Dillemma

Clay observed the people who were at the front of the line.

He saw that there was a table similar to the previous one the last time he was in the village hall, but this time the table was of a different color but more or less still the same design.

And on top of the said table were several devices that Clay speculated were used to determine who was eligible to be 'blessed' with the chance to attend the elite school.

Sunny looked at the next person who was called to the front from the line by the secretary.

"Felix, grade B, scornful system correct?" The spectacled lady confirmed.

"Uhh, yeah, that's me?" the young man replied.

"Alright, grab this and squeeze it as hard as you can with both hands" The secretary grabbed a circular device that has hand imprints to highlight where the person should be holding it.

"O-ok" the young adult clearly nervous about what the result would be or from talking to the stunning woman grabbed the device handed to him and proceeded to squeeze as hard as he physically can.

Soon, holographic numbers appeared on top of the object illustrating the number 34.

Clay however did not know what the numbers mean so he hoped that Joshh would answer him.

"Hey, what do the numbers mean?" Clay leaned toward Josh to ask him a question.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about that, basically the numbers represent your overall stats, it adds up all the common stats and divides it by 6, intelligence, vitality, strength, dexterity, agility, and mystic, all in all, there are 6 common stats for most people, so in order to get a number of 34 as an average stat points distribution the person would most likely have at least 204 stat points in total, it doesn't count the unallocated stat points though so it might be inaccurate for someone who has a lot of stored stat points" Josh replied.

Not expecting an essay, Clay tried to understand most of what Josh said, but to no avail as the only thing he understood from what Josh said is that the person had at least 204 stat points.

Clay compared that number with how many stat points he had now and figured that he had at least 2 times more stat points than the guy with an average of 34.

"Wonderful, head on over to the line over there and wait till we finish" The secretary said to Felix.

Felix silently muttered a yes as he pumped his fists up in the air and headed to the line that was beside the secretary.

The next person was next and squeezed the device with all he had, only to be surprised to see that it wasn't even budging, instead it was his arms that were shaking instead of the device he was gripping. A number popped up and the process repeated.

...

..

.

Finally, it was Josh's turn.

"Wish me luck Clay" Josh raised a thumb and beamed a smile at Clay.

'What do you even need the luck for anyway? You already have a B rated system' Clay thought as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Clay made a gesture similar to shooing.

Soon the secretary spoke to Josh confirming his identity before moving on to the test.

"Josh, grade B, Delayed Attack System" the secretary jotted down her notes and looked at Josh.

"Uh, yes" he nodded.

"Alright, proceed with the test"

Josh grabbed the 'ball' and then squeezed it with every ounce of strength he had.

It didn't take long before a number appeared, and when it did the secretary raised her brow.

"77 huh? That's pretty good for your rating" surprised because the number surpassed her expectations, but then she got a hold of her emotions thanks to being an experienced secretary, the lady then gestured for Josh to head to the other line.

It was now Clay's turn who was a little bit nervous because he knew that his stats were going to be a little bit higher than what should be normal for his rating, scratch that, it was probably the highest for his previous rating.

Clay nervously stood in front of the table that was between him and the secretary.

The woman raised a brow.

"Clay right?, F Grade, and you have a Mapping system, correct? Not to be rude but, what are you doing here?" The secretary questioned.

"Uh, I just f-figured I'd try my luck" Clay fumbled with his words as social anxiety was getting into him, Clay wasn't experienced in getting questioned by authority figures so he felt a little bit like crying.

"Suit yourself, grab the device and squeeze it, whether you qualify or not depends on you and you alone" suddenly shifting to a colder tone, the secretary then placed down her notepad and crossed her arms to show how dissatisfied she was at Clay for 'wanting to try his luck'.

"O-ok" Clay muttered as he reached for the device.

'I want to get a high enough number that would let me in but I also don't want to get the highest number, do I squeeze it as hard as I can, or do I hold back' Clay was stuck in a dilemma as he didn't want to deal with the questions that would come after the device would show a 100, if Clay would squeeze with all he got then the result would definitely bring interrogations and CLay wouldn't want that as all he wanted was to attend the same elite school Josh was going to, but all his hopes were crushed as a system notification resounded in his ears.

*Ding!*

<host has received a quest, open quest?>

'open quest'

Startled by the sudden prompt, Clay wanted to check what the prompt was about before deciding whether to go all out or hold back.

|Quest name: SQUEEZE!|

\Set the highest record of all time/

{Squeeze the device used for measuring your average stat with all your strength and shock everyone! After all, how can you be the strongest when you can't even do this?!}

|Quest rewards: 1000 SC, 2000 EXP, and 200 Stat Points|

|Quest Failure Penalty: None|

|Quest Time Limit: 1 Day|

<Accept Quest?>

[Yes/No]

Clay froze.

The rewards were getting out of hand.

____________________________________________________________________________________

And thus began the turtle's journey around the world, encountering all kinds of fortunate and misfortunate events alike.

Or rather, it just dug a hole and slept there for about a hundred years before finally emerging and traveling around the world.