《The Demon Lord's Seal》 Chapter 1 - The Thorne Clan of Redwyrm It was an early winter day. As a light snow fell from the sky a force of knights thundered into the courtyard of a high mountain castle. The leader dismounted and saluted the young man coming from the training yard. ¡°My Prince, I bring word from the capital. I saw your father¡¯s banner. Is he in the keep?¡± The knight smiled as he sized up the young man. Prince Kylin was an outstanding talent and had earned a high position next to his father. He had a favorable mix of his father¡¯s noble stature and his mother¡¯s fine features. His long golden hair evoked an image of a young lion full of vigor and pride. The nobles and common folk of Serris had faith that this promising young man would continue King Kenneth¡¯s legacy and bring further glory to Serris. Kylin returned the salute before replying to his father¡¯s old retainer, ¡°Lord Duncan, father is inside. I will lead you to him directly.¡± The two men entered the keep and proceeded to a long hall where King Kenneth Edris of Serris was providing some final instructions to his generals. With winter the campaigning season had ended and Serris¡¯ mighty military was preparing to winter near the kingdom¡¯s volatile borders. King Kenneth built upon his father¡¯s military and civil reforms and Serris¡¯ power grew tremendously during his reign due to this solid foundation. ¡°Lord Fenwell, I leave the logistics preparations for next year¡¯s campaigns to you. Also, be sure to liaise with Lord Raleigh. I have assigned the rejuvenation of the Denaan floodplain to him. If he needs manpower for that, I expect you to support him. ¡°Lords Vale and Saman, begin recruiting and training the tribes and clans in your new territories. I expect two fresh brigades by next spring. Fenwell, see to it that they have the gold, provisions, and equipment necessary for this task. Is anyone unclear of my expectations for them this winter? Alright, dismissed. Return to your families. I will see you all again next spring.¡± The men and women in the room all laughed, bowing to their King, joking and bidding each other farewell before leaving. This year¡¯s campaigns had been long and most had not had a chance to return home since mustering this spring. Many of them shared pleasantries with the prince on their way out and when his father saw him and Lord Duncan he beckoned them over. ¡°Son, sit there. Duncan what news do you bring from the capitol that it could not be sent by spell or wait until I arrived this afternoon?¡± Hearing this question, Lord Duncan laughed, ¡°My liege I was just looking for an excuse to go for a ride when news of the successful delivery of our tribute to Redwyrm arrived, so I seized the opportunity and led some retainers to come deliver it here.¡± ¡°It is good that you did. That was the final payment for that tribute. Sir Jared¡¯s son should be completing his clan¡¯s coming of age ceremony soon and we no longer have any obligation to him. I am most pleased that this debt has finally been paid.¡± Upon hearing this, Prince Kylin¡¯s face changed, ¡°Father, I have an idea. The Thorne Clan has their coming of age trials shortly after the winter solstice and neither of us have done a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Sword. Why don¡¯t we use this as an excuse to visit Redwyrm and see just what kind of man this Derek has grown up to be. We will be able to see with our own eyes the results of our investment.¡± When the two older men heard this they glanced at each other. Duncan laughed, ¡°My liege, this is an excellent idea. If we set out now we can arrive just in time for the coming of age trials and return before our forces begin mustering in spring. There¡¯s no reason to spend the winter in the capital anyways.¡± The King looked at his son and his most trusted advisor. The three of them were men of action. They preferred to be on the move and wintering in the capital was a test of each man¡¯s patience every year. The kingdom was blessed with many talented and loyal Lords with a diverse range of skills. It wouldn¡¯t suffer if the three of them went on pilgrimage. A smile crossed his face, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go see what kind of talent this Derek has grown to be.¡±
Daren Thorne looked down from his dais at the sixty or so children sitting before him. These six to fifteen year olds were the hope of the Thorne Clan. So few, he thought to himself. In his childhood there had been a hundred children in classes like this but now there were only sixty. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He was the Patriarch and ruler of the Thorne Clan. It was a proud clan with an ancient history that traced its lineage back five thousand years to Derek Thorne, the Demon Slayer. Derek was one of the great heroes of the Demon Wars. It was his blade that gave the Demon Lord the mortal strike that enabled the mages of that battle the opportunity to seal him. After the war, Derek and his followers had returned to his town of Redwyrm and enshrined his mighty blade in a chapel he built within the castle. The Thorne Clan was born then and flourished for many years but five thousand years is a long time and a clan of Demon Warriors can lose their relevance if there are no demons in the outside world to make war on. In this the Thorne Clan were victims of their own success. The Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains around Redwyrm are one of the rare places where demons naturally break through into this world. Every summer the warriors of the Thorne Clan scour the mountains of demons before they can spread into the lowlands around. Only the local hegemons know the threat that the demons would pose if the Thorne Clan were no longer there. The heavy casualties their armies suffer the rare times a lesser demon makes it out of the mountains is proof enough of the terror they would face without the Thornes. Few of these hegemons are truly thankful though. The Thorne Clan¡¯s history is that of a prideful and overbearing bunch. They have earned many enmities and if it weren¡¯t for the demons in the region the local hegemons would have dealt with them long ago. Daren looked upon these youths and asked, ¡°And so, who can answer this question? Why is it that we are able to defeat the demons? Derek, you put your hand up first, you answer.¡± This Derek, at fifteen, was one of the older boys in the room and was named after the first ancestor of the clan. Through the years there had been an untold number of Dereks. This one was from a branch family, the son of Jared, a talented warrior that the clan had once put a lot of hope into but who had died in battle fifteen years ago. He was a handsome youth with brown eyes and hair, the serious look on his face gave off an air of maturity that many of the other children did not possess. He spoke up, ¡°Cowardice.¡± A single word answer. This word caused a lot of excitement in the room with many of the children scoffing at the ridiculous answer and many others bursting with anger at the perceived slight. Cowardice? This was the clan of Demon Warriors! Is he implying that the Thorne Clan are cowards? Daren scanned the room. He was pleased to see that his own great grandchildren had not responded in this way to the answer. Instead they were among the marked few that had pensive looks on their faces. He could tell that they were thinking about what this answer implied. At this moment one of the older boys with a hawkish nose and a scowl that never seemed to leave his face in the room spoke up, ¡°Derek, of course a coward would say that. You filth! How dare you say such a thing? Our clan has bravely stood against the demons since the time the Ancestor first took up the Sword in the Demon Wars. How can you claim that cowardice is how we defeat the demons?¡± Daren¡¯s mouth twitched. This boy was Elton Thorne. He was another fifteen year old and was very popular among the clan. His father, Jacob, had seven children and done much to slow the decline of the clan. Elder Jacob was so well revered in the clan that he had been given responsibility over the clan¡¯s finances for over seventeen years now. Jacob has long held a grudge against Derek¡¯s grandmother and this grudge has spilled over to the next generation. Daren looked to Derek, ¡°You had best explain your answer in detail. It doesn¡¯t seem very many understand your meaning.¡± Derek looked around the room before answering, ¡°What I mean is that we can win because the demons are cowards. Demons are by nature stronger than the average human, they are tougher, and sometimes faster. They are immortal and the eldest of them have a degree of cunning that even the wisest human cannot fathom. Even when one dies it goes to a pit where it will merely be spat back out as another least demon. Due to this even if you kill every demon you ever encounter the total number of demons will never decrease. ¡°But therein lies their weakness. They are truly immortal. Even when killed they return to the pit where they experience great pain until they are spit out again in the lowest form a demon can take. They must then work their way back up to their greater forms while suffering countless indignities from the demons greater than them. ¡°After experiencing this so many times a demon will do anything it can to avoid such a state. Thus they are unwilling to take the kinds of risks a human would take to win. A human warrior facing a demon in battle may be willing to sacrifice anything to bring that demon down, but a demon would never be willing to make that same sacrifice. ¡°This is what I mean by cowardice. Because demons are cowards and unwilling to risk everything to win a battle as a human warrior might, they lose. Because humans are willing to sacrifice for victory, we win. ¡°Others might have answered with reasons our clan is more successful against demons than other groups, like because of our holy spells or our fighting techniques, but these merely make us better at fighting demons than other humans. The real reason humans are able to defeat demons is because of the demons¡¯ cowardice.¡± Chapter 2 - The Younger Generation of Thornes Listening to Derek¡¯s explanation, Daren was quite pleased. This kind of answer was a synthesis of the lessons taught in the Clan Hall and many clan members only come to this conclusion after many years of fighting demons. For Derek to have come to this answer on his own he must have spent quite a bit of time contemplating the lessons taught here. Elton spoke up again, ¡°How absurd. In war demons dive in among human formations with abandon, slaughtering anyone in their path. How can that be described as cowardice? You are just trying to sound smart after that ridiculous comment you made earlier. As expected from garbage like you.¡± At this point Daren had heard enough, ¡°Silence! Where do you think you are? This is the Clan Hall of the Thorne Clan. Furthermore, this is a class being taught by me, the Patriarch of this clan. You have no right to criticize your classmates before me. Especially when they are right and you are wrong! ¡°Yes, demons will charge recklessly into a human formation, but this isn¡¯t due to bravery. This is because they correctly believe that most humans cannot harm them. Even the weakest of demons will not feel fear when faced by normal human soldiers. It is only when powerful knights, mages, and Holy attacks are brandished against them that they will start to fear. But the moment a demon fears that it is at risk of dying you will see a change in its behavior. It will begin to defend and look for a way to flee! They really are cowards and when faced by foes with some determination and the ability to destroy them they always lose! ¡°Now begone, all of you. I have much to do. Your lesson for the day is over.¡± The old man sat in his chair and shooed the children away, a troubled look on his face. The clan had been on the decline for generations and yet the members continued to pursue their own vendettas against each other. It could only add to the rate of decline of the clan. Outside the clan hall Derek was making his way up the mountain towards the cottage he shared with his mother. After a little distance a group of boys stepped out of the woods to stand on the path in front of him. In the front was Elton and his twin Feros. Save for their facial expressions these two looked exactly alike. While Elton¡¯s face was permanently twisted into a frown, Feros¡¯ was always in a sneer. The boys behind them were their younger classmates, followers impressed by their skills and position within the clan. ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t the trash, Derek? I bet you think you are smart getting me yelled at by the Patriarch. I bet you don¡¯t regret it at all, do you?¡± Derek cursed under his breath. He didn¡¯t have time for these clowns. It was midwinter and the sun would be going down soon. He would rather get home earlier so that he didn¡¯t have to practice in the dark. He looked at Elton, ¡°Regret what? The Patriarch scolded you for what you said. I didn¡¯t have anything to do with it.¡± Hearing this response Feros cursed angrily, ¡°Filth, it appears you don¡¯t know your place. We were going to let you go if you apologized but now even if you apologize we are going to beat you until your mother doesn¡¯t even recognize your face! You guys grab him, hold him still!¡± As he was talking the others surrounded Derek. Once he gave the orders, they seized him and pinned his arms behind his back. Derek had the skill. He knew he could probably fight all of them together. He might not win but he could make it so the others also knew they had all been in a fight. But he also knew that it he fought back Elton and Feros¡¯ father, Jacob, would get back at him by restricting the food and supplies his family would need for a period of time. Derek wouldn¡¯t mind going without food for a while but he knew his mother¡¯s body had been weak ever since his father died and he didn¡¯t want her to suffer on account of his actions. So he let the others grab him. The didn¡¯t fight back as Elton and Feros took turns beating him. He just clenched his jaw and refused to cry out. This had the effect of enraging the other boys who wanted to hear and see his reactions to the pain they were inflicting, so they beat him even harder, shoving his face in the dirt and tearing his clothes. This went on for quite a few minutes before a girl¡¯s voice rang out from down the path, ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing? If you don¡¯t stop right now I am going to great grandfather to tell him what you¡¯ve done!¡± When they heard this the boys stopped kicking Derek, who was lying in the snow covering his face with his bleeding hands. Elton shouted, ¡°Why do you always take his side Belany? He got me yelled at by your great grandfather today. He deserves even worse than this.¡± Derek looked from where he was lying and his face turned red with shame. Not only was his pretty clanmate Belany there and interfering for him, but her brother Hector was there as well as his mother¡¯s apprentice Alicia. Belany was a pretty girl. Probably the prettiest in the clan. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. Her brother, Hector, looked like a masculine reflection of her, even his facial expressions would match hers almost instantly. But Derek¡¯s eyes slid right past them. When he saw Alicia looking at him he wanted to die. Here he was laying on the ground, covered in blood and mud. His clothes were torn and he wasn''t even defending himself from his attackers. What shame and humiliation!This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Alicia Telis had been his mother¡¯s apprentice for three years now. She came to stay with them when they were both twelve. She was very pretty, blond hair and green eyes, with fine features and a graceful way of holding herself that would make anyone who saw her believe that she must be the queen of all she surveys. These good looks had only grown in the three years she has been in Redwyrm, catching the eyes of every young man in the town. There was just one problem. She was Derek¡¯s mother¡¯s first apprentice and his mother doted on her to no end. She had stolen his mother¡¯s affection from him! How can he, an only child, put up with this? His mother, his only parent, who has loved and doted on him alone his entire life wants him to share that with some strange girl? How can he accept this? It would be better to beaten by Elton and Feros every day than to share his mother! And now his rival was looking at him when he was in this shameful situation. What humiliation! The gods must be laughing on their thrones. Belany saw the embarrassment on his face and it only made her angrier. She knew the straits the clan was in. She heard her father and great grandfather discussing it late into the night and she inherited that worry. To her every clan member, even the ones from the branch families, was a valuable resource to protect and cultivate for the clan. Even Elton and Feros were valuable in spite of their terrible personalities. Derek even more so. She had seen how hard he worked. She knew how talented he was and knew that he could likely be exactly the kind of emerging genius they needed to bring the clan out of its cycle of decay. To see Elton and Feros mistreat him in this way was infuriating for her. She wanted to use her magic to beat them bloody but she resisted the urge because she knew she had to set the example. ¡°Go home. All of you. Elton, your embarrassment today was entirely on you. If you understood that you would also know just how embarrassing your current behavior is. Now are you going to leave or do I need to call the Patriarch over?¡± Hearing this the boys dispersed. Hector walked over and helped Derek to his feet. He didn¡¯t say anything, just looked meaningfully at Derek as he lifted him. Hector rarely spoke, he was content to let his sister speak for him. Belany walked over with a frown before mixing light and order magic to cast a Holy healing spell on Derek. He felt his wounds heal up and his spirit cleanse as the Holy light poured over him. Holy magic was the specialty of the Thorne clan. Every member in the clan was born with outstanding or supreme affinity with the light and order elements and every home in the clan had relics inside to promote affinity. By adulthood every member of the clan would have supreme affinity with it. To be able to boast of this kind of thing showed the clan¡¯s fanatical devotion to the goals as stated by the Ancestor; to eradicate demons wherever they appear. The healing magic even had the effect of cleaning off his body and clothes. Except for where the clothes were torn and his sulking Derek appeared as if nothing had happened. Upon seeing this, Belany grabbed her brother and Derek¡¯s hands and led the way up the forest path towards Derek¡¯s cottage with one on each side. Alicia just smiled to herself and followed along behind the three of them. Eventually the four of them turned a corner on the forest path which revealed a clearing that abutted a cliff edge and gave a view of the town and castle of Redwyrm below. In this clearing were three cedar cottages, a well, a shed, and a small barn. Behind the cottages a practice yard had been set up with straw dummies and even a quintain. An old horse could be heard neighing from within the barn. There were three adults standing around the well. The oldest was Derek¡¯s paternal grandmother, Rebekah Thorne. Rebekah was the matriarch of their branch of the Thorne clan and even the years and her stern continence could barely hide her once stunning beauty. Her branch consisted of her, her daughter in law, and her grandson. At tier eight, she was also the most powerful Archmage of the modern Thorne Clan. Her understanding of Holy magic was unparalleled in the clan and this is precisely why the Patriarch had sent his great grandchildren halfway up the mountain. They were her apprentices and she earned a little extra gold to cover their needs by apprenticing them. Next to her was Derek¡¯s mother, Eona Windreach. Eona came to Redwyrm sixteen years ago after marrying Jared Thorne in the old ways. She gave birth to their son a few short weeks before she felt his death through their marriage bond. This bond had been a great boon while they both lived, letting them know where the other was and their general wellbeing, it also provided a boon that allowed them to share mana and injuries between them. This powerful magic had a severe side effect though. When one of the people sharing the bond dies the other will suffer a severe backlash that could cripple or even kill them. Luckily for Eona, Rebekah was nearby when it happened. Her mother in law was able to react quickly and preserve her life. Unfortunately this served to let them both know that Jared was dead and Eona¡¯s health was greatly affected, leaving her in a sickly state for the last fifteen years. The illness gave a sickly appearance to her face but did little to hide the beauty that had once bewitched every man that looked upon her. When she looked at her son the love and concern on her face changed mere beauty to that of a goddess bringing life to the world. Small wonder that this boy was jealous of her apprentice stealing that away from him. Next to Eona, her Armsman, Ovid Balder quietly stood by and listened to his mistress and her mother in law speak. He was the first to notice the teenagers walking up the path and the first to notice the tears in Derek¡¯s clothes. ¡°You¡¯re late! Go get your training armor out of the shed and meet me in the training yard,¡± he barked and hearing this, Derek sprinted into the shed. Chapter 3 - The Genius of Ovid and Eona Derek quickly donned the training armor and dragged the weapons stand out onto the training field. Ovid was waiting for him near one of the training dummies. ¡°Those boys beat you up again, didn¡¯t they?¡± Derek nodded, ¡°Yes, master.¡± Ovid was more than just a simple armsman. Most armsman would be tier zero soldiers. Ovid was a tier five Weapon Master. He was quite possibly the most dangerous man in Redwyrm. Ovid followed Eona to Redwyrm and fought alongside Jared in the battle that took his life. His personal loyalty to Eona and the wish of a dying man secured Derek¡¯s place as his apprentice. If not for these reasons how could a branch member of a an irrelevant clan acquire such an acclaimed master? If Ovid hadn¡¯t been tied down in Redwyrm there is no telling what tier he would be or how much he would be earning as the Weapon Master for some great hegemon somewhere. ¡°It is good that you didn¡¯t fight back. We know how underhanded that scumbag father of theirs is. Perseverance and discretion are valuable traits too. You don¡¯t have to ignore these grievances they are piling upon you but you must not let those grievances control your behavior. If anything, use them to motivate you to train harder.¡± Derek listened intently to Ovid¡¯s lesson. In this world he had never met his father and this man and the ancient blacksmith were the closest thing to a father he had. They stood as two titans whose backs were targets for him to pursue. Ovid, with his thorough understanding of how to get everything out of every movement in a fight and the old smith with his gruff insistence that the sincerity of the worker was as important as the skill used in the work. Between the two of them, Derek had been raised to be a very forthright and sincere young man. This day¡¯s practice was with the glaive and warsword, his clan¡¯s favored weapons. The glaive was a slashing weapon. The ones used by the Thornes possessed a two foot long blade on the end of a six foot shaft. The goal was to use the leverage of the polearm to generate as much force as possible on the blade, allowing the blade to cleave through the user''s foe. This was important for a clan that specializes in fighting demons because a demon¡¯s thick hide would render the typical three to six inch cutting surface of a weapon almost useless for inflicting killing blows. The clan¡¯s warswords were patterned after the Thorneblade, the Sword at the heart of Redwyrm. They were essentially short hafted versions of the glaives that were much easier to use than the clan¡¯s heavy glaives due to the weight being closer to the hand but the weight was still much greater than typical single bladed swords. The Thorne Clan passed down forms for use with both weapons for thousands of years and Ovid learned those forms years ago and improved them before teaching them to Derek. These improved forms had modifications that made them more useful both when facing larger enemies like demons and when fighting people. Ovid¡¯s genius was quite evident in these changes, the greatest weakness of these forms was how poorly they work against agile human beings and the changes he had made had largely mitigated that. Also evident in these modifications was his confidence in his student, the changes would be impossible to learn for someone who hadn¡¯t achieved mastery in the weapons already. Derek trained until supper time when he and Ovid cleaned themselves up before sitting down to eat with his mother, grandmother, and Alicia. The twins had already gone home to the keep of Redwyrm Castle where the primary family of the main clan resided to eat with the Patriarch and their family. After dinner, Derek laid his head in his mother''s lap and listened to her lecture and quiz her apprentice in magic and rune theory. ¡°What effect does elemental affinity have on schema creation? Be thorough in your answer,¡± Eona asked Alicia. He could sense that as she asked this and her fingers played with his hair her magic delved into his body and began adjusting his own runic schema. She and his grandmother had collaborated in creating his schema. His mother had used her magic to monitor and support his growth even in the womb and her understanding of his schema could even be said to be superior to her understanding of her own. The relationship between the person that designs the schema and the person it is implanted on was almost as important as the level of understanding in schema design. The effect of a deep relationship between the creator of a schema and the recipient, the deep understanding of the recipient¡¯s body that stems from this, and the innate benefit it grants towards the effectiveness of a schema was called harmony. In fact the more genius the design the more benefit a schema would receive from that harmony. This benefit translates into a stronger schema being implanted into the recipient insuring that the recipient will have a higher growth potential from the schema. Ever since the day she knew he was forming within her she had monitored his schema and tweaked it whenever it was appropriate. Even though they lived in a humble cottage and sometimes had to make due to survive, the level of care and knowledge that went into maintaining a first grade schema for her son would be enough to make even the most spoiled and wealthy young masters in the world green with envy.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Runic schema,¡± Alicia started, ¡°are the magical diagrams used by humans to control the distribution of essence within their bodies. The most basic schema will merely draw some essence towards the basic attributes of strength, body, agility, and mind. They will only be effective in doing this roughly thirty percent of the time with the majority of essence that is accrued being dumped into the essentia pool or randomly assigned to magical attributes used. ¡°These schema are barely better than not possessing a schema at all and are the work of amateurs. Stronger schema will not only raise the chance that essence will be assigned to all of the basic attributes but will also attempt to assign essence to all of the elemental attributes as well, will promote the speed at which essence is gained, and will delay the so called leveling process until as many attributes as possible have grown that level and the essentia pool has been grown as much as possible but before the essence pool has grown enough to cause a backlash that might cripple the person. ¡°The elemental attributes are the attributes associated with each of the eight magical attributes; order, water, light, air, chaos, fire, darkness, and earth. These attributes are affected by the affinity that the person has for that element, with stronger affinity making the schema stronger for that attribute while weaker affinity has the opposite effect. When schema are applied, both the affinity of the person receiving the schema and the affinity of the person applying it will affect the final results. ¡°Elemental attributes have a further effect when designing more advanced schema. The basic schema merely utilize the attributes the creator is strong in to lay the arcane diagram out. These do not take into account the ways in which certain elements synergize with each other, the ways in which the elements promote the basic attributes, or the ways a strong weave of elements can provide a foundation that allows a larger and stronger essentia pool to be created. ¡°For example, earth attribute can be used to enhance the part of the schema that draws essence to the body attribute, or can combine with order attribute to enhance the part of the schema that draws essence to the order attribute. Fire can be used in the same way to promote strength and chaos attribute and so on. Using supporting elemental attributes can raise the rate of success for the accrual of essence in an attribute tremendously higher and since an attribute may only attain one essence per level and the essentia pool has a chance of crippling the user if it grows too much each level it is important to make sure that every attribute has as high a chance to grow with each level as possible. ¡°This is most important in the earlier tiers when a person¡¯s attributes require less essence to accrue to raise them. In tier zero, the natural tier that all people start in and few ever progress out of, it merely takes one essence to raise an attribute. It takes one additional essence per attribute each tier. Thus, while a person that maximized their essence gain in tier zero might accrue an attribute of ten in mind, for instance, maximizing it in tier one would only have the effect of raising it by five more attribute points, while tier two would only increase by three. ¡°Missing the earliest attribute gains could have a tremendous effect on maximum growth potential and could potentially stop the individual from progressing in the highest tiers of growth due to insufficient attribute scores. Thus those that design schema must learn to make the most use out of the earliest tiers where essence resistance is the lowest. But a difficult problem arises when attempting to craft a schema at the lowest levels. ¡°Generally, only so much essence can be accrued per level without endangering the health and potential growth of the person receiving the schema. Furthermore the magical energies of a schema must be limited at lower levels for similar reasons. At the lowest levels of tier zero the body and mind attribute are usually not strong enough to even maximize the growth of the elemental attributes much less the growth of the essence pool. ¡°Thus, in those first levels it is doubly important to maximize the benefits of supporting elemental attributes and to take as much advantage of harmony as possible to guarantee that in those first levels that at least all of the basic and elemental attributes receive essence. The essentia pool can be left at a lower priority at this point in the schema design as it will have plenty of opportunity for growth later and it doesn¡¯t suffer from the same diminishing returns that the other attributes suffer from.¡± As Alicia wrapped up her answer she could see that her mistress was pleased with it and that Derek had fallen asleep while listening, his physical fatigue having gotten the better of him. Eona smiled and beckoned her over, ¡°Very good answer. You will find more ways to use the elements in a schema as you experiment with them. ¡°Come here and delve Derek. I will guide you and show you the way these concepts are used. This schema uses the synthesis of all I have ever learned of schema creation and my harmony with my son is superior to even my own understanding of my body. Do you see how the elements are woven together to form a base in the essentia pool? And how order and light can supplement earth to produce a stronger and more robust body attribute? These are applications of the concepts you just mentioned. ¡°Let me show you some examples of more advanced applications. For instance, see how the light and water elements wind around the body attribute in this way and over here at the essentia pool? These allow Derek to heal, recover his stamina, and regenerate mana more rapidly and as more essence is applied, I believe this ability may grow rapid enough to be visible to the naked eye. ¡°Also, look below his essentia pool. I have created a catch for when too much essence is gathered. Normally this essence will either apply to a part of the schema, potentially harming the host, or it will dissipate back into the world around the host. With this it will be caught into a reserve which will wait for a tier up before releasing this essence....¡± Alicia was excited to view her mistress¡¯ handiwork. Eona was truly an unparalleled genius in this field and Derek¡¯s schema was her masterpiece. Alicia never regretted coming to this backwoods place because she knew that she would find no better teacher in any of the large cities. Delving into Derek¡¯s schema enabled her to see these concepts applied. She also enjoyed the intimate feeling she got when immersed in it. That feeling was entirely different from the one she felt when she delved her own. The lesson continued for a while longer before Eona sent her and Derek off to bed. Chapter 4 - A Walk in the Moonlit Forest Derek woke to find himself in a high mountain glade. He looked around in confusion but felt no fear or concern as a warmth and feeling of reminiscence settled upon him. As he turned in the familiar direction he saw a man at a campfire looking down the mountain at the town of Redwyrm. As Derek walked towards the campfire the man turned to him, ¡°It has been a while boy, you have gotten bigger. Come, let me look at you, see what kind of man you have become.¡± Derek smiled at the wiry old man as he sat across the fire from him, ¡°Old timer, I haven¡¯t seen you in a few years. I¡¯ve missed you.¡± The old man cackled, ¡°Ehehe, I had thought you youngins would have forgotten about me by now. Now let me look at you¡­ ahh, I see your father in you, but luckily you have gained some of your mother¡¯s charm. Your old man looked like a block of granite, he did. Hehehe.¡± Derek felt the cold of winter encroaching on them, so he got up to tend the fire. He didn¡¯t mind the man¡¯s words as he had always been an odd fellow. The man had brought food to his family when they were hungry and wood and animal skins when they were cold. He never went down into the town but kept to himself living in the forest. Derek¡¯s family had not seen him in a few years and had assumed he had met his end in the mountains. Derek was pleased to see him now, but as he reached to add more wood to the fire the old man waved and the fire was extinguished. Now the forest was lit only in the light of the moon and its reflection on the snow. Derek looked questioningly at the old man, who gestured at him as he got up, ¡°Come boy, we have things to do.¡± The old man set a rapid pace into the forest. As they walked, it seemed as if the distance shrank around them and they proceeded deep into the mountains in little time. Derek quickly lost his bearings due to the strange method of travel. But when they came to a stop he found that they were in another clearing with standing stones around them. The old man spoke to him, ¡°Boy, do you know what these stones are?¡± ¡°They seem to be arranged in some form of sealing formation.¡± Derek responded quietly as he tried to understand the archaic formula he was sensing from the stones. ¡°Indeed, boy, this is one part of a greater formation that runs the length of these mountains. When powered it strengthens the veil between this world and the world of Demons, making it harder for them to enter this world. It also serves to greatly weaken any Demons in this region by flooding this region with ambient holy energy. ¡°The formation has weakened recently. Something powerful has gotten in, we must strengthen the seal. Give me your hand, boy.¡± Derek listened intently, so sure was the command that he didn¡¯t even think before reaching towards the old man, who sliced his palm open and caught the blood in a wooden bowl. Startled by the pain, Derek went to jerk his hand back, but the man¡¯s grip was too powerful, ¡°Don¡¯t struggle, boy. This is necessary for the seal. Be brave.¡± After the bowl had filled sufficiently, white light flashed from the old man¡¯s hand as a holy spell sealed the injury. The man let go and Derek clasped his hand to his chest while he watched the man warily. The man hardly paid attention as he dabbed a brush into the blood and painted it in runes onto the stones. As he did so, he chanted and weaved holy energy into the formation. Minutes passed before it was done and the stones shown a bright white for a moment before returning to their previous apparent dormancy. Derek focused on the spell, it was complicated, pulling mana from the caster and the blood to form the initial pull of power, then connecting with the mana of the world around it to amplify into a greater effect around the formation. The old man turned to him, ¡°Come boy, no time to gawk. We have five more of these to complete tonight.¡± Derek held his hand to his chest and looked at him petulantly, ¡°Will you cut me again when we get to the next one?¡± ¡°Yes, but only because I need your blood. Mine is too polluted to serve as sacrifice. You understand the importance of what we are doing right?¡± Uncertainty struggled on Derek¡¯s face before he nodded, ¡°Yes, I do. But when we get to the next place, let me perform the cut.¡± ¡°Good kid. Now come with me boy, we need to hurry.¡±
Panklethu felt stifled. Things had gone well at first. He had been building his forces in these mountains since the first snows had marked the end of the autumn hunts, but he must have been careless, because the rapid growth of his force had awakened some ancient monster he had not known of in these mountains. He had been forced to disperse his forces throughout the forest, instructing them to hide in the various cave systems in the high valleys. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Hopefully this would draw that thing away from him long enough for him to prepare, but now his own movements were restricted. He couldn¡¯t leave the cave with his portal for fear of discovery, only daring to send his weakest minions to hunt food for him and deliver messages to the others of their kind throughout the mountains. So he gathered strength in this place, but every few days he received more bad news, the minions were returning with reports that the various enclaves of his forces were being exterminated. Something was hunting them and he didn¡¯t know what. It was maddening, when he had slipped through this world he had expected to be able to establish his own domain rapidly and with ease. Instead he had found roving bands of mortals actively hunting his minions through the mountains and worse, he had been able to sense their experts overwatching the whole operation as if ready to strike him down the moment he stepped out to engage them. He had been forced to cower all summer and autumn in this cave, waiting for the moment they relaxed their vigilance to seize an opportunity and in winter that opportunity seemed to arrive, as if to provide him his chance at last, but now, they were hunted and all he could do was cower in his cave. The indignity was stifling, enraging him in his impotence, but now things seemed to be getting worse. He felt the walls of this realm hardening, making it harder for him to reach out to his source of power. He was lucky that the portal he had created was already finished or it would have been likely that he wouldn¡¯t have been capable of completing it with this injunctive force working against his unholy energies. As the night progressed all the Demon could do was roar out his impotence from the dark hole he had hidden within.
