Just as the horned rabbit took a step forward with greater speed compared to when it was hopping previously, Josh snapped his middle finger and thumb.
Immediately after Josh snapped, the horned rabbit exploded into a bloody mist.
Clay who was watching this felt flabbergasted, dumbfounded, astounded, awestruck, and amazed.
Then he remembered what Josh's system was like.
'So this is what he meant by storing and releasing attacks' Clay pondered in amazement.
Then, right afterward, he thought about his own system.
'Why can't my system be more like Josh's system?!' Clay wished he could just swap his system with the one Josh had. But of course, he wouldn't really do it, even if the opportunity presented itself, because Josh was a longtime friend of Clay, and he wouldn't feel nice about it if he swapped his with Josh.
'So this is what the difference of ratings looks like' Clay thought.
Clay wondered what Josh would do next seeing that he was still staring at the bloody mist that was the horned rabbit previously, as chunks of flesh and bone were scattered around the area.
Clay shuddered as he sucked in a breath of cold air as a thought appeared in his mind.
'If this is what Josh could do when he just started, what else can he do once he grew?' Clay stopped thinking about it as it would only make him feel inferior.
'Regardless, no matter what happens, what I think about Josh would never change' Clay wouldn't betray his friend just because he was a little bit scary, scratch that he was very scary. If Josh had used that attack on a regular human the person would explode in the same way as that horned rabbit did for sure.
Clay shuddered again as he quickly placed that thought at the back of his mind.
Then Josh moved, this time he was going back to the direction of the village.
'It seemed like he just wanted to test his abilities' Clay thought as he followed Josh back to the village worried that he would still linger outside the village longer than he already has.
As Clay was watching Josh make his way back to the village, a thought sprouted in his mind.
'Is it possible to view more than one thing at the same time?'
Clay wanted to test out his hypothesis, but just in case the screen would be replaced by the new one, he tried to remember where Josh was on the map, and only then did he try to prompt a new screen.
'System, use the map!'
*Beep*
And to Clay's delight, another screen appeared, it didn't replace the other screen with Josh in it. Then another bold idea emerged in his mind.
'How far can I take this?' Clay mused.
Clay looked at where Josh was once again, just in case the screen would get closed.
"Alright, System, use the map!'
*Beep*
'It worked!' pleasantly surprised, Clay took a look at Josh again, seeing that he was somewhere at the center of the town Clay unhesitatingly closed the screen with Josh in it.
Several beeps later...
'Phew, looks like there is a limit' Clay held his chin, his vision was filled with screens, unable to see the real world behind them.
'The limit is seven, I wonder if it is related to my |Mapping| stat, not that I can increase it willingly anyway'.
Clay looked at his stats.
|Stats|
|Race: Human|
|Level: 3(40/110)|
|Health: 60/60|
|MP: 15/15|
|Strength: 11|
|Agility: 11|
|Intelligence: 10|
|Dexterity: 12|
|Vitality: 12|
|Mystic: 1|
|Mapping: 1|
|Unallocated Stat point(s): 1|
He had already tested if he could increase his mapping stat by adding his unallocated stat point, but it didn't work.
'At least I found out what a map could do, without that ability, I probably would have never known how Josh's system works' Clay sighed. Then Clay heard a system notification.
*Ding!*
<Host has received a quest, open quest?>
'Open quest'
|Quest name: Certified Cartographer|
\Make a total of 5 Tier 1 maps/
{Create 5 tier 1 maps of your choice, duplicates do not count (1/5)}
|Quest rewards: 10 SC, 20 EXP, and 3 Stat Points|
|Quest Failure Penalty: -2 Level|
|Quest Time Limit: 1 Month|
<Accept Quest?>
[Yes/No]
Seeing that the quest rewards were better but the penalty was still the same and the time limit was extended, Clay hesitated to click on Yes, he wasn't sure how long it would've taken for him to create a map if it wasn't for the mysterious man's help.
After thinking for quite a while Clay decided to take the quest, his reason being, that he wanted to get stronger.
Clay clicked on Yes.
<Accepted Quest>
<Host can now view this quest in the [Quests] section (Don't show this prompt again?)>
[Yes/No]
Clay was greeted by the familiar commitment test, this time he paid no mind to it.
'No'
Yes, Clay was scared of commitments as with any other normal teenager in the world.
Now with the pressure of the quest, Clay wanted to find out how he can get more papyrus papers.
Suddenly he remembered about the system shop.
'Open shop'
*Ding!*
|Shop|
\Buy miscellaneous items that can range from A to Z/
[Search Bar]
|SC: 15|
|Available Items:|
[Quill]
[Matte Paper]
[Papyrus Paper]
[Jar Of Ink]
[Book: Guide To Mapping]
[Blank Scroll]
[Brush]
|Page:1|
[(<)/>]
|Locked Items:|
[Fate Scissors]
[Abyss Turtle Chestplate]
[World Tree Paper]
[Time-Stop Watch]
[Book: Guide To Traveling V2]
[Mysterious Music Player]
[Multiversal Crystal Orb]
|Page:1|
[(<)/>]
Clay clicked on [Papyrus Paper] intentionally ignoring the section of |Locked Items:| as he felt that his sanity would crumble by even taking a single peek.
|Papyrus Paper|
\Paper made from the insides of a stalk, peeled sheets stacked upon each other and dried/
|Requirements: 5 SC|
|Purchase?|
[Yes/No]
Clay looked at the amount of SC he had and pondered.
'I only have enough SC to buy 3 |Papyrus Paper|, where can I get the other one?'
Clay was bummed, he doesn't have any knowledge of how to make any |Papyrus Paper| so it was natural that he felt like he was stuck at a bottleneck, sure he could buy them in shops, but was it really worth it? His family wasn't that well off, he couldn't just spend money on something that doesn't seem worth it without a good reason.
Then Clay had a epiphany.