Chapter 28: A Gift?

Lucius felt as if he was hallucinating at first and thus rubbed his eyes. Hallucinations were a common side effect of soul incompatibility, and thus he thought that was exactly what it was.

But after confirming it for the third time, he knew it was true.

Floating in front of him were a string of words that were written in the language of his past world.

They read, "Thorn Mistress".

As soon as Lucius saw it, only one idea appeared in his mind: Gift.

'This is unexpected. Is it truly a gift or something else? Looks like it allows me to see other's gifts, but why only the baby and not the others? Hmm… I'll need to study it a bit more.' Lucius thought, all the while keeping a calm expression so as to not alert the others.

It was well known that Asher did not have a gift, and he did not want to pull more attention to himself by showing that he had awakened one. For now, he needed to figure out more of the workings of the gift, before he could reach a sufficient level for analysis.

While it was possible for people to awaken gifts later on in life, the chance for this was quite less. Thankfully, from what Lucius could tell, Asher was definitely less than twenty five years of age.

Thus, if it ever came to it, he would be able to give the excuse of late awakening.

He looked at the people who were talking and searched for a suitable place to sit. He didn't have to look for more than a second as Kiana pointed at the place that was reserved for them.

"Come Asher, this way," Kiana said while tugging on Asher's hand gently.

She couldn't help but repeat the habits that she had developed over the years and thus did this, even though Asher had said not to coddle him like before. But seeing that he didn't mind it for now, she took a breath of relief.

Asher and she sat in the chairs next to Lita, Asher's mother. She was talking with the two priests along with a few nobles from the town who had been invited.

"Ah! Young lord Asher is here finally!" An old man who was dressed in a silk shirt embroidered with elaborate designs spoke.

"Pardon me for my tardiness," Asher replied.

"No, no, lord Asher. It is my honor that I get to meet you. Your bravery is quite impressive, even without a gift you fearlessly went to fight on the battlefield and even killed four squads of enemies all alone." The old man spoke.

This was news to Lucius, as he had not known that Asher had such martial prowess to kill sixteen men. Of course, this was something Lucius could do with the snap of his finger had it been his previous world and he had his magic, but it was not.

Rather it was a noble boy who was likely kept isolated from most of the world's cruelties. Lucius could tell from the body of Asher that it had not been properly trained and what little muscle he had was likely just naturally grown due to his good genes.

"I'm flattered, sir…" Lucius replied.

"This is sir Cambrian. He owns a few weapon retail shops in the blacksmith's district and the neighboring towns." Lita introduced, understanding that Asher did not remember who that was.

Lucius glanced at the old man to see his reaction to him not recognizing him, fully expecting him to be surprised; but he was not.

'Looks like Lita already informed the guests about my condition.' Lucius thought.

Lucius exchanged a few more pleasantries with the other guests and soon food was served. The people enjoyed the food as Lucius glanced at them one by one, wanting to test out his supposed 'gift'.

He was still unsure about it being a gift and was wondering if it was a hallucination. But when he looked back at baby Cia, he saw the words appear again.

'There is some other condition that I'm missing. Hmm… who are the people here that I know for sure have gifts; the two priests, Lita, Kiana, the guards, John and Alessa.' Lucius thought as he glanced at them one by one.

No words appeared for any of them, and thus he thought of a different approach. He looked to his side where Kiana was sitting and eating calmly. Her manners and etiquettes were actually better than some of the nobles that were in attendance here, which prompted Lucius to think that she really wasn't just a normal servant.

'Even her uniform is different than the other maids…' Lucius thought.

"Kiana," Lucius spoke.

"Yes, Asher?" She responded.

"What gift do you have? I'm curious as I don't remember." Lucius questioned.

"My gift? I have the gift called Stone Shooter." Kiana answered and then showed him her palm.

In the next second, a small stone materialized out of thin air and floated above her palm. The stone looked unassuming, and one could find something like that anywhere on the ground. But Lucius could sense faint fluctuations from it that he had not sensed from others.

Then, they appeared. Words materialized in front of Kiana saying: Stone Shooter.

'So knowing the name is one of the conditions? But that condition would make the gift rather useless. Unless… there is more to it than meets the eye.' Lucius thought.

"Tell me, Kiana. How did you figure out the use of your gift? Did the priest tell you at the appraisal ceremony?" Lucius questioned.

"Oh no, he didn't. I never did a formal appraisal of my gift since I did a full awakening when I was fourteen." Kiana answered.

"Full awakening? What's that?" Lucius questioned.

~Sigh~

"Seems like we need to set up some additional classes for you, later. These things will have to be relearned." Kiana spoke.

"Yes, that is indeed necessary, but do tell me what it means for now," Lucius spoke.

"Alright then, listen to me closely."