I Know The Secret To Surpass Level 100

They got back to the guild and Elliot could see that everyone was busy. Each guild member was running around carrying something either for construction or for cooking.

They got inside and Lance turned to him, "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm positive," Elliot replied.

The older boy ruffled his hair and smiled, "Good. Because I need to take care of a few things. I'll see you later."

"Bye," Elliot waved his hand as he watched Lance walk away. He turned to the busy lobby, his eyebrows meeting as he thought of what was happening.

Though he wasn't particularly a stranger in the guild, he wasn't close to everyone either. Just like any guild, their own has their parties separate most of the time and each party would do their thing.

When he spotted Connor, Elliot walk over to him and waved at him.

"Hey, Connor. What's going on?" Elliot asked, looking around the room again. "Is there a party? I don't want to get drunk again."

"It's Midnight's birthday," Connor answered. He was cutting a piece of fabric that looked like it would become a banner. "Wait, you don't know that?"

Elliot shook his head, "I don't know anyone birthday actually. Wait, when is your birthday?"

"In a month," Connor deadpanned. "And then Ed follows two months after then Lance, then Hope which was decided by Lance."

"Decided? How?" Elliot scrunched his face. "The day he hatched?"

The look on Connor's face says it all, Elliot formed an O with his mouth and slowly nodded, "Which means, Ed too?"

Befofe Connor could even answer, there was a voice that spoke behind them.

"What about me?" Ed slung each his arm in each of the boys. "I just heard my name."

"We were talking about how we're going to do things today," Connor reasoned, smiling awkwardly. He slowly took Ed's arm off of his shoulder and walked away, "I think the props team need some help."

"Traitor," Elliot narrowed his eyes at the retreating Connor. "Well, I was just asking when's everyone's birthday. Apparently, I do not know anything."

"Nothing new," Ed snickered. "But I'm hurt. It's been months since we're friends and you don't even know my hatch day."

Elliot flattened his lips and took everything in his power not to laugh. Ed's fake pained expression added fuel to the fire of his contained laugh. And he wasn't particularly fond of the "hatching" part. One could only imagine how a human would emerge from an egg, and how a human could survive inside that egg while it's incubating.

"Have you ever thought about life?" Elliot suddenly found himself asking. "We celebrate birthday, but why?"

"Oh, don't go asking me all those philosophical questions. I just had my ninth shot," Ed said. "My stomach feels bloated and my mind feels floating, so no."

"I'll go to the bar and find Dustin," Elliot said and stood from the floor. He walked through the crowd of people and into the empty bar. "Now, where is everyone?"

"No bar today," Glitch said from his counter. "Everyone wants to prepare something big for Midnight, so Sun and Dustin are distracting him in the market while we prepare."

"Can't I get a shot of beer at least?" Elliot pouted.

"I have vodka here if you want," Glitch wiggled his eyebrows. "Let's go."

Elliot did not waste any more time and ran over to Glitch's counter. He took the glass of vodka and gulped it in one go. "Argh. So strong."

"It's vodka," Glitch deadpanned. "What did you expect? The drink should taste like apple juice or something?"

Elliot sighed and leaned his weight on his arm that was on the wooden counter. He was thinking about how they were celebrating while Christina and the Cilcans were probably in the dungeons, hungry and thirsty right now.

"Why did all of these happen?" Elliot asked out loud and drank another shot. "I just wanted to help, and then everything's just falling apart."

"Tell me," Glitch said. "I'm listening."

"You know, all I want is to help people," Elliot said. "That's all I've been wanting ever since and yet, everytime I do something, there's always wrong that's going to happen in return. Twice as big. It's like I'm fixing a tower brick by brick, but it keeps falling apart. Like, the more I try to fix it, the worse it gets."

"Why do you think that is?" Glitch asked. "Think about why it's happening."

"I guess life just hates me," Elliot placed his head on the wooden counter. "This counter is shiny. And so brown."

"You know, Elliot," Glitch got out of his counter and placed his hand on Elliot's back. "Listen to me. You're doing the best you can right? And if it's not enough, then you don't have to feel bad. You should feel bad when you haven't done anything at all. And right now, it looks like this because you're only building the foundation of everything."

Elliot turned to him while his face was still stuck on the counter. "Really?"

"Really," Glitch smiled. "You think a castle is built in a day? Even when there's a hundred mages helping each other to form the castle, it would at least take them a week to make it. And it would look like a mega wreck in the start only because you're just starting."

'He knows.'

Glitch continued talking but Elliot wasn't listening anymore. His focus was stolen by the deep voice that gave him the power.

"He's here!" Someone yelled from outside. Glitch hurried to the back of his counter and ran away, leaving Elliot behind.

"What the…" Elliot trailed off after realizing that no one's inside the guild anymore.

He was left alone.

"Hello? Should I hide?" Elliot asked out loud but with a hushed tone. "Hello?"

He heard a sound of footsteps against the stone floor. Hearing the clacking of heels, Elliot could only facepalm, thinking it was Midnight. Elliot was facing away from the door, his forehead starting to sweat as the footsteps got closer.

"Hey, Midnight," Elliot said without turning back. "I also do not know what happened, but–"

Elliot froze when he glanced back, his body felt like they were stuck in a trance, looking at the girl in front of him.

The familiar bluish black hair, the deep blue eyes and the smile. She looked straight at Elliot and waved her hand, "It's been a long time, Master Elliot."

He felt as though his breathe was taken away from him. His throat couldn't speak the words he wanted to say, instead uttering the single thing he could comprehend.

"C-Christina."