Ch 55:- Secret of Truedream

Inside the girls' room, Layla was having trouble sleeping. There were three days before Truedream would arrive on campus, which meant she had only three days to figure out how to tell the others what was going to happen to Peter without revealing her true identity.

Meanwhile, Rayne could be seen standing atop a pile of beast corpses, all killed in a gruesome way by the serrated edge of his blade. It caused quite a bit of damage to the beasts, allowing Rayne to shower in their blood. After returning to his room and taking a shower, a serene expression could be seen on his face, which was different from his previously frustrated and angry expression. He fell asleep again, not wanting to do any work at the moment, and slept peacefully.

The next day, the morning sun had finally risen. A few people around the school had struggled to sleep through the night, and Layla was one of them. Throughout the whole night, she had been pondering how to inform the others. She had already made up her mind that she needed to warn them, but couldn't figure out how.

She didn't want to imagine what would happen when Truedream found out that Peter had no ability that could be taken. From what the boys and Pure had told her, Layla had accurately deduced the specifics of Duke's plan.

Every term, Truedream would visit a different military base, but it turned out that he visited one particular base more often than the others: military base two. This was the reason why Layla had been sent to this place.

Something strange was going on with military base two. They hadn't been able to figure out what yet because so far, every agent they sent had disappeared. Thus, they decided to do things differently this time, so instead of sending a grown-up, they decided to send an agent who was at the age of the draft in as a student.

The reason for Truedream's visit was to acquire different abilities from students. Every time Truedream used his ability, it would increase his ability level. His skill bypassed almost all the information that they had about mutant cells.

After taking someone's ability away, he could then implant the ability into a new person. Their body would automatically get the same ability level as the one that was taken. Nevertheless, they would still need to take the time to get familiar with the ability and learn all the skills.

This was why they were offering Peter a lot of ability books, and it also explained why they were hurrying him to get his ability to level four. There were always certain criteria when it came to choosing which students to use for this. The first and most important criterion was that they should never hail from an original family.

Although Truedream's family was one of the big four, usually, other originals were also part of the big four, or under the banner of one. So this criterion was added to avoid a war between the big four.

They needed students who wouldn't stand out, so that people wouldn't really notice, or care if they were to go missing. As such, another one of the criteria was that the student had to come from a poor family with no backing or support.

Both Rayne and Quinn were still safe because the school believed that they had no ability at present, but both Layla and Peter's abilities were documented, and both of them fulfilled the criteria. It was different for them, there was a possibility that along with Peter, Layla was also a target.

Layla had entered the school using false documents. Her family wasn't prominent, but she didn't mind losing her ability. She had only obtained it for the mission in the first place. The only thing she didn't want was to end up like Peter and be the military's lap dog. She needed an outside position where she could observe everything happening without getting involved.

With all things said, she didn't have to warn them about what could happen, but Layla wanted to. The question left was how she should go about explaining what she had discovered.

The morning combat classes had started, and Layla had wanted to team up with Quinn, hoping she would get a hint on what they were planning with Peter. Unfortunately, before she could even reach Quinn, he had already gone off to Fex. Although the two of them didn't talk much, she could see that Quinn was enjoying himself while practicing with Fex. Perhaps it was because they were of the same race or had something else in common. She could tell a real friendship was beginning to develop. 'I hope I will have something like that. It all seems so real instead of this fakeness,' Layla thought as she looked at her own disposition. At that moment, her eyes fell on Rayne, who was reading something in the corner of the class. It was a benefit for him as he already knew a fighting style superior to that of the military, so he didn't need to practice, and most of the moves were already included in his fighting style. As she looked closer at what he was reading, she read something like "Icha Icha Vol: 1." Layla murmured. It was a reimagined version written by one of the fans of Naruto in this world.

"What are you daydreaming about?!" Erin shouted. "I can't believe we have to continue practicing these stupid leg techniques. This is the beast weapons class, not the martial arts class. And Leo said he wouldn't move on until he was satisfied with the performance of every single one of us," she complained, with a slight look of frustration on her face.

