It was around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and the feast at the knight's house had just begun. People were gathering in groups of two or three, talking loudly as they drank ale. Food was coming out one after another. At the back, Cobal could be seen sweating as he cooked, the kitchen helpers were as busy as bees collecting honey. And Knight and Lydia could be seen busily entertaining the guests.
Amoris, who had been unconscious due to an overload of information in his mind, began to wake up. As he did, his eyes filled with excitement because he had finally processed the information about his talent. If he had the ability to speak and move his body, he would have danced and sung in excitement, as his talent was incredibly overpowered; calling it "overpowered" would be an understatement.
Blessing and Curse. That was the name of his talent.
He could already see an example of its power in the white light surrounding Knight and Lydia. This white light was a Blessing of Luck, a power granted by his talent. It could bless someone with boons, like the gods bestowing their favor. But that was not all; it could also curse anyone or anything he had seen or heard of, be they animals or people.
Even that was not enough. It could give blessings and curses to non-living items, such as blessing land to grow plants in abundance or empowering a symbolic item with the power to exorcise demons or ghosts.
Knight and Lydia were given the Blessing of Luck, which would increase their fortune. This could help them make better decisions, stay away from danger, or even avoid fatal harm from natural or unnatural causes. That was the power of his talent.
The blessing he gave to his parents was permanent. That's right—a permanent blessing that would never fade, even if he were to die. However, he could take it back, as it was his power. But these permanent blessings came with a catch: he would have to sacrifice a portion of his energy permanently to bestow them.
It wasn't too big of a deal, however, because permanent blessings had their own perk for him: whoever had his blessings would continuously produce something. It could be attributes, iron ore, gold, or anything, but it had to be a raw material, not a manufactured good. For instance, it could produce a gold ore but not a gold bar; it could produce wood but not a table; it could provide information on something but not the knowledge to apply it, as information is a fact while knowledge is its application. The amount would always be one unit, such as 1 ore of gold or 1 clod of soil.
The thing the blessed one produced was not random but depended on their attributes, power level, knowledge, energy level, life level, race, and other factors.
And there was the temporary blessing, which he could provide by spending his energy without a permanent sacrifice. While temporary blessings didn't produce items and weren't permanent—even if he was not in the same dimension—they had their own perk: he could set a specific time for the blessing to end, whether in hours, days, months, or even years, though a longer duration would require a huge amount of energy.
This was only one part of his talent. There was another part, which was the curse, as the name of his talent was "Blessing and Curse." His talent worked in such a way that whenever he gained a blessing, its opposite power became a curse. For example, the blessing he gave his parents was the "Blessing of Ever-Green Luck"; therefore, the corresponding curse was the "Curse of the Unlucky One."
Both operated in a similar way. While a permanent blessing would produce something, a permanent curse would continuously take something from the cursed one. If a human were to be cursed, it could take their intelligence, their life (as in years of their lifespan), their energy, etc. While it would take random things, it was even more overpowered because the curse would take effect on everything and could not be stopped. For instance, if he were to curse the sun—which would take a huge amount of energy—he could do it, and it could not be stopped. It would take effect even if the life level or power of the cursed one was higher than Amoris's.
If that was all, it would be only an overpowered talent. He wouldn't say that calling it "overpowered" was belittling his talent. The damage dealt by his curse was true damage. This fact alone was so overpowered that it had contributed to his unconsciousness.
Since both blessings and curses operated in the same way, permanently cursing someone would also require him to sacrifice a portion of his energy permanently. A temporary curse also functioned the same as a temporary blessing; both allowed him to set a time limit by spending his energy without a permanent cost.
Finally, he questioned how a new blessing or curse would come about. Searching for the information in his mind, he came to a conclusion: every year on his birthday, which was in the spring on April 1st, a random blessing or curse would appear within his talent—like the Blessing of Luck—and it would take the entire following month for his talent to develop its opposite power.
For example, on his first birthday, he would gain a blessing or a curse, and then it would take a month for the opposite power to fully develop.
Thinking about the immense power of his talent made him, lying there in his crib, roll over with excitement. Having processed all the information about his talent, he peered inward with his mind's eye and saw a black and white space. The volume of this space was about 10m x 10m x 10m, which was 1,000 cubic meters. It had come with his talent and was used to store the materials produced by his blessings. He understood it would grow every year as his talent developed, and anything other than the materials produced by his talent couldn't be placed inside it.
As his mind scanned the space, he could see a medium-sized clod of soil, roughly a sphere with a diameter of about 15 cm (0.15 meters). This was the material produced from Knight's blessing. When his mind touched the clod, a piece of information transferred into his thoughts, which read:
[Soil of Vitality: A soil with an excessive amount of life energy].
That was it. That was the entirety of the information. It didn't say what it could do or what it was for. While he knew the nature of his talent couldn't grant knowledge, he hadn't realized it would be quite this minimal. Still, he was content, as his talent was overpowered.
Shifting his attention to another area of the space, he saw a portion of flour, about one kilogram. The information from it was:
[Ever-Flourish Flour: A small, daily portion of magically infused flour.]
This material was produced by Lydia's blessing which was fitting for a family. While both soil and flour were everyday items, Amoris knew they were anything but ordinary. However, further experimentation would have to wait; he was just a child, and the immense brainwork of processing all the information had taken a toll on his mind.
As he rested with his eyes closed, he could hear the chattering of the people downstairs. Although he didn't know the language, he could make out bits and pieces. This was a benefit of being an intelligent baby, as infants learn to pick up things around them quickly. And since he was, in a way, an incomplete adult with a few memories and an overpowered talent, one plus one didn't always equal two. He had already begun to pick up bits and pieces of the language spoken in this world.
