Quinn staggered where he stood, unable to take everything in. He couldn't believe what he was reading right now. After seeing that last message there was only one thing that came into his head.
"Have I become a vampire?" he mumbled to himself.
On the ground, Kylee stirred.
No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, this message made it clear. The truth had been staring him in the face long enough. All the signs had been there. The book about vampires granting him Exp, growing weaker when hit by sunlight, the constant hunger, the clear night vision, and the way the blood of his first victim had been enticing him to consume it.
Quinn was not sure he could do what the system was demanding of him. There was this moral binding, his last shred of humanity that held him back from completely turning into a beast.
He stood there looking down at Rylee who had passed out on the ground. It was the perfect opportunity for him to do as the system demanded.
He gulped his saliva down as spit was starting to fill his mouth. Something was drawing him to Rylee's body. He could smell his victim's blood, he could hear the beating heart. Without realizing it, he bent towards Rylee and could see his pulse beating through his neck. The blood flowing through his veins. The smell of blood from the chipped-off tooth was strong and intoxicating.
[You have received an Optional quest]
[Drink the blood of your victim to absorb a stat point]
There were many questions on Quinn's mind, questions he was unsure about and had no answers. How much blood was he supposed to consume? Would Riley die if he did this? Would he perhaps turn and become another vampire like him?'
Layla had continued to watch Quinn ever since he had left the convenience store. When she had seen him follow after Rylee and donning the mask, she had understood what he was about to do. She had kept a safe distance while staying in between the trees to avoid detection.
It had worked perfectly, allowing her to watch the whole thing unfold. Although Quinn's ambush had failed, he had nevertheless managed to win over his opponent by tricking him.
However, everything after that had been completely strange. Out of nowhere, Quinn had first grabbed his chest, then his stomach, before going down to his knees. The expression on his face showed the great pain he was suddenly under.
Layla had debated whether to run and help him but had been unable to reach a decision. Eventually, the five minutes were over and Quinn looked to have regained his composure.
The next second she saw Quinn lift Rylee's body slightly off the floor while kneeling beside the unconscious boy. Yet, the gaze he was looking at him was very strange. It wasn't the gloating type of look of a winner over a loser.
'What the…' Layla wondered, 'He can't be planning to...to... kiss him?! What is wrong with this guy?!'
The next moment, Quinn placed the unconscious body back down. Unable to come to a decision, his mind continued to go back and forth.
"Damn it, in the movies it looked so easy. Just the idea of sticking my teeth into someone… I just can't do it! Wait, maybe I don't have to! I could just make a small cut on his arm and lick it, perhaps that will do it," he was mumbling to himself like a madman.
Trying to confirm if what she was seeing was real. Layla started to slowly creep closer through the bushes and trees, then suddenly, her foot had landed on a small twig and a snapping sound was heard.
"What was that?" Quinn thought as he turned and looked around, but could see no one. However, in a panic that someone was coming his way and would find him, he left the body where it was and headed back to school.
Layla was unaware of the small twig she had stepped on and snapped. She hadn't even heard the sound herself. In her eyes, she just saw Quinn suddenly leave.
'I wonder what that was all about? In the end, he didn't do anything,' Layla was left curious about it all.
Quinn hurried head back to school and placed the mask into his shopping bag. He noticed that the ice cream he had bought had already melted, but for some reason when he looked at it, it no longer looked so appetizing.
There was a hunger in his stomach that he felt couldn't be satisfied with food and he wondered just how long he would be able to hold it in.
When Quinn had finally arrived back at school, he decided to stop by the toilet first. He was taking a good look in the mirror to see if there were any noticeable changes but his outward appearance looked the same as before. He even lifted up his lips, so he could get a better view of his teeth, but they too were just the same.
'Phew, at least it looks like no one will be able to tell. But why did I feel that pain in my teeth at the time then?'
Quinn then decided to open his status screen to see if his stats had changed after evolving.
[Name: Quinn Talen]
[Race: Halfling]
[HP 15/15]
[Exp 50/200]
[Strength 10]
[Agility 10]
[Stamina 10]
[Stat points available (1)]
From what he could see, merely his HP had increased by 50% while everything else had remained the same. To be honest, Quinn was pretty bummed out about that, expecting more from something called an 'evolution'.
Still, at least his level-up appeared to have granted him a single status point. When Quinn pressed on the system it allowed him to increase either his Strength, Agility, or Stamina by one point. Quinn thought about it for a while and decided to add a point to his Agility.
[Agility 11]
Quinn had considered increasing his Strength in case he met more people like Rylee, but he had concluded that he could overcome that problem with a good beast weapon. It would therefore be wasting his stat point.
As such, what he wanted right now was to become fast and agile like an assassin!
Quinn wondered if there was a reason why the system had only given him one point, but then he recalled the optional quests it had offered him. So far Quinn would have been able to gain an additional two stat points, whereas leveling up only granted a single one. If he wanted to get stronger fast then that would be the quickest way.
However, Quinn was unsure of whether or not he would be able to go through with it. At first, he would like to do more research into the system and see if there was anything he could find out about it.
He had a direction now and knew his system was similar to that of a vampire. Perhaps if he learned more about them he would be able to figure out if there was a way around drinking the blood as well.
With that in mind, Quinn decided to head to his room where he could hear Vorden and Peter practising together. Peter was trying his best to learn the ability book the military had given him, while Vorden was tutoring him.
"What took you so long?" Vorden greeted him with a question. "We were starting to get worried, you might have gotten lost."
"No, I just went exploring the city a little," Quinn told a white lie, "I'm a bit tired, so I think I'm going to bed early today."
"Maybe we should call it a day for now as well," Peter suggested, visibly exhausted. Not wanting to push him, Vorden agreed and with that, the group turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Although Quinn had been the one to suggest going to sleep, he was unable to. His stomach was in a tremendous amount of pain and he had too much on his mind.
If what the message had claimed would be true, Quinn only had a limited amount of time to solve his problem. However, there was nothing he could do. The school's curfew began at 10 PM and if you were caught outside after that major punishments awaited.
With no other choice, he closed his eyes, hoping to deal with his problems in the morning. Eventually, he managed to drift off to sleep.
When he woke up the next day, the pain was worse than before. His head was pounding and the first thing Quinn did was open up his system.
[10 hours have passed]
[Your hunger grows]
[You have lost -10 HP]
[HP 5/15]
[Your HP will continue to decrease every hour]