The two girls continued to train together using the leg techniques, but a slip in Layla's concentration caused her to drop her guard. She wasn't able to lift her knee in time, like how she usually would during practice, and instead, Layla took a full-blown kick from Erin to her side.

"Ouch!" Layla said as she dropped to the floor, gripping her side.

"What's wrong? We've practiced that kick so many times, I was sure you would be able to block something like that?" Erin said as she walked over and offered her hand to her fallen comrade.

Layla lifted her hand to grab Erin's, but the pain on her side hurt even more. Furthermore, she noticed a stinging pain every time she breathed. "What the hell? I knew your sword skills were monstrous, but where did you get such strength in your kicks? I think you broke one of my ribs."

"Would you stop complaining?" Erin said as she knelt down and placed her hand on her friend's side. She then activated her ice ability ever so slightly, causing the muscles around that area to become numb from the cold and taking away the pain.

"Can someone call the guard and take her to the doctor's office?" Leo said.

Erin then lifted Layla up from the ground, allowing her to use her shoulder for support. "Don't worry, I will take her. Besides, she needs to walk a little bit on her own. It will only make her stronger," Erin said.

The two girls then started to leave the room together. As they walked, Layla couldn't help but feel useless and pathetic. Other than a blood bank for Quinn, what use did Layla really have? She hadn't even been helpful in the fight with the Dalki. If it wasn't for Erin, the two of them would have been dead back then.

And Vorden, although a bit messed up in the head, was very powerful. Let's not forget about Rayne, who seems to be an unknown variable. He is not only good in martial arts but is actually much stronger than Quinn. The only one who was even more worthless than her was Peter, and that wasn't much of an achievement. But now he was also useful, being an undead and more powerful than a normal human.

"Would you please stop crying? I didn't mean to hit you that hard. You usually block something like that," Erin said in an attempt to comfort Layla. Layla didn't even notice, since her thoughts were so muddled that tears were now slowly descending from her eyes. She wiped them away and simply put on a brave smile.

"Oh, it's not that. I was just thinking about how useless I am to the team whenever we're in a fight," Layla said.

"Well, you're not wrong about that," Erin replied, not realizing how harsh she sounded. Although Erin was right, it still hurt Layla to hear it straight from her mouth.

"But you help in other ways, like... like, umm, right? If it wasn't for you waking me up from my stupor, I could have died then. I don't know, but you are not useless. Always remember, no matter how weak you are, your value doesn't decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth," Erin said. Layla laughed.

"Erin, this is kind of a strange question to ask but, are we friends?"

"Well, I don't carry everyone I hurt out of the room." Although Erin didn't say it, Layla knew her well enough to know what she was like by now.

Back at the training hall, the lesson had just finished, and both Quinn and Fex noticed that Rayne was still in the class reading something. As they approached him, Fex couldn't help but peek over Rayne's shoulder to see what he was reading. However, as soon as he read a few lines, his face became beet red, and he immediately averted his eyes before walking away.

At that moment, Quinn asked, "Yo, brother, would you like to hang out with us?"

"Not needed. I have something important to talk with Sir," Rayne said.

After they left the room, Rayne closed his book and approached Leo. "Sir, I must admit, when you first spoke about Qi, I was quite skeptical. But through my own research and self-study, I have come to realize that it is indeed a real phenomenon. I was wondering if you could enlighten me with your knowledge about it?" Rayne asked politely.

Leo, who was initially taken aback by Rayne's formal behavior, maintained his composure before answering, "Sure, just let me know what specific problem you are facing. From what I have observed, you are able to move your Qi, albeit in a slightly crude manner. I would suggest some exercises to improve your Qi control."

Rayne listened carefully to Leo's advice and knew what to do next as he was about to leave when he remembered one more question. "Excuse me, sir, but is there a way to increase one's Qi reserve?" he asked.

