The next day, Jacob woke up very early as usual. He sat up from his lying position and looked around. He instantly became confused about the large bed and the large room he was in.

He looked around and could not find his mother. Then it hit him like a train and he remembered everything that had transpired in the past few days. His small eyes teared up and he started weeping.

A few seconds later, Rokas entered the room and took the small boy into a hug. He didn't say anything and let Jacob weep as much as he wanted to.

After a few minutes, Jacob stopped weeping.

"Clan lord, I am fine now." He said in a shaky voice and separated from Rokas.

Clan lord looked towards him with a soft expression and said,

"Good boy. Let us go out."

He led Jacob outside and they found the coffin right outside the door. Everything was similar to what had happened eight years ago but today, instead of Cassandra, it was Rosa in the coffin.

Jacob moved towards it and started caressing it with a loving expression as tears started rolling down his cheeks again. Rokas kept standing near him silently for a few minutes.

After enough time had passed, he gently separated Jacob from the coffin while saying, "Son, it is time."

Jacob didn't resist and did as he was told to do. He separated from the coffin and stood near the clan lord.

"Move out."

At the order, the proceeding started and whatever happened next was the same as what happened eight years ago. The only difference was that no clans joined their proceeding this time.

After reaching the clan cemetery, Rokas entered first and took in the scene. There were a few dozen more graves than usual.

Those were the graves of the deceased guards and soldiers of the past eight years. There were also some other servants mixed in between. Their cause of death included conflicts with other clans, wild animals, diseases and infected wounds.

Thankfully, no beast had attacked their budding city in those years. Otherwise, the grave count would have been much higher.

They buried Rosa in a grave near the graves of the clansmen in her honour of serving the clan for her entire life wholeheartedly.

During the entire time, Jacob kept sobbing slightly. His upper shirt was slightly wet from constantly falling tears. He was not making any effort of wiping away his tears. The sight of a small boy weeping silently presented a sorrowful picture.

It was affecting everyone present in the cemetery. It would have been much more sorrowful if Jacob was standing alone. But he was not standing alone. Rokas was standing near him with one of his hands on Jacob's shoulders. Behind them was the entire clan.

Another person could also be seen there. He was standing just outside of the fences of the cemetery. He was a lonely white-robed old man with striking features. He had silver eyes and white long hair. In addition to that, he had a thick well maintained white beard and no moustache.

He was standing alone near the fences and constantly staring at Jacob with a soft face.

Since the mood was sorrowful, nobody paid attention to a random old man standing outside of the cemetery, despite his eye-catching features. Only Rokas looked at him for a couple of seconds out of curiosity and stopped paying him any attention after that.

After half an hour, the proceeding returned to the manor. Everyone went back to their work. The environment in the clan was gloomy and it was supposed to remain like that for the next few days.

After that, everyone would move on with their lives. The most they would do for Rosa's demise was to weep a couple of times or remain silent for a few minutes. That was it. That was how life worked. Only Jacob would remain deeply affected by the death of his mother.

From then on, other servants started taking care of Jacob. He became less cheerful than before and a bit serious. During the playtimes, his friends found him not enjoying himself much and in a daze most of the time.

His mother's death did not affect his hard work in learning things but he started talking less and less until he became a silent child who didn't like to talk much.

His friends and many uncles and aunties tried to cheer him up a few times but failed in their purpose.

Even Rokas visited him once and took him on his usual tour of the city with him to lighten up his mood. But it was all for nought and people stopped bothering him from then on.

Time passed quickly after that. Three months later, the usual calm of the clan was disturbed when a piece of news broke out. The entire clan went into a flurry after that.

Kai had broken through into the second level of cultivation at the age of forty-six. In addition to the clan, the entire city was also excited due to his advancement except for the other clans.

The city now had another second-level cultivator to defend the common folk from foreign threats. The other two clans were not that bothered though. They already had two to three second-level cultivators in their midst.

As for Hammond, the fourth son of Rokas that was part of a sect, they were not bothered about him at all. Their members were also part of the sects.

It was common knowledge among the public that the sect members could not take part in the interclan conflicts until they become fourth-level cultivators.

They heavily doubted wether Hammond had the capability to become one. The same they thought about their sect members. The only regret they had was that they would not be able to wipe out the Rokas clan so easily now.

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The only reason why they didn't crush the newly rising Rokas clan when it was still weak was due to a delicate balance between them. They would have significant losses in defeating the new clan and it would have marked them as an easy target for the other clan.

They also didn't unite for that purpose due to trust issues. So, there was no kind of celebration among them. They were not happy though. The new clan was slowly catching up with them.

Rokas was deeply proud of his son. He broke through at the age of fifty-one and his son had done so five years earlier at the age of forty-six. His son was clearly more talented and hardworking than him and it spelt good for the future of the clan.

His grandsons from his eldest son Kai were also as hard-working as their father and the eldest of them was quickly approaching the third stage of the first level.

He had a wide smile across his face as he was sitting on his little throne and thinking about the future. (Maybe he can also reach the third level.... No. Who am I kidding? It is as if I don't know the amount of work and danger required to achieve it. It will be a great boon to the clan even if he reached the late stage of the second level.)

Kai was also sitting on his seat with a serious expression. Slight pressure was radiating from him. He was repeatedly trying to control it but clearly failing in his tries to rein it in. He knew that it was due to the newly made breakthrough. It would take some time to control it smoothly. He required practice.

"How do you feel, my son?" Rokas asked as he looked at his son with a proud expression.

