Quinn continued to look intensely at the fake microchip.
"Tsukuru, there's one more thing I want to ask you." He replied, looking up. "When you were fighting in that 'Battle Arena' of yours yesterday while I was watching Vorden fight in the game, did you ever get the feeling that you…weren't getting as much Exp as you should have been?"
Hearing this, Tsukuru started laughing again.
"Let me guess." He replied, an amused smirk on his face. "You only got half Exp too, didn't you?
Quinn's expression hardened.
"So it's the same for both of us, then." He muttered.
Tsukuru put his hand under his chin, thinking.
"It probably has something to do with the fact that we're not really there." Tsukuru replied.
Tsukuru's eyes then narrowed, as a thought just came to him.
"Wait, you said you could use your Blood Swipe Skill in the game." He replied. "What about your 'Blood Bank' thing?"
Quinn's face scrunched up from Tsukuru's question, as if it had soured him somewhat.
"It doesn't work in the game." Quinn replied. "Technically, my body didn't take any damage, so my System treats me as if I have full health, even if I'm only holding on by a string in the game."
Hearing this information made Tsukuru grit his teeth.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Damn it." He muttered, glancing away. "That probably means that my Potions won't work in my Battle Arena, either."
This now meant that Tsukuru had no way to regenerate his HP or MC in the Battle Arena.
As their Systems seemed to treat them as if they were permanently in a state of full HP/MC, his MC probably wouldn't regenerate over time naturally like they did in the real world, either.
'I'm starting to think that the VR environment might be more of a hindrance for me than a benefit.' Tsukuru thought.
Quinn glanced down at his wrist, and noticed that his clock now read "9:45".
The school's curfew would be starting in around fifteen minutes.
Hopefully Vorden and Peter would return before then.
He looked forward at Tsukuru.
"It's getting kinda late." He replied. "We should probably head to bed. We gotta get up early tomorrow."
Hearing this, Tsukuru glanced away, gritting his teeth in annoyance.
"Don't remind me." He muttered.
In truth, Tsukuru had actually enjoyed not having to get up at quarter to eight every morning.
He waved his hand dismissively.
"You go on, then." He replied, withdrawing his handheld from his System's Inventory. "I'm gonna finish my System's Daily Quest, first."
Quinn shrugged, and decided to go to bed.
Ten minutes later, as Tsukuru was playing, a System message appeared in front of him.
[Daily Quest has been completed. 10 XP awarded. XP: 60/1600.]
His Daily Quest now complete, Tsukuru decided to go to sleep, as well. Night came and went over the military base.
Then, right on schedule, the trumpeting alarm of the military base blared through every room within the dormitory.
In a particular dorm room that housed one moreperson than usual, the four occupants all let out a groan as they woke up.
As Quinn woke up, the first thing he saw was a System message popping up in front of him.
[Daily Quest 2 has been completed. 5 Exp awarded. Exp: 110/800]
As he looked around the room, he was happy to see that the other two, Peter and Vorden, had managed to return to their room last night.
Tsukuru rose out of bed like a Vampire out of a coffin. Which was highly ironic, as the actual Vampire was on the other side of the room.
He muttered incoherently, and threw the blanket off of him. His three roommates watched as he shambled his way into the bathroom like a zombie.
"He really isn't a morning person." Vorden muttered.
Peter nodded slowly.
A short while later, Tsukuru walked out of the bathroom, now fully showered and changed.
Underneath the still-open blazer of his military outfit, he had a black shirt on. However, the entire center of the shirt was covered by a square image. It showed a frail, old man in a cloak with a white beard that reached down to legs. In the man's hands, he held a wooden staff with a circular gem like a crystal ball in the top.
He held the staff high above his head with both arms, and was looking down, in mid-shout. The entire image had an orange tint, making it impossible to distinguish the colors of anything, and there were roaring flames all aroundthe old man.
The image also had two rows of text, one above the man, and the other below him. The text was written in a font that made it appear as if the words were made of flames. It read "I didn't ask 'How big the room is'!" on the top, and "I said 'I CAST FIREBALL!' on the bottom.
As Tsukuru walked out of the bathroom and walked back over to his bed to put on his hoodie, Peter had walked in the bathroom to take his shower.
Once they were all showered and dressed, they walked out of the dorm room, and headed to the canteen.
