[Erin has gained 5+ EXP for drinking 2 liters of water]
[160/200]
[Erin has gained 5+ EXP for avoiding sunlight for 8 hours]
[165/200 EXP]
The weekend break was over, and Quinn was starting to get used to waking up to system messages in the morning. He headed to class, taking his earth ability book with him, and began thinking about what he learned from the book itself.
'I hope I don't regret this,' Quinn thought.
Currently, Quinn's watch displayed a power level of 1.1, similarly to Peter's. The most they could control was a small lump of mud when they held it directly in their hands.
Quinn brought a bit of mud in a small pouch as he headed to one of his classes.
It was a general studies class, not like his homeroom class, so Quinn didn't feel too bad if he didn't pay too close attention to the lessons at hand.
Under his desk, he was constantly practicing what he learned with the mud, treating it as an extension of himself. Imagining the substance as like an additional limb, Quinn shaped the mud into a ball, into a round cube, then finally into a glove. He was finding that he liked the idea of using a gauntlet as a weapon, especially since it was something he could wrap around his hands easily.
{Quinn} By the way, Erin, I decided to learn the earth ability.
{Erin} Earth, huh? Somehow, it doesn't seem that bad of a choice for you.
{Erin} What made you choose that one?
{Quinn} The military was going to offer it to me anyway, and I've been abilityless for too long.
{Quinn} It's basically free… besides potentially becoming their puppet, and ignoring their monopoly on the higher-leveled books. At this point, I'll take what I can get.
{Erin} If there was so much of an issue with the earth ability books, then why didn't you ask me to buy you one?
{Quinn} I don't want to rely on you for everything.
{Quinn} Don't worry, I'll be careful.
{Erin} You should meet up with me after class. We don't practice our abilities often in Leo's class, and it's too late in the semester to switch to the elemental classes.
{Erin} I'll teach you how to use your ability at the gym.
{Quinn} Sounds great.
Excited by the news of growing stronger, Quinn decided to spend the rest of his class actually focusing on what his teacher was talking about.
—
Class was over, and Quinn looked outside of the classroom cautiously for any potential bullies.
When the coast was clear, Quinn walked to the school's gym. That was where he expected to see Erin, since they promised to meet up there.
When he was about to message her again, an alarming notification showed up.
[Quest: Escape]
[HP: 17/20]
{Erin} There's 5 of them surrounding me.
{Erin} I'm going to fight them as long as I can but I need you to—
[HP: 12/20]
[HP: 5/20]
[HP: 3/20]
[Quest failed]
{Quinn} Erin?
{Quinn} ERIN!?
Quinn began breathing heavily. He knew that Erin was considered a level 1 without her ice ability, but she was strong otherwise, and wasn't in sunlight.
{Quinn} Erin!?
{Quinn} Erin? Where are you? I'll come find you!
As soon as he arrived, he left the gym and was running around searching for his friend.
Thinking about it, she might've been in the pathway from her general studies teacher to the gym, but where was her general studies class? He didn't know.
Quinn pushed past a few students in the halls, looking frantically for her. He knew she was strong when she wasn't in sunlight, and he was beaten by her easily before in the past. A few people gave him dirty looks, but he didn't care. If Erin was to be captured, then who could've done this? Was it Mono? Was it someone even higher up? Did they find out that she lost her ability and did something?
He thought about it, and couldn't stop thinking about all the possibilities. However, as he found himself in the wide open cafeteria, he noticed a brunette haired girl eating a tall stack of greens.
"Hey, Layla!" Quinn called out to her, which caught her attention, "You wouldn't happen to have seen Erin around, have you?"
Given that the two were roommates, it made sense to ask her.
Layla looked around as she stuffed a large broccoli head in her mouth. After chewing, she gulped and said, "No, I haven't seen her since this morning, what's wrong?"
Quinn didn't want to explain to her that he knew something was wrong because of his system messages that only he and Erin could read. Instead he just did his best to play it cool.
"Nothing, I just wanted to… meet up with her later."
Layla opened up a packet labeled "iron supplements," and poured the contents into her drink. She lifted it to her mouth, and visibly grimaced at the taste.
"Why are you drinking that?" Quinn asked, before a thought entered his head regarding the messages Erin sent about biting her roommate.
Layla's face flushed pink, and she quickly set the drink down, "Uh—! Nothing! Just… I got a little low on iron last night haha, it's a uh— it's a condition I have. Yep, totally true."
Quinn didn't believe her, but there were more pressing matters at hand. He looked around frantically in the cafeteria, but yet he couldn't see her at all.
Layla, seeing his actions, decided to get up, "Hey, if you're looking for her, why don't I help?"
Looking back to her, Quinn nodded, "Thank you, now follow me."
He decided to try to feel for the connection that they both felt for each other. It was a weak feeling, but it was something that he felt whenever the two were close. However, sometimes he wasn't sure if the connection was from them being linked or if he was confusing it with needing to use the bathroom.
As they walked around the school, Layla decided to make some small talk, "So how did you get to know Erin? Aside from the initial testing of course."
Quinn didn't want to say it was because the two had bumped into each other, which was a little embarrassing, but he didn't know what else to say.
"Well, I… We had bumped into each other in a hallway, and she helped pick up the book that changed her," Quinn said, deliberately trying to avoid outright saying 'vampire'.
"Really? That doesn't sound like her," Layla was surprised, "I've been roommates with her since the beginning of the year and it's only now that she's bothered to remember my name. Somehow she's easily able to know yours."
"We also talked outside of that incident. Obviously that wouldn't be enough just for us to be… Friends."
"Hmm… Do you know why your book did that to her?"
"I don't know why she just woke up like that," Quinn explained, "Even though I'd had that book for a long time, when we bled on it, she changed."
"We?"
He bit his lip, and internally cursed himself out. It was a slip of the tongue.
"Hmm," Layla hummed.
Desperate to get out of the constant question asking, Quinn looked around for Erin, but instead he spotted his roommate with black hair and freckles.
"Peter!" Quinn called out, waving his hands.
Peter looked for the source, and noticed his roommate calling out to him.
"Hey, Quinn," Peter replied before pointing at the girl next to Quinn, "who's she?"
Quinn looked behind himself at Layla, but he kinda didn't really know her that well aside from the fact that the two of them knew Erin.
"We're just looking for a friend of ours," Layla said.
"What does she look like?"
Layla then tucked a bit of hair behind her ear, "Well, she has long strawberry blonde hair, piercing blue eyes— Kinda like your glasses, Quinn, and she constantly carries a sword—"
"Ice Queen?!" Peter blurted out, surprised, "Wh-what do you guys want with her?"
"She promised to train with me," Quinn replied.
"Are you sure it's not a trap? I mean, she is a high level…" Peter's voice trailed off.
"She's different from them," Quinn quickly replied, "She doesn't actually treat us low levels as trash, and she actually cares. How do you think I got my new glasses?"
"She got you a gift?" Layla said, "Hmm, now that I look at you, you do have different colored glasses."
"Yes, now lets keep looking," Quinn walked off without waiting for the other two
Layla and Peter looked at each other before following behind.
"...Say, have you heard they're going to be adding new vending machines near the bathrooms," Layla commented.
"Really? Where'd you hear that?" Peter replied, fiddling with his thumbs.
"I overheard it on my way to class," Layla explained, "Y'know the teacher's room? The door was just slightly open."
"Seriously? Shouldn't they have it closed so people don't listen in? What if they're talking about classified information?"
"About vending machines?" Layla replied.
Peter stifled a giggle at the thought. Perhaps he was just thinking too hard about the consequences.