This World Is Strange

As Clay closed his eyes, he felt the slight tremor of Ms. Suzuki leaving the room. But as she was about to leave, Ms. Suzuki bumped into Takashi who greeted her and asked her to walk around with him.

At first, Ms. Suzuki seemed to agree, but later she changed her mind as she said a few words to Takashi before seating herself next to Clay's bedside again, waiting for Clay to wake up.

Just when Clay had imagine the image of Ms. Suzuki just staring down at him while he was still laying on the bed. He suddenly felt a hand grasping onto his.

Panic shot through Clay, as the adrenaline in his body began pumping again, signaling his body that it was ready to act. But as time pasted, nothing happened aside from the foreign warmth that which held his hand.

It wasn't until the voice of Ms. Suzuki saying some words beside Clay did he finally understand that he was in no danger. With that knowledge known, he calmed down and once again felt the wave of exhaustion coursing through him, causing his consciousness to dim slightly before knocking out completely.

All the while this was happening, Clay wasn't aware of the strange smile that was plastered on Ms. Suzuki's face that stared at him while he was asleep.

Once again, Clay had fallen into slumber from the exhaustion and strain that his body was put through last night. And once again, a strange voice resounded throughout his head.

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[Detecting new value and changes being added to host's 'Status Window'. Now updating, 'Status Window'.]

Level: 1 (20/200)

Health: 4/10

Willpower: 56/100

Stamina: 10/100 (Added)

Stat Points: 0

Strength: 1.40

Endurance: 0.50

Agility: 0.70

 

[A short description will be made to explain each of the user's stat.]

[Strength, corelates to the user's physical prowess, Endurance, corelates to the user's stamina, Agility, corelates to the user's speed.]

[Health, corelates to the user's physical health, Willpower corelates to a user's ability to push their limits once stamina has been completely drained. Stamina, corelates to the user ability to do any task. If empty, user will black out completely, unless Willpower is used to combat this.]

[All explanation has been explain. Further changes to the 'Status Window' will be added when detecting new 'stat parameter'. Until then, user's 'Status Window' will not be updated.]

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..

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As Clay opened his eyes, the first thing his eyes laid upon was the broken white ceiling of the nursing room. Although his gaze was on the broken white ceiling of the nursing room, his focus was instead on the mechanical voice he had heard before.

'Am I going crazy, why do I keep hearing some kind of mechanical voice describing a game-like status window?" Clay's brow furrowed slightly as he began to recall the words of the mechanical voice and ponder it's message.

Based on how the mechanical voices was describing the 'Status Window', one would think that they were in some kind of game, which of course seemed illogical.

'But then again' Clay reminded himself as he recall the past events leading to his current situation.

First, the school was hit by some kind of earthquake that left the entire school building in shamble, Second, the sun which had been peacefully floating in the sky had completely vanished, leaving only two strange moon in it's place. And lastly, the appearance of those strange creatures that had attacked him last night.

Thinking about it, just about everything that had happened seemed illogical, "Just what exactly is going on?" Clay muttered to himself quietly.

But unbeknownst to Clay his muttering had woken up Ms. Suzuki who had been laying her head beside Clay's bedside, quietly sleeping before, now stirring up from Clay's quiet muttering. 

"Hm~? Ah, Clay~ Your awake~" Ms. Suzuki said groggily as she rubbed her eyes. Then she sat up straight, stretching her back, unknowingly making her large breast jiggle slightly due to the movements caused by her actions.

Clay stared at Ms. Suzuki in disbelief at what he had just seen. Although most boy's around the age of Clay would have basked in the experience of watching the bountiful breast of Ms. Suzuki jiggling with grace.

All Clay wanted to ask in his mind was, 'What the hell are you doing here?'

Awkwardly, Clay responded to Ms. Suzuki's words with only a slight nod. Earning him a small smile from Ms. Suzuki who then only just noticed her torn up clothes, exposing quite a bit of skin to Clay. Last night, it was fine since the visibility of her appearance wasn't all that great.

But now, thanks to the sunlight shining through, her beautiful form could be captured in full view. Right now, if someone were to walk in, they would no doubt mistake the situation to be one of those 'special' scenes shown only for adult entertainment. 

