Paul looked down at the Basic-Tier Beast Weapon, which was now on his desk. He picked it up and let out a sigh.
"This is not even a sliver of what we were looking for," he muttered. "What the hell am I supposed to tell Oscar?"
It was then that Shizuka's voice rang through the room.
"Nothing," she replied.
Paul then glanced up at her.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"We'll just have Tsu-Tsu recreateeverything that we would have salvaged from Pioletic, and just report back to Oscar that the mission was a resounding success," Shizuka replied, her arms still crossed.
Paul stared at her for a moment.
"And…how do we explain the eight missing soldiers?" he asked.
Shizuka let out a scoff.
"You think Oscar is really going to care about eight Level 2's going missing?" she asked. "If he even asks, which I highly DOUBT, just go with the usual excuse. 'Accidents happen on Portal Planets.' Especially with Low-Levels."
***
Back in the VR Room, Quinn and Logan looked at Tsukuru as he and Starrk entered the room.
"You never said anything about your brother being a Level 8!" Quinn replied.
Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"Logan's Ability Level is irrelevant," Tsukuru replied. "The Green Family Ability isn't designed for combat."
Tsukuru then glanced away.
"Well, Logan found a way to make it useful in combat, but that's besides the point."
Logan's eyes narrowed.
"Hey, Tsukuru, let me see your wristwatch," Logan replied.
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" he asked.
Logan's face hardened.
Tsukuru let out a sigh, seeing it.
"Fine," he muttered.
He lifted his arm holding his wristwatch towards Logan, so he could see it.
"There," he replied, rolling his eyes. "Happy now?"
Seeing the large number "4" taking up the majority of the screen, Logan's eyes narrowed slightly.
'Well, there goes that theory,' he thought.
Tsukuru continued looking at Logan with his confused look.
"Now, will you tell me why you're suddenly sointerestedin my wristwatch?" he asked.
Logan's eyes darted over to Quinn. He could still see the "1" on his wristwatch.
"I was starting to think these 'Systems' prevented the wristwatches from working correctly," he replied.
Hearing this, Tsukuru pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Logan, you literally just saw my wristwatch two weeks ago!" Tsukuru retorted. "When I had you modify it!"
Quinn turned to Tsukuru.
"Wait, you had him alter your wristwatch too?" he asked.
Tsukuru glanced over at him.
"Yeah, I had him inject a 'voice command' program so I don't have to spend hours scrolling through names on the 'Contact List'," he replied.
Logan continued to look at Quinn.
"So this is that 'thing that you needed to check out', I take it?" Logan asked. He then pointed to his head, mimicking Tsukuru's actions when he was silently trying to tell someone that it was something to do with his System.
Tsukuru glanced away.
"Eh, more or less," he replied.
Quinn turned to him.
"Wait, you told him about me?!" he asked, feeling somewhat betrayed.
Tsukuru glanced over at Quinn.
"This was before I had even met you, Quinn," Tsukuru replied. "Remember how I told you that I have received a Quest to 'make contact with you'?"
Quinn let out an exhale of air through his nose. He was clearly still somewhat annoyed.
However, he then developed a look of confusion.
"Wait, I thought they normally split up friend groups and families among the Military Bases?" Quinn asked. "How are you both here?"
Tsukuru and Logan exchanged looks.
"Money," they both replied in unison.
Quinn's face tightened.
He had forgotten for a moment that their family was loaded.
"So how are things in your fancy VIP dorm?" Tsukuru asked in a sarcastic tone.
Quinn's eyes widened, hearing this.
'VIP dorm?!' he thought.
"Acceptable," Logan replied. He then turned to Quinn. "So you're his roommate, huh? You have my sympathies."
"Ha ha ha," Tsukuru replied sarcastically as he looked away. "That's so funny that I forgot to laugh."
Logan then glanced behind Tsukuru and saw Starrk.
"So who's he?" Logan asked. "Is he another of your 'Summons'? Because if he is, he looks significantly different than your previous one."
