Back on Poiletic, Faye looked at Muka in absolute shock. As Muka pulled off his helmet and revealed his face, it was revealed that Muka wasn't a man at all. He was a woman. A beautiful woman at that. The most attractive, enchanting woman that Faye had ever seen. She had the most vibrant, lustrous black hair and skin that looked so smooth that Muka looked like a porcelain doll.
"Currently, all the families in the Settlement are at maximum capacity," Muka replied in her true, feminine voice, as she looked at Faye. "However, for the Ninth Family, that is only on paper. As the one in charge of maintaining law and order in the Settlement, I've always had a habit of…always keeping around ten spots free for…situations such as this."
Faye looked up at Muka in awe. Just looking at the woman was filling Faye'sdisciplined mind with…wild thoughts.
Seeing this, Muka sighed.
"And this is why I wear this armor," she replied to Faye. "You could never understand how troublesome it is to have the strongestCharm Ability in the Settlement."
Muka's eyes then began to glow in much the same way that Lexi's had.
Instantly, Faye's eyes glazed over again.
"Open your mouth," Muka ordered.
As if she were nothing more than a robot, Faye's mouth opened wide.
Muka then took off one of her gauntlets and brought her fingertip up to her face. She opened her mouth and punctured her fingertip on her right canine. She hovered her bleeding hand over Faye's open mouth and let the blood drip in.
At the same time, Muka thought about using a certain Skill of the Vampire Race. The Skill that allowed them to turn others and make them like them. The Blood Ritual Skill.
Inside Faye's body, the red blood cells in Muka's blood began to latch onto those of Faye's. It was similar to how the process of Vorden copying an Ability worked. Slowly, Faye's human cells began to be turned into Vampire cells.
Instantly, Faye's eyes widened, and she started screaming. Inside, she was going through the same painful "Evolution" process that Quinn had gone through on this very same planet only recently. And the intense pain had broken her out of her trance.
Her hand clamped over her chest as she felt as if she had just been stabbed. Her veins were bulging, as her blood was racing through them at an unnatural rate, and her heart was pounding.
The whole time, Muka looked at her, Muka's eyes glowing, red rings illuminating around the edges of her pupils.
Much like with Quinn, the painful process had taken a few minutes. Eventually, the pain subsided. Faye remained on the ground, panting. She felt as if she had just run a marathon.
Muka stared at her.
'She looks like a Vampire, yet the energy from our familiar connection feels like that of a Subclass,' she thought, before glancing away. 'I really hope I didn't just make a Dhampir,'
As she looked over, she saw the pools of blood left from the bodies of the Humans that Lexi had killed.
"It's a good thing the blood is still fresh," Muka replied as she outstretched her hand towards the blood.
With a subtle tensing of her fingertips, the blood began to rise off the ground. It was as if the blood was water, and that Muka was a Water Ability User controlling it. Muka caused the blood from all eight pools to rise off the ground, leaving no trace of it behind. She hovered it above her hand like a ball of red water.
She then turned back to Faye.
"It's a bit morbid to make you drink the blood of your slain comrades, but this'll be faster than heading to the storage center on the planet," she replied. With a wave of her hand, Muka forced the blood down Faye's throat.
As the blood traveled down her throat, Faye felt a sweet taste fill her mouth, and a sense of deep satisfaction filled her.
Faye took a few more deep breaths as her body finally calmed down. As she collapsed to the ground, she saw a shadow overcast her. Fay looked up and saw Muka looking downat her.
"What did…What did you do to me?" she panted.
"All will be explained once we return to the Settlement," Muka replied, putting her helmet back on.
"'Settlement'?" Faye asked. "No…I need to…return to the Base…" she replied, looking away. "I need to…report on everything that HAPPENED here."
Muka turned to her.
"You will return to your base in due time," she replied. "But first. I need to prepare you for your new life. What is your name, miss?"
Faye panted a few more times. She then stared at the armored figure. While her years of military training and her loyalty towards the military told her to keep her mouth shut. There was something in her that compelled her to answer him completely and honestly.
"Faye," she replied finally. "Faye Dallum. Sergeant Faye Dallum of Military Base 2."
Muka nodded.
"Well, 'Faye Dallum', I am Muka Fortuna," Muka introduced herself as she reached out her arm to help Faye up. "And from this day forward, I will be your Leader. Welcome to the Ninth Family of the Vampire Settlement."
***
Despite the First-Year Students and the Second-Year Students having different buildings, one of the few rooms they shared was the Library. In fact, this was one of the reasons that the library was split into three floors.
As Mono saw Tsukuru and Quinn, he too came to a sudden stop.
He narrowed his eyes at Tsukuru.
"Oh great," he muttered in a low tone.
The difference between his and Tsukuru's feelings towards each other couldn't be any further apart. While Tsukuru hated Mono with a burning passion, Mono just viewed him as a chronic annoyance.
Mono snatched a glance down at Tsukuru's wristwatch.
His eyebrow raised in surprise when he saw that it now read "4", marking Tsukuru as a Level 4 Ability User.
He then glanced over at Quinn. Seeing the "1" still present on his wristwatch, Mono scrunched up his face in disgust.
"Still hanging around with the riff-raff, I see," Mono muttered in a condescending voice, before turning back to Tsukuru. "Did you not hear a word I said to Vorden? Our kind cannot associate with them. It gives them a false feeling of importance."
Tsukuru's fists tightened so much that his fingernails were starting to cut into his skin.
"Well, he's a real piece of work," Reiju muttered in a sharp tone.
'This is the way the world is now, Mom,' Tsukuru thought back. 'It's been like this since the war ENDED.'
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed even further.
"And you should have realized by now that I don't give a shit about your damn hierarchy!" Tsukuru shot back. "Who I hang around with is my business."
Mono looked like he had just swallowed a lemon as he heard Tsukuru's words.
"Just remember my warning," he said as he walked past them and into the library. "If you keep acting out, others will get involved. Others that not even that sister of yours can protect you from!"
Tsukuru glared at Mono's back as he disappeared up the stairs leading to the second floor.
"Bastard," Tsukuru muttered in a low tone.
"Just ignore him," Quinn replied, causing Tsukuru to turn to him. "We don't need his approval."
Tsukuru nodded.
"Right," he replied. The two of them then walked into the library. However, instead of heading towards the bookshelves, the two parks parked themselves down in front of two of the computers.
As he sat down, Quinn thought about bringing up the new "Shop" tab of his System. Instantly, the screen popped up in front of him.
On the Shop Screen, over to the right, it displayed all the Beast Crystals that he had. The "Raw Materials" that the System would use to create the Beast Gear in the Shop for him. Currently, he had the sixteen Basic-Tier Rattaclaw Crystals, the Intermediate-Tier Scordana Crystal, the Intermediate-Tier Palewalker Crystal that Tsukuru had given him, and, of course, that Advanced-Tier Crystal that could only be used to make the Vampire Ring.
Quinn's eyes zeroed in on one item in particular on the Shop Screen. It was one of the items that only required a set number of Beast Crystals, regardless of what Beast they came from.
[Best-Standard Intermediate-Tier Gauntlets
2/3 Intermediate-Tier Crystals required to make this item.
+6 Strength
+4 Defense]