The Young Master in the Shadows

Victor rarely met his father. So having breakfast with Theodor Von Weise was not an insignificant occasion for him and his siblings.

As Theodore was a very busy man. He had a lot of businesses and..cough, cough, concubines.. to take care of.

Stepping into the dining room, Victor looked around and could only sigh. His mother and two stepmothers are already in their positions next to the empty seat at the head of the table. His younger sister and two half brothers were there too. His older siblings are already adults and have their own households and businesses to attend to.

He adjusted his breathing, then cupped his hands and greeted his elders as per the family’s tradition.

“Good morning, first mother, second mother, third mother.”. He said with a nervous look on his face. He was not really nervous, but he had to act the part. At that age, he was a very timid young man.

“Good morning Victor, come sit down by my side, your father is about to arrive, this will be your last official breakfast as a member of this household,” said His biological mother, Lana (Carlson) Von Weise , with a broad captivating smile.

Although she was the second wife of his father, she was his favorite. His stepmothers didn’t like her but couldn’t do anything against her. His two older siblings have already fared magnificently during their coming of age ceremonies, and they now hold very good positions in the family’s hierarchy.

His step sibling was staring at him with contempt in their eyes. He knew that neither they nor their mother held much respect towards him. If it was not for his mother’s protection, he would have already been banished from the house. But after the ceremony tonight, she wouldn’t be able to help him per family rules, and she wouldn’t need to, he had his plans.

Just when he reached his chair and prepared to sit down, his father entered the room with his maid Olivia and head butler George right behind him. George was both a very loyal and a very powerful man. It is said that he saved his father’s life more than once. He helped Victor a lot in his past life when all others gave up on him.

The butler moved the chair for his master. While victor, his siblings, and his mothers stood up in respect and greeted the head of the house.

Theodore had purple hair, and a handsome face, with no trace of aging. All Von Weise had long lives.

“Are you ready for tonight’s ceremony, Victor?” His father asked as he sat at the head of the table.

“Yes, father,” Victor answered in a low voice while keeping his head down. He has to be low-key, he reminded himself.

“Good, we will set off right before noon, and no matter what’s your results, you will be an adult after this. I hope you live up to my expectations.” He said, but everyone in the family knew that his father had no expectations for him, ever since he failed to reach the initial stage of the secret arts of the family. While all youngsters in the family would have already reached the 4th stage by the time for their ceremonies.

“Father, can you tell us about the ceremony.” Asked John, one of his stepbrothers, his ceremony would be next year.

John was the only son of his third mother, he is younger than him by one year, their relationship was always strained as John always wanted to surpass Victor to get a better position for his mother. If it was just about this Victor would not care, but John was a vicious beast who would stop at nothing. In his past life, John was one of the culprits of the scheme that caused his banishment.

Theodore glared at him “Don’t ask stupid questions, John, You know quite well that the ceremony is a secret, you can only know it in detail when it’s your time”. his father rebuked.

John flinched from his father’s harsh stare, then he quickly found an excuse “Father, it’s just I am concerned about my brother’s well-being, will his life be in danger?”

“Concerned my **s”, Victor thought, he knew that his brothers and stepmothers could not wait for him to die.

“There is always a risk,” Theodore said while looking at his second wife who had a nervous look.” but where there is risk there is reward.”

“Father means that my brother would be in danger?” He asked while provoking victor with his poisonous eyes.

“As I said, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward,” Theodore said.

John looked at victor and sneered “Did you hear bother, you have to be careful.”

Victor could feel the malice in John’s ‘advice’. He did not really care, but he acted as if he was frightened and kept his eyes to his plate, while his hand shook a bit, while he continued to have his breakfast in silence.

After the meal, his father asked Victor to follow him to the study. Victor naturally knew what this was all about.

Entering the lavish study Theodore firmly closed the door then ordered his son to sit by the heavy ebony desk while he sat behind it.

“You have grown up.” Said Theodore “After tonight you will be a full-grown Von Weise. You should do your best not to disgrace the family’s name. Your elder siblings have achieved great results in their ceremonies, while I don’t expect you to do the same, at least promise me to do your best.” His father glared at him with his piercing gaze.

“I understand father,” Victor said.

“Good. Now, listen well,” Theodore said. It is customary in the family for the father to explain the true family rules and rituals for the candidate on the day of the ceremony.

