"What in the world did you do?" a voice screamed inside Quinn's head.
To Quinn, it sounded exactly like the blonde man from the video.
"So now I have an AI voice in my head. This is frustrating. Fantastic."
The system responded, "What did you do?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Quinn snapped.
The system sighed. Actually sighed. "You were supposed to awaken as a vampire… and now look at you."
Then all of a sudden the voice went dead.
On calling for the system several times Quinn still didnt get an answer.
Now why is the System not responding?
Why would the AI be worried If I didn't become a vampire?
Then suddenly, the voice returned — sharper, colder, like it had just binge-watched Quinn's entire life.
"Why did you have to tamper with the system?"
"Oh, you are back", Quinn replied
Answer the question the Al Said annoyed.
"Ok, I don't know What you meant by tamper?"
"Didn't you ask Logan to hijack the system?"
Quinn blinked.
"oh, you are talking about that, I thought maybe he could help me, I didn't know what was really going to happen, It was just a damn book that couldn't even be opened.
Wait… how do you know that? Aren't you just an AI?"
"Everything you do, I see. Right now I have been just hit with a massive data load of what all stupid things you were doing.
Wait you had seen everything, and remember everything, even my private moments ?"
Without answering his concerns, the voice spoke.
"This is not how I imagined the system working…"
"But apparently, it indeed has the power to alter and change the fates according to the user's intention, just like the equivalent exchange."
The voice continued, calmer now. "Well… now that I see the system screen, you do still have the option to be Blooded. So don't panic. Hope isn't completely dead. You are still welcome to be a vampire If you want.
Do you want to activate the Ritual?."
Of course not, Quin ordered.
The more the voice spoke, the less it sounded like an AI and more of an exhausted human. Quinn decided to ignore that part and focus on the real issue.
"So… do you know what this Draconic Kin thing is?"
"Hm. If I compare it to vampire history — each vampire can turn someone through blood ritual. But depending on the vampire, the turned can evolve into subclasses: Wights, Undead, Haniya, and others But I have never heard of Draconic kin."
"So in your case," the voice added, "you're basically a dragon subclass.
Hope you like flying, scales and terrifying villages."
The system continued,"…This makes me wonder who your ancestor was."
Quinn had many questions in his mind, like what his bloodline had to do with dragons.
But for now, it was too much mental toll to bother with those questions.
So now I am back to
0/100 EXP
Quinn sighed as he looked at the bunker. He had exhausted almost all of the books to level up.
Yet, still not deciding to leave anything, he decided to go farther inside, and that's when he observed that he could see the room clearly even though it was dark inside.
As he searched to see what else was there, his eyes landed on a book, dark black in color with a purple shade on the edges.
When he touched the book, the system appeared as usual:
[A Level 6 Shadow Ability Book: Ability incompatible with the race. Would you like to turn it to EXP?]
Shadow element? Quinn had never heard about any ability named shadow or seen one.
But the message had clearly stated it was incompatible with the race.
Hmm… weird.
So does that mean this book is for humans and not meant for me? Certainly, my race is no longer human, so I can't learn this ability.
He was now coming along the lines to convert the book to EXP when the voice interrupted again.
"That book is not compatible for humans. That ability is specifically for vampires. So perhaps you should not consume it for now. You still have the option to be turned into a vampire."
"Wait, so even if I turn, don't you think I will keep my present ability?"
"That would be a gamble, because once a human is turned into a vampire, he is most likely to lose the ability as well."
"What? Really? Then why would I make that choice?"
"Well, I am just saying it's always better to be safe than sorry."
"How many hard choices do I have to go with today?" Quinn complained.
"You can store the book in the dimensional storage perhaps," the system suggested.
"But I tried with the other books, and it didn't work."
"Why don't you just try?" the system said again.
"Fine…"
As Quinn concentrated, the book suddenly vanished from his hand and appeared in the inventory tab along with the crystals he had obtained.
The voice then spoke, a little edgier than usual:
"From what I have seen, you should be strong enough to deal with the threat of this planet, at most. So aren't you forgetting that there are seven other students also trapped on this planet, and already this much time has passed? They could even be dead. So stop wasting your time here and go help them."
The system spoke the last line with arrogance in its voice.
That's when the realization hit Quinn.
"Shit… I wasted too much time. Even Vorden is here. But how am I supposed to find them?"
Quinn slowly opened the bunker door, making sure there was no more threat as he came outside.
Just as he was wondering what to do, something crawled out of Quinn's watch.
Suddenly, new messages came in.
Hey Quinn!
I can only communicate with you like this. The distance from your planet to Earth is too far to make a voice call. Along with you, seven other students have also been thrown here. I know you will be alright, so I have pinned the location of each student and made a map. Since you are all within a one-mile radius, you can find them.
We believe in you, Quinn.
— Logan Green
And then a hologram was projected from Quinn's watch, tagging the locations of all the students.
At the same time, all the remaining alive students — Vorden, Erin, Amy, Sarah, and Ray — received the hologram with red pointers tagging each student.
Now a plan had been set, and a spark of hope ignited in everyone's heart.