Chapter 107: Falling Apart at the Seams

    Part of seeing the last goblin falling to the ground felt more like it was almost like watching an event in a dream. It hardly felt real. Elmo stayed where he was kneeling, his eyes never moving from the goblin, his brain still struggling to catch up on what had just happened. It wasn''t even until Elin had finished healing his chest that he even became aware of her presence.

    Even then, he merely looked at her like he didn''t know her. Yet, while he recognized her, any details past that were rather elusive for him. He almost felt like he wasn''t even really there either. Like maybe he had died in the fight, or maybe from the explosion closing the portal had caused, and his desire to help merely allowed him to continue the fight, even after his death.

    Though, after the third healing spell Elin used on him, this time on his head, his brain finally snapped back to how he had been before the explosion had threw him into the far wall.

    Elmo smiled at Elin as he said quietly, "Thanks. I needed that." He wasn''t sure why he spoke so quietly. Almost like that''s the volume they should use for whatever arbitrary reason.

    "You''re welcome," Elin whispered, giving him a weak smile herself.

    As she walked back towards Kim, Elmo sighed and returned his gaze to the goblin mage. So much of the fight he couldn''t e sure how injured either of them were, and he suspected that the goblin might have had injuries it hadn''t realized because of the fight going on in front of it.

    Elmo sighed as he thought about all the goblins they''d fought since coming back to this dungeon. He wasn''t sure if he''d ever be able to get an accurate count of how many goblins they''d killed. For one thing, he certainly didn''t care to go count the bodies. Although, as he glanced at the goblin bodies that littered the ground around him, he couldn''t help but wonder if any of the goblins had gotten blown apart when the portal collapsed. Yet, he did notice that there were two goblins that looked like they had been cut in half vertically and he wondered if maybe they''d been in the middle of walking through the portal when it was closed.

    "Status," Elmo whispered to himself. He had considered checking this a few times before this battle, but there always seemed to be one thing or another that pulled hi attention at that time. Though, he was appalled at how worn out he''d gotten.

    HP 13/50

    MP 7/42

    Level 17

    XP 36934/153000

    Stamina 2/25

    Str 9

    Dex 14

    Mag 24

    Con 11

    Int 23

    Wis 22

    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 have 35 attribute points to allocate. Would you like to place them?

    Elmo couldn''t help but feel a little overwhelmed at what he saw with his stats. Not only had he jumped so much with his level, but he felt like something had broken in regards to how fast he was getting XP.

    However, he couldn''t let himself get distracted about that for the moment. He first needed to figure out how to allocate his attribute points. He wasn''t really sure about his strategy up to this point, but had a feeling he needed more HP. Clearly just being a mage at the back of the group still was in danger of other attacks. Which meant he still needed more HP.

    Yet, at the same time, he knew he still needed to boost his magical power. It wasn''t going to be good if he couldn''t do the damage he''d need to do in the battles he was sure were coming up. The way the challenges seemed to be going, made it feel like they were progressively getting harder, just like any video game he''d played before.

    So, he put down 6 points on his Str and 4 on his Con. He felt like he should put more on those, but at the same time, he worried more about how much attack power he really had. Then he put 7 on his Int, 8 on his Wis, and 10 on his Mag. Which adjusted his HP to 56, his Stamina to 28, and his MP to 53. Maybe it wasn''t the levels he''d like, but it was at least better than it had been.

    Looking over his stats again, he suddenly realized that he had an extra skill that he hadn''t seen before: Silent Casting. He wasn''t sure where that came from, but he resolved to ask his tutorial when he woke up next.

    Even with his increased amount of Stamina, he knew he needed to take a nap if nothing else. He could always adjust it later when he had more time to do so.

    +++

    Kim wasn''t sure she liked being fussed over by Elin, though part of it did have it''s appeal. However, she would prefer if they were alone so there could be more touching and maybe even intimate moments.

    However, Kim couldn''t understand why Elin had waited until the goblin had been killed before healing her. If Elin had healed her, then she could have sliced the goblin''s head off and it would have finished the fight much faster.

    As it is, even with Elin healing her pains, she couldn''t help but feel like she needed to sleep sooner rather than later. Although, part of that might have been from her being healed earlier after the fight with the doppelganger. She wasn''t sure what might happen if she didn''t, but she was certainly going to keep Elin at her side while she slept. Sear?h the N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    She just first needed to wait for Elin to apparently heal what she could on Jonas. Not that she was complaining. It at least gave her a chance to check her status after so many fights.

    "Status," Kim whispered.

    HP 22/155

    Stamina 14/113

    Level 17

    EXP 32879/153000

    Str 31

    Dex 19

    Vit 30

    Con 20

    Int 15

    Wis 10

    Agi 20

    Endurance 30

    Physical Resistance 15%

    Magical Resistance 5%

    Skills:

    Weapon Proficiency

    Bastard Sword VII 327/750

    Short Sword III 231/250

    Shield Proficiency

    Armor Proficiency

    Plate Armor II 225/300

    Leather Armor V 443/500

    Metal/stone/wood Expertise

    Unarmed Combat III 145/300

    Iron Skin

    Abilities:

    Shield Bash – 4 stamina 0/100

    Charge III – 3 stamina/10 feet 152/200

    Reversal Cut III – 7 stamina 2/200

    Iai Cut IV -10 stamina 225/250

    Combat Dance VI – 8 stamina 221/325

    Stamina Armor

    Dodging Strike – 2 stamina/dodge

    You have 35 attribute points left to allocate. Where would you like to place them?

    Looking at what had changed on her stats, she couldn''t help but feel like too much had changed. She couldn''t remember using her Iai Cut as much as apparently she had, so it felt like maybe a glitch occurred, yet she had a feeling glitches wouldn''t appear at this stage out of nowhere. That if there was a glitch, it would need to be pretty much noticeable early on.

    Still, she felt like she should take care of her attribute distribution before she went to sleep. That way she wouldn''t have to deal with that before she got up. Especially since she didn''t feel like she''d be able to get very far if they tried to delay going to sleep.

    So, she put 4 on her Str, 10 on her Con and Agi, then 1 on her Dex and 5 on her Vit and Endurance. Which brought her HP to 263 and her Stamina to 123. Part of her felt like she needed to have put those attribute points elsewhere, but maybe it was because of how tired she was that she couldn''t think of any better ideas. She knew she''d need more HP in general, but the jump to her HP was more than she had expected. The amount her Stamina increased was more in line with what she''d expected, so that didn''t bother her.

    She also noticed that there were new abilities that she could learn, or at least choose one from the list, although she wasn''t sure if they''d actually be new items on the list or just the old ones from the last time she''d been able to select it, but she couldn''t be sure if she should pick one now.

    Her eyelids were feeling heavy and even her eyes were starting to ache. She debated with herself for a few minutes before throwing in the metaphorical towel at this point. She needed to just worry about that later. Especially since she couldn''t be sure that she wouldn''t fall asleep while perusing the list and accidentally select one, or more, that she didn''t want, or maybe didn''t need or even have a use for.

    In short, she closed her status window and closed her eyes, lying on the ground. There would be time enough for that to be looked at before they left the dungeon again. She debated on whether or not she should wait for Elin to come back before she went to sleep, yet before she could come to a conclusion, she was fast asleep.