Erin had waited in her room, listening very closely to Quinn’s breathing. If she got out now then she might wake him up too early. While she was waiting, it had apparently been enough time for her to gain her daily 5 EXP.

[Avoid direct sunlight for 8 hours]

[+ 5 EXP]

[60/400 EXP]

This isn’t to say that Erin was doing absolutely nothing in the dorm room. She had been continuing to improve her other shadow skills, including shadow control. Something she noticed while using it earlier was that it had a unique effect on sound, muffling and even outright silencing it when used right. Experimenting a little by putting the shadow on her feet, Erin found that her own footsteps were barely audible.

"Neat trick there," the system spoke only in Erin’s mind.

’If you’re going to convince me to not go out by myself, then don’t even think about it’ Erin thought back, already expecting to get chastised again.

"Not at all. In fact, I think it’s a great idea to go alone. Those teammates of yours were only holding you back."

Erin squinted her eyes. With how much she and the system had butted heads, she didn’t trust how much it was suddenly agreeing with her. There had to be a catch. There always was with this system.

’You’re not going to wake Quinn up right as I’m about to leave, are you?’

"Nope!" The system said, pleased with himself, "I’m here to help you learn more about the system, and what better way to do that than to fight beasts and level up."

Erin thought about it. The logic made sense, but there was no guarantee that the system couldn’t go behind her back, and betray her. As much as Erin could sling threats at it, there was actually nothing she could do to the system itself. It was always there, watching and listening, which made things like trying to have privacy troublesome. Needless to say, Erin didn’t like the system for invading her mental space.

"I can tell you don’t trust me, so I’ll tell you this... Quinn has fallen asleep right now. I know this because I cannot visit his mind. Go on, listen to him, and hear for yourself."

Pressing her ear against the door, she heard a faint snoring sound right where the couches should be at. Not only that, but his heart beat had slowed down, a sign that he had fallen asleep.

"See? I can be useful," the system cheered.

Carefully exiting the bedroom, the shadow on her feet, Erin was able to see Quinn had fallen asleep on the couch. His body was sitting, and leaned back on the couch, but was too lax to be awake. A line of drool formed at the corner of his mouth.

"If only you had unlocked the shadow cloak skill, you could’ve stolen Fex’s ring to guarantee an hour of direct sunlight," the system suggested, "You’re pretty close to leveling up shadow equip. Only a few more tries, and it’ll be level 2 in no time."

Ignoring the system, Erin grabbed her umbrella, and left the dorm building. She didn’t need anything from the supplies the military gave them as they were more so suited for human needs. She was a vampire with the ability to heal, and only consumed blood. Things like the medical first aid kit, or the food pills were unnecessary.

Erin opened up the umbrella, and walked into the sunlight. She had used shadow equip to put her chest piece on, covering her arms, and almost ran towards the exit. Erin had to slow down a little so as to not break her umbrella.

Right when she was almost 15ft away from the gate outside, Erin felt a strange tug on her body, slowing her down. It wasn’t so strong that she couldn’t overcome it, but it made her pause.

’Was that... Telekinesis?’ Erin thought, looking around as to who had done it.

There were quite a few buildings and people walking around making Erin unable to identify who the culprit was. Unable to immediately spot the person in question, Erin was about to carry on when she saw a familiar brunette girl step into her view.

"Erin," Layla spoke.

"Layla," Erin returned.

The two stared at each other, not moving. Unlike Quinn earlier, the tension was not the same, but Layla could tell that something was wrong.

"I’m glad I was able to catch you before you left," Layla spoke, a little tired, "But are you just going to go off without the others?"

Erin didn’t do anything for a few moments before turning away from her, and continuing to head to the gate.

"Wait! At least let me join you!" Layla called out, reaching out for Erin.

Layla’s hand was about to touch her, when Erin’s body turned around.

"And why should I?" Erin replied, stopping for a moment.

"You don’t have to do this alone, Erin. You can learn to accept help sometimes, you know?" Layla tried to explain, then added, "I may not be able to control you but... Someone needs to make sure you stay safe."

Upon thinking about it, there was a benefit to allowing Layla to come along. Even though Erin had her blood bank, it wasn’t completely full, only at 60/100 ML, and Layla was a ranged user, being able to attack from long distances. It was one of the weaker points of Erin’s skills right now.

And... Having a second person around would be nice. Layla’s presence would be useful indeed.

Taking in a deep breath, Erin continued walking, but at a slower pace so that Layla could follow her. She turned her head around to make sure Layla could hear.

"If you can keep up with me then sure, you can come along."

Layla let out a sigh of relief, then followed closely behind her, "I promise I won’t slow you down."

—

After the two girls had traveled through the desert for a few hours, Layla was starting to regret not bringing more supplies with her. She only brought a few food pills, and a bottle of water, as well as her own beast gear.

To be honest, Layla really wasn’t expecting to go beast hunting so soon. At first, she had taken a nap at the dorms, only to wake up not long afterwards. When she did, Erin was still missing, with no one seeing her that entire period. She didn’t want to stand around and do nothing, so she headed into the shelter looking for their team’s leader.

Initially, Layla only brought her new bow as it made her a little faster while holding it, and knowing Erin’s speed, she was going to need every boost she could get. However, it felt strange packing only her bow, and none of the arrows to match, so she packed those too.

After a few hours looking for Erin, Layla was about to cut her losses when she spotted a familiar face with an umbrella moving quickly in the streets.

That had led to the present, and Layla was feeling a little under geared as a result of it.

Adjusting the starlingshot bow on her back, the silence between the two of them was getting a little... unbearable. With Erin’s whole outburst that happened about 14 hours ago, Layla wanted to try talking to her about it, but even after traveling for so long, Erin had yet to say a single word.

Letting out a sigh, Layla decided to speak first.

"So... Where exactly are we headed off to?" Layla asked.

"We’re going to the red zone," Erin promptly replied.

"Wh— What!? Just the two of us?" Layla worriedly blurted out.

Erin glanced over at Layla’s gear, and began making some mental calculations about her strength.

’She has a new bow since I last saw her, I should inspect it.’

[Inspect]

[Starlingshot bow]

[Intermediate tier]

[+4 agility]

[All arrow shots have a 50% chance of a guaranteed hit regardless of aim]

"You’ll be fine. That bow gives you a boost in agility, so if we encounter anything too strong then you should be able to dodge any beast attacks," Erin calculated, "The strongest thing out here is an intermediate tier beast, so we’ll be fine."

"An agility boost? Erin, how did you...?" Layla’s voice trailed off, noticing the slip up in information.

The thing about beast gear was that making physical contact with it would improve upon your capabilities in specific ways, but there was no way for Erin to have known what her bow does. Layla had only just gotten it within the past 8 hours, and at no point of time did Erin hold or touch it.

Erin paused for a moment, taking in Layla’s words. She thought about her response, then decided that it was time she revealed something.

"I was able to tell what it did because... I have a system."