"Okay, kids. Return to the Awakener Guild to register your return. You have forty-eight hours to sell your kills and return my universal storage bag. Don’t make me find you. Trust me, you won’t like it," the man said.
Lowering his head, Elvis saw five shallow dents on his chest, left by the spikes of the club.
As they left, taking Hayden’s car, Hayden suddenly asked, "Hey, Caelithia, what’s your level?"
"Level four," Caelithia lied calmly.
"I want to use this opportunity to invite you to join the Bluefrost Guild," Hayden suddenly said proudly.
"I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in joining any guild right now," Caelithia turned down his offer.
Elvis was surprised that Caelithia didn’t give him a snappy answer.
"It’s a very good opportunity. You won’t find it anywhere else. In case you don’t know, Bluefrost Guild is a Grade III guild, the absolute top in Vinegard City. Think about it," Hayden persuaded calmly.
"I’m really sorry, but you should know that I’m new to being an Awakener despite having been one for years, so I want to understand it thoroughly," Caelithia politely rejected again.
"Okay."
Hayden didn’t say another word.
Elvis was surprised that Hayden didn’t try to court him as he was actually more powerful, but he suspected it was because they hadn’t been on good terms from the beginning.
Soon, he pulled up at the Awakeners Guild.
"How are we splitting the money from the blue orc?" Caelithia suddenly asked.
Elvis, despite showing no reaction, felt like placing a muting curse on her—if he had one.
’I’ve been playing dumb about the blue orc, hoping they would forget about it or be too shy to ask, but she just had to be saintly,’ Elvis fumed inwardly.
"I am not poor," Hayden jeered.
"You can keep it for yourself," Luke said.
"I didn’t contribute much," Freda said in a low voice.
’Good,’ Elvis thought.
"You contributed a lot. All the well-timed shots you fired were helpful to Elvis. Besides, how are you going to replace your arrows?" Caelithia persuaded.
’Helpful to who?!’ Elvis screamed inwardly, his cheek twitching slightly. Then he ranted in his head, ’You look uninterested in speaking to others, but the moment you decide to speak, you’re spewing all manner of gibberish. Girl, don’t test my temper. My money! No. I need to increase our bond so that I can communicate telepathically. She can’t hear me now.’
"Okay," Caelithia finally relented.
Elvis grinned to himself. ’Now, this is an honorable lady.’
They alighted from the car and went into the guild.
After realizing that Mastery increased with usage, Elvis used <Blood Appraisal> on everyone who crossed his path.
They went inside and found Beatrice attending to a few people in a short line. Joining the queue, it took a little while before it was their turn, and they quickly got it done.
Beatrice only asked how it went.
Hayden left the group without a word, a scowl etched across his face.
"Goodbye," Freda said before leaving as well.
"Come and meet Stanley," Luke said, pulling Elvis’s arm with an overly familiar manner.
Caelithia trailed behind as Luke led them to a group of five: two boys and three girls.
Luke pointed at a young man with an athletic build in silver armor, oozing a confident and aloof demeanor, and introduced him with a fawning smile. "This is Boss Stanley, an upright, high-level Acolyte Knight. Stanley, meet Elvis, an Acolyte Warrior Warlock with very impressive capabilities and exceptionally high competence."
Elvis could feel the strange gazes when Luke mentioned ’Warrior Warlock’, but he didn’t flinch under their scrutiny.
Stanley smiled broadly and stretched out his hand for a handshake. "Just call me Stanley. Don’t mind Luke. You would have to be extraordinary for Luke to introduce you."
His action caught Elvis off guard, breaking his perception of Stanley as distant.
Elvis accepted the handshake and replied, "Don’t mind Luke. He’s exaggerating."
Elvis suddenly felt Stanley’s hand tighten around his.
’He’s testing me?’ Elvis thought, squeezing back.
The smile never left either of their faces.
Elvis could feel the strength in Stanley’s grip slowly increasing, but he could still hold on.
’Dammit! If I had Free Attributes, I would have just added them and suppressed him. What kind of knight is he?’
Elvis suddenly scanned him with <Blood Appraisal> and was surprised to see that Stanley had Intelligence as his dominant attribute. It was nothing short of shocking for a melee class like a Knight.
This momentary distraction allowed Stanley to overpower him. This story is hosted at g.com.
Suddenly, the minor wound on his wrist jolted with pain, like an electric current had zapped through it.
Elvis withdrew his hand, shaking it to relieve the sting from his wound.
"You passed," Stanley commented. "If you’re interested, five days from now, in the morning, you can meet us at the gate to go hunt and level up."
"Okay." Elvis nodded.
After some small talk, Luke walked away with Stanley’s group.
Elvis went back to inspecting everyone around him dressed in armor with <Blood Appraisal>, when he abruptly paused, an eyebrow arched, upon scanning Luke’s back.
Luke’s dominant attribute was no longer Strength—as it had been before they entered the dungeon—but Intelligence.
’He invested his Free Attributes in Intelligence? What a weird Warrior and Knight.’
"Are we going to stand here all day?" Caelithia’s voice broke his contemplation.
"Let’s go home. We’ll sell our kills tomorrow," Elvis suggested, peering outside at the setting sun.
Caelithia concurred.
Elvis let Caelithia leave first as he went to say hi to Beatrice and strengthen their bond before leaving.
Once he got home, he took a warm bath, inspecting his bruised body and the minor wounds scattered here and there.
He changed into his free pajamas, finding that Caelithia had already ordered food for the two of them.
She was sitting on the couch, watching videos of various monsters being hunted.
This was one of her favorite things to watch.
"So, why did you waste your words on Hay—"
The ringing of the doorbell interrupted Elvis.
He stood up and went to the door, opening it to receive their food. But to his absolute horror, he found Maria, dressed in a casual shirt and pants, resting against the doorframe.
Taking a deep breath, disguising it as a shallow one, he greeted, "Evening."
"Call your sister. Both of you are under arrest," Maria said calmly.
His heart stopped.