Chapter 1: The beginning of the dream

In the continent of Altair, there's a tradition where ten-year-olds must attend an Awakening ceremony to unveil their innate talents, shaping their future. A good talent promises a good life, while a bad one forecasts hardship. Despite efforts to challenge this system, it remains entrenched.

It sounds cruel to judge the future by the talent they have, but this is how it is. It is even worse when it comes to a noble child.

Because they have good genes they are supposed to be a guarantee to have good talent and when they were not, getting expelled from their house would be a good thing for them, and dying wasn't out of the option either.

A lot of people tried to change this kind of thing, but they still can't do it. Even though you can get skills as long as you try hard enough also they can raise their stats as long as they train hard enough, but they still refuse to change their view.

***

Year 1350 of Light Era

Arthur Malcolm is the fourth son of the family of Duke Malcolm. From the position of the fourth son, he can't inherit the position of the Duke. He also wasn't that close with the family, to begin with. His mother is also a noble although his mother is only from a count family, but sadly both of his parents have the same view about talent.

Arthur has short blonde hair the same color as his father and he inherited his mother's bluish-green eyes. He has an average build for his age, although he already started to train in swordsmanship and some close-quarter combat, but he hasn't yet gone in deep on that.

Arthur grew up being told that as long as he could get good talent in the ceremony later he could fight with his brother for the Duke position, but he's not that interested in the position.

Arthur just doesn't like the atmosphere within the Duke's house. Even if he can get a lot of things that people out there can't get, somehow he doesn't feel good about that.

Arthur sometimes goes out and looks around the city and he sees how miserable the commoners live their life. Compared to how his family lives, it's just hurt his heart.

When he asked about how to improve the way commoners live, he got laughed at by his siblings. Since then, he never talked about commoners with his family again.

Arthur's tenth birthday will be in a few days, this also means that he will go to the awakening ceremony in a few days. Arthur himself thinks that he doesn't care about what talent he will awaken, but deep down he wants to at least the talent won't be too bad. He wanted at least something that would be useful for him.

A few people in his family start to pay attention to him as he is about to awaken his talent. Somehow Arthur felt nervous about this not because of the ceremony itself, but because of the way people in the Duke's house staring at him.

Arthur can somehow feel a few bad intentions in those stares. That's why he keep thinking about finishing this ceremony quickly and getting done with it. No matter what the results are it might be hundreds of times better than this feeling right now.

Arthur's mother who rarely talks to him starts to talk to him again, although it is only his mother who did that and not his father.

The number of times Arthur saw his father can be counted with a single hand. Arthur himself doesn't know the real reason for that.

Maybe it's because he is the fourth son who doesn't hold great importance to his father or maybe it's because his father hates him in the first place. But, that only makes Arthur not like this family more than before.

The days passed as the ceremony day got close. Arthur's mother keeps telling him to get a good talent so that his father can start to pay attention to him.

Arthur can only say yes and nod his head while listening to his mother speaking about how he has a noble bloodline and it would shame not only her but also his father if he had a trash talent.

To be honest, Arthur is already sick of hearing this kind of talk. Do the bloodlines really matter when it comes to having a good talent? He doesn't know about that. Maybe it can give them a better chance or maybe it doesn't.

Now, Arthur even has a thought or a wish to have a trash talent so that he can leave this house and start to roam the world.

Because if he has a good talent then maybe his mother will start to put pressure on him to take the mantle of his father, which Arthur doesn't even care about.

The days soon passed as the ceremony day came. Arthur and his family are now in the place where the awakening ceremony is held.

This place looks like a church or a cathedral and in a big room where there are a lot of people there waiting for their turn to undergo the awakening. Arthur is waiting for his turn along with the other people there.

Arthur looks around as he looks at the people coming to the ceremony with their parents. Arthur looks at one of the corners of the room and looks at the people who came with him.

The one who came with him is a servant and not his parents. Forger about his father who he almost has never seen, even his mother doesn't come with him.

Arthur already giving up on this family of his. He thinks about going out of his house no matter what talent he got here.

Maybe it's just a silly thought of a young boy who never sees the world. But, he already has a plan about how to live as long as he gets out of his house.

He can be a merchant, adventurer, or even a mage if he can get a talent related to magic.

Arthur never thought how hard it was to live without help from his family. Inside his head, he always thinks that no matter how hard it is to live alone, it is so much better than living with his family.

While Arthur is still thinking about the future, his name is called as he suddenly wakes up from his thoughts.

He walks towards the priest who is responsible for the awakening ceremony.

With a scepter in his left hand, he put his right hand on Arthur head's. Arthur himself is kneeling as he puts his hands together as if he is praying.

The priest then starts to chant a mantra but, it sounds like the priest is also praying. The process itself isn't that long as it shows that the priest has done these kinds of things for a long time.

Soon Arthur's body glows as if to show that the awakening ceremony is successful. Arthur then hurriedly stood up and walked back to where the servant that came with him standing.

He did that knowing that there are still quite a lot of people who still haven't undergone the awakening ceremony.

As he walks towards the servant, Arthur looks at the thing floating in front of him.

Name: Arthur Malcolm

Level: 1

Strength: 12

Intelligence: 11

Agility: 10

Skill: Sword Mastery (Level 1)

Accounting (Level 2)

Etiquette (Level 2)

Close Quarter Combat (Level 2).

Talent: Avatar (Level 1)

When Arthur saw the talent that he had, he didn't know what to feel. Well, it's only because he had never heard of this talent before.

'I'll think about it later. For now, let's think about the urgent thing first, how can I get out of this house safely.'

Arthur then finally met the servant as he asked Arthur.

"So, young master what is the talent that you awaken?"

"It's called Avatar. I don't know what it did though."

The butler after he hears what Arthur said frowns as he seems to know what the talent does.

"Well then, let's go back home first and young master can take a look at it again later."

Arthur only nodded his head and followed the servant not knowing what would happen when he came home.

Arthur and the servant finally walk home, while Arthur still thinking about his talent and how to get out of his house.

The butler himself looked at Arthur with pity in his eyes. He knew what talent Avatar meant, it meant trash or it had another name 'Useless Gold-Digger'.

The talent itself looks promising, but, the truth is, it only takes a lot of gold and returns nothing. That's why it is called useless.

He knew how the Duke's house treated a descendant with that kind of talent. But he doesn't care about this. His life is already hard enough and he doesn't need to intervene in the business of the Duke's house.