Chapter 168: Private Appraisal

Having heard Lucius' words, Kiana thought over them and found them to be reasonable. It wasn't just Lucius who wanted to keep his gift hidden. There were actually many other nobles and even commoners who kept their gifts hidden as well.

This could be due to a variety of reasons. Either they were doing it intentionally so that it would be keeping others in the blind, thus giving them the advantage, just the way Lucius was saying.

Or they did it because of shame. Sometimes, even when they got a high ranked gift, it could be something that was deemed to be useless or close to that. After all, even if one had a high ranked gift, it did not guarantee that it would be powerful.

That ranking merely showed the said gifts occurrence among the populace. It was just that the more powerful gifts were also rarer than the other kinds of gifts and thus having a higher rank was considered a sign of status.

A few examples of this were actually pretty close to them as well and could be seen in the Inanis family itself.

The Countess Lita, had a rare ranked gift called Poet's Gaze that allowed her to make poetry out of words of things that she observed. Her gift was relatively unknown to most people and even Lucius didn't discover it much later.

It was also the fact that Lita didn't really use that gift in front of others. 

The second example could be none other than Rio, the servant boy. He had a rare ranked gift as well that was called as Mushroom Master. It allowed him to grow mushrooms from their body and things they touched.

This could also be said to be rather unless gift in the eyes of others and thus he became a servant at the Inanis family. He could actually choose to be a farmer, but the pay as a servant here was far more than what a farmer would make anyway, and thus it was the better choice.

Having gone through all these thoughts, Kiana nodded her head.

"I understand. It would be better to not reveal it to the others and not go to the appraisal hall." Kiana stated.

"Actually, I do want to get it checked at the appraisal hall. It's just that I don't want any more people from knowing about it." Lucius replied.

Lucius was actually quite curious about what the appraisal hall would show when it detected his own gift, Nexus. He couldn't help but draw the parallels between the appraisal hall and his own gift, since they had similar functions.

Lucius had been wondering if it really was a gift that was given by Etara, as it seemed to be right up there in her domain. Seeing as the Inanis family was the lord of the land of Etara, Lucius didn't know if there was some diving intervention due to which he had been given this gift.

"Hmm… if you really want to do it privately, then it can be done. Priest Maleck has been friends with our family for many years now and will be fine with it. Besides, the priests of Etara have no obligation to announce the gifts of others if they are appraised.

The appraisal ceremony is only held because it's a tradition and people anticipate the different gifts among them and their loved ones. Though… even if they do not announce your gift, it is said that the gifts are still recorded by the appraisal artifact. 

I do not know if this is true or not, or if others know about it, but we can ask him for a private appraisal." Kiana explained.

Lucius thought over it for a few minutes before nodding his head.

"We'll do that then. Ask priest Maleck for a private appraisal when it's possible." Lucius replied.

"I'll do it at the first opportunity. Though it shouldn't take long as currently the next official appraisal ceremony is still a month away." Kiana stated.

"Hmm… though is there an extra requirement for doing a ceremony at a time not alloted by the church of Etara?" Lucius questioned.

"There is, of course. We need to pay the Aether crystals needed to activate the appraisal hall on our own." Kiana answered.

"Ah, I see. And how much does that cost?" Lucius questioned.

"It is not really that much. Just two Aether crystals since it will just be you alone doing it." Kiana answered.

"That shouldn't be a problem, then. We can easily afford that." Lucius replied. 

"Indeed." Kiana nodded her head.

After a few seconds of silence, Kiana asked again.

"But Asher… the gift you have. Even if you do not know what it is, you have seen some effects right? What are they?" Kiana questioned.

"Well currently the gift allows me to make that mark that you saw. It also allows me to control the beasts like before and make them stronger than before." Lucius answered.

"Hmm, I don't think I've heard of any gift like that ever before. But it definitely does not seem weak and its ranking should not be low either." Kiana stated.

Lucius didn't answer and simply nodded his head in response.

"Though, when did you really find out about your gift? When did you awaken it?" Kiana questioned again.

She had many questions popping up in her mind one after the other, but it was not something that could be helped. After all, this was a very rare case of gift awakening that Kiana had never seen before.

"I think you might be able to guess that," Lucius replied with a slight smile.

"Oh?" Kiana thought about it for a bit and looked back at the bore Shrews.

She found them to be a bit familiar… or rather, their form that was familiar. About five minutes later, her eyes went wide as a realization dawned upon her.

"It can't be Keith, right?" Kiana questioned, doubting her own thought process. 

Lucius lightly nodded his head in response and spoke, "Indeed. Keith was the first one."