Derek was slightly light headed as they completed the last one. He didn¡¯t know how much blood he had lost, but he was sure it was probably too much. Maybe. He trusted the old man who clearly was more than just a hermit from the mountains. The man¡¯s control over holy magic had been near absolute, and his knowledge of these sealing stones was something that even younger members of the clan wouldn¡¯t know. Derek knew that many powerful clans had ancient experts hidden away from the public eye. The nature of schema and essence made life spans more malleable. The truly powerful could live hundreds or thousands of years. Eventually the oldest would seclude themselves from the world. Perhaps this man was one such ancestor from his clan. Returning to the mountain glade once more the old man once again pensively watched the town below them for a moment, before casting a more comprehensive healing spell on Derek. Derek felt the mana settling about him and that sensation of lightheadedness seemed to wash away. Derek looked up at the man, ¡°Thank you, Ancestor. I feel much better already.¡± ¡°Good, now since we still have time, I will teach you a technique to blend fire into holy magicto create what I call holy fury. Now sense the mana as I manipulate it. ¡°As you know, holy magic is formed by blending order and light magic in such a way that the order mana forms a lattice that the light magic binds to. Similarly, wrath magic is formed by blending order and fire magic in such a way that the order mana forms a cage that contains the fire until it bursts out. In both cases, order, similar to its purpose in nature, provides structure for the other element, allowing that element to become enhanced.¡± As he described this he used his mastery over magic to demonstrate the creation of the constructs of the magic spells he described, slowing the process by which holy and wrath spells were cast. Derek watched intently as both fire and light mana were contained within a construct of order. The old man continued, ¡°This is the nature of order, to give shape to the myriad things. So if that is the case then blending any magic with order should work in this way and that is true in all cases but with chaos magic which is it¡¯s opposite. That takes much more delicacy and control and is outside the scope of this lesson. "But the important point is to watch the way in which the other mana interacts with the order mana. The light mana binds to the order mana while the fire manais contained within it. So if the construct of order mana is produced first then the light and fire mana is input in a controlled amount, going to where they are needed, then the three types of mana can be used simultaneously, like so.¡± He finished his explanation while demonstrating the exact method of applying the fire and light mana to the order construct, and when he was finished he had completed a combination of the holybolt and wrathbolt spells. Contained within the framework of the order mana was light and fire. Derek got the impression of a greater damage capacity at a much greater mana cost. He looked at it for a moment, before slowly building his own construct and filling it with the fire and light mana in the same way. It formed and he sensed it before releasing it, it did have more potency than the other two spells, but it consumed far more mana than them. Confused, he looked at the older man, ¡°I can see that this spell would be much harder to counter than the wrathbolt, and the damage would be greater, but is that worth the trade off in mana usage? I have a hard time seeing the value in the use of this except in emergencies where I need to concern myself with outputting more damage in a moment than over time.¡± The old man smiled, ¡°You have made good points but I want you to think about what this means for enhancements and malluses.¡± As understanding appeared in Derek¡¯s mind, the old man laughed, before casting a spell to put the boy back to sleep, ¡°That¡¯s enough for now, sleep and dream. Remember this meeting when the time is right.¡± Chapter 5 - Preparing for the Trials Derek woke early the next morning. He felt as if he had had an odd dream the night before. The aches from his training the day before were long gone. Only a new day to greet him and a simple breakfast with his mother before he ran down the mountain path to the smithy in town where he spent every morning since he was small. When he was young he would just sit and watch the old smith work the forge. The smith never minded his presence so long as he was not underfoot. When he was six the smith offered to apprentice him in the mornings. Over the years the boy had become quite skilled under the guidance of his master. Ander Kennick was pleased with his second apprentice¡¯s development. Ander¡¯s only apprentice before Derek was his father Jared. He took great joy teaching these boys and treated Jared as his own son and Derek as his grandson. Jared¡¯s death affected Ander deeply and he poured even more effort into teaching Derek. To Ander, teaching Jared and Derek was more than passing on his craft. Ander was a disciple of the god of the forge and a high tier Rune Smith. Teaching these two was a service to his god and a cultivation of new disciples. Jared even received the blessing of the god of the forge before leaving to go questing. Derek worked until late in the morning before taking his leave to go up to the castle yard for that day''s training with the other clan youth. Before leaving he received pay from the old man. He had no idea how odd this was, that an apprentice would be paid by his master, but he knew how vital it was for his mother and grandmother that he receive this pay. He ran from the smithy up to the castle yard. The lesson this time was on holy magic and was taught by his grandmother. The children learned how to mix order and light elements to create holy magic. They practiced this in the training yard until early afternoon before being dismissed to return to their homes for the day. Derek walked back up the path with his grandmother, Belany, and Hector. When he arrived at the cottages he saw his mother and Alicia practicing water magic in the corner of the training yard and Ovid had him train his mounted and foot archery until dinner time. That evening he fell asleep once more in his mother¡¯s lap while she lectured her pupil in magical theory. This was the rhythm of his life waking well before dawn to work the forge, participating in the clan training around noon, then training in the yard behind the cottages until late, before drifting to sleep to the sound of his mother teaching her apprentice at night. He did not benefit from the wealth of his clan. It wasn¡¯t particularly wealthy to begin with, with only the funds from the cedar grown and logged from the nearby slopes, a tribute from the local hegemons to deal with the demons, and some coin earned from pilgrims to the Shrine of the Sword. But he did benefit from the genius of his mother and her armsman. His schema was second to none and his weapons training could be compared to Ovid¡¯s own at that age under the training of his old master. Nevermind the promotion to his essence growth provided by his schema, the boy¡¯s own dedication and willingness to work had enabled him to gain essence at a rate that could only be eclipsed by the gains from combat. His time in the forge working under his master and surrounded by a rich miasma of elemental essence had promoted his essence gain still further and improved his affinities. His mother had supreme affinity in earth, water, fire, and air while his father had supreme affinity in order and light. Neither of them had particularly low affinities in any of the elements. So when Eona discovered Derek within her she had not been surprised to find that his affinities were quite exceptional, with supreme affinity in earth, air, order, and light, outstanding affinity in fire and water, and excellent affinity in chaos and dark element magic. Over the years of nurture at home and working in the forge his affinities had grown. All but chaos and dark element were now at supreme affinity and those two were at outstanding affinity. Very few people could be said to have this strength of affinity at this age. It can be said that many bloodlines that practice selective breeding would be jealous of this kind of result. Affinities have a direct effect on the strength of magic used. Affinity is ranked from negligible to supreme with the ratings ordered as negligible, poor, average, good, excellent, outstanding, and supreme. A person with negligible affinity will find it impossible to ever cast spells of that element prior to raising the affinity and in many cases there are great arcane and divine reasons a bloodline may find magic of that type is barred to them and no amount of effort may overcome this. For instance demons find order and light magic to be anathema to them. A person with poor affinity with an element will find it very hard to cast spells of that element with the spells of that affinity typically being a level lower than those of an affinity that they are average in. Average affinity is when the affinity does not inhibit or enhance spellcasting. Excellent is when the affinity enables the caster to cast one level higher and Supreme is when they can cast at two levels higher. Good and Outstanding were added to the scale for those who are somewhere between Average, Excellent, and Supreme.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. These ratings were created by those who create and study Status magic. Status magic has had arguably the same level of impact on human development as schema. If it wasn¡¯t for status magic being used to judge comparative strength of people and monsters essence and its physical form, essentia, would have never been discovered and the use of schema to manipulate how essence gathers in the body would have never been pioneered. That said, unlike essence accrual which can be judged easily due to the ease of measuring essence, affinity has been more subjective. The original scale had only included four ranks corresponding to the new ranks of negligible, poor, average, and excellent. Over time it was discovered that more ranks were necessary as people with supreme level affinity were discovered and vast numbers fell somewhere between the positive levels. An entire field of study in magic is dedicated to the effort of improving affinity over the generations and Derek¡¯s affinities would be considered a proof of the application of that field of study. Little did he know that this growth was in large part due to his time in the forge. Ander¡¯s rune forge was imbued with sprites of all eight affinities and simply working that forge would improve his affinities over time. The work in the forge did more than allow him to forge items. In a way it forged him as well. Though the boy lacked many things in his development that even those from his poor clan might casually expect, he had a wealth of resources that he didn¡¯t even know about that others would have paid fortunes to possess themselves. His constant training continued for several weeks until it was time to start preparing for the coming of age trials. That morning Derek was really excited and ready to show how strong he had gotten. This day coincided with his birthday and it was a full moon at that. How auspicious! He ate a happy breakfast with his mother, his energy couldn¡¯t help but put a smile on her face. He ran down to the forge and began casting blanks even before his master had come out. Ander was well pleased with his apprentice and gave the boy a small potion for his birthday. ¡°Here, take this,¡± he said gruffly to the boy. ¡°What is it master?¡± The boy¡¯s eyes grew to the size of saucers when he saw the potion. He had consumed some potions through the years but had never possessed one of this quality himself. He had memorized the names of many. Particularly the ones that can recover the body. Those interested him the most as they could be used to heal his mother. ¡°It is wyvern¡¯s blood. A potion that when imbibed by a human can cure ailments of the body and provide a permanent boost to the body attribute. This is my gift to you on your sixteenth birthday. In most cultures of this continent of Elanith you are considered a man now. So this birthday is your most important one.¡± Hearing his master identify this precious potion, Derek started to tear up. He had read about wyvern¡¯s blood long ago when searching for how to cure his mother¡¯s ailment. He had dreamed that one day he would be able to acquire a vial of it many times, even going so far as to dream that one day he would slay a wyvern himself to acquire this potent medicine for his mother. In his heart, the thing he wanted the most in this world was a way to cure his mother¡¯s illness and seeing this thing given freely by the old man he could not help but cry. Seeing his apprentice cry in this way had an affect on Ander. Ander had been this boy¡¯s master for ten years and this boy had played happily in the corner of his shop since he was an infant. Prior to that he had been this boy¡¯s father¡¯s master and watched that boy grow up in this shop as well. It would not be that far out of place for this old man to call Derek his grandson. He reached over and ruffled Derek¡¯s hair. ¡°Boy, you are my only living apprentice and an apprentice disciple of the god of the forge. This gift is the least I should give you for you coming of age. Remember, tonight is very important. It is your sixteenth birthday and a full moon. It will be the night of your dedication to the god of the forge. I have already spoken to your grandmother and mother about this. At nightfall bring them along with you to my shop.¡± ¡°OK, master.¡± The boy had already recovered as youths do. After leaving the forge he sprinted at high speed to the training yard in the castle. Today he would finally show the strength he had gained through all these years of training. No more hiding his power! The trials were divided into four parts and all of the children of the clan that would turn sixteen in the six months prior and six months after this trial must participate. The first two parts of the trial, the Status check and the Holy magic comparison, would be handled today. The purpose of the first trial was to determine the Status of the child going into the trials. The second was to judge the power of the child¡¯s holy magic. In a clan such as this Holy magic is their specialty and the most important metric for determining strength within the clan. These two tests will determine who the strongest of the children tested are to determine who has the right to participate in the third trial. The third, the fighting competition, would be held at the winter solstice. This trial would be between the strongest contestants from before to determine who would lead the youths in the final trial. The final part would take place a few weeks after that. The final test was to go into the mountains as a team to hunt the few demons that had already appeared. Each youth must acquire one demon heart before returning to be considered to have passed the final trial of the Thorne clan coming of age trials. Derek knew his strength and knew that he could easily perform well in these first two trials. In fact, he was certain that in the third trial there would be no one who could defeat him. He couldn¡¯t wait to show the clan his strength and prove that he deserved a place among them. As he ran through the village to the castle he couldn¡¯t help but laugh with joy. Today was turning out to be the best day in his life. Chapter 6 - The Thorne Trials Derek ran into the practice yard of Redwyrm Castle. When he arrived he saw that many of his clansmen had already arrived. Of the five participating in the coming of age ceremony, he was the last to arrive. Belany and Hector waved when they saw him and their father smiled upon seeing him. As the next clan Patriarch, Richard Thorne kept track of the promising youngsters and Derek¡¯s performance was considered outstanding among his age group. From the other side Derek saw Elton, Feros, and their father, Jacob. Jacob had a vendetta against Derek¡¯s grandmother, though he didn¡¯t know why. He just knew that Jacob would take every opportunity to obstruct him. This included denying them food and supplies during the harsh winters, which would aggravate Eona¡¯s condition. Each instance of this was a crime Derek would not forgive. It is enough to act against him but to play games with his mother¡¯s health? Derek would never forgive that. As he arrived he heard his mother¡¯s voice from the back of the crowd near Belany and Hector¡¯s family. Eona had a really low place within the clan. Not only was she part of a branch, but her husband was dead. Even worse, years ago the Patriarch thought to raise her status by allowing her to study the seal on the Sword and instead of affirming the clan¡¯s convictions, heresy of heresies, she claimed that the seal had nothing to do with the Demon Lord¡¯s Seal but was merely intended to preserve the schema on the Sword and prevent the unworthy from seizing the Sword. Ever since that day most of the clan shunned her. It took a great deal of effort for the Patriarch to preserve her life and merely order her to live on the mountain away from the clan so that she would not be at risk of reprisals. Today she was allowed inside the castle only because her son would be participating in the trials. Ovid stood next to her, one look from him and any troublemaker knew to stay away. Alicia was not there. She was probably up front with Belany and Hector, the only friends she had made in her three years in Redwyrm. Derek ran up and hugged his mother. He handed her the potion he had just received from Ander and said, ¡°Mother, look what master just gave me! Quick, drink it. It will cure you illness.¡± She laughed at his excited babble, ¡°Silly boy! This potion is for your personal growth. How can I take it from you?¡± Tears started to form in his eyes again and he said, ¡°But mother, you have been ill every day since I can remember. My greatest wish is to see you well. If you can drink this and heal your illness then that would really be the best gift I can have for my birthday.¡± Hearing this, she also teared up and wiped away those that appeared on his face. The illness was a constant physical reminder of her loss that day. If her husband was alive she would not have this near crippling illness. If he was alive his clansmen would have never dared to disrespect her and her son as they have. If he was alive they would never have to worry that they might not have enough to make it through the month. Even closer to her heart, if he was alive Ovid and Ander would have never had to play the part of father to her son. She never felt lonely as her husband had not been particularly loving to begin with but all of these other reasons were quite the burden to carry and every day of illness was a reminder of all that she lost. Yet here was her son offering her his birthday present to cure that illness. She hugged him tightly and whispered, ¡°OK, I will take this. I will wait until tomorrow and take it under you grandmother¡¯s supervision so that she will be there if there are any side effects. Is that fine? Good. Now run up front to join Belany and Hector, the trials will begin soon.¡± ¡°OK, mom! Just you watch. I will surely do the best out of all of them!¡± He ran up to the front to join Belany and Hector. Alicia was standing behind them and had just finished chatting with Belany when he arrived. The three of them all smiled in greetings. Richard even spoke up from the side, ¡°Good timing Derek, the Patriarch is about to arrive. I expect a good showing from you today.¡± Derek smiled at Richard and turned to look at the dais that had been erected up front. There, Rebekah was already seated in her test administrator¡¯s chair. It would be up to her to cast the Status magic and project it so that the clansmen could see the Status of each of the youths participating in the coming of age ceremony. Soon the Patriarch walked up to his chair on the dais. From where he was seated he could see all of the proceedings and judge appropriately the results of the trials. He looked down at the five youths standing below him and called out in a commanding voice, ¡°Children of the Thorne clan. Today you are about to commence the trials that youth of our clan have participated in for five thousand years. The trials today are to determine eligibility for the later trials and to determine who will have the opportunity to compete in the third trial for the right to lead you in the final trial of these Coming of Age Trials. ¡°The first trial is to determine eligibility to even participate in the rest. The original purpose was to weed out those who had not reached level five yet. It has been centuries since we have had a cripple who hasn¡¯t reached level five so do not be concerned about this trial, it will merely serve to satisfy the clan¡¯s desire to see how strong you have all become. ¡°The elders discussed this morning how we should handle the second and third trial and after the fine suggestion of Elder Jacob we have determined that the four strongest results in the second trial will get to compete in the third trial. Holy magic is the greatest tool for our clan and it only makes sense that the strongest users of Holy magic get to lead when hunting demons. There will be no appeal to the results of this test.¡± When he finished the Patriarch looked meaningfully at Elton and Feros. Derek heard a snicker from Hector. These two definitely had a bad reputation in the clan. After a brief pause the Patriarch raised his hand, ¡°Without further ado, let the five thousand and twelfth Thorne Clan Coming of Age Trials begin.¡± The first trial was a simple Status check. First up was Elton, who whispered to Derek on his way up to the stage, ¡°Today you will learn your place trash. Don¡¯t think you will get to participate in the third trial.¡± Derek ignored it, after today how could Elton and Feros¡¯ taunts mean anything to him? Elton walked up to Rebekah and said, ¡°You better not alter it you hag. Everyone is watching.¡± Rebekah blanched at this and recoiled slightly. There were gasps from the crowd. The Patriarch stood from his chair and shouted angrily, ¡°Jacob, you will silence your sons. If I hear another word out of either of them today I will have them whipped in the town square until neither can walk!¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Elder Jacob was also furious. His son¡¯s hatred for Rebekah came from him but he knew damned well where the line was and Elton had just sprinted across it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Patriarch. Neither of them will dare to speak in front of you again today and I assure you I will instill better discretion into Elton this afternoon. No need to air this laundry in front of the whole village.¡± Elton¡¯s face drained of color from his father''s tone. He knew that he had gone too far so he stood there quietly while Rebekah cast the Status spell on him. An image appeared before the crowd with a list of attributes and numbers. Next to the list of attributes was a wheel showing his magical affinities. The status revealed that he was level nine with a strength nine, body of eight, an agility and mind of seven. His affinities showed supreme in order and light and a varied array for the rest. His elemental attributes showed nine for light and order and six to seven for the rest. His essentia pool was large for a typical warrior but not particularly high. Other than being level nine his attributes were fairly standard for a Thorne clan warrior coming into his coming of age trials. The clansmen were fairly pleased to see this. Level nine of tier zero at the age of sixteen was a pretty big deal. It must be said that to progress out of tier zero was one of the greatest roadblocks in life. Fully seventy percent of people will never progress out of tier zero. This is for two reasons. One, they must reach level ten of tier zero before the age of magical maturity at twenty five. If they miss this opportunity it takes nothing short of divine intervention for someone to progress out of tier zero at that point. Two, once they reach level ten they must advance through the bottleneck into tier one before turning twenty five. This advancement is called class or tier up and requires special training, spells, and or magical components determined by what specialization they wish to take at that point. This is part of the reason for the Thorne clan¡¯s Coming of Age Trials requiring the youth to gather a demon heart. The ritual to become a Demon Warrior at tier one requires a demon heart as its base. The reason the clansmen were pleased was because if Elton was already level nine, he could very well be ready to tier up at the end of the Coming of Age Ceremony. As a sixteen year old tier one, he would be considered an up and coming talent in the clan with a bright future ahead of him. Elton glowered first at Rebekah then Derek on his way down from the dais but didn¡¯t dare to say anything. He still received a swat to the back of his head from his father once he got within arms reach. After him was his twin who sneered at Derek and Rebekah before having his Status revealed. It mimicked his brothers, only level eight instead of level nine and some of his attributes were one lower. After them were Hector and Belany who''s uncanny similarity appeared once more in their Status. In every way they were equal. Both level nine with seven body and strength, eight agility, and nine mind. Their affinities were all excellent or better with supreme in light and order. Their elemental attributes were all over six with nine in light and order and their essentia pool was quite robust, equal or better than most mages of their level. If the reaction to Elton was good, the reaction to these two was ecstatic. It is harder and slower to develop as mages so very few appear in the clan each generation. These two are likely to be the only ones for this generation and yet in spite of the slower rate of growth and greater difficulty, these two were even closer to tiering up than Elton. Next was Derek¡¯s turn. As he approached the stage he could see his grandmother''s reassuring gaze and for that moment that is all he focused on. He stood before his grandmother and waited for the comfortable wash of order and air magic she used to cast her Status spell. Once it was cast he couldn¡¯t help but smile as heard the gasps of the clansmen in the crowd. Even his grandmother''s eyes widened in surprise and he could see the Patriarch sit forward in his chair. Derek looked up at his Status and smiled. Level ten, strength ten, body ten, agility ten, mind ten, affinities all supreme except for chaos and shadow which were both outstanding, all elemental attributes ten, and an essence pool that surpassed most tier one and some tier two mages. Why was he confident coming in today? Because he had worked hard to achieve this Status. He started work each morning before most of his clansmen were even awake and he trained long after most of them stopped every day. He also knew the painstaking care his mother had put into his schema and he knew that if he didn¡¯t put forth his utmost his mother¡¯s efforts would be squandered.
