NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31: Happy Birthday
The three made it to Elliot's house. It was dusk already and they were too tired to go all the way to the city center to rest in the dorms.
Especially Connor who was barely awake.
"Let me clean the bed and get the boar fur sleeping bags," Elliot said. "Connor, you can sleep on the bed."
"No, I'll sleep on one of those bags," Connor droopily said. "It's very soft for something made of boar fur."
"Well, I guess no one's sleeping on the bed then," Elliot said and took the soft brown sleeping bags from his Inventory.
He was surprised that his house could fit three of those. Although he moved the dining table for his own bag to fit.
Elliot took the Manual from his bag and started to upload it. It says it will take a couple of hours. It should finish until morning.
"Upload Manual," he whispered.
'Uploading might take a couple of hours.'
'All features of the Manual will be temporarily unavailable until the Upload is complete.'
'Are you sure you want to upload Manual?'
"Yes."
'Manual Uploading…"
[ Manual Upload 0% ]
Elliot waited for a couple of minutes. He stood and went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. Everything that had happened sometimes would make Elliot feel weird.
Like he was only dreaming.
And his greatest fear was to wake up in his bed without the Manual, without his friends, and without everything. That was why he was too anxious to sleep in his bed.
He checked on the upload status.
[ Manual Upload 0% ]
It takes time, huh? Elliot thought and returned to his sleeping bag. He pinched himself and saw that everything was real.
With a smile on his face and a boosted determination, Elliot slept.
The morning came and checked on the status.
[ Manual Upload 61% ]
It's taking its time. Elliot thought and sighed.
He sniffed the air and saw Lance in the kitchen. "Now where did he get those ingredients?"
Elliot saw the flame and a thought came into his mind.
"Connor, you awake?" he called out.
"Yeah." Connor sat up and stretched. "What is it?"
"I remember I have an Ember Heart lying around here," Elliot said. He went to his secret storage, aka his pantry, and took the small bag that contained the spherical gems.
"A what?"
"Here, take it," Elliot said. Connor was still half asleep when Elliot threw the gem at him. It landed on his face and he narrowed his eyes at Elliot for not being careful. "Sorry."
After seeing the item on his Console, Connor's eyes widened. "Is this legit?!"
"As legit as the sun," Elliot snorted.
"How do I use this?" Connor asked.
Lance came out of the kitchen and put plates of food on the table. "Tap your Weapon Gem with it and a notification should sound."
Connor did as he was instructed and the Guide did speak.
'Use Ember Heart?'
"Yes! Please, yes/."
Elliot and Lance looked at each other and couldn't help but chuckle at their friends' actions.
'Ember Heart 1 absorbed.'
'Flame affinity boost +5%'
'Upgrade Ember Heart to raise the boost.'
"Upgrade Status," Connor commanded.
'Upgrade unavailable.'
'Absorb another Ember Heart 1 to upgrade.'
Connor pouted after not understanding the Guide. "How does this work?"
Lance chuckled. "Well, you need to find another Ember Heart at Stage 1 to upgrade. It will become an Ember Heart 2. Then you need another Ember Heart 2 to upgrade until you reach the tenth stage."
"How much boost will I get at Ember Heart 10?" Connor asked.
"50%."
"So, that's why you're OP," Connor remarked that made Lance chuckle. "That makes 100% boosts for you."
"That's not how it works," Lance chuckled. "At least that's that the Guide told me."
"I sometimes forget that I do not have that voice in my head," Elliot said.
The two looked at him in shock. Lance spoke, "You don't have a Guide?"
Elliot shook his head, "Nope. I lost it… due to my abilities."
"Interesting…" Lance dragged on and went towards Elliot. "Very interesting."
Elliot pushed him away, "Very creepy."
"If the Guide was a real human, I'll marry her," Lance said. "Her voice is ridiculously amazing."
"You're ridiculously perverted," Elliot remarked. "Let's eat breakfast. What did you cook?"
After their breakfast, Elliot kept his things on his Inventory. He tried telling things he needed but the Console did not give him any more features.
"You done?" Lance asked from the outside. Elliot looked at his home one last time.
"Yeah."
–
They arrived at the seemingly silent guild house.
"Where is everybody?" Lance asked. They walked towards Glitch who was all alone in the base. "Glitch, where's everyone else?"
Glitch looked at them with his eyebrows meeting, "I don't know either. When I came here, no one was around."
"It's suspicious–"
"Surprise!"
A veil that made everyone invisible was lifted. Midnight walked over and was carrying a cake that had 18 candles in it.
"Happy birthday."
"It's not my birthday," Lance said and looked at Connor who shook his head.
Elliot gasped and a tear fell from his cheek. "I-It's mine…"
"You even forgot your own birthday?" Luck scoffed. "What a kid."
"You're here too?" Lance asked and attacked Luck who avoided it easily.
"Midnight insisted that I should come home since it's someone's birthday," Luck said. "Can't believe Fred took you in. What a dope."
Luck was the brown-haired man who looked like a bear when Elliot first went to the guild. Luck was determined not to let Elliot joined since he did not have any affinity but Midnight changed Frederick's mind.
Elliot smiled and bowed. "Thank you, everyone. I even forgot about my birthday but you remembered."
Midnight shook his head and placed his hand on Elliot's shoulder gently. "Don't be sorry."
"Yeah, don't be," Sun said. "Midnight checks everyone's bio regularly, waiting or a birthday."
Midnight gasped and blushed, "I do not!"
"Just make a wish and blow the cake already," Frederick ushered, stopping the brothers from arguing.
Elliot nodded and closed his eyes. In his thoughts, he whispered, "I wish I will become the mightiest Adventurer in the world."
He blew the candles and it lit up into several dragons. Flying in the air before bursting into different colors.
"That was awesome," Elliot let out. "Thank you, everyone."
"Don't be a stranger," Midnight said. "Besides, you'll be paying for this for the whole year. 3 gold coins a month, no buts."
"I don't care," Elliot shook his head. "I'm okay with that."
Midnight smiled, "Good. Now, let's start this feast!"
There were trays of food in the long tables of the guild house. People would usually talk and lounge in here but right now, it looked like the town was having a food festival.
"There's a lot of food," Elliot let out. "And I'm going to pay for all of these?"
"Just 3 gold coins a month and you can have this kind of feast every year, plus a bonus gift," Lance said and shook his head. "I love this guild."
Elliot chuckled and looked at everyone who was too busy eating.
"Yeah, I think I do too."
Luck swung his arm around Elliot, "Heard you were strong. Wanna fight me?"
"W-What?" Elliot blushed and took the arm off. "I'm not strong."
"Just fight me. You know, for fun and games," Luck said. "Or are you still weak and Midnight was wrong?"
"Jerk," Connor whispered but it did not escape Luck's ear.
"What was that?" Luck walked over to Connor but Elliot got in between before he could reach his friend.
"I'll fight you."