While Quinn and Vorden were talking, Tsukuru decided to de-equip his new Beast Gear. There was no chance of any Beasts getting in here. Especially not through that electromagnetically-locked Glathrium door. The closest thing to a "Beast" that had gotten in here was Quinn in his Bloodsucker form.
Despite them still having a conversation,
Quinn and Vorden glanced over and watched Tsukuru with slight interest.
Tsukuru would touch a piece of his body, and a few moments later, that piece of armor would pixelate and then break apart into pixels. First was the chestpiece, then the helmet, then the gauntlets, and then finally the boots. When Tsukuru was done, he was sitting in the chair in his military pants and shirt. Tsukuru then equipped his sneakers from his System's Inventory. Afterwards, he had equipped the blazer of his military uniform, which he had put in his System's Inventory a few days ago when he had first made his special "Glathrium-Fiber Robes".
Vorden looked at Tsukuru. That strange shirt of his with the "wizard" on it could be seen, as, like always, Tsukuru's blazer was unzipped.
"What about you, Tsukuru?" Vorden eventually asked, causing Tsukuru to look at him. "What was your schooling like?"
Tsukuru glanced to the side for a moment. Then he spoke.
"Well, unlike Quinn, I didn't come from Earth." He replied. "I came from the Tier 1Beast Shelter on Animus, the Beast Planet that served as the main base of the Bree Family."
Hearing this, both Quinn's and Vorden's eyes widened. The "Tier" of a Beast Planet Shelter determined how nice a place it was to be in. For comparison, a "Tier 5" Shelter would be the equivalent of a slum on Earth. Meanwhile, a "Tier 1" Shelter would be like a pristine, gated community that only the rich of the rich could afford to live in.
"No wonder you're fucking loaded…" Vorden muttered.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, I was broke when I arrived on the Base!" He replied, defending himself. "The only reason I have so many Credits is because of the Glathrium that I sell to the Base every week!" Tsukuru crossed his arms, his face scrunched up in annoyance. "Besides, it's not like I was born there. Up until my mother died when I was ten, I lived on Earth. After that, I was relocated to the Beast Shelter."
Vorden raised an eyebrow.
"You got relocated from Earth to a Tier-1 Beast Shelter?" He asked. "I knew the military had reach, but not that much."
Tsukuru gritted his teeth.
"The military had nothing to do with it." He replied. "My mother and Laura Green, the head of the Green Family, have always been friends. It's been that way since high school."
Tsukuru glanced down.
"Is it that strange that I would be taken in by a close family friend?" He asked.
Vorden thought about it for a second.
"Guess not." He eventually admitted.
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Anyway, despite spending the last sixyears of my life on a Tier-1 Beast Shelter, my schooling was very similar to Quinn's." Tsukuru replied, turning to Vorden. "It doesn't matter who you're related to, a Level 1 is a Level 1, as far as the current generation is concerned." Tsukuru's eyes narrowed. "Even though people knew they couldn't attack me, that didn't stop them from giving me harsh looks, and even harsher words. It got to the point where I just spent all of my time on the rooftop of my school, so I didn't have to deal with them."
Vorden looked down.
"That must have been lonely." He muttered.
Vorden then looked up and saw that both Quinn and Tsukuru were giving him strange looks. The statement seemed strangely out of character for him.
Tsukuru let out a sigh. His expression fell, becoming a look of deep sadness. He had a sad smile on his face, and his eyes looked as though Tsukuru had died a little bit inside.
"Well, it's nothing I'm not used to." He replied, catching the two off guard. "I've…always been alone."
Quinn and Vorden stared at Tsukuru.
Vorden gulped.
"What…What do you mean you've always been alone?" He asked.
Tsukuru let out a sigh and glanced over at Quinn.
"I've already told Quinn this story, but even before my mother died, she was never around." He replied. "As the CEO of a gaming and electronics company, she was always busy with work. And when I was taken in by the Green Family, it was the same. They almost never left their lab. Essentially, I went from one empty home to another."
Quinn felt a small pit form in his stomach. He could relate. He had spent years alone in that one-bedroom apartment. With only the voices on the TV to keep him company.
Seeing as how the conversation had taken a sad, depressive turn, Vorden desperately wantedto change the subject. Before Tsukuru's depression began to spread. He frantically snapped his head back and forth, looking for anythingelse to talk about. Then, he noticed Quinn's wristwatch. Despite Quinn now knowing an Ability, he was still a Level 1. So the number hadn't changed. In a way, he was in the same boat as…him. Vorden didn't even want to think of Peter's name right now, for fear that it might agitate Sil.
"Well, at least you have an Ability now, Quinn!" Vorden said with a nervous laugh. "I'm sure that soon enough, that number will increase. And then, you won't have people bullying you anymore!"
However, Vorden's words made Quinn's and Tsukuru's eyes snap down towards the wristwatch. Unknown to Vorden, Quinn wasn't a Level 1. He was a Level 6. Yet, his watch had remained unchanged.
'I knew it.' Tsukuru thought, his teeth clenching. 'The wristwatches were never designed to be able to detect Vampire Mutant Cells. Hell, I bet the creator didn't even know that Vampires even existed!'
Meanwhile, with Quinn, he had come to the same conclusion. And it made him a bit upset, if he was being honest. With the acquisition of an Ability, as well as Vorden's plan, he was looking forward to being able to use his new Shadow Ability freely at the base. Additionally, as a Level 6 Ability User, people would no longer think that they could push him around on the base.
Sure, he could use the Shadow Ability now that his Skills were weak. The "Level 1" Shadow Control Skill was just like how weak a Level 1 Skill would be. As he could only control his own shadow. But what about when the Skill Leveled Up? If he got to the point where he could control the shadows around him, and his wristwatch still indicated that he was a Level 1 Ability User, it would make people suspicious. They would think that his wristwatch was faulty, and he would be given a new one. However, it would show the same reading.
"I think…that it'd be best if I hid my Shadow Ability for now." Quinn replied, causing Vorden to look at him. Seeing the look, Quinn smiled. "I mean…I've already been hiding my Vampire abilities, right? I can hide my Shadow Ability, as well!"
***
Back outside the training center, the Retrieval Team stared at the destruction. There was a small, black scorch mark, roughly the size of a kitchen table. In the very center of it, there were glass shards, as if a bottle had been smashed on the ground. Sprawled out in four different directions, a fair distance away from the scorch marks… were the corpses of four more Rattaclaws.
The group stared at the scorch mark on the ground, racking their brains trying to understand how a scorch mark forming a perfect circle was even scientifically possible. Either he lobbed the explosion up high into the air, which was completely impractical, as the Beasts would have attacked him before the explosive could land, or…
"What, did he drop it from the SKY?!" Del cried, incredulous.
Despite his words being meant to be an absurd statement, the words made Shizuka and Faye narrow their eyes.
"That is a possibility." Faye replied, causing Del to snap his head towards her. "He does have a flying creature."
Looking forward, the group saw even more dead Rattaclaws near the entrance. Shizuka looked at the corpses, then down at the tracker in her hand. The three white dots could be seen only a small distance away from the white triangle representing her.
"Yeah…" She muttered, casing the others to turn to her. "We could probably tell that there were people inside even without the tracker."
Silently, Leo walked up to the door, and examined it. It had been bent and mangled. It looked as though someone had pried the door open, and then closed it again.