Derek Thorne-
Class Magic Warrior Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 0 Order Supreme 10 Mid 4 (35)
Level 10 Water Supreme 10 Mid 4 (35)
Light Supreme 10 Mid 4 (35)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 10 Mid 4 (35)
Strength 10 Chaos Outstanding 10 Low 4 (30)
Body 10 Fire Supreme 10 Mid 4 (35)
Agility 10 Dark Outstanding 10 Low 4 (30)
Mind 10 Earth Supreme 10 Mid 4 (35)
Essentia Pool Mid t2 Mage
Previous Classes- None Permanent Enhancements- None Equipment- None Chapter 7 - Unicorn Tears Derek stood there for a moment, listening to the noise his clansmen were making, then smiled to his grandmother and turned to the Patriarch, ¡°Can I go down now?" The Patriarch looked at the boy. ¡°Yes, yes, you can go.¡± At this point Jacob¡¯s voice from the crowd spoke out, ¡°Patriarch, this seems off. We should have another person test this. Derek is, after all, Rebekah¡¯s grandson. She could be deliberately manipulating the trial.¡± Neither Derek nor Rebekah were too surprised by this. Jacob had never missed an opportunity before to act contrary to them, why would he do so now. Some other Elders spoke up too, it simply made sense to get a second viewing as these attributes were somewhat unbelievable. The Patriarch took a long look at Jacob, letting him see how displeased with him he was before standing up and saying, ¡°Fine Elder Jacob, since you don¡¯t trust the test administrator we all agreed upon, I will also cast a Status on this boy. But I warn you now, the next person that makes any fuss like this will be punished severely. I am getting tired of this petty infighting.¡± Jacob¡¯s face slowly turned a bright crimson color, he was not used to being corrected in front of the clan. He felt that his accomplishments for the clan had placed him in an unimpeachable position. In the last sixteen years he had doubled the clan¡¯s cash flows, what had the Patriarch done? Clearly Elder Jacob should not be spoken to in this way. The Patriarch walked over and personally cast a Status on Derek. This status wasn¡¯t as robust as Rebekah¡¯s but it confirmed that her casting was correct. The Patriarch once more looked towards Jacob, ¡°Are you satisfied now? I trust you don¡¯t believe I would obfuscate the results of a Status in this event.¡± Jacob could only bite back his anger. He knew that in this case he was wrong and that he had overstepped his place. He also knew that he had damaged his image in front of a good portion of the clan. He simply glared at Rebekah, and thought to himself, just you wait whore, this day isn¡¯t over yet. The Patriarch returned to his seat and Derek descended from the dais. The Patriarch looked up from his seat, waiting for the crowd to settle down and his anger to subside before announcing, ¡°The first trial is done. All five of the children have passed. We will now commence the second trial. In this trial all five of you will cast your Holy smite spell. You will not use swords. You will merely cast it into the measuring device that will tell exactly how powerful the spell you cast is. Derek, you went up last for the first trial, you will go up first for this one.¡± Derek walked back up to the dais as some clansmen placed a target with an obsidian face onto the dais in full sight of everyone there. He calmed himself for a moment, thinking about the more powerful formula for smite that he had recently learned, before drawing the mana for it from his essentia pool, shaping it by the formula, and casting it onto the obsidian target. After he cast it, the obsidian showed four and a half lines in the middle of it. He heard the clansmen mutter their approval, though this outcome didn¡¯t surprise them as much as his Status had, the spell being level four in strength was to be expected with his status. In fact anyone could have calculated that as the base for his power level. Only the Patriarch, Richard, Belany, and Hector seemed confused by this, while Jacob, Elton, and Feros had smug looks on their faces. When Derek and Rebekah saw this, they knew something was wrong. They couldn¡¯t do anything about it then so Derek just returned to stand next to Hector as Belany walked up to the dais. She cast her smite upon the target and though the formula appeared simpler she also achieved four and a half lines. Except her half line was closer to two thirds than half. She had clearly scored higher than Derek. Hector also went up and had the same result as his sister. When the two returned to stand next to Derek they had troubled looks on their faces. After they went, Elton went up and scored slightly below Hector and Belany. At this point Derek knew that something was going on. Belany and Hector casting a spell at a stronger level than he was to be expected as they were full mages. He was merely what is considered a magic warrior, a warrior who supplements their fighting with magical enhancement. If comparing a mage and a magic warrior of similar strengths a mage should generally surpass the magic warrior in terms of pure spell casting, and that was exactly what they were doing here. Belany and Hector could easily have learned some arcane trick to boost their spell power slightly. Elton, however, was also a magic warrior, and not just a magic warrior, but one with stats quite deficient in comparison to Derek¡¯s. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. As Feros walked up, Derek knew that if Feros also outscored him, then he would not be participating in the third trial, and that either Feros or Elton would be in charge during the fourth trial. If that happened, it is possible that they could prevent him from accomplishing the trial, or even worse, they could get him killed. Feros cast his smite and the target showed a result of four full lines with the fifth at fifty two percent. When they saw the result, Hector cursed under his breath and Belany leaned over to Derek, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you drink the Unicorn tears the clan purchased for you?¡± Derek looked at Belany with a dumbfounded look on his face. Unicorn tears was a potion that could be consumed and have the permanent effect of increasing the power of light based spells by a full level. For Holy casters like the Thorne clan, they could drink this potion and then modify their Holy spells to have a slightly higher percentage of light magic in them to allow them to cast at a stronger level than they naturally could. It all made sense now. The four of them had received Unicorn tear potions to boost their spellcasting and Derek had not. He sighed sadly, ¡°Belany, I never received any Unicorn tears. I didn¡¯t even know that the rest of you had received them.¡± Richard and Hector overheard this and looked over. Richard said, ¡°Are you sure that you never received any? The Patriarch ordered Elder Jacob to acquire five bottles, one for each of you. You should have received yours a month ago.¡± Derek just shook his head, ¡°Uncle you have seen the way Elder Jacob treats my grandmother and I. On a bad month he makes it so that we don¡¯t even receive enough food from the clan to eat all month. Do you honestly think he sent us such a valuable potion?¡± As they were talking Feros returned to his place by his father. Elder Jacob glowered at Rebekah who was dumbfounded as to how even Feros had managed to score higher than Derek. He whispered to his sons, ¡°When you go into the mountains for this trial, you must make sure Derek does not return.¡± At this time, the Patriarch stood up and glanced around with a troubled look on his face. He had some idea that foul play had occurred here but knew that he had no proof of it. He gazed at Derek for quite a while before announcing, ¡°The results of this trial are complete. Derek, you scored the lowest on this trial so you will not be participating in the third trial during the winter solstice. I expect all four of you who will be participating to practice hard and give this competition your all, so that the best of the four of you will be the leader for the fourth trial.¡± Derek turned to Belany and Hector with a crooked smile on his face, ¡°Congratulations. Now you have to fight those two meatheads. You are only allowed to use Holy spells and spells that you have created yourself for this fight, which means you are going to have a tremendous disadvantage against magic warriors who can simply rely on their swords to beat you. If you want you can come train with me for the next few weeks. I have a few ideas for how you can beat them.¡± The two of them glanced over at Elton and Feros, who were both still gloating over their victory and giving evil looks to Derek and Rebekah. ¡°Sure,¡± Belany said, ¡°I would love to put those two in their place.¡± Derek said goodbye to Belany and Hector and went over to where his grandmother was in a heated discussion with Richard and the Patriarch. As he walked up he heard the Patriarch say, ¡°Yes, that is very likely, but this is a very serious charge and Jacob is very sly. We need solid proof that Jacob disobeyed my order intentionally to set this situation up if we are to bring this before the other Elders. All Jacob has to say is that some servant simply failed to follow his instructions and he will be off the hook.¡± Rebekah looked at the Patriarch with a hurt expression on her face, ¡°You know what he has done over the years to hurt me and my family. You know why he has done it and yet you let it continue. This is wrong and the Unicorn tears are only the latest instance of it. How long will you let him keep this up? Until he has driven me and my family from the clan?¡± The Patriarch looked at her and shook his head. He knew how troublesome this was and he knew he couldn¡¯t do anything for Rebekah now. He looked at Derek and said, ¡°I am sorry Derek, I do not know why you haven¡¯t received the Unicorn tears I ordered Elder Jacob to provide for you, but I assure you I will look into it. The rules are as they are though. Your spell level was lower than the others¡¯ so now you will not participate in the next trial. But, you will still have a chance in the fourth trial. So take that for what it¡¯s worth.¡± Derek looked at his grandmother, she couldn¡¯t hide her disappointment, ¡°Grandmother, it¡¯s fine. I did not want to participate in the third trial anyways. I am uncertain I could prevent myself from significantly injuring either Elton or Feros and I am certain that even if I won they wouldn¡¯t follow my orders during the fourth trial anyways. This gives me an opportunity to train for the next month without having to worry about the competition.¡± Rebekah looked over her grandson and smiled. She ruffled his hair before saying, ¡°OK, if that¡¯s how you feel, let¡¯s leave it as it is and go home for some lunch. We have a busy night ahead of us.¡± The two of them took their leave of the clan Patriarch and walked back to the cottages with Eona, Ovid, and Alicia. They didn¡¯t speak much until they got to the house when Derek told Rebekah about the Wyvern¡¯s blood Ander had given him. They discussed how best for Eona to consume it to cure her ailment while eating lunch and afterwards Derek went out to the training yard with Ovid to train for a few hours before coming back to get ready for the dedication to the god of the forge. This was a special event for him, one that Ander said would have great impact on him for the rest of his life. He could not help but be excited. Chapter 8 - Dedication to the God of the Forge Even though he had been defeated in the second trial, Derek was still excited. His master had described the dedication ceremony as a kind of tempering process, where the god of the forge would mark him as one of his own. It must be said that a disciple of the god of the forge was welcomed anywhere they went by the local hegemon. The power of Rune Equipment forged by a Rune Smith were only rivaled by the creations of the most powerful of archmages and disciples of the god of the forge were considered the best of the Rune Smiths. Their skill was already unparalleled but they also had the ability to call on the divine power of their god to bless any item they create, making that equipment categorically superior to those made by other Rune Smiths and Archmages. In this way it was easy to see why any hegemon would welcome them. They ate well that afternoon and shortly before sundown Eona kissed her son on the head, bidding him good fortune that night. He looked at her with confusion, ¡°But aren¡¯t you coming? This is important, why won¡¯t you be there? You have to come! It¡¯s my birthday!¡± She smiled at him and sighed, ¡°Silly boy, it¡¯s also Alicia¡¯s birthday today! As her teacher I can¡¯t let such an auspicious night go. If we can complete the Ritual of the Moon Maiden tonight it will have a tremendous effect on her Status. Just as important as the dedication ritual you are enacting tonight.¡± Her words had merit and he knew it, but he was still just a sixteen year old and his mother was the most important person in his world. He shook his head and cried, ¡°No, it¡¯s not fair. Why do you pick her over me? You¡¯re my mom not hers. It¡¯s not fair. Make her do the stupid ritual alone!¡± Hearing him she turned rigid and snapped, ¡°Derek stop! That¡¯s not right and you know it. So you are unhappy that I won¡¯t be there for your dedication? What about her? None of her family is here. She hasn¡¯t seen any of them in almost four years. I am her Mistress. I am the only one she has here. You will have your Master and your grandmother there for your dedication which is still more than she will have. ¡°Stop this nonsense, you are disappointing me. I had hoped that these years you would have at least befriended my apprentice so that she wouldn¡¯t have to be so lonely here and yet here you are suggesting she go through a very dangerous ritual by herself. Shame on you.¡± ¡°But mom, it¡¯s not¡­¡± he started again. ¡°No buts. Go to your grandmother. She is waiting to take you to the smithy. We will talk about this again tomorrow.¡± Stopped from continuing his whining by his mother, Derek gathered the things he needed for the night and went out the door. Behind him Eona had a troubled expression on her face. Of course, she wanted to spend her son¡¯s birthday with him but tonight was just as important for her apprentice and there was no way for her to ignore that. All his tantrum had served to do was to upset her. When he stepped outside he saw Alicia in the ritual garments for the Ritual of the Moon Maiden. Her already beautiful features took on an even more otherworldly beauty in those garments. She smiled at him saying, ¡°Good luck at your dedication tonight.¡± He looked at her coldly and said, ¡°I hate you.¡± Then he ran down the path to where his grandmother was waiting for him, leaving a confused and hurt girl behind him. As he followed his grandmother down the path into town he blankly listened to his grandmother while he stewed in all of his grievances throughout the day. First his victorious reveal at the trials had been snatched from him, now his mother had chosen Alicia over him. His grudges were just piling up. His grandmother saw his attitude and couldn¡¯t help but sigh. She knew from watching Jared perform this ritual before that Derek would need a clear head for the ritual but she decided to leave the coaching for the ritual to Ander. She had an implicit trust in this old man. He had protected and trained her son and grandson all these years. He had quietly accepted the clan¡¯s rules and provided for them from the shadows. His heart had been just as broken as hers when he heard that Jared had died while errant. She knew that he wouldn¡¯t let this boy make any mistakes during this important ritual. They made their way down to the smithy, which was still well lit. The old smith had set aside several blanks and prepared a chair out of the way for Rebekah. Derek was going to have to work all night long to satisfy the ritual and the old smith had prepared several items for Derek to make or to complete. There were iron blanks, chain links, and padding to create a suit of armor. There were blanks, jade, and obsidian for a warsword. There were more as well as a haft for a glaive. There was a horn bow awaiting a runic inscription. And finally there was an old talisman of a hammer on a leather thong. When Rebekah saw that talisman she clutched it to her breast. It had been her son¡¯s amulet that he had crafted during his own dedication ceremony.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Ander placed his hand gently on Rebekah¡¯s shoulder and replaced the amulet among the materials. He looked at Derek and saw his mood. ¡°Boy, fire up the forge and work some of the blanks until your anxiety is down. You can only begin the ceremony when your mind is at peace.¡± Hearing this Derek obediently began work. He placed the firewood, used a wisp of fire element to start the fire, then worked the bellows until the fire was at the right temperature. As his mood evened out he sensed the various sprites within the smithy start to playfully work as well. As he worked a few blanks into some preliminary forms he finally felt his mind enter the meditative state that was appropriate for rune smithing. He lost himself to the work taking instruction from the old man as he did so. He felt that his meditation was deeper than it ever had been as he began working on the armor under his master¡¯s instruction. As he worked he heard a gruff ancient voice, ¡°Why do you seek to work the forge?¡± He mumbled in response, ¡°To give form to my dreams and to grow stronger.¡± The ancient voice responded with some laughter in his voice, ¡°To grow stronger? Why do you wish that?¡± Still in a daze the boy whispered, ¡°To protect my family and guarantee their well being!¡± Another ancient voice spoke up, this one with a matronly tone, ¡°Oh? I do like this child. Your disciple has found us a rare gem, love.¡± The boy listened to the ancient voices, hardly realizing that he had switched from his master¡¯s instruction to that of the gruff ancient. He continued working well into the night when he had completed every piece and come to the talisman. While he worked Ander watched quietly from the side with Rebekah. When he came to the hammer talisman the ancient voice said gravely, ¡°This was your father¡¯s medallion, which he made to my instruction. Remove it from the thong and place it within a crucible to melt it down.¡± As he was melting the medallion down he heard the matronly voice once more, ¡°Take the medallion of the hearth from your neck and do the same.¡± The command in her voice left no room for him to disobey, but as he added that medallion to the crucible he meekly replied, ¡°But this is from my mother.¡± He felt warmth wash over him and his mood stabilized again. The matronly voice soothed him, ¡°Do not fret child. Your mother¡¯s gift will still be there when you are done. Now pay attention.¡± As the medallions melted into the crucible, the gruff ancient voice once again instructed him on how to complete his task. This piece was not completed with hammer and anvil but rather direct rune manipulation with the aid of the sprites. As the final work completed he saw the medallion taking shape. The medallion¡¯s primary shape was that of a black iron hammer with a silver hearth with a lit fire nestled into it. As he completed his work, the.medallion descended from the air in front of his face to land in his hands. As he caught it he experienced a rush of energy. From within that energy he felt the warmth of the hearth as well as the blast from the forge. For several moments he basket in that energy before he heard the blessing of the two ancient voices, ¡°Go forth, my disciple. Hold to my tenants and you will possess my blessings.¡± He gawked for a moment as he comprehended those words. As the energy he felt and the words he heard receded a voice spoke from the corner of the room, ¡°See there, Rebekah, our grandson has received the blessing of the forge god and the hearth goddess. Our son would truly feel proud.¡± Derek didn¡¯t even hear that as he sensed many things while holding the hammer medallion in his hands. His runic schema had unfolded like a mandela, a sign that he had tiered up. He sensed the essentia that had been gathered in the catch basin his mother prepared start to move through the schema to assign to the various attributes. He further sensed a growth in strength unattached to this essence assignment. He used Status magic to discover the blessings he had gotten, and to review any permanent Status effects. The effect of tier ups also fall into this category. These are often called permanent enhancements. For instance, drinking the wyvern blood can lead to a permanent enhancement of two to five points to the body attribute, earth attribute and fire attribute each. The unicorn tears add a permanent enhancement of ten points to light attribute. The reason these ten points didn¡¯t show up during the trials was because Rebekah had been instructed to specifically show unenhanced attributes. If she had cast a standard Status that searches for permanent enhancements no one would have been caught off guard by the results today. Status magic is still a tool devised by mages. It is not all knowing. For most enhancements their essence imprints are easily recognizable and have long been categorized. Status spell formulas now include most of these, along with their commonly understood names. Some strange enhancements have not been cataloged and are typically flagged as unknown by Status magic. When his Status magic was cast he willingly enabled the Status to be visible to his grandmother and master. This Status labelled his class as a tier one Rune Smith. His level had rushed to the middle of level three before the essentia catch basin had depleted. His Permanent Enhancements were Rune Smith, Tier One, two points strength, two points body, two points agility, two points mind, Disciple of the God of the Forge, two points strength, two points body, five points fire, five points earth, and Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess, two points body, two points mind, five points light, five points order. Furthermore, his chaos and dark attributes had improved to supreme level. Not only had he received a higher attribute boost than normal from the tier up but he had received two divine blessings as well. Even one of those blessings was superior to the Unicorn tears he had been denied. Even better he had already leveled twice in tier one and his schema was a third of the way filled for level three already. His grandmother and master were well pleased with these results. They smiled at each other and the old smith walked up to appraise the boy¡¯s work. Chapter 9 - Wyverns Blood Ander began inspecting the equipment Derek had made. This was more to determine the quality than to check for success. The fact that Derek had received the blessing of the god of the forge was proof enough that his work had been successful. The armor was of quite a high grade. The armor provided a basic defense that would even be hard for someone of peak tier one or low tier two to penetrate with strength alone. Furthermore, rune armor is designed to accept elemental energies to boost its defensive properties. Ander could tell that this set could accept a level six defensive spell. With this level of defense he would be safe against all but the most exceptional tier two and against most middle or low tier three opponents. The armor was black, with plating and chain over tough black padding. It included a helmet to protect the head. The lines of the runic symbols on the armor shone in a dazzling rainbow color when exposed to light. This glittering was typical of runes created by mixing all of the elements and could be suppressed when worn but was quite eye catching on that dull black background. He inspected the blade for the warsword next. It still lacked a hilt guard and pommel but he could tell that it was of high quality. The design of the typical warblade was to enable the user to put as much force as possible on the edge of the blade to shear through armor and tough demon hide. This coupled with the quality of the work allowed Ander to see that the blade could defeat even mid tier two armor. The obsidian and jade used in the creation of the blade would allow it to potentially harma demon while the design and quality would likely allow Derek to harm or potentially kill even a least demon without having to use magic. Similar to rune armor a rune weapon is designed to enable the user to cast magic through the weapon. Ander could see that this and all the other weapons could also accept a level six offensive spell. This level of power could defeat the defenses of all but the strongest tier two and most middle and low tier three opponents. The warsword was also a dull black with some hints of green and shinier black near the edge from the jade and obsidian. The sword also had rainbow colored shine from the runic inscriptions. Ander chose a grey shagreen and sword knot and a common pommel and crossguard for the weapon. The glaive and bow were also well made, both of which were designed for use on foot as well as horseback. They matched the armor and sword in appearance. Primarily dull black with the glimmer of inscription. The final piece was the medallion. It appeared to be a simple design but that appearance was deceptive, the telltale glimmer of runic inscription could be seen from it and the further it was studied the more complex it appeared. This was the case for all medallions of the god of the forge but was even more so the case with this particular medallion as the hearth goddess¡¯ own runes intermingled with the others. Inspection revealed that eight tiny sprites had taken up residence within the medallion, one of each element. These sprites would help with rune smithing as the elder ones had done during the dedication ceremony, but they would also assist in enhancing the elemental attributes of the wearer. The sprites were young and weak and could only provide so much help for now but they would grow, providing a greater enhancement later. The utility of these intelligent spirits of the elements themselves was only limited to the creativeness of the user. At the very least they also served a supporting role in casting magic and in essence growth, collection, and distribution in the schema, though their own growth is also tied to the absorption of essence they must do so in their own way, which is not the same as the human method. The medallion was also tied to the blessings that Derek had received. It is possible that losing the medallion or destroying it could also cause Derek to lose his blessings. He had no intentions of testing that out. After inspecting the equipment, Ander was most pleased with the results. Derek had his first set of equipment and the blessings he had gained were tremendous. There was little doubt in Ander¡¯s mind that if faced with the trials again Derek would have easily seized victory. As they finished up their inspection, the sun rose for the new day. Ander led his apprentice and Rebekah back to their cottages and returned to his smithy while they lay down for some sleep. Shortly after Ander left, Ovid led the exhausted Eona and Alicia down the mountain. Though they were quite tired it could be seen that they were pleased with their success from the night before. Ovid saw them into their cabin before he went to feed his horse. When Eona entered her cabin she sent Alicia to bed before checking on Derek. His new armor and weapons were stored on the racks in the corner of the room and his medallion was around his neck. She sat next to him for a time, tracing those patterns, before delving his schema. She could clearly see all the changes from the night before. She was surprised at how much he had gained. She spent some small time adjusting the schema and interacting with the sprites she found playing there. While she was a powerful Grand Mage, her illness had long sapped her of her vitality and she could not stay awake the long hours the others of her tier could. After adjusting her son¡¯s bedding she went to her room for some sleep of her own. Ovid noticed the others start to move around close to noon so he prepared some lunch for everybody. They shared the results from the night before while eating contentedly around the table. Alicia also had some success, having also tiered up and receiving the Moon¡¯s Blessing as well. Derek couldn¡¯t help but notice that her looks had become even more bewitching but that couldn¡¯t overcome his jealousy of the girl who dared steal his mother away from him on his birthday. The Moon¡¯s Blessing was more than a mere enhancement to her beauty. The appearance change was merely the superficial effect of the blessing. It also provided a tremendous boost to elemental attributes and affinities, mind attribute, mana regeneration and essentia pool size. A mage that received the Moon¡¯s Blessing could be considered as powerful a spellcaster as many mages one or two tiers above her. Of course, Derek was pleased with the success of the ritual. Not because of its great benefit for Alicia, but because it was proof of how powerful his mother was after all. Ovid sensed his resentment and determined to prevent Derek from ruining the mood of the ladies at the table, ¡°Come boy. Now that you have tiered up, we must take this opportunity to see if we need to modify your forms to match your new attributes.¡± There was no attribute for weapon skill. You were either skilled in a weapon or not. Degree of skill could also determine life or death even against foes with much higher attributes than the user. For Ovid to be considered a master of weapons, and not just a master but a genius among masters, meant that Ovid possessed an understanding of weapons and the way to use them that was truly uncanny. Ovid had been an orphan in his hometown before being taken in by his master. That old man had sought out a student to carry on his knowledge of weapons and Ovid had soaked up that knowledge like a sponge, even improvising new forms that were superior to even his master¡¯s teachings.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. At fifteen he competed in a tournament held in Windreach, winning it handily. In this tournament he proved his status as his master¡¯s true heir and it was there that he was selected to be Eona¡¯s armsman. It had been twenty years since that tournament and Ovid¡¯s understanding of weapons had only grown more formidable, especially in the fifteen years he had taught Derek. Derek had been a fine student, soaking up and applying every lesson. If Derek had the inclination he already had the skill to become a weapon master in many of the most powerful courts in the continent. Derek brought his recently crafted weapons out to begin testing their forms. The two of them spent several hours adjusting the stances and discussing the optimal uses for the weapons and forms, heading back to the cottages shortly after nightfall. While the two of them were practicing in the training yard Alicia and Rebekah were assisting Eona. The day before, Derek had given Eona his precious vial of Wyvern¡¯s blood. It was known to cure illness and to enhance the body attribute of the person who imbibes it. In fact it was considered one of the strongest curative medications available. It was, after all, the blood of a beast descended from dragons. The only problem was the side effects of wyvern¡¯s blood. It truly was powerful and had a caustic effect. If consumed by someone with a weak vitality it could harm them tremendously, causing injury, crippling them, or even killing them. For Eona, whose vitality had been injured greatly by the backlash of Jared¡¯s death, this medication was quite dangerous for her. Fortunately, Rebekah¡¯s understanding of Holy magic rivaled her own understanding of schema and natural magic and her beloved apprentice was there as well to help out. Eona had grown to love this little girl who had depended on her since she arrived in her care. Her love for Alicia was second only to her love for her son and that love was reciprocated by Alicia, who felt rather isolated here in this backwoods place so far her home. The only people who interacted with her regularly were her mistress and Rebekah, and Rebekah¡¯s own student, Belany. Ovid, Derek, and Hector were also around but Ovid and Hector never talked much to her and Derek was always mean to her. With Rebekah and Alicia¡¯s help, Eona prepared to take the Wyvern¡¯s blood. First she consumed an herb and cast a spell that mixed water, air, and light element to reduce the harmful effects of the Wyvern¡¯s blood and to reduce the pain. Then she gave over control to that spell to Rebekah and lay down on her bed before drinking the Wyvern¡¯s blood. She felt an instant burning sensation from her mouth, then her throat and abdomen as she swallowed the contents of the vial. It was quite painful in spite of the anesthetic she had prepared. The pain continued and spread as her body digested the Wyvern¡¯s blood and spread the medicinal effect throughout her body. The pain never grew too great under the constant watch of Rebekah who managed her spells deftly. Alicia used a towel to cool her mistress¡¯ forehead and wipe the sweat from her as the process continued. In the early evening the process was complete. Rebekah delved her daughter in law and determined that the Wyvern¡¯s blood had been successful. Not only had the effects of her illness gone but her body attribute had been enhanced as well. Eona smiled bitterly as she thought of the sacrifice her son had made in giving this medication to her, but felt joy as well as she discovered that her vitality had been fully healed and with the enhancement to her body attribute it was more robust now than ever before. The boost to her fire and earth attributes were not insignificant but were nowhere near as important to her and her family as the healing of her ailment. Once the danger had passed Rebekah had left to prepare a celebratory meal for them all. Alicia drew a bath for Eona and waited on her while she bathed, even helping her to put on her clothes afterwards. Alicia was quite happy for her mistress. This was the first time she had ever seen her mistress in good health and it was quite refreshing. She couldn¡¯t help but praise Derek for thinking of his mother first when he acquired the Wyvern''s blood. Deep down she knew that in spite of how rude and mean he was to her he was actually a decent kid but that only made how he mistreated her hurt more. She couldn¡¯t understand it. When they sat down to eat the mood of the cottage was quite joyful. They were not wealthy but Rebekah pulled out all the stops for this meal, using her best ingredients and even opening the bottle of wine Ander had given her this year. That night they were all able to relax and enjoy themselves in a way that they had not in many years. Derek could not remember a time when he was happier. This was the first time he remembered seeing his mom in good health.
Derek Thorne-
Class Rune Smith Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 1 Order Supreme 16 + 5 High 5 (46)
Level 2 Water Supreme 11 + 5 Low 5 (41)
Light Supreme 16 + 5 High 5 (46)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 11 + 5 Low 5 (41)
Strength 15 Chaos Supreme 11 + 5 Low 5 (41)
Body 17 Fire Supreme 16 + 5 High 5 (46)
Agility 13 Dark Supreme 11 + 5 Low 5 (41)
Mind 15 Earth Supreme 16 + 5 High 5 (46)
Essentia Pool High t2 Mage
Previous Classes- Magic Warrior Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman of the Forge and Hearth: eight juvenile sprites +5 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 10 - Training with Belany and Hector The next day Derek¡¯s training began again. He would wake up well before dawn and head down to the smithy for a few hours before heading up to the castle for training with the clan. Children of the clan were not required to participate in the clan classes and training once their trials had started. It was understood that once the trials ended they would be adults of the clan from then on. Derek went to these sessions anyways. There he would meet up with Belany and Hector. This provided a good example for the children and they were able to assist the younger ones with their training. Afterwards, the three went up to the training yard in the mountain clearing where Derek helped prepare Belany and Hector for the third trial competition under Ovid and Rebekah¡¯s supervision. Belany and Hector were at a distinct disadvantage when compared to Elton and Feros. There were multiple reasons for this. The first and most important was that this competition only allowed the use of the clan¡¯s fighting forms and spells and any that the competitor had created themselves. This was no issue for a warrior type. While the clan¡¯s forms were inefficient for fighting humans, the glaive and warsword were still more than effective enough to defeat someone with comparable basic attributes. Magic warriors would start to encounter difficulties. They could still use the spells created by the clan for defense, holy magic as a combination of light and order was just as strong on defense as earth magic, but the offensive capabilities of smite which is the premier Thorne clan offensive sword spell are mediocre at best against a human opponent. This is even worse for a mage type. Holyfire was designed to wash over a region, killing demons and their cultist followers and healing and rejuvenating nearby untainted humans. This was the primary offensive spell available to Belany and Hector and not only could it not hurt Elton and Feros, it would heal them and rejuvenate them. Besides that reason for their disadvantage was the basic disadvantage that all low tier mages had when in short range fights with warriors. But compared to the difficulty imposed by not being able to use most of the spells a mage has at their disposal, that was a mere nuisance. This meant that the goal for the three of them was to come up with strategies and custom spells to overcome this difficulty. The three of them donned training garb. Derek put on the old training armor he was used to and equipped a training glaive that would approximate the weapon Elton and Feros would pick for their contests against Belany and Hector. The glaive had better reach and was the better choice for fighting a mage that might attempt to stay out of reach to cast more spells. Belany and Hector equipped loose flowing armored robes and mage staffs. All of their equipment allowed use of level four spells and the glaive had a blunted softwood head that would absorb most of the blow when it struck something to prevent injury. The three of them came out into the training yard initially to discuss what strategy would be effective for the competition. Ovid and Rebekah could not interfere but merely supervised so that the three youths would not be in danger. The first few sessions like this were to determine what types of spells to create for the purpose of the trial and how to use them. The sessions after this were to practice them and to improve their use. Derek¡¯s purpose in all of this was to represent their opponent and he had no intention of being a punching bag. He would of course suppress his power to that of peak tier zero to give an adequate representation of their opponents, even slightly stronger than Elton and Feros would actually be, but he would not go easy on them. It was his intent to help them improve as much as possible in the month that they had. This effort continued until a few days before the trial. Derek was in a sorry state. Belany and Hector had improved greatly and with the limitations of the rules of the competition it was not them that were suppressed but rather him. Belany had already defeated him twice before and The defeat today was enough to know that further defeats were all that he could expect in the future. Hector had won once a few days ago and now they were facing each other again. Derek did not like losing at all, even if it was to help his clansmen win their upcoming trials he still had his pride as a warrior. He had no intention of losing this time. If Hector wanted to win he would have to fight for it. The two youths were standing ten yards apart from each other and Derek could see perspiration forming on Hector¡¯s forehead and a look of concentration in his eyes. Hector was going to give it his all. ¡°Fight!¡± Belany shouted to start the match and the two boys started to move. Hector drifted backwards, his whole body leaning back while Derek attempted to dash forward. Just as Derek¡¯s foot hit the ground with the second step he sensed the fluctuation in the air. He had experienced this attack before. He formed a defensive spell within his armor and attempted to lower his body to reduce the area that the wind could hit. It was too late though and Hector¡¯s control was too good. The wind that was initially merely flowing from Hector towards Derek shifted downwards and caught Derek in the upper chest with an upward motion. This wind was like that of a fierce hurricane. Derek was protected by his spell but the force still lifted him off his feet.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Damn it!¡± Derek cursed as he was lifted and propelled backwards. Fifteen minutes ago the wind that Belany used had sent him all the way out of the match space, a result that would have been scored a loss for him. He was not a fan of letting that happen again and he used a smite and all the torque he could muster as he slammed the glaive into the ground that was swiftly passing below him. He finally came to stop a few feet from the line that would have marked him out and glared at Hector. ¡°That won¡¯t happen twice in one day!