“Seriously!?” Nel blinked his eyes. His front door was slightly ajar. Did a thief get in while he was away? How courageous was he?

Nel was honestly surprised at the thought of burglars entering his home. Though crooks ran rampant in the Vedan town, someone daring to enter a hunter’s home was rare. In fact, it takes a lot of courage.

Nel shook his head as he swaggered in boldly. “You know, if you want to stea—eh?”

“Happy birthday to you!!” Suddenly, he got ‘ambushed’ by two people as soon as he stepped inside. Moreover, one of them had a little softness on the chest area. They were none other than Chen and Loui.

“What the hell!? Whose birthday—wait mine?” Nel’s eyes widened. His jaw dropped to the ground.

“Yes, it is!” Chen said, messing his hair with a smile on his face. “Today is the 15th, and it's the seventh month. Your birthday~” Chen explained.

“You remembered?” Nel’s voice trembled. His eyes misted, and his lips trembled. He looked between Chen and Loui with a face that was halfway between crying and laughing. With everything that happened the previous day, Nel didn't know they would still come to celebrate his birthday.

“What with that face?” Loui laughed as she came forward and hugged Nel. She always considered him to be a little brother figure and sometimes even treated him like a real blood-related sibling. “Actually, it was Chen. He was the one who remembered your birthday. I had completely frog—ah! What?”

Loui’s words were interrupted mid-sentence by Chen who elbowed her ribs. “Don’t say useless things.” He hissed, winking at her furiously.

“What the hell? How dare you beat me? Do you believe I can break you like a twig?” Loui hollered, glaring daggers at Chen. The latter snorted at her before looking at Nel, “Nel, we’ve got you a nice gift.”

“A gift?” The birthday boy tilted his head to one side, expressing his confusion. “Don’t you think I’ve already passed the age where I’ll get excited over a birthday gift?” Nel snorted derisvely. How dare this brute underestimate his maturity?

“You are gonna eat those words,” Loui snickered. She pulled a square-shaped device from her pocket. It looked like a handphone, but had a circular glass apparatus attached to its back. Nel recognized it at a glance—Chen’s recording device. Why did she bring it out?

Recording devices look similar to a handphone, but their only purpose was to record pictures and sounds. It was many times more expensive than a handphone.

“Eat my words! How confident! What did you get me?” Nel asked, now more curious than anything. He looked around but didn’t see anything of value other than a bottle of vintage wine. There was also a cake on the table. “You mean this?” He asked, pointing at the wine bottle. “I admit this is an old treasure, but it won’t make me drool. Try again!”

“Believe me, you will like it,” Chen said with a smile on his face and appeared with a rectangular leather case. Nel’s eyes widened the moment he saw the case—especially the logo of a hammer and anvil drawn on the back of the case. It belonged to [Terka’s Smithy], one of the most popular and well-received weapon manufacturers for hunters based in Vedan.

“You guys, don’t tell me—” Nel’s voice cracked in the middle. He was too shocked for words. If his guess was correct, and that case was anything to go by—most probably they’ve gotten him a spear and at least a Rank C+. His eyes jumped from a smiling Chen to smirking Loui, who had shoved the recorder to his face. Nel, however, didn’t have the leisure to bicker with her. He was too busy getting over his shock.

“It sure is what you are thinking,” Chen said, smiling at him. “Now come here and cut your cake. You can open the gift after it.”

Nel’s lips trembled and his eyes became red. Seeing their care and love for him, he felt ashamed of himself for how he behaved that day. He walked over to them with his head down.

“What’s the matter?” Loui asked, seeing how oddly her portege and brother figure was behaving. Chen, too, was looking at him weirdly. Suddenly, they felt Nel’s hands wrapping around their necks as he pulled them to himself into a big group hug. “Thank you,” He whispered with all the emotion in his heart.

Chen smiled, and Loui blushed a little. She felt shy and self-conscious. They wrapped their arms around his back, returning his affection with kind. “No problem, champ!” Chen said, patting his back. He was the oldest in the group.

“I’m sorry for behaving immaturely that day,” he apologized earnestly. Now, Nel really regretted and felt embarrassed at his immaturity.

“Don’t worry about it,” Loui patted Nel’s back. She pushed Chen out of the group hug and wrapped both her arms around Nel. “Anyone in your shoes would have behaved the same or worse that day.” She consoled.

“What!?” Their intimate sibling moment was ruined by Chen’s scream.

Loui frowned as she glared daggers at the man. “Chen! What the fuck!? Do you want to die? I’m having a moment here, why are you screaming like a virgin ghost in her periods?” She growled like a tigress.

“Ah~ my dear Lou! Your insults are as original as I remember. No, wait! That’s not it,” Chen shook his head. He looked at Nel with one of his eyes closed, and his right index and thumb conjoined together. “Nel, when did you get a skill?”

“Wait! WHAT? Nelly got a skill? Show me!!” Loui grabbed Chen by his collar, pulled him close, and glared daggers at him.

Chen quietly brought the ring he made from the conjunction of his index and thumb over to Loui’s eyes. She impatiently looked at Nel. A few seconds later, a blue transparent hovered in front of Nel with words on them.

Health(HP) 50/50 Mana(MP) 25/25 Attributes

Attack Power: 120

Physical Armor: 10

Total Armor: 15

Possassed Skills 1 Danger Level 1-Star

“What the hell?” Loui’s mind blew the moment she read the second last sentence. As far she remembered, Nel always had a ‘0’ over there until the day before yesterday. How come it became ‘1’ now?

She gaped as she looked at him with bewilderment. “You bought a [Skill Crystal]?” She asked with her voice cracking a little. “How much did it cost?”

Nel smiled bitterly when he saw the looks on their faces. There was no running now. He had hoped Chen wouldn't appraise him, but he forgot about his bad habit. As an Appraiser, he could easily check the physical parameters and danger level of any target. Forget the Aries guild, even those S-ranked guilds would be willing to pay any amount to have him join their ranks. He was that valuable.

“Sigh~ it's a bit of a long story. Let’s cut the cake first!” Nel said, picking the fiber knife from the table.

“Indeed. We have the whole night. Let’s cut the cake first. Happy 21st birthday to you, Nelson,” Chen agreed and wished him first, followed by Loui, who was strangely silent after knowing Nel had a skill.

After the cake cutting and feeding, Nel told them everything about the ordeal of the day before. Of course, he omitted the high-interest unfair contract loan part. Knowing them, they will definitely open their savings to help him pay back the loan. He didn't want that. They were about to start a new page of their lives, and Nel didn’t want to hold them back in any way.