As the poem had been sung, I had not truly participated in its singing, not that it was a lyrical poem to begin with, but I just found it difficult to follow along the poem, I could never predict the next words and repeating after the others just felt bad to me.

Either way, I now had a mysterious looking stage to think about, perhaps it was just a ceremonial little thing? Just a place to stand and say your name?

“Now it is time for the showcase, for the baby to prove himself worthy of his name, to light the tower with sheer stats!” The Patriarch said. At least I didn’t have to do anything

I walked towards the stage, climbing up and touching the pillar with my hand. Its surface was cold to touch, but then again gemstones were always cold right?

“Begin” The Patriarch said as the pillar began to glow, Light could be seen twisting inside it, making a clear signal that something was happening inside it. After five minutes, the light stopped twisting and the pillar glowed with light of some intensity.

While on the good side of blindingly bright, the light was still quite bright, like a bright lamp that had shades I suppose. I had no idea what it meant though, perhaps it was good?

“And it is shown! The baby has reached the Primal Gade and earned a name! May it be spoken!” The Patriarch said and then began to speak in the same manner as Meemauy had spoken before.

“Now tell me,

Oh child young and free,

What from this day forth shall I call thee?” The Patriarch said.

And as before I replied

“From this day forth I say,

With full knowledge of my current way,

You may call me Alforien.”

And it was done. I immediately received a System notification that said

Name gained!

Alforien Arlford

Was it just me or was that last part very rushed? The prelude to the ceremony was much much longer than the actual ceremony. What exactly was going on?

Confused, I looked around for Meemauy but found that she was talking with guests that appeared to be leaving. So soon? Wasn’t it custom for guests to remain for a while? Why were they leaving? I turned to the only person that may answer me, Valuris.

It took some time finding her though as she had moved away from her previous location. But her Charisma still made her easy to find, there she was staring at the Lord of the Farewell Lands talking with the Patriarch, was he saying his farewells too?

“So, why is everyone leaving?” I asked Valuris

“Because you have that second Ceremony. Didn’t they tell you?” Valuris said, appearing puzzled

“No...What did they not tell me? “ I asked

“The Arlford family always has a secret Ceremony after the first one, remember how I asked you to consider why the Arlford family can keep up with the Farewell Lands? It is rumoured that this is the secret. That they discovered a secret Naming ritual or something. Though for all I know it is just them making excuses to shorten ceremonies.” Valuris said, dropping the formal speech she had maintained till now.

“Come Valuris' ' The Lord of the Farewell Lands said from behind me, interrupting our conversation. Valuris waved goodbye to me as the Lord of the Farewell Lands and she disappeared, presumably by teleportation. I would likely be unable to see her for the next few centuries at least,and I don't ever get to say goodbye. Damned Lord of the Farewell Lands and his uncaring nature. Couldn’t he wait a bit? Or give a warning?

Well whatever, I now had to deal with this Ceremony. I waited there for Meemauy to approach, frankly I was a bit upset with her. I’d trusted her and she kept me in the dark. It would have been very easy for her to just inform me but she did not do it.

Every time a Prince had an event to attend, a ball to host or award to give, the Emperor would inform in advance, yet Meemauy never did it. Was I just that unimportant to her?

Soon enough, I was approached by Meemauy who said,” What’s with the face kid?”

“What’s with the ceremony?” I said, I wasn’t going to keep silent, but I wasn’t going to make this easy either

“It’s a Ceremony to get you some powers. I’ll explain as we walk” Meemauy said

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” I asked

“I was going to, but you had to go and create that mess, didn’t exactly give me an opportunity.” Meemauy answered

“You had plenty of opportunity, you could have said it in the party.” I said

“Within hearing distance of the Lord of the Farewell Lands? No thank you. I ain’t that foolish yet. The secret would be out immediately.” Meemauy replied. I hadn’t thought of that. I had to concede that… it made sense. Keeping it secret from the Lord of the Farewell Lands was the top priority.

“Ok...Sorry” I said, a bit nervous now. That hadn’t been a tantrum right? I was the brick! I did not have tantrums! Right?

“Fine,” Meemauy said, looking quite...tired. What exactly was going on?

SCENE CHANGE

Arianna Arlford (Meemauy)

“Fine.” Arianna said, her exhaustion taking hold of her. While these events were always exhausting, this one was even more so. Not only did she have to attend to a bunch of her ‘colleagues’ , she also had to deal with that self-righteous prick,the Lord of the Farewell Lands.

When the Empires had ruled, the man had silently stayed on his lands and not made any movement. After her family spent centuries giving blood and life to earn Algrea freedom, he came out of his ‘seclusion’ to claim the top seat. The Lord of the Farewell Lands might act all mysterious and wise, but he was really just a selfish prick.

But enough about that, the guy deserved no more of her attention. It was time to get this troublesome brat his potion. Arianna would be lying if she said that she was not excited to see what unique power the baby got.

“So what is this Ceremony?” the brat...Alforien now, asked apparently getting over his earlier nervousness

“The Ceremony is the first step on the Arlford path, a path that ensures that one will reach the 9th Grade as long as one follows it. All Arlford children step on it, though few get very far, the resources for the later levels are extremely rare” Arianna exclaimed and then waited for the question that always came.

“But doesn’t the System give the stats and the stats give the Grades? “ There it was, right out of Alforien’s mouth

“Yes, but how do you think stats are gained? The System has ways to measure your progress in the stats. Now I know what you are thinking, No, we do not fool the system, that is a bad idea in the long run and we know it. It might cause our stats to increase and thus our Grade but we permanently lose the power we would have gained from that stat, and isn’t that why we're doing it? The power?” Arianna answered, she did very much like to phrase things to be more interesting

“What we do is effectively increase the growth rate, or receptivity of your body and mind to the stats, but that is not all. The potion and ceremony have been known to at times grant certain skills, titles, achievements or things that are not as well balanced as other skills that are normally achieved. “She continued

“It is theorised that it is because the potion actively accesses even the forbidden region of the System, thus allowing you to gain the skills that would normally be unavailable.” Arianna finished as they came upon the Ceremonial room.

Right before her stood its large golden doors, locked in so many ways that they practically screamed ‘Do Not Enter’ to the comers. Too bad she was going to enter anyway