[14/20 HP]
Erin took another tick of damage, she was waiting where she and Quinn were yesterday for an hour. Tapping her fingernails on the table, she couldn't understand what was taking Quinn so long.
[13/20 HP]
Another hour, and Erin was really getting frustrated with him. The least he could do was give him a bit of blood for turning her into this. She planted her face onto the table, and started groaning in boredom. Erin could've been training all that time, doing literally anything to get stronger.
{Erin} HELLOOOO???!!!
Nothing. No response.
Erin was about to get up when she saw her short brown haired roommate come walking by. She forgot her name, other than it having to do with an L.
"Erin?" Her roommate called out, "Are you alright?"
Erin didn't look to be in the best condition. Her hair was slightly frazzled, and she had a strained face from being overstimulated earlier that day.
A thought came to mind. This entire time, almost no one came by this part of the library. It was a very secluded part, the fiction section, due to the fact that not a lot of people took part in enjoying fictional stories anymore due to the war. Video games lost massive popularity because of this with only a few such as Power Fighters still staying up.
Her roommate, however, was looking a little embarrassed as she was holding a book in her hand. Erin could easily tell that it said "Bite me or Love me." A fictional vampire love story.
"Yeah, think you can help me out with something?" Erin asked.
Suddenly, her roommate looked very serious, "You never ask for help, what's wrong?"
Erin got up from her seat, and slowly walked over to her. She could tell that her teeth elongated, something had changed about herself. It wasn't fair of her to take advantage of a level 2 ability user in Erin's eyes, so she decided to ask something first, opening her mouth. However, she saw Erin's fangs, and took a step back.
"Erin, your teeth!?" She asked, surprised.
"Hey…. uh… Le….Lay… Roommate, I need blood," Erin responded, her eyes glowing red.
'Am I finally getting my dream fantasy?' Layla thought, 'Am I really going to get to live in a vampire novel?'
"Y-yeah! Sure!" She quickly replied, exposing her neck a little. Layla has been prepared for this opportunity since day one. She couldn't believe that her quick trip to the library would lead to her dream coming true.
Erin wasted no time and began drinking her blood. It tasted like the nectar of the gods, a sweet seductive flavor that was better than anything Erin has ever drank in her life. It was the first time Erin had ever consumed blood, the flavor was like a drug, not that she had ever taken drugs. She wanted to savor every bit of the taste.
[19/20]
[20/20]
[Blood type A+ has been absorbed]
[You have gained +1 strength point]
"E-Erin— you're—" Layla tried to warn, but she was losing consciousness from her fang's paralyzing intoxicant and collapsed from blood loss.
Erin had drunk more than what she expected. It was a little unnerving how much this system had changed her. However, there were more pressing matters at hand, such as her roommate being unconscious on the floor.
"...crap."
—
Hayley, the school's resident nurse, was tending to the students in the hospital room. She wore glasses and had her brunette hair tied up in a braid. There was a recent surge of beaten up students, and she really wished she had an extra set of hands to help her. As much as she would've loved to use up all her MC cells for healing, it was better used to save them for life threatening injuries.
After tending to the final student who had a headache and at most needed an aspirin, Hayley thought she was done until—
A blonde hair girl came running in holding another girl, who was clearly unconscious.
"I found her on the floor like this," Erin quickly said before Hayley could even register what happened.
"Uh, set her down, I'll check up on her," Haley replied.
Erin gently put Layla down onto the hospital bed, and stepped back to let the nurse deal with everything.
"What happened to her? Does she have an iron deficiency?" Hayley stated, taking note of Layla's symptoms. She looked pale, and her breathing was shortened. There was also two small wounds on her neck.
"Uh… I dunno, I just found her like this…"
"Does she get into fights often…?"
"Uh… I dunno…"
"... Is she your friend?"
{Erin} Quinn, is… Lay…Laylay? Layda? I don't know her name… my roommate, the one with the bow— is she technically my friend?
{Quinn} Huh?
{Erin} Quick quick!!
{Quinn} I just woke up! Let me think!
{Erin} Wake up faster!! The nurse is asking me questions!!
{Quinn} Where are you!?
"...Yes."
Hayley glared at Erin, making her skin itch from within.
"Oh… I see… You don't have to worry! Love is love!" The nurse said with a soft smile, and clasped her hands together.
{Quinn} Damn, my glasses are broken again…
Erin closed her eyes to try to focus on the conversation in front of her. It took a moment before she registered what Hayley just implied, then it hit her.
"Ah— Um— Uhhh— No— I mean—" She began to fumble over her words, unable to think of a proper reason to tell Hayley what happened without telling her the truth.
"Don't worry girl, I gotchu," Hayley said with a wink and finger guns, making Erin internally cringe.
Erin shook her head, "Just— Tell me if she's fine."
{Quinn} I'm just going to the nurse as well. I think something's broken…
{Quinn} Besides my glasses.
"She'll be okay, at most she'll need a blood transfusion and/or some added iron in her diet," Hayley responded, "Still, something that bothers me is how much blood she lost, as well as that strange wound—"
However, when Hayley looked at Layla's neck, the wound disappeared. It was as if it was never there.
'The wound isn't visible anymore?' Erin thought, but looking at Layla's neck, there really wasn't a mark.
{Quinn} I swear if someone tries to attack me while I'm going to the nurse—
"Ok good," Erin grabbed a seat and sat down, "I'm going to keep an eye on her."
