9 That weird guy
When he arrived there, there was a lot of people on the bus terminal. Some were carrying bags and some were sitting on the bench with their boxes beside them. In this bus terminal, the buses' route were off to remote places and vice -versa. It was very likely that most of those whose here wanted to go back at their hometown as they have a lot of things with them. There were also those who just got back here in the city.
Just then, a bus arrived, many came down and several people wanted to hop in too. While watching the crowd, Pierce saw a mother coming down but was struggling in carrying her things as she also held her child on her left hand. There was something on Pierce that urged him to help that mother, he even ran to that bus unhesitatingly.
"Can I help you ma'am? I can carry that box for you." Pierce said, kind of expectant to have her permission as he really wanted to be of help.
Seeing Pierce's sincere expression, the woman immediately agreed. "Oh, really? Thank you, young man."
With the permission given, Pierce carried the box on his shoulder and held the bag on his left. He even helped that woman to get a taxi. The auntie even extended him an amount of money but he refused it quickly, insisting that he just purely wanted to help.
When there were teenagers coming down the buses, Pierce stayed still. He was pretty hesitant to approach them, especially girls. It was hard for him to interact with girls as he knew that their minds were so complicated. He decided to avoid them.
As for the boys, almost all of them were wearing an 'I can handle myself look' or 'I'm grown up, I don't need help' look. He chose to play safe. In order to avoid being rejected, he settled his mind on only helping aunties, grandpas and grandmas. Uncles were already quite capable so they were removed from the list.
Then, he saw an old man who was trying to carry his things up into the bus. Pierce helped him, putting everything in place for him to feel comfortable of his travel.
The old man offered him a snack to thank him which he then accepted as the old man really did insist it.
"Thank you grandpa." Pierce pressed his lips together and formed a smile.
"That's not even enough for a kind young man like you."
Pierce wanted to scratched his head but remembered the system's advise and ended up forming a smile again.
When he felt the bus moved, he then bid goodbye to the old man. "Grandpa, I have to go."
"En, stay kind young man!"
The old man bid his farewell wearing a warm smile that made Pierce to respond in kind.
He then realized that the corners of his mouth turned up many times today. Another thing was, it was way too different from his smiles before. Today, he was smiling not because he was mocking or deprecating himself but because his heart felt so much warmth.
The day turned out smooth and so meaningful. Pierce helped a couple of aunties, grandmas and grandpas as most of them were very warm and so approachable. Seeing their pleased and thankful faces alone made his day complete. He just knew that it really felt good to help.
Munching a snack while heading home, he suddenly heard the system's voice.
["Well done kid. You didn't disappoint me. Although you limited your scope of 'who to help' but it still turned out good. Actually, that was a nice move of you. At least, you avoided being rejected especially by girls.]
There, it was followed by the system's evil laugh and immediate shift to a serious tone.
[We had a good harvest, a total of 3.9 luck points were collected. If you can maintain this pace, it will only take a few days before you raise all your stats to normal and before my level up."]
It seemed like the system really wanted to speak a lot since it was silent the whole time earlier.
'Old man, I want to raise my intelligence to normal today. Allocate 2 points on it please.'
["Alright. Already done."]
The system added, ["There's some changes in the system. Do you want to see it?"]
'Okay, stats.'
Pierce's brows were knitted. There was no particular changes in his stats except for the luck points allocated on Intelligence but the system already informed him about it. When he looked a little lower, there he saw the change it was hinting about.
Name: Pierce Mendez
Level: 0 (10 Luck Points to level up)
Strength: 3.09
Agility: 3.03
Intelligence: 3.03
Stamina: 2.9
Luck Points: 2.2
Comment: Progressive but still a nobody and stupid with girls.
After seeing that, Pierce smiled wryly.
'You really like mocking me huh.'
["I can here you. Despite raising your intelligence, there's no changes after all, still stupid."]
But actually, inside, Pierce was beaming. His name was changed and the thought that all his Stats went normal felt like an achievement. This really was the taste of change.
The sun was about to set when he arrived at his place.
["Oh, why do this place smell so disgusting than the last time?"]
Pierce frowned. The system was going silly again.
'I don't smell that bad, old man.'
