[Ding! You have obtained a new title: Marked by Fate.]
[Ding! You have unlocked a unique talent: Infinite Luck.]
Luke sat up and read the notifications again. Infinite luck? What the hell? Then his eyes went wide in shock as he read the description.
[Unique Talent: Infinite Luck - Generate one Luck Point each day.]
Luke held his breath as he opened his status panel to check his attributes.
[Name: Luke Ashford]
[Age: 18]
[Class: Unawakened]
[Physical Strength: 3]
[Agility: 4]
[Stamina: 3]
[Mental Strength: 3]
[Mental Acquity: 5]
[Mental Resilience: 5]
[Physical Defense: 0]
[Magical Defense: 0]
[Soul Defense: 22]
[Soul Strength: 25]
[Luck: 1]
His pathetic below average stats popped up. Everything was shit except for his soul defense and soul strength which he assumed has something to do with his transmigration. His eyes scanned over everything before stopping at the final line.
Luck. That attribute definitely hadn’t been there before. He had checked this panel often enough during the past three weeks to know every depressing number by heart.
Luke focused on it, and a short explanation appeared.
[Luck: Influences the probability of favorable outcomes.]
He looked back at his talent’s description. One point every day. Did that mean his luck would keep increasing without him having to do anything? While other people dragged themselves through training to improve their attributes, he could apparently become luckier by making it to tomorrow.
Could it help him awaken? Give him a rare class? Put a legendary treasure somewhere he could conveniently trip over it?
"Fuck ya! I knew it!" Luke’s face went from ugly crying to shit eating grin in a single second.
He hurriedly lowered his head when the student beside him turned to stare, but his shoulders were already shaking with laughter. The guy probably thought failing to awaken had finally broken him, and Luke was far too happy to care.
He was a transmigrator, damn it! How could he fail?!
One point might not amount to much, but a year would give him three hundred and sixty-five. What the hell would his life look like with that much luck?
Would he find rare treasures just walking down the street? Meet some powerful old man who decided to take him as a disciple because he happened to like his face?
Luke had no idea how much difference a single point made, but if the attribute kept increasing, surely finding a way to awaken would eventually become possible.
He glanced at his class again, and the word "Unawakened" no longer bothered him quite as much. Everyone had been very clear that this was his last chance, but presumably those rules hadn’t accounted for someone becoming luckier every day. He could afford to wait a little longer if it meant getting something better in the end.
"Fuck yeah," he whispered, unable to stop himself from grinning. The student beside him shifted his chair a little farther away. Luke shrugged and continued.
Before he could start planning what to do with his inevitable legendary class, he remembered the other notification. He had also received a title, and if the talent was this good, perhaps that would give him something useful too. Luke opened it eagerly.
[Title: Marked by Fate]
[Fate has taken an unusual interest in you. You bear both its blessing and its curse, with no promise of which awaits you next. Your presence bends the odds, drawing extraordinary fortune and misfortune alike.]
Luke’s face changed a little, but in the end he decided not to think too much about it. This was probably just a dummy title because of his unique talent. It shouldn’t matter too much. What mattered was his special talent.
With this special talent, his good days were just around the corner! He was going to awaken and get a class no matter what and finally use actual magic! With these infinite luck points, even becoming overpowered was not out of his reach!
He would achieve the pinnacle of power and become an existence that even dragons had to think twice about provoking.
Luke continued grinning and daydreaming while the rest of the awakening ceremony passed in a blur. Soon it was time to head home.
A sleek black zoom car was waiting for him as usual at the academy gates, hovering a few inches above the road. Luke was still getting used to seeing the things. They looked enough like ordinary cars until one casually rose into the air and flew over a traffic jam, which would have saved him a considerable amount of swearing in his previous life.
The driver stepped out as he approached and opened the rear door. "Welcome back, young master. How did the ceremony go?"
"I failed," Luke replied, climbing inside with a grin.
He settled into the soft leather seat while the driver closed the door with a shocked expression on his face. Did the young master actually fail? Then why did he look so happy?
A moment later, the car lifted smoothly into the air, carrying them home. Unable to wait, Luke opened his talent window again. His new luck attribute was still there with that single point in luck.
Soon they arrived at the family estate. The car descended beyond the gates and followed the long driveway toward the mansion, passing rows of neatly trimmed trees. Luke closed his panel and looked up as the enormous building came into view.
The Ashford mansion looked more like a palace than a family home. Its polished white stone gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, with tall columns framing the entrance and broad balconies overlooking the gardens.
Even after three weeks, Luke still found it difficult to believe he lived here. The place had belonged to the Ashfords for generations, and his father had inherited it along with his position as head of the family.
"Young master..." Emma hurried toward him as he stepped out of the car, her gaze searching his face. She was his personal maid and one of the few people the previous Luke trusted.
She had always stood by him through all of the ups and downs and her attitude never changed even when Luke’s status had changed. More importantly, she was insanely beautiful.
"How did it go?" she asked, clasping her hands in front of her apron.
Luke gave her a big smile. "Failed again, unfortunately."
Emma’s face fell, and she glanced toward the open doors before looking back at him. "Your grandfather has asked everyone to gather in the meeting room. Your father and uncles are already there."
Luke’s smile weakened. "Everyone? What, did they prepare a consolation party?"
"The Blackthorn family is here too, young master." She hesitated before adding, "Lady Charlotte came with them."
That wiped the rest of the smile off his face. Charlotte Blackthorn was his fiancee, a fact he still occasionally found difficult to believe. In his previous life, he had struggled to get a second date. Here, someone had apparently arranged his marriage before he was old enough to have an opinion.
The original Luke certainly hadn’t objected once he grew older. Charlotte was stunningly beautiful, talented, and from a family every bit as influential as the Ashfords. She had awakened a B rank Fire Mage class on her first attempt, which made their engagement look increasingly awkward.
"Let me guess," Luke said. "They’re not here to ask how the ceremony went."
Emma lowered her voice. "I heard Lord Blackthorn telling your father that there was no reason to delay the discussion any longer."
Luke looked past her into the entrance hall. He had inherited enough memories of Charlotte’s unanswered messages and canceled visits to work out what discussion that would be. Apparently, his second failure had finally given her family the excuse they were waiting for.
"They want to break the engagement."
Emma nodded reluctantly. "I’m sorry, young master."
Luke let out a breath and straightened his jacket. He couldn’t honestly say he was heartbroken over a woman he had never personally spoken to. But having both families waiting inside to explain why he was no longer good enough for her sounded exhausting. They could at least have let him eat first.
"All right," he said. "Let’s get this over with."