It was a long story, but Jake Butler delivered the last hit on the mighty Nine-tailed Demonic Fox. Well, he was just lucky. The fox was dying after fighting many famous heroes. Its last resort to save itself was to abandon its body as a spirit. In this form, the fox was weak. Even a level one could kill it with a stick as long as they could touch the spirit form. Jake coincidentally stood in its way, on his hand was the Spirit Slaying Dagger. His mother gave it to him as a form of defense. After all, it was dangerous for a level one to be in the vicinity, yet his presence was necessary to weaken the fox. He thought he would only be a bystander; he never thought he would gain a chance to erect his revenge.
Brandishing the Spirit Slaying Dagger, Jake stabbed the fox spirit in the head. As the blade penetrated the spirit, the image of his childhood friend appeared in his mind. She was a bright, kind girl. She loved her father very much, yet her father betrayed her, turning her into the very monster in front of him.
Tears dripped down his face. He felt no anger and unfairness as he stabbed his childhood friend. He just felt sad to deliver the last hit to her.
"Goodbye, Qiu'er," Jake whispered as the spirit exploded into purple smoke. As the smoke spread into the surroundings, Jake's legs felt weak, and he dropped to his knees. He sobbed as the smoke gradually disappeared into the air. He didn't notice that a purple orb floated around him and entered his chest. He felt something warm in his chest, but he ignored it and kept sobbing in sorrow.
As the smoke completely vanished, many people approached him. One of them was a young-looking woman with long, black hair. She wore a black robe and carried a spear. The woman threw her spear onto the ground and knelt beside him. "Jake, are you okay? Jake, answer me!"
"M-mom?" Jake didn't understand why his mother looked at him with a worried expression. She should have felt relief after defeating a monster that could threaten the world like the Demon King of Primal Hunger. He slowly looked at the people who surrounded him, and they had similar expressions like his mother. Worry, pity, panic, and uneasiness. He wanted to ask what happened, but his eyes felt heavy for some reason. He blinked a few times and completely closed his eyes when he lost the strength to open his eyelids.
---
Jake opened his eyes and grasped the surroundings. He was lying on a single-sized bed and staring at the wooden ceilings. There was nothing in the small room, except for his bed and a single wooden chair.
Jake put his feet on the ground and positioned himself into a sitting position. As the creaky wooden floor sound entered his ear, he wondered, "Where am I?"l
Jake left the room and saw the back of his mom in the main room as she was sitting before a fireplace. "Mother? Where are we?" he asked. They were nobles and had a big mansion as a home. Was it possible they suddenly became poor?
His mother, Lilith Butler, turned around and saw her son. She immediately got up from the chair and slowly approached him. "Jake, is that you?"
"Is something wrong?" Jake asked as he saw his mother's weird behavior. She usually had a stoic expression, but the mother in front of him had a tired expression. There were black circles under her eyes, and her skin was pale.
Lilith shook her head weakly and embraced him. "Welcome back."
Jake wasn't a dense person. He could guess a long time had passed since he was unconscious. Otherwise, his mother wouldn't act this warmly. Curious, he asked, "How much time has passed?"
Lilith released Jake and stroked his cheek. "Mom is worried. You were unconscious for almost a year."
"Seriously?" Jake looked at his body and noticed he was thinner. His trained muscles were gone. He almost looked like a skeleton wrapped in skin. "Agh, I have painstakingly trained my body. This is unfair."
Lilith chuckled. "Seeing you act like usual means you are okay." She sighed and dropped herself to the floor. She smiled brightly, as if all the burdens on her shoulder disappeared.
Jake knelt beside her and hugged her. "I am sorry for worrying you."
Lilith patted Jake's head and said, "It is okay. Now, I can go back to our home."
"Good idea. Where are we anyway?" Jake asked.
"Beryl Continent, Beryl Empire. We are still in the place where the battle with the fox has taken place. We wanted to move you, but your condition was bad, so I decided to take care of you here. Well, this place is just a wooden cabin, but my friends and I have put powerful barriers to protect us."
Jake frowned. "That sounds serious. What happened to me?"
"What happened to you was something ordinary. You coincidentally absorbed the fox's Legacy, but the power was too much for you, who was a level one. Luckily, your aunt, Mercedes, did many things to save your life. Now that you are awake. I think you have inherited the fox's power. Later, when you have attended the coming of age ceremony in the temple and you can open your status, you can check your new ability."
Jake nodded as he proceeded the explanation. When living things died, they would leave something called Legacy. It was the essence of the living creature containing all records of things someone had experienced in life. It had the form of a shining orb, and people could see it with naked eyes. When absorbed, the absorber would gain experience to level up, and sometimes, there was a slim chance to gain a skill that was engraved in the Legacy.
