Chapter 11: Chapter 11: A Noble’s Character

“Next.” The tired priest said as he ushered the crying child past him, wincing because of the pitch of their cries.

The seasonal ritual where children get their new Bonds had to be his worst time of the year. Hundreds of children throughout the city and surrounding area all rushed in to get their Bonds, and it was his job to get a blood sample from each and every one of them.

Since everyone in the entire Kingdom received a Bond at the age of 5, the Kingdom used it as an excuse to gather blood from people, which could be used later to track them down if they ever became criminals. 

People didn’t like it, but no one was going to boycott their child getting a Bond. Being Bondless was a mark of great shame, and left one open to being taken and forced into slavery. Even if they didn’t like the idea of being tracked, they weren’t about to take those kinds of risks.

The next child in line came up and he pricked them with a needle, letting the drop of blood fall onto the magic tool that was used to store all of the children’s information. Symbols flashed over the orb, letting the priest learn a few things about the individual. Their name, age, race, level, and the total level of their general skills.

For most children, this wouldn’t really matter. They would be level 1 or 2 and it would be impressive if their total general skill level was more than 20. But every once and a while, it would be different.

‘Level 22 and total general skill level of 420. Looks like another noble’s brat.’ He glanced up at the name and his suspicions were confirmed. ‘Charles Colestar de Dalhurst. It’s the Duke’s grandson.’

“Is there a problem?” The polite and young voice of the child came. 

The priest looked at the young blond-haired boy, dressed in his fine clothes. His posture and expression made him stand out among the commoner children like a sore thumb.

“Not at all. The gods’ blessings be upon you.” The priest said, waving the boy along.

The kid's stats were high, even for a noble, but it wasn’t anything new.

The high nobility could get their children magic items that would drain their excess mana, stopping them from having to worry about excessive leveling before they received their Bonds. Not only that, they would be allowed to slay monsters that their families would literally tie down for them so that they could get easy levels and more towards their first Talent Point. That along with private tutors gave the noble children a huge advantage over commoners.

A commoner was gifted if they could get a single skill to about level 50 by the time they were 10 years old, so that they could get a Tier 3 Class. For the high nobility, starting with a Tier 4 Class was average.

And this boy didn’t just have his first Talent Point at the age of 5, he had 2. Kid would probably make it to 5th or maybe even 6th Tier off the back of his parent’s connections and that silver spoon he’s been sucking on since birth. 

The world was just so unfair.

“Excuse me. I’m next.” The voice of a small girl said.

The priest looked up to see a young girl with long red hair and the most tired eyes he had ever seen. The shadows underneath her eyes were so absurd as to make him feel refreshed simply by comparison. Despite her eyes, she seemed to be quite awake and was dressed in a red dress that went well with her hair.

“Alright. Give me your hand.” The priest said, holding out his hand to the girl, along with the needle.

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She was uneasy, just like all the children, but her words were surprising to the Priest. “You just need my blood, right?”

“That’s right.” The priest said.

The girl then started to mumble something so rapidly that the words seemed to blur together, before lifting her thumb to her mouth.

In a quick motion, she had managed to cut her thumb open on her teeth, shocking the priest as she held her thumb over the orb and let it drip onto its surface. Then, she started to mumble again and 5 seconds later, the wound on her hand was closed.

“There. Was that good enough?” She asked him.

The man looked dumbly at her before his eyes went to the orb and he choked. 

‘Level 30! Total general skill level 2574!’

“Is there something wrong? Do I need to do it again?” The child asked him.

The priest just shook his head slowly. “You’re… free to go.” He said as he looked at the girl’s race to make sure she was human, before looking at her name. Scarlet Wright… Who the hell was Scarlet Wright? That was no noble’s name.

The boy before had been on the unreasonably high side, but this girl was just obscene. In order to grow to level 30, you need 6 times as much EXP as getting to level 22. Was it even humanly possible to earn 2574 general skill levels in 5 years? Not only that, the girl was definitely casting magic.

He would need to tell the High Priest to keep an eye on this one.

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Scarlet felt sorry for the priest. He seemed really tired, so she cast a minor blessing on him to renew his stamina as she passed by.

After a little more than a year of constantly going to the slave camp to use her [Holy Magic] on the slaves there, it had quickly become her highest level skill.

...Actually, its growth had been suspiciously fast. Faster than she felt it should have been, even with it being indirectly boosted by 2 Talent Points. Even with casting several spells on 700 targets 2 times a week for 68 weeks, it still felt as though it should only have been around level 80, but instead it had reached level 107.

It had given her a 5000 EXP boost and had jumped her up to level 30 just a day before she turned 5, earning her that third Talent Point.