Middle Name

Artem silently laid in bed, observing everything around him as the days went on.

The realm he was reborn in was weird. The Ki in the air felt different, it was difficult to say it was tainted, just different.

The architecture and people were different from what he knew too, it seemed they were a different race of humans.

Their culture were similar to what he knew, but differences appeared.

Clothing for example, the people did not wear robes but rather shirts and jackets. The worst were the ladies, he could not fathom why they liked dresses which were so... wide at the bottom.

It was slightly grotesque, when Artem imagined what it was underneath that made it look like that but he quickly disregarded it.

A month after he was born, his parents brought him somewhere. Artem was held in his mother's hands, so he was unable to check the surroundings.

Artem's soul was too powerful for a mortal's much less a baby's body, even using his soul sense could have unintended consequences.

When they alighted from the carriage, an old but clean manor stood ahead of him. The manor was bigger than their own.

No servants were present to greet the duke and his wife in, despite this the couple showed only respect in their stance and entered the house after a few knocks to inform of their presence.

Entering the manor, an old butler greeted the duke and his wife, and brought them deep into the manor.

"The old master is inside."

"Thank you."

The duke didn't hesitate and pushed open the doors, inside seemed like a council.

Ahead, an old grandpa sat on the highest throne, to his left was an old grandma and another old grandpa to his right. Each sat on their own unique thrones, the highest throne seemed to be made of stone with rough textures, it looked incredibly heavy.

The grandma's throne was made of some kind of black metal, large clean indentations of squares decorated the entire throne. On the top of the throne, a hammer head was presented, it's handle sheathed within the throne.

The grandpa to the side sat on a throne of wood, with a bark like texture, even branches grew from the sides. A bow was etched onto it.

The duke and his wife kneeled in their presence, their head held low leaving Artem to stare at the three.

"Ho? So this is your child?"

"Yes, this is my newborn son. He came into this world a month ago. As per tradition, we are here to ask Ancestor for a middle name."

Artem felt his mother bring him up to the ancestor's sight after his father finished speaking.

The three ancestors looked on at the baby, faint pressure spreading from the middle ancestor.

However, Artem didn't cry like they expected, rather he stared on defiantly.

'Are they seriously pressuring a baby?' He thought.

After a moment, the middle ancestor lightly laughed. The female ancestor continued to look at Artem, a glint of anticipation within her eyes.

The ancestor that sat on the sword throne simply continued to look at Artem, his visage not changing.

"Very well, then today on his middle name shall be Aspistes!"

Artem felt a weird energy enter him as he was bestowed the name.

"Thank you Ancestor! From today on, his full name shall be Artem Aspistes Titan!"

"Good. We will meet again when you retire, if nothing else you may leave."

"Yes."

As they left the room and then manor, Artem busily checked the energy that entered his body. After a while, Artem deduced that the power came from his new middle name. It affected his body, strengthening it and toughening it, giving it an overall boost in physique.

With his probing, Artem also discovered that he was not entirely human, a small, tiny, inexplicably little amount of divine blood.

The blood was dormant before, but the middle name given by the ancestor had awaken the blood. It reacted to the new name, strengthening him to fit the new name.

Of course, Artem knew not what the name meant but guesses could be made.

The blood boosted his physical body, so it could mean things like health or strength.

'What a pity...'

To Artem, such a name wasn't a huge blessing but a waste, his skills laid not in physical battle after all.