Realizing this, Ms. Suzuki's face redden like a tomato as both her and Clay's eye stared each other in silence, leaving the two in a painfully short and yet awkward silence.

Thankfully, a voice erupted in the room, dragging both Clay and Ms. Suzuki's attention.

"Oh, Clay your awake?" The voice of Takashi ringed out.

Clay turned his attention to Takashi who stood by the nursing room's doorway, behind him stood countless other female students who quietly fought with each other to be as close to Takashi as possible.

"Yea." Clay responded as he nodded his head, confirming Takashi's word.

Takashi seemed to ponder on his next words for a bit before saying, "How are you doing? Any serious injuries?" he inquired.

In response to this, Clay responded with, "It seems, I may be out of commission for a while. Got banged up pretty bad last night." Clay replied before raising his arms, which trembled slightly from soreness and muscle pain.

Seeing that, Takashi nodded his head slightly before speaking, "Well, I'm glad that your still alive, at least. Thankfully, it seems that the creatures scurry away once the sun came up. I checked the first floor, second floor, and even the third floor we are currently on. Luckily, I haven't encounter any more of those creatures." Takashi replied promptly, his gaze drifting towards the ceilings as he thought deeply about the situation.

Takashi then went on to explained about the current condition of the group and the actions that they took while Clay was out of commission. As of now, they were currently barricading the stairway of the third floor, which connected to the second floor leading to the ground floor.

As of now, they decided to make the third floor our current home base. Although it seemed a bit unwise to make the home base on the third floor, as it left no room for escape once something made it's way up the stairways.

But the thought of being near the ground floor which had too many accessible entry point such as the windows near the ground and the disappearance of the front door made it impossible to make it our home base.

As for the second floor, it was too close to the ground still. Although we weren't sure if the creatures could climb or not, we didn't want to take the chances.

With this fact in mind, it resulted in the students agreeing that it was best to make their home base on the third floor, even if it meant that there was no way to escape once the stairways were occupied by the enemy.

Hearing this, Clay choose to not anything but made a mental notes of the key points that Takashi had mentioned in his head.

"And so, right now. Our current priority are three things. First, we need to be able to defend ourselves against the creatures, should they ever return once night falls." As Takashi mentioned this, both him and the girls behind him had a look grimace as they recall yesterday's event, "Second, we need to find some way to obtain food and water, if we don't we're gonna be in a bit of trouble. " Hearing this, some other student's began licking their dry crack lips in response to Takashi's second point, "And lastly, we need to find some way to get help." This time, a glimmer of hope flickered in the eyes of the students, including Takashi himself.

It wasn't until Takashi had finished talking did Clay speak, "How's our surrounding?" Clay inquired, noticing that it was now brighter with sunlight streaming through the windows and gaps in the walls, thus lighting up the countless debris and scattered pipes and wires that which littered the entire floor and hallway.

'Damn, it's a miracle how one of us hadn't tripped yesterday night.' Clay wondered to himself, amused.

When Takashi heard Clay's question. His face which usually had a charming smile falter slightly.

"I'm not too sure." Takashi admitted, "When I looked outside the windows, all I could see were trees. No buildings, cars, or even houses. It's almost as if..." Takashi then hesitated as a look of disbelief plastered itself on his face "Our entire school was somehow transported to a forest of some kind, as crazy as it sounds."

Right now, the look of 'doubting reality' was plastered on Takashi's face alongside the other students. And to be honest, even Clay himself found the current situation he was in to be surreal.

Something like this seemed straight out of fantasy novel that he usually reads.  But now, their situation was exactly like those in a 'fantasy' situation. An entire school, transported to strange forest full of dangerous creatures that didn't seem to resemble any animals he seen back on earth.

'Speaking of the creatures, didn't the mechanical voice mentioned about me killing something?' Recalling the words of the mechanical voice. Clay remember something about killing a goblin and gaining experience.

"Hey Takashi, what did the creatures look like?" Clay asked, curious about whether or not the mechanical voice was telling the truth or if it was even real in the first place.

Hearing the question, Takashi immediately responded with, "Not sure, I didn't check on it yet. I was busy patrolling the building and didn't check."

