I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Chapter 245: Duel with a Clown

Another day had come and Elliot didn't get a wink of sleep. What his friends told him just the night before bothered him.

Why would Daniel's team cast a spell on him? It was a thought that kept on running inside his head.

"Elliot?" Midnight knocked on his door. "Are you inside? I'll come in."

He lazily sat up after seeing his bedroom door open. Midnight came in with a tray of food in his hands. "It's past 9, so I brought you food. You missed breakfast."

"I know," Elliot responded with a hushed tone. "I'm just confused."

"What is there to be confused about?" Midnight placed the tray on Elliot's lap and sat on the bed. His shiny black hair glimmered under the sunlight that passes through the thin white curtains of Elliot's window. If someone wouldn't look closely, Midnight would pass off as a woman. His looks were inarguably deceiving.

"If you want someone to like you, as a friend, do you need to put them in a trance?" Elliot asked. He took a bite of the soup and rice on his tray, moaning at the taste. "These food is good by the way."

Midnight chuckled, "You know, you don't. That's an obvious answer."

"But they may have other motives," Elliot pouted. 

"What other motives?" Midnight quirked his brow up. "You don't cast a skill on a new friend for them to like you. Friendship is a relationship that oftentimes, is stronger than a romantical relationship. And if you want that, you work for that. Not put someone in a trance. That's ridiculous. Look at you five idiots. Did you trance each other? No, right?"

"Yeah," Elliot sighed and looked at the window. 

If they were in Alorde, he would hear the birds chirping and only some merchant selliny. But in Solaguer, the streets were bustling with life. Even when they're not at the central part of the city, there were still a number of horses, carriage, and people making sound outside.

"What a cute cocoon," Midnight said. Elliot's eyes widened, feeling his world pause for a moment. Midnight walked over to the corner of the room where the cocoon was. "Is it a beast?"

"Something like that." Elliot placed his tray on the bedside table, quickly getting out of it and running to the corner. "I need this one for a recipe."

Midnight formed an O with his mouth. "You seem to have quite a rare buttefly inside. I haven't seen this cocoon before. It's beautiful."

"Yeah," was all Elliot could say. He didn't want to bring the topic again, knowing he can't lie anymore. Him saying it was for a recipe was the best lie he could muster. If Midnight asks again, he'd be caught.

"Well, I'm going now," Midnight smiled at him. "Remember what I said, okay? We can all live a better life if we don't go putting people in trance. Talk to them and ask them why they did it. That might clear things up."

"Thank you," Elliot smiled at the older boy. His eyes suddenly widened when Midnight reached out his hand and caressed his hair gently.

"Your hair, it's light brown," Midnight said. "It's beautiful."

"It is?" Elliot tilted his head. "I haven't really thought about my hair."

"You need to cut it though," Midnight ran his pale soft hands on Elliot's hair once more. "Your students will be here soon. Try to finish up breakfast by then."

"Right," Elliot nodded and ran to the bedside table. He let Midnight walk himself out as he finished his meal. He was in a hurry. The first thing he had to do was to cover the Twilight Cocoon. He had been neglecting it for these past few days, only placing the rest of his Twilight Brew and not taking more quests to get more.

"Time for the kids," Elliot said to himself and walked out of his room. He made sure to look presentable before he go. He put on his clothes, tying his sword to his waist, and slammed his feet into his boots. "Right, the cocoon."

Elliot ran to the corner and looked for something in his Inventory. When he found nothing, he took one of the curtains and draped it over the stick that held the cocoon. He then ran downstairs so he could see his students and take them around town.

"Good morning," he greeted, his voice filled with excitement. "Where will we go today?"

Florencia shrugged, "Lance called us out and said you were going to take us around town. I thought you have everything planned in your mind."

Elliot was speechless for a moment. He looked at his friends who grinned in awkwardness. "W-Well, how about we go to the town square. I know a store there that we can get tasty steam dumplings."

"You mean that food from the Eastern kingdom?" Christina gasped. When she turned to Florencia, she saw a threatening glare, making her clear her throat and look down. "I-I heard about those."

"Take us there," was all what Florencia said before she turned around and walked out the door. "By the way, Ed spilled everything. I'm not upset. I'm just hungry."

This puts a smile on Elliot's face. He was glad that his students understood his situation. He was caught off guard by Daniel and his team, so it wasn't completely his fault.

What he didn't understand was how the spell was casted to him in the first place? He had the Supreme Dragon Immunity Crest with him that time.

"But I didn't," Elliot whispered to himself. He now remembered that he placed his cloak and his clothes to where Midnight was. It was unattached to his body, temporarily deactivating it.

And the bigger question arose. How did the Adventurers from the Vulture Torch Guild know about his immunity crest in the first place? They made sure to put him in the trance after he placed his clothes down.

He was woken from the questions that flooded his head when Florencia cleared her throat that garnered his attention. He looked up at her with her famous eyeroll, "Are you going to take us around or not?"

"I'm going," Elliot smiled. "Let's go."

The streets weren't as busy as the days where a competition would take place, but it was still crowded. Vendors, wagons, people, and Adventurers littered the streets, filling it almost fully.

"There are so many people," Florencia groaned. "I hate crowded places."

"You just gotta bear with it for now, okay?" Elliot smiled at her and ruffled her hair. "I saw the stall not far back."

"Yeah," Viper agreed. "And it's not like we're being bumped into other people."

Not long after their walk, they arrived in the square. The area was covered with a square of markets that were mainly selling food. The middle of the square are where the food hall was at and where some of the Adventurers performed.

Elliot felt the immense aura coming from Jester's guild again. All twelve of them were riding a large red ball, balancing on top of it while doing different sorts of performances.

Some were juggling swords, some were breathing flames, some contained people in large bubbles, and some just ran around the area while giggling.

"Elliot Max!" Elliot heard Jester scream from the other side of the square. "Battle me!"

A member of Jester's guild appeared beside Elliot. They all had the same look of a clown-ish apprearances. It was like the theme of their guild. The girl that appeared beside Elliot had the least makeup on, only having a red ball as a nose and a maroon line under her eyes.

"Elliot Max, otherwise known as APRIL," the girl giggled. "Funny Adventurer name. APRIL has been challenged by Marione Bass, otherwise known as Jester, to a duel. Failure to participate in this duel will resort to execution!"