The next day,
Lucien didn't wander around the mansion and went straight to his bedroom. He didn't want to 'coincidentally' meet another branch family idiot.
'Hah! Do they think that I am an idiot? It's so obvious that the duke sent him to assess me by my reaction.' Lucien wondered as he walked through the mansion halls.
He was now wearing a deep blue suit matching his eyes and a silver embroidery shone as it caught sunlight. Beside him was Marigold, who wore an emerald green robe matching her eyes.
She fiddled with her fingers, and her eyes wandered around, worrying that her son might awaken a powerless element.
Lucien, noticing his mother's worry, held her fiddling hands and looked up to her with puppy eyes and asked, "Mama! Will you not love me if I don't awaken a powerful element?"
"Never!" Marigold yelled, her voice unusually high-pitched, she quickly crouched down and placed her hands on his shoulders and answered, "No matter which affinity you awaken, I will always love you."
"Then, don't worry mother. I will awaken a very powerful affinity!" Lucien exclaimed, trying to cheer her up.
*SNORT*
A snort containing malice and disdain echoed through the room. Lucien turned around to see who it was, and unsurprisingly, it was Felix.
But before Felix could go on rambling about his superiority,
*TAP TAP TAP*
Footsteps of someone walking towards them were heard. Lucien looked over to see the head butler coming towards them, he furrowed his brows while thinking, 'Is this guy following me? Eww! I am not gay! Stop following me, old prick!' He commented inwardly.
"Young master, the duke and the others are waiting for you." He said while bowing a little.
At the butler's arrival, Felix snorted at Lucien once again and left for the ceremony hall.
Lucien nodded at Butler and took Marigold's hand before saying, "Lead the way."
The ceremony hall wasn't exactly a hall, but an open place; it had stands like that of an arena and a raised stage like that of a duel ground.
'I don't know who named this place but they have to get fired.' Lucien commented inwardly while walking towards the raised stage.
His father and an old woman with a hunched back were standing on the stage while the rest gathered in the stands.
Lucien got separated from his mother, who tightly gripped his hand, not wanting to let go. But Lucien comforted her saying, "It will be okay mom."
He then walked up to the stage and stood in front of his father. Edmund nodded in satisfaction as he looked at his son's demeanor. He then turned towards the old woman and muttered, "Let's begin."
The old woman, at Edmund's command, stepped forward and began explaining, "Young master, all you have to do is to place your hand on the orb that I will now bring out."
She then stepped aside and a young maid brought a suitcase onto the stage. The old woman opened the case and took out a football sized translucent orb.
She then motioned to Lucien to place his hand on it. Lucien nodded at the old woman and gently placed his right hand on the orb.
*WOONG*
The orb vibrated as it came to life at Lucien's touch. It shone brightly and sent strands of mana into Lucien's core.
Lucien felt something entering his body. 'Is this mana?' He wondered, but the system's message confirmed his doubt.
[Ding!]
[Foreign mana is entering the Host's body.]
[Do you wish to erase it?]
[Yes] / [No]
'No' Lucien selected 'No' and waited for the orb to tell him which affinities he had awakened.
The orb shined brightly for a few minutes before the light in it died down.
Edmund stared at the orb intensely, waiting for the orb to reveal Lucien's affinities. Not just him, everyone present in the arena were gulping nervously as they stared at the orb.
*GULP*
Marigold gulped nervously as she stared at the orb while she prayed, 'Please, let my son awaken a powerful element.'
But the one who was awakening his affinity was smirking inwardly, Lucien's face elated in happiness as he read the system's message.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have reached ten years old!]
[You can select three elements from the list below!]
Common rank:
Air
Water
Earth
Wind
Fire
.
.
.
Uncommon rank:
Ice
Lightning
Wood
Metal
Sand
.
.
.
.
Lucien went through the list and began pondering over what he should select. 'Hmm, I should select all three, but which ones… There are various combinations I can think of…'
Lucien began to formulate and think about which three would give him the most advantage. 'What about fire, water and ice?'
But he immediately shook his head and mumbled, 'No, they are too simple,' rejecting the idea. He then proposed, 'What about metal, sand and lightning?' but he also rejected that idea, muttering that they were too complex.
'Ah! Fuck it! I can always buy them again in the shop. I will just select something cool and powerful.'
He then read the list once again and made his choice: -System, I choose, Lightning, Ice and Inferno.'
[Ding!]
[You have selected Ice, Lightning and Inferno. Do you confirm?]
[Yes] / [No]
'Yes' Lucien muttered inwardly, he looked over to the stands and heard the people mumbling, "What happened?" "Why is this taking so long?" "Is he a dud?"
The members of the family openly mocked him, not reigning in their voice. Felix, who was on the ninth cloud, raised his voice and said, "As expected of a failure. Hmph!"
Marigold, hearing this, clenched her fists in anger. She was boiling with rage, hearing people openly mocking her son, but sadly, she could do nothing, she was powerless against them, she could only gnash her teeth in anger and bear the humiliation.
Edmund, too, was disappointed and was about to announce the ceremony's ending. The old woman muttered, "The orb's reacting."
At her words, the entire arena became silent, then stared at the orb, hoping that it would be a false alarm.
But much to their disappointment, the orb crackled with lightning, showcasing Lucien's first element.
"Lightning?"
"It's a powerful one too."
The branch family members started to murmur to each other, some were happy that Lucien awakened a powerful element while most were angry.
The surprise for them wasn't over yet, the orb then glowed pale blue and began to emit bone chilling cold, ice shards began to form around the orb and floated around it.
"W-What? No way! Two uncommon elements!" People exclaimed in shock.
"T-There's no way!" Felix muttered, his face began to pale and life slowly drained out of his body. 'M-My dreams!'
BUT… There's more! The pale blue light died down and the ice shard disappeared, and the orb then began to emit extreme heat while shining in bright red light, blinding the people who were staring at it.
"Ahhh!" The old woman screamed in pain while she dropped the orb, she couldn't bear the heat emitting out of it.
Edmund and the old lady stepped out as the stage itself began to melt and turn into lava.
"Lucien, get out of there!" Marigold shouted in worry, but her trembling hands stopped when she looked at Lucien smiling reassuringly.
Infernal hell hounds rose from the lava, made entirely out of fire and lava. They glared at the people in the stands, who were gawking at their master.
*GRRR*
The hounds growled, baring their teeth against the branch families.
"It's okay." Lucien muttered, calming down the hounds. He smirked as he turned over to Felix and taunted,
"You were saying?"