Tsukuru felt a large amount of Beast Energy surge through him, empowering him and strengthening him. A new System message appeared.
[You have equipped the Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger.
+3 Strength, +5 Agility
Strength: 11 [+10]
Agility: 15 [+8] ]
Tsukuru smirked down at his new dagger.
'An Intermediate-TierBeast Weapon.' He thought. He finally had a replacement for his Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Daggers. Now, he could go back to using his preferred weapon. Rather than just launching those Intermediate-Tier Swords like ARROWS. Tsukuru looked back at the System's Shop screen. The amount of available items had now become significantly reduced. Compared to the twelve items that had been visible when he had first opened the screen, now, only seven were visible. The "Minor Health Potion", the "Health Potion", and "Minor MC Potion", the "MC Potion", the "Basic-Tier Black Centipede Gauntlets", the "Intermediate-Tier Sting-Blade Rapier", and the "Intermediate-Tier Arachnid Shortbow".
It seemed like his potions were the only items that could be bought repeatedly. All the Beast Gear and Beast Weapons he bought simply vanished from the Shop Menu. Although, seeing as how buying them also "downloaded their blueprints into the System", allowing him to recreate them using his Ability, it didn't really matter that he couldn't rebuy them. Essentially, as long as he had Mutant Cells to expend, he could create as many copies as he needed.
Tsukuru dismissed the Shop Screen. He had no use for the Sting-Blade Rapier while he was still here on the Red Portal Planet. And he could always buy it at any time once they got back to the base. As he was returned to the System's UI, Tsukuru dismissed that, as well.
Tsukuru then outstretched his right hand, and activated his Ability. A System message appeared in front of him.
[Skill Video Creation has been activated.]
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in his hand.
Tsukuru and Vorden watched in deja vu, as the pixels clustered together into the shape of the Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger. There was a bright flash of light. Once it faded, Tsukuru was holding a copy of the Black Fang Dagger in each hand. Tsukuru felt another surge of Beast Energy flow through him, and a set of two System messages appeared in front of him.
[-2 MC. MC: 78/80]
[You have equipped an Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger.
+3 Strength, +5 Agility
Strength: 11 [+13]
Agility: 15 [+13] ]
***
Back with Quinn, his eyes widened slightly, as he saw Tsukuru wearing a full set of Beast Gear, as well as holding two new Beast Weapons. His gaze then drifted downwards back to his System's Shop Screen. Seeing all of the grayed out images, he felt as though they were mocking him.
'How do these 'Shops' of our 'Systems' even work anyway?' He thought.
"Well, I don't know about his'System'…" The man's voice replied, obviously referring to Tsukuru. "...But for your System, all you need to do is possess the raw materials required for the object's creation, and the System will auto-generate the objects for you."
Hearing this, Quinn smiled a bit. Usually, when obtaining a Beast Crystal, one would need to take them to a special "Forger", who would then make them into something. And the process wasn't free. Thinking of this, a sudden thought came to Quinn's mind. And it made his eyes narrow.
'Wait a minute, the type of Object a Beast Crystal can be made into is pretty much set in STONE.' He thought. 'Sure the quality can differ depending on how skilled the crafter is, but if the Crystal was destined to be made into a ring, then it would be impossible to make into anything else, such as a SWORD.' Quinn glanced to the side. 'That Traveler, Ian, did he even know what the Death Bat Crystal could be made into?' He thought. 'If that Crystal really could only be made into this Vampire Ring, then why was Ian sent after it? Was he hired by…someone else like me? Another Vampire?'
Quinn then dismissed the System's Shop Tab. He decided that it was finally time for him to check out his new "Shadow Skills" Tab. Usually, his System only had four Tabs at the top. "Skills", "Shop", "Quests", and "Tutorials". Now, a fifth Tab had been added, simply called "Shadow".
As he opened the tab, he saw that there was a long list of ten rectangles. Each of the ten rectangles had labels, but everything beyond the second Skill was grayed out. Quinn concentrated his attention on the first Skill, "Shadow Space". As he thought about it, a System Screen opened up.
[Shadow Storage: This Skill allows you to store items inside. As long as there is a shadow nearby, you can deposit and retrieve items as you wish. This even includes the shadow under your feet.]
Reading the Skill's description, Quinn's smile widened. It sounded exactly like how Tsukuru's"Inventory" worked. In other words, it was a great Skill to have.
'Man, if only I had gained this Skill sooner!' He thought. Back in that Storage Container, there had been several items that Quinn had wanted to take with him. There were multiple Ability Books and Skill Books for the Earth Ability Books. At the time, he wanted to take them with him to sell on the online Marketplace. Even if the Ability was monopolized by the Military, seeing as how the books only went up to the Level 3 Ability, they couldn't get that upset, right?
However, Quinn then realized a problem. If he wanted to go back to the storage container to retrieve them now, he would have to leave the safety of the Training Center that the three of them were currently in. Out to where the Beasts were. And on top of that, it wasn't close. Last time, it had taken him two hours to get from there to here.
Quinn then imagined making this screen go away. Immediately, the screen disappeared, returning him to the "Shadow" Tab. He then focused his attention on the other Skill, "Shadow Control - Lv. 1". A new System screen opened.
[Shadow Control - Lv. 1:Allows you to control your own shadow.
-1 MC for every minute of continuous use.]
Quinn stared at the screen, blinking a few times. The description was incredibly short, and it didn't really explain much. Even if he could "Control his own shadow", what good was that? However, Quinn then noticed that unlike the last Skill, this one had a level at the end. That meant that it was most likely like his other Skills. And it also meant that he could eventually level it up if he carried on using it. Like how he had Leveled Up his "Blood Swipe" and "Inspect" Skills while he was here. Maybe if he Leveled Up the Skill a few times, it might get stronger.
Quinn dismissed the screen, and returned to the "Shadow" Tab. The eight grayed out Skills were labeled "Shadow Cloak", "Shadow Equip", "Shadow Void", "Shadow Hop", "Shadow On", "Shadow Cover", "Shadow Clone", "Shadow Travel" and "Shadow Eater", in that order. Additionally, next to each Skill, there was another line of text. For example, for the "Shadow Cloak" Skill, it read "Costs Skill Points to unlock" next to it. The only Skill that didn't have a number was the "Shadow Equip" Skill. Currently, it seemed that the "Shadow Cloak" was the only Skill he could unlock. He only had 10"Skill Points", the ones he had received when learning the Ability, and he had no idea on how to obtain more.
Judging by the name, perhaps the Skill would be able to surround him with Shadows. Maybe it would alsoblock out the sun from coming into direct contact with him. Thus, removing that weakness. Quinn's excitement got the better of him.
'There shouldn't be a problem as long as he unlocked the other Skills eventually, right?' Quinn thought. 'What's there to worry about?'
A System message popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to unlock the Skill Shadow Cloak?
Cost: 10 Skill Points]
'Yes.' Quinn thought with a smile.
A moment later, a series of two new System messages appeared.
[You have successfully unlocked a new Shadow Skill.
Skill Shadow Cloak - Lv. 1 has been acquired.]
[Shadow Cloak: Allows you to use your own shadow to surround yourself into the darkness. While the Skill is active, others will struggle to see you. The effectiveness of the Skill depends on the level of perception of others. Best used at night. -1 MC for every ten seconds of continuous use.]