24 Hero

"Just who is he?" I thought as we left. A lot of weird things had happened simultaneously. Somehow he was able to create an aura that could reduce my stats. Did that mean that he could use abilities too which somehow prompted the system to send me a notification. If vetala was here I could have asked him for help but weirdly enough he wasn't here too. The system seemed to not heed regard to his absence and vetala's intuition was working just fine.

Me and Maya walked out of the restaurant and started to go back home. Or at least my home. I didn't know where she lived.

"So how was it meeting your dad?" she asked me. It was clear she expected me to have some positive response but in truth I didn't even have a response. There had been so less interaction that I had gained the same amount of information about him that I would have gained watching him as a stranger. Nothing. I simply responded with a "good"

As we travelled home I decided to think about my abilities in real life which I seemed to be doing more and more often.

I had assumed that my body was similar to that of a game character meaning I could get a lot stronger than a normal human being. But to do that I needed exp. Which meant I needed quests. So I decided to see whether there were any. I went to the quest tab and surprisingly there were quests. I got excited and skimmed through them but my excitement faded away. The quests that were there weren't anything special.

-Drink 3 litres of water a day(10 exp)

->Exercise(10 exp)

-Gain knowledge(10 exp)

Under exercise there was a huge list of exercises to be done. It was literally something an athlete would do everyday.

"You've got to be kidding me" I said under my breath. "This much and only 10 exp? That's useless" I thought.

But then I saw something that caught my eye.

->Hero Class Quests

- Save people(exp gained based on conditions)

- Take down criminals(exp gained based on conditions)

There were only two but they were obviously always on quests. The exp gained wasn't specified. But it was worth a shot. Better than the useless quests the basic system gave me.

We reached the villa and I got out. "There are chefs when you need them and the maids will look after the house. I'll come and pick you up tomorrow. We'll be seeing the company then." Maya said and she left.

I went inside and entered. "I'm going to sleep. I don't want anyone to disturb me" I said to the maid. She nodded.

It felt wrong giving orders. But I reassured myself saying that they were getting paid after all. But just to be nice I told her she could leave and I could manage by myself.

I went inside and locked my room. I quickly changed my clothes putting on some trainers, a pair of track pants, a t-shirt and a hoodie.

I opened the balcony door of my room and looked down. It was a bit far down and for a normal human, at worst a few broken bones.

I climbed over and hung from the balcony with my fingers. I took a deep breath, and then let go.

I hit the floor with my feet and felt pain go up my legs. Yet it was subtle. I was still able to stand. In front of me was a hp bar. It showed my hp as 15 out of 20.

Just as I thought. I couldn't help but smile at myself. Vetala had said I couldn't do anything without him. "Wish he could see me now" I said to myself. It did make me think about where he was but I decided to focus at the task at hand.

I looked at my phone with the map and started jogging. My hp also started to slowly regenerate. That was good because where I was going I would need it all.

Eventually I reached where I wanted to and pulled up my mask and pulled up my hood. It was pretty cliché but it worked so whatever.

I walked through the slums and a few people on the road gave me odd looks. But nothing too weird. Filth and poverty was everywhere here. This place was a clear example that no matter how far the human race went they could never change their nature. The rich who were greedy would become more rich and the poor would stay poor. The gap between them in this generation was too much however. One second you were in a clean respectable neighbourhood and the next you were here. Crime had gone up so much because the poor were never given jobs due to their background. They could never fight against the cruel oppressive system and they couldn't escape their fate. Even the good ones could go bad out of despair.

I had always thought of changing it. Now with the power to do it I would.

I walked through and in a dark alleyway a group of thugs were harassing a women. She was from a good place from the looks of it. The only mistake she had made was stepping foot here. They would probably take everything she had. Who knew what else they would do?

I didn't wait to see.

As I got closer I could see their levels. The system had predetermined it. Out of the 10 that were there 8 were level 1's and 2 of them were level 2 and 3.

I was level 5. The 8 level 1's wouldn't be too difficult to deal with. My stats, although low were that of a professional athlete. I could handle them.

I stepped forward and yelled. "Hey, get away from her!". I tried to sound deep but it came out shriller than I expected.

The thugs turned around and looked at me. "Well what do we have here? Looks like someone's trying to play hero" the level 3 said.