Inheriting an ability from the Legacy wasn't necessarily a good thing. If the ability was too powerful, one's body wouldn't be able to bear the power and die. It seemed it almost happened to Jake. He inherited a powerful ability from the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox. If it wasn't for mother and her aquaintance's help, he wouldn't survive.
"Aunt Mercedes helped me to absorb the fox's power? I will send a letter to express my gratitude later," Jake said. Aunt Mercedes was his mother's sworn sister, and she was the ruler of the Beryl Empire. People called her the Magic Empress because she was one of the strongest wizards in the world. His mother was in the same league as the aunt and most of acquaintances who had participated in the battle against the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox were the same. All those powerful figures had struggled to defeat a single monster. It made him wonder how strong his inherited ability could be. He couldn't wait to see it, but first, he needed to attend the coming of age ceremony and enable the status window.
"Almost a year has passed. Does that mean I am 17 years old now? Nice. Let's go home, mom. Can't wait to attend the ceremony in our estate," Jake said. He and his mother had traveled from another continent just to defeat the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox. He naturally missed his hometown.
"Ah...." Lilith opened her mouth and didn't close it, as if she just remembered something. "I will naturally go home. Your sister must be missing me. However, you have to stay on this continent."
Jake blinked his eyes and looked at her with a confused expression. "Say again?"
Lilith put on an awkward expression as she pressed her index fingers together. "You see, mom owed your Aunt Mercedes for saving your life. I wanted to repay the debt, but she didn't want to accept any treasure or money. She wanted you to attend Beryl Academy in her capital. She trusted you and wanted you to win this year's tournament for her. I thought it wouldn't endanger your life, so mom accepted it."
Jake sighed. He disliked when someone decided his life without consulting him. He was a lazy person, but even a lazy person like him had envisioned his future life. In the future, he wanted to be rich by himself, so no one, not even his mother, could scold him for lazing around. To reach that, he had written explicit plans. However, thanks to his mother's decision, his plan was ruined.
Jake couldn't blame his mother, though. He owed Aunt Mercedes for saving his life, so he didn't mind to get along with her request.
"Fine, I will accept this request. Tell Aunt Mercedes to take care of my registration," Jake declared. When he thought about it, attending school wasn't a bad choice. Maybe he would find a way to make himself rich. Besides, he didn't dislike this continent.
---
And thus, Jake's registration had been taken care of. A month had passed since his mother left Beryl Continent. Ever since then, Jake requested special permission from Aunt Mercedes to live in a luxurious inn near the academy. The place was a three story building, and he requested a room on the highest floor. From the window, he could see the academy.
The academy was located on a cliff at the edge of the capital. The enormous castle-like building was looking down at the other buildings in the city, as if saying it was the most beautiful architecture, and Jake couldn't agree more. Even though he was lazy, his blood was boiling in excitement at the thought of living there. The academy looked like it could contain thousands of people. He couldn't imagine how big the student's bedroom would be. Maybe in each room, there would be a king size bed. He couldn't wait to spend most of his student's life in the academy's bedroom.
A few days later, the opening ceremony day came. Reluctantly, he had to attend it. He was walking lazily, passing through countless people to find the lines for new students. The academy held the opening ceremony in a large stadium they owned, so every student from every year could attend. Not only them, their families, alumni, journalists, and even people who didn't have anything to do with academy life attended the opening ceremony.
Jake wished they would leave, so this tiresome event could be finished faster. That was an impossible wish. Besides, his instinct told him today would be a long day.
The reason many people visited the academy today was because the coming of age ceremony was held on the same day as the opening ceremony. Many people wanted to see new rising talents and take note of them. If Jake didn't need to awaken his status window, he prefered to laze around in his room rather than being in the same place with those greedy people.
Jake ignored all noisy chatterings and found the student line. He sneaked into the crowd of new students and stopped in the middle. This spot was the best place for sleeping. From his experience, the opening speech would be boring, so he was bound to sleep when it occurred. In this spot, no one would bother and notice him.
And just as Jake predicted, the principal gave a long, boring speech. A lot of new students couldn't help but sleep like him, and the principal had gotten used to it. He could only cry in his heart. Even he wondered why he had to give a long speech every year. The old man with a long beard wished formality could be dropped in the ditch.
And thus the seemingly everlasting speech came to end, and the principal left the podium with a sad face. No one bothered about his sad feeling as the new teacher stepped up onto the podium and announced, "Finally the event that we are waiting for is coming! Without further ado, let's begin the coming of age ceremony!"
---
The coming of age ceremony had a simple process. The kid who participated needed to be 17 years old at least. They made a long line as they walked onto the stage one by one, and they touched a crystal ball on the table. A nearby wizard waved their staff at them, igniting all of the mana in their body. After that, the process was done, and they could leave the stage. When a kid finished the ceremony, the wizard would look at the crystal ball and announce the kid's talents before they let another one touch the ball.