Leo paused for a moment before answering, "If you have already hit your limit and can't gather any more Qi, then I would recommend focusing on increasing your stamina and training your body further."

Feeling satisfied with the answer, Rayne thanked Leo and quickly made his way back to his dorm room to begin his Qi control training.

~Next Day~

It was an early morning for the students at Military Base Two, and although it wasn't time for breakfast yet, one student was up and about before any other. "Okay, just got to make sure I have everything," Layla said as she slowly breathed in and out. In her hand, she held a white envelope. A pair of disposable gloves had been worn as well. She had repeated these steps multiple times in her head and had done everything to ensure that the note couldn't be traced back to her.

She felt around the envelope, making sure the nano stick was inside. "Am I sure that I want to do this?" Layla said, speaking to herself. "Everything I'm going to do is against the protocol, and if I get caught, I don't even think my mother can pull me out of this one."

Right now, she stood outside the third floor of the boys' dormitory area, also known as the VIP area for male students. As she took a step forward, she quickly turned and started walking back. After two steps, she stopped again. "I have to... if it wasn't for them... Quinn and everyone would have died back there, and if I don't, who knows what will happen to Quinn." She shook her head violently and then once again headed back to the VIP area.

Once she had entered, she made sure to check the halls and other rooms and areas to see if anyone was out and about. Although it was early morning and most students wouldn't be up by now, she still needed to make sure.

After placing the white envelope on the floor just outside one of the doors, she stepped back towards the exit of the hallway, right by the staircase. "No turning back now." Using her ability, she pushed the envelope underneath the door, and it was now on the other side. After that, she quickly ran down the stairs heading back to her room.

So far, for everyone, it had been a normal day. They had eaten their breakfast as usual and then went to their morning homeroom classes. It was now lunchtime, which was usually just before combat classes. At that moment, while Vorden, Quinn, and Peter were outside, Quinn received a ping on his watch.

*Ding*

"A voice message?" Quinn said.

"First, if you are listening to this message, make sure that no one not worthy of your trust is around you. I'll give you a few seconds to decide and do something about it before I continue," Logan said.

Quinn looked around, and the boys were outside on a bench. Vorden and Peter then huddled around Quinn to hear the message better and also made sure no one came close, and if someone did, then they would quickly stop the message.

"Good," The message said as it continued to play. "I received some interesting information, and it concerns Peter and your little problem. I suggest you gather everyone who knows about what Peter really is and bring them to my room because we are going to need everyone's help to get out of this mess. Oh, and if you could bring me a sandwich from one of the vending machines, that would be good. You don't have to do this, of course, but it will do good for my brainpower and help me think better."

Although the tone of the message didn't sound very urgent, Quinn knew that if Logan was initiating contact with him and was asking to bring everyone into his room, it was a big deal. Logan didn't like people coming into his room in the first place, for he was afraid that people may steal his ideas for his new future inventions, or even destroy whatever he was working on. So, Quinn knew that this was a big deal.

"You heard him, guys. Inform the girls and bring them to Logan's room," Quinn said, looking at Vorden. "Peter, you go and bring Rayne to Logan's room."

"What are you going to do, sir?" Peter asked.

"I need to get that sandwich," Quinn replied.

The group had split up, and Vorden went to get the two girls, while Peter went to Rayne's room. As Peter made his way towards Rayne's room, soon he was in front of it, but before he could knock, Rayne opened the door with deep eye bags and bloodshot eyes. It looked like he had come to the room during lunch break to sleep.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but Sir Quinn has asked for your presence in Logan's room," Peter said.

Rayne closed the door and opened it again while holding a smoothie cup in his hand with a straw to re-energize himself and pay attention to whatever was going to take place.

"Really never thought that practicing Qi control would be so hard without the help of soul force," Rayne thought as he took a sip from his cup relishing the sweet taste.