["Hmp, you should go and clean yourself up. You smelled like you didn't take a bath for ages gross."]
Pierce just rolled his eyes and did prepare himself for a bath.
As his room didn't have its own toilet and bath, he had to go to this small building's common toilet and bath.
He was carrying a towel, soap and shampoo, when he went out of his room. Pierce then encountered a girl heading her way to the same direction.
Since there's only 2 toilet and bath per floor, then he would likely encounter someone whenever he goes there. Its nothing new to him.
However, there was something unusual this time. The girl approached him, which very rarely happens as through the years, those people here even avoided him as if he was carrying an infectious disease. They did not want to start a conversation or spend some time with a weirdo like him. As far as what he could remember, the only person who kept on coming to him was the landlord and his only intent was to remind and collect his rent.
Pierce could already fathom why the girl approached him. Since the change in him was pretty noticeable, it might bring changes to his environment, and might also change the way people perceive him.
"Are you a new tenant?" The girl asked while her eyes were glued on Pierce's face for sometime. After taking a good look on his face, her eyes went down. Good thing Pierce had his shirt on as he felt embarrassed by how intense the gaze she was giving him.
Since he learned from the system that every he had to be gentle to women and they must be respected, he still gave the girl a smile. That smile also served as his answer to her question.
Pierce then walked to the bathroom as if nothing happened.
The girl followed suit and she's just a step behind him. Alarmed, he walked at a faster pace. When he was already in front of the bathroom, he immediately opened and locked the door even after knowing that the other bath was occupied.
Ladies should be first but he just didn't like her stares.
After realizing that he did something rude, he said, "I'm sorry that I came in first, but I just smell so bad. I might harm your senses." He sounded a laugh awkwardly.
The girl seemed to be more lively after hearing what he said. Her a little compressed and cheerful tone of voice said it all. "No, not at all. You don't even smell. You even seem to have a good sense of humor." The girl even giggled.
'She's a bit weird.'
["Yes, I absolutely agree kid. I can say that she's on a higher level than you."]
Pierce nodded with the system's comment.
He kept his silence and even put the faucet on max so the water sounded so loud and he had the excuse not to answer her question.
Even if he was silent inside the bathroom and was not responding to the girl's nonsense, she kept on talking as if his comment was not needed and she could talk on her own.
["Kid, seriously this girl is a bit too much. She just saw you once and her reaction was already this crazy. Regretfully, she only has a pinch of luck, I could not even consider her as your concubine. Only a servant position would do. But she didn't seem reliable hence, I wouldn't agree to anything.]
'What concubine? It's illegal. An individual can only have one at once or even for a lifetime.' Pierce answered using his mind, gotten already used to it.
["If that is the case, then I must set a very high standard for your future woman. Aside from having a bountiful amount of luck, she must be gifted, talented, brilliant, and a one of a kind beauty that could topple nations. Only that woman deserve you. But for now, since you are still so weak and unpromising, then surely you don't deserve that kind of woman. You must work hard, right?!"]
"Whatever you say." Pierce could already visualized that girl from its descriptions however his imagination was then instantly broken to pieces as the system ended again with an encouragement that does not sound like one as it was more of mocking him.
The system being a chatterbox was also a good thing, through it he already forgot the noisy girl outside then did his thing peacefully.
When he came out of the bathroom, the girl's face was the first thing he saw, that startled him most.
He cried, "Woah!"
Pierce then quickly apologized. He coughed and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just startled by you."
He added while making himself appear like he was in a hurry, "I'm sorry but I have something to attend to and I must not be late. Bye."
"Okay. See you around then." Then she ended it with a sweet and flirty smile. One could say that it was the best smile she could give.
Pierce only stopped for a moment, for her not to be offended. After that, he went quickly to his room acting as if he was really running out of time.
But before he could close the door, he heard the girl talking to herself.
"Did he came in and out from the weird guy's room? Phew, thank goodness that weird guy already left and handsome tenant replaced him." She sounded happy as she said that.
After slowly closing the door, Pierce sighed. Obviously hurt with her words. Of course, that weird guy and him were one. Though his appearance looked better and became more attractive, he was still that weird guy.
