Coming-of-Age Ceremony

"Dear Kalei, how much longer do you intend to stay inside? Come out quickly if you're ready; the radiance of the Moon Goddess is about to reach the rooftop." A soft voice drifted in from outside, carrying a hint of complaint in its tone.

"I know, Mother. You've already said that several times; I'm coming right now."

Kalei Nightdew sighed softly, carefully closing the yellowed notebook in his hands and tucking it into an inconspicuous hidden compartment at the head of his bed, before sitting up from the soft, fur-covered mattress.

He changed into a clean blue robe specially prepared for today's ceremony and approached the silver-rimmed mirror embedded in the wall.

Bright moonlight spilled into the room through the window, revealing a young, handsome face in the mirror—a face with pale purple skin, pointed ears, and strands of silver-white hair framing them.

Clearly, this was not the face of a human, but that of a Night Elf on the Azeroth Continent.

Kalei raised a hand to rub his cheeks, trying to recall his face from before he transmigrated, but those memories felt like morning mist, gradually dissipating and impossible to grasp.

Only then did he realize he had been in this world for far too long—so long that he had almost forgotten he was once an Eastern human from another world.

Kalei had transmigrated to the Azeroth Continent one hundred years ago. As for the exact time, or how long remained until the major turning point of the continent—the opening of the Dark Portal—Kalei still hadn't figured it out.

As a World of Warcraft player, Kalei knew that Azeroth was not a good place to transmigrate to.

It was a land of constant strife and endless disasters, with the Burning Legion prowling the cosmos outside and three Old Gods lurking in the shadows, attempting to corrupt the continent from within. A moment of carelessness could lead to the risk of transmigrating all over again.

Fortunately, the silver lining in his misfortune was that Kalei hadn't transmigrated into some laboring human commoner in Stormwind, nor into a Kobold mining underground, but into a Night Elf.

On Azeroth, Night Elves possessed long lifespans, were friends of nature, and were blessed by the mysterious Moon Goddess, Elune. Their cultivation talent and survival capabilities were far superior to other races.

But Kalei also knew that while Night Elves were powerful, they would appear helpless in the face of the various world-ending catastrophes that would follow the opening of the Dark Portal.

To prepare for these potential disasters, Kalei had spent his time since birth trying to confirm the current timeline while cultivating as early as possible to make himself strong.

However, to Kalei's dismay, he had achieved unsatisfactory results in both regards so far.

As an immortal race, Night Elves had almost no concept of time, and no one bothered to record it. Kalei could hardly find any accurate timeline information within Night Elf society.

He had once considered traveling to the Eastern Kingdoms, where humans lived, to seek answers, but his young body and his parents' strict supervision made it impossible for him to take a single step.

As for cultivation, it was even more infuriating.

When he was over forty, he had begun training under a Druid mentor at his father's arrangement. He had practiced for over fifty years, yet he had only just entered the threshold of the Druid path.

Wasn't it said that transmigrators all had cheats? Why didn't he? In fact, he did have a cheat; whenever he focused his mind, a transparent panel visible only to him would appear before his eyes.

[Name]: Kalei Nightdew

[Status]: Normal

[Race]: Night Elf

[Class Level]: Level 13 Druid / Level 14 Arcanist

[Personal Talent]: None

[Racial Talents]: Shadowmeld, Quickness, Touch of Elune.

[Class Talents]: None

[Druid Skills]

Basic Skills:

Nature Perception (12/100)

Meditation (53/100)

Nature Absorption (32/100)

Nature Cultivation (Mastered)

Primary Class Skills:

Thick Hide (18/100)

Abundance (19/100)

Starfire (22/100)

Healing (Mastered, can comprehend Rejuvenation)

Entangling Roots (Mastered, can comprehend Entangling Roots)

...

[Arcanist Skills]

Basic Skills:

Arcane Perception (69/100)

Meditation (53/100)

Arcane Absorption (Mastered)

Language (Mastered)

Primary Class Skills:

Conjure Food (53/100)

Conjure Water (61/100)

Arcane Missiles (56/100)

Slow Fall (19/100)

Mana Equipment: Druid Robe (Common)

Mana Items: None

Pets: None

Note: To comprehend a skill, one must first understand the information regarding that skill.

It was a pity that although he possessed this panel which appeared to be a cheat, its functionality was extremely limited.

Aside from objectively displaying his various abilities and current status, its only use was to scout an opponent's strength and digitize it into a target level; beyond that, it had no other purpose.

He could find no experience bar on this panel, nor could he find any place to allocate points. He only wanted to ask: how much use could such a panel possibly bring him?

