Layla had been tracking Quinn and the others for a while now. From afar she had been watching their encounter with Mono. It was kind of amazing how much attention Quinn managed to attract in a single day.
The only thing that Layla was confused about was why Quinn's punch had been so weak and slow. From the looks of things, Quinn had really wanted to punch that second-year bully, so why had his attack lacked the power she had seen him exhibit at the training centre?
After Vorden had stormed off, Peter and Quinn decided that it would be best to head back to class for their next lesson. Just before they got back to the first-year building, they came upon a group of first-year students standing in front of the staircase.
"What are we going to do? Dan asked for 50 credits by the end of this week," one of the boys asked his two friends. Their wrist watches showed numbers ranging from 2 to 2.5.
"I don't know. Not like we can resist him. He's picking on us just because we're weaker than him!" his friend lamented.
Credits were the school's and city's currency system. There were restaurants and shops and even fun activities and games to play all around the city, however, they cost credits.
The military school didn't want their students to starve, so all three meals were free while at the school. Additionally, each student received a daily amount of ten credits, which was automatically sent to their wristwatch.
It was possible for students to earn more credits for rewards, usually by performing well on missions or school activities. Of course, there was also the possibility of more dubious means…
"Wait! Stop right there you two!" one of the boys suddenly shouted at the duo who had been about to pass them. Peter stopped immediately while Quinn carried on walking.
"Hey, didn't you hear me? I said stop!" the same boy shouted again. His friend catching the drift got in front of Quinn and pushed him back to where Peter was standing.
Quinn had hoped they would be safe for a little while, at least until he was out of the sun. If only he got inside the building then he would stand a fighting chance.
"I think I might have just solved our credits problem," the first boy said, grinning. "Lucky us, to meet some of the few level 1s in this whole school. Hand over ten credits each and we'll let you head inside."
"But that's all the credits we have," Peter complained.
"Look I don't want to do this, but if I don't then my arse gets beat. If you're unhappy, complain to the guy who made me do this. Hand over the credits, now!"
Peter looked at Quinn with some slight hope in his eyes, perhaps thinking that his friend might be able to do something like last time. Unfortunately, after trying to hit Mono, he knew better than to try and fight them.
Besides, these were level 2s, even at full strength, he was unsure if he could beat them. Fighting them as he was would just result in a beating, so if there was the opportunity to skip that part by paying them off, then that was the best course of action.
Just when Quinn received another system message.
[An enemy ability user has been detected]
[You have received a new quest]
[Second fight: Defeat the student known as Rylee]
[Reward: 50 Exp]
[A Power level difference of 1 has been detected]
[Additional exp will be rewarded]
Now that fighting them involved Exp and the potential to level up, a confrontation with them started to become really attractive. Still, Quinn wouldn't let his greed win him over. Currently, there were three level 2 ability users in front of him, but the system had only asked him to defeat one of them.
The first thing Quinn needed to do was get inside so he could use his Inspect skill and find out which one was named Rylee. Using it outside, it would only appear as a blur.
For now, Quinn decided to hand over the ten credits, He placed his watch on the other boys and the credits got transferred over. Peter ended up doing the same and the two of them were allowed to enter the building.
"Hey that was a great idea man!" one of the boys praised his buddy, "Should we just stay out here until we find someone weaker again?"
'Oh, come on!' Quinn thought. He had been sure that after paying them, the trio would enter the building, but now they planned to stay outside, waiting for more victims. He suddenly stopped and turned around.
"Oi, what are you looking at me like that? Scram, unless you want an ass-kicking!" one of the boys yelled at Quinn when he saw his gaze.
Quinn clenched his fist and shouted: "Rylee!"
Unfortunately, the other two boys also turned their heads, but not one of them said anything else. 'Damn', Quinn cursed when he realised that finding out which one was Rylee might be harder than he had imagined, however, he still had more aces up his sleeves.
"If you pull this sort of thing on me again, Rylee, you're dead!" Quinn said and gestured with his hand a cutthroat.
The boy with red hair in the centre moved forward and his face was slowly starting to match his hair. "What the hell did you say to me you little punk? Have you completely lost your mind" he aggressively moved towards Quinn, ready to punch him in the face.
"Run!" Quinn shouted towards Peter. Like a bolt of lightning, the two friends ran as fast as they could to their next class.
"What did you do that for?" Peter asked while running.
"I felt bad just giving them the credits, so I wanted to at least annoy them a little as payback," Quinn lied.
Peter couldn't help but think Quinn had to be a little mad, yet he liked the fact that his new friend didn't seem to take crap from people, even when they were stronger than him. Admiration mixed with incredulity started to appear in his eyes when he looked at the other.
Just outside their class, before they moved in, Quinn opened up his Quest menu. To his delight he discovered that although he was away from Rylee, the quest remained active, indicating that he could get the Exp at any time, as long as he could beat the other.
At least, he now knew which one Rylee was, so he only had to wait for the right opportunity.
"You're going to help me level up," he mumbled to himself with a grin.