Adam takes off the headset and puts it on the bedside table. After getting out of bed, he stretches his stiff body and goes to the kitchen to make some food. He takes his plate of fried rice and sits on the couch and turns on the television. The news is still about Terra and it's still increasing player base that ranges from young to old. Adam finishes his meal and cleans his house a little bit. He is not so shocked this time when he can easily lift his couch and all the furniture around the house.
He then goes to make another round of grocery shopping since the amount of food that he had eaten just now is a lot more than his initial estimate. He can also feel that he is a lot stronger than before. He doesn't know if it is arrogance but he feels like he can easily lift the cars along the streets.
Unlike the previous time he went grocery shopping though, this time he encounters some problems on the way back. The sky is not bright anymore and it is almost night by the time he is on the way home. While passing through one of the alleys, he sees a group of young men with bulky bodies cornering a girl to a wall. The girl is holding her handbag close to her chest with one hand inside. For other people, it may look like the girl is in trouble. But for Adam who now has his senses enhanced to now able to see as long as there is little light, the girl looks like she is about to pull out a weapon or something from her handbag by how calm she is.
As one of the guys tries to touch her, she pulls out a small rectangular object that emits a little line of light at its tip. The light grazes upon the man's hand and he starts to spasm for a few seconds and falls to the ground. The other guys are stunned for a moment and immediately try to grab the girl's hand that is holding what Adam assumes is a Taser and take the Taser away from her. But she moves fast enough to slightly tilt the Taser so that it will touch the guy's hand. He falls to the ground with a burn mark on his hand but just as she's about to turn around to deal with the last guy, he swats the girl's hand making the girl release the Taser and throwing it far away. She tries to run towards the Taser but unfortunately, the guy manages to reach her first and push her on the ground. She tries to kick around the guy's lower region but the guy seems to protect himself quite well.
Suddenly, the guy starts to spasm and falls to the ground beside the girl. The girl pushes the man to the side and sees another guy holding her Taser standing just above right above her. "Wait, Adam!" The girl half shouted as she quickly rose and gave Adam a quick hug.
"Good evening, Rose. You don't look so good." Adam replies with a quick hug. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I almost got assaulted just now." Adam gives her another hug and also pats her back as he consoles her. "There, there. You are fine now. Those people can't get you now or in the future." As he speaks, she clenches his shirt and he starts to feel his shirt becomes warmer. Sobbing sounds occasionally appear as Adam continues to console her. He can't say that he understands how she feels, but he knows enough that it was probably a very terrifying experience for her.
They stay like that for a while and he notices that the trio are starting to wake up, so Adam kicks a few rocks on the ground the guys' head to knock them back down. The last thing Adam needs is these guys waking up and either running away or attacking him and Rose. Although he doesn't kick the rocks too hard, with how strong he is now, it is not impossible to call him a superhuman.
After a while, he releases Rose after she stops sobbing. Adam gives her a reassuring smile and brings her out of the alley. He sits her by the bench on the side of the street and goes to make a police call. A few minutes later, the police came and arrested the trio after taking our statements.
"Do you want to come to my house? Or do you have anywhere you need to be?" Adam asks her gently. He and Rose are very close. They practically grew up together and both of them see each other as siblings. Rose is like a sister Adam never has. After he enters college, he rarely speaks to her anymore because he is always busy. It is the same with her too. So, it is quite a surprise when he sees her at the alley. As far as he remembers, she is a very skilled fighter. She once fought with 5 boys and won during her high school year. So it is quite a surprise for him that she almost lost just now.
"Umm... I was actually going to see you at your college since Aunty asked me to see you. But since I didn't find you there, I was about to go straight to your house to give you a surprise visit." Rose's reply almost made Adam's smile faltered for a moment. He forgets to tell her that he has dropped out of college and the only other person that knows is Allen and his brother.
"So, I actually dropped out of college a few days ago. Please don't tell mom and dad about it. I promise I'll do anything you want." Adam pleads as he holds both her hands together.
"You what?! Why? How? What is wrong with you? Why do you drop out? Aren't you doing well in college? You even pass the latest test with flying colours. Give me one goddamn reason why I should not tell your parents right now." Rose says half screaming. To say she is angry is an understatement right now. After all that hassle of her tutoring him to get his grades good enough to attend college, this guy just decides to drop out. It has not even been a month since he started college.
