Autumn morning wrapped the small town of Plint in Nortonholt County in lingering sleepiness.
Hoxi Atmesia leaned against his window, his gaze fixed on the figure nearby, sweating in the morning light—Isla was carrying out her morning knightly exercises.
Her long golden hair was tied into a bun at the back of her head. A few unruly strands had broken free, damp with sweat and clinging to the flushed skin at her neck and temples.
The crystalline beads of sweat rolled down her rosy cheeks and seeped into the collar of her linen undershirt.
At that moment, she was gripping a training longsword with both hands, holding it high above her head.
With a low, soft shout, she brought the sword down in a savage slash, tearing through the air!
Her close-fitting linen shirt instantly stretched taut, outlining the slender, supple curves of her powerful waist.
Hoxi's gaze followed those smooth lines upward.
"It's quite round, isn't it?"
He nodded instinctively, his gaze still fixed in the distance.
"From an astronomical perspective, atmospheric refraction tends to stabilize a few minutes after sunrise, at which point the sun returns to an almost perfectly round shape..."
"Hoxi, you'd better be talking about the sun."
A somewhat stiff voice interrupted him.
Hoxi lowered his head. A brown-and-white chin rested on the windowsill, a wet black nose twitching slightly. A pair of intelligent brown eyes was glaring at him askance with faint disdain.
It was his dog, Bruce.
The fact that it could speak was no miracle.
Three days ago, when Hoxi had crossed over into this magical world, a mysterious ball of light had appeared in his mind.
After some simple exploration, he had grasped its core function: it was a system that allowed him to obtain Parsing Points by raising other people's Favorability, then use those points to draw "traits."
These traits could even be "bestowed" upon other targets.
Thus, after spending a day repeatedly greeting the townspeople until he had accumulated ten points, Hoxi drew and bestowed Bruce's first trait—
[Nortonholt Common Tongue]: You have mastered the common language of the Nortonholt region and its written form.
"Hoxi, you promised me we'd go to Fernandez!" Bruce lowered his voice as if sharing a secret. "I heard a bard sing that the girls there don't wear trousers. Their thighs are so white they practically shine."
"Of course. We're the best of partners. But they wear skirts."
[Holt region Cattle Dog · Bruce's Favorability toward you has increased. Parsing Points +5]
Bruce's eyes immediately dimmed. "But will you... die for no reason like the old master...? You collapsed on the ground a few days ago..."
Hoxi's movements stopped. He knew what Bruce was worried about.
The original owner of this body had not died for "no reason" like his father had.
Rather, the Atmesia Family bore an ancient contract from a demon:
If a descendant failed to awaken the warlock talent in their bloodline upon reaching adulthood, not only would the power granted by the demon be withdrawn, but their innate human Bloodline Power would also be drained by the contract, leaving them a sickly, feeble cripple until death.
And this once-prestigious family's Bloodline Power had withered over the past several generations. No one had been able to awaken as a powerful warlock anymore.
Now, less than a month remained before he reached adulthood.
The original Hoxi had swallowed an unknown secret medicine in despair, and that was what had killed him, allowing Hoxi to cross over into this world.
Thinking that he had finally obtained a new life, only to perhaps follow in his family's footsteps and become a frail, sickly cripple, quietly rotting away in some forgotten corner, sent a chill through him.
He had to find a way.
That ball of light was his only path to survival: he had to draw a trait capable of reversing this body's fate.
Looking at the furry creature before him, he remembered the little mongrel he had once raised.
He stroked Bruce's head. "Bruce, do you believe in me?"
"Of course. You're the one I trust most."
"That's enough." Hoxi's voice was not loud, but it was extraordinarily firm. "I'll find a way to solve this. We'll go to the City of Magic together—Fernandez."
[Holt region Cattle Dog · Bruce's Favorability toward you has increased. Parsing Points +5]
"Skipping training again?" A crisp voice rang out by the window.
Isla had finished her exercises at some point and was now standing outside the window.
She stared at the quitter before her. Her bright blue eyes had held a trace of irritation, but when they met his face, most of it somehow faded away against her will.
A few weeks earlier, Hoxi had taken the initiative to approach her teacher, the old knight Edwin, hoping to learn the basics of knighthood.
The old knight had readily agreed and entrusted the basic instruction to her.
Isla taught him with meticulous care, and Hoxi had studied with unusual seriousness. But over the past few days, the fellow had suddenly stopped coming.
She disliked such half-hearted behavior.
"The basics of becoming a knight actually... aren't as difficult as you imagine." Isla tried to keep her tone steady, but a trace of admonishment still slipped through. "To give up so easily..."
Hoxi looked into her clear blue eyes, a wave of helplessness rising in his heart.
He was not someone who liked giving up halfway. There simply was not enough time.
The original Hoxi had chosen to become a knight because that path might also have granted him supernatural power capable of changing his fate. But the road was too long, and the time left to him was almost gone.
He had to abandon this inefficient method and search for an opportunity to obtain points quickly.
"Isla," Hoxi interrupted her gently, his face filled with sincere apology. "I won't be coming to training anymore. Thank you so much for everything during this time."
Seeing the disappointment in Isla's eyes, he took a small object from his pocket and held it out—a hair tie carefully braided from supple cowhide, simple in design yet exceptionally elegant.
Isla's beautiful blue eyes widened slightly, revealing a hint of surprise.
Her fingertips reached out unconsciously and accepted the little object.
The leather band felt cool to the touch, yet it had excellent resilience and a warm, springy flexibility.
Her refusal had been on the tip of her tongue, but it unexpectedly stuck there.
"How did this blockhead notice... the awkward predicament I face every morning, wrestling with that disobedient golden hair?"
By the time she came back to herself and prepared to say something else, Hoxi had already waved his hand, turned around, and walked toward the woodland outside the town with Bruce.
As she watched the figure grow farther away, Isla felt the lingering warmth of the leather band against her fingertips. At last, the words she had been holding in burst out:
"Go... good evening!" She suddenly raised her voice, then hurriedly lowered it. "...Would you... like to attend the ball with me?"
The last few words were as soft as a mosquito's buzz, scattering into the wind.
Hoxi's footsteps did not falter. He seemed not to have heard.
On a forest path carpeted with rustling fallen leaves.
Hoxi's attention was drawn to the pale golden words floating in his field of vision. He was completely unaware of the girl calling out and fuming behind him.
[Human · Isla's Favorability toward you has increased significantly. Parsing Points +15]
He unconsciously rubbed the spare hair tie in his pocket, understanding dawning on him.
Gifts really did work.
[Name: Hoxi Atmesia] [Race: Human] [Level: 7] [Class: None] [Physique: 6] (Vitality, stamina, recovery, resilience) [Strength: 6] (Explosive power, absolute strength, physical destructive power) [Agility: 7] (Reaction speed, bodily coordination, precise manipulation, dynamic balance) [Wisdom: 10] (Logic, knowledge, memory, analysis and deduction) [Willpower: 10] (Faith, intuition, inner perception, mental resistance) [Charisma: 16] (Personality, leadership, persuasiveness, appearance) [Skills: None] [Status: Salamachis's Contract: Your Bloodline Power will be drained in 28 days] [Equipped Traits: Empty, Empty] [Available Traits:]
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