While Quinn, Peter, and Vorden got into line, Tsukuru headed towards their regular spot in the "Level 1" section. Despite Vorden appearing to be a Level 5, and Tsukuru himself being a Level 3, they still sat as a group, as they all despised the stupid "Ability Level" caste system.
Tsukuru spread his arms apart, and activated his Ability. The sound of electronic interference filled the table, and pixels began to appear in between his hands. A circular shape with an elevated square on it appeared as the pixels clustered together.
There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, Tsukuru had a plate in front of him with a small, square-shaped sheet of pizza on it, the pizza pre-cut into four pieces.
As Tsukuru took the first piece off, and brought it to his mouth, he heard the sound of someone coughing into their hand behind him.
"It's breakfast pizza, Shizuka." He replied in a deadpan tone with his eyes narrowed. "Take a chill pill."
Due to his System's "Auto-Map", he knew that she was standing behind him without him even needing to look.
Shizuka walked up next to him, and examined the pizza.
Instead of having the typical pepperoni and mushrooms of regular pizza, this pizza only had cheese and round sausages, making it look like the typical "breakfast pizza" served in school breakfasts.
A minute later, Tsukuru and Shizuka heard the sound of three trays clatter onto the table. Instinctively, the two looked forward.
Quinn, Peter, and Vorden had sat down on the other side of the table with Quinn in the center, Vorden on his left, and Peter on his right.
As they looked up and saw Shizuka standing behind Tsukuru, they all felt their hearts jump. Shizuka took one last look at Tsukuru's pizza, before she walked away.
She began to patrol the canteen.
Ever since the altercation between Quinn, Riley, and then Dan, the school had decided to add extra security to the canteen during meal times.
"Looks like we're finally going back to regular classes." Vorden said, his mouth still full, as he looked down at the updated schedule on his wristwatch. "That must mean that our combat classes are over, and we'll be heading out to our first Portal Outing soon."
Hearing this, Peter gulped.
"Relax, Peter." Tsukuru said, causing Peter to look towards him. "Since it's our first outing, it'll be a Green Portal Planet. There's nothing to worry about."
After breakfast was over, the four of them then headed to their homeroom class.
When they entered the room, Tsukuru glanced towards the front and saw Layla in her regular spot with Erin to her right.However, Tsukuru noticed that Erin seemed to be staring obsessively at her wristwatch, a slight smirk at the corner of her lips.
The group of four boys went to their regular seats in the back of the class, and waited for their homeroom teacher to arrive.Finally, after a few minutes had passed, Del walked through the door.
"Alright, class." Del replied, a smile on his face. "I have an important announcement to make. The preparations for your first Portal Outing are now complete. It's time for you to explore the universe a bit more."
As Del walked to his seat at his desk at the front of the classroom.As the class began, Del explained to the students how the "Portals" worked.After all, for the majority of them, it was their first time using them.
"Portals are what allow us to travel to and from different locations of vast distances, such as across planets." Del explained, speaking as if he was performing another one of his lectures.
"The technology was obtained when humanity managed to take down a Dalki ship during the war, and salvaged a portal from the wreckage. However, because the Portal was such an advanced technology, due to the Dalki being aliens and all, humanity had no clue on how to operate it."
Del then smiled.
"But that all changed due to the efforts of the legendary scientist, Richard Eno." Del replied. "He managed to dissect the portal, as well as all the other equipment found in the wreckage."
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
Richard Eno.
He was another great contributor to the Dalki War.Most people assumed that he had some sort of Ability that had helped him figuring out the ins and outs of the advanced Dalki technology, but this was all just rumors.Nobody knew for sure.
However, one thing that everyone could agree on was that he was a great man.Once he had cracked the code of the teleporters, he distributed this information among not just the military, but also the other private companies, as well.
He made sure that such power wouldn't just end up in one group's hands.
"In today's world, there are three major groups who used and owned teleporters." Del replied. "The first is, of course, the military."
Del looked around the room to make sure everyone was paying attention.
"The second group is the private corporations. They usually have powerful Originals backing them, as many of these companies also form a 'faction'." Del then glanced towards the back of the room.
And if Tsukuru didn't know any better, he would swear that Del was looking directly at him.
"One such 'faction' is the 'Green Family', who create all the advanced technology we use here on the base."
Del then turned to the class."Many of these 'factions' contain groups of Travelers whose sole job is to explore other planets."
Del's face then darkened.
"And finally…the third group who uses Portals…is Pure." He replied, his voice now taking on an aggressive tone.