Ian's gaze shifted downwards, to the bodies of the two dead Rattaclaws.
"It's quite impressive for someone so young to take down two Basic-Tier Beasts on your own." He replied with a smirk. "That's no small feat. You have my thanks." He replied, looking back up at Vorden. "I would have been too injured to take them down on my own. Honestly, I didn't expect to find anyone else in this shelter."
Vorden smiled.
"You're welcome." Vorden said, nodding. "Since we both need to find a way out of here, do you have any idea where a Portal might be?" He asked.
Ian scratched his chin, thinking for a moment.
"I spotted a few buildings on my way here." Ian replied. "It's probably best to check those first."
Vorden extended his hand for a handshake.
"The name's Vorden." He replied.
Ian smiled, and extended his hand, accepting the handshake.
"Well, I look forward to working with you, Vorden."
Instantly, Vorden felt a surge of energy flood through his body from his outstretched hand. A smile crept across his face. He then looked up, and glanced out the door. Seeing that it was still dark, his eyes narrowed. It had been at least a few hours since he, Tsukuru, and Quinn had arrived here. Yet, it still seemed to be night outside. It was troublesome for Vorden, if he was being honest. It made it hard for him to spot Beasts, especially in the rundown shelter, where they could easily hide between buildings.
There were no light sources anywhere, since everything had pretty much been destroyedlong ago. The only source of light was the moonlight from the two moons in the sky, meaning that while they were inside buildings, it was even harder to see.
Irritated, Vorden turned to Ian.
"Hey, do you know when the sun will rise?" He asked. "Maybe it'd be best for us to waituntil then, when we can spot Beasts easier?"
Ian let out an amused snort.
"Man, you really don't know where we are, do you?" He asked. "This planet's rotation lasts a whole year, and we're only six months in. There won't be any sunlight for quite a long time."
He then turned to Vorden.
"But, if you want to wait six months for the sun to come out, then by all means, go ahead."
Hearing this, Vorden grit his teeth. Instantly, he snapped his arm holding his wristwatch up to his chest. Since he couldn't use the sun to tell how long he had been here, his only choice was to use the clock on his wristwatch. Looking down, he saw the number "10:45" being displayed on the watch. For once in his life, he was glad that the clocks on these things used military time. At least now, he didn't have to worry about figuring out if the clock meant "am" or "pm". Because if it was 10:45 pm, his watch would have read "22:45".
'Let's see, I copied Peter's Earth Ability right BEFORE combat class, which takes place in the afternoon.' Vorden thought. 'That means that I still have the Earth Ability for at least a few more hours.'
Vorden then glanced up at Ian. As he did, he saw him begin to stand. Ian winced a little, and placed his hand on his side. Just as Vorden had thought, Ian was badly injured. Seeing Vorden staringat him, Ian smirked.
"You're wondering what happened, aren't you?" He asked, looking away. "Like I said, I was commissioned to hunt down a specific Beast that can only be found here. The buyer seemed to want it pretty badly, as they paid a small fortune for it."
Vorden raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Did you get it?" He asked.
Ian snorted.
"Of course." He replied, pulling out another tennis ball-sized crystal. However, unlike the opaque crystal of the Rattaclaw, the once in Ian's hands shone a lot brighter, and was far clearer.
Vorden stared at the Crystal in awe. He had heard that the clearer a Beast Crystal, the higher its Tier. Ian smirked as he saw Vorden's reaction.
"Nice, isn't it?" He replied, as he began to put the Crystal away. "It's not every day that a mere school student gets to see an Advanced-Tier Beast Crystal."
The two of them then decided to head back outside. As they walked, Ian took the lead. They made sure to travel close to the buildings, rather than in the middle of the street. If anything jumped out at them, they could dart inside a building. That way, they could draw the Beast into fighting in a confined space where they would have the advantage.
Inside the dark space within Vorden's mind, Raten leaned in closer to Vorden.
"Hey Vorden, I got an idea." He whispered into Vorden's ear. "Let's kill this guy while he's weak and steal the Crystal! We could sell it for a fortune, or use it to make some really good Beast Gear!"
Vorden glanced back at Raten, giving him the side-eye.
"You idiot." He replied. "If we kill him, then what happens when we lose his Ability in 24 hours? You know we can't copy Abilities off of a corpse!"
Vorden turned back to the "screen".
"If we kill him now, then we'll be completely powerless once we lose his Ability!"
Raten let out an annoyed snort. He knew that Vorden was right, but he didn't want to admit it.
Back in the real world, Ian suddenly stopped, spotting something.
"Look over there!" Ian said, pointing. In the middle of the street, there was a dead Rattaclaw. The two of them looked around cautiously before proceeding, moving in closer. When they reached it, they could see that the Rattaclaw had its entire head caved in. As Vorden looked down at the Rattaclaw, his eyes narrowed.
'Well, Tsukuru obviously didn't do this.' Vorden thought. 'If he had, there'd be one of his Beast Daggers piercing its body, not its head CAVED IN.'
Behind him in the dark room, Raten piped up.
"I dunno." Raten said, glancing to the side. "That kid can be pretty feral when you piss him off."
Back in the real world, Vorden heard Ian speak up.
"Looks like it wasn't killed too long ago." Ian replied, as he bent down to get a closer look. With the expert precision marking him as a seasoned Traveler, he easily located the Beast Crystal, and extracted it. "Whoever killed this thing didn't have the time to extract the Beast Crystal." Ian replied. "Most likely, they were being chased by something else."
Ian then froze for a second. He looked up at Vorden.
"Strange." He replied. "I didn't expect to see one person here, but it looks like there's no two." He replied.
In the dark space, Raten put his hand on Vorden's shoulder.
"Hey." He said, giving Vorden a slight shove to get his attention. "You think Quinn did this?" He asked.
Vorden looked back at Raten, uncertainty in his eyes.
"Maybe." He replied. "It's hard to tell. We don't really know what Quinn is capable of, after all."
Back in the real world, Vorden turned to Ian.
"Actually, I wasn't the only one who came through the Portal." He replied, causing Ian to quirk an eyebrow in interest. "Two of my friends came through, as well." He explained. "I'm actually trying to find them."
Ian continued to stare at Vorden for a moment, before he glanced away.
"I won't ask for the details." Ian replied. "But don't get your hopes up. I was surprised to see you alive, never mind two others."
After hearing from Vorden that there were other students here, Ian felt like he should try to help out. At least confirm if they were alive. Ian knew from the reports on the planet he had received before leaving that the Rattaclaws rarely traveled alone. Which meant that whoever killed this one had most likely been chased by more Rattaclaws. Ian started to examine the dead Rattaclaw on the ground, and found a trail of black blood, single drops leading off somewhere.
"C'mon." Ian said, signalling to Vorden. "Let's see if we can find whoever killed this one."
The two of them continued to follow the trail of black blood, until it eventually led them to a three-story building. As they entered, they noticed that the first floor was mostly empty, with no signs of anything. However, Ian continued to follow the trail of black blood, which led up the set of stairs.
'What happened here?' Ian thought.