Victim

'Kekekeke, that young man probably has a lot of valuables in that bag of his. And with my steal system, those items are as good as mines!' A suspicious cloak-wearing individual thought as he watched Clay from behind, occasionally ducking behind cover or putting on a disguise whenever Clay looked his way.

'Strange, why do I feel like someone's staring at me' Clay squinted his eyes as he glanced behind his back.

'It's no use, my steal system can warn me before you even think about looking my way, so don't blame me for what's about to happen, blame yourself for not being capable enough!' the cloaked man laughed and made a dash, reaching for Clay's bag once he saw his chance.

'This bag is mine!' The cloaked man barely touched Clay's bag, which was enough for him to activate his steal system that only has the condition of having to be in contact with an object.

*Ding!*

<Error, |Stealing| couldn't be activated>

'What?! I'm pretty sure I touched the bag and activated my skill with the perfect timing!' The cloaked man widened his eyes as he stopped moving to read the text.

"Uhh, hello? Do you need anything?" Clay turned around as he felt the slight vibration of the bag being grazed.

'I wonder if he's the reason why I feel like someone was staring at me' Clay narrowed his eyes at the man trying to see his face because his hood was blocking it.

"Sorry, wrong person, my bad" The cloaked man rubbed his head as he apologized, and the cloaked person soon walked away from the confrontation.

'As if that'll happen! My agility stat is quite high, I doubt this greenhorn who only probably got his system this year has higher stats than me! I can just try to activate my skill again because my calculations must've been off. Yeah! That surely must be why it failed to activate, this time, I'll grab the bag, so there's no chance for failure' The cloaked man decided to try again.

'Luck won't save you now, young man!' The cloaked man sprinted for Clay's bag, not even bothering to hide the sound of his footsteps.

"What are you doin-" Clay, who turned around couldn't finish his sentence before his bag was aggressively grabbed by the cloaked person.

"Your bag is mine! Steal!" The cloaked man shouted, grabbing the bag while activating his skill this time.

*Ding!*

<Error, |Stealing| couldn't be activated>

"Huh?" The cloaked man read the text and froze.

*Thud*

Clay pushed the cloaked man on the chest with an open palm causing the person to fly backwards at frightening speeds, so much so, that the man appeared to be parallel to the ground for a second before ultimately rolling on the coarse gravel.

Clay held his breath, as he realized what he had done. The suddenness of the situation led him to not be able to control his strength, which in turn caused him to lash out with much more power than he wanted, and that power concentrated all in his palm landed directly on the chest of the aggressor who seemed like the victim now based on how the situation looked from the outside.

Clay looked around nervously, hoping no one saw him.

He knew it was wrong, but he had to escape the scene, he couldn't let anyone see what he had done, he was too afraid of the consequences.

Clay took out a random map and selected somewhere, anywhere, as long as he teleports to anywhere but here, and someone could appear at any time so he had to do this fast.

And with Clay's current stats, being fast is no problem, Clay selected an area and clicked the button.

...

..

.

"Gurgh... Grah... Ghmm" I tried gasping for air as I clutched my chest with my right hand.

It felt... Crushed. I looked at my hand.

Is that... Blood? It's Blood. A lot of Blood. The blood painted my entire hand red.

And... Pain. So much pain... Am I dreaming? Am I dying? What happened?

Ah, I remember. I tried stealing from that kid. And then... Did I get hit? With what?

It hurts... everything hurts... h-help... m...

I tried to scream but words wouldn't come out of my mouth, instead, there were only gargles that came out.

I'm suffocating, I can't move... Someone... Please...

My thoughts slowly drifted away as the only thing I could feel was pain and then... Nothing.

...

..

.

Clay leaned on the wall of an alley he had stumbled in.

He slid down the wall slowly and sat there contemplating what he had just done.

Not only did he harm someone and potentially take their life. He had also escaped in order to not deal with the repercussions.

Clay covered his face with his hands, his lips quivering.

'What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What...' Clay hyperventilated as the situation he had hoped would never happen, happened, the one where he failed to control his strength and harm another person because of his lack of control.

Clay's thoughts were broken when 4 people appeared from the shadows.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, are you lost, boy?" A rough-looking man with a strong build who seemed to be the leader approached Clay with a fake smile.

"Uhh, n-no?" Clay turned to look at the small group of men who could barely fit in the alley due to it being a little narrow.

"Oh, then you should know that crossing this alley isn't free you know? You gotta pay up" The man grinned with clear malice in his eyes.

"B-but I didn't know tha-" Clay got cut off.

"Then why did you say that you weren't lost? Everybody knows that they gotta pay us to get through us" The man laughed along with the rest of the group.

"I'm s-sorry, I'll get going then" Clay tried getting up, but was stopped.

"Tsk, Tsk, you're already here, you gotta cough up the money now, hmm... about seven silts should do" The man grinned even more as he clasped his burly hands on Clay's shoulders.

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