I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Elliot stared at his notifications with a bored expression. It suddenly got crowded somehow. He currently had 4 pending quests, one for the Gallantrium equipment from Francoise, one for the Glorious clothes from Josephine, the Emperor Dragon equipment quest, and the Skill Stones Set quest for Ed.

He first went to Francoise to check on his armor and only the breast plate was unfurnished. The other equipment looked complete already.

"You really have a high level of craftsmanship, Gramps," Elliot complimented. "Can I expect these later?"

"Sure," Francoise replied. "I just needed one more repair to do anyway."

"Repair?"

"Good morning!" Florence's cheerful voice echoed inside the shop. She froze when she saw Elliot. "I-I…"

"Don't worry, Lance isn't here," Elliot chuckled after seeing the girl becoming terrified. "And he's not usually that scary."

"Okay," Florencia slowly crept up to the counter.

Elliot instantly noticed that her presence was faint and her footsteps were silent, a must have skill for a Stealth Knight. She also had a saber and a dagger, which means she's a double wielder, a trait that was rare for Adventurers and even rarer for speed relying classes like Stealth Knights.

"Hey, don't stare at her too much," Francoise deadpanned. "She's a kid, remember that."

"No," Elliot instantly raised his hands in defense. "I would never. Besides, I'm just curious as to how a young girl like her became a quite capable Adventurer."

"Oh, I'm planning to kill someone," Florencia bluntly said that made the old man facepalm.

"Sorry. She's really blunt," Francoise sighed. "And you. You can't just go around telling people you're going to kill someone. You'll only cause trouble that way."

"He's in your shop, meaning he can be trusted," Florencia said and whispered at Elliot. "He's really picky at servicing customers. There was one time a rude customer kept coming back after Francoise continuously rejected him, the old man did a bad job at forging his sword."

Elliot was thoroughly amused at how talkative the girl suddenly became. She was shy and silent just a few days ago, and now it seemed like she couldn't stop talking, or at least doesn't want to.

"Hey, I have my principles," Francoise huffed.

"And that would be?" Florencia quirked her brow and crossed her arms. "Just admit it, old man. You're picky."

Francoise sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine, whatever. I'll go get your sword."

He walked inside his shop and returned with the two blades. Elliot watched as Francoise unsheathed them and let Florencia check on the quality of the repair. To say that the details on the blades' engravings were good would be an understatement.

The engravings of flowers, vines, and leaves were highly detailed. Every stroke of the vine, every petal of the flower, everything was perfect.

"The fae prides ourselves with the status as the closest to nature," Florencia said. "These details represent my heritage. And my lost revenge against the treacherous former Fae Mother."

Elliot gulped as he saw her expression changed once more. She looked dead serious now, tracing her finger on the blade, feeling the details as though they were Braille.

"But until then, I have to match her," Florencia chuckled. "I'll go now. Francoise, put the bill on my tab. I'll go on a quest to pay for this."

"Yeah, sure," the old man replied, waving to the girl as she walked out of the shop. "We all have problems, right?"

Elliot shook his head and chuckled, "I guess we all do."

It was after an hour that Elliot left from the shop. They kept on talking about random things until he decided he would visit Isabelle for Equipment Gems he needed to forge the equipment pieces.

"Hello?" Elliot called from the entrance after entering a silent shop. "Anyone in here?"

"We're here!" Kian said from the back. "Come here if you need anything."

"Okay," Elliot walked over and saw the Kian in front of the portal door.

"Come here, Isabelle's doing something really cool with Alice," Kian said.

Elliot got inside the door and saw Alice inside a Magic Prison Cube, concentrating her magic on a red glass orb that was floating in the air. Isabelle was outside the cube, waiting for the Caster to finish her work. Alice chanted something in the air as she raised a vial of red liquid that floated into the glass orb.

Elliot gasped after realizing that they were crafting a Legendary Weapon Gem. "You seem to be busy. I'll just return later."

"We're almost finished," Kian said. "And three, two, one."

The glass orb collapsed on itself, spewing a strong force into the air. The force shook the cube like it was about to destroy it.

