Dinner was served in the grand dining hall. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room with a warm golden light. The servants moved gracefully, carrying steaming dishes and jugs of wine.
To my dismay, our parents forced my cousins and me to sit at the small table we used for family meals, while the adults and my siblings sat at the much larger table.
I looked at the food served on our table: Turkel boar steak, boiled potatoes, smoked chicken, fruits, breads, and cheese, and all kinds of fruit juices. Everything looked delicious.
My cousins seemed eager to start eating, but no one dared to be the first. It was my muscular cousin, Crin, who broke the silence, starting to devour the food enthusiastically.
“It tastes so delicious, I've never tried anything like this,” he said with his mouth full, seeming on the verge of tears.
“Since this is the first time we're meeting, why don't we introduce ourselves? I'm Ziom, can you tell me your names?” I tried to start a conversation to break the awkwardness.
“My name is Crin, I hope we become friends,” Crin barely finished speaking before returning to his food with fervor.
Then, my albino cousin settled into her chair and, with a shy smile, said:
“Hello everyone. My name is Melody. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I hope we can be good friends.”
Her voice was soft and charming, and her manners were surprisingly refined for her age.
“Nice to meet you, I'm Alian,” said my cousin in a black tuxedo with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. “I want to experience great adventures, so I hope you invite me if you plan on doing something fun like sneaking out of the castle.”
Finally, the youngest of all, with blushing cheeks, murmured:
“H-hello... My name is Cerlia. It's a pleasure to meet you,” then, slightly raising her gaze, she added, “Ziom, do you have any pets here? I really like animals.”
“No, apart from our wolves and horses, we don't have other pets here.”
Her expression saddened at this, lowering her gaze further towards her plate.
Maybe I should ask my father if we can set up a farm in the unused grounds of the castle, after all, it's a waste and it's early spring, so we don't have to worry too much about feeding them. Besides, the most important reason is that I want fresh milk, butter, cheese, and eggs.
After introducing themselves, they seemed much more comfortable and only started to focus on the food. It's better to take advantage of this moment to test my ability.
I fixed my gaze on Crin and activated [Spectator's Eye]. A sharp headache and dizziness hit me, filling my mind with information. I began to feel a strong headache and sudden dizziness as a great deal of completely random and nonsensical information passed through my head.
Stop!
I almost screamed but tried to stay calm so that no one would notice my reaction and canceled my Bloodline ability. As I did, my mind calmed down and I no longer felt the headache or dizziness. I tried to recall the information I had obtained, but it was very blurry and, from what I could remember, it was all useless information. The side effects of its use were horrible.
What a lousy ability, I wish it worked like in a video game and showed me the basics in a status window.
To my surprise, when I thought about that, a status window appeared in front of me and I tried to stay composed due to how suddenly it appeared.
[Name: Crin]
[Surname: Wolsk]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 7 years]
[Bloodline: The Winter's Child, Lacrus Wolsk (Awakening)] [+]
[Father: Brian Wolsk]
[Mother: Kirsa Linur]
[Manifestation of any type of energy with core: No]
This is much better than before, but it's still completely useless information, apart from knowing other people's bloodlines, which is still useless at the moment. If it also showed information about combat strength, talents, personality, goals, and many other more useful things, it would be better.
The status window in front of me began to change and expand in size.
[Name: Crin]
[Surname: Wolsk]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 7 years]
[Race: Human]
[Bloodline: The Winter's Child, Lacrus Wolsk (Awakening)] [+]
[Father: Brian Wolsk]
[Mother: Kirsa Linur]
[Manifestation of any type of energy with core: No]
[Manifestation of any type of energy without core: No]
[Occupation: None]
[Innate Talent: Strong Body]
[Favorite Weapon: Giant War Axe]
[Owned Weapon: None]
[Owned Artifact: None]
[Main Goal: to be as cool and amazing as his father]
[Secondary Goals: to become stronger every day, to protect the weak]
[Personality: honest, adventurous, optimistic, naive, loyal, protective]
[Strengths: physically strong for his age, indomitable will, brave and determined, adaptable to difficult situations]
[Weaknesses: easily influenced, sometimes acts without thinking, limited knowledge of the world]
[Special Traits: talent with aura (superior), natural instinct for melee combat (superior), talent with axes and spears (excellent)]
[Likes: training, playing in the forest, helping others, eating]
[Dislikes: seeing others suffer, staying still for too long, arrogant people, people who bully others]
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
[Origin Story: Crin grew up in a loving family environment, with a father who instilled a balanced love for training and hunting so that he wouldn't enjoy hunting in a sick way and rejoice in the suffering of animals. He was also taught to appreciate the lives of all animals and humans by his father, and the importance of kindness by his mother. As a member and branch of the Wolsk family, he was led to awaken the bloodline so that in the future he could decide his lifestyle, whether to devote his life to the family and the new successor or live a peaceful and isolated life.]
Wow, I'm speechless. This is much more information than I thought I would get. Besides, what's with all this information? I just wanted to know a little about him, not his whole life story. Also, what the heck? He's only seven years old and already seems like the protagonist of some anime.
I was curious about the [+] in Bloodline, and when I thought about selecting it, it showed me all the information I already knew, but there were some extra details that weren't included in the information I received when I awakened my bloodline.
[Effects without awakening:
-Adaptable Weapon Talent: enhances the base talent of all weapons (medium).
-Same Pack Mentality: causes all members of the Wolsk family to appreciate each other, preventing hatred or ill intentions among them.
