Hayley walked down the hall towards the meeting room. In her hand, she held a comedically oversized gold bar in her hands. In the very center of the "gold bar", a square outline the size of the top of a bowling ball could be seen.
'Hopefully, I won't find the doctor's office packed when I get back!' She thought.
***
In the meeting room, Sergeant Faye was about to continue when there was a knock heard at the door.
Everyone in the room snapped their heads towards the door.
"Um, hello?" Hayley's nervous voice replied from the other end. "I have Tsukuru's newest…Glathrium 'shipment'." She replied.
Instantly, the eyes of Oscar, Paul, and Duke all widened.
Paul coughed into his hand to regain his composure.
"Enter." He replied in his best attempt at a neutral tone.
Slowly, Halyley opened the door and entered the room. As she approached the table, everyone stared, their eyes locked on what she was carrying as she walked. It looked as if she was carrying an utterly massive bar of gold.
She walked right up to Head General Paul, sitting in front of General Duke, and placed the "gold bar" right in front of him. An audible "clink" was heard as it hit the table.
Following the instructions Tsukuru had given her, she pressed her hand down on the "square" in the center. As she did, an audible "click" was heard. A moment later, the middle section shot upwards as if spring-loaded. It revealed a glass case with a gold lid. Inside the case, there was the familiar ostrich-egg-sized chunk of Glathrium. At the bottom of the case, there was a gold stand modeled into the shape of a hand"holding" the Glathrium chunk.
Everyone stared at the case, stunned.
"Now, I think I just press these in…" Hayley muttered as she pressed in both tabs located on either side of the gold lid simultaneously. Immediately, another click was heard.
Hearing it, Hayley lifted the lid off of the case.
Paul reached his hand into the now open case and lifted out the chunk of Glathrium.
Sergeant Dillon glanced over to Duke.
"Was that really necessary?" He asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
Duke let out a snort and rolled his eyes.
"Fucking smartass…" He muttered, resting his open hand against his cheek. It was clear that this was Tsukuru poking fun at the fact that Glathrium was the "gold" of the new world.
Oscar pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head back and forth. Then, he started laughing.
"He really is just like his old man!" Oscar replied.
Sergeant Faye glanced over at him.
"His father used to pull this kind of shit?" She asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.
Oscar's smile widened.
"Mason could go from rage-filled asshole to wise-cracking smartass at the drop of a hat." He replied, before looking up. "My dad used to say that he was the reason for his alcohol addiction."
Oscar held out his hand towards Paul.
Getting the message, Paul handed the Glathrium chunk to him.
Oscar brought it up to his face.
"Exquisite…" He replied, rotating the chunk of black metal back and forth in his hand. "How many of these has he given us so far, again?" Oscar asked.
Paul's face hardened.
"That'd be the third 10-kilo chunk, sir." He replied. He then glanced over at Duke. "However, we have been able to 'salvage'more on various occasions…"
Oscar looked up from the Glathrium chunk, his eyebrow raised in interest.
"Oh?" He asked. "Do tell…"
***
Back in the doctor's office, Tsukuru placed the last potion into the box and closed it. After purchasing all ten Minor Health Potions, he was now down to only 12,430 Credits.
"There." He replied, causing Quinn to turn to him. "All done."
Quinn watched as Tsukuru walked over, and placed the box on Hayley'sdesk.
It was at that point that they heard the door open. Tsukuru and Quinn looked over towards the entrance. When they did, they saw Layla emerge.
As Layla's eyes met Tsukuru's, they widened. Since Vorden told her that he was "with Quinn" in the doctor's office, that meant that the student in the bed next to him had to be Quinn. Layla made a mad dash towards them.
"Quinn!" Layla said as she reached them. The look of utter shock and surprise on her face made Tsukuru chuckle slightly.
***
Seeing where Paul was looking, Oscar began staring right at Duke.
Still somewhat antsy from his previous interactions with the Supreme Commander in the last few days, Duke felt a cold chill run down his back.
