Chapter 206 - Oh, Hope
Elliot's brows knit in his forehead as he listened to the being.
"Prisoner? I am not this thing's prisoner, it's merely controlling me," Elliot tried to defend that made the voice laugh menacingly.
'That's the same thing,' it replied. 'And before you ask why I am helping you, is because we can help each other out.'
"And how is that?" Elliot quirked his brow up. Sure, this thing knew about The Manual and seemed trustworthy, but then he couldn't just trust anyone anymore. He needed to scan everything from all angles before he makes decisions.
'I will give you power.'
–
Elliot awoke to the sound of birds chirping. He felt his head spinning, a ray of sunlight passing through the glass of his window had been hitting his face for heaven knows how long.
It looked like it was noon when he woke up and since he had no curtains on, the heat from the sunlight bursted in him like a flame explosion.
"How long was I out?" Elliot asked himself and touched his head. "A day?"
"Elliot!" His front door opened and Lance greeted him with a smile. "Are you done?"
"What? No, I–"
"But it's been three days," Lance said. Just after he said those words, Elliot's stomach croaked like a beast. He touched it and felt like his gut was going to devour itself.
"What the fluke–"
Without any more second thoughts, Elliot turned to his Inventory and took out the plate of food he once made. It was a good thing he Cooks extra and places it in his Inventory for future rations in case he needed them.
"Fill me in, I was preoccupied," Elliot said and moved to the kitchen. Elliot was trailing him while giving him an update about everything that has been going on.
Apparently, the new rules were final and were implemented to eliminate the ones who could annihilate any future teams in one strike. When Elliot asked about why Midnight wasn't taken instead of Sun was because Sun had more exposure in the recent events.
They thought Midnight's blocking of the Sun was an attack from the Vassals and didn't consider it as Midnight's. The Raven Justice and Holy Crow had been underestimating Midnight too. Seeing as he was hey mostly saw him during daytime, he couldn't show off much.
That was why he was passed on as non-theatening. A declaration that only spelled victory in Elliot's lips.
Then there's Dustin. In three days worth of training with Aquarius, Dustin could slightly convert water into ice. For now, he could convert it to semi-hard water, but a few days more and he could finally create ice with it.
Aquarius was thrilled yet at the same time worried about the boy's capabilities. It was normal for some kids to excel in their affinities compared to their age, but Dustin was excelling pass the Adventurers who are just starting.
And Christina's father gave them an update. He previously said that the guild has to win the Championship, but now he said that the Guild must become at least in the Top 3 guilds.
They were about to let their guards down but Frederick punched some sense into them. He said that the Lord only did this so the group would loosen the stress put upon them and would hinder their growth. Because the stakes were now lower, they would start to relax and the growth they worked so hard on would go to waste.
Lance said even Frederick burned a few chairs to make them understand the value of winning. Relaxing would hinder progress, but pain would deliver excellence. The only way for Adventurers to grow and become stronger was to go through pain and learn from it.
Lance paused momentarily, "Then he said that it would also be useless if you just look for pain. Who do you think you are? George?"
Elliot chuckled at this and smiled. He let Lance continue babbling about more trivial things while he ate. Elliot didn't even believe he missed a lot of things throughout the three days. And what he also couldn't believe that he was out for three days.
"H-How did it happen though? Did you know?" Elliot asked. "Or was it sudden like, everything just blanked out."
"Everything just blanked out," Elliot said. "Now I wasted three days and did nothing. I don't think I'm able to reach…"
He trailed off when he saw his Console being flooded with notifications. He opened them one by one, shocked and confused about what was going on.
'Sun Palace Guard Scabbard Pulled.'
'Sun Palace Guard Helm Pulled.'
'Sun Palace Guard Gloves Pulled.'
…
'You have obtained << Sun Palace Guard Emblem >>.'
'You have obtained << Grass Palace Guard Emblem >>.'
'Guard Emblems completed. Benefits will be activated.'
He couldn't believe his eyes. Everything was done in itself. He checked on his Inventory and saw that the corpses of the Guards were indeed not there anymore. Even the other ones were gone. The only thing that was left among them were their eyes and other organs that he could use to brew.
"Are you okay?" Lance asked. "You seem like you're in a trance."
"That's because I am in a trance," Elliot chuckled. "I can't believe I'm done. And I have one notification left."
'Feature unlocked < Arcane Points >.'
Elliot gulped as his hands glided in the air and pressed on the rectangle-shaped bar. It was euphoric for him to see all these things and he knew well what this one does.
< Arcane Points >
// Used as a substitute for Mana Points. When the user's MP has run out, AP is taken. When the AP has run out, the attacks will consume HP.
! Arcane Points are only available to skills who uses Ethereum. When a skill without Ethereum is attempted to cast and the user has no MP left, the skill will not be activated.
Elliot knew this was done by that voice. Whatever that voice did to him, it did a great job. Elliot's only concern now was if he could actually trust it. It may only show help to him now, but once it gets what it wants, it may betray him.
But for now, he could slightly trust the beast, or whatever it was. It finished his tasks by just letting him sleep, something that he'd been craving for for the longest time.
"How are you feeling now?" Lance asked. "Actually, I wasn't going to come until later this afternoon. Then, Hope brought up that he saw you passed out on the ground yesterday. We didn't actually minded it at first, maybe you're just tired. But he said that you were here still."
"And why didn't he wake me up?" Elliot's eyebrows met. "Don't tell me–"
"You told us not to disturb you for three days, so he did just that," Lance rolled his eyes. "Oh, Hope."
Elliot laughed lightly, shaking his head in disbelief.. "Oh, Hope."