Flashbacks of what had happened to Leo was going through Quinn’s head right now. After that day, there were a few times where Leo had explained to Quinn about what happened, how inside his body there were two types of auras. The aura known as Qi, the aura that Quinn now knew as life force. This was something every human had, but then there was a second more sinister type of aura inside of him.
That aura was the red aura. As soon as it latched onto Leo, it started to also latch onto his whole body, chasing his very cells inside. It was like a virus that multiplied quickly, trying to take over the body. With his Qi, he was able to slow it down, but that was it. In the end, there was nothing else he could do, and eventually, he ended up becoming a turned.
Quinn didn’t know who this was, but it was clear by everything around him that he was looking after him, and because of him, somebody was going to get hurt or was in the middle of getting turned.
However, Chris was calm, and he looked at his hand for a few seconds then closed his eyes. “This is certainly a nasty little thing, isn’t it?”
Coming out from the surface of his skin, was none other than blood, but when seeing this, or more correctly smelling this, it didn’t have the same sweet fragrance it would when it came out of humans. This was more like vampire blood.
Swinging his arm, he threw the blood out on the floor, and it looked like Chris was completely fine. There was no struggle on his face, no pain from being turned, absolutely nothing.
Quinn checked out his system and used the inspect skill on Chris, but there was nothing out of the ordinary at all.
‘Did this person manage to stop the turning? Was it with his Qi powers, but not even Leo could do something like that? Does it mean this person knows more about Qi than Leo?’ Quinn started to wonder, but now he was put in a tricky situation.
“Relax,” Chris said. “I can tell from the look on your face you didn’t mean for that to happen, I don’t know if you realize, but the energy inside you it’s infectious. I’ve never seen anything like it before. What exactly are you?” While asking the questions, Chris decided to grab one of his makeshift chairs and sit down. He also grabbed what looked like an odd-looking apple and proceeded to eat while throwing one over to Quinn.
It was clear he was utterly calm, and not worried about Quinn in the slightest, even after what had happened.
Placing the apple to his side, Quinn decided to answer back.
“It’s related to my ability; I don’t really understand it,” Quinn replied, playing the fool as he gave a smile.
“I don’t think that’s right?” Chris replied, taking another bite from the apple. “If it were an ability, I wouldn’t have been able to get rid of it with my Qi just now. You’re an interesting one, you know how to use Qi, and then you lie straight to my face. I already know what your ability is.”
“You do?” Quinn said, wondering just how he could have known, although Quinn did become a lot more popular ever since the televised duel. So, there would have been plenty of people that knew his powers now.
“When I found you, there was this strange looking bone guy. I thought he was a beast at first, but then I saw him go back into your body. That is your ability, and you cannot have two abilities, at least not that I know of.” Chris finished eating the apple, including the whole core.
While Quinn didn’t know what to make of the situation, even though Chris was asking all these questions, it seemed to be more out of interest than an integration.
“Look, you don’t have to tell me. Maybe you don’t even know, but the reason I was telling you, is because you saw what I did right? I got it out of my body. There is a good chance that I can do the same for you if you want. Your Qi is strong, but the red aura has already mixed in with it. So, when I was only able to restore part of your Qi, till it got involved, but if you got rid of it, you would probably be quite the talent in Qi.” Chris explained.
Hearing this, Quinn could not hide the expression on his face. ‘He could get rid of the red aura?’ What did he exactly mean by that? If this were true, did it mean it would stop him from becoming a vampire? Did Quinn even want that? More importantly, there could also be a chance for him to turn his friends back to the way they were.
“Have you done it before?” Quinn asked.
Chris shrugged his shoulders.
“No, how could I, this is the first time I’ve even seen anything like this, but I’m pretty confident I could do something.”
Quinn didn’t like the sound of that. The red aura was now a part of Quinn. Getting rid of it, there was a good chance that it could kill him, and Quinn didn’t want to be the test subject for that, nor any of his friends.
The conversation seemed to move on from there, as Chris was now bored of the first subject. Although he looked like a middle-aged man, he acted more like an impatient teenager moving on from subject to subject.
At the moment, Chris was the only one asking the questions. Quinn was not getting a chance to ask his own. Chris had learnt that Quinn had just “fell” through one of the cracks when fighting a certain beast. It was an accident; he didn’t explain that he was on an expedition with the others.
Assuming that this man was down here and had no clue who Quinn was, he could assess that he had to have been down here for a while, at least before the big duel had happened. Only someone living under a rock would not have known who the newest World Leader was.
After hearing everything Quinn had to say, Chris started to think for a bit. Quinn wanted to ask, what happened to him, how did he know about Qi, and even more, but it just didn’t feel like there was ever the right moment.
“I like you, Quinn, but you seem to be on the weak side,” Chris said. “You said you fell just from an Emporer tier creature. Well, believe it or not, but I fell down here because I was fighting a demon tier creature.” Chris said, pointing to himself, and he also had his chest puffed out as if he was proud.
‘Demon tier? I’m sure Logan said there was only one demon tier beast on this planet.’
“That damned diamond looking crab, I was holding on for dear life.” He mumbled in anger. As Quinn thought, he was fighting the same beast, and now he was starting to wonder just who this person was and how were they strong enough to live fighting against a demon tier. Were they on their own? The mystery surrounding Chris was just growing.
“I’ve decided you have talent, and as we are the only two humans here, it would be a shame if you were to die. As I said, I think you and I are going to spend a long time down here. Underneath here, there are more high tier beasts than you can dream of.
“It’s a dangerous place, and I can’t always be protecting you, so you need to get stronger. Now it’s going to be easier for you since you already know the first stage of Qi. A genius like me knows all three stages. It might take some time, but as long as you know the second stage, you should be safe down here, so what do you say, my apprentice?” Chris asked.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t really such a terrible thing, Quinn thought. He wasn’t arrogant enough to think he was better than others to not learn something from them. Especially after seeing how strong a demon tier beast was, he knew he had a long way to go.
Even before this, Quinn was interested in the other forms of Qi after learning about them from Abdul and Lucy. Now he had the perfect chance to learn them. If Chris was willing to teach him without Quinn having to convince him, then why should he complain. This was a perfect chance to have one more skill in his arsenal.
“It’s a deal,” Quinn said as he went for a handshake. Even though Chris knew what was possible from Quinn, he wasn’t worried and shook Quinn’s hand anyway.
At that moment, behind him, Quinn spotted a pair of blades behind Chris. Presumably, they were his weapons. Quinn wasn’t stupid; he knew there were only a few people in the world that knew about Qi, one of them being Pure. The man he was speaking to was most likely a member of Pure, but just who was Chris?
Out of habit, he had used his inspect skill on the weapons, and the information about them was brought up.
[Inspect]
[…]
******
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