"The powered armor is just an external aid." Walking up to Atlas, Jeff shook his head. "I wouldn't rely on this type of strength if I were you."

"Is your strength truly yours?" Atlas growled.

In a quick moment, Atlas had controlled himself.

"Well. I earned every bit of it, through fighting, and training. I rely only on myself." Jeff nodded in certainly.

"How do you explain your abilities!" Atlas clenched his teeth.

"Everly, Patient in level negative four, me, we are all category 4s. If Everly can have basically unlimited storage, and Patient can make this armor for you, why can't I make up abilities?" Jeff asked back.

Atlas: ...

(Patient is a codename)

(Category 4: people who have abilities beyond the psychic, physical, and mana systems)

"Alright." Standing above Atlas, Jeff leaned forward. "Enough chatter."

Now that Atlas had cooled off, Jeff's expression turned serious. "Listen. Just because we are hunters, it doesn't mean we aren't good enough to become formal employees. Got it?"

"We are hunters because we prefer a free lifestyle. We don't like 9 to 5s with a fixed pay. Got it?" Jeff looked at Atlas dead in the eyes.

"And since we are just contractors, that means we don't have to stay here. We can leave at any time."

"You can try your conscription order, or play underhanded moves. Then we will leave. All of us."

"And the people of the sanctuary will side with our decisions, every single time. Got it?"

"We are welcomed everywhere else. We are not your subordinates. And we are not wimps who are too scared to fight back. Understand?"

"So curb your sense of pride, and stop looking down on us." Jeff raised his brows. "Well. You are Atlas after all. I trust that you'll keep your promises."

"But if your subordinates play funny moves, don't be surprised if we retaliate. You can count on my words as well." Jeff stood up straight again.

Fixing his suit a little, Jeff turned to leave.

"You will regret this..." Atlas growled.

"Hmmm. I'm not sure if I can agree." Leaving a casual wave, Jeff left.

"Arrrrgggh!" Atlas smashed his hand into the silt.

150 meters was not that much of a distance. In a moment, Jeff had returned to the beach.

Looking at Jeff, the hunters exchanged surprised gazes.

Even fighting at that level, Jeff was still unscratched.

The S-ranks looked at Jeff as if Jeff was a monster. Unconsciously bowing a little, they looked at Jeff in reverence and confusion.

They had the same question in mind. Defeating an SSS-rank in seconds. Did that mean that Jeff had reached a tier above SSS-rank? Did that tier even exist?

Their attitude towards the other hunters have changed as well. This battle had shuttered their pride.

Seeing this result, Jeff smiled a little. Things were heading in a better direction.

Loud panting could be heard.

Looking in that direction... It's the security squad leader. The dude looked at Jeff with a terrified face.

"Atlas is over there." Jeff nodded at the dude. "He might need some help... in getting out of that metal suit."

"Now that's resolved." Jeff pointed at the cove with his chin. "Let's get back to business."

...

...

After this little incident, life pretty much went back to normal again.

3 PM.

[Alice's House of Wonders]

There were no customers here at this hour. Sitting by a table, Jeff, Alice, Liam, and Cindy the waitress played a card game.

"So Jeff." Liam pulled a card out of Jeff's hand.

"This is Jeff speaking." Jeff smiled.

Liam stared at the card in his hand for a moment. Casually shuffling his cards, the dude cleared this throat. "We are planning to redo the battle prowess rankings. SS-ranks. SSS-ranks. It's just a pain to say. And the gap between S-ranks can be pretty big. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Oh. I got ideas." Alice confidently smiled. Grabbing a card from Liam, the girl turned to Cindy.

"Ok?"

"How about Warrant officer, lieutenant, captain..."

"So like the army?" Liam nodded in thought, considering the viability of this suggestion.

"Kind of." Alice nodded. "Also commodore, admiral, and fleet admiral."

Liam looked at Alice with a raised brow in confusion. Wait...

"So the straw hat pirate system." Jeff's cheek twitched a little.

"Exactly." Alice nodded.

"Allllright...? Erhm. Yeah... So..." Liam nodded and looked around. Looked like this dude was searching for a new topic.

"Oh. How about this! How about just a number for battle prowess?" Alice offered.

"Ok. Hmm..." Liam nodded in agreement. "Yeah. That sounds pretty darn good."

"Let's use Jeff as a reference. What number would you give him?"

"Over 9 000."

"... The Goku anime huh..." Liam nodded.

"Exactly."

In the end, there were no changes done to the current ranking system.

...

...

A few days later... 5 AM in the morning.

"Jeff, what are you doing in my kitchen?" Alice looked at Jeff with sleepy eyes.

"Uhh..." Jeff froze to think for a second. "I'm either making milk chocolate, or chocolate milk. At this point, I can't be sure..."

"And what's that?" Alice pointed at a plate full of fried eggs. There had to be a dozen of them.

Some were still half-raw. Some were overcooked, burnt, or broken.

"Well. I was trying make sunny sides. And uhh... It took a few tries." Jeff grabbed onto another plate. There were two good ones.

"But hey, it worked out." Jeff brightly smiled.

Alice stared at Jeff and puffed up her cheeks.

"Jeff?"

"This is Jeff speaking."

"The eggs are cold now."

"I can microwave it." Jeff flicked his brows.

Alice sucked in a lung full of air. Her ears were flashed red now. "So this is what you are getting me for Valentine's day?"

"And this." Jeff popped a bracelet into his hand. "Mainly this actually."

It's a silver bracelet with a golden heart attached. A bracelet jewelry? Not really. It's more of an accessory that looked like a bracelet. Kind of.

This accessory was kind of like Jeff's flip phone. Not really a flip phone.

Grabbing this shiny gift, Alice looked at Jeff with a raised brow.

"You can call me with it." Jeff smiled and nodded. "It's like a smart watch. You know. Connects to your phone via bluetooth. But there is no phone, and no bluetooth. And no watch... Yep."

Alice's eyes glistened hearing this.

"Yep. Just press the heart to call me."

"Awww... Thank you darling. Now if you please, please get out of my kitchen."

"Yes chef. Sorry chef." Jeff hugged the girl and whispered something into her ear.

Alice's face flashed red.

...

A few days later...

In the living room, Jeff and Alice sat on a couch by each other. In front of them, there was a big sack of letters.

"A very poetic invite for lunch..." Alice quickly read through a pink letter. Nodding for a moment, the girl threw the letter into a plastic bin.

"Invite for dinner..." The girl grabbed and read through another glinting letter.

"Invite for an one-night stand?!" Alice looked at Jeff.

"You know I won't." Jeff met Alice's gaze.

"Yep. I know."

Reading thank you letters became one of the couple's after-dinner activities now.

Though... There were some weird invitation letters mixed in... And not just from girls either...

Umm... Yeah...

Nevertheless, most were normal though.

Reading through a letter, Jeff lightly smiled. It's good to know that his donations were actually helping people.

It's also good to know that the hunters he'd saved were doing well now.

Looking at the ceiling, Jeff took a deep breath.

Ever since this world got fogged up, it's been a struggle for most people. Even the top 3% C-ranks were small guys in this world. Now imagine the majority of E-ranks.

Sure, Jeff was transitioning into sage tier. But on a grand scale, there's actually not much Jeff could do.

But at least here, in Berrystone, things were heading for the better.

'This hard time will pass eventually. Good days will be back again.'

'There are dangers in this world.'

'There are unfairness and injustice in this world.'

'I'll just have to punch my way through, one obstacle at a time.'