Hearing his words, the Metal Slime Spawn soon stopped crying. It let out a rather strange noise. It was like a cross between a "squeak", a "chirp", and a "whistle". Hearing the sound, Tsukuru couldn't help but find it adorable. He brought the creature closer into an embrace. As he did, he began rubbing his cheeks back and forth in its squishy, liquid metal body affectionately.
"Don't worry." Tsukuru replied. "I'm sure you'll be big and strong before you know it!"
The Metal Slime Spawn's eyes closed in what Tsukuru assumed was a "happy smile". The noise could be heard again.
Tsukuru smiled.
"But, in the meantime, I could really use your help." He replied. The metal slime let out another small noise, which Tsukuru took to mean confusion. He smiled, and turned back around so he was facing the Glathrium door.
"You see that door?" He asked. "I need you to slip through to the other side." He then looked back down at the small creature in his arms. "Can you do that for me?"
The creature's body twisted backwards so its upper half was looking back at Tsukuru. Its eyes closed in that same "happy smile", and it let out the little noise again. The Metal Slime Spawn jumped out of Tsukuru arms. As it did, he could feel the strain its weight had put on his arms lessen. The creature scooted forwards on the ground towards the door. When it reached the door, it pressed itself against it.
Tsukuru watched as the Metal Slime Spawn slowly began to disappear. It looked similar to someone shoving molding clay into a crack. A few moments later, the Metal Slime Spawn had completely disappeared. Another moment later, the same cute noise could be heard from the other side. Hearing this, Tsukuru's smile widened.
'Perfect.' He thought. Instantly, he thought about activating his Video Exchange Skill. He imagined switching places with his Metal Slime Spawn. And seeing as how the Skill was similar to his Stasis Shift Skill, he already had a general understanding of how to execute the Skill. A moment later, his body began glowing light-blue, and he began to physically "glitch". It was similar to how he looked when he was using his Video Glitch Skill. However, that Skill had failed to get Tsukuru past the locked door. Unseen by Tsukuru, the same thing was happening to the Metal Slime Spawn on the opposite side of the door.
Instantly, both Tsukuru and the Metal Slime Spawn "glitched" out of existence. A moment later, the Metal Slime Spawn glitched back into existence in the same spotTsukuru had been standing a moment ago. Meanwhile, Tsukuru glitch back into existence inside the locked training center. As he did, a System message popped up in front of him.
[Skill Video Exchange has been activated. -20 MC. MC: 60/80. Skill Video Exchange is now in cool-down. Time remaining until Skill can be used again: 24 hours.]
Tsukuru smirked.
"It worked!" He said, laughing. He then spun around, facing the door. "Hey, c'mon back inside!" He replied.
A moment later, Tsukuru saw the liquid metal body of the Metal Slime Spawn begin to ooze through the gaps in the door frame. Once it was fully inside the room, its body blorped back into its proper shape. The creature looked up at Tsukuru. Tsukuru smiled back at it.
"Good job." He replied.
Instantly, the Metal Slime Spawn's eyes closed again in that "happy smile", and it let out the cute noise. Tsukuru held out his hands, and the Metal Slime Spawn jumped back into his arms. Tsukuru curled his arms under the creature, as if he was holding a bowling ball to his chest.
"C'mon." He replied, looking down at the creature in his arms. "Let's find the others."
***
Back in the arena, both Quinn and Vorden were walking around the room aimlessly, looking for some sort of secret exit.
"C'mon!" Vorden hissed through gritted teeth, as he lightly punched a wall. "There's got to be something around here!"
Meanwhile, Quinn was only pretending to look. In actuality, he was inspecting the Shadow Ability Book he had found in the storage container. Like with the rest of his System, thoughting about his "Inventory" caused the System's screen to pop up in front of him. A System message appeared.
[Would you like to retrieve the Level 6 Shadow Element Ability Book out of your Inventory?]
Just like before when Quinn had asked about that "firewall" the annoying voice of the man was heard instead of the robotic voice of the System.
Quinn let out a short sigh.
"Yes." He replied. Almost instantly, the book appeared in his hands, looking as though it had formed out of smoke.
Quinn looked down at the book, and activated his Inspect Skill.
[Name: Level 6 Shadow Element Ability Book
A Level 6 Ability Book for learning the Shadow Element Ability.
Can only be learned by those who have been Blooded.]
Quinn quirked an eyebrows at the strange new word that had appeared at the end of the System message.
''Blooded'?' Quinn thought. 'Is that like a fancy term for 'Vampire'?'
When Quinn had tried to learn the Earth Ability, his System had told him that he was 'incompatible' with it. But then, why was this Ability Book any different? He had found it in the storage container with the rest of the Earth Ability and Skill books. Also…why did the military have such a High-Level Ability Book just collecting dust in a storage container in an abandoned shelter in the first place?
Quinn then narrowed his eyes. He thought back to how…different the shelf he had found the Shadow Ability Book on was compared to the others. Was the military simply holding on to the book until they could sell it? Or, did somebody completely unrelated to the military put the book in there? Either way, Quinn had never even heard of a "Shadow" Ability before.
Just then, Quinn heard the annoying voice of the man again.
"So, it sounds like you want to learn more about the Shadow Ability Book, huh?" He asked. "Well, I can tell you if you want. Do you want to know?"
Quinn grit his teeth. The AI seemed to be just as annoying as the man himself.
"Please?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
"Your guess is correct." The man replied. "'Blooded' refers to those who have been blessed…or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with Vampirism. It doesn't matter if they are a Halfling, a Vampire Lord, or even a Ghoul. As long as they possess Vampire blood, they are able to learn the Ability."
Quinn raised an eyebrow at the man's words. Two of the three examples he had given were words Quinn was unfamiliar with. He knew of a Halfling, due to his prior evolution. But what was a "Vampire Lord" or a "Ghoul"?
"Do you know why the book was here?" Quinn asked, getting back on track.
"I have no idea." The man replied.
Quinn noted that the "AI" had surprisingly answered his questions in great detail. It was just like the blonde-haired man had said. While his Inspect Skill was able to tell him information about items, the AI would now clarify things related to the System. However, Quinn was still unsure whether or not to learn the Ability. He needed more information, and this "AI" seemed like the perfect person to ask.
"Is this the only Ability Vampires can learn?" He asked. "Or, are there others?"
After a moment, the "AI" responded.
"Just like Humans, Vampires are only able to learn one Ability." The man replied. "Whether or not there are other Vampire Ability Books out there, who knows? They may be others. Some may be stronger than this one. Some may be weaker."
Despite the fact that the man sounded intelligent, even with a stupid voice, it was still just an AI. There was only so much that it could answer. The problem was that if this truly was an Ability related to the Vampires, and thus, Quinn would be unable to use it in the outside world, Quinn didn't want it. Another Ability that the world didn't know about would just paint a bigger target on his back. However, the question remained if there even was an Ability that both Vampires and Humans could learn.
Quinn continued to ask the "AI" more questions. He had hoped to get a better answer, but unfortunately, it seemed like the "AI" had no clue, and it could just reply with sarcastic answers.