When Tianna served the food, Usher couldn't help but stare at it, wondering how he was going to eat that.
It was a bowl full of what looked like white water with a few vegetables floating in it. Accompanying it was a black, hard bread.
Just tasting a bit of the 'soup' made Usher feel like vomiting.
That cooked water didn't even have salt and had a very strange smell that made him nauseous.
The bread was so hard that he felt his teeth hurt as he tried to chew it.
Usher felt he wouldn't be able to stand a week of this.
He had to get money, so he could eat something that wouldn't make him vomit.
Usher forced himself to swallow that food without vomiting and entered his father's room to visit him.
He felt nothing for the man since he was not his own. Even the old Usher could only feel recoil towards this man who had never given him a word of affection.
The man was in bed, completely wrapped up. His face was very pale and thin, with sunken cheeks.
His hair was black and short, it seemed that even in that state, he received a haircut every so often.
The man was unconscious but had a frown that made him look grumpy.
Usher approached the man and touched him.
[Corrupt Touch]
[+1 corruption]
Usher raised an eyebrow when he saw that his experiment had worked.
He could not only gain corruption points with women, but he could also do it with men.
The question was: what consequences would this bring.
So far he had speculated that his corruption ability had a more sexual tint.
He didn't want the man in the bed to have sexual ideas about him.
But maybe this was precisely the occasion to learn how his talent works.
Ricard spent most of the day asleep and even when he woke up he couldn't get out of bed.
Tianna entered the room and gave him a glance before ignoring him.
She woke Ricard up so he could eat something. Meanwhile, Usher pretended to give him a massage to go unnoticed the fact that he was using his ability over and over again.
When his ability accumulated the 5 points, a notification appeared in his vision.
[Create the massage skill for 5 corruption points?]
Usher raised an eyebrow but couldn't show any expression with Tianna in the same room.
Usher rejected the idea of creating such a skill and another window appeared in his vision.
[Upgrade corrupt touch?]
[Upgrade analysis?]
This possibility did excite him.
The two skills were very useful to him right now, but what he needed most at the moment was information.
With just a wish, Usher made his analysis skill level up.
[Analysis LV 2]
Wanting to test the skill and its improvement immediately, he used it on Ricard.
[Ricard]
Male
Age: 42 years old
Status: weak, drowsy, poisoned.
Talent: carpenter C
Physical: 0.4
Corruption: 3/100
Usher saw new information which was the talent, Ricard had a talent for carpentry and it came with a C rating, whatever that means.
But what really surprised him was the information that he was poisoned.
Usher's pupils dilated and he stared as Tianna fed the man to the last drop of that disgusting soup.
It can't be true!
His mind inevitably ran imagining an infinity of scenarios and the possibility that Tianna was poisoning Ricard was not low.
Although they were poor and had very few things. In reality, they had a little more than most.
They had their own house and that had its good value.
If his father died, all his assets would be left in Tianna's hands.
But Usher didn't want to create speculations and believe them himself.
He needed proof that she was poisoning him.
Maybe someone else poisoned him in the past and that was what put him in that bed.
Usher continued to use his ability while pretending to massage him.
Out of nowhere, a strong dizziness and urge to vomit hit him.
He gritted his teeth, grabbed the edge of the bed, and stopped using his ability.
He tried to use his ability again but the dizziness came back suddenly and a strong feeling of weakness hit him.
It seemed that the use of his abilities exhausted him physically and mentally.
Tianna frowned when she saw him weak and pale.
"We've run out of all the money we had saved." She said as she stood up. "We don't even have enough for tomorrow's breakfast."
"I don't have a job." Usher frowned at the annoyed tone in her voice.
"I heard the baker is looking for an assistant." She suggested as she closed the curtain behind her.
Usher was left thinking in the room.
He knew he had to find a job, but he knew that really no medieval job was going to suit him.
Not only did the commoners break their backs working, they did it for a miserable salary.
He counted on his talent being very helpful to him, but for now he had to resign himself to getting any job that appeared, if he wanted to eat the next day.
Usher left the house under the watchful eye of Tianna and her daughters. Lyanna in particular looked at him with evident disgust and annoyance.
Usher walked the village streets for a long time until he reached the bakery Tianna was talking about.
Unfortunately, he was not the only one who had the idea of taking the baker's assistant job.
There were several boys outside the bakery and even some older men, they seemed to be waiting for something.
The baker came out shortly after seeing so many people gathered outside his house.
"It seems the news that I'm looking for an assistant has already spread." The baker, a fat, short man, wiped his hands on his shirt and looked at them without any genuine interest. "I'll be taking you in one by one to get to know you better and decide who will get the job."
Usher stayed outside watching as one by one his competitors entered and left the bakery.
He had no advantage over them, he knew nothing about baking and he was not physically strong like some of them were.
When it was his turn, he sat in front of the baker with a single strategy.
"Whatever you think of paying the others to do the job, I can charge less."
He was desperate for the job.