It was 5 in the morning and most people were still snoring on their beds at this very time of the day. However, Pierce was already up.
He started the day early as he didn't want to encounter anyone on the way and he badly wanted to have a nice and peaceful bath. Pierce then went straight to the bus terminal after dressing up, without having a cup of coffee or breakfast at that.
However, there were only few people on the terminal without any new buses arriving of going. It was all empty with little to none crowd of people. Then, he suddenly remembered what day it was. It was a holiday. It was given that only a few buses would hit the road on this day.
Pierce then decided to take a break. He treated himself a cup of coffee while waiting for buses to arrive.
After finishing his cup, he was left with nothing to do.
"Ahh, I lost track of time. It's actually holiday today. That's why there's too few passengers." It was not unusual for him not to care of holidays. Only at this point of his life did holiday matter in him. Things really did changed.
Meanwhile, after staring at the terminal waiting for rare buses to arrive, he saw a huge truck containing goods which stopped just across the terminal.
Moreover, there was only one person unloading those. He was also the very driver of the truck. It urged Pierce to go and help that mister.
"Good morning sir, do you need a hand? I want to help."
The tall yet petite man seemed surprised but it then greeted him with a friendly smile. "Oh, good morning to you too, lad. Ah, my buddy is absent and yeah, I have to do all the work. If you want to help, I will just give you his share."
Pierce gestured, shaking his palm at the mid-air. "Ah, no need sir. Really, I just wanted to help."
"Ah, I will feel bad with that lad. How about... treating you to breakfast? Have you already had your breakfast?"
["Kid, stop refusing or this man might feel really bad."]
Knowing that the other person would feel bad if he declined, he then didn't further reject his offer. He just scratched his head quite embarrassed. "I just had coffee and bread."
The man nodded. "Good, it's settled then. I will treat you to breakfast in return."
The middle-aged man added, "What is your name lad?"
"Pierce, sir."
"What a cool name. I am Albert. Just call me Uncle Bert. Nice to meet you."
Uncle Bert raised his hand in the mid-air which Pierce then received and they made a warm handshake.
"Nice to meet you too Uncle Bert."
Uncle Bert then said, "Alright let's start unloading these."
The man, Uncle Bert, was the one on the truck passing the boxes to him, for him to carry all the way to the store.
After carrying several boxes, Pierce still felt okay. He knew he could keep going. The status increased was showing its great effect now. The effect was indeed in an unbelievable rate.
"Oh, you've got sufficient strength there lad."
"Thank you for the compliment Uncle." He just chuckled, still sounding a bit embarrassed.
"Alright, let's end this quick."
Pierce nodded. "Yes."
Half an hour passed and they were finally done unloading the goods from the truck. They then went to a chicken restaurant just near the place.
"Do you come here often lad? I think, I saw you the yesterday too. You're helping some people with their stuffs."
He answered after chewing his food. "Ah yes. I guess, I just have a lot of spare time."
Pierce then added. "I also find helping people to be gratifying. There was a time in my life that I was so helpless. Now that I am in better condition, I wanted to extend my help especially to those who needed it. As I have known how depressing it was to be in that situation. When you needed help, yet you didn't get any."
The middle-aged man seemed a little surprised by what Pierced shared. He didn't expect that a fine looking young man had such and experience. "You might have been through a lot, lad. I'm sorry, I'm not good with words. All I can say is continue what you're doing. You're already doing great." Then that uncle patted his shoulder, smiled at him before he went back at his food.
Pierce was silent for a moment. His heart was moved with his praise. It was the first time in his life wherein someone praised him and treat him into a meal. At the moment, he found his eyes about to burst in tears and tried his best to hold it in.
Uncle Bert coughed. "I seemed to have even soured your mood. I'm really bad with advises. I'm sorry."
He might had misunderstood Pierce's silence.
Pierce shook his head, "No, thank you Uncle. I am even touched to tears. Thank you for cheering me up."
The Uncle seemed to be relieved, "Did I?
That's great then. I thought I messed up."
They went out of the fast food chain after they had their fill. The Uncle was just so generous and ordered a sumptuous amount of food. It was a heavy meal indeed to fill up breakfast, as the most important meal of the day.
Uncle Bert brought out some money but Pierce quickly shook his head. The former then decided to give his number.
"If ever you need my help, just call me lad. I still need to get these bunch of boxes delivered to another city."
"Thank you too Uncle. Have a safe trip."
"Alright. You too, lad."
With that, they went on their separate ways.
The bus terminal became crowded and it was much to Pierce's liking and advantage. He spent a few hours, lending a hand to some people and acting pretty at the sides, making him gain a considerable amount of Points.
Lunch time came fast. Pierce was currently heading to a good place. The food there, was delicious at an affordable price. Hence, even if it was quite far, he didn't mind walking that long as it was worth the effort.
