Level Up The Colony-Chapter 21: Hunters Association Hospital

"Good evening," Timothy greeted.

"Shut up and come out! Who are you!?" the man barked, pointing his shotgun closer, his voice sharp with authority.

Timothy, already recognizing the man and his character, quickly yelled back

"It's me! Timothy! I live here!"

A bright flashlight beamed into his face through the window, forcing him to squint as the glare blinded him.

"I said, come out!" the man insisted.

Keeping his hands raised, Timothy slowly backed away from the window, reaching for the door handle behind him.

He turned it open without making any sudden moves.

"Don't try anything stupid while I come over," the man warned, keeping both the flashlight and shotgun trained on him.

Within seconds, the man had made his way to the front door, where Timothy stood motionless.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I live here. I just got back," Timothy answered.

The man narrowed his eyes in suspicion, taking in Timothy's disheveled appearance, bare-chested, reeking of sweat, and wearing torn trousers.

He flashed the light in his face again, as if needing a second confirmation.

"Who are you with?"

"No one. I'm alone," Timothy replied.

"Move aside," the older man ordered, shoving him aside before sweeping his flashlight across the interior.

He scanned every corner but found nothing out of place.

"I wasn't aware you and your mother had returned. I thought you no longer lived here," he said with a sigh, finally lowering his gun slightly.

Timothy remained calm as he replied,

"She's not back. I came alone. I was just about to check on her."

The man's expression darkened.

"How is she? Haven't they released her yet? What about your siblings?"

Timothy hesitated before answering,

"No... They just took her back morning. I haven't gone to see her yet."

The shift in the man's demeanor was immediate.

His brows furrowed, and his voice rose in anger.

"What do you mean!?" he snapped.

"They just took her this morning? Since your mother was admitted, you haven't gone to see how she's doing!?"

Timothy blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean, since she was admitted?" he asked slowly.

"Children these days!" the man scoffed.

"It's been almost a month! You haven't checked on your mother even once, and you're acting like some street thug, sneaking back in like this? Look at you! You smell like trash! Maybe you went off to steal and got caught, and now that your house has been rebuilt, you're back to enjoy the benefits, eh?"

Timothy's mind blanked out the man's scolding.

Almost a month?

To him, he had only been gone for a day.

He wanted to press for more details, but seeing the way the man waved that shotgun around, he figured pushing further might get him shot.

The man was temperamental, but he was also a careful and thorough vigilante.

"Oga John!! Who dey disturb you na!?" a woman's voice suddenly yelled from a nearby building, clearly annoyed.

"No be this compound fool wey dey call himself Timothy!" Oga John shouted back in irritation.

"Night don cover, no vex! No vex! E don do! Make we sleep abeg!" the woman groaned, sounding more eager for silence than an argument.

Timothy took that as his cue to quietly step inside and lock the door behind him.

Even from inside, he could still hear Oga John grumbling for a while before things finally settled.

Yet, his mind remained restless.

I was only in there for a day.

So why was I gone for almost a month?

The only logical explanation was time dilation.

But was that even possible?

Every gate he had entered before never had such a drastic time discrepancy.

He had heard of higher-ranked gates affecting time, but never by such a wide margin.

And then the realization hit him.

Wait... I never entered a gate in the first place.

His body stiffened.

I was teleported directly to a dungeon by the system...

A layered dungeon.

Was there a difference between gates and dungeons? Did the system categorize them differently?

He clenched his fists, feeling a storm of thoughts swirling in his head.

If he wanted to continue being a hunter, he needed to find a gate that wasn't controlled by the system.

Only then could he confirm his theory.

But right now, there was something far more pressing.

His mother and siblings had been gone for too long.

He could assume they were alive, if something had happened, the news would have spread but that didn't mean they were doing well.

And then another name resurfaced in his mind.

Edward.

His jaw clenched.

The only person he had ever wanted to kill, even though it was illegal.

Memories of their last encounter flooded back, igniting a slow-burning rage within him.

The air around him grew heavy.

Gray, his termite companion, remained silent, watching.

Unaware of his own actions, Timothy's body had started emitting pheromones, an uncontrolled response to his fury.

He forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to calm down.

First, a hot bath.

Or so he thought until he realized there was no water available until morning.

Sighing, he rummaged for food, only to find that almost everything had spoiled.

Am I starving because I haven't eaten for a day... or because my body has been gone for longer? He thought to himself

The distinction was crucial.

Did his body synchronize with dungeon time, or did it remain in real-time?

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought.

There was no way to confirm it now.

And with his phone missing, he couldn't even check the internet for clues.

Resigned, he slumped onto the couch.

Sleeping on an empty stomach, with a body that reeked, wasn't ideal, but he had no other choice.

By the time he woke up the next morning, the house was eerily silent.

The stillness filled him with guilt.

Without wasting time, he switched on the water supply, relieved when it finally came on.

He quickly started filling every container he could while cleaning up the house and throwing out the spoiled food.

The house was finally comfortable enough for anyone to stay in.

At least the wall clock still worked.

It was just past eight a.m. when Timothy finished tidying up.

Now, it was time to clean himself too.

Stepping into the shower, the sensation of water against his skin felt oddly foreign, like a new layer of himself was being washed away.

He stood there for a while, adjusting to the feeling, before scrubbing himself clean.

It wasn't until his skin felt raw that he finally stepped out.

An advantage of having dark skin, he supposed.

Entering the small room he shared with his siblings, a wave of nostalgia washed over him.

With a sigh, he made his way to his closet only to freeze.

His clothes no longer fit.

The oversized shirts he barely filled out yesterday were now snug.

His trousers and joggers clung tightly to his legs.

He skimmed through his wardrobe, sifting through his limited options, until he found something that didn't make him look like a wannabe pimp.

And even then, he only found two.

Standing before the mirror, he finally noticed it.

His body had changed.

Not drastically, but enough that his muscles were now more defined, his frame more outlined.

He hadn't noticed in the bathroom, too focused on washing off grime and fatigue, but now... he could only hope he could cope with this sudden growth.

"I am your goal."

The words of the Human King echoed in his mind.

Timothy shook his head, forcing the memory away.

That was the past.

He refused to relive those moments.

But the system had other plans.

DING!

[Daily Quest: A Strong Body]

Push-ups – 200: Incomplete (0/200)

Sit-ups – 200: Incomplete (0/200)

Squats – 200: Incomplete (0/200)

Running – 20 km: Incomplete (0/20)

Warning: Failure to complete will result in a penalty.

Timothy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"This is outrageous!"

He almost shouted, but nothing changed.

"Why did my daily quest double all of a sudden?"

He stared at the screen, feeling like crying.

Then, a thought crossed his mind.

'Is this punishment for skipping the last two days? The system actually let me off lightly?.'

With a sigh, he resigned himself to the inevitable.

"It's probably a one-time thing. I'll do it on the way, I'm already late. I need to go to the hospital."

Just as he hurried downstairs

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DING!

[You received a gift from ??? Human King]

"Huh?"

A translucent fabric materialized mid-air and floated into his palm.

The moment it made contact with his skin, it shifted to a deep brown hue, about half a meter in length.

"What the...?"

The material was thick, strong, yet elastic.

[Item: Silk Cloth ???]

Rarity: D

Type: Control

Note: Grow it yourself.

Timothy raised a brow. "The note though..."

Before he could finish, the cloth elongated, wrapping itself around his neck like a scarf, snugly covering his exposed chest.

His breath hitched.

"Oh... it's alive?"

The cloth adjusted to fit him perfectly.

"So that's what 'grow it yourself' means? Guess I'll find out later."

Adjusting his outfit, he dashed out of the house, heading toward the Hunters Association Hospital.

---

Timothy alternated between walking, jogging, and running along the way.

By the time he arrived, he was drenched in sweat, but not out of breath.

He had paced himself well.

[Daily Quest: A Strong Body]

Push-ups – 200: Incomplete (0/200)

Sit-ups – 200: Incomplete (0/200)

Squats – 200: Incomplete (0/200)

Running – 20 km: Complete (20/20)

Despite his nerves, he stepped into the hospital.