Holding Lara’s little hand, Victor entered the lavish dining room he barely remembered. His family members were sitting around a long decorated wooden dining table discussing random things. It seemed that his father had not arrived yet.
Lara let go of his hand embarrassingly and quickly went and sat next to their mother, who seemed to have noticed his arrival. His two stepmothers and two half-brothers did so as well. They looked at him with well-hidden hostility in their eyes.
Victor adjusted his breathing, cupped his hands then greeted his elders by bowing slightly according to the family’s tradition.
“Good morning, first mother, second mother, third mother. Good morning brothers,” he said with a shaky voice.
At this age, he was a very timid young man. And being nervous was to be expected of him before the ceremony. He was not nervous at all though, he was just resisting the urge to run to his mother and hug her. He really missed her.
“Good morning Victor, come, sit by my side. Your father is about to arrive. This will be your last official breakfast as a member of this household,” said his biological mother, Elena (Carlson) Von Weise. She had a broad captivating smile that made Victor remember many things.
Despite being ranked second in his father's harem, Elena was his father’s favorite. Not only because of her beauty and elegance but because of his two older siblings who fared magnificently well during their coming-of-age ceremonies. At the moment, both of them were holding excellent positions in the family’s ranks. His big brother was even declared one of the candidates for the patriarch position!
His father has gained a lot of prestige and influence because of this. So, as a result, both of Victor's stepmothers hated Elena, his mother, and feared her. Especially the first one, Marta, whose position was now greatly threatened.
Victor nodded to his mother and went to his seat, ignoring his half-siblings who were seated next to their birth mothers. He knew that neither of those held much respect toward him. If it were not for his father’s protection, he would have already been banished from the house a few years ago.
Thankfully, not all of the family was here, His elder siblings and half-siblings were already adults and only returned here on special occasions. Or he wouldn’t have been able to keep his composite expression.
Victor was entertaining the idea of exposing some dirty little secrets at the moment when a handsome man with short trimmed Purple hair and a clean-shaven face that showed no signs of aging entered the room. He was Victor’s father, Theodore Von Weise.
Following right behind him were the maid Adele and the head butler George, who quickly moved the chair for his master as Victor, his siblings, and his mothers stood up in respect and greeted the head of the house.
“Get seated,” Theodore ordered dismissively as he sat down, making everyone return to their seats silently.
Victor, like his younger siblings, rarely met his father, so having breakfast with him was not an insignificant occasion for the family.
Theodore was a very busy man. You see, he had a lot of businesses and ..cough, cough, concubines... to attend to.
“Are you ready for tonight’s ceremony, Victor?” Theodore asked as his butler filled his dish. George was both a very loyal and a very powerful man. It was said that he saved his father’s life more than once.
“Yes, father,” Victor answered in a low voice while keeping his head down, careful not to reveal any emotions. He was really happy to meet his father again. The man was harsh, but Victor knew that he was saved secretly by him countless times in the past.
“Good, we will set off right before noon, I hope that you will live up to my expectations!” Theodore said with a smile that didn’t fool anyone. Everyone in the family knew that Theodore had no expectations for Victor.
The family expected the heirs to reach at least the 4th stage of the family's secret arts before their ceremonies. Victor couldn’t even master the initiation stage.
“Father, can you tell us about the ceremony?” asked one of Victor’s half-brothers, John. He was the youngest son of his third mother. Being one year younger than Victor meant that his ceremony would be next year.
Victor's relationship with him had always been strained as John not only looked down on his older half-brother, but he also wanted to prove his worth by using him as a stepping stone, maybe to get a better position for his mother.
Unfortunately, this was not a simple sibling rivalry as Victor thought of it when he was a young man. When it was too late, he discovered that John was a vicious beast who would stop at nothing. In his past life, John was one of the culprits of the scheme that caused his banishment. They even had the plan to kill him if not for his big sister's timely help.
“Don’t ask foolish questions, John. You know quite well that the ceremony is a secret, you can only know it in detail when it’s your time. Didn't your big brother warn you about that?” His father rebuked with a harsh glare that caused John to flinch.
“Father, it’s just….. I was just concerned about my brother’s well-being, will his life be in danger?” he sneakily asked, reaching the point he was trying to make, and making victor silently curse at him.
