To Live Again, For the First Time!

Somewhere else, another Master-disciple pair were having a much more harmonious... interaction.

Emilin released a sigh after everything was over and wished his big brother all the best before disconnecting.

"Are you really Master M?" Levi ask again cautiously so that his boss wouldn't have to do so.

Xander's gaze that hadn't left Emilin showed how he too was awaiting a response.

Emilin looked at them both before responding.

"Yes, I am indeed M."

Emilin didn't intend to hide anything, and she didn't find it strange at all that they were shocked.

In this situation, it would be best if she gave them some time right?

"Oh...," Xander looked down at his own hands as if counting with them before his eyes widened.

*Cough* *Cough*

The remaining water and saliva were coughed out by Xander and he seemed out of breath.

"So you were 5?"

This was a little too absurd.

This feeling could not be compared to the one he felt just a few moments ago when he figured that TWO was eight years old when they first met.

Xander had once thought that he was a genius, but now he understood how others felt when looking at him, feeling as if they were still a kid playing in the mud.

"Yeah, it took quite a while for me to be able to start typing things with those stubby fingers of mine back then. Those reports were a pain to write," Emilin's face darkened in disdain for those hands of hers that failed to type properly before much practice.

(・_・;)

Xander: How am I supposed to respond to that?

Xander: I have finally realized how unqualified I am to humblebrag. What to do now?

Xander: Is this the difference between a miniboss and the final boss?

Xander put how his fingers in defeat.

Wait.

Defeat?

Why should I feel defeated?

Nonono.

This isn't the time to feel defeated, but rather overjoyed, right?

Indeed it was, rather than feeling defeated, Xander realized that he should be over the moon!

[Prime example of female mood swings.]

It was only natural that his future Master was better than him!

It just meant that he would have to work even harder so that the disciple could finally surpass the Master one day.

Even if that day wouldn't be coming any time soon.

Xander could only trust his own talent.

"Then about the ceremony tomorrow... are there any specific plans?"

Xander continued to ask.

Emilin pondered for a bit.

"Actually, now that I think about it, the ceremony is dispensable in this case scenario..."

A question mark floated above both Xander and Levi's heads.

?

"Well, I'm meaning for you to become my successor, not my inheritor, so no ceremony, for now, should be just fine right? Not to mention this since this is the case, it would probably be more convenient for you to succeed my name after you have assimilated all the knowledge from the folders."

"That is if you are willing."

Emilin kept elaborating as this was an issue that she had only thought of right now after Theodore took in another Master as his teacher.

It was only now that she had realized the difference between some of these procedures.

When accepting a disciple, as a Master, there was habitually a ceremony to officialize the event.

Similar to a marriage, this has no real significance when it comes to the procedural parts, but is normally not skipped.

Not unless there were special circumstances such as that of his brother's where the two parties didn't want to meet each other face to face.

[AN: My god, when I read that last part again while editing, I imagined marriage in another 20-30 years when people wouldn't even want to meet each other when getting married…]

But now what Emilin was talking about was a whole other case.

"Ma-Master! You've already reached the Grandmaster level?!"

Xander was stunned and stuttered a little.

Though he had strongly considered this possibility in the past, when he looked at the rather slender, small (really not that small though), and young girl in front of him...

The description didn't fit!!!

Have you ever seen a 15-year-old grandmaster?

And in a field like medicine!

Frick, all the other grandmasters were already one foot into death's door.

[Tecnincally, Emilin had once put in both feet but isn't it as simple as stepping out? But let's ignore that for now.]

"Well, yes and no. I'll go get the certifications next time, but you haven't answered my question yet."

When Xander finally escaped from the buzz in his head that came after the revelation, telling him he was going crazy, he thought back.

What question was it again?

If he was willing to be Master- no- Grandmaster M's successor?

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

A million times yes!

If anyone says no to an offer like this, then they can just go fly to the heavens!

Those were probably only the people who were certain they could make an even bigger name for themselves, not wanting to succeed their teacher's title.

Most of them being a little too arrogant for their own good.

But by the time the adrenaline stopped rushing through Xander's head, he realized that he hadn't spoken yet despite having said yes so many times in his head.

"Oh, no. I mean yes! I meant oh, no I haven't said anything yet, but the answer is yes."

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"Okay then."

"Wait, but Master, don't I have to at least be a Master too to be able to succeed you?"

Though Xander was close, that didn't mean he was at that point yet.

There was a grand chasm between doing something and almost doing something.

"Don't we have plenty of time?"

Emilin sounded indifferent yet to Xander, that voice contained so much faith!

It was as if she were saying, you'll get there at some point right?

I can wait.

If this were said by anyone else, Xander might have just humblebragged a little, but he wouldn't have taken it to heart.

He generally ignored people who said: Ah! I'm sure you'll become a master sooner or later!

But this was coming from his teacher so it was completely different!

Still, Xander was still quite startled.

Masters would take in a number of disciples, depending on the amount of time they had as well as their personal preferences and available candidates.

But those were all people who may or may not be competing for their Master's inheritance.

Everything they leave behind, property, money, their knowledge, and their secret techniques.

On the other hand, a Grandmaster was different.

A Grandmaster could leave behind their name if they found a suitable candidate who was at a minimum of a Master level.

This was their name, their title, their reputation, and their people's faith in the Grandmaster's skills being passed on to their disciple.

This was clearly because people didn't want to watch the decline of a title/ name just because the successor was someone who wasn't qualified to pass down those techniques.

It was a rather simple matter.

People didn't want the information to be lost due to human selfishness.

Especially when every piece of information from a Grandmaster could heed in a breakthrough.

But then again, of course, Grandmasters could still do whatever they liked in the end, it wasn't like they could be easily forced.

It was in general, condemned by the people who understood enough to know what it meant.

As a show of respect to their industry, Grandmasters wouldn't usually do such a thing.

Of course, it wasn't just once or twice that a government had to do an 'inspection' and ransacking of a Grandmaster's house looking for documents in the name of public justice or some other sh*tty excuse.

There were also a lot of Grandmasters who actively looked for people who could carry their name in the future with no results.

In the end, many of them either donated their research, sold it, giving the money to their family, or went to the association to make an inheritance with specific requirements that future generations could try and access.

The third type was in the minority as the process was a tedious one.

The second one was even more so since Grandmasters generally did not lack money with abundant government funding and patent money from various counties (Of course this is only in the fields of research and not business-related ones, when it comes to those this is not accurate).

And thus the most frequent occurrence was the first, with many donating the research to companies or organizations they were familiar with or connected to.

But all in all, these successors were different from normal inheritors.

And successors were normally only chosen after a long time of observation with many Grandmasters wanting to choose from multiple disciples.

It was only natural that Xander would be shell-shocked to know that (Grand)Master M had already decided on him to be her successor.

That meant that he was going to be the second-generation M!

Being called M when he officially succeeded the title.

And though it didn't seem like too much as of now, Xander knew that in the future, the weight of this title would only grow and not diminish.

However, what he didn't know was that he was so easily determined to be the successor because Emilin couldn't possibly bother looking for another person to take up this job, wanting to wash clean from the work as fast as possible.

Oh, and um, that and her great confidence in Xander… right, that. 

Yes, her confidence in him was really the deciding factor!