3 Heads-Up
It had all happened so quickly that most of the people in that hallway hadn't even wrapped their heads around it. The skinny looking nerd had knocked out three well-built athletes with a single blow as if he was swatting a fly.
They watched dumbfounded as Peter casually plucked out all the remaining glass shards from his face, causing even more blood to pour out of his wounds.
[]
[Hidden condition fulfilled:]
[Beat up the bullies without taking any damage]
[Calculating higher rewards...]
[Ting!]
[Unlocked tab: Experience]
[Unlocked tab: Settings]
[Unlocked HUD-mode]
[Unlocked Damage Display]
[{Status} {Skill} {Experience} {Settings}]
[]
Instead of another reward box for completing the mission, the system had unlocked more features instead. Although Peter was quite excited at the prospect of experimenting with the new toys he had received, there was something else he needed to do first.
After a brief moment of looking around, he found the printed sheet of paper that contained his class schedule and the map of the campus.
Of course, he had no intensions of going to the class anymore. He needed to go to the infirmary and get his wounds disinfected and patched up. With the weak body he currently had, he couldn't risk getting sick.
Noticing all the people in the hall that were still staring at him, Peter couldn't help but be a little irritated.
"Don't you all have somewhere else you need to be?"
It seemed his words were enough to rouse them out of the state of shock they were in, as many of them rushed off to the classes they were supposed to be attending. The Kirkler College of Arts was rather strict with attendances and no-one wanted lower grades because of a single day of tardiness.
Peter, too, began making his way to the infirmary while referencing the map. But this time, he made sure to keep an eye out for his surroundings so he didn't have any more unfortunate falls. However, because he had lost his glasses, this task was proving to be a bit more difficult than he had been initially expecting.
The infirmary on campus was mostly there for sport related injuries. The students in the college were adults and knew better than to start physical confrontations.
Thus, it was only natural for the nurse to be rather shocked when a student walked through her doors, covered in blood.
"I need some antiseptics. And probably some bandages to cover up these injuries." Peter calmly said. He didn't even appear to be in distress.
The nurse, as she was trained to do, quickly rushed to aid the student, dragging him to the bed and laying him down. She probably had a higher strength stat than Peter, since he couldn't put up any resistance against her.
"This is unnecessary."
"Do you have any pain in the neck area?" She asked, while observing the injuries on his face.
"No."
"Can you feel where I am touching you with my right hand?"
"You are touching my right forearm."
"Do you remember where you are?"
Although Peter wasn't much of an athlete, Elizabeth was on the college basketball team. He had followed her around enough to know that the nurse was running a field concussion test on him.
"I don't have a concussion. I just need to get patched up."
"Do you remember where you are?" The nurse repeated herself with a concerned look on her face.
Peter wasn't much of a people person, but he immediately knew that she wouldn't stop just because he told her to. However, because of his past experience, he knew she would ask him several questions to test his memory, and he doubted he could answer all of them at that moment.
Thus, he had to take some drastic measures. Pretending that he needed to scratch his hand, he quickly pressed the {Skill} and {Use} button in quick succession while keeping the nurse in the middle of his field of vision the entire time.
"I'm at the infirmary located in the eastern wing of the Kirkler College of Arts." Even as he was speaking, he was observing the information that had appeared in the system window.
[]
[Name: Leah May]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: ???]
[Weight: ???]
[Height: ???]
[{Check}]
[]
"Listen Ms May, my name is Peter Edward Elliot, I'm a first-year student studying for a Bachelor's Degree in Arts, majoring in English. I'm 17 years old, weigh 55 kilograms and am 6'4" tall. I do not have a concussion. So please, I would appreciate it if you would help me clean up the mess on my face first."
The nurse looked down at the student lying on the bed in surprise. "You know me?"
"Yes. I often visit the training sessions of the basketball team. I have seen you before." Peter was lying, of course, but it was a very convincing lie. After all, it was true that he used to visit the gym an awful lot. He was bound to have come across the nurse in the past.
Perhaps convinced by Peter's answers, Ms May didn't ask him anything else before pulling a tray full of equipment next to the bed. Grabbing a cotton ball with a pair of forceps, she dipped it into a small dish containing antiseptic.
"This will sting a little."
With gentle hands, she began carefully cleaning up the blood around the wounds on his face. As she was doing this, she found several pieces of glass still stuck inside his flesh that were impossible to dig out with just her hands. Thus, using a small tweezer, she pulled out all the shards until she was certain that there was nothing left.
Most of the wounds were small slits that were already forming clots, so she didn't think it was necessary to bandage up his entire face. Thus, she just put a bandaid on some of the bigger wounds.
"That should do it."
"Thanks." Peter said as he was sitting up, only to be promptly pushed down on the bed once more.
"Rest." Ms May said in a very stern tone, leaving him with no choice but to be obedient and listen.
Having taken care of Peter, the nurse sat down behind her desk. Although the student wasn't too badly injured, it was only natural for her to feel tired.
Peter let out a chuckle at everything that was happening. There he was, peacefully lying down on a bed in the infirmary when the people who actually needed medical care were probably still lying on the floor in a hallway.
But he was fine with this outcome. It was much easier for him to check out his system there than in a busy classroom.
He decided to start with the {Settings} tab. This was a characteristic that he had from a long time ago. Whenever he got his hands on a new phone or some other new technology, the first thing he did was check the settings. So naturally, he had to start with the settings on his system, too.
However, he was left rather disappointed at the sparse menu that had opened up.
[]
[HUD-mode: Off {Activate}]
[Damage Display: Off (Only available when HUD-mode is activated)]
[]
'Just two options?' He thought while shaking his head. This system of his was named A. S. S. so perhaps, he should have curbed his expectations from the start.
However, what options he did have were rather hard-hitting. If HUD-mode was what he was expecting, it would be a game changer. With anticipation in his heart, he pressed {Activate}.
Instantly, the transparent blue window disappeared from the middle of his field of vision. Replacing it was a HUD that appeared to have been ripped straight out of a video-game.
On the top left, there was a small window giving him a visual of his current physical state. Peter assumed this was the so-called damage display.
[]
[Head: | | | | _]
[Torso: | | | | |]
[Right Arm: | | | | |]
[Left Arm: | | | | \]
[Right Leg: | | | | |]
[Left Leg: | | | | |]
[]
Instead of displaying a single bar of HP, like most video-games, his system had classified damage into 6 subtypes. He had to say he liked this system a lot more. After all, it would prevent annoying scenarios that occurred in video games, like instantly dying after being shot in the foot.
He didn't exactly understand how the damage display worked but it would be obvious enough to figure out with time. Even after just a brief glance, he could tell that the display was showing the damage he had taken to his head and arm. He didn't like the fact that it wasn't a simple number-based system, but there was little he could do about it.
On the bottom right of his HUD there were two icons. One featured a cogwheel, which most likely opened the settings, while the other featured a compass star. Pressing it caused a small window to pop up, which gave him access to the various tabs like status and skill.
However, the HUD gave him a much better way of using skills. Instead of having to manually go through the menus, he now had a skill bar on the bottom with 10 slots. The first of the slots was occupied with a small icon that looked like an open eye: the icon for analysis.
'F*ck yeah!' Peter shouted in his mind. Not only had the clutter from his field of vision been removed, using skills would also be much easier in the future. Something like this truly warranted a celebration.
