Crest

A day has passed after my argument with my mother.

As I was currently reading a book inside my mini library, I suddenly heard a knock outside the door.

Tok Tok-

Placing my book down at the table, I stretched out my arms and sat up from my seat, then went towards the door to open it.

"Young master, the dinner is ready." The butler bowed his head slightly and waited silently for my reply.

Nodding, I smiled gently and replied, "Oh, I see... Go on ahead. I'll just put my books back on the bookshelf before I leave."

"...Right away."

Soon after the butler left, I closed door and went back to the table.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

...

....

.....

A moment later.

As I was about to pick up the last book from the table, I felt that both my hands became warmer for a second

Out of curiosity, I raised my hands up and saw something unexpected.

At the back of my hands, I saw a black dot in the middle.

"Oh... this might be the first phase of the awakening."

Awakening is the reason people can use magic in this world.

There are three phases of awakening. When they became three, the first phase will begin when a black dot will appear behind their hands. Then, when they're age reached four, the second phase will begin. The crest will begin to shape themselves into elements. And lastly, the third phase. When they reached five and when their crest' formation completed, a bright light will suddenly appear to the surroundings of the awakening person. The light could also determine your crest strength.

There are two types of awakening.

The first one is called the Crest of Element.

The moment you finally awakened your elements, a strange symbol will appear at the back of your hands determining what kind of elements you got.

There are supposed to be thirty types of elements in this world. Though, since the author didn't write them all down, I was only able to know only twenty-five of them. Meaning, the other five is still unknown.

Continuing, the second awakening called, Stigma.

Like the Crest of Elements, it will appear on the back of your hands, though, it will be on the left.

Stigma signifies the person's special bloodline. When the process is completed, the person who had these can obtain the special abilities. An example is mind reading, changing appearance, and many more.

Since the person that can have this is random, only few people had able to awaken these things because having a second awakening is quite rare even for a noble, you see.

The protagonist, Arthur, has a Stigma and three elemental crest. His stigma is called [System Hero]. Basically, it gives him an ability to be able to have a conversation with the so-called 'System' that supposedly the most weakest one of this world caretaker. But, the only advantage that it has is that his system can grow alongside him, and sometimes give him useful ability that can help him get stronger.

As for his Elemental Crest, he had the crest of Crescent, Dawn, and lastly, Gravity.

The Dawn and Crescent is basically just an overpowered buff that gives him the ability to increase his stats for a few seconds to an immense number that can wipe out gods within just a flick of a finger... The only bad sides of this ability is that it requires sacrifices in order to activate it. He have to sacrifice his other abilities and skills... It should be a fair trade, isn't it?

This ability is called [Sacrificial Snap].

"Huuu..."

As I thought of this inside my head, I heaved out a short but deep sigh. After I placed the last book back to the bookshelf and arranged the chair properly, I looked around one last time before preparing myself to leave.

"I'm finally done." I said to myself, "I should hurry up and leave. Mother might get upset at me if I unnecessarily waste more time."

As I was about to reach on the doorknob, I suddenly felt cold chills crawling down my back.

"Why am I having a bad feeling about this..." I muttered to myself before continuing to leave the room and heading to where my mother is currently at.

***

Arriving at the dining room, I sat on one of the chair and prepared myself to eat.

The dining table was full of decorations, expensive dishes and drinks that could make someone drool just by looking at it in just a second. But, for me, I wasn't really paying attention to any of it because I was still thinking about my current awakening phase.

The original Athan in the novel has a Stigma and two elemental crest. His Stigma is called White Fox, and his two elemental crest oisf barrier and lightning.

Sighing internally, I reached my hands to take my hot chocolate drink and took a sip before I started to eat quietly.

While I was eating, my mother abruptly stopped eating and spoke, breaking the long silence inside the room.

"I have a friend coming over."

Closing my eyes and taking a sip at my drink, I responded with "Hmm" to her.

I wasn't really curious about the friend she was talking about, but what she said next made me turn slightly curious about who she was talking about.

"She is from the demon race..."

"....Hnn?"

Naturally, the human and demon race doesn't have any peace agreement until Arthur turned fifteen, so having a connection with that race must have meant that my parents have so much connection with the others too.

"Their family name is Vladimir."

