"Do you know why mother gave you your name?"

"No."

"It’s because Rick means leader in spirit tongue. Mother believes you’ll become a great elf one day and that’s why she told the elders to give you another chance to awaken your talent. She believes in you, Rick, and so do I, and that’s why I want you to believe in yourself as well."

Gwen continued. "You don’t have to be afraid of any elf. You are the son of the Chieftess, so if any adult or elder stares or glares at you, I want you to growl back at them. Stand your ground and show them you’re one of us, whether they want to accept you or not. Can you do that for me?" Gwen asked with a serious look on her face.

It was the first time Rick had ever seen Gwen so serious and he could definitely feel how she meant every word she said.

Rick’s body tingled as he felt the hair on his skin rise at the realisation of someone actually believing that he could do something and accomplish it.

It created a warm feeling coursing through his soul and body, and this warm feeling really touched Rick’s heart and it made him clench his hand into a fist as he gave Gwen a reassuring nod in response.

Seeing this, Gwen smiled and leaned closer to him. "Good. You’ll do great tomorrow, Rick. I know you will."

Rick subconsciously leaned closer and hugged her.

Gwen was taken aback by this gesture because never before had she hugged anyone in the clan.

In fact, she had never seen any elf hugging another elf before, but since Rick had hugged her just now, Gwen couldn’t deny how satisfying it felt to have someone hug her.

"Thank you, Gwen." Rick thanked her as he buried his head in her bountiful breasts.

Meanwhile, Gwen didn’t shove him away.

Instead, she gently patted his head with a smile on her lips. "You’re welcome." She replied happily while feeling proud by how she had just acted like a big sister to Rick just now.

But while she was grinning like a cute little girl, Gwen suddenly realised something she hadn’t told Rick yet.

"Oh, that reminds me."

"What is it?" Rick asked, pulling his head back to look at Gwen.

"Have you ever wondered why we elves carry out our menhir awakening along with the rite of adulthood?"

"Isn’t it to make other elves see me as an adult and a hunter?"

"Well yes, you’re right about that, but that’s not all."

"There’s more?"

"Yep. There are a lot more rewards that come with awakening your talent and becoming an adult. First of all, you’ll be receiving your very own marking of adulthood."

"What’s that?"

"It’s this." Gwen sat up with a giggle to show Rick her right arm which had her tribal marking on her upper right arm.

Rick sat up as well and he noticed the marking on Gwen’s arm.

It was like a circle with a few smaller circles within it.

"Every elf has different types of markings. Some are for completing the rite and others are for having a mate or accomplishing something extraordinary."

"But what about yours?" Rick asked as he slowly touched her arm.

"Mine is different from most other elves because of the things I’ve hunted in the past."

In other words, Gwen had hunted some dangerous forest predators in the past.

These beasts were monsters even her peers at the time couldn’t handle on their own, so it had allowed her to earn her unique tribal marking. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"But that’s not all, Rick, because becoming an adult and a hunter also means you’ll get to have your own mate."

"A mate?"

"Yes, your mate will be your life partner. You might have one, two or maybe even four, but this depends only on whether you’re able to hunt something good."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if you awaken your talent, you’ll be asked to take part in a rite to become a hunter, right?"

"Yes."

"But to be a hunter, you need to hunt something big and amazing for everyone to acknowledge you as a great hunter. Doing this will attract any girl that’s already interested in you."

"Wait, wait, wait. So you’re saying if I hunt something big, girls will come and ask me to be their mate?"

"Well, not any girl will come to you. Only the girls who do not have a mate will come to you, but they won’t come empty-handed. They’ll offer you what they hunt or gather during their own rite, so if you accept it, the two of you will become life partners."

’Woah, that’s amazing!!’ Rick screamed internally, but he stopped grinning the moment he realised something and he gently muttered to himself.

"But will any girl really come to me?"

"..... " Gwen heard this and she remained silent for a while before opening her mouth to speak. "Rick, there’s something you need to know."

Gwen explained to him how the elves in the clan had always seen him as an unwanted and cursed elf.

She explained to him how their mother had taken him as her son despite the elders warning her not to, because no one knew where he was from.

In summary, Gwen explained everything the system had already explained to him, so Rick wasn’t really as shocked as Gwen had expected him to be.

In fact, to her surprise, Rick simply smiled and assured her that he wouldn’t let this new information she had shared with him hurt or affect his belief in awakening his talent.

Gwen was left speechless the moment she heard him say this, because a part of her hadn’t wanted to tell him at all, but she knew sooner or later Rick was definitely going to find out about this.

However, she couldn’t have predicted her little brother behaving so relaxed about the fact that he was viewed as a cursed elf in the clan.

She expected him to be angry or sad, or worse, she feared he might regain his memories and return to his old ways, but to her surprise, he was reacting in the complete opposite way to what she had expected.

This made Gwen genuinely impressed by how maturely and calmly he was reacting to the news he had just heard, so she smiled and held his hand softly.