¡± He shouted ferociously as he started to charge forward again. He could see the distance between him and Hector was quite large. Hector had used the same wind he had summoned to propel himself to the opposite end of the competition space. Derek already knew that this fight was going to become a nightmare for him. He had helped Hector and Belany design the spells they would use in this fight and had helped create the strategy. He knew that unless Hector screwed up he was going to have a bad time. Derek gritted his teeth and started to charge forward but just as his foot touched down on that first step the solid earth beneath his feet became a mire. His foot sunk into the packed dirt all the way to the knee. The dirt had not become mud, it had merely given way for his leg to become trapped there. He used his own earth magic to step out but every step he had to repeat the action. If he was Elton or Feros that would be enough. Neither had an essentia pool large enough to power this usage repeatedly. An essentia pool can often be called a mana pool. Both terms are effective in describing it. It is formed by the gathering of essence into a pool in the body. Mana can then be drawn from it. Mana is the energy released by essentia, the solidified form of essence. It can be used to power magic and regenerates over time naturally. Though the three of them did not expect Elton or Feros to be able to last long expending their essentia in this way, this Earthtrap spell they had created was only the second spell designed for this competition. Windbuffet was the first. The third was a derivation of Holyfire that kept the order element of the spell and replaced the light element with fire. It produced a point blank area of effect attack similar to Holyfire that could be manipulated from a spherical blast to a narrow cone shaped attack. The cone was much longer than the distance provided by the sphere as the spell only allowed for so much space to be effected. The two shapes had to preserve the volume. For a lower tier mage it was already quite good that they had managed to formulate the change from sphere to cone. Unlike Holyfire which would harm only demons and their corrupted followers and heal and rejuvenate others, the substitution of fire for light meant that it would burn anything that entered the scope of the spell. In fact, while mixing order with light may create a Holy spell that is soothing to most beings. Mixing order with fire creates spells classified as Wrath spells. Thus the group decided to call this one Wrathfire, though Ovid and Rebekah were quite amused at their lack of creativity. While they might find the name Wrathfire to be amusing Derek most assuredly did not. Since the creation of the spell he had been the only person to suffer from it. As he slogged through the Earthtrap spell he prepared a water and earth based defensive spell for his armor and gritted his teeth. Just as he did so the first Wrathfire struck. It wasn¡¯t enough to get through his defensive spell but that wasn¡¯t the issue. What made Holyfire the premiere spell of Thorne clan offensive spellcaster was that it was powerful, mana efficient, and able to be cast rapidly and repetitively. Wrathfire largely inherited those traits, it¡¯s only downside was that Hector and Belany were not as specialized in fire as they were in light element magic, but that wasn¡¯t enough to change what was about to happen. With every step Derek ate another Wrathfire until he got halfway across the competition space. At that point his constant effort of resisting the Earthtrap and forming the defensive spell had depleted his mana. He could no longer fully form the defensive spell and as the training armor ate the Wrathfire a bright aegis spell was released from it to protect its user. Once it did so Derek collapsed to the ground, the training armor locking up and preventing him from moving. Derek stared up at the sky, a bitter feeling moving through his heart. He was quite a prideful youth with a lot of confidence in himself and his skills. Yet today he had been beaten twice. Sure, he had been suppressing himself to give them a fair fight within the rules and sure, the end goal was to ensure that the two of them thoroughly beat Elton and Feros at the trial, but it sure didn¡¯t feel good to feel like a mouse being toyed with by a cat. ¡°Haha, Hector you got him good this time!¡± He heard Belany say as he stood up and removed his helmet. ¡°Belany, I am right here. Please don¡¯t start dancing on my corpse.¡± He said sourly. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t start with that sore loser stuff. You won a few dozen of these matches yourself. How am I not to be happy for my brother for his second win?¡± She said with an almost serious face. When faced with that how could he stay dispirited? ¡°Besides, this is all to beat Elton and Feros in a couple of days.¡± When she mentioned that the three of them were all grins and couldn¡¯t help doing a group hug and patted each other on the back. The third trial was going to be very embarrassing for Elton and Feros. These three didn¡¯t feel sorry about the idea of that at all. As they laughed and changed out of their training garb Rebekah used her magic to fix the training ground. They all stood by the well with mugs of mulled cider while Rebekah praised them for their recent accomplishments. As they talked they heard a greetings from Richard as he came up the snow-covered path towards their clearing. Chapter 11 - Prince Kylin Arrives When Richard arrived Belany and Hector were both excited to tell him of their success today. He was one of the few in the clan that knew that these two were training with Derek to beat Elton and Feros and of course he would never let that information slip. Once he heard of their success he was delighted and thanked Derek profusely for his efforts. This training meant more than just winning a silly competition. It meant that if his children were ever under real threat they would have a better chance of surviving. After thanking Derek he grew more serious. ¡°I have come to get you four. Ovid, inform your mistress that she needs to bring her apprentice as well. The Prince of Serris has arrived with two knights and a small retinue. He says he is here to complete the Pilgrimage of the Sword. The Patriarch is preparing to meet him in the clan hall and all clan members are expected to appear. After we greet him there will be a feast in his honor and an excellent opportunity for you all to socialize with the rest of the clan.¡± Richard was very similar to his grandfather and daughter. The growth and prosperity of the clan were of the utmost significance to him so he took every opportunity he could to mend the relationships in the clan. He would even use the arrival of a foreign dignitary as an opportunity to promote harmony in the clan. Belany was instantly excited, she hugged her brother and said, ¡°Prince Kylin of Serris is said to be an outstanding figure in our generation. He has participated with distinction in many of his father¡¯s campaigns and it is said that his statecraft is even stronger than his father¡¯s. If we can make a good impression on him while he is here we might benefit in the future.¡° Richard smiled. He was pleased that his daughter understood things so clearly at this age. She would really be a pillar in the clan as she got older. Ovid left to go get his mistress and Rebekah and Derek chatted with Richard while they waited. Once Ovid, Eona, and Alicia joined them the eight of them left together. Richard was pleasantly surprised to see that Eona was cured of her ailment and they all happily chatted on the way down the path. When they all gathered at the clan hall they stood in attendance as they awaited the arrival of their guests. He had been given a residence near the chapel reserved for powerful people that had come on pilgrimage for the duration of his stay and was given time to freshen up while the clan had gathered in the hall. Once everything had been prepared the Patriarch sat in the clan magistrate''s seat and ordered Richard to invite Prince Kylin and his knights to the hall. Derek and his family were positioned towards the end of the hall closer to the entrance than the head of the hall. Only important servants of the clan who were not of the clan were positioned any farther. All in all the room had a little over three hundred people in it. After a while Richard returned with Prince Kylin and his knights. Kylin was a handsome young man with a powerful build and golden hair that made him look like a young lion. He was dressed in the white and red of his house colors and his hand rested comfortably in the hilt of his sword. He strode in confidently flanked by his two knights. Each of them had iron grey hair and faces that looked carved from stone. One was slightly taller than the other with an aura of command and the other had a scar running down the side of his face that seemed to match his scowl perfectly. As they walked down the hall they were bowed to slightly by the members of the Thorne clan. This was a marked difference from the full bow of the servants. The Elders and Patriarch didn¡¯t even attempt to bow, though the Patriarch did stand from his magistrate''s seat as a polite gesture. This was the pride of an ancient clan and Kylin had known to expect it. When Richard arrived at the head of the hall he introduced Kylin to the Patriarch and the Elders ending with, ¡°and these guests are Prince Kylin of Serris and Sirs Duncan and Kenneth of Serris.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The Patriarch laughed and said, ¡°It is good that you three have come, it has been so long since we have had pilgrims here that we had almost forgotten that this Redwyrm of ours was the destination site of a pilgrimage. In honor of your arrival I have ordered the preparation of a feast.¡± At this he signaled some servants who began bringing long tables and chairs into the hall and covering them in dinnerware and food. A table was set near the head of the hall with space for the Patriarch and his family, the guests and the Elders and their families. The guests were placed so that they could see the whole hall next to the Patriarch. The nearby tables were filled by members of the inner families of the clan. Further out were the tables for the branch families and distinguished servants. As everyone ate some of the servants began to play music for the hall. The feast was quite lavish and Derek and his family got to eat quite well where they sat. They chatted happily among themselves, ate, and listened to the musicians. They were pleasantly surprised when Ander came to sit with them. He had been invited due to the special nature of being a disciple and a Runic Smith. The other people at the table largely ignored them and Derek was fine with that. He would rather be ignored than deal with rude behavior from them. At the first table, Prince Kylin and his knights had just been introduced to everyone at the table. Prince Kylin cast a confused glance at the other two men, the taller one merely shrugged. The Prince spoke up, ¡°Patriarch Daren, after traveling this far we expected to meet the son of Sir Jared here today. Why is it that we haven¡¯t been introduced to him?¡± The Patriarch was taken slightly aback. He knew that the Kingdom of Serris had some connection with Jared. Jared had died in service to them. For a few years the King of Serris had sent a tribute to Jared¡¯s family, but that had stopped years ago. Why would they be interested in his son now? He quickly hid his shock, neither of his guests noticed it, and answered, ¡°Oh, Derek? He¡¯s the younger one with the hammer medallion down there. He is eating with his family. Would you like me to bring him up here to introduce him to you?¡± When he said that Kylin smiled, ¡°No, I will trouble you to introduce us tomorrow when everything has quieted down.¡± The feast lasted into the evening, when the Thorne clan and their guests started returning to their lodgings. When they entered the guest house Kylin turned to the taller knight, ¡°Father, this Thorne Clan doesn¡¯t live up to its name. Though the arrogance of some of their members seem to match the rumors, we have destroyed clans a hundred times more powerful than them.¡± The taller knight laughed, ¡°Son, ancient clans often only have their pride and nothing more. This one may not be much but as Sir Jared showed us back then, when facing demons even having only one Demon Warrior of Thorne can save the lives of hundreds. Put up with their arrogance, so long as they don¡¯t overstep themselves it is just words. This Patriarch Daren seems a decent sort. He could make a decent ally and it never hurts to have friends like this. Especially if we ever have to face demons again.¡± The taller knight was actually King Kenneth of Serris not Sir Kenneth. He laughed at his scowling friend, ¡°Duncan, did you see? They have a disciple of the forge god here. What do you say we go down to his place tomorrow to get a new lance or one of those famed warswords this clan uses?¡± The scarred knight laughed, his face becoming lively once more, ¡°Yes, haha, so long as you are paying for the smith, I will buy us drinks while we wait. We can even get a weapon for this young pup of yours while we are at it. It will be just like the old days when you didn¡¯t have a kingdom to run and we could go errant for years at a time.¡± Kylin laughed at his father and this knight of his. In Serris this behavior would have many old ministers and magistrates up in arms but here they could just be the old rogues they wanted to be. He pondered for a moment, ¡°Why do you think they put him so far down? It appears they had him seated among the servants. Does this child lack his father¡¯s promise?¡± His father looked over, ¡°Son, we will find that out later. When the father was dying in that hospital tent I promised that I would make sure his son was taken care of. Over the last sixteen years I have sent tribute to his family to help with their expenses, the same as I do for knights who swore loyalty directly to me. I have already done more for this outsider than I should. We will see what effect this had in the next few weeks.¡± Kylin nodded, ¡°That¡¯s right. In a few days they will have their third trial for their coming of age ceremony and a few weeks later is the final trial. We will see the caliber of this boy then. It should be quite interesting.¡± Chapter 12 - A Sword for a Prince The next morning Derek resumed his habitual schedule. Early that morning he was pouring blanks and speaking to his master, ¡°Master, the Serris this Prince Kylin is from, is that the same country where my father died?¡± Ander looked at him for a moment before responding, ¡°Yes, it should be so. I only know of one Serris. Your father went to fight for them when they were putting down some demon cultists. Ovid said that when a group of six greater demons attacked, your father used the Holy Sacrifice spell to destroy them. The Prince would have been a page of six or seven then so he might not have encountered your father but it is possible one of the knights did. ¡°Either way, after your father died Serris sent tribute to your family for a few years. That was helpful.¡± The old man stopped talking for a while to focus on some fine work and the two of them kept working uninterrupted for a few more hours before the Prince and his knights came up to the smithy. It must be known that Rune Smiths were a haughty bunch to begin with but a disciple of the forge god? That took arrogance to another level. Some kings have been refused commissions by disciples who were annoyed by some misspoken word. Needless to say these three came bearing gifts. Ander met them in the yard while Derek continued to work in the back. ¡°Haha, what have gallant fellows such as yourself come all the way to my poor smithy this morning for?¡± The Prince glanced at the two older men and said directly, ¡°We have come to commision a weapon for each of us to commemorate the end of our pilgrimage. Do you have the time for such a commission?¡± The old man looked gravely at them all as if judging them and responded, ¡°I have time to make two weapons and my apprentice can make the third, young Prince. If that satisfies you I can take up this commission.¡± The two knights frowned when hearing this. Having a custom work done by a disciple was truly an honor, but having that disciple suggest that one of the weapons be made by an apprentice? Isn¡¯t that a bit much? Ander saw the looks on the older men¡¯s faces and quickly explained, ¡°Do not think that the quality will be low just because it is my apprentice making this weapon. I just checked your Status and you two older gentlemen are tier seven and not just tier seven but you should be able to use level nine attack spells. Most Rune Smiths can only produce a weapon that can utilize level six attack spells. I imagine your current weapons allow for level seven or eight. I can guarantee that the weapons I forge will be able to utilize up to level ten. ¡°As for my apprentice, the Prince here is tier four and can utilize level seven attack spells. My apprentice has already made one weapon today that was tier four, and it could allow for a level six attack spell. Here, take a look at it. Notice the patterns from the twisting. That hardly challenged him. I guarantee that he will be able to produce a more powerful tier four weapon if you give him this commission or all three weapons will be free today. What do you say?¡± The three of them were taken aback to hear this. An apprentice can produce a tier four weapon? Even some Rune Smiths that set their own shops up in the capital of Serris boasted of weapons weaker than this. Anywhere else and such an apprentice would be called a master. The Prince looked at the two older men. They nodded to him. He turned and smiled, ¡°I am very much interested to meet this apprentice of yours. The three of us would like warswords in the style of the Thorneblade. Name your price and we will decide whether to commission these weapons.¡± The old man smiled at them. ¡±You all know that the materials for the weapons I will make will be expensive and my time is not cheap. I am bored now and wish to make these two swords so I will discount my labor. One thousand talents of gold is my price for each of the blades. I think you will find that reasonable. As for the price for the sword he makes I will leave that up to him. He knows the value of things so he should not charge you an outrageous price. You can pay after we complete the task. Do we have a deal?¡± It must be stated that one thousand talents is a lot of gold. The Thorne clan earns just over that from all of its holdings every year. One thousand talents was the amount of the yearly tribute sent by the King of Serris to Derek¡¯s family. But for a tier seven sword able to handle the energy of a level ten spell? It was quite low. This master could have asked for twice that and gotten the payment he required. It must be said that even the King¡¯s Smith couldn¡¯t produce a sword of this calibre. The two knights¡¯ eyes lit up upon hearing the offered price. The taller one said, ¡°Disciple, if we pay so little won¡¯t we be ripping you off? Won¡¯t we be inviting your god to retaliate against us?¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The old man laughed when he heard this. ¡°Don¡¯t take it that way. There is a such thing as too much good fortune. If you pay me what these swords are worth that much wealth would be inviting disaster upon me. No, the price is as I set it. If you still feel you owe me afterwards then you can owe me a favor.¡± The two knights laughed and agreed to his terms. They then pulled out a bottle and some mugs and sat at a table in the yard to drink while they awaited their new weapons. Ander saw this and busily prepared to work on their commission. These were the kind of men that appreciated his work the most and so this kind of commission was the kind he enjoyed to work the most. Seeing his father and his comrade sit down to drink, the Prince shook his head and went in to meet with the apprentice. In the back of the smithy Derek was preparing more blanks. He looked up as the Prince entered and motioned him to a space that was out of the way. ¡°Prince Kylin, why have you come here today?¡± The hammer medallion around his neck clearly gave him away as another disciple of the forge god. Forgeries of the hammer medallion invited the wrath of the forge god. Thus wearing this medallion was the only proof a disciple needed. Prince Kylin looked at Derek and said, ¡°Your master said that his apprentice would craft a warsword for me but I only see you and him in the forge right now. Where are your master¡¯s other apprentices?¡± Derek frowned at Prince Kylin, ¡°My master has only ever had two apprentices, myself and my father. If he intended for his apprentice to make something then he was talking about me doing it.¡± The Prince was stunned, ¡°You? He said you would craft a tier four weapon and had just completed one that could utilize a level six attack spell. How is it possible for someone your age to craft something that powerful?¡± When Derek heard this he laughed, ¡°Prince Kylin, don¡¯t overthink it. If I tried to make this weapon at another smithy I would only be able to produce a high grade tier three weapon that could maybe allow for level four or five spells. But my master¡¯s shop is of high quality and harnesses powerful sprites. Because of this and the fact that I have worked for years with these sprites I can easily produce a tier four weapon. Come, let''s talk details. What is the highest level you can cast? What style of weapon do you want...¡± A short while later Derek had gotten the details and started work on the sword. It must be noted that the amount of time it takes a Rune Smith to produce an item is different from the amount of time a normal smith takes. First off, the Rune Smith doesn¡¯t really use a hammer to forge, but rather to form the rune. Everything they do is through the manipulation of runes. It is a form of magic that allows them to rearrange the structure of what they are working on and to imprint a runic enhancement into the item similar to how a runic schema is imprinted into a person. The time it takes a Rune Smith to craft something is purely dependent on how complicated or high tier the item is in comparison to the skill of the crafter. Derek finished his task a few hours later. He then picked a shagreen, hilt, guard and sword knot and completed the warsword with those. He then polished the blade before handing it over to Prince Kylin. He said, ¡°This warsword is a tier four weapon. It has jade and obsidian along its cutting edge similar to the Thorneblade. In terms of physical force it should be able to cut through tier five armor or a lesser demon without a spell being used. As for spells it can take a level eight attack spell. ¡°I don¡¯t imagine you have used one of these before. If you would like to come out to the yard I will show you some basic stances and moves.¡± Prince Kylin was not finished admiring his new blade. When he heard how powerful the blade was he was astonished. When he heard Derek suggest they go out into the yard to practice with it he excitedly agreed. This weapon was superior to any weapons Kylin already possessed for his current tier. It must be understood that a person could use a higher tier weapon but it would be inefficient and cumbersome. Thus a superior weapon within a tier was a tremendous treasure. A weapon of a tier that could counter armor of a higher tier was even more precious. Ander was still working on the first of the two weapons he was making as Derek and Kylin came out of the back of the smithy. When the two of them came out the two older knights were drinking and playing dice at the table. Kylin shook his head but followed Derek to the center of the yard where he was going to demonstrate the basic stances and moves for the weapon. Derek knew better than to teach the forms of the Thorne Clan¡¯s styles. He knew that those were guarded secrets of the clan. Instead he taught the basic stances and moves from the variation Ovid had taught him. These would be more useful to Kylin anyways as they were less ineffective against man sized opponents than the Thorne clan¡¯s forms. Kylin learned quickly as to be expected of someone who had spent most of his life in a military encampment. When he felt satisfied with his movements he turned to where Derek was standing and thanked him. He reached into his pouch and asked, ¡°Well, how much is it?¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°You have already paid for this. The first few years of my life you sent my family money. That helped us get by. Take this sword as my gratitude for that.¡± Something in what Derek said bothered the Prince. He looked at the two older men who were now watching them. He looked back at Derek, ¡°Hmm? I do not recall any kind of tribute being sent here. You said a few years? Do you know how long?¡± Derek responded, ¡°My master said we received the money for four years. I never thought to ask how much we received. I only know that it helped us get by for a while. You have my thanks.¡± Prince Kylin had a troubled look on his face but he didn¡¯t press it further. He simply glanced at the older men who were talking quietly between each other and responded, ¡°I didn¡¯t know about it but you are welcome. Thank you for the sword.¡± Chapter 13 - The Shrine of the Sword Derek saw that the three guests appeared troubled but he didn¡¯t want to pry. He turned to them and said, ¡°I am heading up to the castle now. If you need me look for me there.¡± He waved and ran off to the castle to help with the younger kids¡¯ training. Towards noon they all filed into the chapel as they do everyday. They were joined by many of the adults of the clan and the Prince and his knights were there as well. The Prince was standing next to the Patriarch near the front of the chapel. The Patriarch was explaining to the three guests the mechanics of the ritual that would be enacted in this gathering. After everyone had entered a bell rang one time. The people gathered in the chapel bowed and spread their hands outward. Then they repeated the chant of an order element spell. The chant took hold and the formula was completed and mana came from every person in the chapel, including the guests, and flowed into the seal. The innermost ring flared to life, spinning around the sword that hovered in the middle of the chapel. Next the bell rang two times. The people bowed once more spreading their hands outward and repeated a light element chant. The chant took hold and the formula was completed and mana once more flowed from the people and into the seal. The second ring flared to life and spun just outside the orbit of the previous ring. The bell then rang three times and this process repeated itself once again, completing an order element spell that caused the third ring to orbit as well. The bell rang four times and then five times and the spells were completed causing five total rings to rotate around the sword. When the fifth ring began to rotate a strobing light was emitted from the sword. In that moment the reactions of the people all varied. The majority of the Thorne clan members had a stony look on their face as they gazed into the middle distance. Some others of the clan, children or adults with kind hearts, wept. Duncan glanced around in astonishment and Kenneth was dazed for a moment before coming to his senses. He immediately looked to his son who was staring into the middle distance with a look of fear on his face. The members of the Thorne clan started to come out of their trances. Derek turned and saw that Prince Kylin was still in his and saw that the Patriarch was whispering some things to the knights which seemed to slightly reduce their agitation. After a few more moments Prince Kylin came out of his reverie and a shocked expression stayed on his face for quite a while. The clan sang an ancestral hymn as the rings landed back in their places within the seal. The participants left quietly after that and Derek waited for the Prince to come out with his two knights before approaching, ¡°You saw something didn¡¯t you?¡± Prince Kylin looked at him with a very perplexed look. ¡°Was that real?¡± Derek smiled sadly at the Prince, ¡°We believe so, yes. We believe that the visions during the sword ceremony are memories. Some are the memories of the Sword. Some are the memories of our ancestors. All are the memories of encounters with demons. ¡°Some people have the nerve to ask how we can hold to the tradition of fighting demons for five thousand years. How, when there hasn¡¯t been a demonic invasion since the Demon Lord was sealed, can we hold on to our hatred and train every day to fight the demons? How is it that when the rest of the world has moved on we are willing to become more and more irrelevant while we prowl this insignificant mountain range for demons to slay? ¡°It¡¯s because of those memories. Some of those memories show entire cities being devoured by demons or human armies being exterminated by them. Some show pitched battles where neither side could be declared the victors and the dead of both sides covered the ground for miles. Some show the glorious battles that led up to the sealing of the Demon Lord and the last stand of his armies. All of them show the sacrifices our ancestors paid to give us those victories.¡± Derek looked at the three of them and said quietly, ¡°Every time I participate in that ritual I pray that I will see my father. That I will be able to see how he died.¡± Prince Kylin remembered that night. He had been a page for one of his father¡¯s generals. They had just fought their way into the town and were steadily pushing the cultists back when the Greater demons appeared. The battle had become a nightmare. Dozens of soldiers died in moments. Even Sir Garent, a tier seven Knight Master, had been torn limb from limb in an instant. Then, from the right side of the battlefield, Sir Jared cast a spell which emitted a blinding white light throughout the town. From within that light six beams of light arched out and bisected each of the demons. They disintegrated in moments with nothing but the trail of damage they had done to prove that they had been there at all. Even the cultists were affected. Many died outright and those that didn¡¯t were left in a dazed state as if their minds had collapsed. After casting that spell, Sir Jared fell from his horse. The men around him brought him to the field hospital where he died shortly thereafter. Everyone that was there knew that Sir Jared¡¯s action had saved a great many lives. This was one of the reasons the King had ordered tribute to be paid to Sir Jared¡¯s family. He couldn¡¯t understand back then, when he saw Sir Jared so readily cast that spell, he couldn¡¯t understand what would cause a man to readily sacrifice his life to kill his enemy. Surely without that spell they would have won anyways. Surely Sir Jared could have used other means to kill the demons that wouldn¡¯t have cost his life. Maybe some more soldiers would have died during the fighting but they would have won eventually anyways. Back then the young Prince didn¡¯t understand it. It had given him nightmares. But now after having witnessed the Sword ceremony he knew. After witnessing the predations of the demons an untold number of times through the ceremony the members of the Thorne clan had a fanatical drive to destroy the demons wherever they encountered them. There was no room to back down, no room for mercy, only to kill or die in combat with the ancient foe.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Prince Kylin looked at Derek, a feverish look passing across his face before coming under control. He whispered, ¡°I was there. I saw it happen.¡± Prince Kylin sat on a bench near the chapel entrance and told the story. He started from where they first pushed into the town. When he described the six demons attacking the two older men had complex expressions as they remembered the terror in that moment. Then Kylin described that magnificent spell and its effect on the battlefield, ending with, ¡°and then he died in the field hospital.¡± Derek sat there for a while and thought it over. He had heard the tale once from Ovid who had never repeated the story again. The two tales only varied in the details. After a while Derek stood up and smiled. ¡°Thank you for that. You should check your Status. With the strength of your reaction to the ritual I am sure something should have changed.¡± Kylin frowned and checked his Status. He was surprised to find that his order and light affinities had both been improved. He looked at Derek, ¡°How did you know?¡± Derek responded with a smile, ¡°The Sword ceremony is tied to the clan. Only clan members receive visions from the sword. If my guess is right one of your parents'' lines should have had a deep connection with the clan. Either way, the first time a clan member participates in the ceremony they will have a stronger reaction and the strength of that reaction will often lead to affinity gain.¡± He laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t expect another affinity increase from that though. It only works the first time a person participates in it.¡± They talked there for quite a while before Derek turned to leave, ¡°It was good meeting you three but I need to go home. My weapon master won¡¯t be pleased if I am late.¡± The three looked at each other and Lord Kenneth spoke up, ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t live in the castle with the rest of your clan? That seems a little off.¡± Derek laughed, ¡°No, my family lives a little bit up the mountain. It¡¯s nice up there. No one disturbs our training. If you wish, you can come up with me. We can spend some more time training those warswords my master and I just made for you.¡± The others thought about this for a bit before agreeing to come with Derek up the mountain path. This day Hector and Belany stayed home and practiced refining the spells they would use in the competition a few days later and Eona and Rebekah had taken Alicia further up the mountain now that Eona¡¯s vitality had been restored so Ovid was the only one in the clearing when Derek and his guests arrived. Derek¡¯s mastery of the weapons Ovid had taught him was on par with Ovid¡¯s own when he had left his master so Ovid let him determine his own method of practice now, merely watching and offering pointers. Derek introduced Ovid to the three men who recognized him from the campaign years ago. When he saw Lord Kenneth he was taken aback, ¡°You are?¡± ¡°Please address me as Sir Kenneth, thank you.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. Prince Kylin, you have grown. When I last saw you you were Lord Raleigh¡¯s page and just learning to fight.¡± ¡°Haha, Sir Ovid, you have gotten older as well. We have come to train with Derek on how to use the warsword.¡± Kylin was pleased to be remembered by this man. Though he had only signed on as Sir Jared¡¯s retainer, all of the knights and mages in service during that campaign had seen proof of his skill in combat. Sir Ovid¡¯s battle skills had become legendary in the army. Lord Duncan had a puzzled look on his face, ¡°How is it that you live in a cottage in such a remote place? The greatest hegemons in the world would fight to have you teaching their younger generation. They would shower you with wealth and castles. You would be a treasured retainer for any one them. But you are kept in this out of the way clearing by this Thorne clan? Do they not know how to respect talent here?¡± The other two nodded and had a complex look on their faces. Kenneth knew how much he was willing to offer this man and he was obviously stifled here. When he took Sir Jared¡¯s corpse home with him fifteen years ago he was already tier four but now he was only tier five? After fifteen years this man should be at least on par with Duncan and Kenneth. Ovid just shook his head and laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t serve the Thorne clan but my Lady Eona. I am her armsman and bodyguard. Furthermore, she and Sir Jared entrusted me with teaching Derek to be a knight. Even if I must be stifled for the rest of my life, I would be where my lady required me to be and I would be happy with it.¡± Lord Kenneth sighed, ¡°Your lady is lucky to have you and this young man is lucky to have you as his weapon master. I know just how much the King of Serris would offer to bring you over. This Thorne clan, between you and Disciple Ander, I wonder if they even knew how much talent was left unused under their noses.¡± Ovid put his hand on Derek¡¯s shoulder and said in a serious voice, ¡°I don¡¯t care much about this clan. They have mistreated my lady and Sir Jared¡¯s family but I can assure you that I am also lucky to have Derek as my apprentice. He has learned everything I have tried to teach him and he will surely carry on my master¡¯s craft when I am gone. I dare say that Derek has mastered every weapon I have to teach and if he showed his skill many of the local hegemons would be clamoring to hire him as a weapon master as well.¡± The three were definitely amazed by this. This morning they discovered that this sixteen year old was already a disciple of the forge god capable of crafting high quality tier four equipment but now they found out that his weapon master had determined that he had mastered all of his weapons and was considered talented enough to be a weapon master himself? It must be said that geniuses in these fields might meet one of these requirements by eighteen to twenty but Derek had achieved both by the age of sixteen? What a talent! Lightning flashed in Kenneth''s eyes as he thought of this. This boy was truly worth befriending. He spoke up, ¡°Excellent! Let¡¯s make good use of this opportunity then. Derek, you offered before that you would show us how to use these warswords. We will take you up on it. My Prince, what say you?¡± Prince Kylin looked at the older man and smiled. He smiled to Derek and said, ¡°Indeed, teach us the use of this weapon, weapon master. Weapon masters in Serris are paid ten talents a lesson. How about I pay you that rate to teach us to use this warsword your clan is famous for?¡± Derek thought about it for a minute and responded, ¡°You are my clan¡¯s guest here. I cannot charge you that much and I do not have time to fully train you before I head out for the fourth trial of the coming of age ceremony in a few weeks. I can spend ten days training the three of you in that time. How about I charge you one hundred gold talents for the three of you? I am pretty sure I can teach the basics of the forms my master taught me in that time.¡± He looked to Ovid who nodded to him with pride. The title of weapon master wasn¡¯t derived from the degree of skill in the weapon. Rather it reflected the fact that the individual had the ability to teach that skill to others. By taking coin to teach a weapon Derek would officially become a weapon master and all five of them knew that. Prince Kylin nodded. These terms were acceptable and it gave them something to do in the time they were in this backwater village. He smiled, ¡°I accept your terms, weapon master.¡± Chapter 14 - The Third Trial That afternoon Derek trained his three students under the watchful eye of his own weapon master. They trained until sundown and the three of them took to this new weapon like fish to water. Afterwards they ate with his mother, grandmother, and Alicia. The addition of the three guests did not dampen the mood in the cottage at all. They were very courteous and Eona and Alicia appreciated these manners they hadn¡¯t experienced since coming to this backwater place. The next day Derek''s schedule repeated itself and this time his students brought a few members of their retinue and some supplies with them when they came to train. These members happened to be maids and a chef who prepared a lavish dinner for them all after the training ended. The dinner was quite lively and Derek was pleased to see how happy his mother and grandmother were. A few days repeated like this before the day of the third trial was at hand. Derek and Rebekah met up with Prince Kylin, Kenneth, and Duncan at their guest house before leading them over to the castle¡¯s training grounds where the competition would take place. Derek took a position on a viewing platform that would be behind the crowds but could see the competition platform. There were two rings on that platform, intended for two fights to happen at the same time. When Belany and Hector saw him they walked up and spoke with him for a moment. He took that chance to encourage them and remind them of some points in their strategy before they left to stand with their families below the competition stage. Elton and Feros came out and snickered at Derek before going below the stage as well. The Elders and the Patriarch all appeared on the opposite viewing platform and took their seats. Prince Kylin looked at Derek, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you participating? You should be the strongest out of the five of you. It doesn¡¯t make sense that you are not involved.¡± Derek smiled at Prince Kylin, ¡°I am not participating because I got disqualified in the preliminaries. It was a comparison of Holy magic skill level. At that time I hadn¡¯t tiered up yet and while my attributes were just a little superior to Belany and Hector¡¯s the four of them each acquired a bottle of Unicorn tears. While the five of us were all able to cast a level four smite, all four of them were able to cast a slightly stronger one than my own. ¡°I was defeated legitimately. Besides, I helped Belany and Hector prepare for this and am not interested in the kind of embarrassment Elton and Feros are going to go through today.¡± Prince Kylin looked at the two knights. This kid had just dropped a bomb on them. ¡°Wait, you were all tier zero and all five of you could cast at level four? What kind of madness is this?¡± ¡°Holy magic is our specialty, Prince Kylin. We fight demons. Our clan¡¯s coming of age trials and ceremony are designed for us to make the step into tier one. This means that every clansman is tier one before age twenty, not just the geniuses as other clans allow. It has been over a century since a member of the clan has survived failing this requirement and they were banished from the clan and their name was stricken from the rolls. ¡°Similar to this requirement to reach tier one at an early age we also stress Holy magic training, with techniques and relics to enhance our affinity. Not one of us will receive a schema that doesn¡¯t promote our order and light attributes. We practice casting the weakest of order and light spells from the moment we can talk. Our play as children includes competition in the casting of Holy spells. That being the case, it would be more surprising if one of us couldn¡¯t cast above our tier.¡± Derek thought a while before adding, ¡°Though, really only three of us should have been able to cast at tier four. Elton and Feros aren¡¯t really that talented. Elder Jacob acquiring those Unicorn tears was really a stroke of luck for them.¡± Prince Kylin thought about that for a while, ¡°Elder Jacob seems to live pretty well for how poor your clan is, he¡¯s the Elder in charge of finances right? Those Unicorn tears should have also been outside of the reach of your clan¡¯s finances. I wonder how he managed that.