Of course, if one insisted on finding other uses, he could at least use this panel to examine his own traits and shortcomings.

For instance, according to the lore of the Azeroth Continent, a Night Elf should possess six racial traits: Shadowmeld, Quickness, Touch of Elune, Prowl, Nature Resistance, and Spirit of the Wisp. Perhaps because his soul originated from another world, he was missing three of them entirely.

The significant lack of racial traits explained why his progress on the path of the Druid was so sluggish.

However, while his talent for Druidism was mediocre, his talent for the arcane was quite good.

Several years ago, he had discovered a scroll for arcane cultivation passed down from ancient times among his grandfather's relics.

At first, considering the Night Elf prejudice against the arcane, he had never dared to practice it.

Over the past two years, he had grown increasingly disappointed with his Druid training. In order to gain more power, he began practicing the arcane in secret. To his surprise, his achievements in the arcane quickly caught up to his Druid progress, which left him pleasantly surprised.

Yet, surprise was one thing; he dared not reveal it. Given the tolerant attitude of the Night Elves toward their kin, they might not do anything to him, but they would likely isolate him, which could implicate his family.

Therefore, he often had to use nature energy in private to mask his arcane energy, lest it be discovered by others.

Kalei let his thoughts wander for a moment before he opened the door and stepped out.

Today was the day he was to go to the Temple of the Moon to participate in his coming-of-age ceremony. Completing the ceremony meant he would no longer be under such strict constraints and could execute his plans as he pleased; he did not want to miss such an important day.

Outside the door, his mother, Velina, was waiting for him, dressed in a pale green gown.

Velina had a gentle appearance and looked to be under thirty, though in reality, she had lived for who knew how many years.

Seeing her son emerge, the look of reproach on her face softened, and she asked in fluent, elegant Darnassian: "Child, what were you busy with in your room? It is getting late."

Kalei dared not tell his mother about flipping through his notebook, in which he had recorded many events that might occur in the future on the Azeroth Continent using square characters.

He knew his mother would not harm him even if she knew, and he believed that in this world, no one else recognized those square characters.

But he was even more aware that this was a world of magical wonders; perhaps once someone obtained his notebook, they might use methods he did not know to decipher information from those markings, and that would be troublesome.

Seeing his mother's questioning, Kalei quickly offered a smile: "It is nothing. Isn't today the day of my coming-of-age ceremony? I suddenly thought of Father and the notes on Druid knowledge he left at home, and I couldn't help but take them out to look."

When Velina heard him mention her husband, her eyes reddened, and she turned away in silence.

Seeing that he had stirred up his mother's sorrow, Kalei felt a pang of guilt and hurried over to gently press her shoulders, comforting her: "Mother, I am sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

Velina turned back, took his hand, and lowered her head: "I am fine, child. If your father knew of your current achievements, he would surely be proud of you."

Kalei nodded, his father's habitual, sheepish smile appearing in his mind's eye.

His father, Malka Nightdew, was a clumsy Night Elf Druid.

As everyone knew, Night Elves were friends of nature and favored by the moon goddess Elune, possessing innate talent for the Druid profession. As long as they were given time, they would surely achieve something in their Druid training.

However, Malka Nightdew had practiced for over a thousand years and remained a low-level Druid, his strength not exceeding level 15, still a hundred thousand miles away from the legendary Druid dream he had craved since childhood.

About forty years ago, Moonshadow Village, where Kalei lived, was suddenly attacked by the demon-spawned Satyr. To protect the village, his wife, and his son, Malka Nightdew had bravely joined the battle.

Unexpectedly, after the battle ended and the Satyr were defeated, Malka had gone missing.

With the help of the villagers, Kalei and his mother searched inside and outside the village for dozens of days, but they never found a trace of Malka. From then on, his fate became a mystery in the village and an eternal pain for Kalei and his mother, Velina.

Fortunately, although Malka had disappeared, he had already secured a Druid mentor for Kalei before he vanished.

After his father went missing, Kalei studied hard under his Druid mentor and spent several decades catching up to his father.

He had not expected such an achievement to be praised by so many, with some even calling him a genius.

But Kalei knew himself that he was no genius. It was true that compared to his peers, he did move a little faster on the path of the Druid, but that was all.

A long lifespan was a strength of the Night Elves, but it was also their weakness; they never considered the passage of time when doing anything.

Most of them had innate talent for Druidism, but they only spent half an hour or an hour a day realizing that talent, whereas Kalei spent several times that amount in private.

This cruel reality made Kalei realize that his talent for Druidism was not much higher than his father Malka's.

But as the saying went, as long as there was enough time, Kalei could still achieve something—but did he have that time?