What's more impressive was that a Magic Prison Cube was was one of the strongest protective spells out there. It could block some of the most powerful spells without the cube being damaged.

"Woah," Elliot breathed out. Alice took the gem and disabled the cube.

"Oh, it's from the Azure Scorch," Alice smiled. "Hello."

"H-Hi," Elliot's stuttered. He gulped and looked away, flustered by how thin the woman's clothes were.

"Ah, men," Isabelle sighed. "Thank you for your help, Alice. Here's your gem."

"Finally," Alice cheered and took the gem from Isabelle and she handed the Legendary Weapon Gem to the gem collector. "I've been dying to get my hands on one of these."

She tapped the gem on her staff and absorbed it. "Okay, I will go now. Bye Isabelle, bye Kian…" she trailed off and fixed Elliot's collar. "Bye Elliot."

After Alice walked through the portal's door, Elliot sighed in relief. "Doesn't she feel cold?"

"That's what you thought after seeing her?" Kian grimaced. "Are you even a man?"

"You both won't be if you continue with that conversation," Isabelle warned.

"So that's how you make a Weapon Gem?" Elliot asked. He had crafted the Weapon Gems before, even brewed their essence, but that was only in the manual. He had never seen one actually make it the traditional way and seeing Alice there rose quite a few questions in Elliot's head.

But the question who stood out the most important was that who made the system and how did they do it.

"Do you have something to say, kid?" Isabelle asked.

"Oh, I was wondering if I could earn two Equipment Gems? I just need them for now," Elliot said.

"Speaking of gems, are you going to finish that quest I offered you?" Isabelle asked, pursing her lips. "It has been pending for quite a few days now, hasn't it?"

Elliot chuckled awkwardly, "Err, sorey see. We had this conversation before and Ed thought he didn't need the set anymore. He now has a sword imbued with great magical energy and skill sets of their own, so he didn't need the ones being offered to him.

"But wait," Elliot thought about it. "Do you have an affinity identifier that I could borrow?"

"Well, we do," Kian said. "But first, let's have that Equipment Gems you needed. What are those?"

Elliot took the Top Equipment Gem along with the Bottom Equipment Gem. He would forge the items later in the day after he visits Josephine and Viper.

'Quest upload complete.'

[ River Crab Extravaganza

Rewards: Top Equipment Gem, Bottom Equipment Gem

// The west side of Harlow River had been infested by dangerous but appetizing crabs. Hunt for crabs and return with their meat. ]

"Thank you so much," Elliot told them and bowed. "I will take my leave now."

"Bye," Kian said and waved. "Make sure you bring that device back tomorrow."

Elliot nodded and went out of the shop and into Josephine's.

When he got there, Viper was sweeping the floor alone.

"Hey," Elliot greeted.

Viper seemed to be surprise at first. He jumped in surprise but recovered and smiled. "Hi. You're here early."

"Oh, I'm just here to check on something," Elliot replied and took the measuring device from his Inventory. The affinity identifying item had a wooden board with a small sphere in the middle. On the wooden board, different affinities were engraved and if one was to put their hand or finger, their respective affinity carving would light up.

"Take out your hand and place it in this device."

Viper did as was told and placed his index finger on the gem. He felt a tug from the stone and he felt a bit of energy is being drained.

The engravings light did not light up for a few seconds until the one on the Black region lit up.

"Oh, something is happening?" Viper asked, pouting.

Elliot was grinning at the sight.

The Manual is really something. Elliot thought.

‹ Curse ›

"What does this mean?" Viper asked.

Elliot grinned, "It means that you can use a special set of skill gems I'm about to acquire."

"What?" Viper tilted his head in confusion. "Why would you give me such important items?"

"Because I think you're cool," Elliot grinned. "And personally, I think you have the potential to become a strong Adventurer. Think about this as a gift from us."

"B-Become a strong Adventurer?" Viper repeated with a gulp.

"The best," Elliot said. He remembered what his mother told him and the one that kept him going even after all of the events that had happened to him.

"And you will watch me become the mightiest Adventurer."