Chapter 79: Shoun's Birthday

—Surprise!—Sein, Robin, Kaze, and Deuz lined up to congratulate Shoun. The youngest held a poorly frosted cake while the others wore party hats. 

—Happy birthday, Shoun!—The little one cheered again. 

—Happy birthday Shoun, may you have many more!—The scientist exclaimed enthusiastically before blowing a party whistle. 

—Happy birthday—The masked one said more reservedly, though no less warmly. 

—Happy birthday! Let's hope next year I won't have to keep distracting you! 

—Huh?—Still confused, the young man—now a year older, opened his codex to confirm his age: 

[Name: Shoun Foster 

Age: 18 years 

«Rank: Apprentice» 

«Title: The Conduit»

«Ascension Points: 152/200 »

Abilities:

«Electric Flow: Your very essence has been touched by electricity since birth, allowing you to control and wield it at will»

«Mid-Grade Electric Core: A part of your being that both exists and doesn't—present in both your physical and spiritual body. It stores and generates all your electricity, and lets you absorb it from external sources»

 «Visa: Congratulations! You can now enter and leave the Other World»

«Endless Circuit, Grade S: All energy kneels at your feet. You can transmute any form of energy into electricity»] 

With a quick glance, the young man confirmed it, officially September 7th, his birthday. 

—Guys...I don't know what to say… 

—You could start by blowing out the candles! I wanna try the cake we made!— Sein shoved the cake closer to Shoun's face. After a brief hesitation, he blew out the candles, prompting applause before they all sat at the table. 

—I'm curious...when and how did you plan all this? 

—Well, Sein told us you always forget your own birthday, so we wanted something special this time—Deuz clarified before adding—That said, I didn't expect these two blockheads to fail at buying a decent cake and instead get the brilliant idea to bake it themselves. Plus, with all the base's decorations, they forced me to distract you as long as possible. 

—Haha! I should've seen it coming. Guess you got lucky I didn't check my codex, would've ruined your surprise. 

—Shoun, try our cake! 

—Alright. I thought you two could barely cook. I mean, Sein's grandma always makes his meals, and Robin survives on instant food and deliveries. 

—Nothing a couple online tutorials couldn't fix! Try it!—They quickly cut a slice. The cake was haphazardly assembled and disastrously frosted, but Shoun still cherished the sweet gesture of his friends baking for him. Unable to contain his emotion, he took a bite, only for his happy expression to morph into utter disbelief in a second.

—...Friends...you mixed up salt with sugar— The table fell into tomb-like silence before erupting in laughter again. Unfortunately (or fortunately), they had to set the cake aside, ordered pizza in their world, and simply enjoyed playing, chatting, and eating until they were stuffed.

—I still don't get it. How do these two always end up fighting each other in any board game?— Robin asked while Sein and Deuz were fiercely battling it out in the board game. Everyone else had already lost and were quietly chatting in a corner to avoid distracting them.

—Probably because Deuz is just naturally good at games, while Sein happens to be extremely good at cheating—The young man explained as Kaze beside him was chugging unhealthy amounts of cola.

—Hmm, well, aside from that, how's your technique progress going?

—Nothing too new. After my initial breakthrough with the Balanced Voltage style, I've hit a wall. I've tried creating new things through more precise electricity manipulation, but this is about as far as I can get—Shoun calmly manipulated his internal electricity, forming a small sphere of lightning that spun at high speeds. The young man tried to move it from his palm, but it dissipated—Haaah...Things like firing multiple lightning bolts for long-range paralysis are off the table for now. The most I've achieved is converting and absorbing more energy types simultaneously—Lately, the young man had focused more on this, considering how useful it would be to absorb spiritual energy and thermal energy in his future fight against Jack and Joy—(Though that'll probably trigger my overload mode...They don't need to know that).

—What about your new attack with Iron Fang?

—Oh yeah, that's going well. A bit more and it'll be perfected...Even so, I can't shake this feeling of lacking control over my own abilities. And no matter how hard I try, I don't feel like that's going to change.

—I understand your frustration. While my own abilities depend solely on my ingenuity and creativity, I still feel there's a barrier I can't cross. Take the Clover Bracelets for example, they should be something I could create with my skills, but I simply can't. Such specific things seem either extremely difficult or nearly impossible for me right now. Luckily, it looks like all these problems will be solved once we become Dominators! I can't wait to see how much Kaze's power grows after his ascension! 

The title of "Dominator" wasn't arbitrary. Those who reach rank three completely master both their basic and apprentice-level abilities, while also gaining perfect control over spiritual energy. This opens up a whole new range of possibilities for their existing skills, not to mention the significant physical improvement that comes with the rank. 

—By the way, Shoun, do you know how much you can control electricity that isn't your own? I mean doing something similar to what I do with shadows—Asked the boy with the beret with satisfaction, seeing Sein's defeated expression. 

—That's part of why I want to improve my control over my electricity. Controlling external electricity for anything other than direct absorption is impossible for me. 

—Hmm, now that I think about it, why do you always absorb energy immediately after converting it to electricity?—Sein asked innocently. Shoun wanted to instantly reply with a "Duh," but after a moment's thought, he realized the implication of those words. 

—(...I didn't notice something so obvious. Ever since becoming an apprentice, I've been on the verge of painful overload. That's exactly why I created the Balance Voltage style to prevent it, and only now, when I'm less than halfway to becoming a Dominator, do I realize something so basic...)— The young man wanted to smack his own face hard, but he couldn't be so blatant about showing he'd missed something so obvious. After all, he was still just an apprentice—someone striving to master his untested abilitie.—Uhh...I guess that's instinctive for me to some extent. I mean, if I can't control it, it's more useful in my core than outside, right?

—Yeah, and it's better if it stays that way until you can control electricity outside your core better. If you just brute-force convert all the energy in the air, it'd end up harming everyone on the battlefield, except you, obviously— Robin demanded, arms crossed.

—Haaah, no problem— the young man replied, resigned to staying in Balance Voltage mode until he could improve his control. 

Hours later, the mirror world's sky darkened, signaling it was time to leave. The group exited the base and gathered at the entrance to Shoun's house. 

—Guys...thank you so much for what you did for me today. I don't know how to repay you—Shoun muttered, embarrassed, his gaze dropping. 

—Don't worry, Shoun! Just cook for us forever!—Sein replied while hugging him. 

—Exactly! You saw how disastrous we are at it. 

—I don't see any reason to refuse that... How about we take a photo? I mean, it's still technically my birthday for a little longer, so I think it's fitting to capture the memory—The young man suggested. With everyone's agreement, they huddled together for a selfie, all grinning widely for the occasion except Kaze, who instead placed a hand on Shoun's shoulder and gave a thumbs-up with the other.

With that commemorative photo, the evening came to an end. They said their goodbyes one by one until only Shoun and Kaze remained, as usual.

—Haaah, I don't know why we say goodbye so energetically every time we part.

—Could it be...because we fear separation?

—Maybe...but that won't happen anytime soon. After all, everyone will be there for your ascension. Speaking of which—how prepared do you feel for this promotion test?

—I will overcome it and become a Dominator without any complications.