Business... Again

Clay woke up in a joyous mood as today he would be testing his physical prowess and checking out the limits of his map.

'Should I skip breakfast or not, hmm' Clay did some light stretches in the morning as that always feels so good for some reason, it was almost like an addiction, a good one that benefits the body.

'I guess I'll eat first before doing stuff' Clay washed up.

*Yawn*

Clay yawned as he looked at the money that he had earned, there were about 100 Cits left, he grabbed them all and placed them on the living room table for his Mom.

'These should help out a bit for our expenses' Clay hoped it would help lighten the burden even just a little bit.

"Soon, I will earn a lot of money for us, Mom' Clay unknowingly clenched his fists as he thought about the hardships that his mother surely faced as she was raising them alone most of the time. His father would occasionally come home but he would also go away for his work soon after, so his father never really left a deep impression on both Clay and his sister.

Clay went out to set up his stand as his family still wasn't awake.

This time, Clay was confident no thief could escape him as he had increased his stats significantly. Most thieves nowadays were just people who were too low leveled to make a job out of their systems and had to resort to unethical means to get by, unless their system was specifically based on thieving then Clay was confident no average thief could outrun him.

Going back in the house to pick up the maps Clay took another look at his tier 2 map wondering how much he could sell it for people to use.

'I think 10 Silts is a fair price considering that there is no travel time when you are teleporting to any place on this map, that way I can sell this 3 times and then make another tier 2 map' Clay grinned at his investment plan that he had formulated in his mind.

'It's good that the map won't teleport with the person unless it's me using it' Clay thought. A pleasant surprise he found out when Josh used his map, the map didn't turn into light with Josh when he used it, unlike when Clay used it, probably ownership rights or something.

Clay placed his maps on his stand waiting for his next customer.

Soon enough, a woman came, it was the same woman who wanted to see how her family was doing.

"Good morning miss" Clay greeted.

"Good morning to you too young man" The woman greeted back.

"Back again to check up on you're family miss?" Clay asked.

The woman nodded.

"Well, I have good news for you, you see, I have created a new map, and believe it or not, this can make you teleport to any place in the whole Adurep Kingdom" Clay widened his arms, symbolizing the whole kingdom.

The woman's eyes widened in surprise.

"Are you joking? There's no way you can just teleport anywhere with that map, I mean, no offense, but it's just a map" The woman narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"You can try it if you want, but it's not free, it costs 10 Silts" Clay didn't argue with the woman, as he himself finds it hard to believe that his map could do that.

"10 Silts?!" The woman shouted, but then immediately composed herself from the embarrassment of shouting.

"Paying 10 Cits to use your map is already a strain on my budget, I don't think I can purchase it" The woman frowned.

"I can give you a free try if you want, but you must teleport to somewhere near this stand otherwise all your items on you may disappear" Clay lied at the part of her belongings disappearing as he didn't want the woman to teleport to who knows where.

"Oh, ok, I guess I can try, but I probably won't buy it, maybe when I want to visit my family will I consider it, but for now let's just test it out" The woman agreed.

"I'm Naomi by the way" The woman extended out her hand.

"Clay Mapa. Also, you have to pay 10 Cits as well since you can still check on your family when you use the map, to teleport you can press the button on the top right of the screen" Clay shook her hand returning the gesture in kind.

Naomi's eyes brightened up at hearing that, not only could she check up on her family, but she could also teleport to anywhere in the kingdom in no time at all, suddenly 10 silts doesn't sound so bad compared to the other prices it takes to travel throughout the kingdom, considering it is by carriage and it costs 7 Silts on average, but that doesn't include the expenses of eating and other stuff on the way.

"Here you go" Clay handed out the map to her, still clutching it tight as she held it just in case Naomi tries to run away with the map, after all, there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers everywhere, who knows if Naomi's system gives her abilities to run fast, the world isn't lacking in terms of strange systems like Clay's.

Naomi held the map in her hands, briefly glancing that Clay was holding on to it as well, then she looked into the blank air in front of her, knowing that the tier 2 map functions roughly the same way as the previous ones Naomi didn't take too long to teleport near the stand.

A moment after Naomi clicked on the teleport button, she realized that light particles floated up from the bottom of her vision, surprised she looked down only to be horrified to see that her legs were missing. Clay who was smiling while watching this scene unfold suddenly seemed like a devil's smile to Naomi. She reached out to Clay only to have her hands turn into balls of light soon after, the clusters of light floated into the sky until they disappeared from everyone's vision.

Silence occupied the atmosphere as onlookers were gawking at the scene.

Balls of light began to descend shortly after slowly materializing a shocked Naomi with eyes and mouth wide open, gobsmacked at the experience.

She then regained some degree of clarity and walked towards Clay and his stand.

"WHAT WAS THAT?! I THOUGHT I DIED WHEN I BLACKED OUT" Naomi screamed venting out the fear that she had felt of what she had presumed of 'nearly dying'.

"Well, that's how it works" Clay responded calmly, knowing that no average person could stay calm after blacking out when they see their bodies turning into light.

With shaky hands, Naomi paid up the 10 Cits and took her leave after saying her goodbyes.

'As the saying goes, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys, wait no, that saying doesn't make sense for this situation, it should be more like, hmm, nevermind I can't find a suitable saying' Clay chuckled as he saw the curiosity in the eyes of passerby.

'That's right my little potatoes, come to papa and give him some money' Clay laughed as some onlookers were approaching him.