Vorden put his finger under his lip, and thought long and hard about if there was anything they could do to help Quinn. At one point, his eyes darted over towards Tsukuru.
Tsukuru saw the look, and put up a hand of dismissal.
"Don't look at me." He replied. "If the military found out about this Shadow Ability, it would catch the immediate attention of the Supreme Commander." He replied. "Even Shizuka's hands would be tied."
Hearing this, Vorden grit his teeth. He continued to think. And then, that's when his master plan came to him.
"I think…" Vorden replied, causing the other two to turn to him. When they did, they saw him develop a scheming grin. "...we can use this little 'situation' we've found ourselves in to your advantage, Quinn." Vorden then turned to look at him. "By now, the school mustbe aware that the three of us have been sent to another planet. A Red Portal Planet at that. Who knowswhat mysterious objects could be found on such a place?"
Tsukuru smirked, catching on.
"I get it." He replied. "We'll just say he stumbled across it, and had to learn it for his own survival."
Vorden turned back to Tsukuru. And when he did, Tsukuru could see a shit-eating grin.
"Exactly." He replied. "The school all thinks he's a piece of Level 1 trash with no Ability. We can just say that we protected him."
Tsukuru's smile widened.
"And as payment, he gave the Shadow Ability Book to the Blade Family as payment." Tsukuru replied. "People will no longer go after Quinn for the Ability, and will target the Blade Family instead." Tsukuru's smile became downright predatory. "And if the story Shizuka told me about that sister of yours is true, that'd be a suicide mission."
Tsukuru and Vorden both shared a look as if there were accomplices in the greatest murder mystery of all time.
Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"Are..are you sure that your family will be…okay with that?" Quinn asked.
For a second, Quinn thought that he had seen Vorden's face drop. But when he blinked and looked again, Vorden looked completely normal.
"Yeah, they'll be fine." He replied, assuring Quinn. "C'mon, let's crack open that Ability Book! I can't wait to see the looks on everyone's faces when we get out of here."
Quinn glanced to the side.
"You mean, 'if we get out of here'." He muttered.
Vorden laughed.
"Oh, don't be so negative!" He replied. "Now, what I'm about to tell you is something that they'd probably cover at the school later on anyway. But I'm gonna tell you now because it should be helpful when learning the Ability Book."
Using Ian's Ability, Vorden magnetized a small, metal bolt near him. He attracted it to his location, and then had it begin to levitate in his hand.
"The 'Ability Level' system is divided into eight Levels." Vorden replied. "Rather than actual strength, these Levels are actually determined by how many Mutant Cells you are able to activate in your body." Vorden then deactivated Ian's Ability, letting the bolt fall into his hand. "Let's take the Earth Ability for example." He replied, rubbing the bolt back and forth between his fingers.
"Someone with a low amount of Mutant Cells within their body would only be able to manipulate the earth they could hold in their hands." Vorden then looked up at Quinn. "Meanwhile, a Level 5 Earth Ability User would be able to lift up earth from the ground without touching it."
Hearing this, Quinn thought back to the day Tsukuru's Knight had killed Riley, and he had called his sister, Shizuka, for damage control. He remembered seeing her open a giant hole in the ground with a single STOMP.
"As Ability Books go higher in Level, they contain information on how to unlock more and more Mutant Cells for that specific Ability." Vorden replied.
Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"But…if the Ability Levels don't actually determine strength, then why make us do the Placement Test at the start of the school year?" Quinn asked.
Tsukuru scoffed, causing Quinn to turn to him.
"That's just to sort us into the subcategories they created." Tsukuru replied, a bitter tone in his voice. "Level 1.1s, 2.2s, 3.3s, and so on. Although this can also be determined by what Skills you have learned for your respective Ability."
Vorden then lifted up his right arm, and twisted it in Quinn's direction, allowing him to see his wristwatch. When he did, Quinn saw the number "6" being revealed.
Quinn's eyes widened.
"Wait, six?" He thought. "Isn't that the same Level as…" Quinn thought back to one of the lines of text he had received in the System message that had appeared after he had killed Ian.
***
[You have defeated a Level 6 Ability User.]
***
"This is the answer." Vorden replied. "The watches the military forces us to wear are capable of determining the amount of Mutant Cells in our bodies."
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
'Yeah, Human Mutant Cells…' He thought. He had a feeling that even if Quinn did learn the Shadow Ability, his watch still might not be able to detect his body's Mutant Cells.
"Even before we ever took the test, these watches knew what Ability Level we were." Vorden replied. "The watches were simply turned off when we arrived, and activated after the Placement Test. Seeing as how I copy the amount of Mutant Cells in the bodies of those whose Abilities I copy, my wristwatch changes accordingly."
Tsukuru then glanced over at him.
"However, the watches are only capable of going up, not down." He replied. "That's why even while copying the Level 1 Earth Ability of…a certain someone…Vorden's watch still displays the number '5'." Tsukuru replied. He purposely avoided saying Peter's name as he did so. He was the last person that any of them wanted to talk about right now.
"Before, it was displaying '5' because the highest Ability Level you'd copied to that point was Erin's Level 5 Ice Ability." His eyes then narrowed. "And now, the highest level is from his Level 6 Ability." Tsukuru replied, glancing over at Ian's bisected lower torso, still in the middle of the room.
Quinn seemed to be learning so much. It just proved how wide the gap of information between the public and the military and the Original Families was. This also cemented the fact that Quinn being a Vampire wasn't an Ability. No matter how strong Quinn got, the number of his watch had never changed.
Vorden smiled.
"Think about it, Quinn." He replied. "Not every test is able to determine someone's strength. And not every Ability is focused on it. Some Abilities let you tell if people are lying, give you enhanced hearing, and as you saw in that little stint in the assembly hall, see the future."
Quinn knew exactly who Vorden was referring to. Mono.
"Althought these might not be strong fighting Abilities on their own, they still require a hefty amount of Mutant Cells to activate in the first place. And now, that brings us to your book." Vorden replied, pointing to the book in Quinn's hand. "Not everyone can activate a high number of Mutant Cells in their body. Some Ability Books are just too high Level for certain people to learn. No matter how much they continually try and try, they will never be able to succeed. To put it simply, the amount of Mutant Cells a person can activate is decided the moment they are BORN. Due to this, it might take us a while to find out if you are even capable of learning that Ability."
Tsukuru nodded.
"Right." He replied. "Maybe if you had found a Level 1 or2 Ability Book, it would have been a done deal. But the amount of people who can learn a Level 6 Ability, while not being exactly rare, is definitely uncommon."
Quinn knew exactly what Tsukuru and Vorden were talking about. Even he had heard stories of rich CEOs buying high-Level Ability Books for their children, only to be disappointed when their children couldn't succeed.
Vorden narrowed his eyes.
"Plus, there's another problem." He replied. "One can't simply master an Ability with an Ability Book alone. They'll also need to obtain Skill Books for that Ability. With them, you'll only ever truly be able to use the Ability with one-tenth of its true potential." Vorden's face then softened. "But, don't let it get you down, Quinn. The Ability Books and Skill Books are only shortcuts to learning these things in the first place. The Originals discovered their Abilities without such things. They did everything by themselves."
Tsukuru smiled.
"Yeah, Quinn!" He replied. "Just look at my mother! She never had any Ability Books or Skill Books! Yet, she ended up as one of the War Heroes!"
Tsukuru then glanced to the side. "Though, she did have a few decades to practice." He muttered, almost as an afterthought.