August was scared. He couldn’t see, his vision obstructed by pure black. He was unsure of what was happening, and suddenly he felt as if the world were pressing down on him. With a shock, he realized what it was he was feeling. His father was moving his mana!
But why? He thought to himself. Why is he… The sprite? The Sprite!
August’s fears quickly transitioned to abject horror as the realization dawned on him, he could die! Right here and now he summoned a being that could kill even fully grown adults, and being startled by his sudden blindness, he was certain his will had slipped. The sprite he summoned while harmless when tethered, would react violently to the rebound without a leash. He was told repeatedly about how dangerous this was, and how deadly it had the potential to be.
But why was he unharmed? Surely it had been long enough at this point for the sprite to cross the small distance between them. Why was he still alive?
“The sprite dissipated its’ form august.” His father said, causing the young boy to jump.
“Dad, why can’t I see?” August asked, finally finding it in himself to speak again, if a bit shakily.
“I am not sure, but it wasn’t the sprite.” Duke Castellane replied, “Describe to me what happened from the moment the sprite came forward.”
“I was… I was excited. I was going to meet a new Summon, and I wanted to play with it so much… but when it floated into the circle… it just all went black.” August said, trying (and failing) to control the anxiety in his voice. “Is this forever? Will I be – Wait I see something.”
“What do you mean? Explain August, what do you see?” The duke replied, his voice strong and confident, lending strength to the frightened boy.
“It says… System Starting?” he told his father, “But why is my system starting? I thought I had to do the confirmation first.”
“I am not sure, but I have a few ideas. It’s odd though, integration is usually a quick process – that is, the system starting. Typically, during the confirmation you receive the start-up either through a family member, a priest, or in some cases local leadership if neither of the two is present. I’ve heard that in the north, ‘masters’ can initialize the system of ‘disciples’, but their system is different from ours. Nothing about a system starting on its’ own.” The duke answered.
“It changed. Now it says, ‘No key detected, searching…’ then ‘No mark detected… searching’ and it just keeps repeating that it isn’t detecting anything.” August read aloud the prompts only he could see. “Hold on, it just changed again. ‘Title detected, system starting due to ‘Lwfsi Fhmnjajrjsy”
Confusion spread on Duke Castellane’s face as towards the end of August's statement, the words no longer matched August’s mouth. In fact, the language did not match any language the duke had ever heard. Beyond that, when he said them, the duke felt as if his head were in an echo chamber, rebounding every single sound he had ever heard. The pain was intense but momentary, relief flooding him the moment August stopped speaking.
Shaking his head, the duke looked toward his son curiously. With consternation written plainly on his face, he moved to stand directly in front of the boy.
“August, listen to me. I want you to focus on your will. Can you do that for me?” Duke Castellane asked.
“Yes sir,” August said, while grasping at the same feeling he had when he made friends with summoned creatures. “What do I do now?”
“Will the prompts in front of you closed, imagine that you were moving your will like you do when you summon beings and pour mana into runes, but instead of targeting the runes, swipe the screens in front of you away with your will,” he answered, grabbing hold of the boys’ shoulders.
As he watched his son, he saw the moment the boy succeeded. His desperate visage and aimless eyes finally focused, seeing their father’s face. What the boy found there was much-needed safety and comfort. As he fought back tears, the boy asked his father “What did I do wrong?”
Duke Castellane pulled August in for a fierce hug, whispering that he did nothing wrong and that everything would be okay. August, finally cracking in his father’s embrace, wept. He stood there in his father’s arms, letting out the terror and despair that had gripped him.
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After a bit of time had passed, Duke Castellane felt his son finally relax. While no stranger to desperate affairs and traumatic events, he was a plebian when it came to watching his child suffer. Such a despicable sense of hopelessness and loss of control had not plagued him in years, possibly even decades. All the duke could do was thank the Gods for his son’s safety.
Pulling away from August, the duke looked his son over. While he was certain nothing had happened to the boy, he couldn’t stop himself from double and triple-checking. Finally, releasing a long-held breath, he too relaxed. He had many questions, and some ideas as to what happened, but that would need to wait.
“Alright, Augie, I want you to go and meditate for a bit. I need to talk to your mother and let her know everything is ok. When I moved my mana earlier, I am certain the whole mansion felt it. You, you need to rest and center yourself.” The duke motioned the boy to a corner of the room, watching as August complied. The young heir moved slowly, his exhaustion evident with each step.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
As August sat down, the duke tugged at the core of his being, pulling strands of mana from the rotating prismatic core at the center of his being. Weaving them together in well-practiced patterns, the duke summoned forth his long-time partner and ally, Ketsuhl.
The azure gem dangling from his right ear bloomed into dazzling radiance, its physical form dissipating and the brilliant stars that replaced it following the intricate weavings of mana manifested from the duke’s core. Slowly, the lights turned from iridescent azure beauty back into a physical state, the shape became more identifiable with every moment. At first two long blue feathers formed, slowly snaking their way to a brilliant kaleidoscopic body, then framing the top of the colorful menagerie in azure feathers. Slowly the form filled out azure wings and head, the edges of the feathers and the beak both made from what seemed to be a fractured rainbow given physical manifestation. Lastly, the eyes of an ancient serpent came into existence, crowning the azure head, and displaying primordial wisdom with the weight of eons behind them.
