Upon hearing this, both Benjamin and Eina heaved a long sigh of relief.
Benjamin expressed his gratitude, "Thank you. I owe you one for this."
Howard chuckled, "Don't mention it. I'm quite fond of that little girl, Bonnie, too. Besides, I happen to have a favor to ask of you."
"Go ahead." Benjamin reciprocated the favor.
"I've been appointed to head up a special division for players, overseeing several nearby cities. I was wondering if you could use your connections in the capital to check on the top-ranked players. If anyone is in Moonlight or the surrounding cities, I'd like to recruit them into my team." Howard explained.
Benjamin didn't hesitate and agreed, "I'll have someone look into it and get back to you."
"Great." Howard nodded, smiling.
He was confident in his old friend's influence in the capital. Even if it was like finding a needle in a haystack, he believed Benjamin would bring him a pleasant surprise.
...
The night was as dark as ink at Moonlight Middle School.
Roars and howls of monsters continuously echoed through the tranquil campus.
On the plaza in front of the teaching building, a horde of monsters was sprinting madly, wishing they had more legs.
Behind them, Jeremy moved like lightning, with two long blades in his hands, akin to the scythes of the Grim Reaper. Every time a cold gleam flashed through the night, a monster would unwillingly fall, its life mercilessly reaped by him.
These monsters, which are incredibly terrifying in the eyes of ordinary people, stood no chance in his hands.
[You have slain a Level 8 Minotaur Warrior (Normal), gaining 415 experience points!]
[You have slain a Level 9 Goblin Archer (Normal), gaining 659 experience points!]
[You have slain a Level 10 Mutant Zombie (Elite), gaining 2069 experience points!]
...
As kill notifications appeared one after another, experience points surged into Jeremy's body.
With a single strike piercing through the skull of an elite-level zombie, a golden glow finally emerged around him.
[You have leveled up to Level 11, gaining 20 free attribute points!]
[You have gained job-specific attribute bonuses: Strength +30, Spirit +30, Stamina +15, Agility +15!]
Two leveling notifications popped up in front of Jeremy.
Apart from the free attribute points granted by leveling up, his class change also provided him with fixed attribute points. Now, every time Jeremy leveled up, he would gain an increase of over 100 attribute points.
Hidden jobs were indeed powerful. If it were a regular job, the fixed attributes Jeremy received would be half as much.
Moreover, the mutant zombie he had just killed dropped an equipment item.
[Equipment]: Leather Boots
[Level]: Iron
[Quality]: White (Normal)
[Attributes]: Agility +3
[Skill]: None
Although it was just a common Iron-level White equipment, it was still better than nothing. Jeremy put it on and checked his stats, discovering his strength attribute had now exceeded 800 points.
He hadn't used his free attributes yet, saving them for a potentially life-saving moment.
Sheathing his long knives, he glanced at the campus square littered with bodies, then turned to leave the school.
Having reached level 11, he needed nearly 30,000 experience points for the next level up. The monsters in the school were no longer sufficient for his leveling needs.
Jeremy planned to venture outside the school to grind for experience and also to see if he could rescue Claire from her psychiatric clinic.
Leaving her alone there was something that weighed heavily on his mind.
As Jeremy made his way out of the school, his path was unobstructed. Even the monsters that spotted him were deterred by the strong scent of blood emanating from him and dared not attack.
Inside the school, some people drawn by the noise were shocked and envious at the sight.
From the top of a teaching building, a beautiful girl yelled desperately, "Jeremy, please save me! I'm still a virgin. I'll do anything if you can get me out of here!"
Others, as if clutching at straws, followed her lead.
But Jeremy turned a deaf ear to their pleas.
The lives of others were not his concern.
Carrying his dual knives, he strode out of the school gates.
The moment he stepped outside, it felt as though he had entered another world.
Instead of the brightly lit, bustling streets of before, Jeremy saw dilapidated darkness, desolate and disorderly ruins.
Dim streetlights flickered sporadically, windows and doors of shops were shattered, and walls cracked.
The once clean streets were now chaotic, filled with a pungent, unpleasant smell.
Cars were parked densely packed together on the road. Many car windows were stained red with blood, with blurred fingerprints printed on them. It's not hard to imagine what happened in this car at that time.
