9 years later it is now a week until Axel’s birthday. He is about to turn 17 and will be considered an adult. Now Axel looked vastly different as he was no longer a child. He now looked much more like his father since he had built up his muscles, his amber eyes were more piercing and filled with conviction. He waited as patiently as he could for the day to arrive, the ceremony was to be held a week after his birthday. It was necessary so that Nessir, who was five days younger than Axel could participate as well.

Over the years a lot of things changed however, just as many things stayed the same as well. Odeus was busy with work as usual and even came back from a dungeon recently. The twins were bright ten-year-olds now, they spent their days running around the mansion giving their attendants a good workout. They were oblivious to the danger of the main family but Axel preferred it that way. He was determined to end their tyranny as soon as possible so they could do no more harm to the family.

Apart from the twins and his father the other family members mostly kept to themselves. Axel only saw them on rare occasions and knew almost nothing about them. He only knew that Valrick and Nessir were his cousins and they were the same age as him; he knew that they too would be a part of the ceremony to activate their mana.

On the morning of the ceremony, Axel started preparing himself. He had Yohan cut his black curly hair that had grown out and he dressed in the formal clothing that his father had prepared for him. The suit included a white long sleeve shirt, a well-embellished Vest that buttoned up to the neck and a matching belt; it also came with breeches and black leather boots. The Vest had the family’s insignia embroidered on the upper left area.

That day Axel had his breakfast as usual and while all the mansion’s staff seemed nervous, he was not. To Axel, this event was something that he had been anticipating for a long time.

It was midday when the carriages of the guests finally arrived. 5 guards, 2 high magicians and Neveen exited from the carriages. The attendants opened the doors and the guests were led past the mansion guards and escorted into the grand hall. There, the elders as well as Odeus and some of the family members awaited them. Valrick and Nessir were already in the room but Axel took his time walking to get there. When he arrived they opened the doors to the grand hall, Axel entered and all eyes looked in his direction.

“Tsk, later for such an occasion. As expected nothing but failures here”, Neveen remarked.

Without looking at or even acknowledging Neveen, Axel walked past him and his group and joined his father’s side. He turned and faced forward at the crowd, he was looking at no one in particular but was seeing everyone that was in front of him. Being ignored irritated Neveen but he said nothing more.

One of the high magicians stepped forward. 

“Greetings to his Grace, Duke Odeus and the Blackstone family, may we begin the ceremony”, she said.

“Yes”, responded Odeus and the others,

“My name is Dia Boras, a High magician from the imperial court. I am here from the capital at the emperor’s command to oversee the ceremony. Who will be going first?”, she said.

Odeus looked to Axel but before he could say anything Axel suggested that Valrick and Nessir go before him since they had arrived on time. Everyone agreed and Nessir stepped forward.

“Nessir Blackstone, it is clear that you have never used magic to this date. Your mana has become stagnant and has hardened inside your body”, said Dia as she walked up to Nessir. “Place your right hand on this orb, let the goddess know you are ready to access the world system.

Axel was surprised. World system? Like the ones in RPG games?. Axel looked towards his father who avoided eye contact. Tsk, this father of mine is always hiding stuff from me… but I guess I kinda knew since weird text boxes appeared before me when I came into this world.

Nessir placed her hands on the orb. It began to shine and just as quickly stopped.

“Now say status, this is where all your information including skills are displayed. Here you will see at least one skill, the skill you were born with called your innate skill. Are you able to see it?”, Dia asked. 

“Y-yes I see it”, replied Nessir.

“As a Blackstone, you may be born with more than 1 skill, you can choose to simply call the name of the skills or demonstrate them”, injected Neveen.

“[Draconic Eyes] and [Blade Radiance]”, replied Nessir.

“Of course, you would inherit that Ocular skill but that other one that increases the effectiveness of sharp weapons is a fairly rare skill… it’s wasted here, unfortunately”, said Neveen.

“Thank you Nessir, you can return to your spot,” said Dia.

Nessir gave Neveen a sharp look as she returned to her mother’s side.

“Next”, said Dia.

Valrick walked up to and stood in front of Dia.

“Valrick Blackstone, it is clear that you have never used magic to this date. Your mana has become stagnant and has hardened inside your body. Place your right hand on this orb”, said Dia.

Valrick placed his hands on the orb and just like the last time it glowed and stopped.

“[Draconic Eyes], [Swift Steps] and [Mediation]”, said Valrick.

Valrick glanced at Neveen and saw that he looked uninterested. He returns to his father’s side.

“Axelleus please come forward”, said Dia.

Axel walked up and did as his cousins had done before him. He placed his right hand on the orb but it did not shine as it did before, instead, words came flooding into his mind and he instinctively said them out loud.

“Oh Goddess Sheria, great overseer. A young adventurer humbly beseeches thee, grant me divine guidance as I walk the path of a warrior. Authorize my access to the system that connects all life in this realm”.

The orb finally began to shine, a brilliant light came gushing forth filling the entire room. Moments later it receded and vanished. Axel finally saw the text boxes again but instead of the gray faded ones from before. These were blue and could be seen clearly.

{Generating information}

{Reincarnator detected}

{Assessing information from soul… integrating information with current body. Generating skills dwelling in the soul}

{Compilation complete}

{Attention. Skill [Creator] is attempting to combine special skill [Appraisal] and unique skill [Obfuscation]}

{Do you accept? Y/N}

Combining skills creates higher class skills right. Accept. Axel thought to himself.

{Unique skill [Inspector] generated}

Status, said Axel in his mind, and the large text box appeared.