Instead of heading straight home like a normal person, Wensley Fauce took a turn and changed his plan on the spot.
If his guess about Merit was right, he needed proof.
He walked to a toy shop near the market, went inside without saying much, and left eight copper coins on the counter in exchange for a cloth doll and a small bag of candy. His heart bled a little with every clink of metal, but his face did not show it. From there, he made his way toward an old orphanage at the edge of the city.
"May I ask who you are?" The dean, an elderly man leaning on a wooden cane, looked him up and down with puzzled eyes. He clearly did not recognize the visitor, but anyone could tell from the clothes and posture that this was a young noble.
A rare guest indeed.
Wensley did not waste time with introductions. He walked over to a little girl who was peeking from behind the dean's sleeve and pressed the doll into her hands.
"Here. This is for you. Take it."
The girl stared at the doll as if it might vanish if she blinked. She held it stiffly, completely overwhelmed.
Wensley, meanwhile, glanced straight at the panel in his vision.
Just as he had hoped. His merit had gone up by one point.
He almost laughed out loud.
"I knew it. Hahaha, I actually did it, hahaha!" He looked at the [Merit Value: 3] on his display panel and felt a rush of pride. His body reacted before his mind caught up, and he actually jumped a little in place.
He was so pleased with himself that, for a moment, he completely forgot that the dean and a group of children were all standing right there.
When he finally noticed his surroundings again, the room had gone perfectly quiet. Every child and the old dean were staring at him with an expression that mixed curiosity and confusion.
"Big sister, that big brother looks kind of silly," a little boy said frankly, speaking the thought on everyone's face.
The brat's words hit him like a slap.
Wensley's mood flipped at once. He walked over, step by step, until he stood directly in front of the boy who had spoken. Using his height, he leaned forward and looked down.
The boy's shoulders shrank as if he had just remembered who he was talking about. Maybe it was Wensley's natural villain aura, or maybe it was the sharpness in his eyes, but the child immediately grew frightened and started wiping his face with the back of his hand.
"Do not cry," Wensley said. "I am not going to eat you."
He held out a piece of candy.
"It is fine if you learned your lesson, but you still dared to call me stupid, hmm?"
He popped one candy into his own mouth and then casually handed out the rest to the other children crowding nearby.
While doing this, he kept half his attention on the panel. As expected, the first round of candy gave him another point of Merit. The second time he handed candy to a different child, however, the number did not move.
So that was it. Repeating the exact same little kindness did not stack.
Before he could think too deeply about this new rule, something soft thumped into his face.
"Ow." He involuntarily took a step back and caught the object just before it hit the ground.
It was a worn leather ball.
He squinted over it at the culprit, a boy with a mischievous grin and dirt on his cheeks.
"You little rascal. You actually threw a ball at me?" Wensley asked, eyebrows lifting.
"Hehe. Big brother, you are so clumsy. Can you even play ball?" the boy shot back, not quite brave enough to meet his eyes but still laughing.
"Do you think I have no idea how to do something that childish?" Wensley snorted. "You dare look down on me? Give me a moment and I will show you what a real warrior looks like."
With that, he swept his leg and kicked the ball back across the yard with far more force than necessary.
The dean watched in silence from the side. He had originally intended to ask the boy's name and origin, but now he simply shook his head and let the thought go. Instead, he rested both hands on his cane and quietly observed this noble youngster running around the yard, chasing a ball with the orphans.
A faint smile found its way to the old man's lips.
By the time dusk had settled and the yard was covered in long shadows, the children were exhausted. One by one, they dragged themselves back to their beds. The dean walked over and extended a hand to Wensley.
"Thank you for bringing gifts to these children who have not been favored by fate, and for playing with them for so long," the dean said.
"It was nothing. There is no need to thank me."
That was not modesty; it was what Wensley truly thought. His goal was to pile up Merit, nothing more. His intentions were nowhere near pure, so he felt no right to take anyone's gratitude seriously.
Still, the fact remained. Between the doll, the candy, and the chaos of the ball game, he had earned two more Merit points. His total now sat at five.
All of it, of course, was for the sake of stacking this strange currency called good karma.
"You seem to get along with the children very well," the dean added. "Sir, may I ask your name?"
"There is no need. I will not be coming by often," Wensley replied. He gave a brief wave of his hand, turned, and walked away.
The dean watched his back disappear down the road and stroked his beard thoughtfully.
