The Dawn of the New World

'All I need to know is how to control each mark!'

The moment his thoughts reached this point the pages started flipping to the desired section.

'Blessings,' it read in big, bold letters at the top with tones of information underneath.

But the more Hao Xuan read the deeper his frown became because it was a LOT more complicated than what he initially expected.

The blessings were the abilities or 'gifts' as the book put it, that one got from each individual mark.

Each blessing corresponded to a specific mark and was called as such. Some of the more common lesser blessings were shared across all nine marks with minor differences between them like the blessings of sight, the blessings of minor protection, the blessings of movement, etc.

For example, the Blessing of Sight that was received from the mark of the 'Deep' would allow the user to see underwater.

But the Blessing of Sight from the Void Mother would bestow upon the user the ability to see in the darkness without any limits.

And then there were blessings that were exclusive to each mark and could not be given by either any of the others or a select few.

For example, there was a blessing used as a sample called 'Blessing of Bewitchment' that would make the user extremely charming in the eyes of others, allowing them to enchant or delight anyone they wished with little to no effort.

That being said, these were only the most basic ones listed within the book with no information on how to get more.

After that the subject swiftly shifted to the price or 'cost' of each blessing but even that was unique to each individual and their mark, and could not be used as a metric across the board.

Taking the cost of many of the lesser blessings as an example, the user could pay with their own blood, soul, or internal energy.

But the better a blessing was the more it would cost to activate and at some point, it would outweigh the benefits of calling upon them with one's own energy. In such instances, the user could also sacrifice the blood and energies of others if they so desired.

'I guess I know what most of the people here would be doing. No wonder they have such a bad reputation, they have to pay for everything with blood,' Hao Xuan initially believed but the passage right after that made him think otherwise.

It said that many of the 'Greater' and most of the 'Superior' blessings had very specific requirements.

Once again it showed a few other blessings as an example like the 'Blessing of Opulence' that asked for one's own offspring as a sacrifice to get riches and fortune.

There was another called the 'Blessing of Foresight' that allowed the user to glimpse into their future but asked for their ability to see in exchange until that future came true.

Meaning if one wanted to use this blessing and see one week into the future, after it was granted they would not be able to see for one whole week without exceptions.

These costs would be adjusted based on a person's rank since the higher ranked an individual was the less they would have to pay.

Hao Xuan let out a deep breath and leaned back into the chair to digest all that information.

'I have marks of each of the nine but I am only the champion of one. I can't test what is the rank of the other marks but it should not be higher than 'Servant' which is the lowest. That doesn't mean it's bad, just that I will only have to pay more to get the same blessings...at least I still have a chance to get them.'

He looked over at Lord Jyothi who seemed to be wrapping things up already, and decided to ask him for some more information.

"Lord Jyothi, I came across a few explanations about the blessings and their requirements but there is no list. How can I know all the blessings that I am eligible to get?"

He answered without turning around, "Unfortunately there is no official 'list' or registry that one can access. Most of the people will do one of two things. Either they blindly make the sacrifice to the marks and ask for a blessing that would be helpful in their current situation and if there are any, the mark will give you the option to choose one."

"But the other way that most of the people chose to go with, is to try and get their hands on a list of known blessings from someone within the same house as them. This not only gives you a much better idea of what to expect but also gives a roundabout figure of the cost of the blessing, although that will be different based on the level of your own mark."

Hao Xuan nodded, "So as a champion I should have to pay the least amount for each blessing, right?"

"No, not at all," he chuckled.