My Vampire System: Erin's Awakening

[Erin has gained 5+ EXP for drinking 2 liters of water]

[150/200 EXP]

[Erin has gained 5+ EXP for avoiding sunlight for 8 hours]

[155/200 EXP]

The weekend break was over, and Quinn was starting to get used to seeing the 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.

Currently, Quinn's watch listed a Level 1.1 and Peter was in a similar state himself. They were at the same power level, and the most they could control was mud when they held it in their hands. 

Quinn brought a bit of mud with him in a little baggy as he went 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 practicing what he learned with the mud, treating it as an extension of himself. It was basically like pretending it was an extra limb. He shaped the mud into a ball, then 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, might as well accept it. It's basically free.

{Quinn} I hope I don't regret it, they have a monopoly on all the higher-level books.

{Erin} Why didn't you ask me to buy you one?

{Quinn} I don't want to rely on you for everything.

{Erin} You should probably train with it. It's not like you can change your class from beast weapons to elemental.

{Erin} Meet up with me after class, I'll take you to the school's gym to spar.

{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 around 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: Survive]

[HP: 17/20]

{Erin} I'm surrounded, and there's 5 of them around 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 homeroom teacher to the gym, but where was her homeroom class? He didn't know.

Quinn pushed past a few students in the halls, looking frantically for her. He knew she was strong, he was beaten by her easily before in the past, he felt it himself. 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 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?"

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 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 message he sent Erin about drinking her roommate dry.

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 really 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 so badly, 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 was making some small talk, "so how did you get to know Erin?"

Quinn didn't want to say it was because his book turned her into a vampire, but he didn't know what else to say.

"Well, I… Bumped into her in a hallway, and she helped pick up my things."

"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 how she became a vampire then?"

Quinn felt like he was being interrogated, and was scrambling to come up with more half truths, "I… don't know. I just found her like that."

"Found?" 

He bit his lip, and internally cursed himself out. it was a slip of the tongue, and now he was desperate to get out of the constant question asking. Looking around for Erin, he instead 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 said with a soft smile, "who's she?"

He 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 had a smile on her face as she tucked a bit of hair behind her ear, "Well, She has golden blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. Kinda like your glasses, Quinn, and she has this beautiful face—"

"Ice Queen?!" Peter blurted out, surprised, "Wh-what do you guys want with her?"

"She promised to train with me," Quinn replied.

"Aren't 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 almost yelled at his roommate, "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.

"Yes, now I'd like to continue looking for her," 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.