Chereads / The Systems Challenge / Chapter 112 - Feeling Out of Place

Chapter 112 - Feeling Out of Place

It was a slow start to the day. Partly because he'd fallen sleep when he was purely exhausted, but also from not having anything to really do to help out. Jonas had getting clothing for the young women already in hand, with help from Kim, Elin healed what needed to be healed, not that there seemed to be much at this time, and there didn't seem to be any other signs that any goblin had survived the attack. Or at least not any goblins inside the dungeon. If any had survived, then it was because they'd already left the dungeon.

Elmo wanted to help, but since it would involve dressing the young women who were clearly naked, he doubted that, one, Kim would appreciate him helping with that, and two, the young women would appreciate that when they woke up.

When Kim and Elin went to have Kim change into her 'new' armor, Elmo wasn't sure why they took so long, but he certainly wasn't going to check. He'd survived this long in his life by not looking into things that he knew he shouldn't.

One of the bigger reasons he refused to try to peek into the girl's locker room when he was in high school, even though all the jocks were daring him to do so. He knew if he got caught, his social and potential career life would be over before they really stated.

Aside from that, he was pretty sure that it had been a setup, and if he had looked, not only would he have been caught, but that things would only escalate further from there. He might not be good at interacting with others sometimes, but he at least knew when to deny his curiosity. Part of it went with having self control and keeping reason in charge of his actions.

When Kim finally did emerge, he wondered why Elin wasn't with them, but couldn't think of how to word it without sounding like he was trying to keep tabs on her. After all, he knew she wasn't going to just abandon their team. At least not while they were in the dungeon. He was merely curious as to why she stayed behind.

As such, he wasn't sure what he should do with himsef, so he merely made sure he had his things ready to go and waited, sitting on the ground by the stairs.

At times like these, he wished he understood how to interact with others as casually as most people seemed to. Sometimes he felt like he hit on the correct wavelength, but then it would disappear after a time and he'd feel adrift, unsure about the best way to try and find it again.

Maybe his family was right about him being shy, he thought. He didn't want to say he way, mostly because he didn't seem himself as shy, but just because he doesn't want to call it that, doesn't mean that's not what it is. After all, he could remember the line from the Shakespeare play of 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.' As such, while he might like to think of himself as something other than shy, that didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't.

As movement pulled Elmo's attention back to what the others were doing, he say Elin returning to the room while Kim was putting clothing on the young women, and Jonas looked like he was searching the goblins for something. Elmo wasn't sure what it was about, but he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. He wanted to go ask, but something inside him was telling him to just stay where he was.

He always hated when things were calm around him and he had time to soak in his own thoughts. While it was nice to relax from time to time, he didn't like to spend too much time not doing anything. It gave himself too much time to think and he usually made himself miserable because of that. He looked at Jonas again, wondering if he should be more forceful in expressing his interest, since Jonas hadn't shown any signs of returning that interest or if he should just give up on it.

Decisions like this were never his strong suit. Especially since he'd never had an experience like this. While he'd often found other girls or guys attractive, he never had any interest to act on it. Maybe it was because he'd focus too much on who he knew that person was interested in and would eventually talk himself out of it. Generally, he couldn't even think of why anyone would be interested in him.

He couldn't help but wonder if he should leave the group. After all, while he was helpful in closing the portal, he was sure that the others would have been able to do that eventually on their own. As such, he wasn't really needed and would only hold them back. He hadn't even been able to do more than just allocate his attribute points the night before. He-

Elmo blinked. He'd completely forgotten about checking to see if he had any skills or spells he could learn. Not only that, but he'd wanted to ask his tutorial about why he had such a level jump. He seriously doubted it was because they'd just killed so many goblins.

"Status," he said, unable to disguise his depressed tone, even though no one else was around close enough to hear it.

HP 41/56

MP 25/53

Level 17

XP 36934/153000

Stamina 16/28

Str 15

Dex 14

Mag 34

Con 15

Int 30

Wis 30

Cha 14

Agi 12

Physical Resistance 0%

Magical Resistance 25%

Skills:

Magic Identification

Fire Boost

Earth Boost

Magical Surge

Enhance Mastery

Silent Casting

MP Charge – 2 Stamina

Black Magic Spells:

Fire Attribute – Scorch V 3mp 285/300

Earth Attribute– Rock Spray VI 4mp 278/350

Water Attribute – Water Shot 3mp 72/100

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

Unaligned Attribute – Magic Burst III 5mp 52/200

Unaligned Attribute – Absorb VI 4 MP 78/350

Fire Attribute – Brimstone Fire II 8 MP 2/150

Green Magic Spells:

Unaligned Attribute – Identify II 2mp 45/150

Unaligned Attribute – View Stats 2mp 90/100

Force Attribute – Remove enhancement 4mp 0/100

Ice Attribute – Frozen Missile III 143/200

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

Elmo immediately selected to look at what options there were. He wanted to get this done quickly, as he really didn't know how long getting the young women dressed would take in addition to treating them so they could walk back by themselves. After all, that was the primary purpose of getting them clothing, or as far as Elmo was aware.

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

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

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

Increased MP – prerequisites: Level 11

Increased HP – prerequisites: Level 11

Increased Stamina – prerequisites: Level 11

Summon Elemental – 9 MP – prerequisites: Int 25, Mag 25, Level 12

Terror – 5 MP – prerequisites: Int 25, Mag 30, Cha 15 or Wis 30, Level 12

Sleep – 10 MP – prerequisites: Int 30, Mag 30, Wis 30, Level 15

Dark Attribute – Dark Impact – 12 MP – prerequisites: 25 Int, 25 Wis, 30 Mag, Level 15

Disrupt Flow – 17 MP – prerequisites: 30 Mag, 50 MP, Level 15

You may learn three of these skills.

Elmo wasn't sure at what options he should pick. Mostly he would be fine selectg them randomly, but he knew that'd be a quick way to get killed. Especially since he couldn't help but wonder if the group would be better if he just disappeared when they got back to the village.

Shaking his head to clear those thoughts from his mind, he said, "Tutorial."

the business-like voice asked.

"Please tell me what the list of options I have for my skills would do," Elmo muttered, not really paying close attention to the words he used.

Elmo nodded to himself. While there were some skills that he didn't care for and doubted that he'd really seriously consider choosing, he merely selected Open Earth, Sleep, and Dark Impact. He couldn't give a specific reason if asked why he selected those options. Yet, he had a feeling that the skill and spells were what he was going to need.

"Oh, tutorial. One more thing…"

Related Books

Popular novel hashtag