Epic Of The Demonic Sage

To Lucius, the artificers seemed to be similar to the enchanters and magic crafters of his previous world. They would imbue and enchant various items with magic to give them different effects. Some effects amplify their natural properties while some of them directly added new.

Looking at the few artifacts that he had seen, Lucius was sure that they did not operate on normal physics. Thus the only thing that could work would be magic, or in this case 'gifts'.

'I wonder how these 'gifts' are applied onto items. If they are unique to the people, then how are they converted to items? Are they permanent or temporary? Do they need to be supplied with power continually or can they sustain on their own?' Multiple questions appeared in Lucius's mind as his interest in artifacts increased.

And it seemed like this was a thing he shared with the previous owner of this body, Asher. His friends had told him that Asher loved artifacts, which Lucius could honestly understand. Who wouldn't like to learn about the theory behind the workings of something so… magical.

With that thought in mind, Lucius returned to the present. His eyes turned to the side and looked out of the window. The room that he was in was on the third floor from which he could tell that this was a rather large mansion, one that was made out of stone rather than wood.

Which he honestly preferred, as he had doubts about the fire hazard level of a wooden mansion. It would have been fine if he was able to walk, but with him being paralyzed, he didn't want to be killed again because of some random servant's mistake.

When Lucius had first woken up, this window was closed and hidden with a curtain. Lucius's head was also at a different angle and thus he couldn't see it. But Kiana had shifted the bed so that Lucius could at least watch the outside of the window.

He could see the pale mountains in the distance, which towered above the clouds. Below on the ground, he could see the sprawling city that surrounded the lands of the mansion, and beyond that was a wall. He could barely see that there were some farms beyond the city walks far off in the distance.

'Hmm… this seems like a rather different city arrangement compared to the ones I've read about in medieval history. A city as big as this would need to have a completely different layout to work normally. Not only would they need a river flowing through the city, but they would also need sewage channels.

There doesn't seem to be either of those things. This can only mean one thing, either they draw water from underground springs through the wells and that they have an actual drainage system. Manual collection of sewage doesn't seem viable for a city as complex as this either.' Lucius hypothesized from a single look.

He went silent for a while as he focused on each and every aspect of the scenery that was in front of him.

~sigh~

'There are four more sides that I've not seen. Making a judgment from just one view would be greatly wrong.' Lucius thought to himself.

He eventually fell asleep as time went by and woke up the next day to Kiana sitting at his side.

"Oh, you're finally awake!" She said with a smile.

Lucius couldn't tell why Kiana seemed to be more excited than usual today. While she usually showed him a rather jovial attitude to him, today seemed to be a bit extra.

Kiana saw the eyes of Lucius follow her and knew that he had questions for her. She had learned to understand his gestures in this past month and thus kept an eye on them. She could tell from his inquisitive gaze that he was getting impatient and wanted her to spill the beans.

"Oh, I forgot you don't have a reference for time right now," Kiana said as she lightly tapped her head.

"Today is the Gift Appraisal Day!" Kiana revealed.

Hearing the two words: Gift appraisal; peaked Lucius's interest by a few folds.

"I heard that this time there are a lot of children that have awakened their gifts early. Amount them there are even three babies! Can you imagine, three entire babies! This is the highest number of babies that have awakened their gift in years." Kiana said with excitement.

Lucius' eyes' looked confused as the information completely skewed his idea about the gifts that he had.

'Babies? Really? How they even handle them? Some of those gifts may straight kill the babies or their parents if an accident happened.' Lucius thought.

He had not expected that the gifts were awakened at such a young age. If anything, he would be worried rather than excited like Kiana.

"I can't wait to see what new and unique gifts we will see. If the babies have awakened their gifts, then they must be at least rare grade at the very least. Who knows, we may even be lucky and see an epic grade gift. AH! I'm so excited!" Kiana spoke in a very pepped-up voice.

Lucius instantly understood that the grades were probably related to the quality of the gifts and that the younger one awakened their gift, the higher grade they were likely to have. Lucius had actually heard a few words related to the grades when he heard his friends talking, but had not related them back then.

'No, they were talking about uncommon and common gifts. That could have meant something else too. Seems like I now know at least four ranks of grades; Common, uncommon, rare, and epic. Seeing this grading, there is likely to be better ones ahead.' Lucius guessed.

"Hmm… should I ask madam if you can come or not? Your injuries are already better than before and perhaps some fresh air would do you good." Kiana said with a finger placed at her chin.

'How are they gonna get me outside? Do they even have a wheelchair?' Lucius wondered.