“Concerned my **s”, Victor thought, he knew quite well how much his half-brothers and stepmothers wished him dead!
“There is always a risk,” Theodore said while looking at his second wife, Elena, who had a nervous look. “But where there is a risk, there is a reward,” he added with a hidden sigh, trying to sound wise.
“Father means that my brother would be in danger? I heard ….” he asked while provoking victor with his poisonous eyes.
“Did your eldest brother tell you something?” Theodore interjected coldly, making John swallow his next words as he didn’t dare to look at his father again.
“He just said that many people die in the ceremony,” he said as he lowered his head.
“Well, if it is just that, it is not a secret. True, such a risk exists. But for a pureblood the probability of death is nonexistent!” Theodore said, making Elena, Victor’s mother, clench her fist as she suddenly held Victor’s hand under the table.
“Did you hear that, bother? You have to be careful!” John looked at Victor while trying hard to hide his sneer.
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Victor could feel the malice in John’s ‘advice’. And although he did not really care, he acted as if he was frightened and kept his eyes on his plate, while his other hand covered his mother’s reassuring her.
…
After the meal, Theodore asked Victor to follow him to the study for an important talk as the maids began clearing the table.
Victor naturally knew what this was all about. So he followed right behind his father, totally ignoring the glares of his half-siblings.
Entering the lavish study that was rarely used, Theodore firmly closed the door and then ordered Victor to sit on a wooden chair by the heavy ebony desk, before sitting behind it and lighting his pipe.
“You have grown up! You are already an adult!” Theodore said as he eyed his son and puffed some smoke.
“After tonight you will be a full-grown Von Weise. You should do your best not to disgrace the family’s name. Your elder siblings have achieved great results in their ceremonies.” Theodore added, then sighed, “I will not lie to you, I don’t really expect you to do the same, But you must do your best.” His father added as he inspected his son’s face.
“I understand, father,” Victor said, trying to recreate an expression of naive confidence.
“Good…'' Theodore said as he took a talisman paper, ignited it with his pipe then threw it in the ashtray letting it burn slowly.
”Now Listen well,” Theodore said, beginning to explain the ritual to his son. It is customary in the family for an elder to explain the true family rules and rituals to the candidate on the day of the ceremony.
“You must know that a lot of the family’s rules you learned till now were made for a reason. It is to protect a secret so profound it can shake the foundation of the world,” Theodor said while staring at his son.
Victor, who was busy faking a curious expression, nodded.
“I know that it would be shocking and You may not believe it, but….” Theodore paused, “Let me phrase it like this… Our world seems to be acting as if it were a Video game!” he added while carefully watching the frown on Victor’s face.
“Let’s start from the beginning. Our family’s ancestor discovered this truth during an expedition to the north 1500 years ago. There inside a hidden cave in the northern mountains, he found an Artifact! An Orb that glowed with a faint blue light, and when the ancestor touched it he was amazed at what he saw, a shimmering light veil appeared out of thin air with an alien script, he did not know what the letters were but magically he could understand their meaning!” his father added with a pause after that for the dramatic effect. Victor was sure that his father was enjoying this.
“It said ‘PLAYER REGISTERED’, ” Theodore explained, then shook his pipe a little as if he was thinking.
“In old times I would have had to explain what that meant to you. But by now you should have probably guessed what that signified, thanks to all the time you spent on your console games,” he said, waiting to see the bewildered look in his son’s eyes.
Victor didn’t disappoint him, he looked at his father as if he was questioning his sanity, he did have that look in his previous life too. But on this day, he understood the truth far better than his father ever did. Yes, this world had role-playing game rules. And as far as he knows those rules seemed to be slowly integrating into this world. It can be said too that video games emergence is a phenomenon related to these rules, not the other way around.
“Of course, our ancestor, sir Nicolas Von Weise had no idea what that meant. But during his lifetime he was able to figure it out. Our family members tend to have long lives, you know. The ancestor brought the Orb back to this archipelago and used it as a foundation to build his family. Making it one of the five master families in this world who also knew about this!” Theodore said, then paused for a few seconds waiting for his son to fully comprehend what he had just told him.
