The Skill wasn't exactly what Quinn was expecting, but it seemed to be some sort of "Invisibility Cloak". One that would work well on weakBeasts, but not so well on those of a higher Level.
Quinn then stood up from the ground, and decided to test out his Skills. Looking over, he saw that Tsukuru and Vorden were currently distracted with Tsukuru's new Gear. Additionally, unlike he and Tsukuru, Vorden couldn't see in the dark. This meant that it was hard for him to see in the arena. Especially after Quinn had destroyed all the lights while he was the Bloodsucker.
Quinn smirked.
"Perfect." He replied, and thought about activating the Skill. A System message popped up in front of him.
[Skill Shadow Cloak has been activated.]
Looking down, Quinn watched as his shadow began to move. It lifted up from the ground, and slowly started to creep up his body. From the soles of his feet, to his knees, and all the way up to the tips of his hair.
***
Back over with Tsukuru and Vorden, Tsukuru dismissed both of the Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Daggers, returning them to his System's "Weapons Tab". Tsukuru had no need for weapons while they were in here. As the two daggers broke down into pixels and vanished, two overlapping System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger removed.
-3 Strength, -5 Agility.
Strength: 11 [+10]
Agility: 15 [+8] ]
[Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger removed.
-3 Strength, -5 Agility.
Strength: 11 [+7]
Agility: 15 [+3] ]
Now, he only had the Strength boost from his Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets, and the Agility bonus from his Basic-Tier Blade-Tusk Boots.
Tsukuru subconsciously gleaned ahead of him. In the green-tinted vision of his System's "Night-Vision Mode", which had been active since his arrival here, he saw something…particular in front of him. When looking at where Quinn had been sitting a moment ago, he now saw a shadowy mist in his place. It looked kind of like a black fog in the shape of a human.
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow in confusion.
'What the hell?' He thought. He quickly glanced over at his System's "Minimap". When he did, he clearly saw Quinn's purple dot standing exactly where he was standing when Tsukuru and Vorden had walked away. Tsukuru's eyes narrowed in realization. 'Is that some…Skill of the Shadow Ability?' He thought. 'He does kind of look like how the 'True Shadow-Infected' were described in Ray's story…'
***
Back over with Quinn, he slowly began to walk across the arena floor, over to where Tsukuru and Vorden had moved to. As he walked, every once in a while, a System message would appear in front of him.
[-1 MC. MC: 99/100]
[-1 MC. MC: 98/100]
As he walked, it seemed like the Skill was working. Well, on Vorden, at least. He seemed to be completely unaware of Quinn's presence. Tsukuru, on the other hand, was staring right at him, with a smirk on his face. The smirk read to Quinn as Tsukuru essentially saying "I see you there". Quinn's shoulders slumped slightly.
'Right.' He thought. 'I forgot that he could see in the DARK.' Back when he and Tsukuru had been talking the other night after they and Layla had done those little "tests", Tsukuru had told him some of the newer aspects of his System. One of which was something he explained as essentially a pair of built-in night-vision goggles. 'Hopefully he doesn't WARN Vorden.'
Quinn kept sneaking closer and closer to the two. Yet, Tsukuru hadn't done anything to notify Vorden of Quinn's location. Quinn was now currently ten feet away from the two. Quinn took a deep breath, and took another step closer.
Instantly, Vorden snapped his head in Quinn's direction.
Seeing this, Quinn froze in place.
Vorden outstretched his arm to the side, attracting one of the nearby chairs towards him. Although he was struggling to see what exactly it was, he could sense something. A strange energy disrupting the flow around himself. The hairs on his body were standing on end. Looking forward, Vorden squinted and concentrated. As he did, he could see somethingshifting in the air.
Vorden thrust his arm forward, repelling the chair, and send it flying towards Quinn.
Seeing this, Quinn's eyes widened in panic. Instantly, he deactivated the Skill.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Quinn said frantically, waving his hands in front of him as he became visible again. "It's just me!"
Vorden's eyes widened, and frantically froze the chair in place, causing it to hover in the air.
Quinn stood there, his heart racing, as the metal chair floated centimeters away from his face.
Vorden let out a sigh, and used Ian's ability to slam the chair into the floor in front of Quinn. A loud "clattering" noise echoed through the arena.
"What the hell, Quinn?!" Vorden complained. "You almost gave me a heart attack! Do you not remember how not even an hour ago, I was fighting for my life against you?!" Vorden took a deep breath, and glanced to the side. "I've been on high alert every since!"
Quinn let out a nervous laugh.
"Sorry." He replied.
"Oh, right." Tsukuru replied, causing Vorden to snap his head to look at him. "You can't see in the dark, can you?" He gave Vorden a nervous smile. "Sorry, I forgot about that!"
Vorden's eye began to twitch in annoyance.
"Are you telling me that you could see him the whole time?!" He asked in a deadpan tone.
Tsukuru glanced further away, avoiding eye contact with Vorden.
Vorden let out a sigh, and brought his hand up to his forehead. He then turned back to Quinn.
"But, man." He replied, his stress melting away, and turning into amazement. "You learned the Shadow Ability already?" He asked, a smile appearing on his face. "And that looked like a Skill!"
Usually, it would take at least a few days to learn an Ability. And learning Skills took quite a while. Yet, here, Quinn was able to use everything right away.
Quinn laughed nervously, and scratched his cheek.
"Like I said, when I read the book, it seems like all the information was inserted into my head." Quinn replied. "All I have to do is think about it, and I can do it."
Vorden then walked over to Quinn, and held out his hand.
"Mind if I try?" He asked.
Quinn smiled.
"Sure." He replied. "Go ahead."
The two of them shook hands. As they did, the same System message that had appeared the last time the two of them shook hands popped up in front of Quinn.
[Use of an Ability has been detected. Ability has been blocked.]
Quinn let out an annoyed sigh.
'Are you sure my System doesn't have a 'firewall'?' Quinn thought.
A moment later, the annoying voice of the man spoke up in Quinn's mind.
"Like I told youbefore, the System is just informing you of what your body is doing naturally." He replied. "It's not a feature of the System. The System is only informing you of when Abilities are being used on you."
Quinn was quiet for a moment, then he spoke.
'Can I…I don't know…supress it, or SOMETHING?" He asked, hopefully.
"Even if you could, and the boy could copy your Ability, he wouldn't be able to use it." The man replied.
Quinn raised an eyebrow in confusion.
'Why not?' He thought.
"Because Human Mutant Cells and Vampire Mutant Cells are completely different." The man replied. "It's like injecting plant cells into an animal, and expecting them to work. But, you could always turn him. Then he would be able to copy the Ability, as he would also possess Vampire Mutant Cells."
At the man's suggestion, a System message popped up in front of Quinn.
[Would you like to activate Skill Blood Ritual and turn individual Vorden Blade into a Vampire?
[Yes] [No] ]
***
Far away from the training center, on the outskirts of the abandoned shelter, coincidentally in the same forest that Tsukuru had slept in, space began to distort. It looked similar to a black hole, with the light bending around it. Electricity poured off of the distortion, crackling out, and hitting multiple locations. Where the electricity hit, black scorchmarks were left behind.
Suddenly, a group of five people flashed into existence, looking as though they had just used the Teleportation Ability. As they appeared, they were all holding hands. The group of five looked around. Seeing that they had successfully arrived at their destination, they all immediately let go.
"Is everybody here?" Sergeant Faye asked.