Lesson Learned
*Ding!*
<Host has received a quest, open quest?>
'Huh? A quest?' Clay thought with his mind still in disarray.
'Open quest' Clay thought after some hesitation, realizing that even though he had a faster thought process than normal people, time would still pass, meaning he had to make a decision fast, even if he still hadn't gotten over the previous incident.
*Ding!*
<Accepted quest>
|Quest name: You Dare Attack Me?|
\Defeat some goons/
{Fight and defeat 4 grown men (0/4)}
|Quest rewards: 1000 SC, 500 EXP, 35 Stat Points, and [Basic Combat] skill|
|Quest Failure Penalty: -20 Experience|
|Quest Time Limit: 30 Minutes|
<Accept Quest?>
[Yes/No]
'Basic combat? What's that? I have no time to think about that right now... Fine, accept quest'
*Ding!*
<Accepted quest>
Clay ran out of time as by now, 4 seconds had already passed outside his thoughts, which seemed very awkward since the burly man was just holding onto Clay's shoulder's in silence for 4 whole seconds.
Even with his level of shamelessness the burly man couldn't help but feel a tinge of discomfort due to the long silence, causing him to erupt in anger once he thought about it, after all, when had he ever been treated like this? He had already said to the boy to cough up some money yet he was ignored? In front of his friends too. He must teach this boy a lesson, the burly man thought.
The man squinted his eyes and exerted some strength into his fingers.
"Huh?" The man furrowed his brows.
He then exerted some more force into his fingers which caused some veins to pop out.
"What the?!" The man felt like he was trying to crush adamantium when he tried gripping Clay's shoulders, one of the toughest materials he had heard but had never seen.
The man let go of Clay but he was too late. His arm was already grabbed by the boy's comically small hands compared to his barrel-thick forearms.
"AHHHHHH!" Clay's fingers dug deep into the man's skin causing him to scream.
Clay froze and let go upon hearing the scream, he almost did it again. He can't let that happen again.
*Ding!*
<|$^)%#$%'s Gift| activated, host is invulnerable for 7 seconds>
'What?' Clay read the text as the world around him began to turn into a lifeless grey, causing all living beings and non-living objects to stop in their tracks.
'It happened again, what caused it this time? And why didn't it activate when I didn't get grabbed?' Clay questioned the skill's credibility.
5 seconds left on the invulnerability state.
At this moment, because of all the things lining up perfectly, Clay remembered an experiment he didn't have the courage to try before.
'What if I interact with people during this period' A dangerous thought appeared in Clay's mind.
3 seconds.
'Should I do it? No one would care if one of these people disappeared right?'
'What did I think of just now?! You can't do that! But I can... Just... Just be gentle...' Clay approached the man and controlled his strength to lightly shove the man backward.
'That should be a harmless push right?'
0 seconds left.
<Detected no harm has been done to host, a cooldown of 1 minute has been granted to ability |$^)%#$%'s Gift|>
As the world turned back to its bright and lively colors, the man who previously grabbed Clay by the shoulders had also been brought to life. But he fell backward the moment Clay's ability duration ended.
"Oof!" The man landed right on his buttocks.
He didn't know what was going on but he definitely felt that what had happened right now had something to do with the boy given that he was standing right in front of him, the gruff man didn't see the small boy move but he had a hunch that this was done by him.
Veins popped on the man's forehead as he felt the shame of being pushed by someone under the watchful eyes of his buddies.
The man got up with speed that didn't match his size and pounced at Clay.
"You bastard!" The man screamed as he swiped his arms at Clay, thinking that he would feel the softness of flesh, but instead, he felt air.
The man looked down puzzled as to why he didn't feel the tearing of flesh he had expected.
The man turned around but was too late.
Thump
The burly man's body had hit the ground face-first, revealing Clay with his hand in a chopping posture in the area of what previously would have been the neck of the man.
"Örn!" The three men called out, surprised at how their friend got knocked out.
"You little brat!" A shorter man with a beard rushed at Clay with his fists raised.
Woosh.
"Huh?" The short man who had thrown his fist at Clay only punched the air as he hit an afterimage of the boy instead of the boy himself.
Whack.
It was lights out for the short man as well, as Clay had appeared behind his back seemingly like teleportation without anyone noticing.
"Y-You-" The third person in the group couldn't even finish his sentence before he was also sent to the dream realm.
Clay stood over the unconscious man while rubbing his hand.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this" Clay remarked as he learned how to control his strength better, as shown by how he hadn't done any more harm than necessary, unlike what had happened in the previous incident.
"Y-You're a monster" The last man left finished the third person's sentence.
"I think you guys are more 'monster-like' than me, given that you guys really raised your fists against a boy" Clay defended himself.
The man turned tail and ran for his life.
"Tsk, tsk, you guys started this, and yet you want to run away? Dream on, hehe get it? Since you guys are getting sent to your dreams? I guess not" Clay cringed at his own joke, slightly regretting that he had also laughed at his own joke which made it seem even more embarrassing.
To the man who was running away, Clay's laugh sounded like a devil's laugh to him.
-------
Check out my p@tre.on and support me, that would really help a ton, p@treon,com/StoryVersePremium, there is currently 1 advanced chapter, more coming soon.