The first fight was simply a test of everything that Quinn could do. While running, he decided to activate the boots' Skill.
A System message appeared in front of him.
[Skill Wind Walk has been activated. Agility has increased by 10% for the next 30 seconds.
Agility: 18 [+4] ]
As Quinn ran from side to side, his opponent found it nearly impossible to keep up with him.
It was like looking at a fly. One second, his opponent could keep track of Quinn. Then the next, Quinn would suddenly change directions, and his opponent would lose sight of him.
Water began to form in the hand of Quinn's opponent, revealing him to be a Level 1 Water User. He formed the water into a long blade.
After running around the arena for thirty seconds, the Skill of Quinn's boots finallydeactivated. Now, Quinn was heading towards his opponent in a straight line.
As Quinn ran, a System message appeared in front of him.
[Skill Wind Walk is now in cooldown.
Time remaining: 5 minutes.]
Meanwhile, Quinn's opponent couldn't believe what he was seeing.
'He's really just going to run straight at me?' he thought.
And when Quinn got close enough, the Water User swung his Water Blade out towards Quinn in a horizontal arc.
'I probably won't die if that thing hits me,' Quinn thought, seeing the Water Blade. 'But now is the best time as any to try out my new Skill.'
Quinn looked towards the Water User, looking him in the eye. For the first time, he activated his new Vampire Skill.
A System message appeared in front of Quinn.
[Skill Daze has been activated. Opponent has been successfully stunned.]
Suddenly, an intense fear came over Quinn's opponent. A shiver went down his spine, and when he tried to move his hand, there was no response. He was quite literally frozen in fear.
Quinn then threw out a punch into the boy's gut. He activated his Blood Spray Skill in combination with the punch.
This resulted in the Water User being sent flying backwards, with a trail of splattered blood leaving Quinn's gauntlets.
The voice of the announcer then boomed through the room.
"Winner, User ID Blood Evolver!"
It had only taken a single Blood Spray-infused punch to finish his opponent off.
Quinn looked down at his hand in shock.
No wonder it was so hard for him to defeat the Beasts on the Red Portal Planet with the Blood Spray. He was using the Skill wrong! He had been using it as some sort of long-range shotgun attack when the Skill was clearly designed for close combat!
A moment later, Quinn smiled.
'Well, at least now I know that all of my Vampire Skills work here,' he thought. 'That's good to know.'
There had been no message telling Quinn that he had gained Exp, but he expected as much from his fights in the Beast Weapons Class.
***
Back in Logan's room, his eyes widened as he watched Quinn's match. He couldn't believe it, the video was real! There really was somebody who could use some strange form of red energy. It didn't look like any Ability Logan had seen, and he had researched Abilities extensively to make sure there were as many Abilities as possible available in the game! However, that wasn't the problem. Logan had checked Quinn's ID before the match. He had chosen no Ability.
Logan began typing rapidly on his keyboard. He searched for any kind of information that he could pull. Most of the player information was scrambled for the safety of the players. He couldn't find who was in the VR Pod, but he could find other information.
After typing for a few minutes, he finally found the information that he needed.
User ID: Blood Evolver
Ability Selected: None
Log-In Location: Military Base 2
"Oh, would you look at that?" he replied, smiling at the computer screen. "What was the quote from that one movie that Tsukuru and I watched?'It's a Small World After All'?"
***
Back in the VR Game, Nate was finding it hard to keep his mouth closed after what he had just seen. The last time he and Blood Evolver had fought, Nate had come out as the winner. But now, looking at the new Blood Evolver, he seemed significantly stronger compared to before.
"But…how?" Nate muttered. "We fought each other only a couple of weeks ago. Was he holding back, or did he just get this much stronger in that short amount of time?"
The speed, the strength, and even that strange red energy now seemed stronger than before. Not only that, but Nate also knew that Blood Evolver had that fast-movementtechnique that he had used to sneak up behind himself and Sam, as well as that internal attack that had hit him like a truck in his arsenal.
Slowly, a wide smile crept across Nate's face. The more he watched this person, the more excited he got.
***
Back down with Quinn, he brought up the Search Menu. This time, he pressed the "Quick Match" option. While there was a high chance that he would just get paired against another person who would grant him no Exp, there was also the chance that it could pair him against someone strong, like a Level 5 or even a Level 6.
After a moment, a message appeared on the screen.
[A new opponent has been found.]
At the very bottom of the screen, it listed the name of his opponent. Over to the right, a fair distance away from the name, it listed their Ability Level.
Quinn let out a sigh of disappointment, seeing the "Ability Level: 1" on the screen.
'Looks like I won't be getting any Exp in thisfight, either,' Quinn thought.
A moment later, the next player's avatar began to form.
Quinn wanted to end this fight quickly so he could try his luck with the "Quick Match" function again.
He dashed forward and activated the Daze Skill. His opponent was immediately stunned, and Quinn used the moment to appear behind him using the Flash Step. Quinn finished off his opponent with the same "Blood Punch" he used on his last opponent.
Once the opponent had disappeared, Quinn brought up the search screen again. Once again, he hit the "Quick Match" option.
A moment later, a new message appeared.
[A new opponent has been found.]
Quinn's eyes instantly darted down towards the player's Ability Level.
'Dang it,' he thought, seeing the "Ability Level: 2" on the screen.
As soon as the fight began, Quinn let out a barrage of Blood Swipes. As the player had never seen the Skill before, he tried to block it with his Basic-Tier Sword. Unfortunately for him, due to the Blood Swipe Skill now being Level 2, it easilyshattered his sword. The barrage of Blood Swipes then hit his body and sent him flying. He landed on his back a few feet away.
He let out a groan, indicating that he was still alive.
Seeing this, Quinn released one more Blood Swipe, finishing him off.
The voice of the announcer rang through the arena.
"Winner, User ID Blood Evolver!"
Quinn activated the Quick-Match feature once again.
The expected message appeared.
[A new opponent has been found.]
"Finally," Quinn replied, seeing the "Ability Level: 4" on the screen. Seeing how the highest Ability Level he had fought in the Beast Weapons Hall had been Level 3, this fight might actually give him Exp.
The Level 4 Ability User was wearing a full set of Beast Gear, covered head to toe in armor.
As Quinn looked at his new opponent, he failed to notice that the stands around him were starting to get filled. Nate was no longer his sole spectator. More people were coming in to watch his matches.
This was because, after losing their matches, his last two opponents had decided to stick around and watch his next few fights. It was quite simple, actually. All they had to do was look up their most recent opponent and hit the "Spectate" option.
They had also invited their friends, telling them that they had found a player with a rather strange Ability that they had never seen before. And then their friends had invited their own friends, who invited their friends, and so on. This number quickly snowballed out of control, and the stands were now packed with over thirty people.
"Well, well, well," Nate said with a grin. "It looks like others are starting to notice you as well."
Nate then heard the people around him beginning to talk.
"Hey, is he that hacker?" a girl asked.
"Oh, yeah," a boy near her replied. "From that forum post from a few weeks ago, right? Apparently, he uses some strange red energy. I thought the video was fake, though."
A nearby boy smiled.
"Well, looks like we're about to see," he replied.