"What the fu-" Before Josh finished saying something vulgar Clay interrupted him.
"So, how was the experience?" Clay asked with a wry smile.
"Weird, weird but kinda cool?" Josh was confused about what he was feeling right now.
"Same here buddy, same here" Clay related.
'Oh, I still have to claim the reward from the quest' Clay thought excitedly.
Clay looked at the unclosed prompt in his vision before clicking on yes twice as it is now a normal occurrence.
'I'm quite lucky huh' Clay thought looking at the unallocated stat points as he suddenly felt itchy all over his body.
'What, why am I so itchy' Clay scratched the itch that was covering his entire body.
'What's going on' Clay grew more worried seeing that the itch isn't showing any signs of stopping.
*Ding!*
Then the itchiness disappeared as fast as it came replaced with the same relaxing sensation the moment the system notification popped up.
'Oh, turns out I just leveled up' Clay sighed in relief.
'Wait a minute, I leveled up... ISN'T THAT A BIG DEAL?!' Clay sure took his sweet time processing that his level went up by one and immediately opened his stat sheet.
Stats|
Race: Human|
Level: 4(40/115)|
Health: 70/70|
MP: 35/35|
Strength: 16|
Agility: 15|
Intelligence: 11|
Dexterity: 16|
Vitality: 14|
Mystic: 3|
Mapping: 3|
Unallocated Stat point(s): 5|
Remarks: Above average human specimen for their respective age and level|
Relishing in his newfound strength, Clay nodded seeing that all his stats had undergone an increase, resulting in his hp and mp increasing as well.
"-ay"
'I wonder how strong I am compared to normal people now' Clay pondered.
"Clay"
'Can I punch through stone?' Clay daydreamed.
"Clay!"
'Or maybe I can jump really high now, I should test that later' Clay placed that thought on his things to do later list.
"CLAY!" Josh grabbed Clay's shoulders and shook him so much that his soul nearly flew out of his body.
"GWARAGFAGWARA" A weird sound escaped Clay's mouth as he was being shaken.
Seeing that Clay finally responded instead of looking at the floor with his hand rubbing his chin, only then did Josh stop the shaking.
"What, what, wha-" Clay could only mutter those words as he was clutching his head from the dizziness.
"What happened man? You just stood there and scratched yourself all over your body, are you okay?" Josh was concerned.
"Oh, about that, I leveled up" Clay scratched his head.
"Wow. You leveled up huh, so what's your level now? Josh asked curiously.
"I'm level four" Clay responded proudly.
An awkward silence ensued as Josh stared at Clay with an 'oh, that's it?' face.
"Why are you quiet, weren't you the one that asked?!?!" Clay's face reddened up, shouting to hide his embarrassment.
"I was just surprised, that's all" Josh said with a straight face.
'Surprised?! AT LEAST ACT LIKE IT!!' Clay was having a mental breakdown.
'I WORKED HARD FOR FOUR WEEKS, YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU HAVE A B CLASS SYSTEM' Clay thought, almost wanting to scream in Josh's ears, but of course, he wouldn't really do that, as Josh probably didn't know that Clay worked very, very hard, so why should Clay scream at someone who doesn't understand the complete situation?
'Alright, how about I give you a taste of your own medicine' Clay thought with a petty heart.
"How about you? What's your level?" Clay asked innocently, preparing to jump at what Josh would say next if his level is even remotely as low as his.
"I'm level 11" Josh replied quickly, there was no malice or a bragging tone in his voice, as if he was just saying something normal.
Clay tripped while standing in place on flat ground and fell, landing on his knees and hands looking down at the ground as tears swelled up in his eyes.
'My heart can't take it anymore' Clay's initial joy after leveling up disappeared fast like the breeze.
"You okay bud?" Josh asked in a worried tone.
Little did Josh know that what he had said had damaged Clay's tiny ego even more, as there was no mocking tone in his voice which made it even worse.
Not being able to take it the embarrassment anymore, Clay made a dash for his map, grabbed it, clicked on the teleport button, and dissipated into light particles shortly after.
Josh who was dumbfounded watching this scene couldn't even speak a word before Clay disappeared.
"Bye, I guess?" Josh muttered to no one in particular.
..
.
Some time had passed since Clay had made an unannounced visit to the Daskt estate, it was now dinner time for Clay and many other households.
Clay sat on the dinner table hunched with both hands at the sides of his face as he kept remembering what had happened in Josh's home earlier.
While Clay was still attempting to forget about what had happened as Mrs. Mapa appeared bringing food with her and placing them on the table, Belle came to the dinner table shortly after.
The family gave thanks as they ate, with Clay still unable to forget the embarrassment he had felt, he just wished he could go back in time and change what had happened so he wouldn't feel like wanting to hide in a hole till now.
'What's done is done, I can't change it again' Clay sighed with a heavy heart.
'On the bright side, I leveled up and my map is now very awesome' Clay tried cheering himself up but to no avail, as he inserted the spoon filled with soup into his mouth.
Seeing that Clay was eating slower than before Belle couldn't stop her curiosity from leaking.
"What happened Clay?" Belle tilted her head as she asked Clay.
"Nothing" Clay's voice was so depressed that it grated one's ears and could make them feel down.
"Oh" Knowing that Clay wouldn't speak further, Belle didn't continue prying.
And so, it was the next day.