Peter suddenly felt his heart thumping louder, a fear starting to take over, as he heard Erin's words.
If he didn't get into the same group as his other roommates, he would be in huge trouble.
Vorden narrowed his eyes at Erin.
"Why do we need you anyway?" He asked.
It was at that point that Layla and Tsukuru had jumped in.
"Wait, Vorden." Layla replied. "I think she would make a good addition to the team."
Tsukuru then glanced over at Vorden.
"Besides, we need at least one person in this group with a strong Ability Level for you to copy." He replied. "She's a Level 6. Besides, what happens if we get separated? Last time I checked, Beasts don't have Abilities."
Quinn then turned to the two.
"I understand what you two are saying." Quinn replied. "But I think that I agree with Vorden." He then turned to Erin. "I don't care how strong she is. She can't just come in here and kick out one of us. She can join the team, but only if Peter stays."
Quinn knew it was a good idea to have strong allies, but at what cost?
If Quinn was to kick out Peter and replace him with someone with a higher Ability Level, he'd be no better than all those bullies who had treated him like shit growing up, just for him being weak. He didn't want to become that kind of person.
Erin then started to look around the room. Then, she glanced back at Tsukuru, Quinn, and Vorden.
Looking at Vorden, she remembered how he had been able to hold his own against Mono until he had activated his Soul Weapon. Then, looking at Tsukuru, she remembered how much of a challenge fighting his 'Knight' had been.
Finally, looking at Quinn, she remembered how he had been able to easily take out multiple second-years in the assembly hall, and had only started to struggle once he got outnumbered.
After looking around the room, she didn't see a single person that matched up to the three of them.
"I want the six of us to have a 're-testing' to see where we stand." She said finally.
"'Re-testing'?" Tsukuru asked, his eyebrow raised. "You mean like the placement test?"
Erin nodded.
"Indeed." She replied. "They have the same type of machines in the training room."
Of course, Tsukuru already knew this. He and Quinn had gone there on the first night of school so Quinn could re-test the machines since he was no longer being weakened by the sun.
Layla and Quinn exchanged looks, them both looking slightly worried.
The group of six headed down to the training room.
Right now, the room was filled with multiple different people from all sorts of different classes. All of the other classes had received the same announcement Del's class had, and they had all decided to see where they all stood, strength-wise.
Once inside the room, Vorden raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, so what do you want us to do?" He asked.
Erin remained quiet for a moment.
"I've already seen your Ability, but I can't remember too much about the girl and the other two." She replied, quickly glancing at Tsukuru.
To be perfectly honest, he seemed to be able to do a bunch of things, and it was honestly hard for her to remember everything she had seen him do.
"Perhaps the girl can go first." She replied.
Layla's eye began to twitch, and she went up to the large strength-testing machine.
She reached into her bag, and withdrew the replica set of the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets Tsukuru had given her yesterday.
As she put them on, she felt strength rush through her.
Erin's eyes focused on the gauntlets, them suddenly piquing her interest.
'Those gauntlets.' She thought. 'They look just like…'
Suddenly, Erin's mind flashed back to Tsukuru's 'Knight' in the assembly hall. The gauntlets looked exactly like the gauntlets that were part of the Knight's armor.
Instinctively, she glanced down at the sword by her side, housed in a scabbard around her hip.
'Those gauntlets…are they just like my sword?' She thought.
Layla concentrated her mind, and threw out her fist. At the same time, she used her telekinesis to push her fist as fast as possible to increase her kinetic force.
The machine beeped, as the number went up.
Eventually, it stopped on the number "15".
Seeing the number, Layla's eyes narrowed.
"Tsukuru, how much of a strength boost do these gauntlets give me?" She asked looking back.
Tsukuru shrugged his shoulders.
"Eh, just subtract seven from the score." He replied.
Hearing this, Layla grit her teeth in annoyance.
15 minus 7 was eight.
"Damn it!" She muttered. "That's the same as before! Looks like I haven't improved."
Erin folded her arms, an unimpressed look on her face.