["Kid, yesterday you got 2.2 left after allocating 2 points to your Intelligence. This morning you only got 0.3 from that man. Though he was kind, sadly, he didn't have a lot of luck in store."]
'I enjoyed his company and helped someone that is really in need of help. That's even more important old man.'
["Well, you're right. But you should work a lot harder from now on. It will take forever for me to level up with this snail-like speed."]
'You are just a blabbermouth who likes to exaggerate things and extremely impatient at that.'
Suddenly the system's strict sound of voice shifted to a quite excited one.
["Kid, look at the man in front of you. What can you say about his clothes?"]
Pierce stared at the young man from a distance. That young man who seemed to be on his mid-twenties was wearing a sport coat, a simple white dress shirt, a dark denim fitted jeans, paired up with a tan leather loafer. All in all, looking smart and sharp yet casual.
'He has a cool taste I can say. Anyways, don't ask me about clothes, I don't have a strong fashion sense.'
["Of course, I know kid. I know how plain and dull you are. What this one wanted to say is, if you're the one wearing that set of clothes, you might bring them justice."]
'You're a bit rude there old man. Each individual is different and I'm comfortable with what I'm wearing.'
["Ah, my bad. Just understand what this one is trying to point out. This one means for you have to buy better clothes and change the way you dress up. Your style sucks. It sores the eyes. On the other hand, his style looks more interesting, neat and manly."]
'Ouch, that struck me hard. Can't you respect my style?' Even if he knew he had no doubt without any fashion sense but it was still quite hard to admit to a jeering old man.
As if shaking its imaginary head, the system disapproved, wanting to discourage him. ["Cut the crap kid. Even if you have a good looking appearance, if I were a girl, I still wouldn't choose you. By how you look, you appear so weak and unreliable. Come on, show some dignity as a man."]
Well, he also did agree in his mind. The system had a huge point but still the truth hurts in some way.
Pierce sighed, 'Fine then, I will finally do shopping after ages. But let me fill my grumbling stomach first. I might die from hunger before I could even look better.'
["Take your time. Take care of your weak body troublesome host. Ahh, my previous hosts didn't have this kind of problem."] He could imagine the system with an old face and was scowling.
Pierce frowned. 'I'm not them, stop comparing will you? Moreover, what are they? Are they even humans? Don't they have stomachs?'
["Some were not, but those who were humans could endure hundreds of years without eating."]
'Ah, stop rumbling nonsense old man. Chat you latter.'
["That's where your problem lies, mortals. Just because you didn't see those things with your naked eyes you quickly take my words as joke~~~"]
In contrary, Pierce did somewhat believe the system. Since an existence like this exist, which could change his life overnight, then there could really be other worlds or dimensions and those unbelievable beings.
However, when the food was served, those thoughts was brushed off in his mind as quickly as a snap. It was then all occupied by how mouth-watering the smell and look of the food was.
'Alright, let's dig in!'
---
Inside a department store, Pierce was looking around while thinking what to pick from a sea of clothes with different styles and designs. He was at a loss. Not only confused on what to pick but also undecided of what he wanted.
["Kid, this would likely look better for you."]
'You're really from an another world old man. It's even a top for girls.' Pierce answered while having a tired expression.
He was exhausted with the system's unreasonable suggestions and tired of thinking of what to choose considering the massive selection. He even wanted to quickly get out of the place. He felt helpless.
["Oh, I thought you're a girl. I'm sorry."]
'Ah, you're not helping at all. You're really just an all talk system after all.'
["What can I do? Despite searching every nooks and crannies of your memories, I cannot find something decent. It's all garbage."]
Pierce clicked his tongue, 'What now?'
This time, the system sounded radiantly as if having a bright idea. ["Hey kid, why don't we buy the same clothes as what the guy from earlier wore."]
'What? Can you imagine someone wearing a coat while helping people at a bus terminal?! That will only look pretentious of me! Chatter, stupid system.'
Pierce sighed, deeply. 'I guess I'll be on my own now.'
"Sir? Do you need some help?"
His brows were raised by the sudden interference of a professional voice. 'Finally, I can talk to someone helpful and decent.'
"I am torned on what clothes to choose miss. What would be a good style for me? I'm sorry, I'm not good on picking clothes suited for me."
The lady gave him a reassuring smile. "No problem sir. If not all, you're suited for a lot of styles."
Just by looking at her confident smile, he found himself sighing in relief.
After roaming the department store, trying different set of clothes and styles for more than an hour, Pierce then left the place with a satisfied yet a bit shy look.
["This is pleasing and decent enough. This it kid! Now, you can finally properly try to charm a girl! Luck Points, hahaha. Gathering those will be easy as pie!"]