“The other five oligarchs!?” asked Victor with a shocked face.
Theodore nodded.
“Not only them but there are also many others too. But that’s how we dominated the world. Every artifact like this has its own rules for granting a player status. Sadly only one of every 5 heirs in our family can succeed in becoming a full player, The Orb’s test has something to do with many factors like bloodline and martial aptitude. And being a virgin is one factor in the assessment, for that reason all heirs are forbidden from being in a relationship before the ceremony,” he explained as he glared at Victor, who was young and made a mistake.
“The player status granted by the Orb will let you be like a video game player in the real world, you would be able to level up and acquire skills! This enabled our family to be one of the strongest families in the world. The secret art that the youth practice is meant to increase the concentration of our bloodline so that we could have a better chance at becoming players,“ his father explained with a frown then sighed, as he looked at the pipe in his hand.
“Oh….” Victor frowned.
“You would only have one chance for Awakening. The younger you are, the better. After touching the Orb, it will test your will and bloodline. It will give you Points to allocate depending on the results. You would then have to allocate these points as you do in a video game. You must allocate most of your points to the AUTHORITY field, as it is the most important one. There will be three outcomes. If your points are not enough and your Authority is 0, you simply die!” Theodore said as if it was nothing, watching Victor’s face turn white in shock.
“Die!!” Victor exclaimed, shaking a little. “Ahhh… does that mean I will die?” he asked in a scared tone.
“No… Don’t worry, I am sure you will pass…” Theodore lied as he observed his son’s confused face and continued as if he didn’t care if Victor believed him or not. “Purebloods rarely die,“ Theodore said casually, skipping the fact that by rarely he meant about 8.7%. Not an insignificant ratio.
“The second outcome is, if your Authority is 1 you gain a half-Player status or what we call a semi-Player, you will have some of the strength and perks of a player but you will not be able to communicate with the world system or level up… Consequently, you will be given the status of an outer member in the family, like your elder brother Rex,” he explained to the ‘shocked’ Vector. “The last case is an Authority of 2 or more, and you would be labeled as a full Player! If you achieve that, the family would grant you an inner member status, and would be recognized as an heir!”
“Oh….” Victor nodded.
“The higher your Authority, the better. It will affect everything from your skills to how much you can level up and grow in the future. As for the other attributes and your class, if you gained one, you are free to choose your own path. But remember without an Authority value of 2, you would not be able to level up or enter dungeons!” Theodore warned.
“What are there dungeons too?” Vector asked in a shocked voice.
“Yes, Dungeons, monsters, and magic weapons. I told you, it’s like a video game. Don’t worry about these things for now. There would be time to talk about them later,” Theodore said, then relaxed in his chair and put his pipe on his lips waiting for his son to calm down and sort things out.
“If that’s all true, What about your father? And what about my siblings? This means … you…. are P…Players too?” After a few minutes, Victor asked with a half-believing look.
“Yes, I have an Authority of 5 and I am a great warrior. After my ceremony, I had a good start with 3 levels of Authority, something that few in the family could achieve, and after that, due to hard work and a chance I was able to upgrade to the level I am at now.” he said proudly, “As for your siblings you would have to ask them for yourself. But remember, revealing info about a player is taboo. So be sure to hide your info well in the future, you don’t know who might betray you,” Theodore said, making Victor nod as if he didn’t know that Theodore had an Authority of 6 at this point in time but was hiding it… He was not even a Great warrior, but an Armored Knight!
“Father…. But… I heard that big brother and sister were granted elite heir status…. What is it?” Victor asked.
“Oh… This status is reserved for those who did astonishingly well! Is just below the elders, don’t worry about it for now,” Theodore said then sighed. He thought that Victor would be extremely lucky if he even managed to become an outer member, let alone an elite.
“I understand…”
“That's all for now, the elders at the ceremony hall would explain the rest… probably…” Theodore said as he stood up and looked out of the window with his back to Victor. Probably hiding the worry in his eyes.
“Now go. Say goodbye to your mothers and siblings. Just remember not to reveal a thing about what I told you to anyone. If anything leaked, you would be punished according to family rules!”
“Yes, father,” Victor stepped back while almost failing to hide the shake in his hands, they were not shakes of fear, but excitement.