It took the team several hours to leave, and several hours to come back. Given everyone's injuries, it was also going to take longer than that, which had frustrated Erin.
"You know, if you had turned one of them, then they would've fully healed by now. Not only that but you could've gotten EXP from their beast kills," The system 'helpfully' explained.
On a better day, Erin would've complained, and yelled at the system for continuing to only tell her information when it was relevant, but she didn't. She silently ruminated on her frustration over everything. After using the blood bank to heal herself, Erin didn't even want to THINK about vampire stuff.
[68/100 ML]
Once they arrived back at the shelter, and were let inside, Layla and Quinn went to the hospital to get their wounds checked out. Meanwhile, Peter and Fex went back to their dorm room.
Erin didn't want to just sit still and wait on people, she had to do something. To help take her mind off of her potentially failing grade, she took a walk around the shelter.
As she walked, a few people had noticed her long strawberry blonde hair flowing in the wind, with some boys turning their heads as she walked by.
At first, She said nothing. Until a random boy who looked a tad bit too old for her had caught her attention with a whistle.
"I'd love to get under your umbrella, sweet cheeks!" He said with a wink.
Looking over, Erin saw he was leaning over a gray wooden guard rail of his porch when he said that. She had enough of all the comments, and glared at the older looking boy, eyes burning bright red.
"Piss yourself."
Immediately, he had felt something wet under his trousers. There was now a very visible dark mark where his crotch was at.
Embarrassed, the older looking boy had ran off inside, presumably into his house. Hearing that he had sobbed a little almost brought a small smile to her face.
'Maybe he'll think twice about catcalling the next girl he sees.'
"You sure are getting used to your influence skill," the system commented.
Erin didn't respond to the system's words, continuing to walk, so the system feel a little bit more confident about talking to her.
"I've noticed that you seem very keen on becoming the absolute best," the system said, "but would getting a large amount of beast crystals really help prove that?"
Erin stopped in her tracks, and clenched her fists so tightly, her knuckles turned white.
'Of course it would! Only a weakling would fail the first exam!' Erin angrily thought with gritted teeth.
"Even though you've become a vampire, and your capabilities are that beyond of a normal human, its not enough. When will it ever be enough, Erin?"
Flashes of the past, of encountering a single dalki, the destruction that unfolded, being helpless to it all. The anger and frustration built up in Erin, and she yelled.
"Oh shut it you—!" Erin threatened out loud, before realizing that she had accidentally said it towards a particular boy.
"Whoa now, what did I do?" Luke said before chuckling.
Luke had been sitting on a stack of crates, casually eating from an open box of apples. He was leaned back, with a bag of apple cores to the side of him.
Realizing what she had done, Erin had crossed her arms and turned away.
"Silent treatment, huh? Let me guess, couldn't get any crystals from today's trip?" Luke wondered before taking a bite.
Erin faced him, shocked.
"How did you—?"
"Dang, you too?" Luke looked at Erin with an apologetic face, "I guess today just isn't very lucky, but at least there'll be hope tomorrow."
Erin squinted her eyes, "…What do you mean by that?"
Luke finished chewing a bite out of his apple before he could respond, "Well, it was something that my friend heard, so take it with a grain of salt, but there was a team that had returned from the red zone early. My friend had a hearing ability, and he heard that they said the beasts there were too strong for them, so they weren't going to come back for a while."
After taking another bite, Luke shrugged, "Well, saying it out loud, it's only good luck for my team if we don't end up dying there. Judging by the other team's members, it might be too dangerous, even for us."
"Hmm…" Erin hummed, before walking off.
"Hey! Where are you—?" Luke called out, about to chase after her, when he stopped.
"Oh, whatever. I'll see her again later."
Continuing to walk around the shelter, Erin thought about tomorrow's plan.
'If the issue is that we were caught by another team, then I'll have to do this alone.'
"You do currently have the skill points to unlock shadow cloak, which will allow you to hide from others. I hadn't recommended you unlock this sooner because the cloaking aspect was best used in the dark, but it would allow you to avoid sunlight until you left it."
"You could also save your skill points to unlock the shadow dome skill. I've told you about it before, but it should give you a large dome that'll block out the sun, and allow you fight at your fullest strength."
'Then leveling up my shadow skills is what I need to do'
Going over to a training center, Erin paid to rent out a private room where she began practicing and using the shadow control skill as much as she could until she needed to return back.
—
Once Quinn and Layla got out of the hospital, the first place they went to was the traveler's hall. Last time they were here, they had seen some blacksmiths working away at some new gear.
As they walked through the hall, they were looking into a few building windows to see if they could find anyone selling bows.
"Lets see… how much cash do you have?" Layla asked Quinn as she took out her silver colored card.
"Hmm, not that much," Quinn responded, taking out his own, "All I have is the leftover money from Erin the other day."
"Dang, We might only have enough cash for a basic tier bow," Layla sighed.
"That reminds me, how did you even get a bow in the first place?" Quinn asked casually, "As far as I know, only members from pure, or high leveled students could've gotten something like that."
Layla laughed nervously, then tugged at her uniform collar, "Its really not like that at all! I wouldn't think its strange or anything. Its something my mom handed down to me, that's all."
Quinn placed a hand on his chin as the two continued to walk, "I guess it makes sense it was a hand me down. Sorry, stupid question. I should've realized that if you were from Pure, you wouldn't have learned the telekinesis ability."
Quinn then awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of his head, "I was wondering since beast gear is so expensive, and you don't seem rich— no offense."
Layla let out a sigh of relief, "Yeah, well, like I said, it was a gift from my mom."
A look of realization had dawned on Quinn, "Oh— she's not going to get upset or anything that you broke something of hers?"
Layla grumbled, " …She probably won't notice."
"…I could pay for you."
Layla rolled her eyes with a smile, "With what money?"
"We could sell the intermediate crystal, but… I don't think Erin would take kindly to that," Quinn chuckled.
Layla held back a snort, only to burst out laughing. Seeing her laugh made Quinn join her, before it quickly died down.
"Okay, but seriously, how are we going to pay for a good bow?" Layla asked, getting serious.
Looking behind her, Quinn saw a stand of someone selling sculptures made out of glass and metals. While the arts wasn't something that was very profitable long term in this day and age, they just needed to sell enough for one beast weapon.
"…I have an idea."