Vouno laughed proudly, “Oh yes, my son, now that you’re a noble, we have to choose our family name! This is a glorious thing for our family, the first of our line!”

As commoners of the lowest tier, they do not have the right to have a family name, but they also never felt the need to have one.

Now that Kairos has risen to the ranks of Viscount, it is no longer proper for him to have a single name but two names.

One for himself, and another for his noble family.

And they have yet to choose a family’s name.

“Father, I have a question, out of curiosity,” said Kairos, and only when he saw his father gesturing for him to continue, he asked, “Why are you named after the mountains, and mother’s name Limni, is named after the lakes, while I’m called Kairos?”

It is normal for commoners to be named after the places that they are born or simple ones like Jim, Tommy, Alan or Edward, but the name Kairos is in fact unique.

“Hahaha, oh that? I never told you, did I?”

“Father! Don’t just keep me in suspense!”

“Alright, alright. When you were born, your mother took you lovingly into her arms. She called me to come closer, and we looked at your tiny little face.

She asked me then, what name should we give you. We have already a name for you - Pediades which means plains - but when we saw your large eyes and delicate features it felt as if the name we prepared is wrong.

At that time, I jokingly asked you what do you like your name to be?

With a tiny voice, you said, ‘Kairos’ and then your mother fainted immediately. BWAHAHAHAA!!!”

“What? I spoke right after I was just born?”

“Exactly! What a weirdo you are, right?”

“Hey don’t call your own son that!”

“Well, it’s true. After your mother fainted, you saw I was laughing so hard, then maybe you were angry at your dad or something. You told me in a really serious voice that the world is coming to an end.

Can you imagine the horror I had when I heard a cute angelic voice declaring the doom of the world? Thanks to that, I fainted right away just like your mom did.

Now that you reminded me, you little rascal, I never get back at you for saying those things.”

*?!*

Strange things did happen around Kairos, so much that the boy has already given up on trying to make heads and tails by this time.

Since there is no need to keep dwelling on unsolvable mysteries, it is better to think of a better family name.

The odd thing is, unlike him, all his friends have family names.

Alan Walker

Edward Alfonso

Jim Hope

Tommy Styrkur

And of course Indie Annie Jones

Jim’s name is carried over to him because his father is a prominent merchant of the empire.

Edward’s name is a secret that he had kept hidden for many years. After asking him too many times, he finally told his brothers, the reason he has a family’s name is because he was actually from a middle ranked noble family. But other than that, he had refused to talk.

For some reason, Alan and Tommy, as well, refused to explain why they have family names.

For Jones, his name is the most unique among them. He was told by his father that they came from another land and his name is actually inherited from his ancestor just like the nobles of Saint Empire.

In the Empire, their name placement starts with their first name, and then their last name, but Jones’ family name is his first – Indie. While the second name, Annie, was supposed to be taken from his aunt; honouring her for whatever deeds he did not know.

The boys have heard that this is similar to those from the Eastern lands, but they did not practice having a middle name. This made Jones stand out stranger than the rest since no one he knew have such a format for their names.

In fact, even Jones’ father would not tell him much.

Now, even with all his friends’ names as references, and after much discussions the father and son pair could not decide what family name to pick for themselves.

Vouno seemed rather easy-going about this. In fact, he is a little too easy-going, to the point that any suggestions seem to work for him. But for Kairos, he felt there is a name on the tip of his tongue, waiting for his picking.

When he stubbornly tried to speak it out, he suddenly lost conscious for a second and then spoke a name that seems to come from an ancient language.

Astroire.

Despite it will become their new family name, Vouno simply said, “Hmm, As-tro-ry? Sounds catchy. Guess Vouno Astroire would work for me.”

When Kairos’ returned to focus, he already has a new family name. The two did not know that in ancient speak, it meant ‘from the stars’. The name felt odd to him, but it somehow felt fitting, and then he mentioned it no more.

All this while when the father and son duo were busy chatting, the outside world had gone crazy.

…..

At a corner of Saint Empire’s Capital City, a blubbery and untidy man holding the hand of a poorly dressed little girl rushed into a beautiful and lively shop in the middle of a busy street. The customers in the shop were either having their meal or browsing through the many selections placed in store and did not give them a second look. After all, despite this establishment being classy, they did not refuse business from the less fortunate.

The man scanned through the place nervously, as if he is searching for prey. Finally, his gaze landed on a counter at the side of the first floor, and a wicked glint entered his squinty eyes.

Rubbing off his nervous sweat from his forehead against the back of his hand, he pushed his way through the crowd, dragging the little girl behind him as he went up to the counter.

“Give me all your cash! NOW!”

*BANG*

The man struck the counter with a heavy club-like object, emphasising on his words.

“GIVE ME EVERYTHING YOU EARNED TODAY, YOU SLUT!” He screamed again.

With a pale face, Xuan Xian looked up at her husband, and her little daughter Ling’er in his grasp.

…..

At the polished hall of the Dark Gods family, Lord Yue is toying with a cylinder rod as long as a short sword. The metal of the rod itself is cold to his touch, and he could sense a powerful entity within it.

