This World Is Strange

[Slain 'level 1 Goblin']

+10 exp

[Slain 'level 1 Goblin']

+10 exp

[Slain 'level 1 Goblin (Special)']

+100 exp

[Total experience: 120/100]

*Ding*

[User experience has met the requirement, you will now gain one level.]

+ 1 level

+ 1 stat points

[Detected unused mastery points, would you like to use it?]

{Yes}

[Clay's status will now be shown, please place your mastery points under your desire stats.]

Level: 1 (20/200)

Health: 2/8

Willpower: 5/100

Stat Points: 1

Strength: 0.40 + 

Endurance: 0.60 + 

Agility: 0.90 + 

{+1 Strength}

[Understood, updating status window.]

Level: 1

Health: 2/10

Mana: 0/0

Willpower: 5/100

Stat Points: 0

Strength: 1.40

Endurance: 0.50

Agility: 0.70

[No additional stat points detected, the user will now rest until minimum willpower has reached 40]

....

...

..

[User's willpower has now reached 40, meeting the basic requirement to awake from slumber. Awakening now.]

..

.

"Urgh...my head..." Clay groaned as his mind began to slowly wake up from slumber, and the first person to notice this change was the person who was sitting directly beside him, Ms. Suzuki.

"Clay! Your awake, thank goodness!" Ms. Suzuki spoke with worried as she hugged Clay tightly.

Still confused, Clay scanned his surrounding and saw that the room was still somewhat dark, but now with a bit of sunshine slowly seeping through the windows instead of moonlight.

"Where are we?" Clay questioned as he looked around, noticing that the surrounding was much different than before.

"Third floor, nursing room." Ms. Suzuki replied, "It was the only place I could think of when deciding the best place for you to recover." She said as she stroke Clay's head was laying on.

"I see..." Clay's voice trailed off as a sense of exhaustion overtook him as the adrenaline from yesterday night wore off. As he was just about to fall right back to sleep, Ms. Suzuki began speaking again.

"Hey Clay?" Ms. Suzuki ask.

"Yea~?" Clay replied back tiredly.

"Do you...Do you think this is all just a bad dream we're all having?" Ms. Suzuki looked at Clay, hoping that he'll say yes.

Clay stared at Ms. Suzuki with a thought in his head.

'Bitch, Are you delusional?! You think me, almost dying and getting knocked out by some strange creature is all a bad dream?!' was what Clay wanted to shout to Ms. Suzuki's.

But all Clay said was, "No." before closing his eyes, intending to cut the conversation short.

Hearing that, Ms. Suzuki gave a weak smile before standing up to leave, giving Clay the peace he needs. But as soon as Ms. Suzuki stood up, he saw Takashi standing by the doorway of the nursing room.

"Ms. Suzuki, I think it's best to leave Clay alone to rest up. I'm sure that's what best for now." Takashi said with a smile.

Ms. Suzuki nodded her head slightly before taking one step outside the nursing room, but as soon as she did, she began to slightly hyperventilate causing her to take step back into the nursing room.

"Ms. Suzuki?" Takashi asked, confused at her actions.

"I think I'm gonna stay by Clay's side for a bit. At least until he's fully functional again to walk around." Ms. Suzuki said before heading over to Clay's bedside and siting down.

Takashi could only give a wry smile before walking away, once he was outside the view of Ms. Suzuki. A slight scowl appeared on his face before quickly disappearing as other girls were approaching him.

Inside the nursing room, Ms. Suzuki reached out her hand tentatively before holding onto Clay's hand.

'I knew it, being by your side makes me feel calm and safe.' Was the thought of Ms. Suzuki as she recalled the past night.

When this all started, she tried acting like an adult in calming everyone down. But once they came into contact with that creature. She lost all semblance of any adult and only reverted to that of helpless child.

Especially the part where she was almost raped by those creatures, if not for Clay, Ms. Suzuki wasn't sure what would have happened.

"Perhaps, that was the moment I grew to depend on you." Ms. Suzuki muttered under her breathe.

After Clay had saved her, another student who went by the name Takashi arrived alongside two other girls that followed him. We all agreed to stick together and gather as many students as we could, with Takashi leading us due to him having a torch.

At first, I clung onto Clay like snake wrapping around it's prey, although embarrassing now when I think about it. At the time, I was still in shocked and wanted to lean on someone who support.

And the only one who I could lean on after the traumatic experience was Clay, he was the only one who saved me when the creature attacked me.

And when I heard him say that he was gonna leave, my survival instinct kicked in, it screamed, 'Don't let him leave! Don't let him abandon me! He's the only who can keep me safe! If he leaves I'm going die, or worse!'

And so, without any hesitation. I clung onto Clay with every fiber of my being. Even when he said that he couldn't take care of me. I didn't care. If he didn't take me along with him, then I would have die...no I will die.

Which was why I refused to let go of him. At least, until I could keep myself sane and composed again. It wasn't until about an hour of holding onto Clay did I finally gain some semblance of control over myself.

Due to this, I was able to get off of Clay and move towards the front with Takashi, leading the way instead of letting a student do all the hard work.

"But..." Ms. Suzuki muttered.

She remembered the anxiety she felt after leaving Clay's side. The feeling of ants crawling through her body as she walked side by side with Takashi. Even though she knew that being by Takashi's side was indeed warmer.

The feeling of coldness was even more apparent followed by an immense sense of venerability. And this sense of coldness only grew stronger as time pasted, which led to her sticking closer to Takashi, in attempt to warm herself more with the torch. But even then, the feeling of coldness and venerability persisted.

The only time she felt safe and comfortable throughout the entire night was clinging to Clay, and when she saw the body of Clay's body laying on the floor, her heart dropped as a sense of newfound fear appeared in her heart.

'Clay is dead?' As soon as she thought of this, she began to hyperventilate as she hurried over to Clay's side, not even caring to stay away from the creature next to Clay. All she cared about was the health of Clay, and when she noticed that he was only unconscious. She gave a slight sigh of relief before tightly hugging onto Clay's body.

In that moment when she hugged Clay, the trembling, anxiety, and even her hyperventilating all ceased to exist. It was then that she knew just how important Clay truly was to her in that moment. The fear of losing him scared her so much that she couldn't even process the thought.

But regardless of the matter, Clay was now fine. And what really mattered in that moment was giving him a place to recover. Listening to Takashi's word, I agreed that we should find a safe place to allow Clay to rest peacefully, which was why I suggested the nursing room as that was the only room with a bed.

At first, I was worried that there might be more of those creatures, but surprisingly, we didn't even encounter any at all. I guess we just got lucky and those four we encounter last time were the last pack of creatures or sometime.

Which now brings me back to the present, holding onto Clay's hand for comfort and safety.

I'm not sure why, I feel a sense of comfort and safety around Clay, even when he's asleep.

'Don't worry Clay, I'll be by your side. I will never leave you, as long as you don't abandon me.' A thought appeared within Ms. Suzuki as strange smile appeared her face.