After El woke up, El and Mitchell headed outside the classroom. Walking down the massive hallway, El began remembering how he got into the prestigious Royal Academy, despite being a commoner from a village in the northernmost part of Thardovia. Remembering how his baptism ceremony led to him studying in Royal Academy and becoming friends with the son of one of the four Dukes of the kingdom made him smile.

The two reached the gate of Royal Academy and got into a carriage. Even when leaving, everyone was staring at El, fascinated by his handsome looks. El didn’t show it in his face, but he was very shy and happy seeing many people talk about him. After getting into the carriage, El drew the curtains down and sighed.

“Haha”, Mitchell laughed when he heard El sigh. “Still not used to it?”

“Of course not. It has only been a day since I joined the academy. How do you expect me to get used to it so soon?”

“Well, it’s not like you have been drawing attention since yesterday. You were much more popular in Strongfield. So, I thought you were already used to it.” Mitchell says to El while laughing.

El just stares at Mitchell and remembers the commotion Mitchell’s sister saw when she saw him at the baptism ceremony.

Two years ago, 16 years old, El had visited the city of Strongfield for his baptism. He stood out a lot because of his face, so he hid himself as much as he could, but that didn’t last long. While hiding, he had covered his face so when he bumped into Mitchell’s sister, Rira, her knights thought he was an assassin.

So they attacked him. El dodged all the attacks while trying to clear the misunderstanding. No matter what he said, the knights didn’t listen to him. He dodged all the attacks from three knights assigned to protect the daughter of a Duke which made him look more suspicious. Although he might actually be an assassin, Rira was impressed by El’s agility.

El was tired of dodging the attacks and the matter was only getting worse, so he took his mask off, which left everyone stunned. The knights got surprised with how good he looked and all the spectators started talking about his face. Many were asking if he was a prince or a son of some high-ranking noble.

Rira dashed in front of the knights and held El’s hand.

“Marry me”, Rira shouted at El while staring at him.

“Eh!”, El was surprised.

The knights pulled Rira back.

“Young Miss, please be careful.”, one knight warned Rira.

Rira argued with the knights for not letting her talk to El. While Rira and the knights were busy arguing, El slipped away.

El ran as fast as he could to the church, where he was welcomed by a priestess of the church. He was escorted to the courtyard where all the 16 years old were gathered for their baptism.

The courtyard was huge, with an altar at the center of the courtyard. The altar had an orb on top of it which was used for the baptism. After some time, the head priestess of the church came forward.

“I welcome you all to the Strongfield Church. As you all have reached 16 today, you will be baptized and will receive blessings from the Supreme deity and one of the Eight higher deities. When your name is called, come onto the altar and place your hands on the orb. The orb will light up in distinct color depending on the deity that blesses you. Blessing of Supreme deity are only received by those who have mana heart. The level of blessing decides the quality of the mana in your mana heart. When blessed by the supreme deity, the orb will emit white light in the beginning before turning into the light of other gods. Blue light means blessing from Goddess Oqone, Yellow light means blessing from Goddess Ootl, Light Green light means blessing from Goddess Byglena, Crimson light means blessing from God Uglios, Gold light means blessing from God Yrysus, Red light means blessing from God Savione, Black light means blessing from God Erzotz and Dark Green light means blessing from God Kynas. Now let’s move onto the baptism ceremony.”

After the speech, the heads priestess went to her seat, and another priest took over. Everyone in the courtyard went to the altar one by one.

After waiting for over 3 hours, finally El’s name was called out. El stood up and headed towards the altar. As he had covered his face after running away from Rira and the knights, he attracted little attention. He put his hand on the orb. A blinding white light enveloped the entire courtyard. It was so bright that even the priests and the head priestess were surprised. The blinding white light turned dark, eventually becoming a black light.

“No way.”, the head priestess said in surprise. “This is the first time a white light that bright turned into black color. To be blessed with the highest level of mana heart and the power of God of death, this is the first.”

El’s baptism didn’t end there. The black light then turned into a crimson light. Everyone in the courtyard felt a shiver down their spine. No one except for the priest knew the reason.

The priests started talking among themselves. Even though everyone receives blessing from only one of the Eight higher deities, El received blessings from two of the Eight Higher Deities. But the number of deities blessing El wasn’t the bigger problem. The bigger problem was the combination of deities that blessed him. God of War Uglios and God of Death Erzotz were the two gods that blessed Alvon, the first demon king.

The head priestess went to El.

“Please visit my office after the baptism ceremony.”, Head priestess went back to her seat after whispering that to El.

After some time, Rira Gibard was asked to head to the altar. She stood up from her seat and went to the altar. She put her hands on the orb. The orb emitted a bright white light, although it was less bright than El’s. The light then turned into light green, representing the blessing of Byglena. She then returned to her seat and the baptism ceremony continued.

After a few hours, the baptism ceremony completed. El, as requested by head priestess, headed to her office. A priest was waiting for him by the office. The priest guided El to the office. After El entered the office, he was welcomed by the head priestess.

“Welcome, El. Sorry to call you here after such a long day.”

“No, it’s okay.”, El replied.

“I called you here because of the blessings you received today and to give you your status card personally.”, Head priestess explained.

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Head priestess.”

“Ah, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Napifal Ridim, a 6th circle healer. And here take your status card.”, Napifal said as she handed El his status card.

“The status card includes basic information visible to everyone like name, level, class etc. and some hidden information only visible to you. It is also required to travel between kingdoms and to attend Royal Academy and Knights Academy. Usually, its distributed at the front desk of the church but I had something to discuss you about. You probably already know, but Erzotz and Uglios were the gods that blessed the Demon King Alvon. Although the apostles wrote Alvon didn’t want world domination when he died, the demons have been attacking other races for over two thousand years. Because of which, many have hated the demon race. I just want to warn you to not use powers of both gods at the same time and never reveal the gods who blessed you to anyone unless absolutely necessary.”

“Thanks, I will keep that in mind.”

“Then I wish you all the best for your journey ahead.”

“Thank you.”

El left the church and headed to the leisure district of Strongfield. He searched for a pleasant inn to stay overnight. Most of the inns were full already because of the baptism ceremony, so he had a hard time finding one that had empty rooms left.

It was getting dark, but El still couldn’t find an inn. Just when he gave up and was heading towards the city park, Rira’s knights showed up in front of him. El turned around and was about to run.

“Wait, don’t go.”, a knight shouted.