ROLL CALL!!!
YOU KNOW THE DRILL, EVERY 250 PS = 1 EXTRA CHAPTER!
I DONT HAVE A PATREON SO IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT READ MY OTHER STORY: MY SCUMBAG SYSTEM
***
The run felt good. Each stride carried him forward with ease, his enhanced body responding perfectly to his commands. He wasn't gasping for air or feeling the burn in his thighs like before. He was a machine, and for the first time since arriving in this world, he felt truly alive.
His pace indicator hovered around 18 km/h, well above the required minimum. The tracker showed he'd covered almost four kilometers when the first hints of salt air reached his nostrils.
A smile tugged at his lips as memories from his past life surfaced—childhood trips to the shore, building sandcastles, the sound of seagulls.
He crested a small hill, anticipation building in his chest.
And stopped dead in his tracks.
"You have GOT to be kidding me."
It wasn't a beach. It was a landfill that happened to be adjacent to the ocean. Mountains of rusted metal, broken appliances, tangled fishing nets, and discarded trash stretched as far as he could see. The smell wasn't clean salt; it was rust, decay, and seagull droppings.
"What the actual hell?" Isaiah stood frozen, his jaw hanging open in disgust. "This is what passes for a beach in the age of superheroes? Where's the Aqua-Hero who's supposed to handle this crap?"
He kicked at a broken toaster oven half-buried in the sand, sending it clattering against an abandoned refrigerator.
As he stood there seething, a new quest window appeared before his eyes. Unlike his previous quests, this one had a golden border that seemed to shimmer in the late afternoon light.
[Optional World Quest Discovered: A Hero's Heart is a Janitor's Soul]
Description: This beach is a monument to societal neglect and a middle finger to coastal property values. The so-called "Heroes" are too busy posing for cameras to clean up their own backyard. Maybe someone with a little less ego and a lot more free time should do something about it. Or don't. I'm sure the tetanus is lovely this time of year.
[Objectives]
- Clear 25% of the trash from Takoba Beach.
[Rewards for Success]
- +1000 Attribute Points (AP)
- Unique Title: [One Man's Trash]
- 1x [Gacha Token (Rare)]
[Penalty for Failure]
- None. (But seriously, look at this place. The real penalty is knowing it exists.)
Isaiah stared at the quest, then at the mountain of garbage, then back at the quest.
"A janitor's soul?" he muttered incredulously.
But his eyes kept drifting back to the rewards.
One thousand AP.
A unique title.
A rare Gacha token.
『Those are some serious rewards for picking up trash,』 Arcan noted, sounding as surprised as he felt. 『Normally the system doesn't hand out that much AP for manual labor.』
"There's got to be a catch," Isaiah said, walking closer to inspect the nearest pile of junk. "Maybe the trash is alive. Or there's a villain hiding in one of these refrigerators."
『Or maybe the system is actually rewarding legitimate community service? Novel concept, I know.』
He ran a hand through his hair. The Opportunist in him was already doing the cost-benefit analysis. The cost was time, effort, and a whole lot of manual labor that would be, frankly, beneath him. The reward was a massive leap in power.
"I hate this," he muttered, kicking at a rusty bicycle frame. "I hate manual labor. I hate the idea of being some civic-minded do-gooder."
『But you love power.』
"But I love power," he agreed reluctantly.
He looked out at the ocean beyond the trash heaps. Somewhere under all this junk was the beach he'd wanted to see. The sun was beginning to sink toward the horizon, painting the water in shades of orange and gold.
"How much trash is twenty-five percent, anyway? And how would I even move some of this stuff? There are literal refrigerators out here."
『You could always rank up first,』 Arcan suggested. 『Your strength would improve significantly at E-Rank.』
Isaiah considered this, then nodded. "Finish the run, get the 50 AP from the Daily Quest, rank up to E, then start on this nightmare. That's the play."
He turned to continue his run along the perimeter of the beach, planning his route to complete the 10km while surveying the scope of the challenge.
『For someone who claims to hate manual labor, you sure committed to this trash collection pretty quickly,』 Arcan noted with amusement.
Isaiah scowled. "A thousand AP. A rare Gacha token. I'd clean toilets with my tongue for that kind of payout."
『Gross. Please don't. I have to live in here too, you know.』
As he jogged, Isaiah found himself actually studying the piles of trash with a strategic eye. Some items could be easily carried. Others would require tools or equipment. Still others might be worth salvaging for parts or materials.
"You know what's really messed up?" he said after a while. "In my old world, we didn't have superheroes or villains, and our beaches still managed to be cleaner than this. What's their excuse?"
『Maybe they're too busy preventing the extinction of humanity to worry about aesthetics?』
"If they have time for merchandise deals and photo ops, they have time to pick up a damn soda can." Isaiah jumped over a pile of tires, maintaining his pace perfectly. "This is why I'm not buying into all that hero worship crap. Actions speak louder than catchphrases."
As he completed his circuit and the quest marker for his daily 10km run flashed to indicate completion, Isaiah found himself standing once more at the edge of Takoba Beach. The sun was now touching the horizon, casting long shadows across the junkyard coastline.
A notification appeared:
► Quest Complete! 「Stop Being So Pathetic」
Rewards Issued:
- +50 Attribute Points (AP)
- Stamina Recovery (Recovers Stamina from work out exhaustion)
Current AP: 520/520
Followed immediately by another:
AP Rank-Up Fee: 500 AP
Confirm Rank-Up?
Isaiah looked at the confirmation, then at the beach, then at his hands—still smooth and uncalloused, but stronger than they had been just days ago.
"One small step for a scumbag," he muttered, pressing the confirm button. "One giant leap for scumbag-kind."
The world around him began to glow silver.