"For a Level 2, that's a rather weak strength score." She replied, before she glanced at the Intermediate-Tier bow on Layla's back. "But judging by that bow, you're a ranged user, anyway. It will be quite handy to have someone like you on the team."
She then glanced back at Tsukuru.
"Though I fail to see the point in giving a melee weapon to a ranged user." She replied, referring to the Knight Gauntlets.
Tsukuru scoffed, and waved his hand dismissively.
"I've given a set to all of my close friends." He replied. "Even if they aren't melee fighters, the gauntlets still provide a significant strength boost."
Hearing this, Erin narrowed her eyes.
"Oh?" She asked. "You never gave me a set."
In response, an amused smirk appeared on Tsukuru's face.
"Well, maybe if somebody had been in this very room yesterday when me and Layla were here like I expected you to be, you would have gotten a set."
Hearing this, Erin gritted her teeth.
'Yesterday…' She thought. 'That was when I decided to go to the library so I could focus on reading my new Ability Book!'
She kissed her teeth in annoyance, and then glanced over at Quinn and Peter.
"Well, let's hope you two can get at least the same score as her without the gauntlets." She replied.
Quinn was starting to get annoyed by Erin's words.
But, he took a deep breath, and held it in.
With her on the team, it would cause fewer problems with the others. Even if they did defeat Beasts and obtain Beast Crystals, there was a high chance that one of the other teams might try to steal them.
And with how gung-ho Erin was about getting a good score, and since how the number of Beast Crystals would affect said score, she would most likely guard their Beast Crystals with her life, attacking anyone who tried to steal them with extreme prejudice.
Peter walked up to the machine. As he did, Erin noticed that his hands were bare.
"'All your close friends', huh?" She asked in a deadpan tone.
Tsukuru glanced away.
He didn't want to say that giving Peter a set of the gauntlets would be a waste of time, as he could probably get beaten up by a punching bag. It was the same reason that he hadn't given Peter one of the set of twenty Beast Daggers to sell.
If a weak Level 1 like Peter was seen walking around with Intermediate-Tier equipment, it would only make him a target.
Especially with those new 'friends' of his.
Peter snapped open the pouch at his side, and reached his right arm inside. When he pulled it back out, his hand was covered in a layer of earth like a shell.
Seeing this, Erin narrowed her eyes.
"Looks like he's still a Level 1 then." She muttered. It was pretty common knowledge that Level 1 Earth Users didn't have the ability to extract earth from the ground.
They could only reform the earth they had on them, and could only control the earth they were touching.
As Peter punched the machine, the number slowly went up.
It had eventually stopped at eight, the same as Layla's score without the boost from the Knight Gauntlets.
Erin then glanced over at Quinn.
Looking at him, she noticed that he was wearing a slightly different set of gauntlets than the ones Layla had worn.
Instead of looking like slightly-rusted knight gauntlets, these ones were completely black, and had claws like that of a Beast.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" She asked.
Hearing this, Quinn gritted his teeth in annoyance.
As Quinn walked up to the machine, all he wanted to do was punch the machine as hard as he could.
Just to shut up the arrogant Erin who thought that she was better than everyone else.
'Why did she choose to act like this?!' Quinn thought bitterly. 'Just because she had a higher Ability Level than others?! Because her family was well enough to buy her a strong Ability Book?!?'
But Quinn knew that he couldn't reveal himself here, especially not with so many people watching. They had all seen him in the placement test. And they all knew that Quinn didn't have an Ability, as he had rejected the Earth Ability Book from the military.
The only people who knew the truth were Tsukuru and Layla.
He looked at the strength machine, and started to wonder.If he performed the Hammer Strike, would the number rise up? It was an internal attack, so he had no idea if it would work on a machine.
Quinn readied his fist, and redid his footwork. He tried to control his power output, hoping to achieve the same score as Layla and Peter.
Quinn's fist collided with the machine with a bang.
Slowly, the number began to rise.
8..9…and then finally, the number stopped at 11.