Chapter 1: The Unlucky Soul!

The kingdom's border has been turbulent for years, with lords frequently meeting danger and losing their lives.

To avoid border lords leaving vacancies, causing border lands to be stolen by alien races and demons.

Every three years, the kingdom selects several noble second sons to confer titles and grant them border territories to consolidate border security.

……

Griffin Kingdom, Silver Shield City.

The triennial Second Son Challenge Tournament is underway.

Noble lords, Ladies, and Young Ladies attended in splendid, glittering attire.

Commoners and serfs, clad in rags, also swarmed in.

Gervas, feeling the envious gazes of the commoners and serfs from afar, could not help but turn his gaze toward the young masters of the great nobles seated higher up, whose clothes were even more dazzling.

Some are born in Rome, while others are born as cattle and horses.

Though both sit on the noble platform, he occupies the lowest position.

In this world, it is not only commoners who must face rigid hierarchies.

Even among nobles, there are three classes and nine grades.

First class: the royal family, Dukes, and Hou Jue; second class: Earls and Viscounts; third class: Barons and Knights.

Gervas comes from the Gale Baron family, the so-called minor noble family.

Minor noble families hold little land and have shallow foundations; aside from the eldest son who is the heir, the lives of second sons are no better than those of ordinary commoners.

Feeding horses, shoveling manure, carrying water, chopping wood—Gervas, having transmigrated for over half a year, has already become a pro at all of it.

The most tragic part is that on their coming-of-age day, minor noble second sons are kicked out of their families to fend for themselves.

And right now, Gervas is only one month away from turning seventeen and coming of age!

"Gervas? The second son of the Gale family?" The voice beside him pulled Gervas's thoughts back.

The caller was the Civil Administrator of Silver Shield City.

Although the Civil Administrator holds only an honorary title and possesses no territory.

Yet, as the Civil Administrator of Silver Shield City, one of the largest cities in the Southern Region, his status is definitely above that of minor nobles.

"My lord Civil Administrator, I am Gervas. What do you need?"

The Civil Administrator revealed a warm smile. "Congratulations, second son of the Gale family. You've hit the jackpot. After unanimous deliberation by the great nobles, to demonstrate the fairness and justice of this year's challenge tournament, it has been decided to voluntarily cede the final title-conferral slot of this year to the second sons of minor nobles!"

"And you, through the lottery, have luckily obtained this rare opportunity!"

"My lord Civil Administrator, such a good opportunity is truly beyond my fortune to accept. Why not give it to someone else?" Looking at the temporary arena enclosed by wooden fences in the distance, Gervas's mouth twitched.

Inside the arena, a black bear, two and a half meters long and one and a half meters tall, roared continuously, drooling with foul-smelling saliva.

Even more strangely, black mist constantly rose from its body.

This is the effect of erosion by dark death qi.

Therefore, this is a dark creature.

Compared to this dark creature eroding the black bear,

things like goblins and half-orcs are weaklings.

The latter, as long as one's strength is sufficient, are relatively easy to kill.

But the former, unless you pierce its incredibly hard skull and crush its brain matter, even if you rip open its belly, it will have no effect whatsoever.

This is why, even though this is the final title-conferral slot of the current tournament, the great nobles are still handing the opportunity over.

The opponent is simply too powerful; even the second sons of great nobles, who boast of their extraordinary strength, lack confidence in winning.

And yet, to ensure the strictness of the selection, the title-conferral challenge cannot be left vacant.

Either the challenger must fail to trigger a new round of challenges, or it is considered an automatic forfeiture of this title-conferral slot.

Such a precious slot is obviously something the great nobles are unwilling to let go of.

The countermeasure they came up with was to pick a unlucky soul to deal with this round of the eroding black bear.

Once the unlucky soul is defeated, they can redraw opponents and restart the contest for the slot.

As for why this unlucky soul landed so precisely on Gervas's head,

one must mention that ten minutes ago, when several guards announced this matter, each second son pulled silver and copper coins from their pockets to stuff into the guards' hands.

Only Gervas, upon patting his pocket, suddenly realized, "Good heavens, my pocket is cleaner than my face!!"

In the moment of the guards and Gervas staring at each other, Gervas knew: the unlucky soul had been born!

【Ding! Daily Intelligence System loaded successfully. System is binding...】

【Daily Intelligence System loading complete. Latest intelligence has refreshed...】

【Intelligence One: The big bear in the arena was captured half a month ago. Due to a mistake by the Royal Hunting Team during the capture, they were forced to use magic scrolls of Flash and Concussion to deal with it. Therefore, this eroding black bear has almost lost its sight and hearing, retaining only its sense of smell. However, to avoid taking responsibility, the hunting team concealed this matter.】

【Intelligence Two: Hidden inside a large tree three hundred meters south along Kent Street in the southern district of Silver Shield City is a stash of stolen money worth ten gold coins. This was hidden by a servant in Viscount Potter's manor. However, the servant's actions were quickly exposed, and he was accidentally killed during a fierce resistance, causing the stolen money to be lost for several years.】

【Intelligence Three: Outside Maple Town, thirty li east of Saint Bit City, there is a maple forest. A precious Red Spirit Fruit tree is about to mature. The fruit it bears can instantly strengthen physical constitution and Qi meridians. If no one picks it within twelve hours, the Red Spirit Fruit will fall to the ground on its own, losing its medicinal properties.】

【Intelligence Four: After the challenge ends, the wife of the Civil Administrator of Silver Shield City will go to Viscount Cato's manor by the city to commit adultery. She told the Civil Administrator of Saint Bit City that she was going to the countryside with other nobles for a trip!】

【Intelligence Five: Caroline, the beautiful and charming maid beside Lady Mary, possesses a thin ancient bloodline of Luck. Legend says this bloodline is favored by the God of Luck. As long as she is kept by one's side, any action will receive a Luck attribute bonus!】

【Ding! Daily Intelligence broadcast complete.】

"This... my system has finally awakened?" Gervas felt an urge to burst into tears.

Half a year. Do you know how I've spent this half year?

"Are you sure you won't go, second son of the Gale family?!" The Civil Administrator's smile vanished, replaced by a cold, expressionless face.

Gervas gave a pitying look at the guy with a green pasture on his head, took a deep breath, and said, "My lord Civil Administrator, I can participate in the contest, but I need compensation! Dark death qi can infect the body. If I get contaminated, lying in bed for a few months would be the lightest outcome. So I need money for treatment just in case!"

"Twenty silver coins!" The Civil Administrator's eyes fixed tightly on Gervas.

"Ten gold coins! Not a single copper coin less, or I won't step onto the field. If I have no money for treatment, I'll die anyway, and it will be a painful death..."

"One gold coin, boy. If you refuse again, I won't mind having the guards 'escort' you onto the stage..."

"Deal, but I need to get the money before I go on stage!" Interrupting the civil official's words, Gervas agreed without hesitation.

The civil official paused, then looked at the several guards beside him.

The guards, their faces grim, pulled out the money bags containing bribes from their chests.

After picking and choosing, there were only sixty or seventy silver coins.

"That's not enough for a hundred!" Gervas shook his head firmly.

The civil official glared at the several guards.

The guards felt worse than if their own fathers had died; they could only painfully make up the remaining silver coins from their own pockets.