausted voice came from the other end.
Faye burst through the door, quickly zooming over to Nathan's desk.
The wind that accompanied her caused a stack of papers on Nathan's desk to be scattered across the room.
"NO!" Nathan cried, his eyes wide. "I was just about done with those!!
As head of the first-years, he was a busy person.
He was in charge of looking over the new arrivals, and doing research on every student, delving into their backgrounds.
It was important for the school to know who belonged to which family, as they needed to keep an eye on those with powerful backing.
Nathan scrambled to pick up the papers.
He then looked up at Faye, an annoyed look on his face.
"What is wrong with everyone today?!" He asked. "You're all walking around like we're at a god-damned funeral!"
Instantly, Faye tensed.
She felt a cold sweat go down her back.
"You mean, you don't know?" She gasped.
General Nathan looked up at her, his eyes narrowed.
"Know what?!" He snapped.
There was a long pause.
Then, Sergeant Faye gulped.
"One of the Portals in the restricted training area in the east wing, it registered three students going through them last night!" She replied.
Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, is that all?" He muttered, as he went back to grabbing the scattered papers. "Then just go form a retrieval party and get them!"
A cold sweat went down Sergeant Faye's face.
"Sir, it was a Red Portal." She replied.
Instantly, Nathan froze.
Slowly, he looked up at Sergeant Faye.
"What?" He asked in a low tone.
Sergeant Faye gulped again.
"And there's more." She replied. "Hikiko Tsukuru is among them."