The Systems Challenge

Elmo smiled to himself as Elin threw another fit about being called 'princess' again. He'd spent a couple hours with Kim drilling into him the basics with hand to hand combat, such as how to throw a punch without breaking his hand, basic blocks, kicks, weak points that are useful to target, ways to attack with words, and especially using elbows, knees and his teeth if necessary.

The biggest problem he had with about 'weak points' portion was that she kept going after his groin. She targeted a few other points, but his groin seemed to be her main target. He understood that weak point of guys very well, but on the other hand, he did get plenty of experience using blocks to keep her from trying to injure his junk.

After, when he was just exhausted and Jonas began his sparring with Kim, he realized he hadn't checked his status. So, while he rested and let Kim and Jonas wear themselves out, he checked it and wasn't surprised that he'd leveled up. So, he put 2 attribute points in his Agi, 2 to his Wis, and 1 to his Int.

Partly because he recognized how much slower he had been moving compared to Kim, and then added to his Wis and Int to increase his MP primarily. After all, that was his best asset, regardless of how strong his spells were, being able to use them more frequently would not only help him in combat, but also with building his proficiency with his spells, so he could also see what some of the more powerful versions might be when he was able to get them strong enough.

Now he was able to really be entertained by Kim training Elin. Partly because of being called 'princess' again, Elin was lashing out with everything she had, which honestly, wasn't much. Elmo was pretty sure Elin had a lower Agi than he did. Kim looked rather worn out from her sparring with Jonas, but was still able to easily keep from letting Elin get a hit in.

Elmo was pretty sure this latest occurrence was an accident and that Kim hadn't meant to call her 'princess,' but Elmo doubted that Elin would believe that. Although, as he thought about it, he partially wondered if Kim did use it purposely, as a method of illustrating using words to attack, since it was clear that Elin wasn't using any rational part of her mind with her lashing out at Kim.

However, eventually Elin wears herself out, ending her lesson. Though, Elin refuses to accept help from Kim on getting back to where she had been sleeping after she'd tried running off and Kim brought her back, asleep.

Elmo started to stand up, but stopped when he realized that the light in the dungeon seemed to be dimming. Largely because he could clearly see his shadow when he hadn't been able to do that when he first sat down to rest after his lesson with Kim.

"Uh, guys, I think 'night' is almost here," Elmo called out, emphasizing the word night.

"You think so?" Jonas asked, looking at him from where he was relaxing.

"Well, the light we had since we left that room is starting to get dimmer," Elmo replied.