"Okay, hear me out first. Search up the player ranking in Terra right now." Adam is now sweating bullets as he talks to Rose. To him, Rose is more of a big sister who always helps him to get out of trouble even though they are the same age.
Rose looks suspiciously at Adam like she is afraid Adam is gonna run away while she looks up whatever Adam is saying. She knows Adam is usually not brainless enough to do something this stupid but who knows what is ever happening in this guy's mind. He might have been hit in the head while no one was watching him.
As the list appears on the screen, her eyes widen as a very recognizable name appears on 2 of the rankings. Adam White. Not only that, even the other ranking has a name she recognizes as well Carlos White. Adam's name is at the top of the wealth and combat power ranking while Carl's name is at the top of the level ranking. Her hand trembles as she has some ideas of why Adam dropped out now.
"Adam White. You have 5 minutes to explain to me why you think it is a good idea to drop out of college and spend your time playing video games before I dial your parents' number and tell them what happened." Adam officially starts to freak out now because he has only experienced getting scolded by his parents and Rose at the same time once and it is miserable.
"Okay, hear me out. Now look at the exchange rate of gold coin to dollar real quick." Rose's hand quickly type and she sees the number. Copper coin to dollar is 1:1, silver coin to dollar is 1:10 while gold coin to dollar is 1:100.
"You see the number right? Let me tell you, I have over 6000 gold coins on me right now. Well, in the game. But you get the point. And I have only been playing the game for like a few days. That is 600000 dollars that I just make." Adam says with excitement leaking through his voice.
"And you don't even need to worry about the money becoming worthless since the HG promises to control the exchange rate so that the price of the coin wouldn't go lower than the currently displayed. Any private transaction is forbidden and if caught will cause at minimum a year's ban without being able to make a new account." Adam continues as he sees Rose's face still looking at the screen skeptically. Using the HG's name is very important since they are basically the ruler of the world. It's like an open secret and people just don't give a damn since HG has basically improved everyone living conditions. It is also important that HG has never broken any promise that it had made either reducing world hunger or giving more people job opportunities.
"So you are saying that you are trying to make a career by playing this game?" Rose asks but this time her tone sounds like pure curiosity and less interrogating. "Yes. That's why I need to keep Mom and Dad in the dark for a while. You can do that, right? For your brother. Pleaseee." Adam pleads as he tries his best to make a puppy face and inches his face closer to Rose's.
Rose pushes away Adam's face and her gaze softens. "Hmph. Who needs a brother like you? Always causing trouble for their siblings. I agree that I will keep it a secret but you will need to update your situation to me at least weekly. And after you're stable enough, I want you to join college again as a part-time student and obtain a degree. I don't care what course you take. Just have one. The sooner the better."
"Yaay. Best sister ever." Adam says as he hugs Rose. Adam then quickly rushes Rose towards his house since he starts to get hungry again. They continue walking for a while as they both tell how their life has been going on. Rose apparently finds a boyfriend and she talks very nicely of him. Adam is going to ask Allen to find out more about the guy to make sure he is actually clean and not some scum that is deceiving Rose.
Soon, they reach his front door and they enter without much hassle. Adam enters the kitchen and he make some simple meals to give to Rose. He is quite thankful actually that they manage to divert her attention to something else since the experience of almost getting assaulted must be pretty traumatic.
He soon takes out the food and serves it in the living room. He places the 2 bowls of chicken soup and rice along with a spoon and a fork. Both of them sit together and eat while watching the television. After they are done with their meal, Adam does the dishes while Rose lays flat on the couch.
When he returns, he sees that Rose has already fallen asleep. He lifts her up and puts her into the guest room as he then returns to the living room to continue watching some shows he missed. He looks at the clock. 11.00 p.m. It is still early and he is not tired. As he watches the show, the door to Rose's room opens a little. Adam naturally hears it but pretends not to and continues with his show. A figure wrapped in a blanket moves towards Adam and lays on top of the couch with her head on Adam's lap.
Adam just pretends he doesn't feel or see anything and continues to watch the shows. His hand though aren't so quiet as he caresses her hair until she has fallen asleep. Adam lowers the volume of the television and stays like that until the next morning.