Chapter 170 - Encryption
"A guild?" Lance asked from the call. "And Florencia will pay? Is that okay?"
"The girl actually was just trying to impress the villagers and only had half of the amount," Elliot said with a chuckle. "I still have to shoulder half of it."
Lance laughed at this. "That girl, she's seriously something else, huh? And by the way, how's Christina. I heard she's also part of the League of Royals and Nobles?"
"Yeah," Elliot said. "She's actually been there for quite a while now. About a year. Her family must've pressured her from joining. Which sucked."
"Yep," Lance chuckled. "Anyway, I still have some guild work to do. I missed a lot of reports as a guild master. Good thing we're pausing with our adventures for now. I need to really do these bad boys."
"Okay, do that and I have to go," Elliot said. "Bye, Lance."
"Bye, Elliot."
They ended the call and Elliot smiled. He had been contacting his friends everyday just for updates but he still missed them somehow. He was leaning his head against a rock, watching the ocean from the shore. It was a beautiful view that he didn't get to see often.
Alorde was in the middle of the kingdom, meaning they don't get to enjoy the sea like this.
Just a few minutes from now, Elliot was going to meet up with Emelda so she could give him the thing that the mysterious Adventurer gave her.
His instructions was awfully clear too.
To give the item to the boy who would use Supreme Malevolence.
"It's time," Elliot said to himself and stood, walking into the forest where Emelda was standing. "Did you bring it?"
Emelda nodded and offered her closed hand. "Give me your hand."
Elliot extended his hand, opening his palm and feeling a small hard and cold object drop from Emelda's hand.
"That's the thing," Emelda said. "Now, I'm free. I'll go back to Dan now."
"Thank you," Elliot bowed slightly, letting Emelda walk out of the forest, leaving him alone.
He took a glance at the item and saw that it was a pendant. He used scan and determined that the metal used in the pendant was Valorium, meaning that the one who previously owned this was from Cacten.
"But what does that have to do with anything?" Elliot grunted and placed the pendant in his Inventory.
Immediately, a notification popped out.
'Encrypted message loading…"
'Please wait a couple of minutes…'
"Encrypted message?" Elliot asked himself. He scratched the back of his head while he waited for the system to finish processing the message.
'Encryption done.'
Elliot opened his Console and saw the array of messages. The messages were encrypted into 7 sections, something Elliot think was odd.
[ 1/8
// Dear APRIL,
I know how to thank you for all the blessings you gave from using The Manual. It has only been a couple of months and I've reached the Terran's Legendary tier. ]
As expected, it was from the previous owner. And just like Emelda guessed, the owner wasn't Terran. So did that mean that the Manual did not originally belonged to their Realm? Or does it go to other realms from time to time?
Elliot gulped as he opened the second message.
[ 2/8
// Dear APRIL,
I am traveling the world with my best friends. We're currently looking for more people to join us but it's hard to identify which people to trust. The Manual constantly tells me to be careful of betrayals. ]
Elliot could feel the same as to what this man was at. The Manual constantly reminded him that betrayals are inevitable, and that sooner or later, someone will turn on him.
The thought would kill Elliot from time to time. He couldn't imagine who and why a person would betray him. And the fact that it could be anyone.
Even his friends.
[ 3/8
// Dear APRIL,
Among the Six Realms, my favorite is Terra, I could say. The Manual lets me do crazy quests sometimes and even my friends would question its decisions. But then sooner or later, it would all make sense. It's odd, but very helpful so kudos to the Manual for that. ]
Once again, Elliot could relate to him. Collecting certain body parts, doing something odd, and some of the other quests The Manual had given him showed that it would make sense in the future. He was in a similar situations with the previous owner and it was fascinating yet scary for him.
Fascinating since they share a lot of struggles with The Manual.
[ 4/8
// Dear APRIL,
Today, I finally asked her out. And she said yes! I couldn't believe how happy I am. After saving her from her tyrant mother, she's finally mine now. And I have to thank you for that. If you haven't given me that quest to go to her, I wouldn't have met such a wonderful woman. ]
"So, he was in love?" Elliot tilted his head.
The previous owner of APRIL must be from one of the two boys in Emelda's story. And the girl was the one the previous owner fell in love with.
[ 5/8
// Dear APRIL,
Everyday is a struggle when your best friend is literally stronger than you. He can wield more than one affinity while I could only rely on you and my own. *sigh* I kinda wish I didn't gave him my potions though. But that would be selfish. Whatever. ]
[ 6/8
// Dear APRIL,
We have encountered children with horrifying past. One is a prisoner of silence, one is kissed by darkness, and one is chained to responsibility. But I promise to guide them with everything I can. Wish me luck! ]
[ 7/8
// Dear APRIL,
She's pregnant! We will finally have a child. I will make our child a strong Adventurer like me so we can live a life together, us family. That would be awesome! ]
For the final message, confusion starts to fill Elliot's head.
[ 8/8
// APRIL
What is happening? How did it end up this way? I thought I could trust him. But ]
The message wasn't finished. And Elliot was in no way to determine if the previous owner was in a hurry to close his Console or someone stopped him from continuing his message.
Elliot pulled the amulet out of the Inventory and placed it back, only to be shown the same messages. This would mean that it wasn't a glitch in the system.
So, what could it mean?