Quinn and Vorden continued their fight.
This time, Quinn tried to test out his Shadow Control in a few different ways. When Vorden got close enough, Quinn tried grabbing him with the shadow, as how he had done with the chair. Essentially, the shadow acted like an extra set of hands he could use to grab things with. Quinn could even use his shadow to grab Vorden's feet. To do so, he would wait until Vorden got close to him and then cause his shadow to rise.
However, instead of forming a wall, he formed a shadowy hand that grabbed Vorden's calf.
As it did, Vorden immediately felt himself moving more slowly. It was like he was up to his knees in a thick, viscous fluid and was trying to force his way through.
***
Back with the Retrieval Team, the others all turned to Del.
"Let's save the talk about the Portal Expedition for after we're all back safe and sound at the base." Leo replied, his hand gripping his sword. Instantly, his head snapped towards the right corner. "Heads up!" He announced. "We got live ones!"
A moment later, the group saw a pack of around three Rattaclaws appear from around the corner of one of the buildings. As the Beasts saw the group, they snarled and lunged towards them. Instantly, Leo and Faye drew their swords, and did the same. With Leo's years of combat experience and Faye's Super Speed Ability, they decapitated the first two Rattaclaws before they even had the chance to attack.
The final Rattaclaw snarled, and lunged towards Leo. However, an object went whizzing past Leo's head before he could advance towards the Beast. A moment later, a long, metal needle could be seen piercing the Rattaclaw's Skull. Instantly, the Rattaclaw fell over on its side, dead.
Sergeant Leo glanced back in Shizuka's direction. Unseen by him, but seen by Faye, Shizuka clasped the pouch on her thigh containing her needles shut once again.
"...Damn." Del muttered. "Good aim must run in the family…"
***
Back in the training center, Quinn and Vorden had finished their little "spar". Despite Vorden being the clear winner, he couldn't help but be impressed by Quinn's new "Shadow" Ability.
"Interesting, this Shadow Ability seems to be more…versatile than other Abilities I have seen." Vorden replied. "Normally, an Ability's Skill is just a different application of that Ability, but for you, they seem to do completely differentthings." Vorden then began putting up fingers, as he listed things off, with him having three fingers up at the end. "A separate storagespace…masking you at night…even a defensive wall…it's almost like you have three separate Abilities."
Vorden glanced back at Tsukuru.
"Why, it's almost the same as being able to create objects, summon Beasts, have telekinesis, and can teleport." Vorden added.
Hearing Vorden's praise by association, Tsukuru glanced away in embarrassment.
"Yeah, well, if this 'Shadow' Ability was known to the world, it could definitely be seen as an…Original Ability." He replied. He then looked away for a moment, thinking. "Actually, abilities like this had a name in the shows I used to watch. When a person was able to do multiple things with one power, they were referred to as being 'a jack of all trades, but master of none'."
After Quinn and Vorden's spar, Quinn was once again out of MC. Having used up the 50 MC he had regained from Tsukuru's MC Potion.
Tsukuru walked into the middle of the arena and held his hand out in front of him. The sound of electronic interference could be heard. Instantly, pixels began to form on the ground in front of him. The pixels clustered together into the form of a square table. There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, there was a cheap, metal folding table set up in front of Tsukuru. Its frame was painted a teal-blue. Meanwhile, its top was covered by a plastic film. Between the plastic layer and the metal frame, there was a layer of foam.
Tsukuru then took a few steps back, and held out his hand again. Once again, the sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear on the ground. The pixels clustered together into the form of the same type of "rotary chair" Tsukuru had made in Logan's room. There was a flash of light, and the rotary chair appeared.
Vorden and Quinn watched as Tsukuru walked over both the left and the right side of the table, repeating the same process, and making a new chair one by one.
When he was done, Tsukuru turned back to the two.
"There." He replied. "Now we don't have to sit on the floor." He sat down in the chair that he had just made, the one on the right side of the table.
Vorden and Quinn exchanged glances. Then, they walked over, and each took a seat. Vorden took the seat across from Tsukuru, while Quinn took the seat at the front of the table. It was at that point that Vorden's stomach began growling again.
Tsukuru glanced towards him, and winced.
"Yeah, I probably should have asked you guys if you were hungry when I arrived." Tsukuru muttered.
Tsukuru brought up his System's UI, and then accessed the System's Inventory. He pressed the last image on the grid, the one that displayed a plate with a square of lasagna on it. As he tapped it, a System message popped up.
[Would you like to withdraw Lasagna from the System's Inventory?
[Yes] [No] ]
'Yes.' Tsukuru thought. Pixels began to appear on the table in front of Tsukuru. Vorden and Quinn watched as the pixels clustered together into the form of a circle with a square on top of it. There was a bright flash of light. Once it faded, the plate with the piece of lasagna could be used.
Vorden looked down at the food like it was pure gold. He hadn't seen real food in the last two days.
Tsukuru looked at Vorden.
"Hope you don't mind having my leftovers from last night." Tsukuru replied.
Unknown to Tsukuru, his words made a slight feeling of envy flood through Vorden. While he was stuck with that bland Food Pill, Tsukuru got to enjoy actual food.
Back with Tsukuru, he activated his ability once more. This time, he created a silver fork, as well as a butter knife. Placing the two utensils on the plate, Tsukuru activated his Video Stasis Skill. The plate of food became enveloped in an aura of glitching pixels. Finally, Tsukuru activated his Stasis Shift Skill. A moment later, the plate glitched out of existence. Only to reappear a moment later in front of Vorden.
Vorden glanced down at the food in front of him. A moment later, he dug in.
As he ate, Tsukuru turned to Quinn.
"What about you, Quinn?" He asked. "Do you even get hungry anymore? Well, I mean aside from your…bloodthirst."
Tsukuru subconsciously glanced back at the severed lower body of Ian, which was still lying on the arena floor.
Seeing where Tsukuru was looking, Quinn didn't want to admit it, but Tsukuru was right. He really didn't get hungry aside from his Vampire urges. In fact, the only time he really got hungry was after being injured. And that was more for blood than actual food. In fact, the only reason he even really ate in the canteen was that it would look strange if he didn't.
Tsukuru retrieved another serving of the lasagna from his System's Inventory. He looked down at it on the table in front of him.
"Last time we tested this, we discovered that while you could eat human food, you found it quite disgusting." He replied, before looking up at Quinn. "Let's see if that is still the case, now that you're stronger."
Being out of the loop, Vorden completely missed the context in Tsukuru's words. But Quinn knew exactly what he meant. He wanted to see if Quinn could still eathuman food now that he had evolved from a Halfling to a full Vampire.
Just like with Vorden, Tsukuru activated the Video Stasis and Stasis Shift Skills to teleport the plate of food in front of Quinn.
Quinn looked down at it. While it still looked unappetizing to him, like how food normally did. It felt stronger now.Like how it was when he was looking at the black blood of the Rattaclaw after his first kill. It was like his body was telling him that consuming the food was a bad idea.
'Why do I get the feeling that if I eat that, it won't just taste like shit?' Quinn thought, mostly to himself.
However, a moment later, the annoying voice of the man spoke up.
"Not only would it not taste good, but eating it could actively harm your body." He replied. "It'd be like ingesting poison."