Vorden then turned to Tsukuru.
"So, what's this new Skill do, anyway?" He asked. "Anything good?"
In response, Tsukuru smirked.
He held his hand out in front of him.
Instantly, a "shield" of interconnected, light-blue, translucent hexagons appeared in front of his open palm.
Like before, each hexagon was roughly the shape of the back of his closed fist, and the hexagon formation consisted of four rows of hexagons.
They repeated in a pattern, with three hexagons on top, then two hexagons in the second row, then three hexagons again in the third row, and finally two hexagons again in the final row.
Tsukuru's open hand was positioned directly behind the middle hexagon in the third row.
Vorden looked at the "shield" in front of Tsukuru.
It almost looked like a long, rectangular shield, albeit with a few pieces missing due to the two rows of two hexagons.
Tsukuru glanced to the side.
"Yeah, unfortunately, since it's still a "Level 1" Skill, ten hexagons appears to be the maximum that I can make.
Vorden glanced up at Tsukuru.
"'Level 1'?" He asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Aren't you a Level 3 Ability User?"
Tsukuru let out a weary sigh.
"My Skills all have their own individual 'Levels' that are independent of my actual Ability Level." He replied. "They're like Skills in a video game."
Vorden continued to stare at the "shield" in front of Tsukuru's hand.
"Is it durable?" He asked.
Upon hearing his words, Tsukuru's shoulders slumped, and he let out a disappointed sigh.
"Not in the slightest." Tsukuru replied.
To prove his point, he reached out and flicked the hexagon directly in front of his hand.
Instantly, cracks began to spread from the point of impact like cracks on glass.
The cracks spread along the shield from hexagon to hexagon.
A moment later, the shield shattered like glass, leaving nothing behind.
Quinn and Vorden stared for a moment.
Then, Quinn narrowed his eyes.
"What's the point of a shield that breaks that easily?" He asked.
Tsukuru turned to him.
"It'll absorb some of the force of the attack, no matter how minor, and will give me time to react." Tsukuru explained. "Even if the shield shatters on impact, it'll give me precious seconds to respond."
Quinn's eyes then narrowed, as he remembered something that Tsukuru had said earlier in the game store.
"Hey, Tsukuru." Quinn replied, causing Tsukuru to turn to him. "Did you say earlier that the VR Pods can 'scan Beast Gear'?" He asked.
Hearing this, Vorden glanced over at him.
"Yeah, they can." Vorden replied, causing Quinn to turn to him. "On the side of the capsule, there's a 'box' on the side. You put the Beast Gear inside, and the VR Pod will scan it, and let you use it in the game."
Tsukuru nodded in agreement.
"It's kind of like those old 'scanners' people used to scan papers into computers." Tsukuru replied.
Hearing this, Quinn reached down, and picked up his bag.
Tsukuru and Vorden watched as he unzipped it.
Inside, Quinn could see the set of Black-Horned Gauntlets, as well as the full-head mask Tsukuru had made for him.
However, Quinn's eyes then narrowed, before they widened in shock.
It wasn't from what he could see inside the bag, it was from what he couldn't.
Alarmed, Quinn flipped the bag upside-down, and shook the contents out on his bed.
Tsukuru and Vorder watched as Quinn began to frantically move objects around, looking for something in particular.
Vorden raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You…looking for something?" He asked.
Suddenly, Quinn's hands stopped moving.
"They're gone." Quinn replied in a low voice.
Tsukuru and Vorden gave Quinn a confused look.
"What's…'gone'?" Tsukuru asked.
Instantly, Quinn's head snapped up to him, a look of panic on his face.
"The set of Intermediate-Tier Gauntlets you gave me!" Quinn replied.
Hearing this, Vorden's eyebrows raised.
'Intermediate-Tier gauntlets?' He thought.
Tsukuru thought for a second, about what Quinn was babbling on about.
Then, recognition flooded through him.
"Oh!" Tsukuru replied, causing the other two to turn to him. "Right."
Tsukuru placed his hand above the bed, and thought about retrieving the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets from his System's Weapons Tab.
A System prompt appeared, which Tsukuru thought "yes" to.
A moment later, pixels began to appear on the bed.
The pixels clustered together, forming the gauntlets.
Quinn stared at them in shock.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you." Tsukuru replied, as he picked up the gauntlets, and looked at them. "I kind of had to…'borrow' them back during the chaos in the assembly hall."