“All the family rules you learned till now were made for a reason. It is to protect a secret so profound it can shake the foundation of the world,” Theodor said while glaring at Victor’s eyes, who had to fake curious look on his face.

“You would not believe it, but the best way to explain it is like this.” Theodore pause, “Our world has video game rules.” He added while glancing at the doubting shocked look on victor’s face.

He continued “Our ancestor discovered this truth during an expedition to the north 600 years ago. There, he found a cave, and in it, there was an orb. The orb glowed with a faint blue light, and when the ancestor touched it he was amazed at what he saw. A shimmering light veil appeared out of thin air with an alien script. He did not know what the letters were but magically he could understand their meaning.”

“It said PLAYER REGISTERED. In old times I would have had to explain what that meant to you, but now you probably guessed thanks to all the time you spent on your console games.”

Victor looked at his father as if he was questioning his sanity. He did have that look in his previous life but today he understood the truth far better than his father. Yes, this world had video game rules. And as far as he knows those rules seemed to be slowly integrating into this world. It can be said too that video games emergence is a phenomenon related to these rules.

“Of course, our ancestor, Sir Nicolas Von Weise, had no idea what that meant, but during his lifetime he was able to figure it out. He brought the orb back to this land and used it as a foundation to build his family. Later he discovered that not only his family had such an item, but there exist others too.”

“The other four oligarchs?” asked Victor.

Theodore nodded his head,

“That’s how we dominate the world. Every Artifact like this has its own rules for granting a player status. Sadly only one of every 10 heirs in our family can succeed in becoming a player, Ours has something to do with many factors like bloodline and martial aptitude. And being a virgin is one factor in the assessment. For that reason all heirs are forbidden from being in a relationship before the ceremony.” He said as he glared at Victor, who shrank his head.

“The player status granted by the orb enabled our family to be one of the strongest families in the world. The secret art that the youth practice is meant to increase the concentration of our bloodline so that we could have a better chance at becoming players. Unfortunately, you could not cultivate it so your chances would not be good. “

Of course, he could not practice the art. What he discovered later is that his bloodline is already complete, more complete than his ancestor. he does not need such an art. On the contrary, practicing it is what made him sick and powerless. what he needed was an awakening art.

Theodore looked at his son’s confused face and continued as if he didn’t care if Victor believed him or not.

“You would only have one chance for awakening using the awakening orb. The younger you are, the better. After touching the orb, it will test your will and bloodline. It will give you Points to allocate depending on the results. You would then have to allocate these points as you do in a video game. You must allocate most of your points to the AUTHORITY field, as it is the most important one. There will be three outcomes. If your points were not enough and your Authority is 0, you simply die. About 50 percent of the candidates suffer instant death.” Theodore said as if it was nothing, watching Victor’s face turn white in shock.

“The second outcome is, if your Authority is 1 you gain half player status or what we call a semi-player, you will have some of the strength and perks of a player but you will not be able to communicate with the world system or level up. The last case is an Authority of 2 or more, and you would be labeled as a player, giving you a class and some skills.” he explained to the ‘shocked’ Vector.

“The higher your Authority, the better. It will affect everything from your arts to how much you can level up and grow in the future. As for the other attributes and your class, if you gained one, you are free to choose your own path. That’s all I can tell you for now, and any further discussion will have to wait till after the ceremony. are we clear?”

“What about you father? And what about my siblings?” Victor asked with a half-believing look as if he didn’t already know.

“I have an authority of 6 and I am a great warrior, After my ceremony, I had a good start with 3 levels of authority, something that few in the family could achieve, and after that due to hard work and a certain opportunity I was able to upgrade to this level. As for your siblings, you will have to ask them yourself.” His father answered as if he did not want to waste his breath.

It was not that Theodore hated Victor, it’s just that he thought that Victor would probably lose his life in the ceremony. And can’t help him, every pureblood Von Weise has to go through the ritual, that’s the rules, and the rules can’t be broken.

His father stood up and looked out of the window with his back to Victor. Probably hiding the worry in his eyes.

“Now go. Say goodbye to your mother and sister. And remember don’t reveal anything to anyone. If anything leaked, you would be punished according to family rules.”

“Yes, father.” Victor stepped back while almost failing to hide the shake in his hands, they were not shakes of fear, but excitement.

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