Although Takashi spoke his reasons, in truth, he didn't want to see what the creatures look like. Although he didn't manage to kill one last night. The detail of the creature's shape, skin, and even it's form was a bit vague.

The torch that he carried with him last night only managed to illuminate the form of the creatures, not what it looked like in details. All Takashi knew was that it apparently was some kind of small hunchback humanoid creatures that probably was about the height of an eight year old child.

Anything else was completely new to Takashi, and he had no intentions of seeing the ugly form of such creatures. If he could, he rather stay away from such things.

As for the reason why he could wandered around the building in the first place. Well, it was because he was surrounded by girls who clung closely to him. If needed, Takashi could just 'accidently' trip one and let her be the sacrifice as he runs away with the rest of the group.

The only reason why he was able to kill the creature last time was because it seemed to be injurie or something by the guy who it attacked last time. Which meant that it would be an easy kill and an easy way to impress the girl.

Plus, it was night time, so he didn't have to look at the digusting creature's face. All he needed was to stab it from the back and he would be fine, and it all worked out.

Going back to the present now, Clay only nodded at Takashi's words and made a mental note to himself to check out he corpse of the creature to confirm what the creature look like.

Takashi spoke a few more words before leaving, but just before he left. He asked Ms. Suzuki if she wanted to follow him and she reply no, stating that she'll look over Clay, who was currently injurie badly.

Hearing that, an inaudible sigh came from Takashi as he turned around walking the hallways again towards some destination he had in mind, followed by countless girls who stuck closely to him.

Once Takashi and the students following him left, Clay tried moving his body and found it difficult to do so, but not impossible. Seeing this, Ms. Suzuki pleaded Clay to just lay down and recover for now, but Clay only shook his head saying that he needed to check out something.

Finding that it no use arguing with Clay who had no intention on backing down, Ms. Suzuki could only sigh in resignation as she helped Clay to whatever designation he needed to go to. 

Clay accepted, Ms. Suzuki's offer without much fuss and walked towards the direction guided by Ms. Suzuki of where the creatures were. Arriving at the hallway, Clay saw that one of the creatures who looked exactly like what he imagined a Goblin would look like.

Small green humanoid creatures that had a hunchback whenever it stood up. The nose was even slightly longer than that of a regular human by almost four inches. Even the ears was a bit pointy, unlike the round ears that Clay and Ms. Suzuki had.

'Well, I guess that somewhat confirms it. There is a mechanical voice talking in my head. Hell, it even kept track of all the goblins I killed.'

Perhaps due to the collision by the wall when his body was thrown. His memory of killing the first goblin was fuzzy, thus making him forget that he had killed three goblins in total.

If it weren't the mechanical voices' reminder, he would have forgotten. But since that was the case, did that also mean he gotten stronger? He recall that he added one points to strength and that it increased.

Wanting to test this, Clay moved over with the help of Ms. Suzuki and pulled out the metal pipe that he had jabbed into the brain of the goblin that almost killed him.

Although the smell was horrible thanks to the fecal matter that clung onto the metal pipe. It didn't matter to Clay as his hands barely even touch any of the fecal matter of the goblin thanks tot he length of the metal pipe.

As for Ms. Suzuki who witness all this. She immediately gagged at the sight and even demanded Clay to throw away the metal pipe. Claiming that it was dirty and unhealthy.

But Clay ignored her protest as he looked carefully at the metal pipe in his hand, noticing how dented it was compared to yesterday night when it was still straight.

With a swing, the metal pipe in Clay's hand swung with a swooshing sound that followed it's movement as it made it's way towards the head of the goblin who had it's head pierced by Clay last night.

*SPLAT!*

Instead of the usual sound of metal colliding against flesh. This time, the sound of a skull being smashed could be heard as bits of brain matter from the goblin flew in all direction splattering even some of it onto Ms. Suzuki who screeched like a dying pig before wiping away the goblin's brain matter that had stuck onto her skin.

"Clay, what the hell!?" Ms. Suzuki roared, demanding an explanation.

If she had known what Clay was going to do, she would have stood far away, even if Clay had to limp towards the corpse of the Goblin. If it was before everything went to shit. Ms. Suzuki would have been mad, but not entirely mad as she could still take a shower to wash everything off.

