Chereads / The Systems Challenge / Chapter 51 - Elmo's Status Update

Chapter 51 - Elmo's Status Update

Elmo couldn't help but yawn. They had a light meal after Jonas finished with his story, though there seemed that some still had questions about some of the stories. Elmo wasn't sure why they didn't ask them while they were eating and waited until they were getting ready to discuss what everyone's next move would be as well as to head out, but some were getting those questions and clarifications out of the way now.

"Why did you watch those two?" Elin asked Kim in a huff, looking a little jealous. "Couldn't you have closed the door or something? I mean, you probably could have heard them through the door anyway."

"Come on," Kim complained. "My story was dull otherwise. I had to add them doing that."

Elin looked at Kim suspiciously. "What do you mean 'add them doing that?'"

"Simple, my Gem. They were looking for some set of old dishes or something I didn't care about and had to wait for them to leave before I could continue on with my job," Kim explained. "I was getting bored of my own story, so I thought I'd spice it up a little."

Elin glowered at Kim. "If you were getting bored, then just jump to the end. Don't just make up some weird girls doing… that."

Elmo couldn't help but chuckle to himself at Elin's fumbling with what words to use.

"You know, you might be jealous," Kim remarked in a teasing tone.

"What?!" Elin cried in outrage, but the confused look on her face, mixed in with the outrage made it more comical than anything else. "How can you say I'm jealous?"

Kim gave Elin a small peck on her lips before replying, "You don't know what 'jealous' is, do you?"

"I- I sure do!" Elin protested, but wouldn't say anything else.

"Well, unless you can tell me what it is," Kim replied, smirking at Elin, "I'll have to assume that you really don't know what it is."

Elmo made his way across the room, not wanting to hear more of that conversation. It was just too distracting because of the entertainment value to him. Elin was rather too sheltered at times, and no matter how hard she tried to hide it, it was very clear that she didn't have much experience in dealing with other people that didn't work for her or her family.

Though, the main reason Elmo needed to concentrate is because he hadn't looked at his status since before the battle, and he wanted to see what had happened with it.

"Status," he whispered, not caring to have attention brought to what he was doing. With the other teams, he couldn't be sure if they'd want to talk to him while he worked this out.

HP 24/24

MP 20/36

Level 7

XP 475/2800

Stamina 12/12

Str 6

Dex 14

Mag 21

Con 8

Int 20

Wis 19

Cha 14

Agi 12

Physical Resistance 0%

Magical Resistance 25%

Skills:

Magic Identification

Fire Boost

Earth Boost

Magical Surge

Black Magic Spells:

Fire Attribute – Scorch 3mp 98/100

Earth Attribute – Rock Spray 4mp 48/100

Water Attribute – Water Shot 3mp 24/100

Wind Attribute – Wind Shield 4mp initial, 1mp each minute 0/100

Unaligned Attribute – Magic Burst 5mp 54/100

Green Magic Spells:

Unaligned Attribute – Identify II 2mp 45/150

Unaligned Attribute – View Stats 2mp 60/100

Force Attribute – Remove enhancement 4mp 0/100

You have 25 attribute points left to allocate. Where would you like to place them?

Elmo sighed. Apparently he'd gotten a lot more XP from the battle with the goblins than he had expected. Of course, that might because of how many goblins that Kim was able to kill before the battle ended and she fell unconscious from the wounds neither of them had noticed her receive.

Elmo sighed as he reviewed his stats. He'd already decided that he needed to improve his MP so he could be more useful in using his spells. If nothing else, he could then be useful in a battle for a lot longer than he was currently. Besides, his MP was recovering a lot slower than he'd like. If only he could get something like Elin's dress that helped her recover it faster.

Elmo shook his head at that thought right away. He certainly didn't need to have a dress for him like that. He'd rather deal with his current situation than to do that.

Elmo sighed and focused on his stats. He needed to first allocate his points before anything else. That way he'd be able to be ready for whatever happened next.

