Four days went by since the incident happened in school. In the news, Rock Knuckle who fought with Brutus the Ape was reported to be hospitalized with critical injuries. Meanwhile, the ape in question was locked behind bars.

The good news was Rexar Conglomerate donated both workforce and the finance for the rebuilding of the school.

With the school destroyed, John Lee had the leeway of having a temporary vacation. With all the free time that he had, John spent most of his time in the boxing gym, and in four days his skills in boxing was growing rapidly.

“1-2,” said Ray.

John started with a jab and followed through with a straight punch. The force behind it was enough to make Ray retreated a few steps.

“Wooohoho, you really pack a punch kid,” said Ray smiling from ear to ear.

Then the bell rang.

TING.

“Time’s up, go take a break. We’ll continue later,” said Ray.

John nodded and got out of the ring. He sat at a bench and guzzled down some water. His eyes on the other hand were staring at his character window.

These last four days really taught him something new about Sistema.

John Lee

Level : 2

HP : 80

MP : Lock

Strength : 8

Agility : 5(+1)

Vitality : 5(+1)

Dexterity : 6

Spirit : 1

Intelligence : 7

Points : 0

Skills : Math Lv10, Science Lv8, Spanish Lv2, Cheap Shot Lv1, Boxing Lv8

He came to noticed that all his previous learned boxing skills had all been combined into a skill called boxing. It happened after he obtained Boxing Steps, a movement skill on the second day. He was still figuring it out why it combined but one thing he noticed all of those skills he obtained before didn’t require any use of MP.

Is that the reason why it combined? A passive skill?

Boxing Lv8

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. A boxing stance which allows fluid and precise movement of the user. Jab, Straight, Hook, Uppercut, Boxing Step, Duck & Weave

l Increase boxing based offense by 16%

l Increase stun effect probability by 4%

l Increase movement speed by 4%

l Increase dodge probability by 4%

The skill description didn’t look bad considering it didn’t require any mp for usage. That 16% increased in offense was enough to make John satisfied. Even more so when he noticed the additional status points in agility and vitality during his four days of practice. Enough to tell him that practice could also increase his attributes.

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“Kid, I’m sorry but I’ve got to end the practice. There’s an emergency,” said Ray.

“No, it’s fine,” said John.

After packing up his stuff, John went back home. He walked under the dark curtain as the moon hung on the sky. It was nine in the evening and like usual, he jogged through a bunch of stores closing up. He didn’t use his earphones this time since his phone died.

So he had to put up with all the noises coming from the street. But out of sudden, he heard something.

“Help!” a cry for help.

He stopped on his track as he turned his head to an alleyway. It was dark with no lights on and then something came up.

Quest

A Help in Need

A scream for help coming from the depth of the dark alleyway. Who knows what’s in there? But are you going to abandon the poor victim in need of help?

Difficulty: Amateur

Objective: Save the one who cried for help

Reward: EXP, ???

Amateur in difficulty? So is it doable or what?

John couldn’t gauge the difficulty of the quest. Just because it was amateur in difficulty didn’t mean he could easily do it. In a way he asked himself, am I an amateur?

No, I’m a newbie. But…

The thought of gaining experience was stringing him to accept the quest. Gritting his teeth he accepted.

Fine, I accept. Let’s just do this.

John rushed into the alleyway. It was dark and he stumbled a few times since he could barely see. But as he reached the back of the buildings, he noticed a few lights.

A few buildings had their back door lights on which at least gave him visibility.

But as he turned his head towards the sound of the constant scream, his eyes turned wide.

Kidnapping?

He saw a woman struggling within the tight grasp of a bulky tall man. Her action was futile as she was then thrown into the back of the van. John took a quick glimpse at it and his eyes shook.

There are more.

He didn’t know if he saw it correctly but he swore he saw more women inside the van.

“Hey!” a shout woke John from his daze. One of the kidnappers saw him standing there underneath a pink neon light.

