We were currently in Sam's house discussing his future. The old man told them to address him as Old Ben and the girl as Lizzy. They were apparently the envoys from the Holy Church and Old Ben brought Lizzy along since she was his disciple.

Sitting at the table was Sam, Sam's mother, the village chief, me, and my father. Father and I were not originally supposed to be included but Old Ben insisted we join for some reason.

As Old Ben started his explanation, I used my True Dragon Eyes on him and Lizzy. After all, one could never be too trusting toward strangers.

~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Benjamin

Race: Human

Class: Knight Captain of the Holy Church(Epic)

Life Force: 300/300(56 years)

Strength: 182.83...

Agility: 156

Mana: 180/180

Physique: Divine Knight Captain - Lvl.18

Magic: Arch-mage(Intermediate) - Lvl.10

Spells: Lvl.1 - Ice Manifestation, Light Manifestation | Lvl.2 - Freeze, Light Orb | Lvl.3 - Ice Wall, Flash Bang | Lvl.4 - Ice Blast, Ice Sword | Lvl.5 - Restore

Techniques: Mana Compression(Rare-Lvl.8), Mana Circulation(Rare-Lvl.9), Imperial Swordplay(Rare-Lvl.2), Imperial Footwork(Rare-Lvl.6), Sword Intent(Rare-Lvl.5)

Active Skills: Divine Prayers(Rare)

Passive Skills: Ice Resistance(Rare), Nonchalant(Common)

~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Elizabeth Grate

Race: Human

Class: None

Life Force: 100/100(10 years)

Strength: 54

Agility: 45

Mana: 60/60

Physique: Knight Student(Expert) - Lvl.5

Magic: Mage Apprentice(Beginner) - Lvl.3

Spells: Lvl.1 - Ice Manifestation

Techniques: Magic Circulation(Common-Lvl.6), Imperial Swordsmanship(Common-Lvl.8), Imperial Footwork(Rare-Lvl.1)

Active Skills: NONE

Passive Skills: Ice Queen(Mythical)

Blessing: Blessing of Ice Spirits(Legendary)

~~~~~~~~~~

Sure enough, they were affiliated with the Holy Church. Old Ben should have a pretty high status as the knight captain of the Holy Church. My focus went back to the meeting.

"...as a hero, it will be Sam's duty to protect the people from dangers such as wars and monsters."

"Because of his responsibilities, he will be excellently cared for and groomed by the Holy Church and the Magic Knight Academy."

As Old Ben was about to finish, he said something that threw me off.

"I took it upon myself to invite Daniel here because I believe he is a talent that deserves a chance in the Magic Knight Academy as well."

Everyone except Sam wore an expression showing their disbelief. Daniel? Talented? These two words have never in existence been related before. Father looked at me as if he thought those words were strange for someone who needed multiple years to reach level 4 in swordsmanship whereas Sam only needed a single year.

"To be totally honest, I had at first mistaken Daniel to be the hero after witnessing his spar with Sam. For someone at the Beginner Knight Student level putting up a fight against an Expert Knight Student level would normally be considered laughable, but Daniel was one of the few people I'd seen do it. Although he lost pitifully to Sam, that would only be expected when against the hero."

Old Ben, who had reached an extremely high physique realm could most likely see through our realms as well, hence his knowledge. Sam on the other hand was stupefied. It was almost as if he had thought I was on equal standings with him since the very beginning. I on the other hand was showing a face of having eaten deep fried sh*t. Why? You ask? Because I thought there would be a chance of the curse activating... But I guess not.

"Additionally, since Daniel is Sam's childhood friend. Wouldn't it be much better if Daniel accompanied Sam to the Magic Knight Academy? Not only would Daniel be able to study at the academy, Sam would have someone familiar to talk to allowing him to better transition to academy life. Truly hitting two birds with one stone."

Davis who had been listening carefully had a face filled with hope and joy. It was an expression that read, "if my pitiful son could graduate from the Magic Knight Academy, what more could he ask for?"

Father immediately turned to me and said, "son, you must bring glory to our family!"

With that, my fate was locked. Looks like I will be accompanying Sam to the Magic Knight Academy. Even though I had no say in the matter, I was more than satisfied with the outcome. After all, the Magic Knight Academy could only provide benefits for me since I could learn magic there. If I was stuck in this rural village, no matter how high my mana capacity was, It would be useless without any knowledge on how to cast spells.

Another reason I liked the idea was because I learned a crucial thing these past seven months. If I did not do anything interesting or eventful, I could only receive common missions that granted little rewards. That in and of itself was fatal for my future development. Without the system and its Merit Points, I was practically nothing.

Just like that, the meeting had ended and they were to depart tomorrow morning.

—3 hours later—

[Beep!]

[Curse has been triggered]

[System Notification: -3257 Merit Points]

[Merit Points: 0]

Just like that, my hard earned points had gone down the drain. That Old Ben was such a jackass. What was said in the meeting should be kept private yet he boasted about finding a talent like me in this village for everyone to hear. I would have been fine if he only boasted about Sam but why does he need to keep exposing me?

But with this, I came to a conclusion about a very important detail. The curse would only trigger if a large group of people knew. When Old Ben disclosed my feat of fighting equally against Sam during the meeting, the curse did not trigger. But when he started spreading the information around the village like a gossip girl, the curse did trigger.