¡± Derek didn¡¯t think much about it, ¡°He has gained a lot of fame in the last ten or so years for improving our clan¡¯s revenue flow. He practically doubled it. That¡¯s probably how he could afford it. Either way, that has nothing to do with me. When I go errant I will probably be able to solve my family¡¯s money issues.¡± The Prince gave him a long look then shared a glance with the two men behind him. Duncan¡¯s face contained barely concealed fury, his scar had turned bright red. Kenneth just shook his head and looked to the competition stage, ¡°Not now. Look, they are about to start.¡± The Patriarch had stood up on the opposite viewing platform. He gestured to the crowd who were talking among themselves and they started to quiet down. He gazed at them all with a look of joy on his face, ¡°Haha, we have all been waiting for this moment. Today we will get to see the youths compete to see who will take command of the party when they go into the mountains for their fourth trial. Each of these four candidates will have an opportunity to fight the other three. The candidate who performs the best will win and be the leader of the party!¡± He looked at the four youths and smiled, ¡°Fight well, today you will get to show the fruits of your training. The training armor won¡¯t allow you to actually be hurt so give it your all! I hope to see some good fights. First up is Belany verses Hector and Elton verses Feros. Good luck to you all!¡± Derek turned to the Prince. ¡°There is nothing to see in the first ring. Hector will not fight his sister. The other should be a display of the two using the warsword against each other. The forms they will use are the orthodox forms of the clan, more useful against larger monsters than against men. You might be able to learn something of those forms while watching. Probably not though, neither is more than moderately skilled.¡± The three guests nodded and turned their attention to the stage where two pairs had taken stances against each other. Sure enough, the moment the Patriarch announced the start of the fight Hector conceded to his sister but in the other field Elton and Feros were circling each other slowly while probing for weaknesses.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. They continued in this state for a few moments before Feros charged in swinging. After that a frenzy of blades flashing appeared. They used a pretty weak order spell to attack and their Holy defensive spell. This meant that neither could really overpower the other. The force of the blades slamming into the magic shields did knock each of them back half a step each time, which gave them room to lunge forward with another vicious swing. It was absolutely brutal and they showed minimal skill as they hacked recklessly away at each other. After a few minutes of this Feros¡¯ shield finally collapsed causing Elton to score a hit and win the duel. If not for the training armor Feros would have been sheared right in half across the abdomen. Prince Kylin frowned down at the competition stand and said, ¡°You¡¯re right, there was absolutely nothing to gain from that exchange.¡± Derek smiled at him then turned to see the Patriarch looking down at the competition stage. He smiled and said, ¡°That¡¯s one win for Belany and Elton and one loss for Hector and Feros. We will have Belany fight Elton and Feros fight Hector next. Give it a few minutes for everyone''s mana to recover then we will start the fight. Remember to give it your all.¡± That last bit was aimed at Hector who had surrendered without a fight last time. The next two fights were to be between a mage and a magic warrior in each case. The crowd had a good idea how this was going to go but were hoping to be surprised. Derek smiled as he saw the four down below prepare for the fight. Elton and Feros switched to glaives and rested for a moment to recover their mana. As they moved into the ready position Derek turned to his guests and said, ¡°Heh, watch this.¡± The three guests smiled and looked to the rings. Just a moment after the Patriarch shouted, ¡°Fight!¡± a strong wind shot out from Belany and Hector and caught both Elton and Feros off guard. When that wind hit them they were both catapulted into the air and deposited several yards out of the rings. The audience gawked. This was not the result they had expected. Both of the brothers had been defeated in one blow by some sort of wind spell. Derek and his guests couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the two piles of armor that had just been a pair of arrogant warriors. On the other observation stand Richard and the Patriarch both looked quite pleased but Elder Jacob was in a fury. ¡°What is this? They broke the rules! You can¡¯t use wind magic in this competition! I demand they be disqualified now!¡± When they heard this many in the training yard frowned at the Elder. The Patriarch stood and said, ¡°The rule is that you can only use Thorne clan spells and those that you crafted yourself. The prohibition is specifically against spells learned from sources outside the clan. I ask the mages here. Was this spell learned from a spellbook?¡± Rebekah started to answer but Derek lightly grabbed her arm and shook his head. She understood his meaning so she stayed quiet. A few minutes later another elder stood up and said to Belany, ¡°Child, show me the structure of that spell and tell me how you and your brother came to learn it.¡± This ancient fellow was Elder Matthew. He was known for his understanding of magic and his impartiality. Belany quickly complied, presenting the structure of the spell as clearly as she could for the Elder then explained, ¡°My brother and I came up with this spell when we were training with clansman Derek these last few weeks. We would come up with a concept and test it on our clansman until it worked. This design took several hundred tries.¡± Derek paled as he thought of all the times he had been roughly tossed by the twins as they attempted to create new magic to fight Elton and Feros. Every time he got up and dusted himself off he told himself that it was all for his vengeance against the two bullies and thus he was able to persevere. Duncan turned to Derek and laughed, ¡°Several hundred times, huh? That must have been a hell of a thing to watch.¡± Rebekah chortled from the side, ¡°Oh it was. I recorded it with air magic if you would like to see it later.¡± Derek looked at his grandmother as if she had grown horns while she and Duncan laughed and promised to watch the recordings later. He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°My own grandmother¡­¡± Elder Matthew had finished reviewing the structure of the spell quickly and determined that this so called Windbuffet was indeed a personal creation of theirs. Afterwards he had Belany show the structures of the other two spells as well so that this so called cheating issue would not be raised again. He determined that all three spells were all unique to the pair and even complimented the pair on them and told them that after the competition he would be willing to help them improve the spells still further. Belany and Hector quickly agreed and Elder Jacob could only bite his tongue as he knew that his outburst had only brought the scorn of the others on him. By this point Elton and Feros had recovered themselves and Belany and Hector had recovered their mana. Jacob went over and quickly coached his sons before the Patriarch announced the results after the second round of the competition. Belany had the lead with two wins and no losses. Elton and Hector were tied for second place with one win and one loss each. Feros was doing the worst with two losses. The Patriarch looked at them all and smiled, ¡°I am glad that you youngsters have made this interesting. The next round will be Belany verses Feros and Elton verses Hector. Good luck to you all. Take your places!¡± This time everyone was excited to see how the fights would turn out. That Windbuffet had surprised most of the people there. When the Patriarch shouted ¡°Fight!¡± the two warriors were ready. Feros leaned forward but was caught by an updraft and thrown backwards. He was able to force himself to stop just inside the ring but when he was struck by another Windbuffet he was forced out of bounds again. Elton leaned forward and tried to use his own weak strength in air magic to support himself. This allowed him to land a few yards from the edge of the ring. He used his glaive to protect against a second Windbuffet but he was hit with the Earthtrap spell instead. He panicked when his feet sank into the dirt as this was his first time encountering this spell. Hector showed no mercy. The moment Elton¡¯s feet were bound he began to bombard him with the Wrathfire spell. Elton¡¯s fear was clearly visible as he tried to protect himself from the repeated blasts. Within moments Elton¡¯s mana gave way before the wrathfire and the training armor¡¯s aegis flashed to life. The training yard was so quiet that Derek could hear Elton¡¯s panicked breathing. Beside him Duncan muttered, ¡°Too brutal.¡± The silence lasted only a short while before Elder Matthew began to clap. This spread throughout the training yard. Only Elder Jacob, who was red with rage, failed to join in. His two sons were lying on the ground in a stupor while Belany and Hector beamed with pride. The Patriarch smiled down, ¡°Well done, well done. It has been ages since a mage won this competition. You two have done great! Those spells were ingenious indeed. You should be proud of yourselves. You have definitely overcome a trial today.¡± The Patriarch waited for Elton and Feros to collect themselves before scanning the crowd and announcing, ¡°All four of you did very well today. You did your best and demonstrated your skills. The rankings are as follows: with first rank and three victories and zero losses, Belany has won the right to lead the team in the fourth trial. In second place, with two wins and one loss, we have Hector. In third place, with one win and two losses, we have Elton. And in fourth place, with zero wins and three losses, we have Feros. ¡°In two weeks, on the next full moon, these four will be joined by Derek and they will go into the mountains for their fourth trial, the true core of the coming of age trials, the Demon Hunt!¡± Chapter 15 - Meeting a Grandfather After the third trial it was quite lively around Redwyrm for a few days as clan members prepared feasts for Belany and Hector for their success in the competition. During all this, Elder Jacob and his sons stayed shuttered up in their home. Derek continued his daily routine. With the fourth trial coming up Derek was driven to prepare as much as possible. He had gathered the supplies he would need and was now focused on training. Of course he still trained Prince Kylin and his knights on the warsword every afternoon, but this counted as training too as teaching others provided insights in his own skills. Each evening he still took the time to listen to his mother lecture her apprentice until he fell asleep. The relaxing feeling of his mother delving his schema would help him unwind and unpack his experiences from the day. In this way another week and a half came and went. When there was only three more days before the fourth trial more visitors came to Redwyrm. Derek was training with Prince Kylin and his two knights in the training yard when Belany and Hector came up the path. Belany smiled when she saw Derek and called out, ¡°Derek, gather your family, we have more visitors.¡± Derek and the others paused their training, ¡°Oh really? Who is it this time? Since when has Redwyrm been this interesting in the winter?¡± Belany laughed, ¡°Haha, it¡¯s people from your mother¡¯s House. From the looks of it, one of them is a big shot.¡± His mother¡¯s house? He had only met some of their retainers that had come to deliver letters to his mother. He had never met any actual members from her house. He knew his mother had grown up in a powerful house and was used to wealth and finery. He was sure that all these years she had missed the family she had left behind. He smiled at Belany, ¡°OK, I will gather my family and head down to the clan hall. I will meet you down there.¡± Belany happily waved and returned with her brother. The two had always been fond of Derek but now that he had helped them win the third trial he was like a close friend to them. They had no problem coming halfway up the mountain to deliver a message like this for him. When Belany and Hector left he turned to Prince Kylin and his knights, ¡°Prince Kylin, I must stop our training here. Would you like to come with us to meet my mother¡¯s house?¡± Prince Kylin looked to the older men before responding, ¡°It would be interesting to meet the people from Windreach. If it isn¡¯t too much hassle, we would be happy to meet them.¡± Derek smiled and nodded before running to inform his mother and grandmother of the visitors. After a few minutes Eona, Alicia, and Rebekah came out to join them in the yard and they all headed down the path towards the castle together. Derek could tell that his mother was excited and couldn¡¯t help but be excited too. After a short while the eight of them arrived at the clan hall. When they entered they saw two groups of people in the hall. The first was Patriarch Daren, Richard, and their family. The second group, which consisted of thirty or so people, were the blue and yellow of House Windreach. The leader was a tall man with salt and pepper hair dressed in the combat robes of a high tier mage. He carried himself with a dignity that was born of experience and his facial expression showed that he was a man accustomed to being obeyed. When he heard Derek¡¯s group enter he turned from speaking with the Patriarch and his gaze instantly found Eona. He looked at her quietly for a long time with a complicated expression on his face. She looked back at him and her hands started to shake while tears formed in her eyes. Derek was not used to people looking at his mother like this nor was he fond of people making her cry so he spoke up, ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t know why you have come here, but my mother has just recovered from a serious ailment. Please do not trouble her.¡± With that he put his arm around her shoulders, which had also begun to shake, and started to pull her from the hall. He wondered to himself when it was that he had grown taller than her, but even with his size, his pull was gentle. He didn¡¯t know who this man was but he wasn¡¯t going to let him bully her. Eona had been dazed when she saw the man with salt and pepper hair. She remembered him as a younger man with much less grey in his hair. It had been a long time and the last time she had seen him they had argued angrily over her decision to marry Jared Thorne. When she felt Derek gently pulling her away she said, ¡°Derek no, this is my father, Nicholas Windreach. He is your grandfather.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Derek turned to look at this man again and saw that he did look like his mother. The man stood there quietly. Derek continued to hold his mother who was still on the verge of tears. The Patriarch coughed before saying, ¡°Baron Windreach, my people have prepared one of the guest houses for you during your stay. Derek, take them to the Soras house and let them get settled there. I will prepare a banquet for our guests, please bring them around at seven.¡± Derek assented and looked to Prince Kylin. The prince waved him off before turning to head back to his guest house, "We will see you at the banquet." Derek nodded appreciatively to him before releasing his mother and saying to Nicholas, ¡°Grandfather, please, will you all follow us to your guest lodgings? It is not far and I can send servants to stable your horses and bring you luggage.¡± The man nodded while looking at him with an appraising look. He looked at his daughter, who seemed to have recovered herself quite a bit and followed with his people to their lodgings. It wasn¡¯t long before they all arrived at a rather large house near the chapel. Most guests came to visit the chapel so all of the guest lodgings were near there. Derek showed them around the lodgings before some of them gathered in the main hall. This retinue was rather large, the people that had been in the clan hall had all been the more important higher tier members. Aside from these thirty or so mages and knights there were also almost two hundred tier zero soldiers and fifty servants tasked with serving the Baron and his retinue. The main hall was quite large. These guest houses were much larger than cottages they lived in. Nicholas was standing in the middle of the room with two of his retainers flanking him as he inspected Derek and Eona. Rebekah, Ovid and Alicia stood behind them quietly. It was quiet for a while before Nicholas stepped forward and quietly said to Eona, ¡°Your mother and I have missed you so much.¡± Eona stepped forward and embraced her father. Tears began to flow, ¡°I know, I have missed you too. It¡¯s been so long.¡± Derek looked on helplessly as his mother wept into her father¡¯s chest. He could only sigh because he knew how hard it had been for her and he knew that if not for him she would have been able to go home years ago. She had only stayed in this backwoods place where few people treated her decently because she had promised Jared that she would raise their child in his clan. Otherwise she could have returned to her seaside city with its wealth and array of knowledge for her to study long ago. After a short while she stepped back from her father and said, ¡°Father, this is my son, Derek. He recently tiered up as a Rune Smith and his final trial of his coming of age ceremony is next week.¡± Nicholas looked at the boy. He smiled, ¡°You don¡¯t know me but I know of you. I would have known about you and your mother¡¯s situation here but your mother was too proud to accept my help. After your coming of age you will be considered an adult by your father¡¯s clan. At that point you are allowed to make decisions for yourself. I want to bring you and your mother home with me to Windreach. There you will not be shoved into a mountain meadow to be ignored or bullied. You will be a prized child of the House of Windreach. ¡°You will receive the best of educations. You will receive the best training materials. You and your mother will have retainers and servants and will be able to experience luxury that a backwater clan like this would find unfathomable.¡± Derek looked from Nicholas to his mother. She was the most important person in his life and he knew the sacrifices she had made for him. Would she have had to wait almost sixteen years for the cure to her ailment if she had returned to Windreach long ago? Would she have had to suffer hunger and the cold in winter and the heat in summer if she hadn¡¯t had to stay here with him? Would she have had to suffer the thousands of indignities she suffered while staying with the Thorne clan if she had simply returned to her powerful house? No, she wouldn¡¯t, but she chose to stay in Redwyrm with her son because that was what was best for him. Now he had that chance. If he returned with his mother she would have everything she had lost over the years. The only thing, he looked to his grandmother. ¡°Grandmother¡­¡± Rebekah smiled at him as if she had already read his mind. He thought that if he left with his mother, his grandmother would be left alone in this place. She knew this was his thought and smiled at him, ¡°Boy, don¡¯t overthink it. Wait until after the ceremony and then we will discuss it. Maybe we can talk it over with that old rascal of a master you have.¡± He thought it over for a bit and smiled. This was really the best idea. As long as he could keep his family together he would be fine, though he did feel bad that he would be leaving his clansmen. After a while, Derek brought his family and his grandfather¡¯s people back to the main clan hall. Here only the Patriarch and his descendents were waiting. He had no intention of inviting controversy by getting the elders involved in this banquet. Shortly after Derek¡¯s family and the House Windreach people arrived the Prince also arrived with his knights. The dinner was quite lively with an excellent atmosphere. Once the Prince and his men were introduced to Baron Nicholas they got along quite well. The distance between their hegemonies was simply too great for a rivalry to develop so they naturally shared news and talked of potential trade. It helped that Prince Kylin and his father had already intended to win the friendship of Derek. Potential trade deals were simply another benefit with little cost. As the night continued on, Derek watched his mother. He had never seen her so relaxed before. He was truly grateful that this grandfather Nicholas had come along. Chapter 16 - Preparing for the Fourth Trial After the banquet Derek returned to the cabins with his family. He could tell that his mother was very happy. This helped his mood as well. The next morning he continued his training with renewed vigor. He only had another week left and it was important to get as much out of the time he had as possible. Over the next few days he intensified his training, focusing on mitigating the flaws in his form and improving essence growth through hard work. With three days left before the trials his contract to train the Prince and his knights ended. The next day he sparred with Ovid a few times, comparing insights and practicing advanced forms. He ended his training at that point to allow his body to be fully rested when the trial started. He had seen tremendous advancement in the few weeks since he performed the dedication. With the enhancements to his basic attributes his mother was able to enhance the runic schema to still greater heights. It must be understood that a schema¡¯s overall power is restricted by two things: the combination of the creator¡¯s talent and intimacy with the bearer and the bearer¡¯s own capacity. Eona¡¯s talent and intimacy with Derek was truly exceptional. She was an unparalleled genius in the study of schema and she had acquainted herself with her son¡¯s body and spirit from the moment she sensed him in the womb. That left Derek¡¯s own capacity; which Eona had grown meticulously, building a strong base with each level in tier zero. With the blessings he had received during the dedication his capacity had grown still further. She took full advantage of this, expanding his schema as much as the capacity would allow. This had allowed her to keep the rate at which essence was accepted into attributes maxed out, to increase the size of the essentia pool to its maximum, and to increase the rate at which essence was gathered as well, among other things. Derek was truly lucky to have his mother¡¯s personal attention with the growth of his schema. These early tiers had the most impact on attribute growth and a powerful schema like his would have a direct impact on that. It can be said that, barring some truly fortuitous events in life, these earliest tiers would determine the overall growth potential of the individual. Derek spent the next few days with his mother and her family. The Prince and his knights had decided to stick around to witness the coming of age ceremony but after completing their training with Derek they decided to stay near their guest lodgings so as not to interfere with Derek¡¯s time with his family. During these few days Derek got to know his grandfather quite well. He was a mage of great power and a very proud man. Derek would listen to him expound at length about the history of the house of Windreach, magic and the various important matters and factions near the city of Windreach itself. His mother had been very happy since reuniting with her father and the small family moved into the guest house with him and his people. Those evenings Derek would sit and listen with Alicia to his mother and grandmother discussing magical theory with his grandfather. He was quite pleased and his heart was at peace to see his family so happy for this period of time and that had a beneficial effect on his preparations for the fourth trial. The morning before the trial his mother checked his status. He had already advanced to level five of tier one. His attributes had grown with no waste. His strength was sixteen, body eighteen, agility fourteen, mind sixteen. His elemental attributes came out to seventeen for order, light, earth, and fire, and twelve for water, air, dark and chaos. His essentia pool had grown to a point that only the peak of tier two and some low tier three mages could expect. His mana, stamina, and health regeneration had become quite strong, better than most late tier three people. It must be understood that most people¡¯s schema had no room for the regeneration formations until late tier three yet Eona, with some help from Rebekah, had been able to include these in Derek¡¯s schema as early as late tier zero. Eona was quite pleased with this status. She had little doubt that her son would be able to accomplish this fourth trial. In her opinion it was only a matter of time and then they would all be able to return to Windreach and their woes will be a thing of the past. They spent the day together, waiting for the ceremony to start when the moon had begun to rise. The whole clan and their guests gathered at the castle¡¯s training yard for the commencement of the trial. Derek moved to stand with Belany and Hector. Elton and Feros stood on the other side. Belany and Hector wore new blue armored battle robes and wielded staffs of wood and iron. Elton and Feros wore green armor and each possessed a bow, glaive and warsword. This equipment had been made over the last few weeks by Derek and Ander and it was top of the line tier zero gear, capable of taking up to level five spells. It was clear that the four of them were waiting to tier up to tier one during the ritual at the end of the coming of age ceremony, as was pretty standard for Thorne clansmen. The idea that every member of this clan was expected to tier up by the end of their coming of age ceremony was quite foreign to the guests gathered in this place. For even the most powerful of clans who could pay for the strongest of schemas and best training materials, they don¡¯t even push their youths that hard. Twenty-five was the age of spiritual maturity. That was the point where it would be determined if a youth would never tier up in their life. For most of these clans twenty-five was good enough. But for the Thorne Clan it was not good enough. Every summer brought bloody battles with the demons of the Hell¡¯s Gate mountains. Though they rarely lost anyone in the fighting they knew that they were a clan in decline and the youth were under a lot of pressure to take their place among the adults. The acquisition of a demon heart was the requirement for success in the coming of age trial. During the ritual at the end of the ceremony the youth would then eat the heart they acquired while the adults of the clan would maintain a spell to protect them from the negative effects and to pour light and order attribute essence onto the participants. Any heart would do, though the heart of a stronger demon meant greater rewards from the ritual. At the end of the ritual any youth who was ready to tier up would do so as a Demon Warrior, with attributes and powers granted depending on the strength of the demon heart. The light and order essence from the adults would also help to provide yet another boost to the participants¡¯ light and order attribute in the form of a holy blessing. This was the true purpose of the coming of age ceremony. It was to empower the youths of the clan to become mighty Demon Warriors. In essence, aside from the sword ceremony, this was the most important ceremony in the clan. The sword ceremony showed why the clan must act while the coming of age ceremony granted the tools to act. The strength of the clan came primarily from these two things.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The Patriarch looked down upon the crowd from his dais. He smiled at the five children standing before him, ¡°Children, it gives me great hope to see you. Over the last month you have participated in the first three trials of the coming of age ceremony. Do not let your previous success over cloud your judgement though. Tonight you will begin the most important trial of the four. Tonight you will begin your first demon hunt! ¡°You will not return until you have acquired a demon¡¯s heart or until the next new moon. If you return in two week¡¯s time without a demon¡¯s heart you will be banished from the clan, your name will stricken from the clan rolls and you will only be mentioned as a cautionary tale for future generations! ¡°But I know that you will not fail. All five of you are outstanding young talents in the clan. Because of this I have high expectations of this year¡¯s demon hunt. You have all given me hope that our struggling clan will survive. ¡°Arrayed before you are five packs with all the necessities you will need for the hunt. Remember to listen to your leader, Belany, and stay alert in the mountains. Stay safe and happy hunting! We will see you all soon, make us proud!¡± The old man was quite verbose. Derek shook his head as he shouldered his pack and took up four quivers of obsidian tipped arrows and one of steel tipped arrows for his bow. He strapped three quivers of obsidian arrows to his pack and the steel quiver and other obsidian one to his hip. He also put the bag he had prepared inside of the backpack. This bag was a gift from his master. It was a low tier storage item that would give him much more carrying capacity. Inside he had packed extra arrows, strings for the bows, a whetstone, and some tools he needed if any of their equipment broke while they were out. There was even a pick for if he found any ore or gems in the mountains. Belany had teased him ruthlessly when she heard that he was bringing a pick but Derek knew that his clan didn¡¯t have very many income streams so finding a lode of ore or gems might create a real windfall for the clan. With his glaive in his hand, his bow and warsword strapped for easy retrieval to his bag, he looked up and saw that the others were ready and grinned to Belany. ¡°Lead the way, oh, wise and noble leader.¡± She laughed and looked to the others, ¡°Let¡¯s go! I refuse to believe that we can¡¯t accomplish this in a few days.¡± With this bold proclamation they set out. Shortly thereafter one of the elders slipped out after them. The elder would not interfere unless something truly dangerous happened in the mountains, his primary goal was to witness the behavior of the children and evaluate their actions. With that the fourth and final trial of the coming of age ceremony was under way.
Derek Thorne-
Class Rune Smith Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 1 Order Supreme 17r1 + 5 High 5 (47)
Level 5 Water Supreme 12r1 + 5 Low 5 (42)
Light Supreme 17r1 + 5 High 5 (47)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 12r1 + 5 Low 5 (42)
Strength 16r1 Chaos Supreme 12r1 + 5 Low 5 (42)
Body 18r1 Fire Supreme 17r1 + 5 High 5 (47)
Agility 14r1 Dark Supreme 12r1 + 5 Low 5 (42)
Mind 16r1 Earth Supreme 17r1 + 5 High 5 (47)
Essentia Pool Peak t2 Mage
Previous Classes- Magic Warrior Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman of the Forge and Hearth: eight juvenile sprites +5 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits. Chapter 17 - Entering the Hells Gate Mountains The party of five advanced quietly into the mountains. They followed a trail away from the town and up into the interior of the range. Upon reaching a place where two such trails came together Belany retrieved a map from her pack. Their provisions included a few maps such as these. The maps outlined routes that the Thorne clan patrolled every summer in their efforts to curtail the demon population in the mountains. The route they were currently taking was one of the less risky patrols reserved for younger and less powerful clansmen. This route should enable them to encounter enough least demons to satisfy their hunt requirements with a low chance of encountering lesser demons. Least demons are generally understood to be around tier three in strength with immunity to steel weapons, while lesser demons are considered to be around tier five in strength. The party was expected to be made up of peak tier zero members. For a normal human group of tier zero, it was considered dangerous enough to engage least demons and casualties were expected to be high. For the Thorne clan, though, with their Holy magic and fighting techniques, the least demons should not be terribly difficult at all. A lesser demon would be a challenge though, and the party would have to do their best in order to deal with one without anyone being hurt. This was why Belany chose this route. She didn¡¯t want to risk injury to the party so she initially chose the easy route. She pointed to the path that headed south and Derek took point, walking four paces ahead of the rest of the party to prevent ambush. In the first evening they encountered no threats. They had travelled quite a way into the mountains and were nearing one of the areas indicated on the map for the possibility of demons. It must be understood that demons don¡¯t naturally exist on Elanith. They must be summoned or force their way through the barrier between their realm and Elanith. The easiest places for them to do so are places where magical ley lines of chaos and dark magic are the strongest. The Hell¡¯s Gate mountains are one such place and the Thorne clan had long ago identified the places where the barrier was the weakest. The place they were currently approaching was one such place and it was known for allowing large numbers of least demons through and some lesser demons. These places were most active during the summer so the number of demons was expected to be low. Naturally, while the number of demons were low, monstrous beasts of the chaos and dark type would gather in these places to bask in that essence and grow in power. Demons and monstrous beasts naturally gather essence much faster than humans so long as they are near sources of the essence they need to grow. This is contrary to the humans¡¯ need to constantly work and practice to do so, though a human that works and practices near the correct essences will see a marked improvement in essence growth. There is a final method that all beings can benefit from. It is leaching essence from the death of another. When a being dies, the essence they have gathered will be released. A monstrous creature can leach that essence by devouring the flesh of the recently dead creature before the essence dissipates. A demon does so by devouring the essence directly. Humans rely on their schema to do so. The rate at which the essence is successfully absorbed and converted is directly related to the strength of the schema. Because of the strength of dark and chaos essence in the area, this valley they were approaching would be dangerous even if no demons were to appear. It is highly likely that packs of weaker monstrous beasts or singular stronger monsters would have taken up residence in this valley in the absence of demons. Due to this, the party approached carefully. Derek stayed on point, on alert for any movement from the trees around him. As he crested the ridge he concealed himself behind a nearby tree. The rest of the party also took concealment near the ridgeline. Belany crouched next to him and they looked into the valley below. A chaotic scene appeared before them. There was a pitched fight between a large pack of chaos wolves and demons. Chaos wolves will normally cede territory to demons during the summer when demon numbers are high but during winter they will aggressively hunt down and devour any demon in their territory. Demons are beings of chaos and dark essence after all and chaos wolves can grow very powerful by consuming their essence. It appeared that the pack of twenty or so had attacked a group of least demons but more demons had arrived and caught them off guard. The chaos wolves are quite loyal to their pack and with several of their packmates encircled by the demons they were unwilling to break off the fight in spite of how dangerous the situation had become. So now the pack was locked in a fight with ten least demons and one lesser demon. It must be said that while these twenty or so wolves had been put into dire straits by the eleven demons and the party might have been able to engage the demons in relative safety; fighting the wolves would have been very dangerous for the five of them. It was a mere fact of specialization. The children of the Thorne clan were specialized in fighting demons while the wolves were not and the pack¡¯s numbers would have posed a serious threat to these green youths. Derek whispered to Belany, ¡°We should probably let this play out for a while before acting. If that pack detects us we will be in some danger.¡± She nodded then spoke quietly to the group, ¡°Let¡¯s watch for a moment. Prepare to ambush when I give the command. Remember, use steel arrows for the wolves and obsidian for the demons. Wait for it.¡± They watched for a moment. The wolves all lunged forth at once. Four attempted to tie down the lesser demon while the rest targeted the least demons. In moments, pairs of wolves dragged down a couple of the least demons. But a few others were able to injure a wolf fighting them. The lesser demon even managed to use its claws to rip a large gash in one of the wolves facing it. The wolf howled pitifully before going quiet and at that sound it was as if the whole pack went berserk. They clashed even more violently and with less concern about personal injury. Demons and wolves started to die more rapidly. After a little over a minute both sides were quite ravaged. Almost a dozen wolves had been killed and only three least demons and the lesser one were still alive. Six chaos wolves were stalking around the lesser demon, a blood red light shining from their eyes. The demon stood eight feet tall with a dozen eyes and a beak on its face. Scales and coarse hair covered its body and black blood oozed from its numerous injuries. It had personally killed most of the wolves that had died here. None of them had been able to resist its claws and beak. It was then that Belany gave the order, ¡°The wolves first. Derek, Elton, Feros: use steel arrows on the ones on the fringe of the fight. Hector with me, Wrathfire cones into the big group. Try to catch the demons in the blast.¡± Derek, Elton, and Feros started firing their bows. Their shots were well placed and most of the wolves on the fringes were badly hurt already. With every shot a wolf went down and in a few breaths they had each killed two wolves a piece. At the same time Belany and Hector released their Wrathfire in a cone towards the demons and tightest clump of wolves. The wolves caught in the blast were all burned to husks, while two of the surviving demons were also instantly killed. At this point the only surviving wolf fled, but the surviving least demon and the lesser one both turned to rush towards the party. Derek, Elton, and Feros switched to their obsidian arrows and imbued them with the Smite spell. All three loosed one arrow each. Feros¡¯ shot struck the least demon in its heavily damaged chest. The Smite blasted out from the point of impact with incredible holy force. The demon was blasted back a dozen feet and stopped moving. Derek and Elton¡¯s shots both struck the lesser demon in the abdomen. The holy blast that emanated from that location almost cut it in half at that point. It toppled forward and ceased moving as well. Belany and Hector summoned a light rain into the valley to stop the small fires that had been started by their spells. Derek, Elton, and Feros both quickly moved into the valley to finish off any crippled wolves and to recover some of their arrows. The group then set about carving out the hearts of the eleven demons and packaging them in their bags. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Their spirits were high. Belany laughed, ¡°See? What did I say from the beginning? We achieved our goal on the first day. We really were lucky to encounter this conflict in progress. Derek, do you know of any use for these wolves that would be beneficial to us?¡± Even Elton and Feros were interested in hearing what Derek had to say when Belany brought this up. It must be understood that even with their antagonistic relationship with Derek, the clan wasn¡¯t so rich that they could ignore opportunities like this and Derek was the only one of the lot that could judge whether anything valuable could be gained here. They knew not to be contrary in this situation. Derek looked around and pointed to the wolves that had not been burned. ¡°Those are some quality pelts. Those four should fetch fifty talents each and the other seven about thirty if they are skinned correctly. It will take me about an hour to do so if you don¡¯t mind waiting for me to complete it.¡± They all nodded and stood lookout while Derek skinned the eleven unburnt wolf corpses. After that it was approaching noon and they had been active all night so they travelled to a nearby ledge on the mountainside that would allow them to overlook the valley. They set camp and Derek set his sprites to keep lookout while they rested. Of course, Elton and Feros couldn¡¯t help taking shots at Derek as they set up camp but Derek knew that now wasn¡¯t the time to respond to them. In these mountains this kind of childishness could lead to trouble. Derek woke a few hours later when his earth sprite, Gnome, sent a warning to him through their bond. He heard the gravelly voice in his mind. ¡°I feel something walking towards your camp. Six pairs of feet.¡± Soon the air sprite and others confirmed. Six demons were approaching the camp. Derek got up to see Belany seated next to her brother preparing dinner. Elton was lying near them sleeping as well, his and Feros¡¯ gear was placed next to each other but Feros was nowhere to be seen. Derek got up and quickly donned his armor while alerting the rest of the party of the approaching demons. Elton also donned his armor while Belany and Hector reached for their staffs. Once everyone was ready Derek looked to Elton, ¡°Elton, where¡¯s your brother?¡± Elton turned pale, ¡°He got up to take a leak. He went the direction you said the demons were coming from.¡± Derek cursed. Thus could go really bad really fast.
