Erin had waited in her room, listening very closely to Quinn's breathing. If she got out now then she might wake him up too early. While she was waiting, it had apparently been enough time for her to gain her daily 5 EXP.
[Avoid direct sunlight for 8 hours]
[+ 5 EXP]
[24/400 EXP]
This isn't to say that Erin was doing absolutely nothing in the dorm room. She had been continuing to improve her other shadow skills, including shadow control. Something she noticed while using it earlier was that it had a unique affect on sound, muffling and even outright silencing it when used right. Experimenting a little by putting the shadow on her feet, Erin found that her own footsteps were barely audible.
"Neat trick there," the system spoke only in Erin's mind.
'If you're going to convince me to not go out by myself, then don't even think about it' Erin thought back.
"Not at all. In fact, I think it's a great idea to go alone. Those teammates of yours were only holding you back."
Erin squinted her eyes. With how much Erin and the system had butted heads, she didn't trust how much the system was suddenly agreeing with her. There had to be a catch.
'You're not going to wake Quinn up right as I'm about to leave, are you?'
"Nope!" The system said, pleased with himself, "I'm here to help you learn more about the system, and what better way to do that than to fight beasts and level up."
Erin thought about it. The logic made sense, but there was no guarantee that the system couldn't just go behind her back. As much as Erin could sling threats at it, there was actually nothing she could do to the system itself. It was always there, watching and listening, which made things like trying to have privacy troublesome. Needless to say, Erin didn't like the system for invading her mental space.
"I can tell you don't trust me, so I'll tell you this… Quinn has fallen asleep right now. I know this because I cannot visit his mind. Go on, listen to him, and hear for yourself."
Pressing her ear against the door, she heard a faint snoring sound right where the couches should be at. Not only that, but she could barely hear that his heart beat had slowed down.
"See? I can be useful," the system cheered.
Carefully exiting the bedroom, shadow on her feet, Erin was able to see Quinn had fallen asleep on the couch. His body was sitting, and leaned back on the couch, but was too lax to be awake. There was also a slight bit of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth.
"If only you had unlocked the shadow cloak skill, you could've stolen Fex's ring to guarantee an hour of direct sunlight," the system suggested, "You're pretty close to leveling up shadow equip. Only a few more tries, and it'll be level 2 in no time."
Ignoring the system, Erin grabbed her umbrella, and left the dorm building. She didn't need anything from the supplies the military gave them as they were more so suited for human needs.
Erin opened up the umbrella, and walked into the sunlight. She had used shadow equip to put her chest piece on, covering her arms, and almost ran towards the exit. Erin had to slow down a little as to not break her umbrella.
Right when she was 15ft away from the gate outside, Erin felt a strange tug on her body, slowing her down. It wasn't so strong that she couldn't overcome it, but it made her pause.
'Was that… Telekinesis?' Erin thought, looking around as to who had done it.
There were quite a few buildings and people walking making Erin unable to identify who the culprit was. Not being able to see who it was, Erin was about to carry on when she saw a familiar brunette girl stepped into her view.
"Erin," Layla spoke.
"Layla," Erin returned.
The two stared at each other, not moving. Unlike Quinn before, the tension was not the same, but Layla could tell that something was wrong.
"I'm glad I was able to catch you before you left," Layla spoke, a little tired, "But are you just going to go off without the others?"
Erin didn't do anything for a few moments before turning away from her, and continuing to head to the gate.
"Wait! At least let me join you!" Layla called out, reaching out for Erin.
Layla's hand was about to touch her, when Erin's body turned around.
"And why should I?" Erin replied, stopping for a moment.
"You don't have to do this alone, Erin. You can learn to accept help sometimes, you know?" Layla said, then added, "I may not be able to control you but… Someone needs to make sure you stay safe."
Taking in a deep breath, Erin continued walking, but at a slower pace so that Layla could follow her. She turned her head around to make sure Layla could hear.
"If you can keep up with me then sure, you can come along."
Layla let out a sigh of relief, then followed closely behind her, "I promise I won't slow you down."
—
After the two girls had traveled through the desert for a few hours, Layla was starting to regret not bringing more supplies with her. She only brought a few food pills, and a bottle of water, as well as her own beast gear.
To be honest, Layla really wasn't expecting to do some beast hunting so soon. At first, she had taken a nap at the dorms, but then woke up soon afterwards not being able to sleep. Despite all of that time, Erin had been gone, with no one so much as having seen her for that entire period. With nothing else to do, she had left the dorms in search of her team's leader.
At first, Layla only brought her brand new bow as it made her feel faster while holding it, and knowing Erin's speed, she was going to need every boost she could get. However, it felt strange packing only her bow, and none of the arrows to match, so she packed those too.
After a few hours out in the shelter, looking for Erin, Layla was about to cut her losses when she had seen a familiar face in the distance, about to leave.
That had led to the present, and Layla was feeling a little under geared as a result of it.
Adjusting the starlingshot bow on her back, the silence between the two of them was getting a little… unbearable. With Erin's whole outburst that happened about 14 hours ago, Layla wanted to try talking to Erin about it, but even after traveling for so long, Erin had yet to say a single word.
Letting out a sigh, she decided to speak first.
"So… Where exactly are we headed off to?" Layla asked.
"We're going to the red zone," Erin promptly replied.
"Wh— What!? Just the two of us?" Layla worriedly blurted out.
Erin glanced over at Layla's gear, and began making some mental calculations about her strength.
'She has a new bow since I last saw her, I should inspect it.'
[Inspect]
[Starlingshot bow]
[Intermediate tier]
[+4 agility]
[All arrow shots have a 50% chance of a guaranteed hit regardless of aim]
"You'll be fine. That bow gives you a boost in agility, so if we encounter anything too strong then you should be able to dodge any beast attacks."
"A speed boost? Erin, how did you…?" Layla's voice trailed off, noticing the slip up in information.
The thing about beast gear was that simply making physical contact with it would give you a boost, and there was no way for Erin to have known what her bow does. Layla had only just gotten it within the past 8 hours. At no point of time did Erin hold or touch it.
Erin paused for a moment, realizing that she slipped some information, but continued walking. It was if she was ready to reveal something.
"I was able to tell what it did because… I have a system."