Sitting down on a wooden table with a plate of overcooked eggs and sausage, Patrick started to count his savings as he ate. The sound of utensils clanking against the plate got louder and louder as he realized how bleak his future retirement plan is going to be if he doesn't get an influx of cash with the amount he has.
'90 million baht.'
3 million in US dollars.
Just to be sure, he found a Retirement Calculator on the internet. Putting in his savings, age, and marital status from his computer, he waited for the anticipated result.
[You may need to save more.]
[Retirement savings runs out at age 60.]
With the emergence of monsters, the cost of living shot up like never before, even in a very affordable country to live in like Thailand, just a kilogram of flour costs around 180 baht.
But it was still not bad. The average life expectancy of hunters during the first age didn't surpass 5 years anyway. Although if he was gonna include marriage in his retirement plan, he was gonna need a way to have more earnings.
But how?
He wasn't about to go work in some part-time job, his colleagues would laugh their asses off if they were to know of it.
:: sigh ::
He still wasn't able to come up with a solution after half an hour of thinking.
'Might as well go out then.' He shrugged as the problem was thrown to the back of his mind.
After washing the dishes, his daily routine was to go out to hunt and train in one of the eight ex-forbidden zones of the world, the Mariana Trench.
He didn't have a car, or a boat for that matter, but he didn't need one.
Walking out of his two-story house with a pair of sunglasses; smoke filled the front yard as Patrick's skin was giving off steam, and with a burst of speed, he started to run at subsonic speed towards the beach 20 kilometers away.
Fl-iush.
Going the opposite way of the road, he opted to jump across the mountainside rather than the urban area to avoid attention. Any normal passerby would only see a two-meter tall blur and a gust of wind before it disappeared into the horizon along with the sound of him clashing against the sound barrier.
It was only after reaching the ocean did he break past the speed of sound and swam away from the gulf of thailand to south china sea in less than 10 minutes. Even when he tried to dive below to the ocean floor, you can still see a V-shaped water ripple on the surface like an invisible speedboat fitted with rocket engines was passing by.
Seeing this, Patrick couldn't help but lament at the disturbance he was causing.
'I really need to have some anti-resistance skills with ample power, at least an S-class one is gonna be needed for my use though.' He seemed to be at a loss.
But how can he acquire one without mana? It was impossible.
Passing his field of vision back down to the ocean floor, a familiar sight was not far ahead. A gigantic ditch between two oceanic plates where no light can hope to penetrate, the Mariana Trench.
While driving down, Patrick was throwing his eyes around the plates' side walls. During the first era, the Mariana Trench was so infested with monsters that a hunter would have to be prepared to swim through a school full of whale-sized monsters for every meter of ground they cover. Nowadays though, the trench's dim barren terrain was almost eerie to the human eye.
The pressure down at the bottom was like having 100 elephants stacking above your head, the almost freezing temperature made for the best coolant in the self-inclusive training ground. It was only in this kind of environment was he able to train to his fullest all these past years.
Starting off by doing some push ups, pull ups, squats, and some running, he was able to heat up his body and the surrounding water to near boiling point. After that, he prepared for the real training by first planting his legs down in the sand to his knees, and then began practising boxing against the plates' wall as dust flew off everywhere.
Thud. Thud. Thoom.
Thud. Thud. Thoom.
Thud. Thud. Thoom.
...
Sitting down on a grey rock, Patrick was staring down at his numbed right hand as he had long gotten used to the dim level of light.
'I've hit a barrier.' He thought silently.
One of the main reasons he was thinking about retiring was because the growth of his power had come to a halt. This feeling wasn't new to him however, he had encountered this situation many times.
'But I haven't grown at all in three years, maybe it's really the time to leave this life.' Looking around at the familiar place, he started to reminiscenced once again.
The surrounding area had nothing but rock and sand, but to him, this was his second home.
Every day, for the past five years, he would dive down here to ease his boredom. It was only when he was put to his limit will he feel the most alive.
'Whelp, no matter, time to hunt I suppose.' Was his last thought before jumping up from the grey rock.
...
Walking down the street with the fishes on his shoulder, he counted the gains.
'Bad harvest today again.' He thought absentmindedly.
He was only able to catch a handful of normal fishes before running out of inventory and needed to come back to shore.
A row of concrete buildings slowly passed by as he walked down the street.
'Wait, the fish market is this way right?' He suddenly realized he was now lost.
As he was looking around, he noticed a young man was talking to an older man in a wheelchair from afar, intending to go ask for directions, he hurriedly walked up to them.
"Weren't able to get a share of the hunt today too?" The older man was asking with a concerned voice, worry was apparent on his wrinkled face.
"Sorry dad, I-, they said that I didn't contribute enough, There was nothing I could do…" The young man held his head down in shame.
":: sigh ::, we can't keep living off your monthly wages forever, and the kids back in the orphanage need to have some meat in their diet soon."
With his super hearing, Patrick was able to listen in on their conversation. He then paused for a bit.
Grasping his hand on his sunglasses, he made sure that it was turned on.
__________
[Sunglasses of dissimilarity]
Grade: S+ equipment
Durability: 431/444
Embedded Skill: B-class[Cloak of dissimilarity], A-class[Solar Battery]
Note: One of the few manaless equipment in the world, capable of making the user's face seem unfamiliar to outsiders. The reason for S+grade is from the high amount of S-classes materials put in when making the glasses, resulting in a ridiculous level of durability.
__________
He quickly decided to wait and try to follow the two back to their orphanage. He didn't have to go very far, it was around a 5 minute walk from where he found them.
Upon reaching it, he looked on at the narrow tenement house building from a distance, inside, he heard the sound of children playing and running around from the top to bottom of the building.
While walking up to the door, he heard an aged woman's voice shouting from inside.
"No running in the hallway!" The sound echoed out.
ding-ding.
A bell was placed on top of the door, instantly exposing Patrick's presence.
A boy was sitting right in front of the door; pointing his finger at the man.
"A-a monster!" he shouted.
Patrick's muscular 2-meter tall frame was blocking most of the door, leaving only a ring of sunlight to pass through and making the face area seem pitch black, combined with his stoic expression, the child had easily mistaken him for an ape monster.
A white haired old lady was swiftly walking towards him from the otherside of the living room.
"Please don't mind the child Mr.Hunter, what can we do for you today?" The old woman was greeting with a friendly smile, but her eyes were quickly examining him.
"Do you guys accept food donations?" Patrick didn't know why he chose to go in with a stoic face, but it was too late to change course now.
Glancing at the fishes on his shoulder, she quickly understood.
"I see, yes, we do, please come this way." The old woman guided him to a table.
On the table was an aged account book containing the list of donations and financial transactions for the orphanage. She flipped over a page before continuing to ask questions.
"Name please."
"...Patrick"
"Donating… five large-sized fishes, correct?" She looked on hopefully.
Knowing what she meant, He quickly replied.
"Yes, all five." He reassured her.
She sighed in relief. "Thank you Mr.Patrick, you couldn't have come at a better time."
The surrounding children had already encircled them.
"Look! Look! it's so big!"
"Guy or the fish?"
"Both!"
"Is that a hunter? Big muscle!"
"Meat!Meat!"
"It's called a fish you dumbass."
"You're the dumbass!"
'This is getting noisier by the minute. Maybe I should've just placed it by the door.' Patrick thought. He realized he had nothing to say, but his stoic face still continued.
The small stature woman and the big burly dude stares awkwardly for a while before the silence was broken by a third party.
It was the young man he met from before.
"Why don't sir stay for dinner?