Quinn starred long and hard at the message and reread it multiple times.
'It can't be! Why did I get Exp from reading that fantasy book?'
He knew he had to test it out. After reading several different books about abilities, not a single one had given him Exp but for some reason this one did. He decided to pick up another fantasy story, one about dragons, this time titled 'Reincarnated into a human?'.
He did the same as before and skimmed through most of it, reading only the headings and subheadings. When he closed the book, there was no reaction. It was the expected result.
Filled with the urge to test one more thing, he picked up another book that was also about vampires and did the same. When he closed the book the system still showed no reaction at all.
In the end, Quinn theorized that after reading all the books, he might have gained so much knowledge about abilities that the system had chosen to reward him. For some reason, the delayed message had only coincidentally appeared right at the time he was reading up on vampires.
Naturally, there was another possibility, but that one was a little harder for him to believe. He didn't wish to believe that the book about vampires had somehow been related to his system.
When Quinn finished checking things out at the library, he noticed that Vorden had disappeared from the table and was no longer there.
'He must have gotten bored and gone somewhere else. I'll probably see him later in our room.'
Quinn looked outside the window and noticed the sun was starting to set. He had been in the library for a total of six hours so far and he had not even noticed the time fly by. Then when Quinn was just about to leave, a new message popped into his view again.
[Daily quest #2 has been completed]
[5 Exp received]
[20/100 Exp]
Each time Quinn got a message from this strange thing inside his body, he got a satisfying feeling seeing the number inch closer to 100. Beneath it, there was a certain uncertainty, a dreaded thought that this would end badly. Nevertheless, he couldn't wait to see what would happen once he had reached the goal.
His best guess was that he would level up. After all, the system even stated that he couldn't use his shop feature until he was at least a level 10.
The only thing Quinn wished for at the moment was a quicker way to level up. With just the two daily quests a day, it would take over a week until Quinn reached level 2.
Right now, there wasn't much he could do about it. He could only live his everyday life as a normal person. As Quinn left the library, he decided to head to the battle arena. A thought had seized his mind and he wanted to try something out.
He was walking through the school hallway when he saw a kid being pushed up against the wall by another student. The boy on the wall looked like he had already been hit a few times and had bruises on his face.
'So it really did start here as well...' Quinn thought dejectedly.
He managed to catch a glimpse of the boy's wristwatch and saw that the number on it indicated that the boy was a level 1 ability user, but had a power level of 1.2. Quinn was quite surprised at this as the bully was very weak himself, which was a rare occurrence.
The only people he would be able to bully were people who had a power level of 1.0 like Quinn or Peter. That's when Quinn suddenly recognised the one who was up against the wall. It was, in fact, Peter.
Quinn was debating with himself whether or not to get involved in the first place. He hated bullies more than anything. They had ruined his school life and chances were that soon enough he might become a target as well.
He quickly made up his mind. He had wanted to test out his strength and it seemed fate had presented him with the perfect guinea pig. The student in front of him was only at a power level of 1.2, so there was a high chance he could win, especially inside where he was not weakened by the sun.
The student lifted his fist again to give Peter another punch.
"You think you can just bump into me like that, say sorry and that's it?!" He shouted as he swung his fist.
Quinn started to walk by as if he was not seeing the fight between the two. The bully was so engrossed in his act that he didn't notice Quinn until the latter pretended to fall over and bumped into the student, causing him to stumble off balance and miss.
"Quinn?" Peter asked as he looked up.
"What the hell was that for?" The student shouted, sizing up the person who had bumped into him. The first place the student's eyes went to was of course Quinn's watch. Seeing the low number his confidence grew.
"What the hell is a level 1 piece of rubbish like you doing?"
"I was waiting to see how long it would take for someone like you to appear. It seems like I lost a bet with myself. I thought it would at least take a couple of days before scum like you would act out!"
"And what do you think you are going to do about it?"
Peter was starting to feel slightly worried about Quinn. Earlier at the test site, Quinn had revealed that he had no ability while the student he was facing did have one. Peter thought they might stand a chance if the two of them fought together but he was too afraid. If possible he would have liked to avoid any further confrontation.
He had been hurt his whole life and didn't want to be hurt anymore. Sadly, this was just how the world worked. The people at the top were the ones with the strongest powers, so nobody could stop them from bullying those who were weaker than them and in turn, they bullied the even weaker ones.
In the past, Peter had tried fighting back. It was when the bullying had only just started at his old school. He had thrown back a punch and had even managed to hit the person in the face, but it had only made things worse. As a result, he had been beaten ten times harder than normal, and ever since the bullying had only worsened.
For the new bully, he had been at the bottom of the social ladder, yet for the first time ever, he had met someone even weaker than him. All the pain he had suffered through, for once he wanted to be on the other side. That way he didn't feel like he was at the bottom of the food chain.
Quinn then noticed that the student had both of his hands held behind his back as if he was preparing something and a notification popped up before him.
[An enemy ability user has been detected]
[Initiating battle mode]
[You have received a new quest]
[First fight: Defeat your opponent]
[Reward: 50 Exp]
To Peter, it looked as if Quinn had gone mad. Not only did he agree to a fight, but he also had a giant grin on his face, as he held up his hands in what looked like a badly copied battle stance.
How was Peter supposed to know, that Quinn was elated to have found a fast way to level up?