The ceremony eventually continued after the commotion of Crystal's good future was let go. The rest of the kids were as expected nothing special, but the grand priest gave everyone words of encouragement at the end, which was nice considering how bad they must have felt after Crystal stole the show.
It was not long until the ceremony was finally over, and as we were leaving I had this weird impression that the grand priest was staring at me, but since he was blindfolded, I could not say for sure.
Training continued and by the 6 months since training started mark, all my attributes had increased to 18, while my
The first month of the year 712 was upon us and the time for us to add armed training back in had started.
Since the ceremony, Crystal's strength and body limitations increased to even higher than mine, and eventually, it showed as she became the most physically apt of the three, which was nice to see, both girls were actually putting in hard work. Plus, I'll eventually have my own coming-of-age ceremony.
-later-
This year was flashing by as months went by and before I knew it, almost 8 months had passed, I was already 12 years old and it was time for Lilian's 14th birthday and a few days later, the next coming-of-age ceremony was already happening, as we found ourselves sitting as Lilian was up in the alter with the grand priest after a long wait. Similar to the last one, it seemed like the whole thing would be about 7 hours, though mother warned me that I should be ready for it to last 11 hours at worst.
[Baptism Status]
[Name: Lilian Tiras Lofn
Age: 14 years old
Sex: Female
Class: Slasher Samurai(Unique class)
Bloodline: Hellhound(12 stars)
Physique: Hellhound(12 stars)
Blessings: #%@?@
Fate: So long as she remains on the path of self-improvement, she will someday have a great husband, who will help her use her talents and fulfill her dreams.]
Another wave of commotion broke out just like last time. Also, this hellhound situation is... Interesting, and it says something about a possible common ancestry, oh well, I'll see when the time comes. Plus a unique class... I heard both my older siblings also had unique classes... This family really is full of talent, why the hell are they just normal commoners?...
In time things called down and we were able to leave after the grand priest greeted us, and congratulated my parents for having so many talented children. As we were leaving I had a weird feeling about having his gaze on me, which made me feel weird, but soon disappeared once we were far enough.
Days followed and our training continued, as I made advancements both physically and magically. Two months after the coming-of-age ceremony, it was finally Crystal's 15th birthday and the year she choose to enroll in the Zellrith Magic Academy, the most prestigious magic academy in the Mormial Kingdom or maybe even the Crismentia continent as a whole, at least as far as my knowledge of this world goes that seems to be the case.
That was the same academy my older siblings who haven't come back yet went to. She was sent an enrollment invitation with a recommendation letter by the academy, valid until she's 16, not that she can't enroll after that, but she'll have to do so as normal student. Of course, the reason she was sent the enrollment invitation was the results of her baptism and even Lilian got her enrollment invitation last month. Due to Lilian having a 12 stars bloodline and physique, she's been given up until she's 20 to enter the academy, which is the age cap to enter the academy, just to show how much they value her inherent talent.
Despite all that, Lilian choose to follow Crystal and enroll this year as well, or more accurately the beginning of the next year, as the scholarly year begins in the month of creation, the first month of the year. Right now we're at the 10th month of the year the month of disaster, which oddly enough coincides with earth's October more than just in number, cause since the month is considered to be one where bad energy and misfortune rules, there's a tradition in which people dress up as monsters and devils to ward off evil spirits. Especially the younger ones since it is believed that their innocence attracts more attention from those evil beings, so to distract the children of what's going on, it has become commonplace to give them sweets during this time. It used to be called the day of the children, but was later renamed, Sweetodon by a scholar said to be from the Uava Kingdom, a neighboring country.
Almost two more months from then, the day of their departure had come.
"You know Zandrius, I kind of wanted to stay here for another year and go stronger altogether, but if I do that I'll enter the Zellirth Academy in the last year of my special admission, and people will start making rumors about how I was scared of going or something like that, which I can't allow. Since someone as fabulous as me can't have a bad reputation, so I'll hope you hold yourself to at least the same level." Crystal announced with her medium-sized chest puffed out and a smug smile that seemed to be permanently engrained on her face at this point.
"That's probably the trashiest goodbye speech I ever heard. Can't you just say I'll miss you like normal people?" I couldn't help but point out.
"What?! You little rascal! I can lift trees off the ground now! Do you think you'll be able to escape a beating?!" Crystal had a slight blush on her face as she let out the frustration I had just caused her. Even threatening me with her newfound strength, that even allowed her to rip off trees directly from the ground.
"I'll survive. Besides, aren't you going cause you want to widen the gap between us before I have the chance to catch up?" I called her out.
"Stupid Goober... As if I would ever need to do that. Just don't disappoint me next we meet, cause I'll beat you up." She said before turning and entering the carriage without saying anymore.
"Bother... It's a pity we have to say goodbyes already... Though I'm sure after your baptism you'll be so absurd we won't be able to catch up, that's your style after all. Just take care of yourself and be ready cause I'll move on if you can't make it... Hope to see you again." Lilian spoke once Crystal was in the carriage, before coming in to hug me, and then kiss my cheek. That was followed by her blushing and instantly disappearing, which I image was her going into the carriage.
