The day before the departure, Alton got up on his own and started walking towards the bathroom to freshen up when he heard a knock on the door, but the person opened the door without even waiting for the answer.
Alton looked at the person coming, and it was Maria. Maria entered the room and looked at the bed, but it was empty; no one was there when she heard a voice coming from her back. "Oh, Maria, I am already up."
Maria looked toward the voice and saw that Alton was standing in front of the bathroom, so she looked at Alton, "Good morning, young master."
"Good Morning to you as well," Alton said while entering the bathroom to do his morning routine. Alton's morning routine was to brush his teeth and take a bath. Alton brushed his teeth and then took a bath while Maria got his clothes ready; when he walked out of the tub, she dressed him, and this has been their daily routine for the past ten years.
After finishing his daily routine, Alton sat at the table and looked at Maria. "Can you bring the breakfast?" Maria nodded to this and then exited the room; while Alton was waiting, he said under his breath, "System Open."
A black screen showed in front of him, and he looked at his stats which had an increase in intelligence before this; his stats were like this.
Name: Alton Von Teren
Age: 15 years
Race: Human
Territory: Teren
Occupation: None
Rank: None
Level: 01
SP: 0
Coins: 0
Experience: 00 / 100
Health: 10 / 10
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Stamina: 3
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 15
Mana: 5/5
Skills: None
But now, his intelligence Stats had changed a bit.
Name: Alton Von Teren
Age: 15 years
Race: Human
Territory: Teren
Occupation: None
Rank: None
Level: 01
SP: 0
Coins: 0
Experience: 00 / 100
Health: 10 / 10
Strength: 8
Agility: 5
Stamina: 3
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 16
Mana: 5/5
Skills: None
Alton had been testing the system for the past few days because, after the Quest issuance, the system had gone silent and didn't even answer his questions, so he tried reading a couple of books and understanding them because he wanted to see if there will be any change in his stats. Thus his intelligence stat was increased because he understood a couple of books.
Then Alton heard a knock on the door, and Alton, in his mind, 'System Close.' The black screen disappeared before him, and Alton said, "Come in."
Maria entered the room and placed the breakfast tray on the table; Alton looked at the breakfast and noticed that its quantity had increased, so he turned his head towards Maria and asked, "Isn't this a bit too much for breakfast." Maria replied calmly, "Young Master, you enjoyed eating these days, so I increased the amount" Alton slapped his forehead and then pointed at the food. "This much is eaten by two people" without waiting for a reply, Alton asked, "Have you had your breakfast."
Maria looked at Alton with a questioning look without answering when Alton asked again, "Maria have you eaten your breakfast."
Maria answered, "No, young master, I have not eaten yet."
Alton then pointed at the chair. "Sit and eat with me" Maria looked at Alton and replied with a smile, "Young Master, how can I do that servants are not allowed to eat with their masters."
Alton got up from his chair and forced her to sit on the other chair and then sat back down on his chair and said, "Maria do I mistreat you."
Maria nodded in denial because even before Alton changed, he never did anything terrible to her, and then Alton looked at her with a smile. "Maria, you say that you are servant but you always took care of me like a big sister, and deep down, I respect you as a big sister, so starting from now, whenever we are alone, you can be at ease and then you can just call me Alton and I will tell about this to my parents as well and I am sure they will not object to this."
Maria was shocked hearing this, and then tears came down one after another from her eyes, but they were not tears from sadness but a joy that Alton recognized her as his sister, meaning that her years of hard work were not wasted and was noticed by Alton.
Alton looked at Maria with a smile and thought, 'You have been taking care of me my whole life, and you never left me alone even in hard times you are like a family to me because I know that you won't betray me and in future I will protect you same as my parents.'
Maria then stopped crying and looked at Alton. "Thank you Young.." Alton raised an eyebrow hearing Young, and then Maria said, "Alton," and then they both started eating breakfast; after eating, Maria left the room with the tray and a big smile.
Alton also got up from his chair and started getting his head ready because today was his family gathering, meaning all the branch family members and the vessels will be coming.
Alton, for the rest of the day, stayed in the room, but he was mentally getting ready because Alton knew that if he saw those faces, he was bound to get angry at them, but this was not the time to get prepared. Alton heard a knock on the door when there was only an hour left for all the guests to come.
Alton said, "Come in." A black-haired woman entered the room, and it was Maria; she looked at Alton. "Young Master, it's time to get ready." Alton got up from the chair and wanted to scold Maria for calling him young master, but he knew that Maria couldn't give up years of habit in a day, so he just let it go for now.
Alton entered the dressing room, and Maria was already holding the ceremony clothes he had to wear for this gathering. The clothes had a full black pent and a black shirt with silver shade. The shirt had a black coat on which there was Alzonian Empire Royal family crest of Lion with a crown on its head and the range of Teren Family, which was the picture of Falcon fully flapping wings.
Then there were two straps on both shoulders, but both were empty because they can only be worn when a person is either a knight or mage, and they will have different symbols to differentiate the ranks.
After wearing the dress, Alton looked in the mirror, exited his room, walked toward the stairs, and then waited in front of the hall for his parents to come.
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Author Note: Power Stone ranking is finally open so kindly donate so it can encourage me to work even harder and bring chapter out faster.