Chapter 26 - Side Missions

When the man who substituted for Scarlett walked Joren home, he was treated for dinner by Joren as a reward for waiting.

"Wow! This is delicious!"

"Of course, I practiced cooking long ago."

Joren smiled and the day after, the man left him since he reported that Joren can take care of himself and is not as retarded as his test scores said.

"Finally..."

Joren stretched his whole body after waking up.

<I'm finally out... again!>

The fish appeared out of nowhere. The moment it appeared, it meant Joren's sharp glare.

<What?>

"Can I hit you?"

<Obviously not.>

Joren could only sigh.

"I guess I appreciate that you didn't show up after that. But that doesn't mean that I would forgot what you did. Are you stupid? Appearing in my crotch? Is that necessary!?"

<Ugh... hmm... Get ready, you'll be late for school.>

"Tsk!" Joren clicked his tongue.

<Come on, stop being scary, it all turned good, right?>

"Well, it would've been turned better if not for you."

<Don't be like that. Come on, I have a surprise for you. Open up your mission tabs. You'll love them.>

After getting the toasted bread and putting butter on it, Joren opened the mission tabs. He needs strength first and foremost. He is not that dumb to just charge in without confidence of succeeding.

[Mission: Take Virena's virginity.

Time: Five years

Reward: +50 Stamina, +50 Strength, 10 instant level up]

"Pfft!!"

Joren almost choked when he read the mission.

<The second mission is better. Look at it first before you say anything!>

[Mission: Take Ness's virginity.

Time: Fifteen years

Reward: +1000 Stamina, +1000 Strength, 100 instant level up]

Joren was speechless. He turned to the fish with a look of stupor.

"Are you serious?"

<Great, right? You have the power to get the chick's heart. That Ness is a jackpot! She will give you a great boo... w-why are you giving me that look?>

"Are you asking me to take a child's...!?"

<A child? Don't kid yourself, you know that Ness is much older than you and the vampire combined. She's as old as the legends. But still a virgin? Isn't that a jackpot?>

"Shut up!"

Joren clenched his fists in anger but after a moment, he calmed down.

"It's not like I'm obligated to. There's no punishment, right?"

<Yeah, you already know I can't hurt you so there's nothing really pushing you but think about it. Not only will it feel good, it will still give you strength!>

Joren reacted as if he didn't hear anything as he continued to eat when he replied-

"It's not just about her age. She's too innocent for that."

<Are you underestimating the legendary Loch Ness Monster? Do you think everyone will stay immature? You should know that naive people don't always survive in this world.>

"Wait... Loch Ness Monster?"

<Yeah, you should've heard of it before. Known almost all over the world but none had yet to actually find her.>

Joren frowned. What is the deal with this? He doesn't think that there are any records about the Loch Ness Monster having enormous strength, right?

<Also, if you're hesitating because of her appearance, she's not that small! Also, are you going to say that all men who married a petite woman is a pedophile?>

"..."

<Think about it, just one sex and boom, you're strong.>

"Why though? Who even decides these mission?"

<Oh, it's me, the System. Actually, I have the ability to turn you into a Gangsta God straight away! However, of course, you eventually self-collapse because it's not the level that you need to focus on, it's the Thugness. >

Joren began to change into his school uniform while asking-

"What even is this Thugness?"

<If I said it... I just think it's going to misdirect you. It's like saying the success to life is actually just having money. People will start focusing on getting money instead other things that will eventually give you money. But I can tell you one thing though.>

"What?"

<Thugness does not increase linearly nor does it accumulate. If you achieve something that is equivalent to 100 Thugness, you will skyrocket to 100 even if you're just at 10. The only time you will lose it is that if you do something that is equivalent to a negative.>

"Thugness sounds like confidence... once you've succeeded, you will feel like you can do it again and again. Then the negative must be failures. It will slowly reduce your confidence into nothing."

<Close, but it's not just confidence. If it's just confidence, we would have called it Confidence instead of Thugness.>

"Then... does that mean that as long as I increase my Thugness, you're free to give me my deserved strength?"

<If it's that so simple. No, I only act in emergency. If I abuse it, the Gangsta God will know and remove me. There are so many people who have great Thugness from the start, why didn't I choose them and just give them power to have a boost? Think about that.>

"You're talking as if I know why you even chose me in the first place."

Joren said before opening the door.

<It's because, you're scary.>

The fish disappeared as soon as other people entered their sight. Joren was a bit shocked when he saw that there are people here. Not monsters, but humans!

Soon, eyes were turning to him. They were all wearing the same uniform, however, the age varies widely. But one thing is clear, there are no children or elderlies.

"Is that the new guy?"

"The legendary dude who got last place, lower than dumb ghosts?"

"Holy shit, he got a scary look on his face!"

Because of the place looking as if they were at a neighborhood, Joren felt like he was back to his old life!

"But why did I only see them now?"

As expected, when he walked out, many avoided him like plague like before. However, this time, the reason was not only his scary look.

"You'll catch his stupidity if you go near him."

"I wonder how he could walk with zero intelligence?"

"What if the scoring system just made a mistake?... yeah, right. No way that would happen!"

Joren was actually in a worse situation than when he was at his old life. Not only was everyone scared of him, they also felt pity of him. But it was logical. His intelligence is lower that of ghost who can't even communicate. The others must've thought that talking to him was impossible.

He had the urge to shout "I'm not that dumb!"

However, why would he?

That would be embarrassing!

No, not just that. Somehow, it didn't bother. He was no longer than before. What changed in him? Thugness is one for sure. The fish was right, Thugness is not just confidence, it's... Joren could only liken it to one word-

Badass

With no regards for other's thoughts, Joren began to swag his steps.

[Mission Progress: 424/10,000 swag steps]

After going to the elevator thingy, he saw that there are tens of them. He entered one but he didn't kick the door since it was an elevator door, obviously.

Joren then swiped his card and the elevator showed his class. Thankfully, no other students went together with him. Realizing that earlier, he just went for it and didn't wait for anyone to enter.

He returned to the school building and going walking through the ten classrooms, he kicked each one of them open.

Bam* Bam* Bam*...

[Progress: 10/100 doors kicked open.]

[Progress: 789/10,000 swag steps]

Those were his progress after he finally kicked the last door open.

"Mister Joren, what is with that attitude!?"

The unicorn, Teacher Jack came up to him, seeing his actions earlier.

"Huh!?"

But Joren rudely responded.

"..."

Jack dropped his jaw.

"Sorry, Sir Jack, it's my strange habit."

"... habit?"

"Yes, sorry again, if you'll excuse me..."

Joren then walked to the farthest back of the class "Huh!?"-ing every ghost greeting him like he did while coming here. Since ghosts are still too dumb in that school building, none cared about his attitude except for a select few.

Once he sat down, he sat upright and pondered as he finally attained deep enlightenment from the things that he had just done.

'I finally get it... being a gangster is just being obnoxious!'

But then, a mission complete popped up.

[Mission Progress: 138/20 huh!?

Side Mission #3 was completed 6 times.

Accept reward?]

"... yes."

[Reward Accepted]

[Toughness: 61 (-15) -> 67 (-15)]

Joren's face lit up but at the next moment-

[Toughness: 67 (-15) -> 61 (-21)]

His head dropped and banged the desk.

<Don't worry, Joren. Once you've returned to human or just left your lesser undead status, all those minus will become positive and return.>

Hearing this, Joren's eyes widened. Then does that mean, he just needs to continue doing these side missions, and eventually, he will accumulate power?

'Okay, let's see where I can buy cigarettes around here.'

He decided.