I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Lance had a sinister look on his face as he returned his sword inside his scabbard. He was slightly shaking as what Elliot had seen. A mixture of anger, fear, and disgust etched his face like an abstract painting.

"Answer me, Babel," Lance said, narrowing his eyes at the large man in front of him.

Babel bowed in front of Lance but his aura did not change. He was still exuding a hint of killing intent that he thought would go unnotice under Lance.

"Your majesty, I am nothing but a lowly Officer right now," Babel answered. "I have one of the lowest designations in the Royal Army."

Lance did not say anything more until Babel excused himself and went away. The loss of his presence instantly relieved the tension on Lance's shoulders.

"That was scary," Lance sighed in relief.

Elliot came up to him and asked, "Why were you scared though?"

"Babel Jaws," Lance looked at the direction the Officer went to. "Although the claims were only mere allegations, he was still convicted and punished by them."

"What claims?" Elliot asked.

"Multiple counts of sexual assault and murder, abuse of power, and violence against his former wife and child who both died from mysterious causes," Lance answered. "These are just allegations, but last I heard of it, he was not found guilty. He was formerly a General, now he's been demoted sas Captain."

Elliot nodded in understanding, "Then why do you seem scared and angry?"

Lance gave off the scariest aura Elliot has ever felt. It was only for a mere moment, but he swore Lance felt like he was a boss of a dungeon in that mere moment.

"Babel's former wife was my best friend."

The tension in the air rose to a dangerous intensity. The fury Lance contained was intensified to a dangerous level. He rarely shows negative emotions but this thought was pushing him over the edge.

"This is your fault!" the boy with Florencia scolded the younger girl.

Elliot took this as an opportunity to divert the topic. "What were you two doing anyway?"

"I was practicing my new magic when Tigris here said that I should try it on someone, it would work just fine," Florencia pouted. "But when I approached that man and used my magic on him, he blocked it with his ax and tried to run for me."

"Gosh, she really doesn't know sarcasm," Tigris groaned. "I told you that that magic is dangerous. When I said 'it'll work just fine on people', I meant it would totally hurt them."

"And that magic would be?" Lance asked. "Try it on us."

"Nah, it's too dangerous," Florencia grinned. "You might get hurt and not even land a single blow against me."

Elliot snorted and looked at Lance who had his jaw dropped from the jab.

"Oh, snap!" Elliot cackled even more. "She's challenging you."

"Try battling me. And if you win, I'll give you anything you want."

"Really?" Florencia grinned and brandished her dagger. "I won't hold back then! Mirror Transport!"

She slashed her dagger and shot what seemed to be an attack. Lance was about to dodge when the shot transformed into a mirror. A large oval mirror without any frame. Florencia ran towards the mirror and jumped inside it.

Lance got suspicious. He felt something under him and saw that it was another mirror under him. He saw himself in the mirror before he saw something approaching.

It was Florencia.

Her dagger pierce through the mirror and she blasted from inside it. Lance took a step back to avoid the attack, while the girl flipped mid-air and shot several mirrors into the air. She now unsheathed her saber and went inside a mirror.

"She's going all out," Lance chuckled, brandishing his white sword and wrapping it with aura.

Elliot was watching in the sidelines and he was analyzing the situation. Whenever Florencia enters a mirror, her presence completely vanishes. It was as if she wasn't there at all. She continued traveling through the mirrors as if she had infinite amount of mana.

"Our family prides with having large mana reserves, if that's what you're wondering," Tigris said from beside him. "She's comfortable with the both of you seeing as she's not getting scared or anything. The closer she feels to you, the more annoying she gets."

"I think I worked that thought out already," Elliot chuckled.

Tigris fell silent after that so he refocused his analysis on the battle in front of him. It seemed like Florencia reached her limit seeing as how slow she had gotten. Her movements and attack attempts were all sloppy and sluggish for Stealth Knights now.

"That skill must drain a lot og aura," Elliot said.

"Wow."

Elliot almost jumped in shock after hearing a boy beside him admire the battle that was ensuing. He had glimmering eyes, truly admiring the fight.

"What are you doing here, Viper?" Elliot asked. "Where's your grandmother?"