In this continent, people's worth were determined by the quality and quantity of their talents, which Jake personally thought a foolish judgment. So what if someone had no talent? They could still become powerful without it.
Of course Jake didn't voice his dissatisfaction. Changing people's perspective would be a waste of time. He waited in the line quietly as he watched the wizard announce people's talents.
"Warren Reid. Talent: [Virtual Mass]. Talent value: Gold. Strength growth: C. Endurance growth: C. Agility growth: C. Intelligent growth: C. Perception growth: D. Wisdom growth: D. Overall stats growth: C!"
People cheered in surprise when they heard gold talent value for the first time. Talent was an ability engraved in someone's soul, and it was divided into three values. White value was the lowest value. Even though it was the lowest value, people would be grateful if they could have it because only one of ten people was born with a talent. Silver value was one higher level than white, and people treated silver value talent users as elite forces. Gold was the highest value. Only one in one thousand people was born with this value. They were the elite of elites.
"Reina Rowe. Talent: [Swordsmaster] and [Mana Manipulation]. Talent value: Gold. Strength growth: B. Endurance growth: B. Agility growth: B. Intelligent growth: C. Perception growth: C. Wisdom growth: C. Overall stats growth: B!"
People cheered once again when they heard another gold value talent. Different from the previous kid, this Reina girl's talents were all silver values. However, since she had two talents, her overall talent value became gold. Not only that, her overall stats growth was B.
In this world, aside from magic and talents, people could get stronger by increasing their stats. The stat growth values were divided from F to S. For teenagers, having C in overall stats growth was considered good. If someone had a B value, people would see them as a genius.
Jake personally thought people's worth should be determined by their overall stats growth value. Unlike talent, people could improve their stats growth. Even people with F stats growth could upgrade it to S if they worked hard. Of course, they needed to consume countless heaven-defying treasures to achieve that, but at least, they could improve into the better version of themselves.
"Henry Brightson. Talent: Resistance. Value: Silver. Overall stats growth: C."
"Dion Foster. Talent: Anti Magic. Value: Gold. Overall stats growth: B."
Jake waited for his turn in drowsiness as the ceremony was occuring. He couldn't stop yawning, and at some points, he didn't bother to notice other people's results.
After waiting for a long time, it was finally his turn. He walked on the stage calmly and approached the crystal orb on a table. As per the wizard's instruction, he put his hand on it. The orb emitted a warm light and absorbed his mana. At the same time, the wizard waved his staff at him and ignited all the mana in his body. The mana gushed out of his skin and all his orifices. It felt like he was emptied. As he thought he was nothing but a shell, he discovered something new inside him, as if it was finally coming out of the depth of his soul.
Jake instinctively knew he could do something new. He said, "Status Window." And a rectangular screen appeared in front of him. The screen was blue and see-through. On it, he could read the information of himself.
[Name: Jake Butler
Species: Human
Level: 1
Talent: Center Shift (F), Akashic Eyes (S)
Strength: 11 (-4) (C) || Endurance: 13 (-4) (A)
Agility: 12 (-4) (B) || Perception: 13 (A)
Intelligent: 21 (S) || Wisdom: 21 (S)]
[Ability: Center Shift (F), Akashic Eyes (S)]
"Jake Butler! Talent value: Gold. Overall stats growth: A!"
People exclaimed in surprise as the wizard announced Jake's result. Countless eyes stared at Jake. They looked at him with admiration or envy. Some people even eyed him with greed; they couldn't wait to pull him into their organizations and use him as they pleased.
Jake didn't have time to bother other people's reactions. He was surprised by the result himself. [Center Shift] was an inherited talent from his mother's side, so he expected to get that talent, but... this was the first time he heard about [Akashic Eyes].
Not only that, he didn't expect his stats growth to be high as well. C in strength, he could predict it. His strength was neither bad nor good. A in endurance... His mother and his father's family had trained him hard, but he didn't expect his endurance growth to reach A. It was probably the result of absorbing the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox's Legacy. The increase of his intelligence, wisdom, and perception probably had something to do with that.
Well, it was a good thing. If he received such fortune, why would he reject it? It would make his life easier.
His turn was over, so he didn't have to think too much. Jake left the stage in a good mood. However, having a good result meant people would notice him, so many people immediately approached him.
The first person to approach him was a black-haired boy with a bright expression. He extended his hand and smiled at him. "Hi, Jake. My name is Henry Brighton. My goal is to become stronger! I am looking forward to your assistance in the future!"
Jake usually would ignore someone who approached him with a great expectation. He didn't like to be burdened by that. However, because he was in a good mood, he instinctively received the handshake. "Oh, yea? Good luck with that," he said.
Many people tried to introduce themselves to Jake, but Jake couldn't be bothered with them. Not because he wanted to ignore them. It was because the status window appeared by itself in front of him.
[Legacy analysis is complete. Do you want to accept the Legacy?]