“Ah, also–”
“T-there’s more…?”
The adventurers looked as though they were told there was another dish coming despite them being full already.
“Excuse me, but none of you has a Gift, correct?”
“Huh? Y-yeah. I mean, obviously. There’s only, what, a handful of adventurers who has earned enough of a fortune to be blessed. On top of that, it’s not like we’re guaranteed to get a Gift after being blessed. On the contrary, we actually have a low chance to get one, right? Betting such a large amount of money for such low odds, only nobles can be so foo—”
As though he just remembered I was a noble myself, Alec-san hurriedly closed his mouth.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m nothing more than a village chief right now.”
Nevertheless, it was indeed unfair to charge such an exorbitant amount of money for something that wasn’t guaranteed. It wasn’t like there was much effort involved in the rite of blessing aside from finding someone with [Oracle]. I could understand a fee, just not that much.
“For one gold, you can get blessed in the church here. We have a priest with [Oracle], you see.”
“R-really!? For one gold…?”
I thought one gold was a good balance. People could just see it as an offering.
Of course though, the service remained free for those who settled in our village.
“I heard it was supposed to be a platinum coin or something though!? Definitely not any amount that normal people like us will earn in this lifetime!”
A platinum coin was worth a hundred golden coins. I myself had seen one only a few times in my life.
I guess father also paid that much to have me blessed. And all that for such a result… no, no, I shouldn’t think about that anymore.
“In exchange though, I’d like you to be close-lipped about it.”
“R-right, gotcha…”
As though he understood that our church wasn’t an official one, Alec-san nodded with a stern face.
It should go without saying that we wouldn’t bless just anybody. We didn’t want anyone dangerous to receive a Gift and become even more dangerous, after all.
I was fine with having Alec-san and the others be blessed because I had already used Villager Appraisal on them. Yes, I had turned them into villagers without their consent. There didn’t seem to be any harm to them in doing so, and they would automatically cease to be villagers once they leave the village anyway.
Also, the one I used on them was Villager Appraisal 2. Through some trial and error, I could now choose which information would be shown.
Name: Alec
Age: 38 years old
Village Bond Level: Low
Suitable Occupation: Soldier
Gift: (Greatsword Techniques)
Skills: Greatsword Techniques Lv2
Criminal Tendency: None
Name: Hazena
Age: 18 years old
Village Bond Level: Low
Suitable Occupation: Magician
Gift: (Red Magic)
Skills: Red Magic Lv2
Criminal Tendency: None
Name: Del
Age: 31 years old
Village Bond Level: Low
Suitable Occupation: Scout
Gift: (Enemy Search)
Skills: Enemy Search Lv3, Stealth Lv1, Dagger Techniques Lv1
Criminal Tendency: None
Name: Kamui
Age: 27 years old
Village Bond Level: Low
Suitable Occupation: Warrior Monk
Gift: (White Magic)
Skills: White Magic Lv2, Cudgel Techniques Lv1
Criminal Tendency: None
Remarkably, all four of them had the potential to have Gifts.
And I didn’t know if it was just a coincidence or an inevitability, but their present roles in the party matched their potential Gift quite well. Maybe, even if a person still hasn’t unlocked their Gift, it influences them in some way.
As for skills, they were abilities that, unlike Gifts, could be earned through one’s efforts.
…my village skills were exceptions though.
Hmm, now that I think about it, I sort of feel like that maybe Gifts also influence these skills. Like, if a skill matches the person’s potential Gift, maybe it’s easier for them to acquire and improve that skill.
By the way, once a person receives a blessing and unlocks their Gift, the skill would automatically shoot up past Lv5. That was how powerful Gifts were.
“Be that as it may, we’re commonfolk, so the chances of us getting a Gift are still low.”
“I’m certain I’ll get one!”
“Whoa, hey there, Hazena. Where does all that confidence come from?”
“I just feel it, alright!? I feel I’m going to be one of the chosen ones!”
“Well, won’t that be great.”
Alec-san’s gave a somewhat cold reply, and for that, Hazena-san glared and snorted at him.
“Ahaha, there’s no need to worry. All of you are chosen, you see.”
“…huh? How do you know that…?”
“Ah, I mean…ahm…I mean I feel like you’re all chosen, yeah, that.”
And like that, I led the adventurers toward the church.
TL note: In the raws, Hazena’s Gift says fire magic. However, since red magic has been mentioned to have something to do with fire and heat, I decided to use that here. Kamui is in a similar case: it says light magic, but white magic has been mentioned before.
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RPGNovels 
Seeing the vast amount of opinions of the nature of the magic system of luke’s world, I feel inclined throw in my two cents. I like to think the magic system is similar to the one in ‘Black Summoner’ where:
Red Magic = Fire – Offense
Blue Magic = Water – Crowd Control
Green Magic = Wind,Earth – Utility
Black Magic = Dark(Poison,Curses,Shadow, etc…) – ???
