The first thing the humans noticed was it was dark. Cia dug her nails into Vorden's shoulder which immediately called for a verbal response. She said she was scared which he did not accept as an excuse. Logan asked Quinn if it was safe and Quinn replied in the affirmative. He then had his spiders form a goggle-like device that worked like night-vision goggles.
Lana activated her light crystal and turned around. She grabbed the offending hand on Cia and squeezed. In a menacing whisper, "Cia, need I remind you we are in the den of vampires. Are you trying to draw blood and attract attention?" Lana then checked Vorden's shoulder to make sure he was okay.
Cia was hurt but she still continued running her mouth. She and Vorden continued the back and forth while Logan put his hand on a computer and turned the lights on. Lana then turned off her light crystal but her calm was still highly disrupted. It was quiet. Too quiet for her liking. The last time it was like this, she was in the dungeon. She was near panic when Quinn asked her what was wrong. She said, "The silence is deafening." This confused everyone in the room. The issue was she could hear no extra voices. No incoherent murmurings. There were no plants nearby at all. Even Caladi had the rare bush whose voice was carried to her on the wind. They were under ground and she was having trouble.
She decided to sit in the middle of the room as Logan told everyone to search the room for a way out. There was some computer problem but she found his words incoherent in her panic. Something about the computer not listening to him. She crossed her legs, back straight, palms up hovering over her knees and pointer finger touching her thumb and she focused on her breathing. She opened her eyes in time to see Vorden use his short swords that Quinn had gifted him on a screen that displayed six rooms. Vorden was facing a hairless creature that was trying to claw him. Vorden used the swords as scissors and chopped its head off.
"What exactly is that thing?"
Quinn looked at her. Realizing she was calm again, he answered. "A wendigo. You know how Peter is a wight?" She nodded. "A wendigo is something Peter could have become after evolving from a ghoul. They are like starved vampires only they eat human flesh instead of blood. They are never full and are addicted to their food."
Lana stared at Quinn then at Vorden who had emerged from the room. Layla had run up to him to see if he was okay. He was gasping for air and looked exhausted. She was kicking herself for her failure to make those energy bars. Vorden needed one right now. He then showed Quinn a strange spherical pill he was given for completing the trial of killing that creature.
"Are you sure you're okay Vorden?"
He winked at her. "Are you?"
She nodded. "yeah." It was then that she finally looked around her. They were in sort of lab that had computers, tables and machines everywhere. There were six numbered doors and two big doors. Vorden saw she was getting ready to get up and offered her a hand. She gave him a nod and a smile then continued looking around. Logan had two computers on. The first was the one he used to turn the lights on. The other was the strange one that had the open buttons for the six doors.
Quinn, after looking at the pill then explained that he had a system. Essentially it was a computer game in his head that he was the character playing. He gained stat points and skills. He leveled up just like in games as well. His inspect skill told him the pill provided an additional strength point as if he had consumed type A blood. The point was a permanent boost.
Logan did not look happy. Quinn told him to open the door and everyone protested but Lana and Logan. Lana was still trying to figure out exactly where they were and what happened while she was focusing on her breathing. There truly was a lot for her to take in having missed things and now playing catch up. She therefore listened to everyone.
What she noticed while Quinn was talking was his white energy was bigger than it had been. He seemed to have figured out how to access it and use it. She assumed the purple energy was his vampire energy and that had grown as well. While she was assessing Quinn's strength based on his energy, Logan was telling Layla why Quinn should go in there. Apparently, they had searched the whole room while she was breathing, how long did it take me to get control of myself?, and no way out was found so the other rooms needed to be searched.
Quinn went into the room that Vorden emerged from. There was a robot in there that resembled an old movie she had seen in the library. She thought the robot went by the name Johnny 5. It had triangle-shaped tracked wheels and one goggle-like eye.
The robot asked if he would take a solution for the trial and Quinn said yes after looking at it. Lana assumed he used his inspect skill as he called it and deemed it safe. Vorden protested saying it was risky among other things. Lana was shaking her head on the inside. Didn't Quinn just explain to us the system in his head helps him and he has a skill that can determine if things are safe? Still this was Sil's brother. They were sharing the same body. He was also Quinn's best friend so she held her tongue. Though, she was beginning to be happy it was Sil she spent her time with instead of Vorden.
She rebounded from her thoughts to Quinn apologizing to Logan about getting a sample some other way. He then stabbed himself with the syringe and pushed the plunger until it was emptied into his leg.
She watched as two bundles of something wrapped in black cloth dropped from the ceiling. They were arms. Soon after two more of those hairless monsters fell from another hole in the ceiling. They came straight for Quinn at an incredibly fast rate and he shocked them both with his gauntlets.
Without thinking, Lana said, "oh, I have boots that can do that!" she then watched Quinn stomp on their heads and shatter them as if it took no effort. She then started to look around her body assessing all the things that made her feel stronger, not knowing everyone was now looking at her. She then looked disappointed. She felt she could get that shock hit in but they may have gotten up before she could stomp their heads well enough. That was if her boots did the same amount of damage as his gauntlets did and she had no clue if that was the case.
She heard Quinn tell the robot he did not want to do the next trial. He took the two pills offered and the door opened. Next thing everyone knew, there was a robot over Quinn's head and he was standing with them. The door had closed behind him, leaving the room empty.
Everyone saw it and was afraid they would get fried the way it burned up the bodies of the wendigo and ducked down but Quinn thought that action was strange and said something about it as he placed the robot on the floor. Quinn was hoping he could use the robot's on one of the doors but the robot shut down as soon as it was in the room.
Layla went off on him for scaring her. Her new hannya self was far more prone to emotions. It was Cia's turn to calm her down.
He then explained he didn't know how many trials there are or if it will result in getting out of there. He was wondering if a key was one of the rewards within the robot. As such, he was hoping this was a shortcut to freedom.
Logan had Quinn lay the robot down and he tried to communicate with it after encouragement from Quinn. It seems his confidence was down after his failure with the systems in the room.
Logan pulled out a toolset and got to work taking it apart.
While Logan was busy Lana decided to ask Quinn some things.
"Quinn, can you use that inspect skill of yours and let me know if the added things I'm wearing would help me against such creatures?"
"Added things? Aren't those normal clothes?"
She smirked as his expression changed. She could tell he used his skill at that time.
"Not bad, I'd say you're still potentially weaker because I don't know your natural strength. Based on what I saw with your spar with Leo, I'd say you may be as fast as them with your bonuses. Now I understand why I can't hear you walking, though. What are these things?" and he pointed to the area on her forearms where her bracers are. They were the same color as her jacket so she was sure it looked odd to his skill.
"Bracers made of beast cloth. They give help without impeding my movement."
"Have you tested them?"
She shook her head.
"Block." Next thing she knew there was a fist heading toward her.