"It's just me," Viper said. "My grandma told me to tell you that your clothes will be done by tomorrow morning."

Elliot slowly nodded, "Okay. That works. I'll have to go into a quest the day after tomorrow, so I needed the clothes by tomorrow."

Viper's eyes were fixated on Lance and Florencia who had half of her mirrors vanished after her aura had depleted. She was panting as she enters one of her mirrors and fell through the next.

The smile on Viper's lips as he anticipated as to what's to come and the chuckle that escaped his lips after seeing Florencia flopped down the ground was priceless for Elliot. This gave him more and more reasons to pursue the Monolith Venom skills for him.

Curse affinities were rare affinity types where a skill is lacking. It would usually focus on effects and Ethereums that it doesn't conjure offensive magic. This maybe perhaps the reason why his affinity was late blooming, considering it doesn't materialize strong-presence skills such an offensive one .

'Quest [ Gallantrium Upgrade ] complete.'

'Reward in Inventory.'

'Inventory Slots +5.'

It was that instant that they heard a ruckus from inside Francoise's shop and the door swung open.

"A Mettelium!" he grinned at Elliot. "You have a Mettelium!"

"Your metal detection is seriously scaring me," Elliot retorted.

Florencia gave up and made her cousin, Tigris, carry her back to their home. Lance was laughing lightly after seeing the girl just give up in front of him.

After they bid farewell, they entered Francoise's shop with Viper who was instantly in awe after seeing the shop.

"This shop is amazing!" Viper cheered. "I will definitely come back."

Francoise quirked his brow and watched Viper before switching his sight at Elliot and Lance. "Your son?"

"Yeah," Lance replied sarcastically. "I was five years old when I had him. He's definitely my son."

"Chill," Francoise chuckled. He placed the items Elliot had made him forge one by one.

And each time, Elliot was gasping.

"These are so beautiful!" Elliot cheered. "I could rock with these equipment."

"I'm a Master Blacksmith, of course, anything I make would be rock-able," Francoise boasted that made Elliot roll his eyes. "But seriously, you also have a Mettelium with you. How?"

"Dunno," Elliot shrugged. "I'm curious. Why are these metals so precious and what's their difference."

"No," Lance gasped.

"I'm glad you asked," Francoise smirked and raised his imaginary eyeglasses. He took Elliot, Lance, and Viper to a corner where a board was placed on the wall. "There are nine precious metals in the world, three are found in our kingdom, which is an incredible advantage. I would love to involve the other six, but let's focus on the three for now."

"Lecture Francoise is my favorite," Lance sighed.

"Valorium, Gallantrium, and Mettelium, these are the three precious metals that made our kingdom, Avancia, into one of the most prosperous kingdoms in the world," Francoise let out a toothy grin, shaking his head slowly, feeling proud of being a citizen of the kindom. "Valorium is the hardest metal among metals. It can only be obtained through the ores of the caves with dangerously dense magic.

"Its hardness makes it the leading preference in forging weapons. Gallantrium is just one metal away from Valorium but it's more tactile, making it suitable for forging equipment. Finally, Mettelium the lightest among the nine precious metals. It's usually comparable in terms of hardness to iron but its weight makes it preferable material for Stealth Knights and Rangers. They're tough for equipment but isn't as heavy and won't toll on their speed."

Elliot instantly opened the quest after hearing what the third metal could do.

[ Mettelium for Ed

Reward: 1 Legendary Equipment Gem, 1 Equipment Suppressing Gem

// Forge a special Mettelium arm sleeve and imbue it with Magic Supressing Gems. ]

The quest was one of those that makes Elliot like the manual even more. Ed looked troubled after seeing his cursed arm and said it would often lose control, the power of the Eternal Chaos Sword trying to take over the rest of his body.

It would also give him a Legendary Equipment Gem and a suppressor, meaning he could use it. The question of which equipment he should use was also unknown since he still only have a vague idea of what his equipments were like.

Would I assemble them? Or would I forge them?

'New Equipment Set Unlocked.'

Elliot instantly opened the Manual and could only gasp at the words.

[[ The Creator's Armour Set ]]