According to Uncle Ross, Lillian awakened a power 4 times stronger than Crystal's even though she was even though she didn't show it off, everyone kind of d noticed it. Bullshit! My sisters just got power ups given why the Gods and now their frikin OP! I worked my ass off! If I don't get anything good from my baptism... I won't stop trying, no quite the opposite, I'll train the hardest I ever did, just so I can someday beat the crap out of the celestials who set this shit up.
After the girls left, I decided that it was time to start betting on the most powerful class in EF, a class that started as normal and not that special but would eventually become the most outrageously broken class, even more so than the Hero or even True Hero classes, which can't be obtained through normal means anyway.
That day, later on, I talked to uncle Ross and convinced him to help me kill a bunch of low-level monsters, as it was one of the requirements for the class I wanted. Though he thinks I'm just accumulating exp in advance.
-Later-
As time passed since the girl's departure, the year 713 blinked by, and the year 714 was four months in, and on day 7 of the month of destruction, it was my 14th birthday. I had finally come of age and by the end of the month, will be given the chance to shine if my baptism goes well.
"Hahaha! Our son is finally! Time to take over and carry the responsibilities of the family, you better be ready or your fall to the weight but don't worry too much, I'll help you through some of it." Dad said with a huge smile on her face.
"Unbelievable! How can time be so cruel? Taking away all my babies from me! Loralaine! I want another child, now!" Mom was very emotional as she was almost ugly crying as she made an unreasonable demand.
"Hahaha!... I don't think we should do that, we're getting old and we can't just keep having kids like that... " Dad replied with an awkward smile on her face.
"No! We're not even near being halfway through our lifespan! Heck, we're not even a fourth of the way through! Of course, we can have more children!" Mom argued.
"Yes, but by human standards, we're old people and we agreed not to stand out too much. How are people going to react if another miracle birth happens? Because of popular our first children were around here, most people are aware that we are over 60 years old by now... It was already surprising enough for them that you had Zandrius at the time that you did, let's at least wait it out until we eventually move, and then we can talk about having more children." Dad retorted.
"Tch! Fine! But you're giving me these children one way or the other!" Mom pouted.
"That's the spirit, my daughter! Do better than your mom, who let a selfish bastard talk her out of it!" Grandma added wood to the fire.
"Seriously?! What's with these women and wanting way too many children?..." Grandpa commented.
"I agree with grandpa, who needs children anyway." Aunt Numia, who came again for my party added.
"If you ask me, I'm not against it, but having that many children sounds way too tiring." Aunt Litia also gave her perspective.
"You girls just don't understand cause you haven't had any yet." Grandma responded to them.
"Hey Ross, are you also planning to have lots, kids?" Roshva asked him with a teasing smile.
"No, too much of a bother. The family already has more than enough descendence away." He answered with his dry tone.
"I mean... Maybe you should really think about it... Cause you know.... It would kind of be a waste to not pass down your genes... Plus, I heard that the happiness you can get from children outweighs the headaches." Timina spoke in a rather timid way.
"Don't worry, someone like him will find a mate, whether he believes it or not. It will happen." Ermidia firmly commented.
"Hahaha! The younger generation doesn't even know how to flirt anymore. How adorable." Grandma said and it resulted in a unanimous semi-awkward laugher.
I could only laugh awkwardly... Before deciding to change the focus.
"Dad, I would like to start a business with you." I declared.
"Hum... Interesting, what exactly do you have in mind?" Dad inquired.
"Entertainment games that can be played by people of diverse ages." I responded.
"Is such a thing even truly viable?!" Dad looked at me very surprised and so seemed the rest of the room.
"Well, after reading the various war books we have, I just had an idea I believe would work marvelously for us." I add with a smile.
"Great! I'll see where you're going with this, but you better be ready to pay back whatever I invest in this." Dad said half-jokingly.
"Will do! Don't worry, it's unlikely to fail, we just have to choose the appropriate time to lunch it out to the public, though we first need to create two a version for nobles, and get their interest as well as sell it to them way before it comes to the public, after all, people like exclusivity and preferential treatment." I say letting out a somewhat malicious smile without even noticing.
"Hahaha! That's our son! Let's get down to taking care of that tomorrow, but today we celebrate you!" After that, the party atmosphere returned and things proceeded as normal.
____________________________________________
AN: for those curious about this, here are the current ages of the characters:
-Zandrius is 14
-Amora is 66
-Loralaine is 76
-Lilian is 15
-Crystal is 16
-Chandra is 101
-Amelia is 97
-Melvania is 28
-Rylith is 29
-Numia is 71
-Litia is 63
-Ross is 62
-Timina is 31
-Roshva is 28
-Ermidia is 33
-Ark is #%@$&… huh? Oh well, maybe next time.