Chapter 2: An Ex Hunter Family

“I’m home!” Jacob said after removing his shoes and placing them on the shoe rack. He closed the door behind him and directly walked up the stairs to his room. Halfway up the stairs, someone shouted.

“Useless bro! Don’t come outside. My friends will be here any minute. I don’t want them to know we have an otaku at home!”

The voice was of a youthful energetic girl echoed from the drawing room downstairs. Jacob stopped for a moment. He remembered his status in the family and his relationship with his sister. Even more downcast, he said, “I know.”

He walked up to his room and threw his bag on his bed before settling in his gaming chair.

‘Man, what a low blow. Is this the standard for an otaku these days? Just a weak mana poisoned body, an antisocial personality, and an addiction to anime and manga and you label me an otaku?’ he thought of the injustice.

But all the thinking ended with a sigh.

‘My body can cause my death any time. I’m 50% weaker than those my age. I can’t do any hard physical activity. My old self didn’t even study properly. He just went to school to be beaten. What should I even do in this life?’ he roared.

‘Will my graduation exam end up as my funeral?’ he shuddered.

Jacob felt like he had the worst conditions ever as a transmigrator and he didn’t even receive his golden finger!

“Whatever,” he muttered. “I will not go down without a fight,” he said as his eyes shone with seriousness. He quickly opened up his books and threw aside the manga books, anime figurines aside. He was now ready to cram as much knowledge as he could to stay alive!

***

“It’s time for dinner! Come or starve, your choice!”

Awoken by the door banging and harsh words, Jacob wiped the drool off his face and off the page above which he slept.

“I’m coming, Ruby,” he replied, still with dazed eyes. After rubbing them for a bit, he hurried downstairs while muttering, “What kind of people are these hunters? This is like studying for a PHD!”

The difficulty of studying the syllabus nearly made Jacob give up. But when he remembered this could save his life, he planned to persist. He entered the kitchen with the dining table and sat in his usual spot then finally took a look at his family in this life.

Ruby Maxwell, his sister was 14 this year, in 8th grade. She was an extrovert with plenty of friends in her class. With a white complexion, and a youthful body, she had plenty of male fans.

“What are you looking at? Never seen someone like me before?” she snapped.

Jacob shook his head and started taking the rice and curry into his plate.

‘Yeah, I nearly forgot that she’s got a terrible relationship with me. To think she used to call me big bro once. Huh. But I don’t care anymore. I got to focus on graduating first.’

He was still behaving like the old Jacob, so no one suspected a thing. Jacob then looked at his father, Peter Maxwell. The man was ripped like a bodybuilder but was missing a left leg due to an accident 8 years ago in 2050.

‘That’s also the time I got mana poisoning.’ Jacob’s eyes shone with hatred at the thought of the person who destroyed his near perfect family.

“You have a supervised dungeon dive tomorrow?” Peter asked nonchalantly.

“Yes father.”

“Then you have a graduating exam a month later?”

Jacob knew his father had good connections as he was a retired E Rank Hunter. So this question didn’t surprise him.

“Yes father.”

“Say goodbye to your mother before you leave tomorrow. Who knows if you’ll..”

Jacob looked up but understood what his father was saying.

‘Who knows if I’ll survive tomorrow? Nobody with a mana poisoned body has survived as long as me after all.’

“Yes father.”

The meal continued in silence and Ruby didn’t continue with the usual routine of mocking her brother. Perhaps she felt the need to allow him one night of peace before his dungeon dive tomorrow or she was perhaps happy that the family burden would disappear in the dungeon.

You are reading story I Also Level Up at novel35.com

Jacob was not surprised when he went to the main bedroom on the ground floor after dinner and saw the condition of his mother. He stood by the door and stared at the sleepy beauty. It seemed as though time had not left a trace on her.

He was mesmerized by the charm she naturally emitted but woke up to reality. Even though she seemed like she would wake up from a kiss from the fated hero, she wouldn’t.

“She’s in coma. That too for the past 8 years,” Jacob said to himself. “That one illegal fight between D Rank hunters broke down the building and broke down my family as well,” he remembered the culprits.

But what could he do? Nothing. The enemy was a D Rank Hunter after all!

***

After reaching the Hunter High school next day after a 15 minute trip in the bus, Jacob quickly reached his classroom. He was decked in leather armor his father had given him. His only weapon was a dagger from his father’s dungeon diving days that hung from his belt.

It seemed though his father didn’t show any love on a usual day, it was still present.

Jacob noticed his first team mate, the person he was most dependent on to help him survive external danger.

“Sumei!” he waved his hand as he approached her.

She was decked in leather armor like him, but she held a staff with a rather creepy skull on the top.

“Jacob,” she nodded. It seemed as though she was over yesterday’s incident of being scammed which greatly relieved Jacob.

“Whose our third member?” he asked while looking around the class. He quickly spotted Kevin and his gang of bullies. They made eye contact and Kevin sneered. “Oh no. Not again,” Jacob sighed.

“Oo look who we have here? Is it a hunter? Or is it a waste?” Kevin surrounded him with his five goons.

Jacob remained silent as he didn’t have the power to fight back and further resistance would only result in more ass kicking. But nobody noticed his clenched fists that resulted his long nails in piercing his hands and drawing out blood.

It looked as though Kevin’s guts grew as the class remained silent. He had never done this in front of others in a classroom before. As he raised his arm for a more intimate greeting, a voice of opposition arose.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” Sumei stepped forward. She didn’t feel like she was defending Jacob. She was defending the rules of the classroom. “This is no place to get in a fight.” She stared at Kevin without fear.

“You…” Kevin wanted to give into his impulses for once, but finally restrained himself. He knew better than to touch a member of the student council.

“Stop thinking that bullying Jacob will make Angela like you. In fact, she doesn’t even care about you. Look.” Sumei pointed across the room.

Her initial words made Kevin angry, but he still looked at the last seat beside the window. There was a cold beauty with long silver hair but red eyes staring outside. She didn’t even seem to notice the commotion happening inside the room.

“I told you!” Jacob finally spoke. “She doesn’t hate me! I only bought the last copy of her favorite manga in a store and she fought with me to get it. That’s it!”

He finally couldn’t hold it in after realizing the main reason Kevin bullied him. Even though his old self was too self conscious to tell it in front of others, he didn’t care.

“Even if you beat me up, she won’t like you. Did you get that?” he added.

Kevin’s face burnt with some embarrassment after realizing the situation and the stares of his classmates. Soon that embarrassment turned to rage and his reason for beating up Jacob changed from chasing after love to a personal grudge.

Just as he once again raised his hand, the sound of the door opening stopped him.

“Looks like we have a show going on. What do you think you’re doing Kevin?” Mr. Adam’s stern voice made Kevin gulp. He quickly brought his hand down and signaled his goons to take a seat.

“N-nothing sir. We were just talking about today’s dungeon dive and I was sharing some tips from my uncle. That’s it!” Kevin said while trying to sound normal.

Mr. Adam started at him for a second then went to the podium.

“Well, that better be it. I’m sure you don’t want to lose the qualifications to attend the Graduation Exam. Don’t forget the rules. Got that?”

“Yes sir!” Kevin sighed in relief then sat down.

“Now that you’re all here, it’s time to do your first Dungeon Diving!”

You can find story with these keywords: I Also Level Up, Read I Also Level Up, I Also Level Up novel, I Also Level Up book, I Also Level Up story, I Also Level Up full, I Also Level Up Latest Chapter