The Way Forward

Elin opened her eyes. The dungeon around her was slowly getting lighter, meaning that the night was ending soon. Her body ached from the position it had held through the night and she looked around for a minute, confused as to why. She'd never fallen asleep while sitting up before and couldn't think as to why.

Yet, she saw Kim nearby, sleeping while leaning against the wall and Elin couldn't help but smile at the sight. Then she became aware of the weight in her hand and she looked down and saw Bart's head cradled in her bloodied hand and what she had been doing when she had fallen asleep came back to her. The blood on her hand had dried, making her want to wash her hand as soon as possible, but more importantly, she could feel that the back of Bart's skull had grown back. The regeneration spell was complete.

Elin breathed a sigh of relief as she was able to verify that. However, she wanted to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, so she softly said, "Assess."

The information appeared before Elin and she smiled as she saw that there wasn't anything else wrong with Bart. He was likely sleeping at the moment and would be pretty much fine when he woke up. Elin didn't mind waiting for a little longer before moving, despite her body not being happy with being in the same position for so long. After all, if she set Bart's head down, he might wake up before his body was ready for him to and Elin enjoyed the sight of him sleeping so peacefully.

She wondered if it was possible for her to have a child with Kim. Her system might eventually have a spell that she could learn that would allow that. Not that she had any idea how to unlock a spell like that if it could be done. After all, not only would a spell like that allow her to produce an heir so her family's line could continue, but it would also allow her to always have a part of Kim around her, no matter what happened when this competition thing was over.

However, she pushed those thoughts aside, since she couldn't think what use they would have at the moment. Especially since she knew they'd be leaving the dungeon soon as those she'd heard talking around her after that announcement made it clear that they were worried about what outside the dungeon might be like. That the dangers may only be getting worse.

Which meant that Elin would need to be as strong as she could possibly be. Which, as she thought about it, meant that she should check her status to see if there was anything new she since they'd defeated the boss.

"Status," Elin said softly, more worried about waking Bart up than anything else.

HP 24/30

MP 12/56

Level 9

XP 134/4500

Stamina 13/15

Str 5

Int 28

Dex 14

Con 12

Wis 28

Mag 28

Agi 10

Cha 19

Physical Resistance 5%

Magical Resistance 30%

Skills:

Wound Identification II 42/150

Wound Treatment, non-magical 98/100

Combat Medic 77/100

Holy Boost

Enhanced Mastery

Improved Resistance

White Magic Spells:

Life Attribute – Minor Heal II 4mp 0/150

Life Attribute – Treat 3mp 40/100

Holy Attribute – Sacred Shot 4mp 84/100

Life Attribute – Assess 2mp

Life Attribute – Regenerate 12 MP

Green Magic Spells:

Life Attribute – Stat enhancement 2mp 20/100

Force Attribute – Physical Resistance enhancement II 2mp 45/150

Force Attribute – Minor Protection II 2mp 45/150

You have 15 attribute points left to allocate. Where would you like to place them?

Elin smiled. She'd gotten a few levels, so she was ready to add more to her stats. She quickly added 2 to her Int, Wis, and Mag, then 5 to her Str, leaving her with 4 remaining. She wasn't sure where to put those. Although, she quickly scrapped the allocations as she didn't think she needed that much HP or Stamina. So, she put 5 in her Int, Wis, and Mag. Which brought her MP max to 66 and her current MP to 22,

She confirmed her selection and just looked at it for a moment, enjoying the increse. She considered what she might want to put more points in as she looked at her stats. Part of her was bothered by her Cha at 19, though she couldn't say why. Then she noticed a new message had appeared at the bottom of her stats.

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

Smiling, she looked at the options. Though, she felt al little put out by not having any new options. Though, she was happy that she could pick some of the skills that had interested her a little previously, but as she looked at the HP transfer, she realized that she should first get her HP higher before picking that. As the more HP she had, the more she could transfer if it came to that.

However, at the moment she didn't think it was a very good option, so she selected Restore Drain. Partly because the fact it was an option worried her. If things were as bad as the others were worried they would be outside the dungeon, Elin couldn't deny the possibility that someone or something could drain the stats of the others on her team and she was determined to keep from letting that remain. After all, it was possible that drains such as that could be permanent. Especially if one of them died because of that.

Elin sighed as she finished. She wanted to know what she should do with her stats, but also accepted that she wasn't likely to know until it was too late to make any changes. So, all she had left to do was to just hope she'd made the right choices already.

When she looked up from her stats, she was surprised at how much lighter the dungeon was around her. She could see others starting to wake up, probably because of the light, when there was a loud rumbling.

Not only a rumbling, but the entire room seemed to be shaking. At first Elin had no idea what was going on or what to do about it, but then she noticed in the main part of the room, the floor was rising. Not rising as in floating, but rather something beneath it was pushing it upward.

"What's going on?" Kim asked, clearly having been startled out of her slumber.

"I think the floor's rising out there," Elin said, not sure exactly what was going to happen after it finished.

Kim, however, merely chuckled. "Probably what we needed in order to get up to that place up there," she said.

"Oh, you mean that hallway you could see but couldn't get to?" Elin asked, wanting to be sure she was on the same page as Kim.

"Exactly," Kim said.

Elin wasn't sure she liked the shaking caused by the rising floor. She found it rather annoying. Why couldn't the ground remain still like it's supposed to? Elin asked herself as she felt her annoyance and irritation levels rise themselves.

So, when the floor stopped rising, she was happy, although there was a loud noise that accompanied it, but she couldn't say whether it was from the floor reaching the highest point towards the center of the room or if it came from whatever was making the floor to rise like it had.

Though, she didn't have much time to speculate as to what caused the noise, as Bart woke up when it occurred. Which wasn't surprising with how much the loud noise echoed. Which Elin suspected was enhanced by the raised floor.

"Wh-what happened?" Bart asked, his eyes opening, but not focusing very well at the moment.

"You were thrown against the wall," Elin said.

"Oh," was all Bart replied with. Then after a moment, when his eyes were a little clearer and focused, he added, "Uh, where's Michelle?"

Elin looked around. "I'm not sure," she said. "I've been so busy treating you that I guess I didn't think about where anyone was."

"Uh," Kim said sounding rather hesitant, drawing both Elin's and Bart's attention. "I'm sorry, Bart. Michelle was killed in the fight."

Bart looked stunned. Like he was told something that didn't make any sense. Yet, Elin felt a cold sensation along her spine. She knew Kim wouldn't joke about something like that, so she was sure that it was true, but she wasn't sure how Bart would take it.

However, Bart merely sighed. "I guess that's all I could have expected," he replied, sounding rather depressed.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Elin asked.

"Not really," Bart replied as he sat up, his head leaving Elin's hand. "If there was, it probably would end up with you getting hurt anyway."

Elin wasn't sure what to make of that response and looked to Kim for help. Yet, Kim merely shook her head. What was most concerning for her was how emotionless Bart seemed. Almost like he'd shut that part of himself off or something.

"What're you going to do now?" Kim asked. "Want to join my team?"

Bart smiled as he shook his head. "When I was with Michelle, we both agreed to join Owen's team, so that's the team I'll be with.

Elin opened her mouth to say something, but that's when the announcer chose to interrupt them.

"Good morning contestants!! The night was uneventful, as was to be expected. The Dungeon Boss was defeated yesterday and so, the exit to the dungeon has opened up. Anyone who reaches the boss' room can now leave the dungeon. What waits our contestants outside? The only way to find out is to go out there yourselves. So, good luck to all surviving contestants!"