CHAPTER 53: JOGGING

That was embarrassing!!

I knew teenage hormones were a thing, but to break down in front of my mother over a memory fragment... sigh.

There was indeed a point in my life, especially during my teenage years, when I was highly emotional. I tended to be impulsive most of the time and caused so much trouble here and there, despite my usual calm attitude.

But I am a grown-up now... in the mind, at least. I gave an embarrassed sigh again.

Looking at the dawning sunlight coming through the window, I yawned a little before moving out of bed. It was 10 minutes after the dust, and the cold air made me shiver a little. But it also made me look forward to the morning run that I was going to do.

I couldn’t let myself stay weak for long. It somehow didn’t feel right that I knew some martial arts moves but couldn’t do them without risking injuring my body. Hence, I stretched a bit inside my room, relaxing my body and letting my blood flow throughout all corners.

Making my bed, cleaning up the desk as I set up the Almera, I then moved out of my room.

Mission! Make a sandwich! Reward: +10 HP. I thought in my mind as I moved to the kitchen and began preparing the bread, the salads and the leftover chicken from yesterday.

And using all my efforts, I took 10 minutes to make the best sandwich I possibly could.

-Bite!

Tears came into my eyes as I realised that I had added sugar instead of salt. Somehow, I overcooked the sandwich in the microwave, and the chicken... it was still raw.

Mission failed! -10HP. I sighed as I put the sandwich down, packed it in a nice cover and put it in the refrigerator.

Instead, I took out a bottle of previously boiled milk and drank about a glass of it. There weren’t any cornflakes to add to it. Otherwise, I could have put in that too.

Washing my face and changing into my running clothes, I moved out of the house before slowly reaching the main road. I decided to run at a slow pace for as long as possible and see where my limits currently lie. And once done, I could figure out how to improve after that.

Mission: Run 10 km, do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats. Reward: Get bald.

I smiled as I thought of that before taking the first step as I started my run.

Running was a good exercise. It physically healed me and mentally allowed me to indulge deeply in my thoughts. There were a lot of things that I needed to look into, so this time was also perfect to utilise it for arranging my priorities and planning how to go about them.

Richards asked me to save them. Evan Castro, Serah Rose, Damian White, Ciana Grace and... Charles Richard. Except for Charles, I have no idea about the others. I haven’t even heard these names in my last life.

Who are they? Could it be some kind of organisation? Or perhaps of different organisations? Should have provided me with more information, Charles.

I sighed as I then stopped complaining and started looking for appropriate solutions.

The first thing I would need is a laptop. Or perhaps a PC. It would be too costly if I went to the market, but if I were to buy a cheap one and change parts from the hardware store... It’s doable. Plus, I can make my own modifications given the right set of tools to make it work better.

In my previous life, computer hardware and software were something that I had worked towards. I gave all my efforts to make traces unreachable while also finding dirt about those sons of bitches who made my life harder. Man, that was totally worth it!.

All right. Once we get the PC, we can look into Police Servers, finding people with similar names. Let’s see if I can trace them by this method.

There was a high chance it might work because the names were quite rare. Even if they somehow reach triple digits, we can filter it down to the ones in this country, in this region first before trying for other nations.

Running for a little less than 30 minutes, I completed about 2 miles. It was kind of slow, and even though I think I could push another one at this pace, I decided not to. This was a good start to work with as we can slowly reach a faster pace under the same time every few weeks.

"Meow!!!"

I paused my already slow steps, and looked at the small park on my right, to be precise at the tree just beside me. On one of the lower branches, which was still high enough to reach, an orange cat sat there, looking down at me, as if waiting for me to reach up and help her out.

"New Quest: Save the Cat! Time limit: 2 Minutes! Rewards: 5 exp," I mumbled in a low voice, as I moved towards the tree, skillfully climbing it and reaching that cat. The same cat that asked for my help, probably, purred at me with an angry expression as if I were the most disgusting thing it had seen.

"Too late, buddy," I smirked as I picked it up.

-Scratch!

"-3 HP," I added as I then moved down the tree.

No sooner than I touched the ground with a jump, the cat sprang out of my hands and ran away in the opposite direction. I saw it running about 20 meters ahead before reaching a long pair of slender legs, and then jumping into the arms of the woman standing there, and then sitting comfortably in her bosom.

Must be a male cat. Makes sense.

I thought as I looked at the girl wearing a white T-shirt over her black shorts. Probably came here to jog as well.

Her aquamarine hair was tied into a ponytail, reaching around her waist, and looking at the visible abs, and that slender figure, I guessed she might have been working out for a while. Though she wasn’t someone unknown to me. In fact, she was one of the people whom I remembered more than the others.

Fredricka? Yeah, she used to live in this locality too back then. Didn’t think that I would get to meet her 2 years earlier than last time. I thought as I looked at her, walking towards me, sweat on her face and shirt, while she smiled and asked,

"Yours?"

"That monster with the scratch attack? Nope," I answered as I showed her my scratched hand. I think I can add a bleeding effect to it too.

She chuckled as she then put down the cat, wiped her sweat with her T-shirt and moved to the nearby water tap to drink some water. I pondered before deciding that I should drink some water as well. Since I was done with the ’running’ I can slowly walk back home after this.

Reaching towards her, I saw her filling her water bottle before sitting on the side bench. Then, slowly gulping the water, she closed her eyes for a moment before finally giving out a refreshed expression as she was done. Finally, looking at me with those iconic emerald green eyes, she said something that I could have never expected,

"How are you doing, Mikael? Didn’t see you after high school."