But now that, there's no signs of civilization or electricity. That means that showers and bathroom weren't a thing she could do right now. And added the fact that her clothes was torn and her skin had just made direct contact with the brain matter of the creature that had almost raped her yesterday night.

She was completely furiously and demanded an explanation from Clay who she helped get to where he needed to. But what was the result of her kindness in helping Clay?

A sprinkle full of brain matters from the creatures that almost raped her, truly hateful and miserable was the feeling that Ms. Suzuki felt in that moment. 

As for the response she got from Clay, it was vague.

"It's true..." Clay words trailed as a look of astonishment and a strange excitement glimmer in his eyes.

"What's true?!" Ms. Suzuki demanded, not even sure what Clay was talking about. But wanting an explanation for the sprinkle of 'love' she got from Clay.

Hearing Ms. Suzuki's voice, Clay snapped out of his daze as he stared at Ms. Suzuki in silence. As for Ms. Suzuki, she only stared back in fury as she awaited for Clay's words that would get him out of this mess he put himself in.

About almost ten seconds had past before Clay finally spoke, "Ms. Suzuki, can you promise not to tell anyone this?"

Not expecting this kind of response, Ms. Suzuki's fury subsided a bit, curious at what Clay had to tell her, "Alright." promptly responded.

"Before I tell you, do you mind answering one question for me?" Clay asked.

A hint of frustration could be seen on Ms. Suzuki's face, but she agreed anyways, wanting to see where Clay was going with this.

"By any chance, did you hear some mechanical voice speaking to you, when you fell asleep?" Clay inquired.

Frowning and confused at Clay's words, Ms. Suzuki responded, "No? But what are you trying to say?" she questioned.

Hearing that, Clay paused for a bit before saying, "It's up to you whether or not you believe in me. But I heard a strange mechanical voice detailing my kills of the goblins. After which, I leveled up and gain a stat point in which I added it to my strength making me stronger."

Ms. Suzuki only stared at Clay in disbelief and even showed a brief look of pity for the boy, thinking that he must be losing his grip on reality. But just before she could say something, Clay pointed at the Goblin beside him whose head was bashed in.

"Look, do you think I could do something like this with the injuries I have right now?" Clay questioned Ms. Suzuki.

It was then the realization hit Ms. Suzuki. Clay was right, right now, he could barely walk properly without limping. Meaning that his strength should have been weakened drastically. But with the strength he just showcased just now, it was like he was back to his peak state.

'No, perhaps even stronger...' Ms. Suzuki's thoughts trailed off as she noticed the dent on the goblin's head which was one-third of the way caved into the goblin's head.

If this was the strength Clay could exert right now, when weakened. What kind of strength could he exert if he was truly back to full strength?

The thought terrified Ms. Suzuki for a moment, but she quickly shook it off as the strength exerted by Clay right now was what they needed most when those creatures come back.

"I see, but for now, let's get you rested up. The more recovered you are, the better chances we have of you being able to beat those damn creatures." Ms. Suzuki stated before helping Clay back to the nursing room to recover.

Clay of course didn't refuse and leaned on Ms. Suzuki for support. But during the whole time that Clay was being carried back to the nursing room, he noticed that Ms. Suzuki didn't seem as angry as she did before.

Perhaps, she seemed even a bit...submissive?

'Leaking my newfound powers, I'm not entirely sure if this was the correct choice. But the benefit definitely outweighs the cons. With this, Ms. Suzuki would find it hard to abandon me, and seeing how interested Takashi is of Ms. Suzuki. Perhaps I can use this to my advantage. Plus, even if Ms. Suzuki leaks my power to Takashi and the others, what reasons do they have to believe her aside from blind faith. As for the corpse's bashed head, well, I can just lie that I already did that last night to kill the Goblin.' 

Clay began conjuring up plans as he made sure to be able to benefit most from leaking information about himself to Ms. Suzuki. With this anchor of protection that he placed in Ms. Suzuki's heart by showing her that he can protect her with his strength, he will be able to slowly mold Ms. Suzuki into being his informative and spreader of misinformation if he deems it fit.

But for now, Clay needs to work with Takashi to figure out on how to survive the current situation. And if Takashi get's too feisty. Well, Clay can just silence him through brute force if needed.