Watching the skyscrapers in the distance still belching thick smoke and flames, and listening to the occasional roars of monsters nearby, Jeremy felt a bit dazed, as if he had returned to the battlefield.
But instead of facing people armed with modern weapons, he now faced bloodthirsty monsters.
"Crunch, crunch!"
The eerie sound of chewing broke Jeremy's reverie.
Turning his head, he saw under the flickering streetlight, by an overturned trash can, a small black cat with sharp fangs wide open, gnawing on a mangled corpse.
Much of the body's flesh was eaten away, exposing white bones. From the skeleton and clothing, it appeared to have been a woman.
As Jeremy looked at the cat, its feeding abruptly halted.
The black cat turned its head, all three blood-red eyes focusing on Jeremy, filled with ferocity.
[Three-Eyed Cat (Elite)]
[Level]: lv15
[Attack]: 1169-1175
[Defense]: 197
[Skills]: Claw Strike, Swift Pounce, Gnaw...
[Tip]: Extremely fast but with weak defense. Blinding its eyes before killing it will yield a 3rd-tier energy crystal.
The moment it saw Jeremy, the black fur on the three-eyed cat bristled.
"Meow!"
In the next instant, it let out a whimper. Its body transforming into a black shadow that swiftly charged towards Jeremy.
In just the blink of an eye, the three-eyed cat was in front of Jeremy. It leapt up, its claws flashing out from its paw pads, aiming straight for Jeremy's neck.
"Clang!"
A cold light sliced through the air, and amidst the sparks, a clear sound of metal striking metal echoed through the streets.
Jeremy's right hand, holding the blazing knife, firmly blocked the three-eyed cat's claws. His expression as calm as still water.
"Meow!" Missing its strike, the three-eyed cat landed and quickly put some distance between itself and Jeremy.
It crouched on the ground, body tense and fur bristled, its three eyes warily watching Jeremy.
The three-eyed cat sensed an unprecedented danger from this human... a danger stronger than any creature it had ever encountered!
Jeremy squinted his eyes.
He could clearly feel that the monsters outside the school were far more formidable than those within.
Whether it was their level, strength, or speed, they were all significantly superior to the monsters inside the school.
However, for him, that was all there was to it.
With a thought, Jeremy's hand suddenly ignited with black flames.
The black flames kept jumping in his hands, like elves, but the aura emanating from them was incredibly wild, chaotic, and evil.
"Sinfire!"
In that moment, fear appeared in the eyes of the three-eyed cat.
It sensed a thick scent of death from the flames!
Without hesitation, the three-eyed cat turned swiftly and bolted.
"Trying to run?" Jeremy snorted coldly, just as he was about to give chase.
Just then, an incredibly arrogant voice suddenly rang out from behind Jeremy.
"Jeremy, I hadn't even come looking for you yet, and here you are delivering yourself to me!" He laughed heartily. His jubilation unable to be suppressed, as if he had encountered something exceedingly joyful.
This brief distraction allowed the swift three-eyed cat to vanish from Jeremy's sight.
Jeremy frowned and turned around.
At the entrance of a store, Gary, his face wrapped in bandages, was staring at him with a vicious expression. His eyes filled with deep hatred and the satisfaction of impending revenge.
Beside him stood four muscular detectives armed with guns.The leader was a tall and burly man with a beard all over his face, whose facial features resembled those of Gary by seven or eight points.
"Garcia?" Jeremy's eyes narrowed, recognizing that this must be Gary's father.
He hadn't expected him to show up at this time, which was indeed inconvenient.
"So, you're the one who beat my son?" Garcia sized up Jeremy.
When his gaze fell on the dual knives in Jeremy's hands, a strong greed flashed in his eyes.
Being a player himself, he naturally knew that what Jeremy held was the legendary equipment.
The other detectives also recognized the extraordinary nature of Jeremy's gear.
Their faces lit up with joy. They were just here to save someone, but they didn't expect such a big gain.
This was a fortune!
A rough smile appeared on Garcia's rugged face, his voice hoarse, "So, you're Jeremy? Take off the equipment you're wearing now, and I might just spare your life."