wistfully, a young man with long black hair and black eyes walks through the streets, although clearly not wealthy or well kempt, he seems to be in a far better state than the other beggars
'thirteen now huh.. didn't think id even make it this far..' after all, despite wanting to make money to help his mother, it was more of a dream than anything
"though even that i failed.." he said with a sigh, after all, despite having managed to scrape enough money by to at least live with his mother, he had never found her. no matter how much he had searched
'i hope she's well.. and what was going to be my sibling..'
"at least i have the rest of the day off.." he said looking at the sky, deciding to wander around the market district for a while.
walking down the street, Cain couldn't help but remember how he had gotten into this situation, after all. he had made all of his money as a bartender.. although illegal, nobody would care to check in the beggars district
'being a bartender in my past life did indeed come in handy.. and the boss was kind enough to take in a child.. so better be thankful for what i have than what i don't..'
but despite the kindness of the old man who had given him a job.. its not like everything suddenly became all sunshine and rainbows, remembering all the times he had gotten beaten up, starved, and more.
'well.. cant say it was that bad of a thing though, everyone has to get at least one good beating or else they will just end up spoiled..'
deciding to treat himself today, Cain walks towards the large fountain in the center of the market district, where a particularly good bakery is situated
'my funds for the week i believe are 3 silver and 24 copper.. at an exchange rate of 10 copper to one silver, ill just buy around 3 loafs of bread, should be about 6 copper if I'm not mistaken.. ill eat that for the next few days.'
making up his mind, he walks up to the kind receptionist at the bakery, who gives him a nice smile
"hello sir Cain! its so good to see you today, the usual?"
in a good mood, Cain decides to spoil himself a bit today "hmm.. since I'm in a good mood.. how about 4 loaves instead of three today please?"
"haha! coming right up!" the kind lady, Cheryl. reply's in an enthusiastic voice
after being handed the bread, Cain pays her the promised money of 20 copper, and after a short goodbye, beginning to leave, only to hear a small commotion at the fountain, although mostly whispers, as to not warrant the attention of the person involved
"ah! isn't that miss Sierra? the commoner who had married the duke? how come she's here!"
"it seems she's on an outing with her children right now.."
the crowd murmurs, gazing a the three lady's, the older of the three a beautiful blond woman, with a curvy figure and a bright smile, playing with the other two.
both children, one a young girl with blond hair and eyes, sierra's child, the other, a black haired girl with blood red eyes, the daughter of the duke's deceased wife, seemingly the colder of the two
and as soon as Cain's eyes land on the three.. his knees buckle, his bread falling out of his hands onto the dirty ground, tears beginning to mare his eyes, soon transforming to hatred, and then simply resignation
'so.. while i lived as a beggar.. trying to somehow scrape by enough money so i can find you and help you somehow.. you were married to a duke this entire time..? and as if that wasn't enough.. you just forgot about me..! i.. '
"hic.. i.. how! how could you.. hic hic.."
breaking down ugly on the ground, Cain cries to himself, the woman who is the cause of this fully unaware, the others near him, confused by the sudden outburst, call the guards who drag him out to the beggars district, dropping him on the muddy road
suddenly, without warning, Cain slams his fist on the ground, then again, and again.. and again.. over and over until his hand breaks and further, turning into a complete mess of blood and mud mixed together
"how.. could you.." saying those words to himself, Cain keeps hitting the ground throughout the night, so much so his arm will probably be permanently damaged if he doesn't care for it anytime soon
[ding!]
"what now..?" looking at the annoyingly familiar status screen, something every human in this world has from birth, he opens the notification
[congratulations host! requirements to activating innate blessing met!]
[condition: attain a certain amount of emotional fluctuation/ trauma in your lifetime- met!]
[awakening will begin in 10 seconds!]
at first.. there was confusion, but then, simply remembrance
'that one drunk dude at the bar mentioned something about this.. how every person in the world has this.. innate blessing, but no one knows what the conditions to activating it are.. some are born with it, and a very few will unlock it sometime in their lifetime..'
