Edward turned back to Muka, a look of astonishment on his face.
"The Blood Knight is one of the three rarest Vampire Subclasses ever known to exist!" he replied. "Leader Muka, do you realise what you have done?! Vampire Families have gone to war against one another over subclasses as rare as this one!"
Muka remained silent, as she took in Edward's words.
While to an outsider, it might appear as if he was over-exaggerating, he really wasn't.
Every word he had spoken was 100% correct.
Despite the Vampire Subclasses being seen as the lowest wrung of the Vampire social structure, viewed similarly to how Level 1s are viewed among the Humans, certain harder-to-find subclasses received significantly better treatment compared to even pure Vampires within their respective Vampire Families, with their Leaders viewing them as "precious commodities".
And even among the so-called "Mythical-Grade" sub-classes, which were the rarest of the rare, the Blood Knight, as well as one other Class-A subclass, were in a class of their own in regards to their scarcity.
With the chance of their creation being so astronomically low that a whole family line of Vampire Leaders could spend every day of their lives turning a different Human, and still never create one.
***
Standing next to Edward, Shiuzuka glanced back at Sergeant Faye, a look of shock on her face.
While she knew that Faye was a Vampire, she didn't know just how special of a Vampire she was.
The closest thing she could compare it to was Faye being a First-Generation Original back in the Human World.
Faye, on the other hand, found herself wanting to bolt out of the room just to get away from all of this attention.
She had known that she was a rare type of Vampire ever since Muka had first shown her that book.
But she hadn't known that the Vampire Settlement would make this big of a deal about it.
She now intended to keep the knowledge of exactly what kind of a sub-class she was a closely-guarded secret, making sure as few Vampires as possible knew exactly what she was.
If the claims of this "Edward" were correct, and wars have been fought in the past over rare sub-classes like hers, it was highly probable that she could find herself trapped behind a glass panel in some Vampire Leader's private "zoo" of rare sub-classes if she wasn't careful.
Muka remained quiet for another moment.
"I think we're getting a little off-track," she replied. "I didn't send for you just to discuss the newest addition to my family."
An anxious look appeared on Edward's face for a moment.
It was clear that he was concerned about just what ramifications Faye's existence meant, and even more so, the fallout that would be caused if this information ever got out.
But at the same time, he knew that Muka had a point.
He let out a sigh of defeat, his body appearing to physically deflate like a balloon.
"You said that this 'new family member' found something among the Humans?" he asked, looking back up at Muka. "Something that relates back to the fate of Vincent?"
Muka leaned forward on her throne, hunching forward and crossing her arms on her legs as she looked down at Edward.
"Not something," she replied. "Someone."
Edward raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Over the course of the next few minutes, Muka and Faye began to relay everything Faye had discovered on the base, even before she had become a Vampire.
Including the, as of right now, three separate students who have arrived at the doctor's office with what appeared to be "snake bites" on their neck, as well as Shizuka's account of Quinn going through the "Blood Ritual", as Shizuka learned it was called, in the middle of the park.
Edward turned back to Shizuka with a hard look.
"And you're sure that he was alone when he was on the ground screaming?" he asked. "There wasn't anyone else there who could have done something to him? Anyone who could have potentially been another Vampire?"
Shizuka crossed her arms.
"The only person in that clearing was little Tsu-Tsu, the 'Talen' boy, and the Level 2.5 that the two of them had just defeated," Shizuka replied.
Shizuka looked away for a second.
"Well, there was also me and another student watching them at the time, but we were quite a significant distance away from them, hiding back in a cluster of trees, so it's not like either of us could have done anything."
Edward put his index finger on his chin, as he appeared to be deep in thought.
Though he was technically the acting leader of the 10th Family, he did not have the 10th Family's Ability.
After all, he wasn't part of the main family.
And even then, the Leaders of the 10th Family seemed to be even more strict with the Ability than the other Families were with theirs.
To the point that even discussing the Ability was a closely-guarded secret.
And to be perfectly honest, Edward could completely see why.
The Ability of the 10th Family was…something else.
'From what I do know about the 10th Family Ability, accomplishing something like this using it could be possible, but…' he thought, as he felt a pit forming in his stomach.
While no one outside of the Family Leaders within the 10th knew the exact inner workings and the mechanics of the Ability, one thing that Edward did know was that every time the Ability was used for something, there was usually a price involved.
'Vincent…if you really did do this…then just what on Earth could it have possibly cost you?' Edward thought.
He was snapped out of his musings, as he heard the others continue to talk.
"You've mentioned before that this 'Quinn Talen' is referred to as a 'Level 1 Ability User'," Muka replied. "What does that mean exactly?"
Sergeant Faye held up her arm so that Muka could see the wristwatch she was wearing, which currently displayed the number "6".
"Ever since the introduction of Abilities during the Dalki War, the Human World has essentially revolved around them," she explained. "To the point that these wristwatches, which are mandatory for people to wear and have the ability to detect a person's Mutant Cells, have essentially become an indicator of one's strength. A 'Level 1 Ability User' is exactly what it sounds like, a person with an Ability Level of 1."
Muka put her index finger on where her chin would be under her helmet.
"I see," she replied. "So this 'Quinn Talen' is considered 'weak' by your world's standards."
Sergeant Faye's face developed a conflicted expression.
"It's…complicated," she replied. "While these wristwatches are perfectly capable of detecting the Mutant Cells in a Human…that's all they can do. When placed on someone like us, they will always default to an Ability Level of 1."
Shizuka narrowed her eyes and turned to Sergeant Faye.
"Well that's a bold assumption," she replied. "And just what makes you say that?"
Sergeant Faye turned back to her.
"It's something your brother, student Hikiko, told me," she replied. "He told me to 'make sure I never lose this wristwatch, because if I were to ever put a new one on, it would show me as being a Level 1 Ability User'."
Shizuka developed a look of skepticism.
But before she could say anything, Edward's voice pierced the air.
"Then why does your wristwatch show the number '6', Faye Dallum?" he asked.
Sergeant Faye turned towards the elderly man.
"Student Hikiko has a theory that since the wristwatches were never designed to go down, as there is no recorded case of a person's Ability Level naturally decreasing, only increasing, that the wristwatches will always show the highest Ability Level that specific wristwatch has recorded," she replied.
She turned back to Shizuka.
"It's the same reason why student Blade's wristwatch currently shows him to be a Level 6 Ability Level, as well," she replied.
Shizuka raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Wait, 6?" she asked in surprise. "I thought his wristwatch always showed the number 5?"
Sergeant Faye let out a sigh.
"Apparently that dead Traveler from the Truedream Family that we brought back from Pioletic had a Level 6 Magnetism Ability," she replied. "Student Blade must have copied his Ability while he was still alive, and now, his wristwatch always defaults to 6."
One of the Vampires to Muka's right crossed his arms and looked away, a look of irritation on his face.
"It sounds like these 'wristwatches' of the Humans aren't very reliable," he replied.