Lately, Quinn seemed to have been travelling on a number of different surfaces. From hard barren rock, to unknown metals, snow, sand and even more. Right now, Quinn was experiencing yet another new terrain, as his two feet were in a swampy texture.
The water rose up to the ankle of his boots. If he was to stay in one place too long, he would feel like his body was sinking on the spot, so he was constantly on the move. He also needed to be careful not to apply too much pressure for that would make him sink deeper as well.
In a way, he found fighting on different terrain to be a form of training in itself. He never knew when and what terrain he would be fighting his enemies on, so it was good to have experienced all the differences.
Fortunately, this planet also had a few places where the land was more solid, allowing him to rest.
This was exactly what Quinn was currently doing. Around him were several trees that had long green vines dangling from them, so it was hard for one to see into the distance, not that there was anything nice to look at in the first place..
However, Quinn was not alone either. Surrounding him were the Marked Dalki. Thanks to the power of the Demon tier Amulet, Quinn now had a total of four Dalki under his control. Three of them had two spikes on their bodies, while the last one, who had been the most recent captive, had only one for now.
Quinn had considered marking a beast instead of a Dalki, but all the beasts he had encountered in the area were far weaker than even the one spiked Dalki, which made it seem pointless, especially since the amount of energy required to open up another slot was incredibly high at this moment. Failing to mark something, meant he would have to regather that energy once more.
They had been killing beasts and Dalki for a while now, but the fifth slot still hadn't opened up. Quinn was starting to wonder if four slots were its limit, but the Vampire Lord believed the system would have said something if that would have been the case. Additionally, he didn't mind the process taking longer, since all this fighting was bringing the Dalki closer to evolving as well
Thanks to his controlled Dalki, Quinn had discovered what incredible beings they actually were. Their bodies had similar healing capabilities to vampires. As long as enough time passed their wounds would naturally heal by using up their body's energy. Alternatively, they were also able to eat the beasts in the area to acquire more energy and to speed up this healing.
However, if their bodies healed this natural way, it was also a sign that their strong energy they would get from being harmed had gone away as well, unlike when their wounds healed from bleeding out, which was something Quinn still couldn't wrap his head around. Losing blood, yet still healing from fatal wounds. No wonder the Dalki were so hard to kill.
'Maybe it's time we move again.' Quinn contemplated. 'We've been on this planet for a while.'
Quinn had chosen not to stay on one planet too long, neither did he want to attempt to take down another one of their mother ships for fear they would retaliate or send someone after him. The problem was moving from each planet took time, and as Quinn moved to each one he was spending more and more time on them.
'The Dalki seem more spread out on this planet compared to the previous ones, so I think you should be fine to stay here a bit longer.' Vincent shared his opinion. 'Besides, I think things have calmed down a little. That being said, this also feels like the calm before the storm.'
Looking at the Dalki, next to him, Quinn was looking at one of the two spikes, and all four of the Dalki standing still as statues around him like bodyguards, while he was sitting down with his back up against a tree.
'Hey, I was thinking. You have been a big help when fighting with my body, but you're still not the best when it comes to making the most out of it." Quinn said. "In an emergency I will have to flee by using my Shadow link skill, which might mean I'll be forced to leave the Marked Dalki behind or I'll probably have to drain their energy. I won't be fighting with the Dalki body like last time."
'I'm hoping there is a point to you saying all of this, rather than just telling me my skills are bad in your body.' Vincent replied.
"What I was thinking, is maybe we can put you in a Dalki body? We could use Shiro's power." Quinn suggested.
Originally, Quinn wanted to put Vincent in another Humanoid beast, but with the Dalki owning most of the beast planets now, that seemed quite improbable.
'I don't think that is a good idea, Quinn.' Vincent replied after a while. 'We know Shiro's ability basically places one consciousness inside the body of another being, but the original still remains. Even if these Dalki are under the amulet's control, I doubt their consciousness is completely gone. It only worked so well for your friends because the beasts' minds inside had agreed to help.'
