Ch 36:- Peter Guilt

After waking up and doing his daily hygiene, Rayne made his way towards the canteen where he had breakfast. Throughout the breakfast, he was unable to spot Peter. After entering the class, he went on and sat beside Peter and didn't utter a word, giving him some space before he would start his interrogation. At that moment, Rayne noticed Layla approaching and then asking, "Hey, Peter, do you know where Vorden and Quinn are today?" But Peter had completely ignored her.

"Hey, Peter..." She said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. All she could feel was Peter's body shaking slightly. "I didn't do anything!" Peter snapped.

"Huh, what?" Layla said, confused. "I was asking if you knew where Quinn and Vorden were. Did they not come back to the dorm room yesterday?"

"Oh, sorry, yeah, they were there when I went back," Peter said with his voice all shaky. "I don't know why they haven't come to class this morning?"

After that, Layla went on to sit in her seat with suspicion in her eyes. "Who asked you?" Rayne asked.

"What are you saying?" Peter said with a trembling voice.

"You and I both know what I am asking about. Or do you want me to say it out loud who asked you to push Quinn into the portal?" Rayne asked, but this time with some authority in his voice.

"What are you talking about? I don't know. Maybe Quinn and Vorden are just late, you know," Peter said, trying to lie.

"Sigh, let me guess. It can't be the second years. They don't have the authority to open the portal room. So, who is it? Is it one of the second-year teachers?" Rayne said casually.

Hearing the mention of teachers, Peter's body tensed. "Ah, so it is the teacher then. Which one is it? Duke-?" Rayne said. At that moment, he noticed that Peter was sweating like crazy.

"So it is Duke. Sigh, I can understand why you did that. But at least, you should have asked me or Vorden, at least if you needed money. We could have provided you with it," Rayne said. At the mention of providing money, Peter broke into tears and started crying while saying, "I am sorry, please forgive me."

"Shh, don't cry now. What happened, happened. There is no reason to cry over spilled milk," Rayne said as he gently patted Peter's back.

Just then, Del had entered the room. He didn't have his usual cheery face on and instead had a bland, serious look. "I'm afraid that I have to inform you all that today's portal outing has been canceled for now."

Upon hearing the news, the students groaned and complained. "What! But I wanted to test out my new beast weapon."

"Yeah, I was hoping to maybe kill a beast as well."

"Quiet down!" Del said loudly. "This isn't permanent, but at the moment, the school staff is busy with another matter. And until they are free, we will be unable to go on the outing."

A single student then raised his hand in the center of the class. As Del looked at the student, he sighed. "Yes."

"What matter are they dealing with?"

"Now, if I could tell you that, I would have told you, wouldn't I?"

Throughout the class, Rayne kept drawing several teleportation spells on scrolls. As the class ended, he noticed that Erin and Layla were talking about something. Soon, both of them turned towards Peter and glared at him like they were going to devour his soul, which caused Peter to get up from his seat and run for it. Rayne couldn't do anything but sigh at their antics.

At that moment, he stood up from his seat and made his way towards Erin and Layla before saying, "Don't chase him. He is in no position to say anything right now. He recently lost both of his best friends, and he couldn't do anything about it. It's really sad. As for if you are wondering where Quinn and Vorden are, they are currently inside a red portal that connects to a planet named Pioletic." Rayne lied smoothly before making his way towards the combat class. There, he submitted a letter saying that he would not be attending the class due to health issues. After that, he sent the same message to Selene, telling her about his absence at work today. Then, he made his way towards his dorm room, where he once again plugged his wristband into the PC so that it showed that he was at school. After that, he stood on top of the scroll that was lying on the ground before activating it. He once again got teleported to planet Pioletic, right at the place where he kept the scroll on the ground. After that, he immediately started scouting before making his way towards the storage building where he was sensing strong vampire aura, other than the other that he was sensing beyond the boundaries of the city.

As Rayne made his way towards the storage building, he decided to experiment with his blood energy. He began channeling energy into the soles of his feet, attempting to imitate the tree-walking technique from an anime. After playing with the intensity of the energy, he began to walk down the wall parallel to the ground. It put a tremendous strain on his core and back muscles, but he managed to walk down safely.

Upon reaching the ground, he sprinted in the direction of the storage building. After arriving, he used an invisibility charm to turn himself invisible and climbed up the wall again, like Spiderman. As the building was designed like a hanger, there was a gap on the upper side from which he was able to enter and see what was inside. At that moment, a system prompt appeared,

[You have successfully learned Tree Climbing Lv01. Tree Climbing is a training method used to gain more skills with energy control. This training involves focusing a fixed amount of energy to the bottom of one's feet, and using that to climb a tree without using one's hands.]

But he ignored it and focused on what was happening inside.

There, he saw Quinn battling an intermediate tier beast with a humanoid body, the bottom half of which resembled that of a scorpion. It had two claws on both its limbs, like the Scorpion King from The Mummy Returns. Rayne observed as Quinn performed a series of footwork before throwing a punch, creating a giant hole in the soft, human part of the beast.

Rayne thought, 'What was that move? It's just like my Nine Echoing Punch, but it doesn't require any energy and all the power is released in one punch. It's a pure martial art skill.' He concluded before he made a breakthrough that would allow his Nine Echoing Punch technique to evolve.

Silently, Rayne continued to watch Quinn's actions. Suddenly, he felt a spike in blood energy coming from Quinn. He decided to follow Quinn silently at a distance. After Quinn exited the storage building, Rayne swept the place for any loot and found a bunch of ability books lying on the floor. After collecting all of them in his inventory, he picked up some scrap metal. He also tried to store the door, but it was too heavy for his inventory to carry, so he abandoned it.

As he followed Quinn, Rayne started to feel uneasy. He sensed a high amount of vampire energy in the distance. Soon, his curiosity won over rationality, and he decided to investigate. Confident that Quinn was safe, Rayne set off in the direction of the vampire aura. He spammed the quickening technique, using his massive blood energy reserve, and soon his body became covered in red mist. His speed increased, and he traveled remarkably fast. After an hour of running, he finally reached his destination. He was shocked to see young vampires hunting gigantic bat-like creatures. Not wanting to disturb them, Rayne went near a portal-like object and carefully observed it. He recorded the coordinates, knowing he might need them in the future.

Rayne explored the area, observing how the vampires used their blood abilities, learning new techniques like making a barrier and spraying blood pellets. He spotted a high-tech door attached to the side of a mountain, and feeling intrigued, he approached it. However, it required a password to open. With the help of his system, he easily gained entry. Inside, he found a crate filled with various items, including blood bags. He salvitated a little upon seeing so much blood in one place, but he quickly shook off the feeling. He picked up a few blood bags before making his way back to where he had left Quinn. Along the way, he killed intermediate-tier beasts with his blade, channeling his blood energy into it to create a powerful blood slash.

Upon reaching the city, he sensed an agitated but healthy energy signature from Quinn. He decided to teleport home, as he had already gathered a substantial amount of resources. He believed that the portal should be where Quinn was, based on the map he had obtained. Upon reaching the rooftop, he used an intermediate-tier crystal to activate the teleport scroll. As he attempted to store his clothes in his inventory, he realized that it was full. He would have to clean it out to make room for any new items.