CHAPTER 56: THE IMMORTALS [3]

"I’d like to propose a marriage agreement."

I blinked.

He finished the sentence without pause.

"Between you and my sister, Alicia Rowan."

"....what?"

"There is nothing strange in this at all. You were promised to the Croft family’s daughter Monica, but due to your excommunication, that arrangement has been deemed invalid. Alicia also has been promised to none. Since, it’s just a proposal for now, I would like you to think about it for a while.", Cedric said casually, as if this matter didn’t need much of his attention, and stood up to leave.

"Wait", I insisted, as he was leaving.

Alicia Rowan is the only daughter of the Rowan family, with three elder brothers.

House Rowan is not something run of the mill family, that it would bow it’s head to even the Royal Family.

That’s the extent of their power.

Yet, why would Cedric, Alicia’s elder brother propose her marriage with someone like me, with no prospects, no family to back, and no actual advantage to gain from?

It would have been understandable if this marriage was a political move, but I have already been excommunicated from my family.

Which essentially means that I am a commoner, like any other.

Anyway, even if the offer seems dangerous at first, having Alicia as wife have many perks in and of itself.

You might think I am going to decline the offer, in fear of this Cedric or some unknown factors causing him to give this proposal, but I am not that dumb to decline such a golden opportunity.

So, my answer would have been naturally yes, if and only if I knew the reason, a logical one at that.

Now, should I ask him about it?

Even if I ask, and he gives me an answer, the credibility of it would still be questionable.

"What is it?", Cedric asked as I stopped him before he left.

"It’s nothing, I will make sure to think about it.", I replied, in a harsh tone, as if declining his very presence.

He smiled and waved at me, as he left the forest.

"Haaaah....."

I heaved a sigh as it was totally nerve wrecking to deal with such an individual.

"That man is crazy!", Dulhard exclaimed .

"Are you going to accept?", he asked looking at my direction.

"...First, we will have to gather information."

"Woah, that’s surprising. I was sure that you would decline.", he said while preparing to leave himself.

Till the point I have read the story, there was no mention of such a marriage proposal with Alicia of anyone.

Heck, her family circumstances were not mentioned much too.

So, this is a new information, even for me.

Now that it has come to this, I have to read further into the novel.

But, before that, let’s gather some information about Alicia Rowan and her family.

"Dulhard, I have a task for you."

***

’Status open.’

[Name: Dorian Valen]

Age: 16

Race: Human

Alignment: ????????????

Potential: Villain

Story Points: 150 (+50 for defeating a THRALL +100 for completing main task)

▶ Stats (Click to expand)

▶ Skills (Click to expand)

▶ Shop (Click to open)

▶ Tasks (0 Main Task Available)

▶ Files (1 file)

[Stats - Dorian Valen]

Strength: 15

Agility: 50

Endurance: 17

Intelligence: 10

Charisma: 9

Willpower: 5

Luck: 4

[Skills - Dorian Valen]

Basic Swordsmanship Level 4 [+1]

Basic Magic Theory Level 3

Crimson Pact Arts Level 2

*****Temporary******Heavenly Art Of Mana Level 0

I sat at the firepit, looking at my slightly improved stats and skill level, compared to how I was in the past.

I have 150 story points, which I can use in the shop section.

So let’s explore that a bit.

I clicked on the shop menu, as the holographic panel, flickered slightly, a kind of buffering, and the shop section was open.

The shop interface flickered into place. Soft, glowing text hovered in the air in front of me, scrolling down slowly with categories and descriptions.

[Story Point Shop — Welcome, Dorian Valen]

Current Balance: 150 Points

▶ Skills

▶ Items

▶ Titles

▶ Knowledge Fragments

▶ Mystery Purchases (Randomized)

▶ System Enhancements

I tapped on Skills first.

---

[Skill Shop]

Shadowstep (Active, 40 SP)

Allows instantaneous movement within 5 meters. Requires concentration and clear line of sight.

Cool-down: 30 seconds.

Advanced Swordsmanship (Passive, 60 SP)

Increases precision, reaction time, and muscle memory for sword-based combat.

Unseen Veil (Passive, 50 SP)

Reduces detection by magical and physical means. Best used for infiltration and tracking.

Blood Bind (Active, 75 SP)

Bind an enemy using your own blood, preventing movement for 3 seconds. Sacrifices a small amount of HP.

---

I frowned.

None of these were game-changing alone. I could easily spend all 150 story points and still be underwhelming if I chose poorly. Besides, most of these were clearly beginner-tier system offerings.

I tapped back and checked Items.

---

[Item Shop]

Specter Ward Cloak (Temporary, 70 SP)

A light black cloak that reduces aggro from ghost-type magical beasts. Fades after 7 days.

Ether Salve x3 (30 SP)

A healing salve for mana-related exhaustion. Restores 50% mana over time.

Insight Tincture (80 SP)

Temporarily boosts Intelligence stat by 5 for 10 minutes. One-time use.

Memory Ink (60 SP)

Allows you to write knowledge permanently into your memory, even from unknown languages or encrypted texts.

---

Hmm.

Interesting, but still not what I needed. The Specter Ward Cloak was too situational, and frankly, I didn’t intend on meeting ghost-types again unless I had to.

Memory Ink stood out though. If I was going to dig into House Rowan and Alicia’s background, that might come in handy.

I bookmarked it and returned.

The remaining four were locked for some reason, so I didn’t bother looking at them.

For now, my current missions are rescuing Alune, the mermaid kingdom, and find out about Alicia Rowan and her family’s situation which led to this condition.

I can save up the story points for future uses, but there are things I need for levelling up, so it’s a necessary purchase.

And thus, I bought ShadowStep and Unseen Veil, costing me 40 and 50 story points respectively, summing up to 90 SP.

Let’s try it out then.

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Next Chapter - The Joint Combat Meet : Paradise

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