High-Status Advantages

Seth stepped out of the hotel. He pressed the menu on his system bracelet, curious about the location of the nearest side mission post. Seth wanted to ensure Mia went there.

What Mia said was true. The location was near the hotel, about 400 meters to the right. Seth sighed softly, stepping onto that route opposite his destination, heading to Chicago to buy a hoverbike.

In the warm morning air, Seth could see survivors gather on the city's main street, some solo, some in groups.

"Are we going to take a side quest today?" asked a female survivor dressed in matching black trousers and a T-shirt.

Seth overheard the conversation as he walked past the woman and her group, numbering seven with a composition of four men and three women.

"If there's an easy side quest, maybe we can take it," replied one of the men. Seth guessed he was the leader of the group.

Not all the people who formed the group were bad. Some were good and had a definite purpose: to end Skywatcher's rule on Earth. For example, their group was a group of rookie survivors.

Seth chose to ignore them and continued to walk alone on the city's main street, heading towards a hexagonal ironwork that seemed to be crowded by many people. Seth could see Mia's figure among the dozens of people gathered.

The girl was neatly lined up to complete her mission. There were three people before her, so it didn't take long for Mia to reach the monitor of the hexagonal post.

"She seems to have a pretty good understanding of how to carry out the mission," Seth said, standing alone near a building that only had a sturdy building wall left.

Seth's distance to the hexagonal post wasn't close, but he could see Mia clearly through his eyes. When Mia finished attaching her bracelet and pressed the quest submission menu, a drawer came out of the hexagonal iron.

Her face turned cheerful with a big smile on her mouth. Mia looked excited to see that her first mission was complete and the mission reward had been credited to her status. Seth was also relieved. At least he no longer had to worry about the girl.

"Alright. My job is done here," Seth said.

Several men walked toward Mia, who had finished her first mission. Three men with tall, skinny bodies surrounded Mia, making her frightened and panicked.

Seth's steps stopped when he saw such an incident. His eyes sharpened and narrowed, trying to analyze what the three men were about to do.

Seth's words rang in Mia's mind about making friends and joining a party. The three mysterious men had approached Mia intending to invite her to their party, especially after they had witnessed Mia's hot body.

"B-But I—"

"You don't have to worry. We'll protect you with our lives," said one of the men, interrupting Mia's words with sweet words to seduce the girl.

Hearing the three men would protect her made the innocent girl soften. Mia thought the three might be able to protect her, especially when she saw that all three had swords strapped to their backs and waists.

One of the men grinned, winking at his colleague unnoticed by Mia. Seth began to feel suspicious about them, especially when the three men invited Mia to talk about it in a small alley away from the city's main street.

"Oh gosh, that girl!" Seth complained.

Inevitably, Seth sneaked up on Mia and the three men. His right hand was already at the back of his trouser pocket, gripping Seth's laser handgun tightly.

"Why did you bring me here?" Mia asked.

"There's one specific requirement you have to fulfill as a new member of our party," one of the men replied, smiling sarcastically.

The small alley they came to was a dead end, with no other way to escape but to return to the entrance. Mia's heart pounded even faster, her face turning white with both hands trembling severely.

"Requirements ... what is it?" asked Mia, stammering.

The three men shamelessly pulled down their pants without answering Mia's question until their lower bodies were completely naked. Mia's eyes widened, stepping back to lean against the wall of the dead-end alley.

"You know what you have to do, right?" asked one of the men, crossing his arms with a satisfied expression plastered on his cunning face.

His two male colleagues laughed loudly, realizing they'd managed to trick the foolish girl for their own satisfaction. Mia shook her head, her tears flowing unstoppably, afraid they would rape her.

"HELP!" cried Mia loudly.

"It's useless, sweetheart. No one will hear—"

DOR!

"I heard it!" said Seth.

Seth pulled the trigger of his handgun, a blue laser streaked rapidly through the group leader's left chest, shocking many people in the place. Mia stared directly at the back of the three men. Surprisingly, Seth came to save her.