“As flashy as ever, Ketsuhl.” The duke commented, his voice showing the banality of a scene long common to him.
“Can you blame me, Leon?” Ketsuhl replied, “After all, it’sss been ssso long sssince I wasss brought out.”
Though the flamboyant bird in front of the duke had no mouth or vocal cords to speak with, it was still able to communicate by lacing its’ thought with mana and will. This was a standard ability of most Summoned entities. The affectation, however… That was pure Ketsuhl.
“We have been cooped up in here less than a day, bird brain.” The duke grumbled; exasperation paired with amusement evident in his tone. “And for the love of the gods, stop with the serpent sounds. Your form has long since shifted and matured.”
“Sssomeone isss grumpy today. All that assside, I imagine you would like me to let Ssstar know that we aren’t under attack before she tearsss the houssse down?” The cheeky bird quipped, obviously wanting no treats today.
“Please do, and have her meet me in the study when she gets the chance. I am going to speak with August about what happened here, then I will meet with her.” Leon glanced again at his son; his concern still evident in his visage.
With a salute carried forth on an azure wing, the edge of the feathers dancing in rainbow brilliance, the bird flew off, phasing through the walls of the mansion without so much as a sound. Watching the bird fly away, he felt the tether of mana still connecting them across all space, no matter the distance. A partner is sacred, and a trivial thing like distance would never be able to hamper their connection.
Looking back over to his son, he thought about how he should proceed. The system showing up this way is unheard of. The common doctrine of the church states that as a gift from the gods, the system can only be accessed with their help. This would be through a priest, or someone who had already received the blessing of the system. While he wasn’t an expert on these kinds of matters, he was the direct heir to the head of an ancient noble house. Surely, if there was a way to access the system before the confirmation age of the child, he would know… right?
What was more, when speaking earlier, the system shrouded something his son had said. This, however, was something he was aware of. While being rare, and of course unheard of in someone so young, this was a known quantity. The system would hide the information on specific aspects of itself, the world, and others if needed. This was usually in the case of highly ranked sovereignty classes, system-bound contracts, or what Leon suspected was the reason in this instance – feats.
Feats were, in a word, esoteric. The term came about as a way to refer to a portion of the system gained through extraordinary means. These ‘feats’ were a set of criteria met in a specific way, by a singular individual. Through means of luck, strength, wisdom, or charm, these feats were only possible to achieve with seemingly impossible difficulty. What was more, these feats could only be gained by an individual. While resources can be provided by someone who knows the specifics of the feat, the difficulty is something only the individual can overcome.
He had suspected that gaining a title before gaining access to the system might be a feat, but he was almost certain now. The title he should have received for this achievement – summoning a sprite from each elemental plane – should have been Fairy Lord.
This would grant him stat points as well as increased affinity with fairies and spirits, as well as all elemental aspects. However, no amount of affinity can account for a fairy, even a sprite, bowing to a mortal. If it had been his will, or the confines of a class, then maybe, but none of that was applicable here. The only possibility that would make sense would be a feat.
This left Leon in a tough spot, as he does not have any feats of his own. This prevented him from speaking with August about the situation or helping guide him through it. Other parts of the initialization confused him. Keys? Marks? What do these terms have to do with system initialization?
Putting that aside for the moment, Leon needed to plan. With today being August’s confirmation ceremony, there were going to be many people in attendance. If he allows his son to attend the confirmation, and people discover he has gained access to the system without the help of a priest, it will cast a dark light on the Castellane house. While it is possible to initiate someone who is your direct descendant, doing so without the church being involved leads to many questions. Questions about the safety of the children, or the motivations behind hiding what should be a joyous event. Commoners, for the many disadvantages they have, have much more freedom in these types of instances. To be a noble is to be always under serious scrutiny.
‘Avoid the appearance of wrongdoing, or no amount of justification or evidence can save you’ his father had taught him. So, how was he to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing here? Looking toward August, he Inspected him.
Name: August Trajan Castellane
Title: Hidden
Class: N/A
Level: N/A
As he expected, he was able to Inspect his son. This was undeniable proof that the child had gained access to the system. Before their confirmation, children when scanned would not garner a reaction from the system. How should he proceed? He would need to play this carefully to not besmirch the house name. Having August fake an illness would remove the public spectacle, but having a private ceremony would be just as noticeable. While not concrete proof, it still has the appearance of wrongdoing.
The only way through this will be His Imperial Majesty, thought Duke Castellane, well shit.
Leon looked at his son and sighed, he was starting to get a headache. As the boy had been meditating, Duke Castellane could already see that whatever title he had gained was not as simple as Fairy Lord. The boy’s mana capacity had at least doubled, based on the ambient mana he was drawing in. His filtering speed was also much higher, converting the ambient mana into non-aspected mana in heartbeats rather than minutes.
“August, go to your room and start getting ready. When you are, come to the study. I am going to handle some matters. We will talk about what happened when you join us.” Leon finally said, his voice booming in the longstanding quiet. “It was about time you met your great-grandfather anyways.”