'Perhaps Shiro has a skill that can eliminate one of the minds, but even then if my mind is in the body of the Dalki, were you thinking of using one of your Marked? We don't know what will happen to me. I might also end up under the amulet's effect. Or think about what happens if you need to flee, and you might drain that body.'
'I'm also partly worried that moving me will disrupt the system.'Even if it doesn't, my existence might have been a coincidence, so moving me out means there is the possibility that I might not have any no way to return to the system either, if something has to go wrong with it. I know you mean well, but I just think that if we act now there are too many risks. Let's wait until this is all over.'
That was the problem, Quinn honestly didn't know when this would 'all' be over, especially with things happening in the Vampire World now. Would it be when Jim was defeated? When Arthur no longer was a threat?
Even then he still needed to worry about the Dalki, the Demon tier beast and Bryce. Not to mention his unresolved issues with Pure, who he was sure would eventually come to him since he had eliminated Agent 2 as well now.
"I'm…getting a little tired just thinking about it." Quinn sighed, which was the first time Vincent had heard him say such words.
———
Eventually a week had passed on the Cursed ship. As promised Leo had been training both Erin and Layla. Helping them use their Qi, as well as trying to unlock the soul weapons in both of them.
What Leo didn't know was that Layla had also been doing her own separate training alongside Nate following their training sessions. After her loss with Erin, she had been more determined to work harder.
Her training with Nate had mostly focused on her being able to access those emotions again and unlock the fourth form. What Nate hadn't realised when offering to help her was that their 'training' had been more on the lines of a therapy session rather than using one's fists which was what Nate was good at.
He had asked Layla many times if she was sure that she wouldn't rather speak to someone else, who she might perhaps be closer to than him, but she had insisted that he was the easiest to talk to, for she felt like he would never judge her.
According to her judgement, the only thing Nate cared about was girls and getting better at martial arts. Someone else might have been offended by that, but Nate had just shrugged it off, even going so far as to make a joke about Layla having seen right through to his core.
One of the things the two had discussed was the warning that Leo had given on that first day. It was strange but all he had said was to be careful with the sword she was using.
However, after learning that Quinn thought it would be fine for her to have the sword, Leo thought that it would be fine for now. Especially since she had already been using it for a while with no apparent problems.
In the end though, Erin and Leo were soon to leave the Cursed ship. Their equipment was finally complete.
Arriving in the forgery room, Alex and Andrew had naturally done their classic 'covering of the items with a cloth' trick.
"You do know that this is pointless for me." Leo said. "For one, I can already see what they look like underneath the cloth, even though I do not know the colours, not that it makes much of a difference to me."
After hearing that, Erin had decided to lift the cloth to reveal the items that they would now be using.
"Hey!" Alex pouted. "How could you steal the best part of this?! It's like opening up a package that you ordered online! Imagine coming home and finding out that someone else had opened your package. Or opened your presents on Christmas to still give you the present. It just ruins the feeling."
Still ignoring him, Erin first went to look at the giant cover that had been built for her Demon tier weapon. It was designed to be strapped around her waist, and had straps over her shoulders while being placed on her back.
The large piece was the perfect shape for the large sword. The three holes that were in the blade, the cover also had indents to show where they would be, not ruining the design and beauty of the demon tier weapon.
"After seeing you, I chose to go with a black and yellow design for the cover." Andrew explained. "I was pretty sure the last time I saw you, you had black hair so I decided to go with that, but now I see you have blonde hair."
Andrew thought his eyes were playing tricks on him but thought Erin must have just dyed it while she was staying on the ship, not realising that it was part of Erin's abilities. Although she could control the change at will now.
"Thank you, it is excellent." Erin was more than pleased with it. When placing the sword in the cover, she couldn't even see its energy with her ability. The suppression powers were more impressive than the chains she was wearing.
'If the urge ever comes back in the future, I should seek out this forger to help me.' Erin decided at that moment.
On Alex's table was Leo's weapon and Erin's Katana. It was time for Leo to find out whether or not his sword had been put to good use.
______
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