Tsukuru glanced up at Quinn, a sheepish look on his face.
"I…I kinda forgot to give them back to you." He replied.
As Tsukuru stared at the gauntlets, his eyes narrowed, as a thought came to him.
'These are really good gauntlets.' He thought. 'Hey System, can I replicate these things like I do with my Black Obsidian Daggers?'
A moment later, a System message appeared.
[All Beast Gear created by the System has its blueprints archived in the System's mainframe. List of Beast Gear blueprints recorded in the System:
Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword
Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets
Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Dagger]
Seeing the message, Tsukuru smirked.
He picked up both Gauntlets, and threw them at Quinn.
They landed on his bed right in front of his lap.
Tsukuru's smirk widened, and he put his hand above his mattress again.
Quinn's and Vorden's eyes widened, as they watched him create another set of the gauntlets.
As Tsukuru picked up the new set and held them in his hand, he smirked.
He looked up at Vorden.
"Here, Vorden!" He replied, throwing the gauntlets across the room. "Catch!"
Vorden reached out his arm, and caught each Gauntlet as they flew through the air.
He looked down at them.
As he held the two gauntlets in his hands, he could feel the Beast Energy coming off of them.
However, Tsukuru's smile was short-lived, as a hardened expression appeared on his face.
Instantly, he snapped his head towards Quinn.
"Actually, Quinn." He replied, getting Quinn's attention. "I don't think you should use my gauntlets in Power Fighters."
Quinn stared at Tsukuru like he was crazy.
"What?!" He asked. "Why?!"
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed.
"The same reason I told you not to use them in public." Tsukuru replied. "Power Fighters may give you full anonymity, but the Beast Gear my System creates are original designs. If you use them in Power Fighters, people will trace them back to me…"
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed even further.
"Which will then make discerning your identity a mere formality."
Hearing this, Quinn grit his teeth in anger.
But at the same time, he knew that Tsukuru was right.
The whole first-year knew about Tsukuru's knight summon from that "demonstration" in the assembly hall against Erin, and a good chunk of second-years had seen it fighting alongside Erin during the fight with the second-years.
The second he started using the gauntlets in Power Fighters, people who had seen the knight would put two-and-two together.
And since Quinn was well-known in the Beast Weapon Hall for using gauntlets, and he was frequently seen alongside Tsukuru…well, it wouldn't take a genius to figure it out.
In fact, this was the entire reason why Quinn had chosen the Black-Horned Gauntlets in the Beast Weapons Hall in the first place.
Quinn let out a sigh.
"Fine." He muttered, roughly shoving the Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets into his bag. "I'll use the Black-Horned Gauntlets in the VR Pod."
Now that everything had been explained and the night was winding down, everyone decided to get ready for bed.
While Vorden had gone right to sleep, Tsukuru and Quinn had remained awake.
Tsukuru had brought out his handheld gaming console, and had played it for ten minutes to complete his Daily Quest, increasing his XP from "50/1600" to "60/1600".
As he looked down at the line for his Stat Points, he noticed that he had two free Stat Points.
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow in confusion, until realization hit him.
'Oh, right.' He thought. 'I never assigned that Stat Point I got from Leveling Up in the assembly hall.'
Instantly, he put the two Stat Points into Stamina, increasing it from "12" to "14".
Seeing the new number, Tsukuru smirked.
Just one more point, and he'd be able to use his Video Glitch Skill three times in succession.
Tsukuru then thought back to his fight against the Hobgoblins in the Battle Arena.
How one of them had knocked the wind out of him with a single gut-punch, and had knocked him to the ground with a chop to his head.
He had felt like a ragdoll.
That was the kind of power he needed.
A bruiser.
However, Tsukuru needed to save up ten Battle Points to unlock it in the Battle Arena's exchange corner.
And seeing as how he had only received two Battle Points for completing the first "Wave", he would need to save up Battle Points for quite a while before he could afford to unlock it.
Then, Tsukuru thought back to that new "Racial Slot" that he had just unlocked.
He smirked.
'Maybe I don't have to wait.' He thought.
Tsukuru withdrew his card binder from his System's Inventory.
The book appeared in front of him.
Tsukuru unzipped the cover, and flipped it open.
Like with the Harpie, he knew the perfect card to use as inspiration for his next Summon.