Jack leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together on his desk. His right index finger tapped against his left palm as he thought. It was a common occurrence for him to get reports from other factions and families when they found the dead bodies of his "family members". They wanted to do anything to get on his good side. What troubled him, however, was who had actually died.
To give a person an Ability that he had taken away, he had to touch them and meet them in person. And he tended not to remember those whom he gave Low-Level Abilities. However, he remembered giving Ian quite the handy Ability.
Additionally, it had only taken Ian a year to go up from "F" Rank to "D"Rank, and Jack was hoping to hear better things from him in the future.
"Send over the report," Jack replied, glancing back at the woman for the first time since her arrival. "I want to take a look at it myself."
The woman reached into her pocket and retrieved something. It looked like a sleek, rounded square with a single button in the center. As soon as she pressed the button, a large square in the center of Jack's desk lit up. A moment later, a digital report appeared on it, like a large screen.
Jack navigated through the report on the touch-screen. Scrolling down the page, and then swiping to the right when he needed to move on to the next page. Jack's eyes moved back and forth as he read the information. There were also images included in the report. Images showing the state of Ian's remains.
"Sheesh," Jack muttered as he saw the image. "What a way to die."
In the image, Ian appeared to have been cut in half. But then, Jack noticed something that piqued his interest. He widened his thumb and index finger, zooming in on Ian's neck. He saw the two puncture holes from when the Bloodsucker had bitten him to drain his blood.
"Alexa, bring up the report on Danny Fletchmen from two years ago," he replied.
A computerized voice came from the desk.
"Report has been found," the voice replied.
A new digital file appeared on the screen, being slightly smaller than the report on Ian, and overlaying it in the upper right corner.
Like before, Jack navigated through the report. As he zoomed in on the image of Danny's remains, he saw the samewounds as Ian's on Danny's neck.
Jack narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm," he muttered. Usually, Jack wouldn't remember details like this. But Danny Fletchmen had been a Level 8 Ability User and a B-Ranked Traveler. He was one of the strongest men in the Truedream family. When he had died, it had come as a great shock to Jack. And worst of all, no one seemed to know who or what had done it.
'Could these two cases be linked somehow?' Jack thought.
"Apparently, there was an incident at the base," the woman replied, causing Jack to turn to her. "Three First-Year students got pushed through a Portal by a Second-Year. A Retrieval Team was deployed after them." The woman then glanced to the side. "They merely found Ian's body by chance while they were looking for the students. However, the report doesn't go into specific details."
Jack narrowed his eyes.
"Does it at least say which base they were from?" he asked.
A slight smirk cracked the edge of the woman's lips.
"Your favorite, sir," she replied.
A widesmirk crept across Jack's face.
"Military Base 2," he replied, his face beaming. "I've been meaning to visit them. And I could find out more information while I'm there." His eyes then narrowed. "But in the meantime, find out what you can about Ian's last mission."
Jack stood up from his chair and closed his eyes. Inside of him, he could see about ten little, circular flames circling his stomach. They looked like tiny will-o'-wisps.
'Good timing, too,' Jack thought. 'I'm running low on Abilities again. I can use this chance to…stock up, as well.'
***
Back at Military Base 1, the morning classes were over, and it was time for the students to head off towards their designated Combat Classes.
As they left the classroom, Layla and Erin approached Quinn and Tsukuru. The two girls weren't exactly "friends", and they didn't talk very much. In fact, Erin didn't say much of anything to anyone. However, over the last few days, after they had searched for Peter together, they started to hang out together more often. They had also practiced as a team beforehand, and for the first time, Erin had actually called Layla by her name. These were all huge steps forward in Layla's eyes. And before she knew it, the two of them would just naturally be around each other.
The group of four then headed off towards the Beast Weapons hall, while Vorden had already left for the Elemental Class.
This left Peter sitting alone in the classroom, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Even his fake "friends", Earl and his group, would no longer talk to him in the canteen. In fact, Earl and his friends had been avoiding him ever since their little run-in with Shizuka. Additionally, they had already gotten their use out of Peter and no longer needed him.
Peter continued to sit there and think back at all the stupid things he had done. If only he had done things differently…why did he decide not to ask for help? Why did he agree to do what Earl had TOLD HIM at that time? It had hurt back then, and it had felt like he was going through hell. But right now, he couldn't even remember what pain felt like.
As all of these thoughts ran through his head, Peter started clenching his hair in his hands. Every time a memory of him being stupid came up, he would pull his hair, trying to forget it as if he was pulling the memory out of his head.
"Why?!" Peter shouted as he pulled out a clump of hair.
"Why?!" he shouted again, pulling out another.
His hands were now full of his hair. He could also feel something running down from the top of his head. It seemed that he had pulled out so much of his hair that his scalp was now bleeding.
***
Just as the group of four was about to leave the main building to head over to where the Combat Classes were held, Quinn paused for a second by the exit.
This would be the first time Quinn had come into contact with direct sunlight since his return. While the sun had still been out when they returned, by the time he had been released from the doctor's office, it had already gone down. He had repeatedly asked the System's AI what the "effects" on him would be, but it would never answer him.
"Calm down, Quinn," the man's voice replied in his head. "You already know that you won't die. What's the worst that could happen?"
Seeing that Quinn had paused by the doorway, the other three, Tsukuru, Layla, and Erin, all turned to him. Layla and Tsukuru exchanged worried looks.
"Hey, what's the hold up?" Erin asked, her neutral face now showing only the smallest hints of annoyance.
"Quinn?" Layla asked in concern. "Is everything okay?"
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"If you want, I could always make you an umbrella."
Quinn's face hardened.
'No,' he thought. 'I have to know what'll happen.'
He shook his head, shaking away his nerves.
"Nah, I'm fine," he replied. He took a step forward and out the door.
Instantly, the effects of the sun hit him like a semitruck. The sun's rays affected him more than ever. He felt a pounding in his head. He started to stumble a bit, but soon caught himself. It took him a moment, but eventually, he adapted to the sudden feeling.
A System message popped up in front of him.
[You are being hit by direct sunlight. All Stats have been reduced by 70%.]
Seeing the message, Tsukuru winced out of a sympathetic phantom pain.
'That is a nastyDEBUFF,' he thought.
Almost immediately, Quinn brought up his Status Window.
[Name: Quinn Talen
Race: Vampire
Level: 10
XP: 10/100
Title: None
Ability: Shadow Element
Ability Level: 6
_______________________
HP: 17/17
MC: 30/30
________________________
Strength: 5
Stamina: 5
Agility: 5
Charm: 1
[Stat Points: 0] ]