-Wolf Empathy: makes them more likely to feel connected to wolves than other animals, and wild wolves will not feel much hostility unless they are on the verge of death from hunger.
Effects upon awakening:
-(Perfect) Minor Beast Energy: energy without a core granted as a blessing by the God of the Hunt every few years to individuals he finds interesting and granted to Lacrus Wolsk. Since it is inherited through the bloodline and not the original source, it is not as strong as its origin and only permanently enhances the body proportionally to the amount of energy obtained. Its main capability lies in growing by hunting monsters or non-humanoid beings that are not much weaker than the bearer.]
What? This last piece of information was a shock to me and only generated a lot of questions, but I had to pretend that nothing was happening because I was in the middle of dinner, and I must continue taking advantage of this time to gather as much information as possible before the use time runs out.
But I just realized something: Is it really okay to see other people's secrets, their way of behaving, their way of being? I feel uncomfortable, it reminds me of a certain farm game where I stalked everyone who lived in the village to the point that I knew their daily routines and likes. If I think about it, it's better not to look at this kind of information. I feel like I will lose something important within me if I do, although I wouldn't mind doing it with complete strangers who pose a threat.
If my bloodline ability reacts to the form and amount of information I want to obtain, I will only discard things like personality, history, and everything related to privacy. Let it only show me if the person is hostile or poses a threat.
I looked at Melody and used [Spectator's Eye] again:
[Name: Melody]
[Surname: Wolsk]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: 6 years]
[Race: Human (with albinism)]
[Bloodline: The Winter's Child, Lacrus Wolsk (Awakening)] [+]
[Father: Rioto]
[Mother: Soria Wolsk]
[Manifestation of any type of energy with core: No]
[Manifestation of any type of energy without core: No]
[Innate Talent: Magical affinity related to cold, ice, and winter]
[Special Traits: Birth mutation, talent in magic related to ice and low temperatures (Genius), talent in general magic (High), talent in magical singing (Superior)]
[Weaknesses: Very weak body due to her immense talent with magic]
Another protagonist? Is everyone in my family a genius?
But looking closely, the fact that her body was weak due to her talent with magic...
I tried to see my own status. I must be a genius too. Also, I think I will have to examine one of the servants to know the difference between my family and common people.
[Name: Ziom]
[Surname: Wolsk]
[Age: 6 years]
[Soul: ??? Years]
[Race: Human ???]
[Bloodline: The Winter's Child, Lacrus Wolsk (Awakened), Ziom (Awakening)] [+]
[Father: Rioto Wolsk]
[Mother: Soria Wolsk]
[Manifestation of any type of energy with core: No]
[Manifestation of any type of energy without core: No]
[Innate Talent: Immortal Soul]
[Contracted Familiar: Arctic Sky (Wolsk breed wolf)]
[Linked Weapon: Halberd made with the blood of Royl Wolsk (Superior)] [+]
[Weaknesses: Physically weak body from birth, sickly]
[Special Traits: Luck (High), talent with two-handed weapons (Superior), aura talent (Excellent), future foresight (High)]
I felt curious when I saw the part of my soul showing signs of question marks and the race part. Am I not considered human because I wasn't born in this world? Or maybe I can't access my information before reincarnating because it's completely external. I tried to see if I could get more information about that and the [+] sign on the halberd.
[Halberd made with the blood of Royl Wolsk (High - Growth)]
[Origin Story]
Because Lacrus Wolsk did not want his main weapon to become a relic that would only be inherited by a single heir and make others in the family feel inferior or marginalized by seeing how the main heir inherited everything, he employed the best blacksmith at his disposal and used his most beloved main weapon to melt it down and use it as material along with his blood, to create the favorite weapons of his children.
[Creation]
Weapon forged with black iron and the blood of Royl Wolsk, given to members of the Wolsk family by the head of the family as a tradition for having achieved the bloodline awakening. The weapon's capabilities depend greatly on how strong the family leader is and can only be used by the first Wolsk family member who obtained it, starting to crumble and rust when the owner dies.
[Special Characteristics]
[-Growth: Due to the bloodline awakening (Perfect) by Royl Wolsk and the ability to use Minor Beast Energy, it has the ability to become stronger and a small chance to acquire other characteristics by killing non-humanoid beings.
-Contract: Due to the Wolsk bloodline family contract, it can bond to a single Wolsk family member with an awakened bloodline but cannot bond if the Wolsk family member is already bonded to another weapon. The contract makes it easier to wield and its weight adjusts gradually to the current strength of the contractor.
-Adaptability: Adapts to the individual strengths of the contractor through use and time.
-Great Sharpness and Durability: A very difficult weapon to break due to being made with black iron, known for its great hardness and extreme weight, which makes it very inconvenient to use, and also with blood imbued with the aura of an extremely powerful aura user.]
I started to see blurry and feel mentally exhausted with each second I used this ability. I feel like I could faint at any moment.
I think I regret it a little, if I had known this had usage limits or the information I could see, I would have analyzed my parents.
I was tempted to do it, but if I do, I will only end up ruining this pleasant atmosphere. Besides, I can use it again within a year.
I glanced at the table where the rest of the family was and they seemed to be talking about formal topics, while eating accompanied by wine and beer, except for my siblings, who had not yet reached adulthood and looked a little tense.
But I didn't worry too much about them and continued enjoying the food. After we finished eating, our parents stayed, while my cousins were guided to their rooms by several servants and I was accompanied by Marcy to my.