I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Silence filled the air. Bright's eyes widened, feeling the blade piercing her chest and near her heart. She watched as the boy in front of him look down, also wasn't able to comprehend the events that unfolded.

"H-How?" she gasped and coughed blood.

Elliot raised his face and looked at him dead in the eye. "This is for the Dragon Emperors that fell victim of your manipulation."

He pulled his sword out and slammed the lenght back inside, piercing deeper into the dragon's skin and making sure to hit the heart.

"This is for the Dragons that died because of your villainous ways!"

Elliot yelled and took his sword out. He leaped and couldn't help the words that escape his lips next, unintentionally casting his most dangerous skill.

"This is for Hope!" He leaped and raised his weapon, "Ethereal Strike!"

"Ed!" Johnson tried to call out but they were too late, the red aura from Elliot's sword had already lit aflame.

He swung his sword forward and fired his attack, creating a massive surge of magic. Bright coughed and her eyes widened after facing the magic.

She was already on the brink of death. But even so, she still roared and tried firing a beam of light against the gigantic wave of magic. When she failed, she could only scream in pain as the attack swallowed her, burning into nothingness.

Johnson bought him down and into the healer who recovered him before. His speed was increased after Connor helped him descended with his flames.

"Divine Revive!" the healer tried to cast onto Elliot but failed. "Oh, no!"

"Why? What's happening?!" Johnson gripped the healer's arm, making her look at him. "What's happening? Why isn't his body glowing? When being casted by healing spells, the body glows."

The healer fell onto her knees, "H-He's dead. His HP is 0."

–

"Where am I?" Elliot asked, seeing that he was in a white room. Everything was bright as if they were being lit, but it wasn't hot nor warm. It didn't felt real either, only feeling like he was dreaming.

'You're dead,' the male voice spoke. This made Elliot flinch and look around.

"Where are you?!" Elliot yelled.

'I am inside your head,' the voice replied.

"Are you APRIL? A-Are you the voice of the Manual?" Elliot asked. "Why can't I see you? Why are you talking to me now?"

'I will give you a chance to ask one question. After that, I will tell you my proposal.'

"Proposal?" Elliot inquired.

'Are you certain that that's your question?' the voice retorted.

"I-I…" Elliot trailed off and sighed. "Fine. Let me think for a bit."

Elliot was floating in the air inside the glowing white room. He cleared his throat after seeing that he was naked. It didn't take long before he asked the thing that he really wanted to ask.

"Who are you?" The words escaped Elliot's lips and he could only sigh, realizing it wasn't the greatest question to ask. The question was vague and could easily be retorted.

'I am the voice inside the Manual,' the voice replied. 'Now, you're done with your question, this is my offer.'

Elliot facepalmed. Just as expected it would be easy counter. He was used to sarcasm, Lance and their other friends were abundant with it.

"Fine. Tell me your offer," Elliot said.

'Revival,' the voice spoke. 'I can offer you revival.'

Elliot gasped. "R-Revival?"

'In fact, you have the way in you. What I'll do is cast it.'

"Cast?"

'One of your skills have the power to resurrect people in exchange for lives you take. But after its upgrade, it also said that it can also count the lives the individual you killed took.'

"What? Then after I killed the people from Connor's guild, I slayed 9 of them. The count was still 9," Elliot replied. "And what upgrade? I didn't receive any upgrade or any notification."

'That was before you reached Legendary-tier,' the voice replied. 'After reaching the level, the skill had also expanded its reach.'

"Don't you think you should've informed me before?" Elliot crossed his arms. "Like when other skills get an upgrade, you notify– oh. I reached Legendary after killing Bright?"

'Yes. Bright, the White Dragon Empress had finished 323 lives, therefore you have gained one chance to revive.'

"She killed that much?!" Elliot gasped and scoffed. "That b*tch. I'm so glad I killed her."

Silence had filled the room for a few seconds before the voice spoke again.

'Will you revive yourself?'

"Yes," Elliot said instantly. "I would like to be alive again."

'Okay.'

The room burst in brightness, making Elliot squinted his eyes. He felt himself vanishing but he opted to ask one more question, hoping the voice would hear him.

"Can you do this again?" Elliot yelled. "If I die again, will you do this?"

'Depends.'

"Depends on what? Damn, this light is bright," Elliot covered his face, scrunching his face, slowly fading.

'On what you choose.'

A loud roar made Elliot gasp and sat up instantly. He was panting like he just ran through the whole kingdom in a day, his sweat had coated his skin like he was fired with a water blast attack.

He opened his eyes and saw a wounded Hope in his dragon form facing him. The others were around him, looking at him with worried eyes as he laid on the ground.

"You bastard!" Lance yelled, punching Elliot in the face. "I just told you not to pull a stunt like that ever again. You even promised!"

He punched Elliot twice more, making Ed pull him back. "He just came back to life, wanna kill him again?"

Elliot could only look down in shame, just feeling the disappointment that he put on his friends. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Elliot muttered. "I'm stupid, I know. I do reckless things and this wasn't my first time almost dying."

He paused, trying to avoid the fact that he literally died. It was going to be hard explaining what happened after everyone saw that his XP had reached 0.

"But I just couldn't help the sudden decisions I did, it was all out of anger. I didn't want them, trust me," Elliot finished. "I'm really sorry."

Lance sighed and wriggled out of Ed's grasp. He was raising his fist and was about to punch Elliot but he slammed it on the ground.

"F*ck!" Lance yelled and walked away, leaving everyone wide eyed.

"Lance–" Elliot tried to call out but he was stopped by Johnson. "Why?"

"It's not my place to tell, but you really need to tone down your life defying stunts," Johnson said. "Lance knew someone with the same name and he– you should go after him and ask him himself."

Elliot nodded and stood. He saw that Hope had returned to his human form and walk towards him. Connor and Ed were also waiting for him. The four of them chased after their friend.

"Lance, wait," Connor yelled. "Talk to us, man."

"Eliot…" Lance said and stopped from his track. "After Pentos left the castle, Madam Hoot became my mother and Eliot became my brother."

"Lance, what does this have anything to do with–"

"He's dead!" Lance yelled, cutting Elliot off. "I told him not to go, but he did. And he died… right in front of me."