"Oh the irony" I thought.

4 level 1's came forward. They were all grinning and laughing. "Wait let me take him. This is gonna be so easy" the first one said.

He came forward and went in for a punch. If I was normal it would have hit me but now that I had the system the punch came in slow motion. I moved my head to the side and gave him a punch to the face. He went out cold. I had wanted to play with him for a bit dodging his punches and trolling him but that would tell the rest of them that I was not someone to be taken lightly and they would have ganged up on me. With the level 1's that was okay but I wasn't sure about the other two.

"They don't seem that smart though" I thought.

The other's came one by one and soon all the level 1's had been dealt with. Each of them gave me 100 exp and since I needed 500 to level up I was level 6 by the time it was done.

By now the remaining two were taking me seriously.

They had forgotten about the lady which gave her time to escape. Since I had saved her I gained 500 exp which was a lot. That instantly boosted me to level 7. I was feeling confident about the remaining two. They surrounded me and they both took out knives.

My confidence faltered a bit. Fists were one. Knives? That was another thing. I could die. It made me think. I had saved the lady so I didn't have to fight these people. But before I could come to a decision they made theirs. Level 3 came towards me and tried to stab me with his knife with killing intent.

"These guys want to kill me!" I thought.

The knife was slow but not as slow as before. I had to put in some effort to dodge. Without the system I would be dead meat.

I could always use my weapons or abilities but if someone saw me? It would be hard to explain the weapons and where I got weapons which looked like those. Abilities? Impossible.

Besides these guys didn't seem like it was worth it. "I can handle it" I thought.

I ducked another stab.

"Think!" I told myself.

I analysed his pattern but it was hard to do it while dodging. Stab, slash, slash, stab... got it.

He aimed his second last stab at the shoulder always. So the next time he aimed-

I ducked and moved forward. I was fast. Too fast for him to react. I gave him and uppercut with full force. He fell backward, unconscious.

I breathed in. I was victorious.

I was wrong.

I felt something sharp go in my back.

"What?" I thought before I remembered that there were two people.

I turned back and the level 2 was standing there. Before I could stop him he pulled out the knife. The pain was dull, but I didn't know whether that was because of the system- or because of the adrenaline rush.

I got a few notifications.

- Hp low

- Bleed effect applied. Will lose 1 hp per minute.

My hp was 5.

I raised my hand shakily. The level two was smiling. He had thought he had won.

I aimed at him. "Sonic strike" I said.

He flew back and hit the wall. I didn't know whether he was dead or unconscious. I didn't know whether anyone had saw.

But I didn't care.

I walked forward unsteadily.

5 minutes. It was all I had.

I walked slowly.

I walked out and people were looking at me now. No one helped.

"Why should they? It's none of their business. It was none of mine either helping that lady" I thought. "I'm not a goddamn hero. Why? I should have just stayed at home."

"Just a little more" I thought as I staggered forward.

My hoodie was drenched in blood. I had reached an area where no one was there.

I fell to the ground. I couldn't move.

-Body immobilised due to low hp

"No! I can't die here!" I yelled.

-hp is now at 3 percent.

"Help! Somebody!" I yelled. Tears were streaming down my face.

-hp is now at 2 percent.

"Someone!"

-hp is now at 1 percent.

I was sobbing now. I had no hope. "Why... why me. I'm so dumb. I should have never come here. Vetala, anyone." I groaned.

-hp is now 0

-Consciousness will now fade.

Everything went black.

(Text in ** is story which is NOT from the main characters point of view)

* Inside a tall building Sylas Lancaster was monitoring the vitals of his son Oliver. Instead of heartbeat though it was hp. He didn't express any emotions on his face when he saw it drop to 0. "We should save him" Maya his assistant said.

"No" Sylas said. "He won't die from this. He's my son after all. Besides, he'll be saved soon."

Just like he said, the hp bar went up to 1. Maya looked at amazement.

"How..." she began.

"I know what other's do not" Sylas said. He got up adjusted his tie. "Now I have work to do. He'll be back at the house tomorrow. Act normal. He doesn't know we're tracking him after all" he said.

"Yes sir" Maya responded.

"The game has just begun" Sylas thought as he left*