Least Demon-
Class Least Demon Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 3 Order - - -
Level - Water Average 12 (-6) Low 2 (11)
Light - - -
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Average 12 (-6) Low 2 (11)
Strength 23 (-6) Chaos Supreme 18 (-12) Low 4 (31)
Body 26 (-6) Fire Supreme 16 (-6) Mid 4 (35)
Agility 20 (-6) Dark Supreme 18 (-12) Low 4 (31)
Mind 21 (-6) Earth Excellent 14 (-6) Mid 3 (23)
Essentia Pool Mid T3
Malluses- Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains Seal: -2 to Basic Attributes per Tier, -2 to Elemental Attributes per Tier, additional -2 to Chaos and Dark Attribute per Tier, Essence regeneration inhibited
Elton-
Class Magic Warrior Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 0 Order Supreme 20 Low 5 (40)
Level 10 Water Excellent 8 High 2 (18)
Light Supreme 20 Low 5 (40)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Excellent 8 High 2 (18)
Strength 10 Chaos Good 7 Low 2 (12)
Body 9 Fire Excellent 8 High 2 (18)
Agility 8 Dark Good 6 Low 2 (11)
Mind 8 Earth Outstanding 8 Mid 3 (23)
Essentia Pool Low T1 Mage
Previous Classes- None Permanent Enhancements- Unicorn Tears: +10 to Order and Light Attribute Equipment- Runic Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Runic Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Runic Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Runic Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Chapter 18 - To Hunt Demons All four of them were concerned. Feros had a terrible personality, but he was still a member of their clan. With their state of decline every member was a precious resource they could not afford to lose. Derek thought quickly, then summoned Gnome. ¡°I need you to lead me to my clansman. Take me directly to him.¡± Gnome nodded then entered the ground in front of him. Derek turned to the others, ¡°Belany, I am going to find Feros and bring him back. Is that alright?¡± She looked at him seriously, ¡°Yes, go quickly and return. I want us all here when the demons arrive. Damn, Feros, what a terrible time to have to go.¡± Upon getting confirmation, Derek wielded his glaive as he ran into the woods below the camp after Gnome. It wasn¡¯t far before he found Feros hiding behind a tree with six demons in the clearing below him. Derek recalled Gnome and used air magic to send a message to Feros, ¡°Pull up your pants then start running to the camp. I will delay them shortly and follow you.¡± Feros turned red once he realized he had been caught in this compromising situation but he followed instructions as Derek planted his glaive before stringing his bow. The demons, four least and two lesser, saw Feros start to run and began to charge after him. Derek drew the bow and released two arrows imbued with the smite spell. They caught the first two demons in the chest. The first, a least demon was killed outright, while the second, one of the lesser ones, was merely injured and knocked off its feet several steps back from where the arrow struck. The other demons, caught off guard by this, were startled and came to a stop. Derek took that opportunity to grab his glaive and start running after Feros. Once they realized that the surprise attack had come from a single human the demons once again started to pursue but Derek and Feros had quite the head start now. They both made it into the encampment and Derek took his place next to Elton while Feros began putting on his armor. In that moment, Belany and Hector completed a dual cast Level 5 Sanctuary spell. Dual casting allowed two mages to focus on a single spell and cast it at a greater power level than otherwise possible. The Sanctuary spell was an area of effect spell that would provide a bonus to them and a mallus to the demons. They would receive boosts to their attributes, spell casting, recovery time, and a minor heal over time in the radius of the sanctuary, while the demons would receive the opposite. Shortly after they arrived, the five remaining demons came running into the encampment and were met by smite imbued arrows and holyfire cones. The injured lesser demon and three least demons went down immediately before this violent volley from the party of youngsters. The surviving lesser demon was terrified by the destructive output they had displayed and started to flee. Seeing this, Derek and Elton both took aim on the lesser demon. The fanaticism ingrained into them by the sword ceremony made the idea of letting even one go seem anathema to them. Belany saw this and barked, ¡°Hold, Derek, send your dark sprite to track it. I want to know where these things came from.¡± The two relaxed their draws immediately, they had learned to follow orders at a young age and military discipline within the clan was taken very seriously. The idea of disobeying an order was just as alien as showing mercy to a demon. Derek summoned his dark sprite. She fluttered before him like a shadow, ¡°Wisp, track that wounded demon to its lair and return to me.¡± These sprites were indeed useful, and after bonding were unquestionably loyal. The bonding process was slow and took interaction, similar to maintaining a relationship with a person. He had learned that each of his sprites had a different personality and each had tasks that they could perform as well as assisting his spell casting. Wisp, for instance, was quite good at following things without being detected, while Gnome could sense footsteps on the ground from a great distance. Wisp nodded in affirmation before flying off in pursuit of the demon. Derek couldn¡¯t help noticing that she was half again as tall as she was when he acquired her. This meant that she and the others were close to reaching maturity. When that happened, their range of utility would grow once again. The party quickly ate and packed up their encampment. Once done, they collected the hearts of the dead demons while they discussed their plans and agreed to check out where these demons were coming from. While their coming of age trial could be said to be completed, it is not in the nature of the members of the Thorne clan to just leave demons be. Furthermore, they had already run into more demons than they should have at this time of year so they determined that it would be best to explore why. It was almost dusk when they were ready to move once again. Just as the moon started to rise Wisp returned and informed them that the demon had fled into a cave on the other side of the valley. Belany had Derek lead the way and the group went out on high alert. Halfway across the valley, they encountered another group of least demons. Because Derek¡¯s sprites could detect them before they detected the party, the party once again had the drop on the demons and were able to kill them all before they could even react. They once again collected the demon hearts before moving on. Towards the middle of the night they approached the cave lair of the demons. Derek was able to use his sprites to search the immediate area. There were two groups outside of the cave and one just inside. They ambushed both groups outside with little issue and gathered their hearts. Due to the energies that the spells released, very few of the obsidian arrows they had used in the last few days had been recoverable and the three magic warriors had consumed one quiver each. That left them with three quivers each but Derek wasn¡¯t too concerned. He had materials to produce more if they came close to running out. Once they finished off the two groups outside, they prepared to enter the cave. They cast light spells on their eyes that enabled them to see clearly in the dark before entering and Derek put his bow back on his backpack and took out his glaive. He knew that with him on point he would have to hold the enemy back and would not have much chance to use the bow. Once they came inside they found that the first group of demons was another group of least demons with one lesser demon in charge. Belany and Hector dual cast sanctuary as the demons noticed them. Once the spell was cast, Derek approached while the rest bombarded the demons with their ranged attacks and the lesser demon was the only one moving when they met in melee. It was in a sorry state with the effects of holyfire still ravaging its hide. It tried to bite at him with its bear¡¯s muzzle. Derek dodged and swiftly brought a smite imbued overhand slash against its burning neck; easily decapitating it. He was amazed. These lesser demons were supposed to be on par with a tier five hero but in the last day or so they had killed six at this point. He understood that they had possessed the advantage of surprise in every fight and that their skills were specifically designed to counter demons, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of confidence and pride start to build up in him. They proceeded down the cave, encountering demons in slightly larger groups. This forced Elton and Feros to move up in a loose wedge with him to assist in melee against the demons but they were still successful in taking them down. After a while they took a rest to let everyone¡¯s mana regenerate. They were in quite high spirits. Even Elton and Feros were unwilling to create dissent here. They had collected over sixty least demon hearts and seven lesser. They had been more than successful in this trial and they couldn¡¯t wait to see how many demons they would encounter before clearing this cave system. They believed that with how many they had encountered so far that there must be an open gate somewhere in the cave system. As members of the Thorne clan they had all learned spells to seal these gates. They knew that if they achieved this, the clan would reward each of them greatly. They were all growing more and more excited as they continued to advance. They ate some food while resting and were quite refreshed when they prepared to move again. Derek couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at how fast essence was gathering for him while fighting these things. He had already progressed well into level nine at this point. They set off again and shortly came to an open cavernous space at the end of the cave. There were at least four other entrances into this cavernous space and the ley lines above gathered essence spectacularly into this space. The essentia floated in the top half of the cave. It gave off its own pale, milky white luminescence and led from the center of the cavernous space through to the northernmost exit and beyond.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. This cavernous space held over twenty least demons and four lesser ones. They were spread through the room and were not clustered sufficiently for holyfire to easily burn them down as a group. The party looked to Belany for instruction. She smiled at them all and said, ¡°What¡¯s the hesitation? Derek draw them towards us. Elton and Feros hold the flanks. When they get close enough we will hit them with the classic, spherical version of holyfire. I doubt this fight will even last all that long.¡± When they heard that, the four others just smiled to each other. The previous fights had gone so well they were hoping for one that would really challenge them. Derek planted his glaive upright before him and drew his bow. He whispered to Elton and Feros, ¡°The lesser one closest to us. Then the least around him.¡± They nodded and also drew their bows. All three fired their bows, striking the lesser demon he pointed out with smite imbued arrows. The creature was knocked back several feet and did not get up. They then fired their bows again, each killing one least demon before unstringing their bows and replacing them on their packs. When the rest of the demons saw that they were under attack, they were enraged. They howled in rage before charging at the small group of humans. One spit a corrosive sludge at Derek but his defensive spell was able to block it. Another attempted to cast an unholy spell at them but found it restricted by the Sanctuary already in place. The rest of the demons crowded forward and as the first arrived in front of Derek, Elton, and Feros, they began swinging their glaives. The least demons were carved apart before them. Hector and Belany waited for all of the demons to come within range before they started to strobe out the simplest and most efficient version of holyfire, the point blank, spherical attack. Due to the efficiency of the spell, they were able to cast it as rapidly as Derek could swing his glaive. In less than five breaths after the demons had entered melee all of the demons in the room had been slain. When they saw this the party started to laugh with joy. None of them had expected it to go that easy. They began gathering the demon hearts and preceded into the center of the cavern. Once they arrived Derek felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He shouted, ¡°Everyone, be careful.¡± Unfortunately, it was too late. Just as the words had finished leaving his mouth they saw more demons streaming from the four other tunnels that they had not explored. A low pitched but loud voice could be heard from the northern tunnel, ¡°Ohoho, don¡¯t be alarmed. Since you have come to visit, how rude would I be to not entertain you?¡±
Lesser Demon-
Class Lesser Demon Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 5 Order - - -
Level - Water Good 14 (-20) Mid 1 (4)
Light - - -
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Good 14 (-20) Mid 1 (4)
Strength 33 (-20) Chaos Supreme 27 (-40) Low 2 (12)
Body 35 (-20) Fire Supreme 21 (-20) High 3 (26)
Agility 30 (-20) Dark Supreme 27 (-40) Low 2 (12)
Mind 30 (-20) Earth Outstanding 19 (-20) Peak 2 (19)
Essentia Pool Mid T5
Malluses- Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains Seal: -2 to Basic Attributes per Tier, -2 to Elemental Attributes per Tier, additional -2 to Chaos and Dark Attribute per Tier, Essence regeneration inhibited Sanctuary, Level 5: -10 to Basic Attributes, -10 to Elemental Attributes, additional -10 to Chaos and Dark Attribute, Damage over time being inflicted, Essence regeneration inhibited.
Ferus-
Class Magic Warrior Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 0 Order Supreme 20 (+10) Mid 6 (55)
Level 10 Water Excellent 8 Mid 3 (23)
Light Supreme 20 (+10) Mid 6 (55)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Excellent 8 Mid 3 (23)
Strength 9 (+10) Chaos Good 7 High 2 (17)
Body 10 (+10) Fire Excellent 8 Mid 3 (23)
Agility 8 (+10) Dark Good 6 High 2 (16)
Mind 8 (+10) Earth Outstanding 8 High 3 (28)
Essentia Pool Low T1 Mage
Previous Classes- None Permanent Enhancements- Unicorn Tears: +10 to Order and Light Attribute Equipment- Runic Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Runic Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Runic Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Runic Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Bonuses- Sanctuary, Level 5: +10 to Basic Attributes, +10 to Order and Light Attribute, Heal over time, Essence regeneration boosted. Chapter 19 - Ambushed! The voice was full of mockery as it said those words. Then it continued, ¡°Take their weapons and bring them to me. If they resist, kill them.¡± The youngsters looked at each other, then at the demons coming from the various paths. They were in danger of being surrounded. There were over a hundred least demons coming towards them and easily a dozen lesser demons. What caused them to worry were the three true demons that were with them. These things were considered equal to tier seven heroes. The group took their positions and started backing towards the entrance they came in from to avoid being surrounded. Derek swung his glaive in a blur of speed. Augmented by smite it would pass through three or four demon bodies per swing. With his skill he was able to whip it back into another attack almost upon the end of the previous attack. His mind was clear and his heart was calm. It was as if he was on the practice yard under Ovid¡¯s watchful eyes. Elton and Feros fought in their places with ferocity. They lacked Derek¡¯s skill but they possessed the same will to resist the demons. They hacked away at any demon that approached them. Hector began casting Holyfire while Belany prepared a slower to cast enchantment. Hector¡¯s Holyfire was enough to bring down any least demon it touched but it merely wounded any lesser demon and was a mere nuisance to the true demons behind them. The least and lesser demons must have truly been terrified of the true demons to swarm towards the Holyfire anyways but they were still quickly brought down by the glaives and Holyfire. ¡°Righteous Blessing!¡± Belany shouted. This enchantment took a while longer to cast but when it did it provided an enhancement to all five of them. Increasing their basic attributes, empowering their holy spells and providing a powerful holy shield around all of them. It required quite a lot of Belany¡¯s mana and stamina to cast as it was a spell that could only be cast once the caster could cast level four holy spells. After casting it she leaned against her staff, panting for breath. With this boost, Hector¡¯s Holyfire grew much more powerful, extending the radius and causing it to kill outright any lesser or below demons. It even harmed the true demons, who were enraged by this and moved forward to join the melee. With the enhancements from Righteous Blessing, Derek could stand on par with the true demon he engaged, but Elton and Feros were quickly pushed back. Feros even received a vicious blow to his side, causing his armor to cave in at that location and him to spit up blood. With their formation collapsing Belany drank a potion before she took one more risk and cast another spell. This was a higher level spell than even the one she had cast before. A more powerful Sanctuary spell overlapped the original, providing an additional buff to the five of them while weakening their enemies. For them it had the effect of bolstering their basic attributes and holy magic once again while also providing mana, stamina, and health recovery. For the demons it did the opposite; weakening their basic attributes, making them more susceptible to holy magic, and even raining a holy light upon them that drained their mana, stamina, and health. This spell had an immediate effect on the fight around them. Feros started to recover. Derek quickly felled the true demon he was fighting and moved to support him while Elton held off the other. But Belany had overdrawn too much by casting that spell. She swooned and was caught by her brother. Hector gasped out her name in surprise and the others looked back. They could see that she was not well. At this point they had made it to the tunnel they had come in from. Hector blast out two empowered Holyfires that drove back the demons for a moment. Derek looked back into the cavernous space which was filled by the sanctuary spell. There were more demons pouring in from the other entrances. The two enchantments Belany had cast would last quite a while longer but without her offensive spell casting they would not hold out long. He cursed as he thought of how confident and proud they had just been. He turned to the others and said, ¡°Hector, you are in charge now. This is too much, Feros is hurt, and your sister is not well. We have already completed our trial. Go back, I will hold them here until the spell wears off and follow you out.¡± Hector looked up, ¡°Are you sure?¡± Derek looked at where the demons were reforming, ¡°As long as I have these enhancements I will be fine. Now go. They will attack soon.¡± Hector didn¡¯t argue and lifted his sister onto his shoulder. ¡°Elton, Feros, let¡¯s go.¡± The other two looked back before quickly following Hector. They ran down the tunnel towards the exit of the cave. Derek looked towards a shadow by the wall, ¡°You should go too. You are only tier two and haven¡¯t trained in my clan¡¯s skills. I will see you when I get out.¡± The shadow nodded and left. Derek turned towards the demons that had started to charge once again. All of the least demons had already died to the damaging effect of the Sanctuary spell. The dozen or so lesser ones were in a sorry state but were still pushed forward by the true demons behind them. Aside from the two that were there previously, two more had shown up. They were using their magic to block the rain from Sanctuary but they were definitely weakened from before. As Derek prepared to fight he felt a zeal flow forth from his heart. His mind was calm but a passion to stand firm against these foes flowed through him. As the lesser demons rushed towards him he surprised them by moving forward to meet them. He brought his glaive around in a horizontal slashing motion that pivoted his whole body from right to left. He cast smite into the weapon just as it struck and though they attempted to block with their claws, three of the weakened lesser demons were cleaved through in that one attack. Others rushed forward to attack him but he sidestepped smashing the smite imbued buttspike into the head of one. As that one died, he reversed his grip, slashing from left to right, killing two more. The other six had to approach through their dying comrades in this miserable holy rain. Their movements were already slowed by the effects of Sanctuary but now their own cowardice compounded their issues. While his mind was filled with only how to kill his enemies, theirs were made sluggish by the desire to flee to escape in any way possible. Cowardice, the greatest weakness of the demons. In the blink of an eye the last of the lesser demons had been slaughtered. Four true demons stood before him. Each had a distinct look. One had a wolf¡¯s head and crab claws, another had a man¡¯s face and the paws of a bear, the third had two rat¡¯s heads and bird¡¯s claws, while the last had a beak and tentacles for arms. The true sign of a demon was how obscene they looked. Once Derek had slain their minions they made their move. They worked to surround him, but he took that as the opportunity to rush one and isolate it. He struck rapidly: overhead slash, buttstroke, reverse cut. With each move empowered by smite, he drove the demon back. Its tentacles attempted to parry but the Sanctuary empowered smite broke through. In the first attack its left tentacle was cut straight through. The buttstroke punched into its chest, knocking it off balance before the reverse cut cleaved through its head. His years of training under Ovid had not been for naught. There were no wasted movements. This demon had died before the others could react. The two nearest him lashed out with their claws. He dodged the crab claw while parrying the eagle claw. He empowered that with another smite, cutting the claw in half. He followed it up with a sweeping attack at both of their legs. The crab clawed one managed to dodge.The other had its leg cut open to the bone, knocking it off balance. Derek stabbed forward with a buttstroke, intending to finish that one off but the third attacked at just that moment. As its paw struck against his chest he imbued his armor with a holy shield spell, which held against its attack but its strength drove him back. He backpedalled diagonally to create space between the three of them. He knew one was lamed and would be out of the fight for a while but the other two were attempting to flank him again. He knew better than to attempt the same strategy again so he feinted with a buttstroke towards the crab clawed demon before making an overhead cut towards the other. When he appeared to attack the other, that one had lunged forward to strike his back. Only as the blade came down towards its head did it recover. It threw a paw up to block and attempted to jump aside. But it wasn¡¯t fast enough. The smite imbued overhead strike severed the hand at the wrist and then cleaved down through its shoulder well into its chest. Derek kicked the body off of his blade and rounded on the crab clawed demon. Its claw was coming in dangerously fast towards his head. Derek ducked, allowing the claw to slide along his helmet, and jabbed the buttspike of the glaive into its throat below the wolfshead. The holy energy erupted forth, driving the spike out the other side.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Derek turned to look for the final true demon and saw it hobbling towards the northern passage. One of its rat heads was watching him and it panicked even more as it saw that Derek had finished off the rest. It struggled to hurry faster, but could only move so fast with its leg injured in the way that it was. Derek planted his glaive and drew his bow. He empowered one obsidian arrow and fired it into the center of the back of the fleeing demon. The demon screeched in fear, the arrow struck, and the smite exploded into the demon. It collapsed and went limp. Derek took a deep breath, raised his vizor, and turned his head up to the holy rain of the Sanctuary spell. He breathed in a few times and his arms trembled from the adrenaline washing out of his system. At that moment he heard a loud crashing sound from the entrance of the cave. ¡°Gnome, was that¡­¡± ¡°Master, the elder that I detected collapsed the tunnel after the others made it out.¡± ¡°What about the man the Prince sent?¡± ¡°He got out too, barely.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good. There is almost an hour left to these spells. All eight of you come out and collect demon hearts for me. This ley line and Sanctuary spell should be quite nourishing for you. I am going to just sit here for a moment.¡± As he sat down the eight sprites flew out through the room to collect the demon hearts. Once they were done, they frolicked in the abundant essence in the area. He watched with satisfaction as they grew. With a quarter of an hour left to the spells he stood up and approached the northern corridor. ¡°I hope you are still there. Since you welcomed us so warmly, how rude would I be not to come thank you for your greeting?¡±
True Demon-
Class True Demon Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 7 Order - - -
Level - Water Excellent 20 (-20) Low 4 (30)
Light - - -
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Excellent 20 (-20) Low 4 (30)
Strength 42 Chaos Supreme 29 (-20) Peak 5 (49)
Body 46 Fire Supreme 24 (-20) Mid 5 (44)
Agility 39 Dark Supreme 29 (-20) Peak 5 (49)
Mind 41 Earth Supreme 24 (-20) Mid 5 (44)
Essentia Pool Mid T7
Malluses- Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains Seal: -2 to Basic Attributes per Tier, -2 to Elemental Attributes per Tier, additional -2 to Chaos and Dark Attribute per Tier, Essence regeneration inhibited Overcast Sanctuary, Level 8: -16 to Basic Attributes, -16 to Elemental Attributes, additional -16 to Chaos and Dark Attribute, Damage over time being inflicted, Essence regeneration inhibited. Bonuses- Unholy Power, level 10: +20 to Basic Attributes, +20 to Chaos and Dark Attribute, Level 10 regenerating shield. Unholy Shield, level 5: Reduce effectiveness of Mallus spells by 5 levels.
Belany and Hector-
Class Twin Mage Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 0 Order Supreme 20+5(+30) Mid 10 (95)
Level 10 Water Outstanding 9 +5 Peak 5 (49)
Light Supreme 20+5(+30) Mid 10 (95)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Outstanding 9 +5 Peak 5 (49)
Strength 8 (+30) Chaos Excellent 8 +5 Mid 5 (43)
Body 8 (+30) Fire Outstanding 9 +5 Peak 5 (49)
Agility 9 (+30) Dark Excellent 8 +5 Mid 5 (43)
Mind 10 (+30) Earth Outstanding 9 +5 Peak 5 (49)
Essentia Pool Mid T1 Mage
Previous Classes- None Permanent Enhancements- Twin Mages: Greatly Improved paired casting between these two. When near each other, gain moderate improvement to casting speed and power. Unicorn Tears: +10 to Order and Light Attribute Equipment- Runic Robes: basic protection high t1, maximum defensive spell level 7 Runic Staff: +5 to all elemental attributes, maximum offensive spell level 7 Bonuses- Overcast Sanctuary, Level 8: +16 to Basic Attributes, +16 to Order and Light Attribute, Heal over time, Essence regeneration boosted. Righteous Blessing, Level 7: +14 to Basic Attributes, +14 to Order and Light Attribute, Level 7 regenerating shield. Chapter 20 - Facing a Greater Demon Derek walked down the northern tunnel. The stream of essentia flowed over his head. He had checked his status and knew that he was in as good a shape as he could hope for before going down this tunnel. He was also pleasantly surprised that he had maxed out his level ten growth for tier one and that there was excess essentia waiting in the spillover pool his mother had created. With the enchantments Belany had cast he was now capable of outputting holy spells at mid level ten, high eight if he had to fight without the Sanctuary spell. Because he knew that this would put strain on his weapons and armor he tasked Gnome with strengthening them and repairing them as he used them. Further, with the ripe essence provided by the ley line and the Sanctuary spell, Gnome, Wisp, and the others had all grown significantly. Just a little more and they would be able to grow into mature sprites, increasing their strengths and versatility. Due to all of this, Derek felt confident that whatever he faced down this tunnel was within his capacity to handle. He walked forward with zeal, passing out of the range of the Sanctuary spell. Gone was the false confidence from before that had been born of easy victories. He knew that whatever was down this tunnel could likely kill him, but he still acted because he knew that with the risks he and his companions had taken to get this far, and for Belany, who had risked her own life to protect them, he had to see this task through to the end. Derek continued down this tunnel until it opened into another, smaller open space. At the far wall was a crudely crafted throne. Upon this throne was a twelve foot tall greater demon with ram¡¯s horns on an almost human head. Its massive arms ended in two enormous hands. At the end of each finger was a long sharp nail like a talon. This demon¡¯s skin was grey and its hair blue. Its eyes were slitted like a snake and its teeth were sharp as it smiled towards Derek. Its confidence was supreme. How could this puny tier one mortal threaten it? Greater demons are often compared to tier ten humans. Sure, the seal had weakened its powers a little bit but there was no way that this creature could threaten it. No, at the very least, the demon could toy with this mortal for a while and gain some entertainment for a while from him. The demon looked at Derek, ¡°So you have slain my minions and you now believe you are strong enough to defeat me? You? A puny tier one human? Haha! What a joke.¡± The demon stood up. At twelve feet tall, Derek knew that this wasn¡¯t the demon¡¯s full height, but merely as tall as it could get in this cavern. Any taller and it would be cramped. Derek dropped his pack at the door and readied his glaive. He looked around and noticed that the stream of essentia ended at a gate in the wall above an altar with the corpse of another demon previously used in some eldritch ritual. The gate was currently closed as it needed to charge for a while before opening and allowing travel between the two realms. Derek knew that this was how the demons were crossing over in such large numbers in this area and that for him to stop them, he must destroy the gate. But before he could do that, he must defeat the demon before him. The demon stalked towards him, trying to intimidate him with its mighty presence. Derek sensed it but that sense of zeal that had descended during the previous fight not only held true but burned hotter. He waited for the demon to make its move. When it did, it moved in a flash. Derek was barely able to keep up with it. It swiped its hand towards him in a wide arch. He cast his most powerful smite into his glaive and parried the demon¡¯s blow. The strike managed to injure the demon¡¯s hand but Derek was thrown into the wall. He cast a defensive spell at that point but still felt two of his ribs cracking. He felt a wave of pain and resisted the urge to faint. The demon was clutching its hand and glaring at him. ¡°You¡¯ve hurt me! But it is because of this damned holy spell. I refuse to believe that an insect like you could hurt me normally. For drawing my blood today, I will kill you slowly.¡± Derek was quite glad to let it talk as he was having a hard time catching his breath. When it stopped talking a red glow started to glow around it before it rushed at him again, this time faster and with more power. Instead of parrying Derek dodged low and swung underneath the demon¡¯s attack. The smite enhanced glaive cut along the demon¡¯s ribs but not through them. It howled in pain and rage, whirling viciously and striking downwards with its claws. Derek had to dodge to the side to avoid the strike. He swung low this time, aiming at the demon¡¯s heel. After being stung twice it began to react to his attacks and moved to avoid the attack. As it did so, it spit an acidic venom at him. He dodged again and the venom hit the wall behind him. A sizzling sound erupted behind him and from it he knew that this spit would be quite dangerous if it hit him. The demon¡¯s attacks became frenzied as the red glow grew thicker and Derek was on his back foot, doing everything he could to avoid being hit. As he searched for a way to turn the fight around, a hazy memory of an old man in a mountain glade came to him. Gaining inspiration, he used one particularly berserk attack to break contact so that he could formulate a modification of the Righteous Blessing spell Bethany had cast. The room rose in temperature as a fiery shield came into being around him and he felt his attributes rise again. Seeing this and enraged the demon leapt forward again, swinging both hands. Derek sidestepped to its right, again looking for a chance to wound it but failing due to its cunning fighting style. Derek was growing concerned, this thing had much more reach that made it very hard to attack. If it wasn¡¯t for his enchantments he was sure he would already be dead. The demon swung its right arm in a backhand swipe. This time Derek targeted the arm. He swung with all of his might, aiming at the tight bundle of muscles just above the elbow. His smite penetrated deep into the arm, laming it. The demon roared in pain and humiliation. How dare this human harm it in this way? It spit its corrosive venom at him again and backed away, protecting its right side. This time the venom was sprayed in a wider arch and Derek couldn¡¯t dodge all of it. A small amount penetrated his protective spells and his armor and sunk into his chest. He couldn¡¯t help but cry out in pain. When it saw that some of the spit had struck Derek, the demon lunged forward to strike again with its left hand. Derek dodged to its right, attempting to score another hit on that side, but it was too quick. The demon was able to dodge out of the way and send a backhand at Derek that he was barely able to block. Derek was knocked back once again. This time he was lucky to only have the wind knocked from him. He quickly dodged to the side as it lunged at him. The room was now dyed a deep scarlet from the glow of the demon and fragments of rock were kicked up by the it¡¯s strike. Derek quickly swung his glaive at the exposed back of the demon. It was able to partially dodge, but the smite scoured across its ribs once again, causing it still more pain. ¡°Human, I will devour your soul!¡± It screamed at him as it swung its arm in another wide arch. Derek was forced to dodge again, but this time it clipped him hard on the shoulder. He felt a sharp pain as he was knocked back by the strike. His arm strength was unaffected but he was definitely in pain, especially when he struck the wall once again. This time it was with enough force to cause him to spit up blood. Derek was stunned by this and as the demon lunged forward once again he could not dodge. Instead he swung with his full force at the demon¡¯s neck. The demon made no attempt to dodge, a blood red haze in its eyes. It¡¯s talon likeclaws slammed into Derek¡¯s chest armor. At first Derek¡¯s spell and the shielding enchantment held out, but they swiftly collapsed under the sheer might of the demon¡¯s physical body. The armor itself failed as well and the claws of the demon pierced into his right breast like daggers. In the same moment, the glaive connected with the neck of the demon. The holy power of the Smite spell imbued into it poured forth, shearing its way through hide and bone and muscle. As Derek collapsed to the ground coughing up blood from his punctured lung, the demon¡¯s head and body also fell to the ground in separate directions and the room returned to its original essentia lit rocky tones. Derek felt absolutely miserable in this moment. He struggled to pull theclaws of the demon from his chest and Gnome formed a body from the nearby rock to assist. The eight little sprites gathered around him and looked about the room playfully. Selkie, the water sprite, peered closely at him. ¡°You look terrible, master.¡± He laughed at her innocent words. The action being a fresh round of pain and causing him to cough up more blood to clear his airways. ¡°I feel terrible too. Can you and Aurora heal me, please?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The little sprite nodded her head and joined hands with the light element sprite to cast a healing spell. It washed over him, healing the most critical of his injuries and stopping the bleeding. He then asked Ifrit, the fire sprite, to cut out the heart of the demon while he placed the head in a sack. After they packaged these things he felt Belany''s enchantments wear off, fatigue washing over him. Derek stood for a while inspecting the gate before him. The Thorne clan specialized in fighting demons so disabling and destroying gates was one of the many things a youngster would learn in the clan. Derek had even experienced the sealing of gates in the memories of the sword ceremony. Even more importantly, as a rune smith, he knew how to disenchant permanent items just like this gate, and his sprites were just the perfect tools for doing so. The only difficulty was his exhausted mind taking a while longer to complete the calculations needed. He instructed the sprites to gather around the gate, then began to manipulate and untangle the formulas holding the gate together. As he did so the energies stored in the formulas started to escape outward and the sprites began to consume them. After an hour of unravelling the formulas, the gate was fully disenchanted. The headstone fell to the ground and glowed a baleful color. It was known as a hell gate gem and they only exist naturally in the realm of the demons and even there they are exceedingly rare. To acquire one requires a demon to bring it through to Elanith when it breaks through the barrier. Derek recovered the gem and placed it in the sack with the greater demon¡¯s head. As he started to walk back down the hallway, he felt the room start to tilt as his senses started to darken and the exhaustion finally took over.