White Magic = Light,Healing,Buff Spells – Support
Although each color magic has specialties (as stated above), they can do a little of other things.(I.E Blue magic specialized in CC has offense spells, like shooting Ice Shards or something; Green Magic can fire wind blades or hurl boulders at enemies despite being oriented to utility) Then there are just various other ‘magic’ that specialize even further like Summoning, Appraisal and stuff. PS: Holy moly I wrote a friggin short essay!
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Isn’t red mage a jack of all trade class or support type clas ? Well that’s what I have seen in other novels.
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“Red mage” is your typical RPG role taken straight from “Final Fantasy” (the old ones, NES era), but I doubt it haves anything to do with how “magic” actually works in this world.
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Mage_(Final_Fantasy_III)#:~:text=The%20Red%20Mage%20is%20a%20job%20class%20in,become%20true%20masters%20of%20either%20school%20of%20wizardry.
“Red magic” on the other hand is usually just supposed to be “Fire magic” and haves a more direct relation with the “element” it represents, there are plenty of examples in western magic systems (Magic the gathering, Dungeons and dragons, etc)
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All it comes down to is which world setting is there, right? In this novel and “Final fantasy” it may be like that but there are other novels where it’s like what I’ve said before so, no one’s actually wrong, just vast diversities in settings. Btw, I didn’t know about the “Final Fantasy” info. So, thanks for the info.
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Your stupid comment size zoomed out the page way too far
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Thanks for the new chapter!
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Fire magic is completely different from red magic. Same as light and white magic. White magic is healing and light magic is offensive using holy power.
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It… depends of “which” RPG you’re following, because “red magic” is just the color of the “mana” you’re supposedly taking from the “elements” and that’s more often than not associated with “fire”
Your example is incomplete, Illusion magic could be either “light” based or “darkness” based, depending on which system, and Illusion haves nothing to do with the “holy element”
It greatly depends on which system the author is using… and considering how “wishy washy” this author has being with the details I doubt we could even begin to understand the system in this setting, since he just kind of haves a mish-mash of stuff just because it’s funny or interesting.
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ohhhh an interesting chapter!! thanks for the update!!
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So this is a blatant flag for an upcoming battle with the church. I mean he just straight up slit their throats. In fact, this is by far the most aggressive and dangerous thing he has done in the entire story so far…. giving away blessings for relatively nothing…(in some cases exactly nothing.) In fact, selling the service at a cheap price to any decent person that wants it is 10x worse then when it was a free service for villagers only. Word will spread, they will be branded as heretics and the churches worldwide monopoly on Gift distribution will be brandished against them like a blade.
In fact, they are heretics. They have literally made a different religion lol. I wonder who the first war will be against… the church led Crusade, or his brother? Or will those basically be at the same time?
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Like everyone else, I don’t see them leaving and it becoming an issue. Everything they want in life is right there and then some. They just hit the lottery. Why go out to the rest of the world that sucks in every way possible in relation to where they are?
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True
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Thank you!
If the radius of his ‘village’ keeps expending depending on the number of villagers and he’s now able to forcefully annex territory and turn others into villagers without consent, then by the end of this novel, won’t the country/continent/world become his ‘village’?!
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no there is some kind of system already in place where if a territory is owned, it can only be taken over with the take over skill and that only does like 50 meters at a time. So he would have to walk or ride a carriage while continuously using the skill. Also, this system of ownership hasnt been fully fleshed out yet… it raises the question of how its established in the first place when not dealing with his skill and\or a dungeon.
This leaves the possibility that if he were to attempt to secretly encroach on say his fathers territory, it will somehow be noticed and spark a war.
Case in point: The Dragon shaped Treant that sensed an encroachment on its territory and attacked.
However, it is possible that he will expand his territory into rural villages without any “Ownership” and claim them without issue.
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The other example of this was the dungeon itself. The dungeon systems also sensed its territory being taken over and triggered the blaring alarm to wake up the dungeon master. With all this in mind… it would appear there is going to be some kind of system\skill that allows the owner\leader of a territory to claim areas\citizens\villages where their influence reaches as their own somehow…..
i mean if there isnt…. its gonna be a huge plot hole since the entire premise of the story atm hinges on him being UNABLE to activate his Gift UNTIL he reached uninhabited lands. The reason stated for this was all the other lands were under the purview of his father and his gift LITERALLY WOULD NOT WORK on them since he didnt have the takeover skill yet.
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There is one other option…
Should a bordering territory cease to belong to anyone…
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However his gift keeps getting stronger. He wasn’t able to takeover owned land before, but now he can if he’s present, although it’s just 50 meters at a time so far.
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