"Well…there's the Glathrium headband we salvaged from Hikiko's fight with Mono…" Duke started, as he began counting on his fingers. "Then, there's the seven 5-Kilo Glathrium balls we salvaged after the incident in the Assembly Hall last week…" Duke then turned to Sergeant Faye. "...Plus there's what you guys just found."
Oscar's smile widened.
"Interesting…" He replied, his smile widening.
Seeing that the meeting had become derailed, Sergeant Faye coughed into her hand.
Hearing the noise, the others all turned to her.
"I think we've gotten a little…off-track." She replied.
The others all continued to stare at her for a moment.
Oscar coughed into his fist.
The others all turned to him.
"Fair point." He replied. He handed the Glathrium chunk back to Paul.
Paul placed the Glathrium back in the case and placed the lid back on. The two tabs shot back out as the lid locked into place. Paul then pressed the case back down into the false "gold bar" until the "click" was heard.
Oscar then turned to Faye.
"Please…continue." He replied.
***
Back in the doctor's office, Layla stood there for a moment, looking at Quinn. She stared him up and down a few times. His jawline…his clear skin…just about everythingabout him was…drawing her towards him.
"Are…Are you using some sort of Charm spell on me?" She asked. She had read enough Vampire novels to know what was happening. Although she was fascinated with Quinn because of what he was, she had never thought that he looked handsome. But for some reason, her mind was now running wild with thoughts.
However, a moment later, she felt something soft bonk her on the head. Looking over, she saw Tsukuru holding a novelty toy foam bat.
Tsukuru looked at her with an amused smirk.
"Bonk." He replied. "Go to horny jail."
Layla's eye twitched. The bonk hadn't even hurt in the least. But that was besides the point.
'Can't you turn this thing OFF?!' Quinn thought, annoyed.
Almost instantly, the voice of the man responded.
"Of course I can." He replied. "But I thought you would like this?"
Quinn glanced to the side.
'Of course I do.' He thought. 'But if it's like this, she won't really like me. It'll just be because of the System.'
A moment later, a System message appeared in front of Quinn.
[Charm Stat deactivated.]
***
Back in the meeting room, Sergeant Faye sighed.
"Seeing as how the shelter on Pioletic was actually smaller than the base, Sergeant Shizuka opted to track the stranded students using the same tracking device we use to track down students after curfew." She replied, glancing over at Shizuka. "Conveniently, the three boys had somehow wandered their way to the shelter's training center."
General Nathan glanced to the side.
"That isconvenient." He muttered. "Seeing as how that's where the Portal was kept, that meant that everything was all in one place."
Paul narrowed his eyes.
"Continue." He replied.
Sergeant Faye nodded.
"As we traveled through the base, we walked with Sergeant Leo in the front, followed by me, Sergeant Shizuka, Hayley, and Del," She replied. "Using his Ability, Leo was able to locate any Beast that got near. Despite the fact that the planet's Rattaclaw population had been significantly decimated, Sergeant Leo and I did have to cut down at least a handful of them."
Oscar raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'decimated'?" He asked. "Those things multiply like…"
General Duke glanced over at him.
"...Rats?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.
Oscar glanced over at him.
"I was going to say 'rabbits', but that's probably more thematically fitting." He replied.
Instead of answering Oscar, Sergeant Faye glanced over at the oversized false 'gold bar' in front of Head General Paul.
Instantly, everyone else snapped their heads in his direction.
"You cannot be serious," Duke replied.
Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes at him.
"You can always head through the Portal yourself and see how many of those Beasts have Hikiko's daggers lodged in their skulls if you don't believe me," Faye replied.
Shizuka then turned to Paul.
"Oh, that reminds me." She replied. "We should probably have that 'salvage team' head into the shelter as well. On top of the multiple Basic-Tier Beast Daggers that could be resold, seeing as just how many of those Beasts Tsu-Tsu killed, it's unlikely that he had the time to harvest all of their Beast Crystals."
Oscar and Paul turned to each other and exchanged a look.
Paul then turned back to Shizuka.
"...Noted." He replied.