Blood Queen Reborn

Chapter 156: What Do We Do?

The moment Vorden made the comment as to why he couldn’t copy Fex’s ability, they were initially confused alongside him. As far as they were aware, Vorden was able to copy any ability he came into contact with.

’Why can’t he copy his ability? The only difference between him and Quinn is that he’s a—’ as soon as Erin thought that, it was as if a bomb went off in her head.

{Quinn} Do you have any idea why this is the case?

"Hmm, honestly, I believe it’s based on how his ability works," the system began explaining, "He must only be able to copy human MC. What you and Fex have are vampire mutated cells, as your body structures are completely different."

With this in mind, they had to come up with a reasonable lie. Now.

"Fex doesn’t have an ability," Quinn quickly said.

Fex raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean, I—"

Before he could continue, he saw Erin glare at him behind Vorden’s back. She slowly shook her head, staring deep within his soul, and Fex got the message.

"I... I..." Fex gulped, then awkwardly laughed, "I was just... It was just a prank, haha."

"... Wasn’t very funny," Layla commented.

"Shut up! I’m very funny!" Fex shot back.

Then Erin pointed at his watch, "Vorden look, it only says a level 1. If he had an ability, it would be 1.1."

Vorden saw that was indeed the case, however, there was something else about this brief interaction. When copying an ability, there was a faint, distinct feeling that he would get, and when he tried copying someone without an ability, there was nothing.

However, when he touched Fex, there was that same distinct feeling, only, there was no new ability in his arsenal.

"This is bullshit, why can’t we copy his ability?" Raten scoffed, "We get out of one problem and find another."

"What do you mean?" Vorden replied.

He rolled his eyes, "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Remember our great grandfather’s journal, idiot?"

Immediately, Vorden realized what he was talking about.

There was a book that their great grandfather had written detailing all of the ability users in the past as they weren’t as widespread as they were now. Original families were recorded, who they were, and where to find them.

The important detail was that it briefly mentioned the existence of an ability user who’s ability couldn’t be copied.

’Is this someone who’s a descendant of that person?’ Vorden questioned.

Outwardly, Vorden continued on, "Well, I’m sure that’s fine, what about everyone else here?"

Erin and Layla quickly glanced at each other.

"Well, you won’t need to touch me, cause I’ll just tell you I have telekinesis," Layla replied with a cool face.

"... And my ability isn’t working right now," Erin said.

Vorden almost did a double take, "How? Were you affected by some sort of ability?"

"Um, yeah. I took some sort of drug that affected my ability," Erin lied.

"Really? That’s the first time I’m hearing about this," he raised an eyebrow.

"It’s an experimental drug," Quinn added, trying to help build credibility.

Vorden hummed, not quite fully satisfied with their answers.

"Anyways, we only have 2 days left until the expedition, right?" Layla said, "How about we get some rest today, and meet up tomorrow."

Everyone nodded, and began walking off, except for Vorden, who thought the group was definitely hiding something.

—

They all reunited away from the assembly hall in the library, and away from Vorden’s prying ears. Using a silencing orb, they all sat together at a round table, with lots to discuss, and worries about the orange portal expedition.

"We can’t let him copy any of our abilities, aside from Quinn," Erin started, "I don’t know all the details to how his ability works, but he can’t seem to copy vampire MC."

Fex snapped his fingers, "Ohhh, like the watches."

"Out of all of the people to join our team, it’s someone who could detect something is different about you guys," Quinn chimed in, "This might be a problem."

"Right, but that does lead to the next question. How are we going to hide our secret on the outing?" Layla brought up, "I can fake my ability using my bow, but if he tries to touch me, he’s going to know something is wrong, and that’s not even getting into you two."

She pointed at both Fex and Erin, which made Fex reply with a mildly offended look.

"Well what am I supposed to do then? Everyone knows me as the handsome masterful string ability user, I can’t just stop randomly using it on this expedition."

They all sat in silence, trying to figure out the next set of lies to string together. It seemed that no matter what, they couldn’t escape one web of lies without falling into another.

That was when Quinn got an idea.

He turned towards Fex, "You know, it’s good you’re a level 1 actually. We could visit Logan really quick, and make your watch say 2. Then we claim you learned an ability over the weekend."

Fex placed a hand on his chin, and his mouth slowly curled into a smile, "Hmm... Yeah... Yeah, that can work."

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would have to do for now.

Then, Erin stared intensely at Quinn, "You are going to need to spend a lot of time with him."

Internally, Quinn was both confused, and a little upset. He didn’t like the idea of being commanded by Erin.

"... And why is that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You are the only one who’s ability he could copy. Spend enough time with him, and he won’t even think about touching any one of us when the day comes," Erin directed.

Layla lightly blushed, and she coughed into her hand, "Um, you should watch your phrasing, Erin."

Quinn leaned back, mulling it over. Socializing wasn’t his strong suit, and he wasn’t even sure if spending a lot of time around Vorden would guarantee that this plan would work. To say it was a shot in the dark wasn’t ill fitting.

Still, with the fact that the orange portal expedition was meant to be a multi-class based trip also meant that he would have access to a large assortment of abilities. If Quinn introduced Vorden to other ability users in their school, perhaps one with even stronger powers, he might not even want to use their abilities.

’Alright, I think I could make this work,’ Quinn thought, ’We just need to last long enough for one expedition.’