'so basically.. its a joke, its just pitying me for experiencing so much bulshit in my life that it wants to do me a favor huh?'
before his thoughts could spiral any further, a sharp pain hits his chest.. no, whole body, more accurately. his soul.
an excruciating pain like being reborn.. at a non-physical level, his mind, body and soul practically burning, as if begging for its sweet, sweet release from this hellish pain
what felt like many hours later passing, he finally comes to his senses, grasping onto this pain like a rope to avoid thinking about his mother..
'so.. finally something huh..? not like its going to be that good though.. I'm pretty sure blessings can be literally anything, as powerful as that of gods or simply being able to jump slightly higher..'
"but.. i do believe that they start out weak or something and grow more powerful the more you use them.."
deciding to see if his luck is as shitty as he believes it is, he opens up his status screen
[STATUS]
Name: Cain
Age: 13
Stats(average-10):
Strength- 10(-4 due to injury)
Agility- 12
Endurance- 8
Charm- 14
Intelligence- 17
{Blessing}
-gifts of the past-
[STATUS END]
'well.. your stats can only help you that much when you live in the slums.. at least I'm handsome and smart..'
"and that blessing has one weird name.."
{gifts of the past}
Description: in chains of chaos and void is bound a man whose name is forbidden by all, whose chain are now long empty, the gaze of the gods who chained him oblivious.
Function 1: upon a birthday, unlock one gift from one of your past lives, weather it be an item, an ability or even memory's.
Function 2: upon coming across something related to one of your past lives, automatically unlock that lives gift.
Gifts:
-gift of the drinksmith-
Description: a former war veteran, turned bartender. now spending his days haunted by the ghosts of his own past.
type: passive ability
-ability-
Function 1: resistance to all toxins heavily increased
Function 2: all drinks made by the user will gain a random effect
taking the time to look at his blessing, while clearly finding the description odd.. its not like he can do anything about it. so he decided to look at his gift, which he clearly knows how he got
'upon coming across something related to one of your past lives, automatically unlock that lives gift.. i mean, my past life's memory count don't they? do i suppose this is it.. though that description feels heavily targeted..'
"ah.. right, since your blessing grows stronger the more you use it.. I'm guessing that means the more i use a gift, the better itl get, like the buffs getting stronger on whatever drink i make, or the toxin resistance every time i drink something like poison or alcohol."
'i should head home though..' deciding not to dwell on anything anymore, and simply too tired to deal with anything else, Cain heads towards his room, one of the lodges in the tavern bar he works at.
sprawled on the bed, Cain thinks of what to do from now on
'well.. i don't know what ill be doing for the next 5 years but i do know what I'm doing when i turn 18.'
"celectia academy allows for entry on a scholarship to any student with a blessing, no matter how useless.. and since i have 5 years until i can even attempt to enter it.. ill be able to get 5 more gifts, hopefully even one of which is useful enough to enroll at the academy with."
and so, Cain finally decided on a game plan
'for the next 5 years, get all the gifts you can, train all of your gifts as much as possible, and get as much money as possible. the second should be the easiest, since I'm already a bartender, i make drinks. which should allow me to train my gift of the drinksmith, and since the legal drinking age is 15, ill also be able to increase my toxin resistance then.'
finally, having begun to have the slightest bit better outlook on life, Cain goes to sleep with a heart as light as it is heavy
-CHAPTER END-
heyo yalls! author here, here's this chapters author note!
how do i get better at writing? this is a common question of a lot of writers, especially new ones, and is also the main reason people don't write, since they believe they simply don't have the talent for it.
truth is, no one does at the start, you cant magically pick up a pen and become a god at writing, but there is something similar, and also the way i first learnt how to write.
repetition, and before you go. hear me out! you see, i first heard of this technique on a random reddit post that i just cant find again, and it worked wonders! what is it you ask? well, there are four steps to it, open up a draft, write your first chapter, delete it, and write it again. and all you need to do is do this over and over again until your satisfied with what you wrote.
I'm a lazy bum so i only did it like 5 times but trust me, the more you do it, the better you get. bonus points if you take another novel and compare its writing to yours, do remember that every persons writing style is different, so your writing doesn't need to be the same as what your comparing too.
even more points if at the end of writing each draft you take a doc and write what mistakes you made on this chapter or what you need to improve on. and that's the magical way of learning how to write!
peace!