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
Quinn looked back at Starrk as well.
"Yeah, Tsukuru," he replied. "Who is he?"
Tsukuru let out a sigh.
"Remember that thing I needed to take care of?" he asked. "I unlocked a new Skill when I reached Level 10." Seeing as how both the people currently in the VR Room already knew about his System, and most of the VR Pods were still in use, Tsukuru saw no harm in talking about it freely.
"It gives me a new kind of Summon. Rather than creating something from scratch, I can bring an already-existing character from a fictional medium into the real world."
The two boys stared at Starrk like he was an alien.
"Hey," Starrk replied in greeting, as he cracked his neck.
"Fascinating," Logan replied, before turning back to Tsukuru. "So you finally reached that 'Level 10' goal, huh?"
The very next moment, all three of their wristwatches began to beep erratically. Instantly, they all snapped their heads down towards them.
Starrk raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What, are you all getting a call?" he asked.
Tsukuru turned back to him.
"Nah, it's just the early warning system," he replied. "It goes out to all the students, alerting them that curfew will be in an hour."
Tsukuru then turned back to the others.
"How about we put this conversation on the back burner for now," he replied. "If we're all not in our assigned room in the next hour, we're all gonna be in trouble."
Logan nodded his head robotically.
"Agreed," he replied. "We can pick up this conversation in my dorm room tomorrow."
Tsukuru glanced over at Quinn.
"Quinn and I usually come here after Combat Classes are over," he replied.
"It's fine," Quinn replied with a smile. "Missing one day in the game won't hurt."
Quinn's eyes then narrowed.
'Besides, there are some things that I want to take care of that only Logan can help me with,' he thought. 'And they are a much higher priority than grinding Exp,'
Tsukuru then turned back to Starrk.
"Starrk, you can go for now," he replied.
Starrk cracked his neck again.
"Very well, Lord Tsukuru," he replied.
A moment later, he broke apart into pixels.
A moment later, only Tsukuru, Quinn, and Logan were standing in the room.
With that, the three of them walked towards the door of the VR Room and back towards the student dormitory.
***
In another part of the Base, General Nathan and the two female Sergeants walked out of Head General Paul's office.
Nathan's shoulders slumped, and he took on a defeated posture.
"My paycheck…" he whined.
Due to his 'mishandling' of the Salvage Mission, leading to the loss of eight soldiers, General Nathan had received a significant pay cut for the next month.
Sergeant Faye glared over at him.
"Be grateful that you're not being demoted!" she shot back.
Shizuka glanced over at Faye.
'She seems a bit…different from the last time I saw her…' she thought. Faye almost seemed to be a bit more… aggressive now.
Sergeant Faye glanced down at her wristwatch. It still showed the number "6" on it. She was now heavily thankful for the fact that the number on these wristwatches was never designed to go down. It'd be hard to explain why her wristwatch was suddenly displaying a "1" now.
Additionally, in the upper-right corner, it displayed "9:00".
"Looks like it's one hour 'till curfew," Faye replied, causing the other two to turn to her. "It's too late to go find student Hikiko now, so we'll have to do it tomorrow."
Shizuka adjusted her cap.
"Hmm, we'll have to grab him before he leaves the Beast Weapons Hall, then," she replied.
Nathan turned to her.
"Why's that?" she asked.
Shizuka glanced over to him.
"Because, according to numerous reports, he has been seen heading off towards the VR Room with that 'Talen' boy almost every day," she replied. "So, unless we want to just be standing around for god knows how long waiting for him to come back out, we'd better grab him before that happens."
Sergeant Faye narrowed her eyes.
'Quinn Talen…' she thought.
That boy had been on Pioletic when they had found Ian's body with the marks of a Vampire Bite on his neck. Additionally, according to Hayley's report, he was the one who had brought in student Munrow, the first student to appear with those markings.
'Either this is one hell of a coincidence,' Faye thought. 'Or…this 'Talen' boy is somehow involved…'