"Father, I feel great. My strength has increased by leaps and bounds. It is as if I can break a boulder easily right now"

"It is to be expected. I felt the same when I broke through a couple of decades ago. It is a great feeling. Enjoy the breakthrough euphoria while it lasts. Things will return to normal after a few hours." Rokas said while giving his son an understanding gaze. He had gone through the same feeling once.

Every major breakthrough was accompanied by a euphoric feeling of power which lasted for about half a day. Rokas thought of this feeling to be extremely precious because it could only be felt once for people like him.

He had heard from Hammond that subsequent major breakthroughs brought much greater euphoria with a longer duration but he was not fortunate enough to reach those greater heights.

"Ok, father." Kai nodded obediently with a serious expression.

"Tell me about your sons. How are they doing?"

"They are fine, father. I trained them to work hard and follow in your footsteps of becoming a great person."

"Nice, my son. I am proud of you." Rokas was greatly satisfied with his son. He could already imagine his progeny progressing to greater heights.

After that, the entire clan was decorated and all the clan members were recalled excluding Hammond. Three days later, in the training field, many chairs were put together and a stage was set.

A ceremony was planned to be held in the evening and many people were invited to participate all over the city. The other clans were also invited. Invitations were sent in the morning and the clan prepared for the ceremony for an entire day.

In the evening, people arrived one by one and sat in their designated seats. On the stage, there were three chairs present. The empty chairs below the stage slowly became filled with people.

Guards and soldiers were busy maintaining order. The other servants were busy preparing for the celebration feast after the ceremony.

Jacob was also present there and was helping the guards in guiding the guests to their seats. After helping them, he headed to the kitchen to help out the servants there.

When the delegations of other clans arrived, they were given a warm welcome. Clan lord Rokas himself was present along with his sons to welcome them.

The delegations consisted of the other clan lords along with some of their sons and guards. They had purposefully put a haughty expression on their faces to annoy Rokas but he ignored it.

Just like in death ceremonies, the same unspoken rule also applied to other ceremonies that involved clan heads or their direct progeny.

They could not attack each other during that time. It was below basic human courtesy. Otherwise, the entire kingdom would descend upon them.

The citizens of Worlen were greatly satisfied with the way they were being ruled by the three clans jointly. Although they showed bias and preferential treatment here and there occasionally but by looking at the greater picture, such small things could be overlooked.

They felt fortunate that they were ruled by them. They had heard about some of the cities in the country that were being ruled with an iron fist.

They had also heard about terrible taxation by those tyrants. Here in Worlen, they did not have to pay such horrifying taxes and their quality of life was not that low.

Compared to those tyrants, the three clans ruling them were very kind and loving. So, in addition to the Rokas clan, the rest of the city was also decorated lightly by the citizens in the happiness of welcoming another great warrior into the ranks of city defenders.

The three clan leaders were sitting on the stage. The central chair was occupied by Rokas while the other two clan leaders were occupying the other two chairs flanking his.

In the audience, the front rows were occupied by the clan members, the direct sons and daughters of the clan sitting in the front row followed by the other clan members behind them.

Behind them were the merchants and other rich people. Behind them were the common folk of the city. The clan guards were on high alert for any emergency.

Rokas stood up from his seat and stepped forward.

"Thank you all for gathering here on our invitations. Today, I have to formally inform you that with the support of you people, my son Kai has successfully stepped into the second level of cultivation"

As Rokas finished his words, the entire crowd erupted into cheers and started clapping loudly. Even the clan heads were clapping lightly.

Rokas raised his hand towards the crowd and the crowd became silent slowly,

"In addition to that, I have to break another good news. I am handing over the lordship of this clan to Kai. Kai, come to the stage."

As Rokas broke the news of relieving his duties and asked his son to come to the stage, the crowd erupted into cheers once again. But this time, the cheers were less loud as was the clapping.

Kai stepped up to the stage and bowed to his father. His father held him up by his shoulders and hugged him. After the hug, the other clan heads also stood up in courtesy and had handshake with him.

They congratulated him while giving encouraging words. After that, Kai turned toward the crowd and all the Rokasians gave him a formal salute after standing up.

Jacob was also present there but he slightly bowed his head. He had decided to leave the clan. He was just waiting to turn into an adult. Then, he would head out to join a sect formally.

"Now onto the feast". On Rokas's order, the guests were led to other places in the manor and they were served various foods and drinks.

Rokas led the other clan leaders himself to the clan hall and a table was specifically prepared for them. Only Kai was accompanying them. After their fill, the clan lords bade them farewell.

"Thanks for your reception. I brought a small gift with us. Kindly accept it." The Leo clan head said and motioned to one of his guards with his head. The guard then handed a small package to Conan.

The same thing happened with the Storm clan. But they gave a small business deed to them as a gift.

Similar to the nobles, the other people also handed their gifts to the guards near them. They had known what was going to happen today. So they had already prepared gifts beforehand.

Everyone left the manor slowly and the feast came to an end without any accident.

Upon inspection of the gifts, later on, the gifts given by the common folk were found mundane. While the gifts given by the clan lords were precious.

The small gift given by the Leo clan was a very expensive green gem. It was an important gift just like the deed. The only difference was that it gave immediate benefit while the deed was long-term.

Rokas was a bit happy with them for their generosity but he understood that such ceremonies did not happen that often. It was time for him to visit the graves of his wives in Agoross. So, he would set out for Agoross soon.