He heard people saying, "Cobal… the food… delicious!" and another, "Leif helped… so much." But one conversation that intrigued him most was between his father and another man.
"Where… Kealan?" the man asked.
Knight answered, "Uncle Kealen will be late… night."
'Uncle Kealan.' The name intrigued him. He remembered hearing his father and mother talking about this man, and they had always spoken of him with great respect.
As he listened to the chitter-chatter of the feast, time flew by. The orange sun had completely set, and the moon was shining in the distance. Even now, people were still partying; he would even say they were enjoying themselves more than they had during the day, as he could hear people singing and dancing. The thought crossed his mind that the people in this village were truly simple and joyful.
From time to time, Lydia would come and take him to their bedroom to breastfeed him. Afterward, she would lay him in a wool blanket, as the night was cold, especially for a one-month-old baby like him.
While Amoris was listening to the sounds and learning, Knight and Lydia were ensuring nothing was missing from the feast. They were communicating with Leif, who had been helping the couple manage the event. They stood in the corridor by the door, talking in hushed tones so as not to disturb the guests.
"Hey Leif, has the stock of meat been delivered to Cobal?" Knight asked.
Leif, who was writing with his head down, noting which items had run out at the feast, looked up. "Not yet, but I have already spoken to the helper. It should be delivered any moment now."
"Thank you, Leif. You have been a great help. Have you eaten?" said Lydia, who had been listening to the conversation.
"It's okay, Sister Lydia, I have eaten. But I have to say, you guys are really spending a lot on this feast," Leif replied.
Hearing this, Knight laughed and said, "Come on, it's my son's first month! We also wanted to thank the villagers, as they have always helped us. This is our way of showing gratitude."
"Yeah," Lydia agreed, smiling at her husband.
"Okay, you guys enjoy yourselves here. I have much work to do," said Leif as waved his hand and went inside the house.
As Knight, Lydia were communicating, they heard the sound of a horse running, growing closer and closer. The sound prompted Knight to go and see if there was any problem.
Gathering outside his home, Knight and the others saw a horse-drawn carriage nearing his house. Knight guessed that this was Uncle Kealen, as he was the only person they knew who was rich enough to travel by carriage.
As the carriage drew near, it came to a complete stop in front of Knight and the others. The door flung open, and they saw Uncle Kealan stepping out. With him was an old man, even older than Uncle Kealen himself. He had white hair, a medium-length white beard, and eyebrows that were somewhat long and also white. Despite his advanced age, his body was surprisingly robust.
Seeing that it was Uncle Kealen as he had guessed, Knight pretended to be angry and said, "Uncle Kealan, we were about to start the ceremony without you! If you had come any later…"
Uncle Kealen, hearing that, felt a flash of irritation. Even though he knew Knight was joking, the very thought of him saying such a thing was annoying. He retorted, "Who do you think I was late for, huh?"
Knight blushed as he heard that, but he didn't take it to heart. Uncle Kealan was a father figure to him and his wife. However, he couldn't back down in front of Lydia, so he said nothing. But Lydia, being his other half and his pillow-mate, knew what he was thinking as if she could read him like the back of her hand.
"Don't worry, Uncle Kealan," she said. "That's just him being shy. He ordered the helpers not to start the ceremony without you."
Hearing Lydia say that, Knight glared at her. Lydia glared back at Knight with equally ferocious eyes, which only made her look adorable.
Seeing Knight and the old man bicker with each other like children, the old man who had come with Kealan laughed heartily. Hearing his laughter, both Knight and Kealan blushed, snorted, and turned away from each other.
But Uncle Kealen knew this was just their usual banter. He prepared to introduce the old man to the couple. Turning towards Knight and Lydia, he said, "This is the friend I was talking about. His name is Robu. Don't let his age fool you—he may look a hundred years old, but he's a better fighter than me and a mage to boot!"
Hearing that the old man, who looked a hundred, was a better fighter than Uncle Kealan, both Knight and Lydia were amazed. And after hearing he was a mage, they were even more awed.
The old man, hearing his friend's praise, laughed and said, "Haven't heard you praise me in ages! Don't take what he said to heart. Although I am a mage, I am a weak one."
Hearing the old man admit he was a mage, both Knight and Lydia were flattered. They didn't care if the old man was weak or strong; as a non-magical couple, they didn't have an exact idea of the power scale for mages. What they knew was simple: a mage is a mage. It wouldn't matter to them if he was weak or strong.
So they respectfully said, "No, no! Thank you for coming here."
Then they turned to Uncle Kealen, their eyes filled with gratitude. "Thank you, Uncle Kealan," Knight said, his voice thick with emotion. "You have done too much for us. We don't know how we can ever repay you."
Both Knight and Lydia knew that hiring a mage would cost a huge amount of money. Even if Old Man Robu had come as a personal favor to Uncle Kealen, it was an enormous gesture on their behalf. They truly felt that Uncle Kealen had gone above and beyond for them. While they usually wouldn't hesitate to ask for his help with major problems, inviting a mage just for them felt like too much.
Seeing them getting emotional, Uncle Kealan just waved his hands and said, "Don't worry about repaying me. Just live your life happily. And I didn't invite Robu only for you guys; I invited him to see if your child has any magic in him."
Hearing that, the couple was overjoyed. Then Uncle Kealan spoke once again, "Aren't you going to invite us old men into the house for the feast? Or are you just going to keep us talking out here?"
"Of course! Please, come in," Knight said, finally shaking off his emotional stupor. He and Lydia shared one last look of overwhelming gratitude and excitement before stepping aside, warmly leading Uncle Kealan and the old man, Robu, into the noisy, cheerful house and towards the future of their son—a future that was now wonderfully uncertain.