“Saw something?!” shouted the kidnapper from afar as he walked slowly towards John.

Shit, what should I do? This is definitely not an amateur type of difficulty.

“Go and help him,” said the bulky man to another one of the kidnappers. The bulky man signaled the rest of them as they got back inside the van.

The van left the two kidnappers behind much to the confusion of one of them.

“Why did they leave us?” said one of the kidnappers.

“Boris said no witnesses, he told me we should meet up at the designated spot,” said the other kidnapper.

“Great, it’s been a while since I blow off some steam,” said the other kidnapper grinning while staring at the motionless John.

Ah, great. I’m up against these two but can I handle it? Or should I just run?

Side Quest

A Help in Need: Two Thugs

Two of the kidnappers can’t wait to let out their pent up stress and anger to the oblivious and naive looking teenager. Don’t be a wuss and kick these kidnappers asses

Difficulty: Novice

Objective: Defeat the two kidnappers

Reward: EXP

Shit…

John’s eyes couldn’t glance away from the EXP and seeing the difficulty lowered down a bit made him a bit confident.

Fuck it, I’m already doing this might as well follow it through.

John raised up his guard. He focused himself preparing for what was about to come.

“Look at this chump, he thinks he could win against us,” said one of the kidnappers. Both of them were amused as they started laughing.

Soon, they stood just six feet away from John. They were grinning and chuckling seeing a pompous teenager with a boxing stance.

One of them reached out to his back searching for something but then the grin on his face vanished.

“Shit, I left my gun on the van,” said one of them.

Gun?!

John was alarmed, hearing the word gun made him thought twice over the situation.

“Idiot,” said the other guy and as he was about to search for his gun, John made his move.

John took a gamble, he dashed right in front of the kidnapper who was searching for the gun and jab right in between his legs.

One jab and the kidnapper bent forward in pain. A reflex just for men. The other kidnapper too responded well as he clutched his nuts while wincing, a mental-link reflex perhaps?

But John didn’t stop as he slammed a hook right at the bent kidnapper. One punch and he went down to the ground.

“Fucking kid,” the other kidnapper took out his pocket knife as he charged at John.

John dodged and sidestepped the kidnapper before he delivered a counter right on the kidnapper’s face. One counter and it was enough to down him to the ground.

“Fuck!” shouted the other kidnapper who was jabbed on the nuts. He was about to get up but John didn’t wait.

He punched right at the back of the kidnapper’s head and this time, the kidnapper fainted. John kicked the down kidnapper a few times, just to make sure.

“I’m gonna kill you,” but the other kidnapper stood up while grabbing his aching head. He felt woozy just standing there.

The kidnapper thought he was pointing his knife at John but then noticed his empty hand. “Shit, where’s my knife.”

Looking down he noticed something stuck on his shirt.

“Fuckkk,” said the kidnapper. The knife was stabbing his flank as it happened by accident during his fall from that beautiful counter from John.

While the kidnapper was anxious about his current state, John came at him and punched the hell out of him right in the head.

The kidnapper slumped and fainted while bleeding from his own knife.

John on the other hand was staring at these two as his chest was heaving like mad. His breath was rapid as the adrenaline was still kicking. Despite him having a thirty-year-old soul, he still never had an encounter like this before. What surprised him more was that he beat these two thugs effortlessly, without incurring any injury.

While he was trying to calm himself down, he heard something from the back and a window to back it up.

Incoming attack.

He turned and backpedaled but the attack was fast. The edge of a blunt weapon struck John slightly at the chest. He felt a bit of pain but him retreating reduced quite a lot of damage.

“You’re good,” said a voice.

John glared at a silhouette blending with the darkness.

“Who are you?” John asked.

A person stepped into the scant light. The full cover mask with a distinct pattern was enough to tell John of who this person was.

“Tremble in fear petty criminal, it is I, Night Batter.”