“This is the weapon that that boy Kairos created?” A deathly cold voice reverberated within the halls, shaking the very soul of all who heard it.

“Y… yes my Lord!” in front of him kneels the one who brought the rod from Xuan Xian’s husband.

“Very good. You are dismissed.”

When his subordinate left the hall, Lord Yue started studying the weapon in front of him. This tiny little rod that was used to make pastry can now be considered as one of the top weapons in the empire.

It would not be odd with the amount of power it can unleash, that if a smaller country were to get their hands of this rod, they might revere it as their treasured imperial weapon.

The feedback Lord Yue received from an infusion of his energy was no joke. The power pulsated throughout the metal rod and his eyes widen with unbelief.

“This rod could take these much energy into it? This is beyond Huang Grade, Immortal Rank weapon capacity but not yet an immortal weapon.

How could such a small vessel……”

…..

Somewhere in the vast land of the immortals.

Within a damp dungeon that is dimly lit and smells of mould and algae, an old man sat depressed on the cold floor.

“Old Ye!” A girlish voice screamed at him from far.

The owner of the voice is Ah Du Eh. The young immortal in charge of recruitment for the Immortal Blue Sect.

Nearly a month ago, the immortal Old Ye had been tasked to retrieve a young boy with immense talent. However, not only did he fail tremendously, he even mysteriously appeared in the great hall of the sect without a shred of clothing on himself.

The two times that Aisa, the tiny white primordial dragon, had pushed Old Ye with her snout had sent him to different places with such great inertia force that it had caused all his clothes to turn into dust. It is all because of her great power that could rival the primal forces of nature.

The unfortunate thing is, he had appeared right in front of Ah Du Eh who is his direct superior in his sorry state, without a single cloth to cover his butt. And the young lady definitely did not care to understand how he land himself into such a wretched situation.

As a talented individual with a powerful background, and a lady of high-standing, such a rude behaviour of strutting naked in a public hall is entirely unacceptable.

Without hearing his explanations, she had sent him straight to the dungeons and left him there all these while.

Thanks to Aisa, the poor old immortal had spent nearly a month in a dungeon that does not have much heavenly energy, until her temper finally subsided. After a day in the Mortal Realms which drained him of nearly a month’s worth of cultivation, he did not even have a chance to recover. Even his immortal energies are running low now.

He checked his energy stores within his body frequently and sighs each time pitifully. It doesn’t matter how many times he checks, but the amount of energy will never increase in this accursed place.

When he finally heard his superior’s voice, a glimmer of hope appeared in his heart.

Maybe she will finally release him?

However, at the same time, he couldn’t push down a powerful nervousness that struck him.

What if she has finally decided to turn him into a pile of garbage for insulting her eyes?

Old Ye asked himself honestly and knew for certain that he wasn’t a looker.

That young girl must not have seen the body of a single man, but she was forced to see such a traumatic scene.

“Maybe I’ll become garbage today. Wu wu wuuu… I hope it’d be swift at least. Wuuuwwwaaa…”

“Old Ye! Why have you not answered me!”

“Y..es.. Yes, young mistress! Old Ye is here.”

“Good. Get out of this smelly place right now! This place seriously reeks!

There’s no way I’m going in there to get you.”

She sent a couple of guards hastily into the dungeon and unlocked it for him. Once he has redeemed his freedom, she brought him to the hall.

At one corner of the hall sits Ah Du Eh in her pretty blue robes.

At the other corner, far away from her, is Old Ye. All the way across the 300-meter wide hall.

“Old Ye! Just Shout Your Reply From There Kay? You Really Really Stinks!” her voice reverberated across.

“Yeessssss Younggg Mistressss!”

“OKAY, GREAT! Old Ye, You are to go to this tiny Mortal Clan, called… Uhhhhhhhhhh… What was it again? Oh yeah, the Solitary Blades Clan. Hmm quaint name. Anyway! Negotiate with them about the training for that boy. Tell them our sect would like to share their disciple. Retrieve the Time-space ring I’ve prepared for you on your way out!

Gosh, I can’t stand this anymore. I can smell you from all the way here! I’ll get someone else to brief you the rest of the things you must know. DISMISS!”

“Yeeeessssss Y…Young Mistressss” Old Ye shouted his reply and dashed out like a wild, foul-smelling, wind.

…..

In a room that is larger than the house of most commoners, sat a boy trying to comb his hair.

When he is seen from a certain angle, his long and slightly wavy hair is beautifully blond and smooth. As many of the practitioners do in Saint Empire, he tied the long strands at the back of his head into a ponytail, letting it flow down without hindrance.

However, at the crest of his head on the mid-scalp, short hair that does not fit with the rest are spiking upwards.

Without a doubt, this is the most ridiculous hairstyle among all throughout the many lands.

“Come in!” the young boy called out.

And immediately a group of guys entered his room, standing in a neat row.

They are the personal guards of the young boy, and each of them has the exact same hairstyle as the young boy.

“Good! We will make this to be the new fashion for the empire.”

Then he mumbled darkly, “I will return this humiliation Kairos!!”

“Where are the fifteen? Ask them and their superiors to see me now. At once!”