19 Running out of time!

Even though Quinn had lost 2/3 of his HP, it strangely didn't feel like he was hurt or dying. It was different from when he was out in the sun, instead, it felt like all his senses were on high alert.

"Hey Quinn, are you alright, man?" Vorden asked, seeing Quinn's face.

"Yeah, I just… got to go somewhere," Quinn excused himself as he rushed out of the room, heading down to the canteen.

Everything that had happened so far had been a miscalculation on Quinn's part. Although the system had warned him about his 1 HP loss every hour, he hadn't expected his body to react like that.

In fact, he had only planned to sleep for five hours. That way he would have nearly half a day to come up with a plan how to rid himself of his problem, ideally before morning classes started. Quinn started to calculate how much time he had left. Breakfast was mandatory and lasted from 8 till 9, followed by classes that would last until noon. Their break was merely to get from class to lunch.

In other words, for the next four hours, he was required to be somewhere in the school. Of course, there was always the option of skipping, however, this wasn't a regular school. The army would severely punish him and hunt him down if he behaved like a troublemaker.

However, did that really matter, if he was going to die anyway?

Quinn made his way to the canteen queue to be served some food. He was taking in deep breaths slowly, an action that was supposed to help him get the hang of his heightened senses.

Right now, he was able to hear the conversation from the other side of the room, pots, and pans clanging in the kitchen as if they were next to him. Slowly Quinn was figuring out how to ignore all these sounds, clearing his mind.

Just then, Rylee entered the canteen. Surprisingly, he had no bruises on his body from yesterday's fight. The only possibility was that he had made a full recovery at the medical centre. Nevertheless, he looked like he was in a terrible mood after that experience.

Ironically, as soon as he saw Quinn, he decided to have found the perfect target to take out all his pent-up frustration on. Rylee walked past all the level 1s that were in the queue until he eventually reached the spot where Quinn was standing.

"Hey Pipsqueak, you got a problem if I cut in front of you?" Rylee asked as a clear provocation. However, Quinn was too busy trying to isolate the sounds from his mind to pay attention to him.

"I'm talking to you," Rylee said, this time louder, and looked at Quinn's wristwatch. Seeing the number 1 shine brightly on it brought back bad memories of the night before.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Rylee shouted as he grabbed Quinn by the collar. In that instant, Rylee's face was incredibly close to his. Just like yesterday, he could hear Rylee's heartbeat. He could feel the blood flowing through his arm and muscles lifting his shirt.

Something took over Quinn's body and he immediately hit Rylee's arm away and pounced on him causing the two of them to fall to the ground. Quinn was now on top of Rylee and had both his hands pinned down.

"Get off me you crazy animal!" Rylee screamed but when Rylee tried to overpower Quinn and lift his hands, it was impossible. His ability to harden his skin was useless in this kind of situation.

Then Quinn started to feel something growing in his mouth. Quinn placed his head just a few inches away from Rylee's neck and got ready to bite in.

Just as he opened his mouth though, he felt someone pull him by the back of his collar and chucked him off Rylee towards the people in the queue.

"Don't touch one of my boys," the newcomer said. Dan was a large teenager with a muscular build. His appearance was more like that of a bald adult.

"Dan, thank you so much," Rylee bowed as he stood up from the ground sweating. "You're dead now, boy."

As soon as Dan took one step forward though, Vorden stepped in front of Quinn with Peter.

"Do you really want to cause a problem?" Vorden asked lifting his arm to show the power level on his wristwatch. In reality, Vorden was only bluffing.

Vorden's power very much depended on what ability he copied and right now all he had access to was Peter's level 1 earth ability. If they were to get into a fight here, there was no contest on who would win.

Fortunately, Vorden's plan succeeded, as Dan decided to back down after seeing the number 5, taking Rylee with him. Before Rylee walked off, he mimicked Quinn's action of imitating someone cutting his head off.

"Oh, thank god, I can't believe that worked," Peter sighed, aware of Vorden's secret.

After the canteen incident was over, something became clear to Quinn. The teachers wouldn't step in, no matter what happened. In the canteen, there were many guards standing in each corner of the room but not a single one had done anything to help.

After the group finished eating, it was time for them to go to their morning classes. Quinn was unable to concentrate on anything, all he could do was try to calm himself down while in the middle of class and watch his HP slowly tick away.

It was driving him insane seeing the number go down each hour, making him regret not having bitten into Rylee's neck when he had the chance. By lunchtime, Quinn once again rushed off without Vorden and Peter.

[1/15 HP]

'What the hell is happening to me?' Quinn was worried. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. Each time Quinn's HP went down, it was getting harder and harder to control his own body.

Sooner or later, he thought, he would go crazy. During class, he had multiple visions of tearing the place apart and ripping out the blood from his fellow students' necks to crave his desire.

Without realising where he was walking, Quinn eventually ended up in the library. In the quiet corner of the library down one of the isles was the fiction section.

"Please have something I can use," Quinn prayed as he took out fantasy book after fantasy book about vampires.

In some of the books, vampires were able to live off animal blood. Unfortunately, Quinn's system had clearly stated his need for human blood. Even if that hadn't been the case, it would be next to impossible to find an animal in time.

In other stories, vampires had been made responsible for raiding the hospitals for their supplies. Alas, the one in the city was heavily guarded and he wouldn't reach it in time even if running.

For the first time, Quinn could feel himself getting weaker. He sat on the floor and read one last book and found nothing of use. When he closed the book, he could see Layla standing there opposite him.

"Are you okay?" Layla asked, concerned for Quinn as he was starting to look very pale. Layla bent down so she was at eye level with him and placed her hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

"You're so cold? Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office?" Layla offered.

Quinn hadn't heard a single word she had said. Her neck had been too mesmerizing.

The urge was uncontrollable. Sighing, he pulled Layla by the arm, bringing her close to him.

A weak sorry escaped his lips… as he bit into her neck.