The sun was shining bright, the birds were merrily singing, and a crippled young man was creepily smiling to himself in bed. It was just another typical day in the Falazar Household—a large family with thousands of cultivators and an illustrious history of over a thousand years.
And today, the eldest young master of the Falazar family—the ultimate disgrace—was doing what he usually did. Nothing.
Well, he was doing something, but to those in his family, he just looked like a cripple who was also unlucky enough to become mentally handicapped. In fact, those who knew him were already mourning him, fearing his mind was leaving his crippled body behind.
A good thing, though, was that they had yet to consider putting him out of his misery. Well, at least most of them hadn't...
This meant that Knox Falazar still had some time to continue his Attribute Farming!
The system he had awakened upon finding himself as an eerily quiet baby in this world—the Attribute Farming System.
Although it took an extremely long time to begin efficiently farming attributes, after fifteen whole years of going at it, Knox was finally nearing the goal he had been striving for!
*Ding!*
{[Main Quest #1]} - [True Start]
[997/1000 Mind Attribute]
—[Reward for achieving: Full Body Reconstruction]
"The only reason it has taken me so long to reach this point is because the System has been really stingy with how often it dropped Attribute Orbs," I said, a bit annoyed. "But no matter. Now that I'm so close to the finish line, I'm not even mad anymore."
I looked around, using the brightness of the light in my room to determine the time of day. Servants only came by at specific times to check up on me and verify that I was still alive. Keeping track of their schedules and the time of day was very important if I wanted to avoid another awkward staring session with my caretakers during my Orb Farming sessions.
"Now that it has come to this," I said, a fire burning within my light gold eyes, "I'll tough it out and race to the finish line! Time to become un-crippled!"
*Wham!*
Just as I spoke those words, the door to my simply adorned room was slammed open. In came a haughty young man with medium-length black hair tied into an old Eastern-style bun. He wore clothes that were very clearly expensively woven.
They didn't suit him at all, but hey, maybe that was just me.
"You crippled piece of trash!" the young man yelled, his voice grating to the ears. "Because of you…! Because you're the oldest, Father has decided to pass on the title of Count to you!! You—a fucking cripple!!"
*Bam!*
The young man kicked the side of my crudely carved wooden bed, his face as red as a tomato, his anger spiking through the roof. I didn't know why he was so mad at me for something I couldn't control, but in all honesty, that had been my entire life.
'In all my hundreds of lifetimes, people always blamed me for my inability to be able,' I thought to myself, staring idly at the relatively handsome young man standing over me.
"Why have you come here, younger brother?" I asked, calm as a gentle river stream. "Did Father twist your nipples or something? Do you require the warm bosom of your big brother?"
The young man's face twisted further in anger as he went from kicking my bed to kicking me. His shoes repeatedly slammed into my ribs and legs, the pain I felt sharper than normal.
"Kuk! L-Little Brother, your cultivation has improved once again, I see," I said as blood trickled down my parched lips. "Oof! S-Say, while you're up and active, why don't you get this older brother of yours something to drink? I get quite thirsty this time of year."
"Shut the fuck up, crippled trash!!" the young man hollered, lashing out even more harshly. "If not for you…! If not for you, Yennefer and I would be wedded by now! But because of your existence, Father wouldn't allow me to propose to her! He said that you and she had already been promised to one another at birth!! It's all your fault!!!"
"J…Jeez," I said through bloodied teeth. "I had no idea… To think… To think that I stole your woman without even lifting a hand. Wow… Just wow. I didn't realize I was so awesome until you brought this matter to my attention. For this, I thank you."
"Y-You…!!" The young man's face became more blood vessel than human as blood quite literally ruptured from his forehead. It gushed out of him like a fountain, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
And then down went the two-braincelled idiot!
*Thud!*
"Oh, Alden," I said. "Poor, poor Alden. You really must learn to better pick and choose your enemies. All that cultivation of yours, and what did it get you? Failure."
Even while knocked out cold, Alden Falazar was not spared from the sharp-tongued words of Knox Falazar. As the second eldest son, he had always envied his elder brother for being the firstborn. He wanted to be him—just without the being crippled part.
"Some people just want it all and yet aren't willing to pay the price," I said, shaking my head in disappointment. "Well, whatever. The attending servants will stop by in a little bit for their routine rounds, so he'll be fine. It's not that I care about him personally; I just don't want to be blamed for murder and executed on the spot. Had that happen one too many times before."
Nonetheless, it was time for the Ding I had been waiting for!
Come on, give Daddy a new pair of shoes! Be the one!
*Ding~!*
[An Attribute Orb has dropped because of the burn-out a Mind near you has endured!]
[+3 Mind]
Finally!