"Seth!" called Mia enthusiastically as she wiped away her tears.

"I told you to join the party, not to trust them at once. It takes time to join a party you believe in!" groaned Seth, scolding Mia.

"Who the fuck are you?!" snapped the dead man's colleague, half-naked in her lower body.

Seth aimed his gun at the man who was talking with him. Without hesitation, Seth fired the blue laser again at the man's head, leaving a hole in it and killing him instantly.

"No way. How could you-"

Before he could finish his words, the other man was already lying dead with three laser bullet holes in his body. Now, Mia was completely safe from the threat of those perverts.

Mia rushed through the three corpses to reach Seth. Mia, without a second thought, hugged Seth's body tightly. She buried her tearful face in Seth's chest, never expecting that she would witness such a terrifying incident.

"I'm sorry for bothering you," Mia said, sobbing.

Seth re-holstered his handgun while occasionally sighing, "You're going with me! I'll only leave you when you're ready."

Mia's heart pounding, the girl began to release her body's embrace from Seth with a wide smile painted on her fairly beautiful face, "I won't let you down."

"You better. If you try to betray me, I will do more than those three. Do you understand?" asked Seth.

Mia cleared her throat. Her eyes closed as she nodded several times. For a girl of her age, loyalty was something she could do easily.

Seth was forced to take her because he was worried that something bad could happen to Mia. Even if that happened, Seth would be haunted by guilt.

"Come with me," Seth said.

"What are you going to do?" asked Mia, curious.

"I'll teach you how to take someone's status. Watch carefully!"

***

Three days later.

"We're already in Chicago. Where is the merchant located?" Mia asked.

The two traveled from Calumet to Chicago on foot. There were no significant threats because they only went during the day. Mia was already well dressed, covered up, and not displaying her sexiness.

She wore long black pants, a short-sleeved T-shirt, and an army-themed vest. Her look differed from before, so Mia wasn't the focus of attention from the perverts along the way.

Her level had increased drastically, not as much as Seth's level. However, her level could already be considered equal for people today.

Seth pressed the map icon on his system bracelet. There were 25 merchants and 150 side quest posts clearly displayed. 

Seth's objective wasn't to take the side quests but to go visit one merchant after another, looking for the whereabouts of the hoverbike. 

Seth started his search from a merchant that was located close to Seth and Mia. The two stepped into a city street because, according to the image from the holographic map, the merchant's location was right beside the city's main street.

Finding the merchant's shop wasn't difficult, especially when it was adorned with decorative lights that were a feast for the eyes. A person seemed to be standing before the merchant, either to buy or just to admire the goods sold there.

"Excuse me," Seth greeted, immediately greeted by the shopkeeper, a middle-aged woman.

"Welcome. Is there anything you need?" the woman asked.

Not only did the shopkeeper turn to Seth, but so did the man who had been standing before the merchant. He seemed to narrow his eyes, wondering what the man would do.

"It's useless. You won't be able to buy anything if you haven't reached level 30," the man said, trying to advise Seth.

Seth didn't care. He inserted his system bracelet into the detector machine. The shopkeeper seemed surprised by what Seth was doing as if the man had shopped before.

"Alright. You're allowed to shop," the shopkeeper said, startling the man beside Seth.

"WHAT?! Did he reach level 30?" the man asked, looking incredulous.

"It's more like he's reached level 40," said the shopkeeper, further surprising the mysterious man.

"I need a hoverbike. Do you sell it?" asked Seth.

"Hoverbike? Oh, that bike, huh? I do sell it," the shopkeeper replied, smiling broadly.

"But it costs 10,000gp. How about it?" the shopkeeper asked.

"What?! 10,000gp. Does that price really exist?" asked the mysterious man, still in disbelief at what had happened in that place.

The shopkeeper nodded, showing a pamphlet with a picture of a hoverbike and its price.

"I'll buy it!"