Quinn continued to follow Rylee through the woody area of the park, waiting for him to get to a good spot before ambushing him. It was mostly dark outside and the only visible light in the area was coming from either the moon or the single street lamp.
Making sure that nobody else was around he got ready to strike. 'Even if he spots me now, he won't know who to come back to for revenge,' he reassured himself, adrenaline pumping through his veins.
Rylee, oblivious to the fact that he had company, went through the information on his watch. The glowing light displayed his total of 80 credits.
'I'm a genius! I don't know why I didn't do this sooner,' he thought to himself. 'With this much, I have more than enough to pay off Dan, while keeping some for myself. And as long as I stay on Dan's good side, no one will try to attack me!'
Rylee was still lost in his daydream when out of nowhere something hit him from the side. He felt the impact on his face and staggered to the floor, holding his chin.
When he looked up from where he had fallen, he saw the silhouette of a boy standing over him with a horrifying mask. Under the moonlight, it looked like real blood, making Rylee panicked.
"What the heck, who are you?" Rylee shouted, his voice shaking.
Quinn would be stupid to answer this question, he wanted to finish the fight fast. He ran up to Rylee and threw another kick. Alas, this time Rylee was prepared and lifted his hands managing to block the kick. What's worse, when Quinn's leg hit Rylee's hands, it felt as if he had kicked against solid rock.
"Goddamnit!" Quinn cursed, as he quickly leaped backward. He lifted his trousers and saw his leg was badly hurt, it looked like his bones had even bent in slightly.
'What?' Rylee was confused as he watched his attacker fall back. Then the boy spotted his attacker's glowing wristwatch, which lit up brightly in the dark, and displayed the number one.
Rylee started to laugh, convinced of his superiority. "You must be one of the students I took credits from earlier! Let me guess, you thought you could get some revenge, huh? Nice try, but that's all it was!"
Quinn quickly used his Inspect skill on his opponent.
[Name: Rylee Blade]
[Race: Human]
[Ability: Hardening]
[HP 8/10]
[Blood type B+]
[?????]
[?????]
'Damn it!. No wonder my leg felt like it hit a rock!' Although Quinn's initial surprise attack hadn't been enough, he still felt like he could win this fight.
He charged in once again, this time throwing a fist. The attack was faster than Rylee had expected, not giving him time to use his hardening skill and therefore taking the blow right in the face.
Rylee staggered back, nursing a broken tooth. The punch was hard, and he was beginning to doubt the validity of his attacker's wristwatch.
Quinn threw another punch with his other hand, but Rylee had predicted this and had managed to harden his face in time. When the fist hit the hardened face, once again Quinn felt like he was hitting a rock.
[Your fist is broken]
[7/10 HP]
Quinn screamed in pain and stepped back, creating some distance between the two.
'Damn, what am I meant to do if he keeps hardening his body?' Quinn was getting desperate. However, soon enough another thought came to mind.
If Rylee was able to harden his body, then why didn't he keep it hardened all the time? If he had, then Quinn's first attack wouldn't have gone through.
Either it took up too much energy… or he simply was unable to. Given his level 2.5 ability, Quinn was willing to bet that it was the latter. Most likely Rylee was only able to harden a single part of his body at a time.
It was just a theory but Quinn had nothing to lose and this gave him a plan. He ran forward at Rylee once more, shouting: "I'm going to punch that ugly face of yours, even if it's the last thing I do!"
Rylee hardened his face and was ready to laugh at his attacker once again ending up hurting himself, but at the last second Quinn changed his punch into a kick aimed at the boy's unprotected stomach.
'It worked!!!' Quinn thought as the other bent over in pain. Next, he feigned a knee toward Rylee's stomach, only to end up punching him on the back of the head. Receiving the attack, Rylee lay on the ground defenseless.
With one last fast swift attack to the back of his head, the red-haired boy got knocked out.
[Second fight has been completed]
[50 Exp received]
[Additional reward, 20 Exp received]
[100/100 Exp]
[You have reached the maximum amount of Exp]
[Would you like to level up?]
"Would I like to level up? Why even bother asking," Quinn wondered what possible reason he might have to not immediately accept.
[Once you have levelled up any changes will be irreversible?]
Not heeding the warning, Quinn shouted out: "Who cares? YES!"
[Congratulations! You are now level 2]
[Evolution process has started]
"Evolution? What the fuck!"
His euphoria from a moment ago had instantly vanished, replaced with a large stabbing pain in his heart. The organ started to beat faster than it had ever done before. The blood rushing through his veins all over his body. The excruciating pain was too much for him. Falling on his knees, he tried his best to refrain from screaming, afraid he might alarm someone.
The pain continued to spread throughout his body. He was so focused on that feeling, that he failed to notice that his broken hand was healing alongside his leg, his full attention on the sharp stabbing pain, now in his teeth.
To Quinn, the torturous experience had lasted a lifetime, yet in reality, only five minutes passed, before a new notification appeared before him.
[Congratulations, you have successfully evolved]
[You are now a Halfling]
Quinn stared at the words the system was showing him, unable to make sense of them. He had never heard of the term Halfling before and apparently the process was irreversible. Before he could spend any more time on it, even more messages appeared.
[Your stats have increased]
[Skill unlocked: Lv1 Blood swipe]
[Blood swipe: The skill has a range of 5 meters. It will fire out a red line of energy from the user's hands. To use the skill the user must use their own blood causing -1 HP per Blood swipe.]
He had no time to check his new stats, as yet another message showed itself, this one bolder than the previous ones. It drove Quinn into a state of shock.
[Your hunger grows]
[You can no longer suppress your need for blood]
[Your HP will decrease by -1 HP every hour until you have consumed human blood!]