Mark left the room and followed them to the living room. Food was already prepared and neatly arranged on the dining table. His family wasn't rich enough to buy a dining table but were gifts from his uncle. As he found sitting on the floor for every visit to be annoying and uncomfortable.
So, he bought a sofa, a dining table, and beds, including his.
That doesn't mean his family was in poverty. By his father's earnings, they are an average middle-class family.
Owning a home classifies as a middle-class family where most people live in tents or makeshift homes (Slums) because they can't afford a plot of land. And talking about furniture, they are considered a luxury.
Looking at the dishes, Mark knew his mother must've gone all out.
"Hello, Mark! I heard all from your mother. Is everything fine now?" a neighboring aunty came from the kitchen and asked.
"Yes, I'm fine! Sorry for worrying you!" Mark is familiar with this person since his mother calls her frequently whenever there's extra work in the kitchen.
Mark has a good impression of the lady, even though he knew this neighbor probably wants to marry off her daughter to him. As the only family on the street to have furniture, this is nothing new.
Living in a country where cutting trees itself cost you taxes since it's on government lands. Mark can understand the plight of people.
Mark's Mother sent off the neighbor with some dishes in tow.
In half an hour, his uncle arrived on a (steam engine) carriage bearing some fruits.
Under the watchful gaze of the neighbors, Mark's Mom pulled his uncle inside. As Mark's dad went to shoo off the neighboring kids who jumped onto the carriage.
Even though his uncle doesn't mind, his dad willfully takes the job. No one stops him since everyone knows that he enjoys being in the spotlight.
With his father standing outside as a watchman, he and his mother sat together with his uncle. His uncle gave him a nod and started conversing with his mother. Mostly the stuff happened at his sync ceremony.
Mark ate silently like the chat wasn't about him.
His uncle victor turned his gaze over and asked, "So, What skill did you get?"
Mark looked up, his uncle had the usual indifferent gaze, and his Mother's worrying gaze reside over him.
Mark usually felt suffocated by his uncle's gaze, but the current him met the gaze unfazed and replied.
"Merge! A Tier 2 skill!"
"Well, tier 2 is... wait, what?" his mother's shout quickly brought in his dad from outside.
Usually, tier 2 skills aren't rare, but most people including his parents only have tier 1 skills. Only his uncle on that side of the family has Tier 2 skills. Where in Mark's case, his skill is labeled as Tier 2 "Rare" The grade labels as Inferior (1), Common (2), Uncommon (3), Rare (4).
{AN: There is no epic or legendary skill for your information.}
So, in theory, a skill is valued from the cumulative points of tiers and grades.
So a Tier 1 "Inferior" skill is valued as = Tier 1 (1) + Inferior (1) = "2"
Where Mark's Merge Skill is Tier 2 "Rare" = Tier 2 (2) + Rare (4) = "6"
Mark's Uncle's family was wealthy because his grandfather had a skill value of 5, the highest in the family. Even his Uncle's Skill value is at 4 (Tier 2 "Common").
"What grade is it?" the question was asked by his uncle, without his usual demeanor.
Mark thought of saying "Rare", but he held the thought. Tier 2 "Rare is valued as same as any Tier 5 "Inferior". Usually, they work for the government or choose the Essense cultivator path.
Essense cultivators are the overlords of this World. The usual prerequisite is that anyone valued at least 6 points is qualified to choose this path. They live a different life from the mortals. Where the world might seem calm but the dangers hidden beneath exceeds their imagination.
As powerful as the profession may seem, the danger is equally higher. So Mark planned to lie.
"It's common!" A rare smile blossomed on his uncle's face. But his parents couldn't process the sudden Jackpot situation. They believed their son to have Skill valued the same as them or even lower. But the reality gave them a pleasant smack on their face.
Their son Mark is valued as same as his uncle. "Wait, that means her returning to the family might be possible?" Samantha thought. Mark saw a gleeful smile on his father's face.
"Your Grandparents would be proud of you!" Victor smiled at Mark.
"Hmm...!" Mark wanted to give a sarcastic reply but held himself. His memories have nothing but hate for his never-seen grandparents. Not from his father's side since they are dead.
But current Mark isn't the one to act on his feelings. He thought about his future profession succeeding through mooching off his grandfather. So why bother.
Yes, essence cultivation is the obvious one for him. Since he doesn't want his life on earth to continue here.
Mark wants to stand in a position where no one steps on his head.
His uncle thought for a second and pulled out a Gold coin and a copper coin. And placed it near him.
"Show me your skill!" Mark smiled while Samantha had a frown on her face. She glared at her brother for not believing her son.
Mark picked both up.
ITEMS: GOLD, COPPER
Do you want to Merge?YES / NO
A blue screen popped. Mark rejoiced over the convenience of the skill for identifying the items.
He placed it on his palms as a glow surfaced on the items. As if someone melted the metals, the coins turned into liquid and spun in a circle. Slowly formed into a dark yellow sphere, the metals solidified into one.
Victor nodded and picked up the metal, hoping to find it hot, but it was surprisingly cold.
"Dark yellow without inconsistency, definitely not Inferior,
Workability with metals, definitely not Common,
Shape transformation, definitely not Uncommon."
"Mark, since when did you start growing hairs on your balls?" Victor's words caused Mark to sweat subconsciously. He never would've guessed that his uncle would identify his Grade with a single glance. He felt like a child in front of him.
Samantha just stared at Mark as if she's seen a ghost. While his Father Greg was oblivious to what victor's words mean.
After chatting with the family, Mark and his family sent off his uncle to a nearby inn since the house doesn't have any extra room.
Mark feeling stuffed, jumped onto his bed and thought about words said by his uncle.
He subconsciously pulled out the Grimoire from his previous reincarnation. He was able to pull out some memories from the Agatha character and knew what this book meant.
This is the same as the System from his current universe, but a medieval concept. People call the skill as talents. As for blue screens, they bind a book. People there call it Grimoire. But the strange thing that, why is this book/Grimoire followed him to a different universe. Shouldn't it disappear with the corpse back there? It is as if he pulled it here with his reincarnation. But the way it appeared and not appearing during the early days created some doubts. But Mark backpedaled his thoughts and pulled open the Grimoire.
Same page popped up.
Name: Mark Lebas
Age: 16
Race: Human
Talent: Essence Synthesis
But, now the strikethrough words vanished. Meaning the book belonged to him now.
Mark studied the talent section, where there was neither tier nor grade.
As Mark was studying the Grimoire, an unknown battle was taking place in the void above his dimension. Between a book and an unknown entity.