The naming

When Nikolai heard his mother speak for the first time, he felt his entire being relax…

What enemies? … What technologies? All these seemed to be pushed to the back of his mind at the sound of his mother's voice.

"Tracy! You have helped me a lot during the past two days. I may not remember you from before, but I know that you deeply care for me. You may be my only friend at the moment."

"So, allow me to say the words that I have been longing to say for the past few hours."

"Thank you for being there for me and my son in this trying moment." Nikolai heard his mother speak in an enchanting tone, her voice clearly expressing sincere gratitude.

[So, the other woman is called Tracy.] Nikolai took great care to remember this name. If there was a chance in the future, he would clearly express his gratitude more effectively.

"Vivian! You don't need to say much. I already told you that we have always been sisters."

"Instead, you should be thinking about the name you are going to give to the child. Only by giving him a name, can he create resonance with the 'will of the world'. Otherwise, he may miss out on the blessing of the world." The other woman replied.

She seemed to place a lot of importance on the naming ritual.

[What does she mean by the 'resonance' and 'will of the world'? Are these some waves emitted by the world which resonate with people?] Nikolai mused without making heads and tails of the phrase.

"Tracy, I would like to request that you become the 'godparent' of my Son." He heard his mother continue speaking to the other woman.

"Of course, ... Of course, … I agree. Can we now name the child? He is missing out on the blessings of the world." Tracy quickly replied, nodding her head like a chicken pecking some grains.

She appeared to be the happiest among the trio.

"Let me see..." He then heard his mother say.

"Those blue eyes appear to be very intelligent,… and I would like my son to always use intellect to resolve most of the barriers that will appear before him."

"… I don't want him to be a brute who can only solve challenges through the use of his fists. That is, unless it is completely necessary."

"My son, from today, your first name shall be 'Hugo'… And you will take on my surname 'Medici'."

"… I can't remember your father's name as I was previously involved in an accident. Sorry about this my son." With a solemn expression, his mother quickly added looking at him as if wanting to curve his facial features deep within her mind.

"By the 'Will of Gaia' as my witness and Tracy Edwards as the godmother, I now declare that my son will from henceforth go by the names of 'Hugo Medici'."

"...Please take him under your tutelage. I pray for all this in the name of the 'Mother of all creation', the 'Protector of all', and the 'Omnipotent and Omniscient Gaia'."

"May the grace of Gaia remain with us from now... And forever always. Amen." Nikolai heard his mother chanting some kind of prayer.

It was at this moment that an ancient primordial formless will seemed to pervade the whole enclosed space. The will was concentrated on the place where the trio was. It was not threatening but comforting.

This 'will of the world' was why the people of Gaia took the naming ritual seriously. It was one of the few moments when a newborn child and his parents could be in harmony with the will of the world.

This naming ritual had been going on in Gaia for the past few millennia which was even before the colonialists arrived on the planet.

In some cases, the parents could gain some enlightenment about some of the 'mystical laws of the world', and in other cases, an 'inborn ability' could easily be awakened within the child.

Such situations could only happen if the parents had some bit of past good karma.

However, if a parent delayed the naming ritual, there was even a chance that the 'world will' would treat the young child as an alien. Then the child would be faced with calamity after calamity.

The child may be in his bed, but get easily get struck by lightning, or he could be eating but then choke on his food.

It was just very hard to survive after being alienated by the 'world-will'. This was one of the reasons why Tracy was harrying Vivian to name the child.

The other reason was that she was scared of the possibility of the mana-crystals running out of energy before the naming ritual was completed.

Tracy had worked hard to isolate the whole enclosed space during the birth of the reincarnated Nikolai, to prevent anyone from perceiving the birth of Nikolai, and his naming ritual.

With some preparation, some residents of the Rafaela's 'Red Ghost Castle' could easily take advantage of the current situation to steal some Karmic luck from the newborn child.

The ancient families of Melekar were infamous in the whole of Gaia for their evil ways of seeking power.

Although the Rafaela family head advocated for fair trade and was an ally of the Medici family, she couldn't guarantee that other individuals within this ancient family could resist the temptation of stealing karmic luck if the opportunity was presented before them.

At the moment of the 'world-will' descent, Nikolai could feel that the will had the same ancient aura as the one that had tormented him in the darkness before - albeit much weaker.

The will seemed to want to label him in some kind of mysterious way, but at that moment, Nikolai heard an ancient sigh.

The 'sigh' pervaded his entire being, and then… Golden light burst out from within his body dispersing the ancient will of the world.

All this happened within a second, and the trio including the 'reborn Nikolai' just passed it off as a blessing bestowed by the 'world-will'. Such mysterious scenes were the common norm during the naming rituals of Planet Gaia.

In a flash, everything was back to normal and Nikolai - the great inventor of planet earth had a new name.

[Is this the god of this world? … Such ancient and terrifying will!!]

[… But what was that sigh I heard from before? … Was it the god's sigh or have I been recognized as an alien soul!?] Hugo was confused.

Hugo's thoughts were in a mess as he couldn't understand the essence and physical laws of this new world.

He had always been confident about his intellect, however, now he began to understand that he was just a frog at the bottom of a well in his past life.

Hugo was both scared and at the same time excited about this new world filled with infinite mysteries.

His pride as a great inventor and peerless engineer started to scatter, slowly leaving a pure 'young Hugo' who was as curious about the world as any other young child.

[This world is filled with entirely different physical laws and systems. Although it may be mysterious, it should also be filled with a lot of opportunities.]

[I need to start learning everything afresh… I can't let my previous life shackle me to my old ways of thinking.] The 'young Hugo' thought while making a goal for himself.

He couldn't help but display a smile for the first time on his young face.

"Look… He is now smiling. He seems to like the name." The voice of the other lady interrupted his thought process.

"Do you think that he gained a strong ability from the will of the world?" The lady added looking curiously at him.

"I don't know? Aren't you supposed to be more knowledgeable about this? I don't remember you mentioning that you also lost your memories." He heard his mother speak.

Hugo tried to perceive everything about his body by making slight bodily movements, however, he felt that nothing had changed.

[What abilities are they talking about?] The Hugo was confused.

The other lady didn't take the sort of impolite reply to heart. She continued observing 'young Hugo' as if he was a painting in a museum.

To the 'young Hugo', the woman seemed a little bit childish. … And her next few words confirmed his hypothesis.

"Vivian! Let me hold 'little Hugo' for the moment. … Pretty please!? … You need to take a shower and you need some time to rest." He heard the other lady's pleading voice, her tone mischievous.

[Thought so. She should be one of those naughty and mischievous brats. The hotel maid - Alice seemed to be the same.] The young Hugo concluded, placing the labels of 'mischievous', 'childish', and 'naughty' on the innocent Tracy.

"Vivian! Please remember, that we have to always be prepared to escape at any given moment. We just don't know when the 'Manroes' will lock on to us."

"When Jonas comes back with the supplies, we should immediately leave the Rafaela household, otherwise, our lives may be in danger." Tracy's tone was solemn.