Fatigue

"Shit, this is heavy.." Clay grumbled to himself as he tried his best to hold up the abnormally thick tree branch. The goblins were long gone, but he still had to make it look like he was willing to fight, or that's what he wants them to think.

The struggling Clay couldn't take it anymore, dropping the thick log onto the ground, a loud thud resonated around the forest as the piece of wood hit the floor. "Arghh!" Clay screamed clearly in pain. The loud thud made Clay's body physically recoil as the sound reached his ears, he wasn't sure why, but his hearing was a lot more sensitive than usual ever since he got here. Jacob and the bald man couldn't help but look back at where the sound came from. "What's wrong?!" Jacob exclaimed as he rushed towards the back. He then assessed his surroundings in a battle ready stance--

"Ah, no, It's okay.." Clay replied back. The thick log brought upon a lot more problems than he thought it would. He covered his ears trying to soothe the pain. Jacob then knelt down facing Clay, and in one swift motion he brought his hand up and placed it atop Clay's head. "Get better." He uttered as he winced his eyes in pain. Visible drops of sweat dould be seen dripping down from his forehead, as the group gathered round, trying to find out what was wrong.

Suddenly, Clay felt his body lighten up. The pain in his ears was obviously still there, but his overall condition seemed to have improved. 'What the..' he thought to himself as he loomed over Jacob. He was breathing heavily, blood flowed from both his nostrils as he tried his best to stand up. His legs ultimately gave up, falling down he was immediately caught by the scary bald man--

"Oi!" He exclaimed as he caught the barely conscious Jacob in his hands. "What's wrong?!" He added as he knelt down and laid Jacob on one a piece of rubble. "I-I tried using my system.." Jacob softly grumbled with a smile on his face, his nose still bleeding from earlier. "It was supposed to h-heal minor injuries." He struggled.

The dazed Clay watched as the group huddled around Jacob, in some way he felt that it was his fault he ended up like that. 'Pesky ears..' he thought to himself, for some reason his ears were being really sensitive, at first he chucked it off as hearing better because of the new environment, but seeing the others act normally made him worried. He was able to hear the leaves blowing in the wind, soft breathing from the others, slightly loud sounds would make him wince in pain.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a sound reminiscent of a zipper closing, accompanied by a bright flash came from beside them. The group looked as the suited up Mono floated down to the ground and walked up to them--

"Ho...Looks like you're already well acquainted." He said in a teasing manner. The group immediately focused on the red goblin with Jacob struggling to get up on his feet just to properly greet him.

Mono then scanned the group once more, his eyes landing on one person who was still sitting on the ground, Clay. Clay who felt the goblin's gaze immediately stood back up and straightened his posture. Mono snickered in silence as he continued on with what he was about to say--

"You have passed the test. I will now guide you into the world of Avalent." He said as he bowed down. Suddenly, a small orb of light appeared behind him.

The light grew in size, eventually growing up to the scary bald man's height. Mono then proceeded to walk towards the giant blue orb, with his eyes still glued onto the group.

"Come. I shall show you the wonders of Avalent!"

...

In a dimly lit room two people stood in silence. The room was neatly arranged, with bookshelves lining three of the four walls in the room, a wide oval table positioned in the middle of it all. On the table were dozens of documents, some even tall enough to loom over one of the people in the room--

"That Blondie...!" one man exclaimed. The man donned a black uniform like coat with dozens of little trinkets stuck to his chest. On his waist was a long sword encased by a dark sheath. "Get better my ass.." he added as he looked at a big blue holographic screen in front of them.

The screen was divided into three sections, with each section displaying live footage of different people fighting what seemed to be monsters. The section which the man pointed at was the right-most one, displaying a guy with shoulder length blonde hair bleeding from his nose as his fellow groupmates gathered around him.

The person beside the angry man turned his head to look at what his colleague was mad about. He was covered from head to toe in a white cloak, only revealing his bright green eyes. "Get better..." He said in a soft manner.

"Right?! That doesn't make sense! The first skill of the healing system isn't called 'Get Better'!" The angry man exclaimed as he stomped his foot in anger. "Noah. Calm down." The cloaked man replied trying to soothe his colleague's anger.

'He is right. Get better shouldn't be a skill, the gods aren't that lax, maybe it's...!' the cloaked man thought. He then immediately called upon the angry man. "Noah! You need to get him in our guild." The cloaked man enthusiastically said as he put both of his hands on his friend's shoulders.

"If it's something new... The possibilities are endless!" He added.