"Why did you take out the mosquito bat if you wanted to help the neighborhood stay clean?" Lily asked with a little annoyance.
She would've never come to join as a volunteer if Roman hadn't insisted.
Yesterday, after awakening, she went to register her name and then headed to her dormitory, where she started meditating.
She couldn't believe that after experiencing deep meditation, the night had turned into morning in just an hour of her time—even though she didn't feel any tiredness from the long session.
Before heading to AIIA, she wanted to maximize her time earning EXP through meditation.
But who would have thought Roman would get injured?
So, waking up in the morning, she called Roman immediately after seeing his message.
Now, with Roman's constant nagging and his messages about justice and becoming an ideal awakened citizen who couldn't let innocents suffer, she finally gave in.
Now, seeing his reaction after spending hours cleaning, it was obvious—this stupid monkey didn't come here to help people. He just wanted to swing his bat while grinning like a TV monster.
Worse, when the group leader pulled out the flamethrower machine, Roman took it to kill mosquito colonies in the drainage while laughing like the third rate villain in a TV show…
While they painstakingly cleaned the drain blockages.
"What's with Roman?" she thought. Tightly securing the mask over her face, she resumed working.
"Thinking about it—Roman's big, black, silky hair, wide as his ears, his hunter-like killer eyes, and thick eyebrows—he did look kind of handsome today."
"What am I thinking?" Lily snapped out of it, almost stopping her work. "He's just a friend. Nothing more." She forced herself to calm down and threw herself aggressively into her task.
. . .
Laughing evilly, Roman cranked his flamethrower to high and started blasting flames aggressively whenever he saw even a small mosquito group.
[Ding! Host killed a mosquito. Gained +0.01 EXP!]
[Talent Activated: 10,000x EXP Multiplier!]
Received +100 EXP!
+100 EXP!
+100 EXP!
…
+100 EXP!
It was given to him to try out by the volunteer group leader, after all.
Wouldn't it be a shame to return such an EXP farming machine?
"Actually, brother, if you pour the gas we bought into the drainage, the mosquitoes could easily die. Why not just do that instead of this aggressive style?" Paul spoke quietly to the newly awakened C-rank student. He had given Roman the flamethrower he cherished.
He gave him the flamethrower he cherished to let him play a little and strengthen their friendship, but it seemed like his precious baby would die if left in the hands of this psycho devil.
Hearing Paul's advice, Roman's brain paused for a moment. Why would he do that? Killing them with gas wouldn't give him any EXP.
But he still took the leader's suggestion into consideration. After all, he didn't come here just to farm EXP—he came to help rebuild society into a better place. For the sake of his image, he put a kind smile on his face
"Well, let's toss out the gas can and throw it far away," Roman said.
Paul did as he was told.
"Fphuke," a tiny bit of flame touched the flying gas can.
BOOM!
[Received +100 EXP!]
...
[+100 EXP!]
"But why shouldn't I earn a little more EXP?" Roman thought.
Paul, seeing the gas can explode, almost lost his soul.
"How could Creator send this devil into the human world?" he thought.
Roman, seeing the flames abruptly touch the gas and blust, was grinning in his heart, This small blust gave him 1k exp highest for today, but he quickly put on a sad face in front of Paul.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do something like this!" he said.
Hearing that, Paul immediately replied, "Flamethrowers are one of the most dangerous weapons. We shouldn't use them so carelessly!"
Saying that, he tried to take the flamethrower back, but Roman didn't want to give it up. After a bit of polite back-and-forth and a few convincing words, Paul finally could take it out of the hand of Roman.
Taking the flamethrower from Roman's hand, Paul began caressing it like a baby animal.
"Is he... weapon-sexual?" Roman thought, thought looking at the weird paul.
Sighing in his heart after losing such an excellent toy, he started to work with Lily
"Finally remembered your friend, huh!"
"What could I do! I didn't even recognize you as a tomboy," Roman said, pointing at her freshly cut hair.
"Still making fun of me, I see. Do you even know we have to work until 3 PM?"
"What! But I'm injured," Roman instantly played the victim card, placing a hand over his heart.
In answer, she forcefully dragged him to work under her watch.
It was exactly 4 in the evening when their work was finally done. Without wasting time, they booked a taxi and headed home.
"How was your day today?" Roman asked teasingly.
"Exhausting, dumbass," she replied, then added, "Though... I did feel good meeting various people. Who knows if I'd ever come to this district otherwise?"
She said it thoughtfully, then added, "Would you like to meet Fatty tomorrow afternoon?"
"I'd try," Roman took a pause before replied.
Fatty was the one predecessor had spent most of his childhood with.
If he met such a close friend from his past, would Fatty figure out something was wrong? He didn't know for sure—but the emotional fluctuations of the old Roman told him one thing clearly: he cared deeply about Fatty's well-being.
Sighing in his heart, he dropped Lily off in front of her dormitory, then flew toward his own house.
Looking at the slow pacing of driver he couldnt help but thought.
"What a weird advancement without AI, he thought. If there were self-driving cars like in his previous life, the journey would be much smoother. But seeing a man with white hair as the driver isn't too bad either"