1609 Ranking up

The system had to get its naming sense from somewhere, and it always seemed to be able to know about current situations, adapting to the world around it. Vincent had often talked about how the system had gone beyond what he, Richard and the Green family had intended it to be.

There were a few theories about why this was happening, but no one could be sure. Either way, he had never heard the term 'Dedicated follower' be used by someone until now, which made him more inclined to believe that it wasn't a coincidence at all.

Many vampires were still conversing among themselves, mainly about this Tikker person. It seemed that many of them had an aversion for this person, and Quinn was listening carefully. So far, he had heard that similar to the group he was with, another group of five Red Vampires was coming here.

The two groups were to work together on this special mission to bring them closer together. To the outside and public, the Red vampires appeared as one group, and it seemed whoever this leader or the leaders were, they wanted it to appear this way.

However, the Red Vampires were well aware of what was going on in their group. The divide from within that could tear them apart, which was why they had proceeded to do this.

Seeing that there was a break between their conversation, Quinn stood up and sat down beside Hannah. She seemed the most approachable out of the lot, and finding out she was the leader of this small group, he knew the others would listen to her, and she had the most information in the first place.

"I wanted to ask you a question," Quinn said, being upfront.

"Well, I thought as much. It looked like you wanted to ask something for a while now, so go ahead, feel free. We're stuck together." She smiled.

"It's about what you said earlier about this Tikker person being a dedicated follower. Is he different from you other than being in a higher position and part of the other half? If he is, then what makes the difference?" Quinn asked.

Quinn was a little worried that these might have been strange questions to ask, but before approaching Hannah and the rest, he and Jessica had gone away from the cave, far enough so they couldn't eavesdrop and had asked her all the questions he could about the Red vampires. Claiming he was just checking if anyone had followed them.

It seemed like the rankings or the words they were using weren't general knowledge. So it should have been a safe question for him to ask.

"There are no rankings per se, other than the leaders, Dedicated followers and followers; there aren't any rankings between us," Hannah replied. "However, it's more how closely connected you are to those above. There are some group leaders like us that aren't even led by a follower. Which is why I say that there really isn't something like a ranking difference amongst us."

Hannah then went to lift her dress once more, showing off the mark from before. Having a closer look, it was definitely what Laxmus looked to have had on him and the same marking that appeared on Layla's sword. Ray, his ancestor, had also told him that the marking was around during his time.

"This is just a tattoo of the markings of the Red Vampires; it's not an actual marking. All followers like myself have one. We aren't required to have one, but we have to look for those that are more like-minded and the most committed to our goals.

"Once a person has proven themselves enough, then that person will get a real mark. It's not just a tattoo, but I have seen it - a marking that glows with power, and that is what a dedicated follower is."

When speaking, Hannah had a smile on her face. Although she was a nice woman, Quinn thought that she had somehow already been zapped into some cult.

"And what does the marking do? Is there any reason you strive for it?" Quinn asked.

"I have seen those with markings grow in power as a vampire. Even those that were weak before are now far stronger. It is said that it brings us closer to our hero, Quinn Talen, and the marking allows us to draw energy from him."

Hearing his name when he was directly in front of the person was still strange, but Quinn was sure after hearing Hannah speak. These markings were the work of another celestial. Another thing that made him wonder what was this marking and the one on Layla's sword, were they the same.

'Maybe it has something to do with the levels? The system told me that the higher the celestial level is, the more powers I would unlock. I wonder, what if that's one of the level's powers? To allow it to mark weapons and objects, giving them great power.

'Although overall, the sword wasn't as strong as a demon tier weapon, its special trait of blocking all abilities, and Qi certainly were. I wonder, if I had those powers, what type of effects on a weapon I can put?'

It certainly was interesting for Quinn to increase his ranking. Looking around the room, he naturally turned to Peter. Originally, Quinn wanted to test his own marking on Peter. Before he did anything though, he wanted to explain to Peter what he was trying to do.

But he didn't get any opportunity due to the sudden attack in the hotel. Still, there were other ways to gather Celestial energy.

Standing up and heading over to Minny, Quinn made sure to block her body away from the others and knelt to her eye level.

"Minny, you were scared back then, but Uncle Peter did good protecting you, right?" Quinn asked.

Minny nodded her head and had a big smile on her face. Even if she was upset, she never was for long.

"Good, I want you to stay close to Peter, he will always protect you, and if he's in trouble, do you remember what I told you?" Quinn asked.

"Of course!" Minny smiled again.

"Good, now you remember that mask that I let you have? Is it okay if I borrow it for a little while? I promise I'll give it back."

She didn't hesitate, as shadows formed around her palm and quickly, the mask appeared. Standing up, Quinn patted her head before heading towards the cave entrance. Seeing this, Jessica wanted to follow but soon saw Quinn returning.

"Oh, I thought you were leaving?" Jessica said.

Quinn didn't respond and just walked to the side of the wall and stood there.

...

The real Quinn was running out in the forest, and he could feel it; he could feel the vampires' energy in the distance. He knew that the other Red Vampire group was coming.

'That shadow clone skill has improved and is certainly useful; too bad he can't speak though, but no one should know it's not me, right? It was even able to copy my disguised form of Chucky.' Quinn thought.

At the moment, he was wearing a mask over his face, and it looked slightly different from what the Red Vampires wore, which was why it was perfect. After all, he didn't know what was going to happen today, and that, of course, all depended on the person he was going to meet.

A few moments later, Quinn decreased his pace and soon came to a halt. There were fewer trees in the area, so he thought it would be an excellent place to fight if needed.

"It looks like they have arrived."

Appearing in front of him as if out of thin air were five vampires and in the middle was a bald vampire, with a large red 'T' in the middle of his head.

Quinn's lips curled up as he thought, 'I didn't need the T on your head to know you were Tikker because I can feel it. I can feel the celestial energy coming from you.'

*****

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