"Good morning to everyone!" The announcer said suddenly, as the light became as bright as it had been during the 'day' part of their time here. "While there was an intense battle with the goblins yesterday, nothing happened during the night. No one died, but the portal to the goblin world is still open. We'll have to see if this creates problems for our contestants. The only contestants so far who have completed a challenge are Elmo Garcie, Elin Davies, Kim O'Hare, and Jonas McCain. Good luck to all remaining contestants!"

Elmo sighed as the announcer's voice died out not only around him, but in his head. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to get used to that, but couldn't think of how he could avoid hearing it every day, unless someone won this stupid contest.

Elmo shook his head again to clear it so he could focus on his stats again. Since he wanted to focus on his MP, he decided to put his attribute points entirely in his Int and Wis. 13 in Wis and 12 in Int. Which put his Int and Wis both at 32. Furthermore, it increased his MP to 98. Which he was surprised to see that his current MP increased point for point with the increase in MP for him.

Though, with his MP at that level, Elmo wondered if he would be alright with that for a little bit or if he should increase it more when he leveled up. Although, he probably would figure it out once he entered battle and could see how effective he was now.

Elmo was about to close his stats window when he noticed a new message appear:

You can learn a new magic skill/spell. Would you like to choose or see the options?

Elmo wasn't sure why this appeared now, after he'd allocated his attribute points, but he wasn't going to complain. He figured that there was likely a reason for it and he'd probably find out soon enough anyway. After all, he knew he needed to take a look at those options before they moved on. He might find something that would help him out with being useful for longer.

Besides, anything that he might learn could be useful, even if it wasn't apparent right away.

"Let me see the options," Elmo whispered.

MP Charge – 2 stamina – prerequisites: MP 80, level 4, Wis 25

MP Transfer – 2 stamina – prerequisites: MP 50, level 4, Int 25

Enhanced Mastery – prerequisites: Mag 20, Int 20, Wis 20, level 5

Fire Attribute – Brimstone Fire – 8 MP – prerequisites: Int 20, Mag 20, MP 40

Ice Attribute – Frozen Missile – 6 MP – prerequisites: Mag 20, level 4

Earth Attribute – Open Earth – 10 MP – prerequisites: Int 25, Wis 25, level 4, MP 75

Unaligned Attribute – Absorb – 4 MP – prerequisites: Int 30, Wis 30, level 5

Unaligned Attribute – Shield – 10 MP to activate, 1 MP every minute of use – prerequisites: Wis 30, Int 30, level 5

You may learn three of these skills.

Elmo sighed. While he had his eye on the MP Charge, he first wanted to make sure it was as useful as it sounded. He'd seen in some games a skill looks useful but maybe only early in the game, where in the end game parts, it's useless or worse.

"Tutorial," Elmo whispered. He might as well see what the description about everything is before he decides which ones to pick. After all, even though he had his Wind Shield, the other shield spell might be useful, but then again, it might be a waste to select.

the business-like voice asked.

"Would you please explain what these new skill options are?" Elmo whispered. "Uh, I mean, what exactly do the skills do, I mean."

Elmo thought about it. The MP Charge sounded like it would be useful, especially with how it is geared towards giving him more MP the lower his MP is. Although, he would need to start adding a few attribute points to help build his stamina.

Then the Enhanced Mastery also caught his interest. If he could master his spells and skills for less MP, then he might be able to learn stronger spells quicker.

Though, he wasn't sure what his third spell should be. He'd decided against the MP Transfer, at least for now. He figured that there'd be time to pick it later on, if it turned out to be important to have.

Of the other spells, he felt drawn to the Absorb spell most. After all, while it's certainly going to be weak at first, it's supposed to get stronger as he masters it. Although, he also wanted the Ice Missile. Especially since he couldn't say when she'd encounter someone who could create shields like he apparently could.

Sighing, he decided to pick MP Charge, Enhanced Mastery, and Absorb. If nothing else, it would help him keep his MP up, and also allow him to let his Mag get built up as well.