A person stepping outside the house in the early of dawn would inevitably be cautious of their movement. Well, they might end up accidentally waking their family members, after all.
That was Hal Rodgraim silently opening the door to his home so that his sister wouldn't wake up from her sleep as he was on his way out to perform the daily quest.
But, then...
"Going somewhere?"
"Eh?"
"I said, are you going somewhere?"
"Ah, actually you see, I was just on my way out to get some groceries."
Hal said with a wry smile and sheepishly scratched his head.
"You sure?"
She said as her eyes formed into slits.
"Yh."
"I promise I won't be late."
Bethany's eyes suddenly turned into circles as she made a puppy face.
"Well then, could you get me a Maves Chocolate bar?"
Hal displayed a contemplating look
"Please!"
She said as her eyes became more round. and seemed to get larger.
"Ok, ok, I will."
"Thanks!"
Hal smiled as he walked to his sister and ruffled her hair; how could he deny her, her request, after giving him such a cute look?
"Hey, stop that, I'm a big girl now."
She said as she shoved his hands away.
"Huh, is that so now?"
"Yeah, I'm nearly 16, so I'm a big girl."
"You think?"
"I know."
"Okay then, would you make me bacon and cheese, when I'm back, big girl?"
"K, no biggie."
She said with an expression that said 'easy peasy'.
"Ok, I'll be back."
Hal said as he opened the door and left.
As soon as he got into the elevator, Hal opened the systems mailbox.
[Daily quest: Preparations to become stronger.] (Incomplete)
Running, 10 Km: Incomplete (0/10)
Sit-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)
Press-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)
Squat, 100 times: Complete (100/100)
The 'running' part of the daily quest. This was the main reason he had left the house.
He needed to complete the daily quest to gain his points.
As Hal got out of the apartment building and into the street, he started jogging.
Few minutes later.
Ring!
Hal could be seen coming out of a grocery store with two polythenes in his hands.
As he walked down the street, with his hoodie pulled over his head, he caught sight of a girl being bullied by two burly men in an alley through the corners of his eyes.
It was bad to see such a thing happening in this day and age.
Should he get involved? No, he should continue going, he had a sister waiting for him at home, but that would not be too good now, would it?
Not when the lady being bullied was probably around the same age as his little sister.
With that thought in mind, Hal decided to intervene in the situation.
He tightened his hoodie and walked into the alleyway.
The sounds of a female and two male voices could be heard coming down the alley.
"Please, stop it, I'm begging you."
"Eh, eh. You should just behave yourself and cooperate with us, eh? This won't take long."
The first man said.
The other one reached out for the lady's arms, but she jerked it away and spun on her heels to run.
The men quickly ran after her and caught her.
"I told you to cooperate with us, but you chose to be stubborn, eh?"
"Now you gonna pay for that."
One of the men reached out and slapped her cheeks.
"Ah!"
She screamed as she stumbled, the other man caught her and held her still.
"You wanna prove stubborn, huh? You stupid bi*ch!"
As he was about to slap her again, a voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
"Let her go."
"Huh?"
"Trust me, you don't want me repeating myself."
"Ahh, ah, ah!"
The men bursted out into laughter.
"Who the f**k do you think you are? Frigging Bruce Wayne?"
"You better get lost before I beat your sorry ass."
Both men turned back to face the girl and ignored the person who had tried to stop them.
Of course, this person was no other than Hal.
"Well, you can't say I didn't warn you."
Fwoosh!!
The sound of the air splitting was heard, and the man who was holding the lady could be seen in mid-air as Hal gave him an uppercut that sent him flying with a few broken teeth.
The man made a loud crashing noise as he landed on the floor and fainted.
The other man seeing this, got nervous and tried attacking Hal while he was not paying attention.
Or so he thought.
He swung his fist at Hal, but he easily dodged it by bending under the fist; he raked the man and, as he was falling, caught him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him into the ground.
That was all it took to make him stay down.
"Ok then, I guess my work here is done."
Hal turned around to leave but heard a voice call out to him.
"Ee...excuse me, what is your name?"
Hal stopped in his tracks but didn't say anything.
When the lady saw that he wasn't saying anything, she called out again, but this time it was for a different course.
"Th...Tha...Thank you."
Hal didn't say anything, but simply nodded his head in response and walked out of the alley.
Well, he didn't help her for the appreciation or praise or anything of the sort; no, he had only helped her due to the fact that the lady was also a high school student like his little sister and also for personal reasons.
He couldn't just have passed by without rendering any help when he could.
Now, it wasn't that he was a good Samaritan or anything of the sort; if anything, he would say he would always put himself first before anyone else, apart from his sister, that is.
He had learned long in life that being overly friendly or kind, always ended one in danger; therefore, he had made a policy of 'self before others.'
And he intended to keep it that way.
*****
Hal had gotten home about an hour ago and had eating the food prepared for him by his sister.
His sister wasn't at home now; she had gone to visit at her friend's place.
They were in the holidays.
Hal could be seen on his laptop surfing the internet.
He was on the MHO's official platform, where there were the latest updates related to gates; he was searching for news of any low-ranked gates around his vicinity.
Now, it wasn't that he wasn't confident in entering a high-rank gate; it was just that people would get suspicious if the Hunter, who was famed for being known as Humanity's weakest weapon, participated in a raid dealing with a B-rank gate.
And also for the fact that he had no prior experience in dealing with gates at B-ranks and above.
He only participated in low-ranked raids, and the amount of time he participated in a C-rank raid could be counted using the fingers of just one of his hands.
As he continued scrolling through the platform, he saw an Ad that read: Dand E- rank Hunters needed to participate in a C-rank gate raid. Urgent!! Hunters who can come now! Would be paid a sum of $2000.
"30 seconds ago."
Woah...it was posted 30 seconds ago, which means the raid would soon be taking place.
Hal looked around for a bit and found what he was looking for. A means of contact, a number he could use to contact the individual.
Hal picked up his phone and dialed the number, the person on the other side didn't waste time picking up, it seemed like, as it had said in the ad, it was urgent!
"Umm...hello, this is Hunter Hal Rodgraim."
"I got your number from the ad that was posted a few minutes ago on the portal."
"Yes, I'm interested in participating in the raid."
"Am E-rank."
"Yes."
"$2000? Without any sharing of loot gained?"
"Ok, that's fine with me."
"Raddish and Spunk Avenue? Okay, I'll be there in 15 minutes."
"Yeah, thanks."
Hal hung up the phone and held it to his chest.
"$2000 friggin dollars."
All for a C-rank gate? Yeah, he didn't get to have any loot gained from the raid but he reckon $2000 should very well cover that.
"I mean it's not all day one gets such opportunity."
So he was quite satisfied with the pay, besides he would be gaining enough money to last his and his sister's expenses for this whole month.
So he wasn't going to miss this opportunity for anything.
Hal went to take a bath and got himself prepared, it took him just 8 minutes to do that.
He put on his Hunter suit and joyfully ran all the way to the given location.
[Skill Sprint has been activated!]