Tasks, Succession, Reclamation

It had been a year since he arrived in this world. Day after day of training had made six-year-old Yuan Shikai look more like an eight-year-old. His delicate face was like uncut jade, growing more pleasing the longer one looked at it.

Over the course of that year, Yuan Shikai had come to understand many things. For example, a day of routine training could raise his swordsmanship proficiency by roughly 1 point, his magecraft knowledge by 1 point, and his Reinforcement Magecraft training by 0.5 points.

Intermediate Swordsmanship 68/3000 (With intermediate swordsmanship, you could wield sword techniques proficiently. If you competed now, no one your age should be able to match you.)

Beginner Magecraft 379/500 (Same as above, omitted), Beginner Reading and Writing (Same as above, omitted), Beginner Reinforcement Magecraft 116/800 (Reinforcement Magecraft could greatly enhance a series of attributes such as strength, speed, defense, reaction, perception, and stamina. It was the jack-of-all-trades among magecraft. Its effects might seem singular, but it became the strongest in the late game. As long as the buffs stacked high enough, tearing apart Evils of Humanity with bare hands would not be a dream.)

Beginner bonus: 50%. Attribute points had risen from 19 to 43. With persistent daily training, he could gain around 2 points per month. He still had only 4 skill points; without missions or an increase in family members, there was no way to obtain more.

Seeing that the mission tab had not generated any missions left him helpless. Then, a mission suddenly appeared: Become Clan Head. Its content read: The former clan head's body had reached its limit. As the family's hope, it was only natural for you to succeed him as clan head.

But he was only six years old. No one knew that his soul belonged to a thirty-five-year-old man. Some proposed finding someone else to act as clan head first, then letting him take over when he was older.

Mission requirement: Eliminate all doubts and succeed as clan head. Mission reward: one lottery draw. Upon failure, no missions would appear before you succeeded as clan head.

Yuan Shikai stared at the mission tab, filled with excitement. At last, there was a mission, and it was not difficult. He was confident he could complete it; after all, the elders had all seen his training.

They all thought highly of him. During their occasional conversations, he had also voiced his own ideas and principles, which had received praise and approval. The ones questioning him were probably some uncle-generation relatives he rarely saw. Before the Elder Council, they would not even be able to raise their heads. This mission was practically free.

"Young Master, the clan head requests your presence in the council hall," a servant hurried over and said. "Understood. I'll go right away," Yuan Shikai replied.

Suddenly, he realized that perhaps the system's mission function could reveal certain things in advance. For instance, if something was about to happen and the system issued a related mission beforehand, could he infer something from it? But too little time had passed to be sure. He could only wait until he encountered such a situation again.

When he arrived at the council hall, he found that, besides the clan head and the Elder Council, there were many unfamiliar faces—people he had met only once or twice, or never before.

At that moment, the clan head spoke. "Quiet. Since everyone is here, I'll be direct. My body can no longer sustain my position as clan head. My intention is to pass the position on to Yuan Shikai. What are everyone's opinions? Does anyone object?"

A sharply dressed man in his forties said, "Yuan Shikai is the hope of our Genji Clan. Naturally, there is no problem with giving it to him, but he is only six years old. Isn't this too early?"

"I think we should find someone else to act as clan head first, then pass the position to him when he grows older. After all, aside from magecraft, he is not proficient in business or politics. The Genji Clan has thousands of people to support."

After the man finished speaking, the unfamiliar faces began to voice their agreement. The clan head and Elder Council, however, remained silent. Those who were resting with their eyes closed continued resting, those meditating continued meditating, and one even stared blankly at the ceiling. They want me to stand up and fight for myself, to use my own strength to suppress this bunch. What a pack of old foxes.

Yuan Shikai spoke up. "Greetings, uncles and elders. Perhaps we have met before, or perhaps we have not. Either way, allow me to greet you all." With that, he bowed respectfully to everyone.

"As the hope of this clan, I have not dared to slack off even once since I became aware of things. I have trained strictly according to the clan head's requirements. I could not live like an ordinary child. For the sake of the clan, I gave up certain trivial fantasies and remained ready at all times to shoulder this responsibility. Now that responsibility stands before me. I do not want to give it up, nor can I."

"I hope all of you, uncles and elders, will lend me your support." After speaking, he performed a dogeza-like bow. I'll play the sympathy card first and see how many blind fools there are. They'd better know what's good for them. Hmph.

Sure enough, after hearing his words, most people fell silent. Only the first man to speak continued, launching into grand arguments about how Yuan Shikai did not understand company affairs or the concept of money, and how a wrong decision might cause the family, which had only just recovered some of its strength, to fall back into Hell.

A pile of lofty nonsense made the corner of his mouth twitch. Same old routine. How boring.

Seeing that the Fourth Elder, who managed the finances, was still resting with his eyes closed, Yuan Shikai decisively said, "You can ask the Fourth Elder about that and see whether he believes I am capable."

He spoke disdainfully. Having been called out, the Fourth Elder could no longer pretend to remain unmoved. He said, "Do not be fooled by the young clan head's age. In truth, most of the current operating models and plans of the companies were proposed by him."

After that, the middle-aged men below began whispering among themselves. "Really? Those strategies and policies were actually proposed by the young clan head?" "Heaven bless our Genji Clan!" A flood of flattering words followed. Just as I said, this mission was free. No pressure at all.

At that moment, the clan head spoke. "Then, since no one has any objections, the position of clan head will formally be passed to Yuan Shikai. However, Shi Kai is indeed still too young."

"I have decided to announce this matter to the outside world now, but publicly claim that I remain the clan head. When Shi Kai is around ten years old, we will formally reveal it to the public. I hope everyone present can keep this confidential."

Everyone agreed. The clan head took out Dojigiri Yasutsuna. I slowly stepped forward and knelt before him, accepting Dojigiri Yasutsuna as I gazed at the famous blade with a history spanning a thousand years.

Suddenly, the system appeared: Famous blade Dojigiri Yasutsuna detected. System reclamation function activated. Reclaiming it will grant 20 card draw rewards. Reclaim?

Without hesitation, I chose no. If I had chosen yes, I would probably have been carried off the stage. After the meeting ended, everyone congratulated and encouraged me before leaving one after another. I returned to my room as well.

It had to be said that it was difficult to find a family as united as the Genji Clan, one without any internal disagreements. Looking throughout history, there had always been those who wanted to usurp the throne to some degree or another. The title of hope of the clan was no empty boast.

He then asked the system about the purpose of the reclamation function. The system replied that the reclamation function could reclaim high-value items—whether an item counted as high-value would be determined by the system—and grant the host card draw rewards.

It seemed he would need to collect more high-value items in the future and see whether he could exchange them for rewards.