Hayley just rolled her eyes with a smile, then whispered, "Young love…"
Erin was pretty sure Hayley wasn't expecting her to hear that, but ever since she became a halfling, her hearing became super enhanced. She just wanted to stick around to ask if her roommate would stay quiet about what happened.
Hayley tended to Layla, using a healing ability to help replenish the blood that was lost, and setting up an IV. She then made a note on her digital clipboard noting this incident in her medical record, before leaving and tending to the next student.
Not soon after, a familiar curly haired boy walked in, holding his arm with a pained look on his face. Hayley quickly led him to a bed that was next to Erin and Layla before tending to his wounds. The two didn't actually see each other due to a curtain surrounding all the beds giving them privacy.
"On the count of 3, I'm going to reset your arm back into its socket. It got dislocated earlier," Hayley began, holding Quinn's arm.
"Can't you just use your ability to heal me?" Quinn asked.
"That's what I'm going to do, I don't want to heal your arm when it's in the wrong spot," Hayley chuckled as if it was a joke.
Quinn gritted his teeth, and right as he was about to protest, the nurse forcefully relocated his arm without counting down, and he nearly screamed in pain.
"ACK—!"
He smacked his fists onto the bed, trying to get through the lingering pain, until Hayley's hands were over his shoulder and a warm tingly feeling began to sooth him. She held her hands over the other injuries Quinn got from Momo and his gang. He relaxed his muscles, and soon, he was nearly all healed.
"Alright you're set!" Hayley said, before going to another student.
Quinn sat there, worried about Erin, as well as being annoyed that Momo had stopped him. Somehow, he could feel her presence. He already knew that Erin might still be here, but there was something else about the feeling.
{Quinn} Are you still in the nurse's place?
{Erin} Yeah? Are you here?
Both Quinn and Erin looked around themselves, before leaning over to the curtain and moving it to the side at the same time.
"Erin?" Quinn squinted as he asked, just in case he was looking at the right person.
"Yeah?"
They were both a little shocked at the coincidence, however, Erin seeing Quinn had made her annoyed. She crossed her arms and glared him down.
"I waited for you in the library for who knows how long, and you weren't there at all."
"I got beaten up before I could help you," He replied back, trying to explain himself.
"That's just your fault for being weak," Erin scoffed.
A couple of people began to glance their way, and they soon began to take their conversation to their internal messaging tab for privacy.
{Quinn} I was looking all over the library for you. How did you find out a way to drink blood?
{Erin} Someone came by and I drank their blood.
{Quinn} You just went and grabbed the first person you saw? What if she reveals your secret?
{Erin} Oh, sorry! I was waiting on you for hours! I could've been training instead of dealing with this whole blood drinking thing you did to me.
{Quinn} I was trying to get to you as fast as I could, but I got cornered.
{Erin} Why didn't you just fight them off then?
{Quinn} I tried, but they outnumbered me and were several levels higher than me.
{Erin} Why would they do that? Wouldn't someone have noticed and tried to help you out?
{Quinn} What do you mean? I'm a level 1, I don't have an ability. No one cares for the level 1s.
{Erin} But why would they bother attacking you? It's just a waste of time.
Quinn stared at her in shock. He almost couldn't believe that Erin was thinking this way. With what level Erin used to have, she had been living the life of a midranged leveled person, one who didn't really experience the hardships the low levels did. Because of this, she wasn't aware of the injustices that the system brought.
{Quinn} Erin… are you not aware of what happens to low levels? How we get treated like trash? We get attacked relentlessly because we can't fight back.
{Erin} Just what does that prove? We already know we're already stronger you, so what is there to gain from doing that?
{Erin} I've never hurt anyone unless they mess with me, or I ask first.
Layla's body shuffled, causing Quinn to glance her way.
{Quinn} We're going to need to put a pin on this conversation. How are you going to explain to her what happened? Drinking people's blood isn't something people normally do.
As they were talking mentally, Layla shuffled on her hospital bed. She shivered as she felt cold and tired, not remembering why. As her eyes opened, she saw Erin and another boy having some sort of staring contest while hand gesturing.
Holding a hand to her head, she squinted at the two of them, confused about what was happening, "Why are you two just staring at each other?"
Both Erin and the black haired boy quickly looked at her, then back at each other.
Layla was recalling what it was that just happened before she ended up here, then remembered the paralyzing pleasure that ensued when Erin bit into her earlier that day. A slight flush came to her face, and she covered it in embarrassment.
"Hey… uh, Le— Lay… Girl." Erin began.
"Wait—!" Layla uncovered her face then looked at Erin, "Do you seriously not know my name? We're roommates!"
"Yes I do, it's Lisa," Erin said.
Layla just gave her roommate a disappointed look.
"Erin, do you not know who I am?" Layla questioned, "We're roommates, I introduced myself to you the day we first arrived, we were together at the test, and I know about you and your—" she used her fingers to shape them into fangs around her mouth, "and I wouldn't care so much if I shared my blood for you, but do you not even remember my name?"
Now Quinn was confused about Layla's reaction. He expected her to get upset, but he thought she'd get more upset about being drunk like a caprisun.
"Hey, let's take this somewhere more…" Quinn glanced around, seeing a few prying eyes, "...more private."
"How about the library, they have those silencing orbs," Erin suggested.
"Absolutely not!" Quinn snapped at her.
"How about my dorm room? My roommate, Cia, doesn't really hang out there." Layla finally said.
"Let's go then," Erin spoke, standing up.
After getting checked up on by the nurse again, they were discharged, and entered Layla and Erin's dorm room.