Panklethu-
Class Greater Demon Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 10 Order - - -
Level - Water Outstanding 21 (-20) High 4 (36)
Light - - -
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Outstanding 21 (-20) High 4 (36)
Strength 57 (-) Chaos Supreme 33 (-30) Mid5 (43)
Body 62 (-5) Fire Supreme 27 (-20) High 5 (47)
Agility 54 (-) Dark Supreme 33 (-30) Mid 5 (43)
Mind 57 (-10) Earth Supreme 27 (-20) High 5 (47)
Essentia Pool Mid T10
Malluses- Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains Seal: -2 to Basic Attributes per Tier, -2 to Elemental Attributes per Tier, additional -2 to Chaos and Dark Attribute per Tier, Essence regeneration inhibited Bonuses- Unholy Power, Level 5: +10 to Basic Attributes, +10 to Chaos and Dark Attribute, Level 5 regenerating shield. Berserker Frenzy: +20% to Strength and Agility, +10% to Body, impaired decision making, spell casting impossible.
Derek Thorne-
Class Rune Smith Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 1 Order Supreme 20+5(+28) Mid 10 (93)
Level 10 Water Supreme 15 + 5 Low 7 (60)
Light Supreme 20+5(+28) Mid 10 (93)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 15 + 5 Low 7 (60)
Strength 19 (+28) Chaos Supreme 15 + 5 Low 7 (60)
Body 21 (+28) Fire Supreme 20+5(+14) Peak 8 (79)
Agility 17 (+28) Dark Supreme 15 + 5 Low 7 (60)
Mind 19 (+28) Earth Supreme 20 + 5 Mid 7 (65)
Essentia Pool Peak t2 Mage
Previous Classes- Magic Warrior Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman of the Forge and Hearth: eight juvenile sprites +5 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Bonuses- Righteous Blessing, Level 7: +14 to Basic Attributes, +14 to Order and Light Attribute, Level 7 regenerating shield. Righteous Fury, Level 7: +14 to Basic Attributes, +14 to Order, Light, and Fire Attribute, Level 7 regenerating shield, Level 7 damaging aura Chapter 21 - Triumphant Return When Derek woke, he found himself in a comfortable bed. He was in a single room cottage and as he looked across the room he saw a wizened old woman stirring a pot on her stove. Next to her was a slightly younger old man nodding off while poorly pretending to be listening to her. As he smelled the food his stomach rumbled, startling the old man awake. When the woman turned to look at him, Derek felt a sense of familiarity from her. She peered at him for a moment, before waving him over with her ladle, ¡°Awake already? Come here boy and eat. You will need quite a bit of nourishment to heal from what you have been through in the last few days.¡± Derek sheepishly got up and sat where she indicated at her table, then began eating the food she provided. It was delicious and he was famished, so he began wolfing it down. The old man laughed, ¡°Haha, boy there is no need to rush. No one will take it from you.¡± As Derek finished his bowl, the old woman spooned out more for him. She didn¡¯t stop until he had eaten four full bowls. Finishing he looked a little crestfallen that this was all before remembering his manners, ¡°Thank you for the food, but who are you, and where am I?¡± As he said that, the door to the cottage opened and he saw the homes of Redwyrm outside. An old man came walking in, ¡°Ehehe, so the boy is awake? That¡¯s good, we need to get him up to the castle before things get any uglier up there. Here is your gear boy, you better put it on and scurry on up to the clan hall.¡± ¡°Thank you, Ancestor,¡± the boy said as he started to equip his battle damaged gear. In little time he had it on and arranged for comfort. While he did so, the other three had already left the building so he decided to head on up to the castle like he had been instructed. As he approached, he saw that it was in an uproar. He quickly made his way to the castle where the guards led him to the main hall. When he arrived, they kept him at the entrance of the room while one went to announce his arrival to the Patriarch. He saw his grandmother arguing with Elder Jacob before the Patriarch and the other Elders. ¡°You lie! There is no way he would ever betray them. Anyone with eyes would see that you are making this up to cause harm to my family once again!¡± Jacob laughed coldly, ¡°Rebekah, you accuse me of lying but it was Elder Tanner that saw this. It is he that witnessed Derek abandon the others. I am merely fulfilling my role as Elder to levy this charge against Derek. The punishment for desertion is death and being stricken from the clan¡¯s rolls! And that is what your grandson stands accused of, desertion! ¡°He abandoned his party in the lair of the demons and his absence caused my son, Feros, to be injured and Belany to suffer her current tribulation! Even worse,Hector is also unconscious from overdrawing his mana to heal his sister. Patriarch even if not for justice look to your own great grandchildren. They are in dire straights and may never wake again or may turn cripple from this. It is all the fault of that Derek!¡± The Patriarch listened with a dark look on his face. Of the five children that left for the trial, Belany was in a coma, Hector had overexerted himself and was also unconscious, Feros was injured, and Derek had not been seen. Now, Elder Tanner had come forth with the claim that when the others had fled the cave they had gone into, it was because Derek had abandoned them at a critical junction, causing them to fall into harm. Elder Jacob had even received word from Elton and Feros that corroborated this accusation. If it was true then Derek was indeed guilty of desertion and the penalty was death or expulsion from the clan at the least. This promising coming of age ceremony had taken a significant turn for the worse. As he pondered this, a guard came up to inform the Patriarch of Derek¡¯s arrival. When he did so, Elder Jacob turned and said with an imperious tone, ¡°Ah, so the deserter has arrived and so boldly as if he thinks he has committed no wrong.¡± At a signal from the Patriarch, the guards led Derek into the hall. He looked around. The majority of the adults of the clan were present as well as Prince Kylin and his knights and Nicholas Windreach and his retinue. They all saw him enter, with scarred armor and clothes and bandages over his wounds. His mother, by Baron Nicholas¡¯ side, blanched upon seeing this. Ovid restrained her gently from approaching Derek. He heard the others talking, mostly rumors and hearsay. Derek knew that most of it was false so he paid little attention to it. He walked up to stand next to his grandmother and bowed to the Patriarch. ¡°Derek Thorne reporting back from the trial Patriarch.¡± Elder Jacob snorted coldly, ¡°So fortunate for you that you made it back uninjured. Because of your actions, three out of four of your companions were seriously injured. Don¡¯t you feel any shame?¡± Derek was at a loss for words. He had heard the allegations against him as he waited at the end of the hall. Indeed they were serious and Hector overdrawing to heal his sister was news to him but by his nature not unexpected. ¡°I beg your pardon. Three seriously injured? When I last saw the others Belany was indeed in a bad way as she had dangerously overdrawn her mana by casting Sacred Blessing and Sanctuary in sequence, but other than a minor injury for Feros, the other three were in good health.¡± Elder Jacob sneered, ¡°So you admit it! You abandoned your party to attack by the demons. I have heard from both Feros and Elton that this is so and Elder Tanner here confirms it. You left them and they nearly died! Patriarch, this child has always been a troublemaker, fighting with my sons. This time he has gone too far! I demand this filth be given the harshest punishment as an example to all the other youngsters and before our guests that we maintain strict punishment and rewards in our clan. Elders, don¡¯t you agree? He should be executed and stricken from the rolls of the clan.¡± As he said this, three of the five other elders spoke their assent, Elder Tanner spoke up pointing at Derek, ¡°Cur if I hadn¡¯t arrived to seal the cavern, there is no telling what would have happened to the other children. Did you think of what harm they would fall into when you abandoned them? Execution is the most appropriate punishment for this crime.¡± Derek was aghast when he heard this. He had covered the withdrawal of his team. If this old man hadn¡¯t collapsed the tunnel, he could have joined them after he cleaned out the cavern. He looked around, the adults of the clan had stoney faces as they stared at him; the crime was serious. The Prince and his people¡¯s faces were impossible to read and they watched quietly. He couldn¡¯t tell if the tier two stealth scout he had seen had made it back to them. That person would have been able to witness for him. That is assuming that the Prince was willing to admit that he had spied on the trial. Derek knew that it was unlikely for him to receive help from them. He looked towards his mother who was absolutely quiet. He had never seen such a cold look on her face as she had now while looking at Elder Jacob. Her father placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. In a voice as cold as drawn steel he said, ¡°I would hope that Elder Jacob wouldn¡¯t use demonstrating your clan¡¯s values to me as an excuse to kill my only grandson in my presence. It would be hard for me not to take offense in that case.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Elder Jacob looked back at him and snapped, ¡°Outsider, where do you think you are? This is clan Thorne territory and the magistrate here is the Patriarch of the Thorne clan.¡± The Patriarch slammed the butt of his staff onto the ground and spoke up, ¡°Quite right, I am the magistrate here Jacob. It is my responsibility to pass judgement, not you. Your role is to lay out evidence of wrongdoing. ¡°Baron Nicholas, I understand your concern but I must see that justice is served here. I assure you that I will take into account our relationship with your House when passing judgement. Please do not interfere in this.¡± Nicholas looked to the Patriarch, ¡°Your clan¡¯s judgement is already in question, Patriarch Darren. The way some of you have treated my daughter and grandson in the past, even going so far as to deny basic foodstuffs and supplies, has not been particularly stellar. The future of how we will interact is entirely in your hands now.¡± The Patriarch¡¯s face reddened. He was not used to being spoken to in this way in his own hall, but he knew that the house of Windreach had the power to destroy his clan. In fact he was unsure that the Baron¡¯s retainers currently in the hall were not enough to achieve just that. Yet the accusation against Derek was serious and he had to sit in judgement of this crime. He calmed himself and looked to Baron Nicholas. The room had gone deathly quiet as any intelligent person knew what the Baron had implied. The Patriarch repeated himself, ¡°I will take into account our relationship with your House.¡± He then turned towards Derek, ¡°You have been accused of deserting your party and putting them into undue risk. What do you have to say for yourself?¡± Derek spoke up, ¡°I did not desert my party. After Belany overcast Sanctuary I suggested that Hector take her and the others to withdraw while I held the demons at bay. Hector agreed with me and retreated through the tunnel we had entered the cave through. I underestimated the power of the Sanctuary she cast and was able to win the fight but when I did so, I heard the collapse of the tunnel that Elder Tanner described earlier so I was unable to join them. ¡°Knowing that I was trapped in the cavern I made use of the time remaining on Belany''s enhancements to seek out the source of the demons. There I fought and killed a greater demon and disenchanted the gate it had created before returning. ¡°In no case did I abandon my team or even act with any cowardice. I reject this accusation and I denounce those that levied it against me!¡± Elder Tanner turned livid towards the end but Elder Jacob laughed, ¡°You see? This boy lies. How could he, a mere tier one, defeat a greater demon? They are beings that even challenge a whole group of our adult clansmen. ¡°Nevermind that he contradicts and even slanders Elder Tanner! It¡¯s his word against Elder Tanner¡¯s that he abandoned his team and I have confirmation from both of his conscious teammates that he did in fact abandon them! There is no question here as to who is lying and who is telling the truth! Derek is guilty of desertion! ¡°The only thing left in question is whether you will punish him, Patriarch, or whether you will cave before the pressure these outsiders are exerting and sully the honor that five thousand years of our ancestor¡¯s achievements had earned.¡± The Patriarch looked from Elder Jacob to Baron Nicholas before finally turning to Derek. ¡°Derek, the evidence is your word versus that of Elder Tanner, Elton, and Feros. Their version of events is different than yours and Elder Tanner¡¯s integrity is impeccable. I find you guilty of desertion in combat. ¡°Out of respect for Baron Nicholas, I hand you over to him for punishment. As for the Thorne clan, you no longer have a place among us. You are hereby banished from the clan and stricken from the rolls. You are restricted to the guest house that the delegation from Windreach is staying in until they leave. At which point you are forbidden from ever returning again. Do you have anything to say for yourself?¡± Derek felt bile in the back of his throat. His entire identity was wrapped around being a member of his father¡¯s clan. He had been mistreated in the past but he had always believed that if he accomplished enough they would finally accept him. He felt tears forming in his eyes as he looked at the hard faces of his clansmen. He opened his pack and started tossing sackful after sackful of what he had collected in the cave out onto the floor. He made eye contact with each of them as he threw out the sacks and described their contents in a monotone voice. Among those bags were the head of a greater demon, the hell gate gem, the hearts of five true demons, the hearts of almost thirty lesser demons, and almost three hundred hearts of least demons. As he emptied his pack the clansmen all started to stare with disbelief. Some even gawked with their mouths open. Elders Tanner and Jacob had dumbfounded looks on their faces while the Patriarch had leaned forward to closely examine what was before him. The Patriarch looked up, ¡°Derek, you¡­¡± Derek stepped back next to his grandmother. ¡°Patriarch Darren of the Thorne clan, we have no further connection. Belany¡¯s spell killed most of these demons and helped me to kill the rest, so these ought to be hers. I almost died fighting the greater demon so I will keep that for myself. ¡°To be honest, it is a relief that you have banished me from the clan. I have spent my entire life trying to please you all only to be treated like garbage over and over again by you people. In fact, I am only sorry that I won¡¯t see Belany or Hector again before I leave. They were the only ones that ever treated me as a clansman.¡± He grabbed his grandmother¡¯s sleeve and tugged on it, ¡°Please come with me.¡± She looked at him and sighed, then turned to the Patriarch, who looked poleaxed. ¡°Ever since I rejected Jacob when he tried to force me to marry him he has persecuted me and my family. He forced my husband to leave. He harassed my son until the boy could only go errant to get away from him. My son was the most promising youth of his generation and you let Jacob drive him away and what did that do for us but have him die in some no name town in Serris? What value to the clan is a dead genius? And you all let that happen. ¡°Now you are letting Jacob force out my only grandson, the last family I have. If that is the case then I too will leave. From now on I am no longer a Thorne, I will take my husband''s name of Kennick and we will take care of our own. Your problems are no longer mine. Do not come seeking help from me.¡± The room was quiet. Elder Jacob looked like he was about to erupt in fury when the Patriarch said in a dark voice, ¡°Jacob, if you open your mouth I will have you strangled to death. One Rebekah is worth five of you, and one Jared was worth ten. You have already cost our clan too much.¡± At this point another Elder spoke up for Elder Jacob, ¡°But Patriarch, our clan¡¯s wealth has doubled under Elder Jacob¡¯s leadership, please remember his contributions. It is not fair to compare him to these dead weights.¡± ¡°About that, Elder¡­ Jacob.¡± Prince Kylin spoke up while pulling a handful of forms from a satchel and holding them up. They appeared to be some form of receipt, ¡°My father has been sending Sir Jared¡¯s household a tribute every year since he died. This tribute was on the order of a couple thousand talents a year. I have received notification that it was you who signed off on delivery of this gold and yet upon arrival I found that Jared¡¯s family has not received this wealth in years. Isn¡¯t it convenient that this wealth has disappeared at the same time as your supposed growth of the clan¡¯s income? What were you planning on telling them when we stop delivering the tribute now that Sir Jared¡¯s son is an adult?¡± He looked at the many stunned faces in the room. Then turned to the Patriarch. ¡°When I arrived here your clan only had two things of great value to call its own. The first is that sword you all worship. The second was that boy you just willingly severed ties to. I assure you that if the house of Windreach doesn¡¯t lay claim to this boy now that you have given him up, my father¡¯s kingdom would spare no expense to acquire him.¡± Derek was dazed as he walked with his grandmother to the side of Baron Nicholas. His mother hugged him tight and delved him immediately to check his injuries. He looked around him and the retainers of the house of Windreach looked upon him with reassuring glances. He was sad to be losing a home, but at least these people would accept him. As the turmoil in the room started to build, an ancient voice sounded out from a dimly lit corner, ¡°Ehehe, I see no problem with letting the boy return to be with his mother¡¯s family for a time, but I will not have my descendents banished from my home in such a way. What would my precious Penny think if her favorite granddaughter was expelled like this? Let this farce end for now. Everyone return to your lodgings. Daren, you and the ¡®elders¡¯ stay here, I would like to have a talk with you.¡± Chapter 22 - Judgement Derek recognized the voice and turned towards that corner as the old Ancestor stepped forward. Having been dismissed and sensing the sheer power from this man, Baron Nicholas acquiesced. He lead his people from the room, taking Derek and his family with him. Arriving at the guest house, Derek washed up beforejoining his family in the main room. There he sat with his mother and recounted the events of the trial.He started withthe fight between the chaos wolves and the demons and finished with the defeat of the greater demon and the disenchantment of the hell gate. The effectiveness of Belany''s enchantments held a particular interest for the mages in the room. He then told them about the oddity of waking in that cottage and seeing the three elderlies there. They were all stunned that he had been able to destroy a greater demon, these things were legendary for their might, afterall. But he was able to explain how the enchantments had enabled his victory. He took out the heart and sighed, ¡°It¡¯s a shame. I acquired the heart of a greater demon for my coming of age ceremony and now we can¡¯t use it.¡± His grandmother smiled sadly at him when she heard that. Of all of those that were there, the others might have had an idea of the benefits of the ceremony, but she was the only one that knew for sure. This greater demon heart would have been a truly great boon for him in the ceremony. They spoke for a while and food was served. An hour or so later there was a knocking at the door. When Nicholas checked it he found Richard along with a pair of servants who had brought lanterns to light the way. When Richard saw Nicholas he entreated, ¡°Baron Nicholas, I must see Rebekah. Is she in?¡± Rebekah spoke up, ¡°Richard, now is not a good time. What do you want from me?¡± He shook his head as Nicholas led them in, ¡°I hate what happened tonight. You know I wasn¡¯t there. I was with my children who were ill as my wife is now. After what happened tonight you know I wouldn¡¯t bother you but for Belany, her condition has just worsened.¡± Rebekah frowned as she grabbed for her cloak, ¡°Worsened? What is that girl Orena doing? How can she worsen at this time?¡± Orena was Richard¡¯s wife. Aside from Rebekah, she was the best holy mage in the clan. It could be said that the only people who had truly treated Rebekah and her family well were Richard and his wife and children. It helped that Orena, Belany, and Hector had all been her pupils and that they had formed a tight bond together. Rebekah might have broken ties with the clan but these were her beloved pupils. There was no way she would let any misfortune fall upon them. As Rebekah gathered her cloak, pouch, and staff, Eona gathered her things as well, ¡°Rebekah, let me come as well. I am sure I can help with this.¡± When she heard this, Rebekah smiled and nodded. In the years of proximity with her daughter-in-law she had gained a real appreciation of her skills. She gave a lantern to Ovid to carry for them and had Alicia carry a basket of medicines she had brought out. Before leaving Eona reached up to kiss Derek on his forehead and whispered, ¡°Go to sleep. In the morning I will come wake you.¡± Though he wanted to go with them, Derek was quite tired so he followed his mother¡¯s instructions and went to his room in the guesthouse. He woke the next day to the sound of his mother¡¯s humming as she delved his schema. She was seated on the edge of his bed and her hand absentmindedly played with his hair while she checked and made minor modifications to the different formulas within it. He smiled at her and waited for her to finish. When she did so she looked at him, ¡°Your wounds are healed and left only little scars and you are ready to tier up again. You are already on the verge of tier two. Where did my little boy go? It¡¯s not fair. Soon you will be so strong and have no need for your grey haired mother.¡± He smiled at her teasing, ¡°Mom, that¡¯s not true. I will get strong and build you the most beautiful palace and no one will ever be able to look down on you again.¡± She smiled at him and tweaked his nose, ¡°Don¡¯t promise me a palace. I want grandchildren. At least six. You had better get to work.¡± He gawked at her and his face turned red. Six children? Did she think they fell from the sky? And first off he had to meet a suitable girl. He didn¡¯t even know where to start. He looked at her seriously, ¡°How about two palaces? With a garden between them?¡± She laughed at him and stood up. Ever since she had taken the wyvern¡¯s blood and had her ailment cured her vitality had continued to increase. He had never seen her so energetic. It made him happy to see her in such form. He cleaned himself and dressed before meeting her and the rest of their family for breakfast. While they were eating his grandmother told them all of Belany¡¯s condition which had greatly improved with her and Eona¡¯s help. Both Belany and Hector had recovered during the night. They were doing much better. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Derek was really happy to hear this and asked if he would be able to see them. His grandmother smiled and said, ¡°Yes, while they should still rest most of the day, I imagine this evening we will all be called to the clan hall again.¡± That evening it was as she said, the Patriarch personally came to invite them to the clan hall. This time every important person of Redwyrm had come. Derek and his family stood with the people of Windreach. They were joined there by Ander who gripped his shoulder firmly when he came up. This man really was as solid as a stone and Derek felt that stability emanating from him. Ander stood next to Rebekah behind Derek and said some quiet words to her. Shortly afterwards Prince Kylin arrived with his two stolid knights. They stood next to the Windreach delegation and shared some kind words. Derek could see Belany and Hector standing with Richard and Orena. Belany waved to him and he smiled back. He was really glad to see the two of them well. As the rest of the clan entered the hall he also saw Elton and Feros who occasionally glanced his way with ashamed faces. When the last of the clansmen had arrived the Patriarch stood and spoke to everyone. ¡°Thorne clan, dignitaries of Redwyrm, honored guests. I must apologise to you all. The festivities that were intended for this year¡¯s coming of age ceremony have been tainted by the foolish acts of a single man.¡± He looked around the hall, making eye contact with several of those gathered, he then spoke once again, ¡°Guards bring the prisoner in.¡± From the end of the hall the guards brought Elder Jacob forward. His hands and feet were bound by iron chains. When he arrived before the Patriarch, the Patriarch began again, ¡°Jacob Thorne, your actions this week have sullied the good reputation of our clan. Even worse, after investigation it was confirmed that you stole money intended for another family in the clan and embezzled some of that money for yourself. You also coerced Elder Tanner into giving a distorted representation of the events of the coming of age trial and also falsified the testimonies of your sons. ¡°All of these actions have a tremendous impact on the reputation and honor of the clan. The scale of your scheming and your crimes have been enough to tarnish your reputation so much that you are no longer qualified to bear the rank of Elder. Nor can we continue to allow you to oversee any integral part of our clan. You are stripped of the title of Elder and all of the benefits and responsibilities of the posts you held as such. ¡°Your elder sons have rendered much merit and have begged leniency from me in your name so the Elders and I have concluded that your punishment will be to receive twenty lashes for every thousand talents you stole from Jared¡¯s family. The punishment for embezzlement from the clan will be included in that. Coercing Elder Tanner and falsifying your son¡¯s testimonies are each worth fifty more lashes. This comes out to a total of five hundred and fifty lashes. ¡°You will receive the lashes tomorrow morning in groups of fifty and your health will be maintained so that you can complete this punishment on the morrow.¡± Jacob¡¯s face paled. He knew how brutal the whipping would be but even worse, he had lost his place as an Elder of the clan. He knew he was lucky not to be executed for what he had done. When Prince Kylin had brought forward the receipts for the tribute he knew there was no way to avoid scrutiny. All of those plans fell apart last night. Now his reputation had been ruined in the clan and there were very few who would even talk to him much less work with him. Even his own sons had distanced themselves from him. He knew that there was nothing he could do about it at this point either. The Patriarch waved to the guards, ¡°Take him away.¡± Once the guards had left with Jacob the Patriarch then turned to Derek. ¡°Derek and Rebekah, please step forward. I know that last night was a harrowing night for you. When Derek returned from the mountains we accused him of desertion and even found him guilty of it due to the false testimony provided by Jacob and Tanner. ¡°Today, I heard from Belany and Hector that this was false, as Derek had claimed. I was then able to confirm it with Elton and Feros. Derek didn¡¯t desert his companions, instead he covered for their retreat and fought the demons by himself. He even killed a greater demon in single combat and we rewarded him with scorn and suspicion. ¡°Even worse, over the last ten years we have allowed Jacob to steal from them and persecute them with impunity.¡± He then looked to Rebekah, ¡°Then after we wrongfully judged her grandson, Rebekah still came to the keep to heal Belany when her condition worsened last night. For all these reasons I speak for the clan when I say that I am sorry to you. We were wrong. The two of you are integral to our clan. Not only is Derek not guilty of desertion, but he is a real hero of the clan. ¡°From now on Rebekah¡¯s family is no longer to be considered an external branch of the clan but an internal family. They are to be given the rights and privileges associated with their new position.¡± He sighed, ¡°I know that you were greatly wronged last night so I will not try to keep you. Just know that you still have a place here.¡± Derek looked from the Patriarch to his grandmother and smiled at her. He knew that she had regretted being pushed out of the inner clan years ago by Jacob. She smiled back at him then turned to the patriarch and said, ¡°Thank you for reinstating us but after the coming of age ceremony I intend to take my family to meet with my husband and live in Windreach for a while.¡± The Patriarch nodded, ¡°So be it. In the name of the Thorne Clan I decree: Elders Jacob and Tanner have been relieved of their roles as Elders for their crimes, Jacob Thorne¡¯s whipping will commence tomorrow morning and proceed until completed, Tanner Thorne will be in seclusion until deemed worthy by the Ancestors, Rebekah Thorne¡¯s family is elevated to an internal branch of the clan, and the Coming of Age Ceremony for Belany, Derek, Elton, Ferus, and Hector Thorne will commence on the night of the next full moon in a few short weeks! I hope we can all put this farce behind us and come together to celebrate the bright future these exceptional young talents are heralding for us!¡± Chapter 23 - The Coming of Age Ritual A few weeks later the Thorne clan gathered in the shrine of the Sword. During the previous weeks Derek had been happier than any time that he could remember. He spent some time practicing in the guest house¡¯s yard and some time assisting his master in packing his belongings to move the forge. He was surprised when he heard his master¡¯s intent to move to Windreach with them but this too made him happy. What made him happiest, though, was that he was able to spend much more time with his mother. He would either sit in a corner of the room to listen to her lecture Alicia or he would lay with his head in his mother¡¯s lap while she prepared his schema for the ritual. She would use those moments to give Alicia practical experience in schema manipulation and though Alicia was not as skilled or intimate with Derek¡¯s body as his mother, she was quickly growing more so. Getting to spend this time with his mother cooled his one sided rivalry with her apprentice quite a bit and the household really was quite harmonious for those few weeks. He got to know his grandfather and learn more about Windreach and the House¡¯s expectations for Derek from him. Apparently in families dominated by mages sixteen did not mean adulthood. They intended for him to join the Windreach Academy of Arcana and Runic Studies to further improve his understanding of magic. Only when he graduated there would they consider him an adult. Once he found out that Nicholas intended to secure positions for his mother and grandmother at the Academy he did not mind the idea of going there at all as it would allow him to be near his family for a while longer. During the wait he also spent some time with the Prince and his knights. They would spar or go riding in the mountains or discuss horses, hunting, falcons, and battle strategy at their guest house. Derek truly admired Kylin and his older knights as they reflected the virtues of the knight errant in many ways and it inspired him towards errantry. They got along quite well and over that time they developed a deep friendship. During those few weeks Derek also got to spend some time with Belany and Hector. The two had recovered quite well and their appreciation for Derek had grown quite high. They even convinced Derek to meet with Elton and Feros; whose attitudes had changed completely. The danger they had faced shoulder to shoulder with Derek had changed their opinions of him. They also felt great shame for their father¡¯s behavior; they had tried to convince him not to continue to try to persecute Derek but had failed and been grounded to their home during the trial that night. The night of the ceremony, the five of them wore penitent¡¯s clothes of their clan¡¯s colors of white and gold to the chapel. The clan, their guests, and the important people of Redwyrm all gathered in the chapel for this ceremony. It really was the most important ceremony of the year. Five new Demon Warriors of the Thorne Clan would be born that day. Even more importantly, it had been spread that these five had gathered strong enough demon hearts that they could all use a true demon heart or better. The blessings on these children would truly be great. The five of them gathered in a circle beneath the Sword while the other participants gathered behind them. This ritual had similarities to the common ritual of the Sword but the chants had deeper meanings and the formulas completed were greater. Furthermore, this ritual consumed tremendous amounts of mana from the crowd of participants and the five children would have to consume a demon heart at the moment before the vision descended. This vision would not be like that of the normal sword ceremony. No it would be much more profound. It was generally the most powerful vision received during the life of the clan members that received it. The memories shared were profound and bitter. For one that had never experienced the visions before, this one could shatter their minds or send them into a crushing despair. The fanaticism and zeal of the Thorne clan was legendary. It was born of these terrible visions. As they stood there the ritual started. They chanted their lines and felt great magical power begin to gather in the room. The circles of the seal began to spin and holy light descended on the five youths. When the last circle began to spin they lifted the demon hearts in their right hands and bit into them. As they devoured the demon hearts blood dripped from them but was incinerated within the holy light and the crowd¡¯s chanting built to a crescendo. With the last bite of the hearts they whispered their responses to the chanting, the ancient oath of the clan¡¯s Demon Warriors, ¡°We are the blood of Thorne. Where there is darkness; we will bring light. Where there is chaos; we will bring order. Where there are demons; we will bring wrath. In the name of the clan, by the blood of Thorne, and before the Sword of the Ancestor we swear this.