Wensley, on the other hand, made his way quickly back to his cold, half empty home. The house looked even more worn by comparison after the noisy warmth of the orphanage. As soon as he arrived, he went straight to his room, locked the door, and sat down with a small sense of anticipation.
This was the payment he had been grinding toward all day.
With only five Merit points, he was still far from the thirty needed to awaken his ancestral bloodline. Even so, it was finally enough to buy the guide to choosing the best soul art, which cost just three points.
He hesitated for a moment.
The name sounded almost useless on the surface, but the system only had two options available at all, and this was one of them. If he wanted to move forward, he had to choose something.
In the end, Wensley decided to trust the so called first hand system. If he held onto those three points forever out of fear, they would not multiply on their own. He might as well bet that the thing he bought would have value.
So, with a nervous and excited feeling tangled together, he selected the option marked [ Best Soul Art Selection Guide ].
A clear bell-like sound echoed in his mind. Three merit values vanished from his balance, and the purchase button for the guide turned a dull gray.
A new line of text appeared on the golden panel.
How much do you understand about Soul Art?
"Huh?" Wensley blinked. "What is that supposed to mean? Are you actually talking to me now?"
He stared at the words for a few seconds. When they did not disappear, he took a breath and started talking.
"How much do I know? I know that once a soul art binds to you, changing it is almost impossible. Everything you can learn afterward has to be built around that soul art. It's basically the same as choosing your class in a game, right?" he said, laying out everything he currently understood in one breath.
New text flowed across the panel.
Different types of soul arts require different levels of soul art aptitude. Soul arts that need only low aptitude have very limited potential, especially compared to those that call for higher aptitude. In particular, one star and two star soul art aptitudes almost never grow and are considered to have no real potential at all, whereas soul arts that demand higher aptitude can develop much further and display far greater prowess.
"Listening to you feels like sitting in a lecture hall," Wensley said with a grimace. "Hey, do not tell me I spent three merit values just to hear you say things as obvious as this. If you keep going like this, I really will lose my temper."
Of course not. You should be glad you did not ignore the [Best Soul Art Selection Guide].
The letters marched on calmly.
"Oh?" he said, interest reluctantly nudging aside some of his annoyance.
I have a question for you. Does having low aptitude and only a low-tier soul automatically make you much weaker than those with higher aptitude and higher-tier soul art?
"Is that not obvious? If it didn't make you weaker, people wouldn't use low soul aptitude as an excuse to look down on others." Wensley shot back. As the person sitting at the bottom of that pyramid, he had felt those stares and sneers since childhood.
That is what the world appears to show you. Reality is more complicated.
"Of course it is psycho," Wensley muttered. "If you keep circling around the point like this, I am seriously going to be pissed."
It seems your understanding of soul art is still rather shallow.
More text appeared.
Do you know anything about a concept called Soul Art Compatibility?
The panel had no face, and yet Wensley somehow felt as if it were looking down its nose at him with a calm and slightly superior attitude.
"So what is it?" he snapped. "Stop playing coy and explain properly."
Soul Art Compatibility refers to the degree to which an individual's soul matches a particular soul art. In simpler terms, it measures how well a person fits a specific type of soul art.
The higher the compatibility, the more potential power the soul art can release.
Generally speaking, if compatibility exceeds forty percent, a person can safely absorb that soul art. If it exceeds fifty percent, it is considered a good match. If it exceeds sixty percent, it can be called excellent.
"What about one hundred percent?" Wensley asked.
A once in a millennium phenomena. A very rare occurrence in this world. If someone is fortunate enough to absorb a soul art that matches them at one hundred percent compatibility, then carving their name into history is only the beginning.
"That strong? Even if the soul itself is just some one star soul art piece of trash?" he asked, incredulous.
Certainly.
"Fine, here is the main problem," Wensley said, rubbing his forehead. "Even if compatibility is as amazing as you claim, how am I supposed to know which soul art I match best with? You said it yourself. Everyone's compatibility with each Soul Art is different. If that is true, why do people not search specifically for soul art that suit them?"
The answer is simple. They cannot check that information. Ordinary people cannot see their compatibility with a soul art. That is the reason the [Best Soul Art Selection Guide] exists.
"Oh?" Wensley's annoyance gave way to something much brighter. "So what you are saying is that you can help me identify a soul art that suits me very well?"
Of course. The panel replied without hesitation.