The two sets of laughter startled Alexander as he looked back; even the assistant was having a hard time controlling his laughter.

Though he felt a little embarrassed and a bit frustrated, it was just another lesson: no matter how much planning you do, nothing actually goes according to it. At least the serious demeanor of the shopkeeper was gone.

The laughter went on for a few seconds. Afterward, the older man said, “Okay, okay, kids these days. What weird taste. Back in my day, girls found this line of work repulsive, and now they dig it. Ha,” he sighed. “How times have changed.”

He then looked at his young assistant and said, “See, Harry, if I was born in this day and age, I would just clean up. Ha, ha ha, ha, ha.”

“So, boy, what would you want to do? Start from today or tomorrow?” the man asked, still laughing.

“I would like to start from today.”

Fifteen minutes later, Alexander was back on his way home. Things did not actually go as he planned, but it all worked out in the end, which was more than he could have hoped for.

In the taxi, Alexander wordlessly opened his status screen with a mental nudge:

Name: Alexander

Race: Human

Level: 9

Exp: 799/1500

Strength: 27

Perception: ___

Dexterity: ___

Agility: ___

Constitution: 4

Intelligence: ___

Vitality: ___

As usual, it did not go nearly as well as he thought. None of the cows gave him as much exp as the first one he chopped that day. But seeing the cows, he was already prepared for the fact that none of them were that robust to begin with.

The first one gave him hope; the second one continued it, but the third one, well, it completely dashed it.

281 and 301 were the exp he got from the first two cows, respectively. But the last one just gave him 213 exp.

After seeing the first two at the 300 range, he prayed that the last one would be at least 318 to get at least 900, but reality—or rather luck again—reminded him how much the damn thing hated him. He did not quite get it; the last one even looked a bit bigger, hence his hope.

He reached home and started to sleep, as he had already picked up something from the market for dinner to save time. Tomorrow, he had to wake up even earlier. His ancestor made it clear that though he himself did not like it, the proverb was indeed true: the early bird gets the worm. And though Alexander was skeptical at first, he now began to see it, or he just became accustomed to it.

The next day came, and Alexander followed his routine. The seniors were there monitoring him. They became more nonchalant about it than before, as if they did not even care if Alexander knew what they were up to. If he was right, they were either going to find him after he joined after the punishment, or they were going to take action tomorrow, the last day of his punishment.

Alexander had a hunch that it would be the latter. That’s why he joined up with the butcher; if everything went well, he would get the level today and hopefully put up a fight tomorrow. All he wanted was that they did not jump at him today. A wish that was kept, it seemed.

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But the other one was not. Truly, nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. As he reached the butcher shop, instead of the three cows he was expecting, he just saw one. There was no way that this one cow was going to give him enough exp to level up.

And without a level, he really did not feel confident enough for a fight. But there was still hope. He killed the cow, this time with a bit more force escaping from his frustration, which sent the cow’s head flying, but he did manage to stop the knife before it hit the ground. A condition that was sure to damage the floor and spell the end for the knife; by that point, he would have to give reparations.

“Why did you hit it so hard?” the assistant quickly ran over and started rambling. Alexander quickly tuned it out as he looked at his notification.

296 exp was the amount Alexander received.

“Fuck,” Alexander said in frustration.

After some rambling, the assistant started doing his work, which involved first skinning and then cutting the meat into huge chunks. Outside, customers were already waiting. They were very chatty, most likely regulars.

But Alexander did not care; he was looking at his status screen.

Name: Alexander

Race: Human

Level: 9

Exp: 1095/1500

Strength: 27

Perception: ___

Dexterity: ___

Agility: ___

Constitution: 4

Intelligence: ___

Vitality: ___

There it was: just an addition of 296 exp. He did not know why he even did this. It’s not like opening his status screen would show the exp gained as higher or something, though he hoped for it, deep in his subconscious.

No doubt he was frustrated and distraught, but there was still hope.

Alexander sat in a moving taxi, his face almost lifeless and his mind racing. Should he take the risk or not?

Five hours and many of his mom’s calls later, there was nothing. Not a single cow came. According to what he knew, there were three kinds of customers in the shop, or this kind of shop, really.

First, the regular kind, which almost never fluctuates. Then there is the hotel type. Due to constant need for meat in the big hotels, most of the mass-produced meat was reserved for them, so the smaller, not-so-well-known establishments gathered their meat from either themselves or sources like this who actually did not have the money to buy the machine for the work.

Not to mention, for competitive advantage, they had to charge way less for their labor than usual. So it could be said that these shops were just working overtime all the time.

And then there was the third type, which was the favorite for these types of shops. They were the ceremonial orders. Most of the time, it was the normal ones—some people like his father who wanted to eat organic meat, buy the cow, and take it straight to the butcher. Then there were the others that needed meat cut in specific ways. Those are the ones that get charged heavily. So Alexander waited, hoping that by some miracle, another cow would come for slaughter, even praying—a prayer that was not answered.

Coming home, the lifeless face was still there. Despite his mom’s protests, he did not answer and said it was nothing she needed to worry about.

Finishing dinner and all the accompanying things, Alexander lay on his bed. All this time, there was one thing running through his mind: should he or should he not take the risk?

He was plenty strong enough, and it was not as if one level was going to give him a massive advantage. But there was something in the back of his mind protesting, as if something was going to remain incomplete if he did not go through with the level. It was as if he wanted to complete the goal he set for himself, not for anything else, just for himself, just to feel accomplished, not for others but for himself.

There was always the possibility that the seniors might not do something tomorrow or might not do anything at all, but Alexander very much doubted it.

So just before he was out cold, he had decided he was not going to go to the university tomorrow. Instead, he would spend the whole day at the butcher shop. This would extend his punishment by half a day more, but he did not care. He had to get that level, no matter what.

“Took you long enough,” the voice rang out in his mind. Of course, Alexander was not conscious to hear it. “But at least you made the right choice.”

The next day, he went out running as usual but this time a little late. That was because, even though the market was open 24/7, the butcher shop he was working at did not open before 10:00 am. A bunch of lazy people. Alexander scoffed internally, not noticing he was more lazy than them just a few days ago.

His classes started from 9:00 am, so he could attend half of a class before joining the butcher shop, which should earn him at least an attendance. But he decided against it. He just did not want to take a chance.

Alexander did not realize it at first, but the market was not that far from their house, well, relative to the university, of course. But even then, he was drenched in sweat and panting by the time he reached the butcher shop, deep in the market.

No matter what, Alexander wanted to get the level today. And what he saw widened his eyes to the limit. And not in a good way.