Jason learned that he would need forty dollars to make his parameters reach the fourth level, and the cost increased by ten with each level. It didn't seem a small amount, but it didn't seem much considering that there are people out there hunting T-rexes, as crazy as that sounded.

Jason - Wielder of the Batman System (Current Funds: 30)

HEALTH: 40/40

MAGIC: 30/30

STAMINA: 40/40

Strength: 05 (0/60) +

Endurance: 03 (0/40) +

Magic: 03 (0/40) +

Spirit: 03 (0/40) +

Quickness: 04 (0/50) +

Dexterity: 04 (0/50) +

Current Quirks: None

Quirk Shop: it will be accessible once you have enough funds to buy something.

In the end, Jason increased his strength by two points and his quickness and dexterity by one. He believed that those parameters would be helpful in all fields of his life now, so that seemed the best option. Moreover, he felt less fatigued as well.

"I should check things tomorrow morning…" Jason said and then went to sleep.

Just as he had promised, Hugo opened the warehouse alongside the sun rising in the sky. While Jason wasn't a morning person, he still felt pretty motivated as he started moving. Only those two seemed full of life in the whole warehouse, so Jason assumed that Hugo also had some sort of quirk, but asking would be too suspicious.

As soon as he began to work, Jason realized that he truly had gotten better. It wasn't just because of the experience… He could skin a giant boar now in less than twenty minutes. That much progress made even Hugo frown… Around noon, using his expertise and motivation alone, Jason could skin four monsters per hour. He was almost at Hugo's level, who could skin one every ten minutes.

"It seems like you are a lot more lively today," Hugo said.

"I guess my bones were a bit rusty yesterday," Jason said. "By the way, why do you only work here? Don't misunderstand me, but you seem a lot stronger than the average person, so I thought…"

"You are right… I can fight against normal ranked monsters, but just doing that won't change anything," Hugo said. "I used to think that it would, but then I saw many people dying of hunger while I was outside fighting monsters. What is the point of protecting the walls when our people inside can't even get food for themselves? With that in mind, I decided to join a small guild that works to make life better for those that can't fight. Even with all this meat, we get here, we can't feed the entire population. Meanwhile, the bigger organizations only focus on protecting those they care about and expand their influence."

That was what any normal person would do. There was no point in trying to save the world when they couldn't even save themselves… Jason was only worried about fixing his life and finding his family. Still, he also didn't like the way some people treated him while he was in a coma. So, he couldn't say much.

"Say, wouldn't it be easy to make some fields and cultivate food within the walls?" Jason asked. "There are many empty lots, after all."

"For some reason or the other, these lands aren't suited for that anymore," Hugo said. "There are some areas outside that proved themselves to be suited, but monsters always get in the way. So, we have to make it with their meat."

During the next few days, Jason asked a few things about the world to Hugo. He casually asked about the powers of others. Still, he never mentioned a system, so it seemed like something relatively rare. That being said, Jason heard stories about people calling themselves the new superman, the new hulk… And those people actually had powers that made them look like those, actually. Los Angeles had three large fighting organizations, and the head of those had quite the unexpected powers. There was the vampire hunter, the trickster, and the ice queen. They rarely showed up, but their power was the reason Los Angeles didn't fall.

In any case, after two more days, Jason was as fast as Hugo when it came to skinning, but he decided to save some funds now and see how much he would need to obtain his first quirk. He actually was able to acquire his first when he had one thousand dollars in his fund… But it was just a Fireball.

Fireball - 1000 funds

One of the most basic spells, even at its lowest level, it can cause more damage than a grenade.

Cost: 02 mana

Jason was expecting more impressive, but the power of magic that was as powerful as a grenade was also that impressive. Nevertheless, Jason had to make a choice now. He could keep working with Hugo and look suspicious for being fast and strong while working skinning monsters, or he could try to make more money and then reach his goal of finding his family by becoming famous.

"It seems that you truly aren't an ordinary man," Hugo said. "Have you already decided what you are going to do? You won't find your family by staying here forever."

"I was considering my options right now…" Jason said.

"You are stupid enough to think that you owe me a lot for giving you this job, even though I am the one who benefited the most from having you around," Hugo said. "Since that is the case, we can solve both problems. You just have to work with the guys that I know that are fighting outside for as long as you feel satisfied."

That certainly would solve both problems since Jason would need to know someone who works by fighting monsters, and he also would help Hugo's group. Still, he wondered how things would be if works for a small organization, even if for a short while. From what he had heard, the organizations operated without even being monitored by the government. In fact, they had more influence than any politician that had survived the incident six months ago.