Hearing her mentioned the word 'Vladimir' almost made me choke, as I was still taking a sip when she mentioned that.

"...Shit."

Why?

It's because there was a certain girl from that family that became one of Arthur's close companion.

Alicia de Vladimir.

Her lineage was a unique blend of vampire and demon, a fusion of two formidable bloodlines. In the novel, her character exuded an icy demeanor, coupled with an overwhelming sense of superiority that often left people avoiding her.

During her initial encounter with Arthur on their mission, she paid him no attention. Her chilly presence alone was enough to deter most from approaching her; fear was palpable on their faces, as they understood the consequences of crossing her path. However, when it came to the story's central protagonist, even her formidable strength paled in comparison.

In their battle, her full might proved to be child's play for the protagonist...

That's just how strong Arthur was.

No one couldn't handle his strength except for that one person...

"Ehem..."

My mother, Celestia, let out a dry cough to gather my attention.

I took a side glance at her direction, and that's when I saw her expression. She was currently wearing a proud smug on her face, looking as if she thought that I was thinking deeply about what she had mentioned just now...which is true.

I instantly recovered my composure after seeing her proud smug and asked, "What are you looking at?" with a slight irritated tone.

"What? You didn't expect your mother has this level of connections?"

She replied with a smile.

I just heaved out a sigh and turned my attention back to my drink before taking a sip. I said to her, "I'm not an idiot. I know that the reason you wanted them to come here was because you're planning to turn her daughter as my fiancee."

Hearing that, she flinched and started to slowly avert her eyes while whistling.

"Tch! So, my guess is indeed correct... Like it always does."

"Wh-what's with your attitude?!!"

She slammed her hands on to the table with a flustered face. I ignored this, rolling my eyes to the side without offering a reply. Soon, I once again started eating.

"What an annoying parent..."

I whispered under my breath.

...

..

.

After dinner, I went ahead back to my room to get some quick rest.

Arriving at my room, I quickly jumped to my bed, positioning my right foot above my knees.

"Sigh..."

Sighing, I raised my right hand above my head and looked at the visible dot on it's back out of boredom.

"Now, what should I do tomorrow...?"

What I'm talking about was my problem about Alicia because she and her mother will be arriving here tomorrow morning.

Also, I'm currently thinking about a plan on how I should take advantage of the scenario that will happen in about three-days from now on.

After an hour of thinking, I've finally finished thinking of a plan. My only problem was the preparation and also, the future consequences...

"Sigh, I never thought that the first thing I have to do is this. But..."

Become Alicia's friend.

"Well... this is more better than getting brutally murdered by the main character. I just hope that she doesn't have the same kind of attitude when she grew up or else this plan isn't gonna work."

Lifting up my hands and clenching it into a fist, I muttered.

"This is really troublesome..."

After saying that, l fell asleep.

***

The next morning...

"When will they arrive?" Athan asked impatiently, glancing at his watch.

The butler replied calmly, "They should be arriving here shortly. Please be patient, Young Master."

"Fine..." Athan turned his back to the butler and muttered, "I see... I'll just head to the garden."

"Okay, young master."

Just after Athan left, the guests finally arrived.

The first to step out of the carriage was a mature-looking woman in her mid-thirties, with platinum-white hair, ocean blue eyes, pointed ears, and sharp teeth, marking her as a vampire.

"Oh, hello, Miss Valentine," Celestia greeted with outstretched hands.

"No need to be so formal, Miss Celestia," Valentine replied, extending her hands to shake with Celestia.

While they conversed, a petite little girl emerged from the carriage. Her hair matched Valentine's in color, and her eyes were deep red. Like her mother, she had pointed ears and sharp teeth, with her hair tied to one side.

"Oh, hello, Alicia," Celestia waved at the little girl, who merely glanced at her, bowed her head slightly, and then ignored her.

"Don't worry about her; she doesn't like talking to others too much," Valentine explained.

"Okay..." Celestia briefly felt down but quickly recovered, her chuckle breaking the tension.

Valentine, noticing Celestia's sudden change in demeanor, gestured toward the house. "Oh, don't mind me. I just remembered something. Let's go inside. Athan should be waiting in the garden, so let's have them meet up first."

Valentine smiled, replying, "Hmm... yes, maybe we should."