Ow

Clay slowly approached Josh from behind, unknown of the unlucky fate that would soon befall him, Clay continued tip-toeing to where Josh was standing, and moments later Clay was now directly standing behind Josh within arms reach.

Going over the plan one last time in his head, Clay decided to finally act.

Extending his hand out to tap Josh's shoulders, Clay shouted.

"BOO!"

"AHH!" Josh snapped his fingers while turning around.

Clay froze as he heard the snap.

*Thud*

A muffled thud sounded out as Clay was sent blasting away for about five meters before landing and rolling over sideways.

Josh who was still wary of the figure that had approached him without him noticing looked over at the facial features of this mysterious person only to be shocked as he saw a familiar face.

"CLAY?!" Josh ran over to where Clay was, who was lying down clutching his stomach area.

"Ugh" Clay groaned as he winced at the pain in his abdomen, every time he inhaled and exhaled a sharp pain would sprout up from the area his right lung was with the pain extending to even his shoulder.

Clay couldn't hear any of what Josh had said as he was too distracted by the pain in his upper right body to pay any heed to what Josh was saying.

Clay was hit on the right side of his ribcage which fractured a rib and pierced his right lung.

"Don't worry I can heal you" Josh who was horrified at what he had done told Clay that it was going to be alright.

Josh then hastily began to search up his system shop looking for items that could heal Clay.

Meanwhile, Clay who was badly injured was rethinking his choice.

'Of all the outcomes I expected this definitely isn't what thought of, but I expected the unexpected so it doesn't count' Clay grimaced as he tried to mentally comfort himself while gulping for air.

Josh who had finally found the perfect item to heal Clay up looked over to where Clay was lying, seeing that he was still wriggling energetically full of life, Josh was relieved.

"There's still time to heal you, thank goodness I didn't use any more power, you could've been a goner, why would you even do that?!" Josh thought aloud scolding Clay who was too much in pain to notice that he was being scolded.

Josh clicked on the purchase button in his system causing a bright light to appear on the floor in front of him revealing a syringe-like object containing light blue fluid that was glistening under the sun.

Grabbing the syringe Josh carefully pierced the needle under Clay's skin before injecting its contents inside Clay's body.

Clay felt a prick on his leg but compared to the pain in his chest, the one on his leg seemed like an ant competing against an elephant.

Soon, Clay realized that the pain was getting lesser and lesser by the minute, and after a while, he felt that the pain was totally gone, confused Clay looked around and saw Josh squatting beside him, forgetting that his friend was even there and was also the cause of the injury.

A tick mark appeared on Clay's forehead as he remembered that Josh was the one that attacked him.

"Why would you even do that?!" Clay vented out his anger on Josh.

"Well it is kind of your fault for scaring me" Josh responded while scratching his head.

'He does have a point' Clay thought as he calmed down a bit.

"Anyway, what's done is done, what are you doing out here anyways" Clay sighed as he was wondering what Josh was doing outside the village.

"Oh, I'm doing my quest, it needs me to kill three monsters" Josh replied, thankful that Clay had calmed down.

"A quest, huh, how much exp would that give?" Clay was curious.

"About a thousand" Josh gave out a quick and honest answer that doesn't seem like boasting at all.

Clay: ...

'Maybe it was better to feel that earlier pain rather than having my fragile pride crumble' Clay shed a single tear from his eye, reminiscing the past where he still had some pride.

Then a roar was heard in the forest.

Both friends turned to the forest only to see a giant bear with spikes along its back, it was as tall as two adult humans stacked on top of each other, and that was when it stood on four legs. if it stood on two legs it could probably reach double that height, the bear was approaching fast.

"Uhh, Josh, are you confident about fighting that monster? Cause if you aren't I'm ready to use my map just so you know" Clay stood up and took a step back in fear.

"Relax I've fought this bear, like one time already" Josh tried reassuring Clay.

'That doesn't sound reassuring at all!' Clay mentally screamed.

The bear roared again, this time it was much more closer than before, it was already in the place where the abomination had died previously.

Right when it was around ten meters away from the duo, Josh finally snapped his fingers, much to Clay's relief.

The bear that was running toward them suddenly got launched up, as if a giant invisible hammer struck under its belly sending it flying.

Josh snapped again, this time the bear was sent crashing downwards like its weight had suddenly been multiplied by ten.

The bear, now on the ground with its limbs sprawled out wasn't going after Clay and Josh anymore as it had become too dizzy to even stand up straight.

Leaving no breathing room for the bear, Josh snapped again. Causing the plus-sized bear head to get flattened into meat paste. The tough skull of the bear offered little to no resistance at all to the invisible force pressing down on it.

Clay was once again amazed at this scene, surprised at how Josh could defeat such a monster with ease.

'What if I can get some exp from killing a monster as well' a thought Clay quickly dismissed as he was too weak to do anything, even with Josh's help.

Josh then made sure the monster was dead before turning his attention to the system notification that resounded in his ears.

____________________________________________________________________________________

The mysterious man finally arrived at the place he was looking for.

Standing in front of a building that was quite old but still amazing if he were to compare it to the standards of his hometown. He soon entered the building and went up to the first floor using a metal box that brought him upwards by just pressing a button, quite an eye-opening invention to the man for sure, but he quickly composed himself as it was nothing compared to the other surprises he had experienced.

The man then exited the metal box, walking towards a door on his left.