¡± As they spoke the last word of the oath and the crowd completed the chant, the holy light around the five grew brighter and brighter until it was blinding. The five of them felt themselves float from the ground into the center of the circling rings. As they did so they felt a warmth, at first soothing, but gradually more and more scalding, grow within them. When that heat seemed to reach its apex a vision descended upon each of them. Derek was resisting the urge to scream. The warmth they all felt was the power being released from the demon hearts. It was proportional to the power of the demon itself. While the others¡¯ pain could be considered great, having each consumed the heart of a true demon, Derek¡¯s pain could be said to be on a whole different level. A greater demon was considered to be on par with a tier ten hero and he had consumed that thing¡¯s heart. The power washing through him was incredible, but so too was the agony wracking his body. As that pain swelled his sight changed. Through the visor of a helm he saw a burning castle on a hill in the background. The city below it was also burning and screams could be heard on the wind drifting from that place. The wind blew wafts of smoke across the battlefield below the city. The wounded moaned in pain on the ground among the corpses that covered the scorched earth like a carpet. In places the bodies mounded up to ten feet tall, creating hills and valleys on what was a plain mere days ago. Here, the Grand Alliance had stood against the demon horde and their heretic foot soldiers. The city had been a strong point in their line, while the Alliance cycled army after army onto the field to stem the tide of the enemy. Before, there had been strategy and finesse in how the forces were applied. Even the demonic generals were unwilling to take losses that would cripple their armies. But that was at the beginning of the battle. As it raged on, madness had seeped in. Now, the city was in ruins, the armies were annihilated and the mad slaughter continued as the survivors of both sides threw themselves at each other as if to please some primal god of butchery. In has hands was the ancestral blade of the Thorne clan. It and the armor he wore were covered in gore and blood. Some was his own, some was that of friends, and some was that of his enemies. There was a band of Alliance warriors and mages with him as he advanced through the smoke. Suddenly an eddy in the wind caused the smoke to clear, revealing a pitched fight before them. On one side were the standards of five of the Kings of the Alliance with at least four hundred surviving soldiers. On the other were a couple hundred heretics backed by over a hundred demons. All demons were terrifying but among these there were five greater demons standing fifty feet tall. A greater demon was normally terrifying enough but these wore a dark red armor, the symbol of the demon lord¡¯s personal guards. These were the strongest of greater demons; the vilest and most ancient, they had been selected to personally protect their master. Even more terrifying was the implication of why those guards were there. Standing among them and slaughtering the humans before him was the Demon Lord himself. It stood at seventy feet tall, with a lion¡¯s head that sprouted the horns of a bull. Its whole body was a black that glistened like obsidian. Its massive bat wings spanned over a hundred and fifty feet from tip to tip. Its legs were those of a goat and its arms were massive like those of a gorilla. In its six arms it wielded an axe, a sword, a spear, a whip, and a bow as it slaughtered wantonly about it. These weapons were said to have been forged in the pits of hell. Anyone unlucky enough to be struck by one and live would die of an incurable festering disease. When Derek saw the Demon Lord his wrath and zeal boiled within him. He charged down towards the fight. The others with him came as well. They shouted a mighty warcry as they hurled themselves into the enemy forces. They struck from behind, instantly throwing the heretics and weaker demons into confusion. The warriors cut their way viciously through the confused enemies while the mages blasted out with wide ranging attacks that left huge gaps in the enemy lines. The battle quickly turned against the enemy. Derek cleaved and smote the enemy around him as his mount trampled the weak foes and knocked aside the stronger ones. Thunder, the celestial charger, was a truly majestic beast. Under its heavy barding was a lustrous silver mane and coat. Its blue eyes emitted an intelligence truly worthy of a king of its kind. With every step a peal of thunder could be heard and this is where it got its name. Even the demons recoiled in fear of this king of horses from a celestial realm. Derek cut directly through to the Demon Lord and shouted his challenge to it. His power soared from the enchantments that the mages and his mount cast upon him. He lashed out with his mightiest holy magic and the Demon Lord swung both its axe and sword to block. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The force of the block knocked both horse and rider back. They were unharmed and Derek maintained his saddle as Thunder charged forth again. The Demon Lord had been knocked off balance by the attack and had been momentarily blinded by the flare of power from the holy magic colliding with its weapons. The axe and sword had both shattered. Knowing that it was disadvantaged, the Demon Lord called its guards to assist it and as they crowded in Derek was forced to fight them. The Demon Lord fled the battlefield towards its keep in the Gate Spire mountains. Denied his target, Derek lashed out at the greater demons around him slaying them all. As the battle finally came to an end the four surviving kings surveyed the battlefield. It was a truly sad sight. The Alliance had fielded over half a million soldiers and heroes here. Now, as the surviving demons quit the field, the horrifying truth of this battle was revealed. Of those half a million soldiers, almost four out of five had died. Of the survivors only one out of every twenty could march after healing. Of the ten kings and queens of the alliance only the four still alive in this place remained and one would be a cripple for the rest of her life. Their army of half a million, the strongest force the Alliance had ever fielded and the pride of the ten kingdoms, had been reduced to a little over five thousand soldiers and heroes. Their only solace was that the demons had been defeated. Their casualties had been just as high and the routing cultists were unlikely to reform as a military force. Fewer than a thousand demons had fled the field. The surviving kings were already plotting the assault on Gorgon keep that the Demon Lord had fled to. Derek dismounted and cleaned the sword before sheathing it then patted the horse. He heard his ancestor¡¯s voice speaking to the horse, ¡°Almost, this time we almost got him. Next time we must not let him get away.¡± Thunder looked at his frustrated companions face and he answered through their mental connection, ¡°Indeed, I will push harder next time¡­¡± As they spoke, the kings and queens approached with their guards, ¡°Derek Thorne, you are a warrior worth an army!¡± As he heard that the vision began to end. Derek felt that scalding pain yet again, but now that battle¡¯s hardships had etched into his memories. The loss and rage that his ancestor had felt at the over four hundred thousand dead, the zeal and wrath when facing the Demon Lord, the pride and confidence of hearing himself praised by his compatriots; all of these had been added as if he had experienced it himself. This pain, it was nothing next to the heartbreak of watching yet another human city burn at the hands of the demons so he endured it. After a time he felt another searing pain start to come in from the outside. He sensed that this was the holy energy surrounding him interacting with the power of the demon flowing within him. It was burning away the impurities of that demonic power, and enabling it to fully merge with his own. After what seemed an eternity the scalding heat seemed to have been fully subsumed by the searing heat and after a moment that searing heat reduced to the soothing warmth of holy power. After the pain he had been through this soothing warmthfelt like the embrace of amother. He felt the fatigue that had been gathering from resisting it drift away and he felt the internal injuries suffered from that scalding heat start to heal as well. When the last bit was healed he felt a surge of power as he advanced into the next tier, then the changes his mother had prepared in his schema unfolded like a mandala, and the essentia stored in the overflow catch basin began to assign to his attributes. This process was rapid and the essentia continued to assign until after he had already reached level two of his second tier. When he checked his status it revealed some startling changes. The tier up benefit for his class, Demon Warrior, had granted him an additional three attribute points in strength and mind, two in body and agility, five in dark and chaos, two in order and light, a greatly expanded essentia pool, the ability to sense demons and demon marked cultists, as well as the heightened essence sensing abilities of a demon, and the ability to mask his essence. The essence sensing ability not only allows demons to sense where strong sources of various magical essence types are located but it is also used by demons to judge the status of their targets without even having to cast a spell. The ability to mask essence, on the other hand, allows demons to hide their powerful essences from scrying techniques or to fool status magic. It takes truly powerful spells to counter this ability, usually those of at least two levels higher than the chaos casting ability of the user. Normally, some attributes are expected in this tiering up process. Depending on the strength of the demon heart consumed it can have different results. A least demon heart will only grant one or two basic attribute points and a one or two point boost in dark and chaos. The order and light boost comes from augmenting the ritual with the seal and sword¡¯s power so the heart¡¯s strength has no effect on that. The heart¡¯s strength will affect the boost in essence pool, the strength of the demon sense, and whether the participant even gains masking. Masking only comes from true or better demon hearts with a better chance from greater demons, while the utility of demon sense can be very limited if gained from a weak heart. Thus, Derek¡¯s benefit was extremely good. Even the boost to dark and chaos magic helped him as he normally might not use those but he will still be more resistant to them due to this boost. He was most excited to see how he can use his masking ability. He could already think of a few uses for it. As the ritual finished, the many people there inspected the five new adults of the Thorne clan. The growth of all five was fantastic and they could all be expected to be pillars of the Thorne clan when they were older. Derek was even more terrifying than the others. While they had just entered tier one, he had hit tier two. Not only that, but his attributes were competitive with many low tier three people in the room. Furthermore, his magical affinities were stellar and everyone estimated that he would have no trouble casting level six spells of any type. In this clan, to say that of order or light spells would be within reason. But to say it of every element? That is just too tyrannical. After completing the ritual the clan hosted a feast to celebrate these newly made adults. They knew that their guests would be leaving in the next few days and even some of their clansmen so they made extra effort to make merry. Derek was no exception.
Derek Thorne-
Class Demon Warrior Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 2 Order Supreme 22r2 + 7 Peak 6 (59)
Level 2 Water Supreme 15r2 + 7 Low 6 (52)
Light Supreme 22r2 + 7 Peak 6 (59)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 15r2 + 7 Low 6 (52)
Strength 22r2 Chaos Supreme 20r2 + 7 High 6 (57)
Body 23r2 Fire Supreme 20r2 + 7 High 6 (57)
Agility 19r2 Dark Supreme 20r2 + 7 High 6 (57)
Mind 22r2 Earth Supreme 20r2 + 7 High 6 (57)
Essentia Pool High t3 Mage
Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Demon Warrior (Greater Demon Heart), Tier Two: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Expanded Essentia Pool, Demon Sense, Masking Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Armor: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Warsword: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Glaive: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Bow: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman of the Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +7 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 24 - Leaving Redwyrm The next few days were incredibly busy for Derek as he prepared with his family to leave for Windreach. Most of their belongings had been packed already in the few weeks between the trials and the coming of age ceremony. Now they were preparing the final few things for the move. Not only did he have his family¡¯s belongings to pack but he had to help pack his master¡¯s forge as well. In their down time his master assisted him in adjusting and improving the equipment he had made. They infused fresh materials into the various pieces, strengthening them and modifying the runic patterns within them. They were able to upgrade the armor¡¯s basic effectiveness to provide unempowered defense that would protect against a low tier three attack and the runes could support up to a level eight defensive spell. The glaive and warsword were both upgraded to defeat up to a middle tier three armor while unempowered and the bow had been upgraded to penetrate up to low tier three armor without spells. Like the armor, the weapons could take up to a level eight spell. Derek also spent time sparring with Kylin and Ovid to improve his ability with his newly enhanced strength. It must be understood that except for truly exceptional people, his attributes were on par with people of early to middle tier 3. The changes to his agility and strength alone was tremendous enough to enable the use of stances and forms previously unattainable to him. Prince Kylin and his people were in no rush to leave as their campaigning season was still a way off, so they decided to extend their period of errantry and escort Derek and his family on the road to Windreach. For them, this functioned in a way as a vacation and as an opportunity to deepen their ties to Derek and the House of Windreach. Though Serris was a powerful kingdom, the stronger a hegemon, the more numerous its foes. The chance to make a new ally was precious indeed. In this practice, Derek continued to improve his mastery of the various weapons he had been taught. He had always been a quick learner and with Ovid¡¯s guidance and the opportunity to spar with these fantastic knights his skill continued to improve. His training did not end there. Now that he had access to level six spells there was a wide range of new enchantment, utility, and attack spells that he could learn. These spells were mostly intended for mages and their staffs and robes were designed to speed up the casting of those spells and reduce the mana cost and mental strain of casting them. A magic warrior could also cast these spells and the larger area attack spells like holyfire but without the staffs and robes they would not be as efficient, similar to how mage robes and staffs were not as efficient at handling direct channeled offensive and defensive spells. Even though he would be less efficient at casting those spells it was still important to have a wide understanding and access to those spells. This not only makes him more effective at defending against them, but in a pinch, he can still cast them as needed. Furthermore, learning more spells broadens the understanding of magic and a broader understanding of magic can give insights into specifics that make the user more effective with what they already know or may allow them to improvise spells for unique situations more effectively. He began spending more time with his mother and grandmother so that they could teach him the specific spells he would need. Even here he was a quick learner. For years he had dozed in his mother¡¯s lap as she instructed her apprentice. He had gained the basics of magical theory long ago. The concepts of formulas and schemas were not so different from the runic formulas used in rune smithing. He had already known most of the formulas for the spells he was now trying out, he had merely lacked the strength to cast them. Alicia couldn¡¯t help but be amazed and a little jealous at the skill her teacher¡¯s son showed with these spells and wondered at what kind of terrifying strength he would show as a magic knight in the future. After three days of preparation Derek and his family left Redwyrm along with the delegations from Windreach and Serris. They were seen off by the Patriarch, Richard, Belany, Hector, and a few other Thorne clan members. The size of their group attracted quite a bit of attention on the way out of Redwyrm but shortly after they were gone, the sleepy mountain town grew quiet once again. Derek rode a horse that had been gifted to him by the Patriarch next to the cart his mother and Alicia rode in. Both of them were quite excited. They had grown up in large cities with plenty to do and the years in Redwyrm had been stifling to them. Derek listened to his mother as she told stories of growing up in Windreach. She told of the festivals that would be held there, the markets with many wonderful things from around the continent, the harbor that was teeming with ships, the courts of the wealthy families and the balls they would host, and the wonders and glories of the Academy of Windreach.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. It was the most powerful Academy in the entire western region of Elanith. It had been founded by the mages that settled Windreach after the Demon Wars. Over the past five thousand years it had been the source of many advancements in arcane and runic theory. In this place, there were colleges for runic smiths, mages, alchemists, and magic warriors. The greatest families in the region all wanted their children to go there and the requirements for admission were incredibly high. Not only must the child seeking admission have outstanding affinity in more than one element but they must be able to cast a level three spell by admission at age sixteen. Furthermore, cost of attendance was also high at two thousand talents of gold per year. Many of the requirements could be met by attending the Windreach preparatory school attached to the Academy. There, the students would learn spell casting and be cultivated by the teachers to meet the requirements of the university over the years of study there. But the cost was also high at a thousand talents per year. Many families took advantage of this anyways as the preparatory school¡¯s students had an eighty percent success rate at progressing into the Academy. The cost allowed the Academy to be generous though with scholarships for the truly talented. Those students with tremendous skills could go for free, with an allowance given to them by the school so that they would want for nothing and so that they can focus on their training. These students were an investment for the Academy and while a normal student might feel a connection to it as their alma mater, these scholarship students remembered this place as the benefactor that dragged them up from the dirt to stand shoulder to shoulder with the nobility of the land. The House of Windreach was born of this. The students and professors had formed a loose confederation early on due to their ties to the Academy. Over the years, through intermarriage and contract, they formed a core family and adopted or hired the other geniuses of the Academy, forming the mighty House of Windreach. In the five millennia since the founding of the school this House has grown to be the hegemon over the city and the Academy. Derek could see his mother''s pride when describing her House and Academy. She had been a genius of the last generation and she looked forward to her apprentice and son being shown as geniuses of this generation. Her father had already promised both entrance assessments and secured her, Rebekah, and Ovid places as faculty. He rode his horse back to his master¡¯s wagon and saw his master smoking his pipe while driving the team while his grandmother sat next to him knitting. They had been close since he could remember. When he was a child she would bring him to the old man¡¯s shop so that he could play under the watchful gaze of this man. He had always assumed that it was due to his father being Ander¡¯s only apprentice. As he rode up, the old man took out his pipe and smiled at him, ¡°It¡¯s good to see your mother so happy. Even while Jared was alive, he was a hard man full of that Thorne clan pride. She has been cut off from the world she grew up in and now she gets to return to it.¡± Derek nodded, then gave a puzzled look to his master, ¡°Master, I understand why we are moving, but why have you joined us? Surely, Redwyrm still needs your skills.¡± The old man laughed, ¡°Boy, you know so little of the world. Redwyrm might benefit from my skills, but so too will Windreach. I have only stayed in Redwyrm this long for Rebekah, your father, and you. If it wasn¡¯t for the three of you I would have never gone there. In fact, if it wouldn¡¯t have angered your grandmother, I would have taken you all away from there long ago.¡± His grandmother put her knitting in her lap as she listened to them and held Ander¡¯s hand. Derek looked at the two of them and his puzzled look grew deeper, ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why would you take us away?¡± His grandmother answered this time, ¡°Derek, your master is my husband, Ander Kennick. We eloped years ago when I was avoiding Jacob. Then, he was the most successful blacksmith in his city. We were very happy and there I became pregnant with Jared. But several months later, due to Jacob¡¯s instigation, several members of the clan came to bring me back, including Jacob and my father. ¡°When Jacob saw that I was married and had gotten pregnant, he was furious and wanted to kill Ander. Fortunately he lacked the skill and Ander showed mercy for me. Jacob still agitated the Elders at that time and by the clan rules I had to return to Redwyrm. They kicked me out of the main branch of the clan and ordered me to never see Ander again.¡± She smiled with a wry look on her face, ¡°A few weeks later, the town was blessed with a disciple of the forge moving in. They never thought to check who this smith was and a glamour prevented them from recognizing him. When my son was born, I took him to the smithy to see his father and had him apprentice to him so that they could be together. When you were born, I took you to be with your grandfather as well.¡± Derek was poleaxed. He looked at the old man, ¡°So you¡¯re¡­¡± The old man chuckled and cuffed his head, ¡°Don¡¯t be daft boy. I am your grandfather. Your grandmother has been my wife for almost fifty years, your father was my only son and you are my only grandson.¡± When Derek heard this he was really happy. His master had been one of the most important people in his life. Derek had learned the lessons of being a man from him and Ovid. He already held him in great esteem. Knowing that his master was his grandfather as well couldn¡¯t raise it that much more but it did make him happy to know that his grandmother could now openly be with her husband. Coming out of the mountains, they took the western road towards Windreach. Their spirits were high and they made quick progress. Chapter 25 - Bandits As they travelled west, they continued down out of the foothills into the plains. They came out of the wild scrubland and into stone fenced pastures after three days. Every so often they encountered villages. Towards the end of the day they encountered a patrol of cavalry in service to the local hegemon. The encounter was brief and polite. The captain of the cavalry spoke with Baron Windreach quietly for a moment before warning him of bandits and continuing on his way. They encamped in a meadow and guards were placed around the encampment. Between the guards, warding spells, and sprites it would take a cunning bandit indeed to sneak up to this encampment. Nevertheless, the night was uneventful and they broke camp and left early in the morning. Derek was on alert from the moment he heard of bandits and kept his head on a swivel. Prince Kylin and his two knights laughed. Sir Duncan spoke up, ¡°Derek, you are going to exhaust yourself if you keep this up. Ha, you are exhausting me. The Baron knows his stuff, if bandits are coming for us, his scouts will report it. Why are you so excited about this? You¡¯ve slain a greater Demon; next to one of them, bandits are nothing.¡± Derek smiled back sheepishly, ¡°I¡¯ve never fought a bandit before. I just got really excited at the thought of fighting some.¡± Prince Kylin laughed, ¡°This caravan of yours is a bit better armed than the typical one. Any bandits who even see this group will avoid you. I don¡¯t even think that many military groups would be willing to attack such a powerful group willingly unless there was a damned good reason for it.¡± Derek frowned, ¡°I guess it''s a good thing. No matter how powerful we are we might still lose people if attacked. It¡¯s a bit unwise to ask for that kind of trouble on ourselves.¡± Sir Kenneth spoke up, ¡°That¡¯s a wise statement, but it is a rare knight errant who will wish for a safe journey for themselves.¡± Sir Duncan laughed at that, ¡°We will make a knight errant of you yet, Derek!¡± They all laughed at that and kept riding. It was true that with their combined retinues and lack of cargo, this group was not a very wise target for bandits to pick. Bandits have to survive the raid to be able to spend what they take after all. The day passed with no issue and they were well into the fifth day of their journey when Derek finally gave up the hope of encountering any bandits. They were traveling down the highway when a scout came back across the ridge ahead of them on the road. He rode up to Baron Nicholas and gave his report. Upon seeing the scout come riding back Derek, Prince Kylin, and his knights rode forward to find out what was happening. When they arrived the Baron turned to Kylin, ¡°Prince Kylin, there is a group of bandits attacking a merchant''s caravan up ahead. I am going to give the order for my people to go around. What do you wish to do?¡± Prince Kylin looked at his two knights, then responded, ¡°Baron Nicholas, it is wise to lead your people around, but we three are errant, by our vows as knights we cannot ignore this. Can you see to the protection of our retinue? It will allow us to fight more freely.¡± Baron Nicholas understood the situation and nodded, but hearing this interaction, Derek spoke up, ¡°Grandfather, Prince Kylin is my friend. I would like to fight against these bandits as well.¡± Baron Nicholas frowned at his grandson and thought it through. Fighting bandits was dangerous but his grandson was very strong for his age. This fight might temper him and further solidify a friendly relationship with Serris. He nodded, ¡°You may go. Ovid, ride with him. Sergeant Keller, take your squad to support them. We will go around and continue to Windreach. Good luck Prince Kylin, Derek.¡± The group headed towards the ridge. Prince Kylin was a strong tier four knight, Sir Duncan and Sir Kenneth were both middle tier seven, Ovid was a peak tier five weapons master, and Derek was a tier two that could fight on a level with tier three or four quite easily. The squad of ten soldiers were commoners who had not breached tier zero by maturity, but they were elite. It must be understood that in spite of the fact that they could no longer level or tier up, commoners could still grow. There were methods that allowed for schema and essence to be reset that only tier zero people can make use of. Higher tier people won¡¯t use these methods because the reset drops you back to level one of tier zero, which would prevent them from tiering up again. But this method can be very effective in improving commoners because then a stronger schema can be applied to allow them to maximize the effectiveness of their ten levels. Soldiers of powerful organizations like the House of Windreach can often expect treatment such as this. They will receive a reset and have powerful schema and materials provided to them. Often times the most elite forces of such an organization will be just as powerful as a tier two Hero. These soldiers are then equipped with the finest weapons and armor and are tasked with the most important of tasks.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Sergeant Keller and his men could be considered strong tier two when considering their strengths. They quickly fell in behind the five heroes before them. As they crested the ridge they saw the fight below them. In the valley below there was a string of a dozen wagons and carriages. They had been guarded by a little over forty guards who were now locked in chaotic melee with almost fifty bandits who had swarmed in from either side of the road. Off to the left, on a hill overlooking the fight there was a group of bandit archers firing down into the fight and causing more chaos for the guards. On the far side of the valley, blocking the road, were five black armored horsemen. The fight had already gone on for a few minutes when they arrived and the guards were getting the worst of it. Kylin instantly took command, shouting, ¡°Duncan, Kenneth, with me. We will break through the right side and head for the enemy horsemen. Derek, lead the rest to handle the left and clean up around the wagons.¡± They all acknowledged the command and commenced action. Duncan lead the way on the right, with the other two following behind just to the right and left. Derek let Ovid lead off on the left and they formed a loose wedge formation to sweep that side. As he rode he began to cast a spell. It was a mix of fire and air and highly potent. He cast it at the sixth level and felt a wash of fatigue as his mana plummeted. The air above and around the archers began to spin in a cyclone. They let out shouts of fear as they recognized the danger they were in, but it was too late. In that moment the air around the archers burned a dark red color as the Firestorm spell finished activating. Not one of the archers were able to evade and only the ones on the edges of the spell survived, screaming as they fled while their bodies caught fire in the immolation. The ones on the inside may have been more fortunate and were roasted in mere moments. The terror of a level six spell was tremendous. Derek allowed the fatigue to wash over him then followed up with a Righteous Blessing. Unlike Belany, he did not have to overdraw to cast these spells, though casting these caused fatigue and large mana drain for him, it did not endanger him in any way. It did take longer for him to cast these and it did take more mana out of him, but he was hoping that the Righteous Blessing would help with the fatigue and recovering the mana. When he cast it, he targeted his fifteen and the surviving guards. He was careful to exclude the bandits. There was an immediate effect among the guards as they felt increased strength and their fatigue was reduced. This helped to boost their morale, while the immolation of the archers and the arrival of a group of cavalry had the opposite effect on the bandits. Duncan collided with the bandits first. His horse smashed one aside while he deftly cut through any that came into reach with his longsword. Kenneth and Kylin followed on, also breaking through any that happened to get close enough to them. They needed no spells for this, the difference in strength, skill, and equipment was just too great. On the left side Ovid led the way. His saber danced in his hands and any bandit that came in reach was quickly killed. Derek, to the right of Ovid, brought his glaive to bear, cleaving to the left and right of him with great efficiency. He was amazed at how easy it was to defeat these bandits. Compared to the Demons he fought, they were incredibly weak. To the left and right, the soldiers also attacked with great efficiency, cutting through the bandits like wheat. The bandits quickly started to break from combat and a rout started. Derek ordered the soldiers to pursue and took Ovid to join Kylin and the others, but by the time he had arrived the black armored riders had already been dealt with. One had tried to escape but was casually picked off by Duncan. When they arrived, Kenneth was already checking the corpses. On one he found a letter, ¡°Looks like this was their leader, it isn¡¯t even in code. It¡¯s an order instructing him to attack merchants in the area. These must be the troops of some rival of the local ruler.¡± Duncan mused to himself, ¡°How unfortunate for them that we arrived.¡± As they spoke, Sergeant Keller brought two men up to them. One had a scar on his face and wore the boiled leather of the guards. He had a silver sword pin on his shoulder that seemed to denote rank. The other was a skinny merchant with a smooth smile and quick eyes. ¡°Many thanks my lords. This day would not have gone well without your intervention. I am Matteo and Nester here is my guard captain. By the heraldry of your soldiers I assume you all come from Windreach. But I am at a loss for who you are.¡± Prince Kylin spoke up, ¡°The three of us are errant knights of Serris: Kylin, Duncan, and Kenneth. My companion here is a Demon Warrior of Thorne, Derek, and this is his retainer Ovid. We were escorting a delegation from Windreach when we heard of your plight and rushed here to help. The Baron let us borrow some men to complete this task and now we must return.¡± The merchant heard this and replied, ¡°Won¡¯t you stay with us for even a short time? It would be inappropriate not to reward you for saving us and some of our passengers are young masters headed to Windreach to take the tests to enter the Academy. Perhaps you can ingratiate yourself to a patron if you stay. It will only take me a moment to get my paymaster to draft you a reward.¡± Kylin smiled to the merchant, ¡°No need for a reward. It will be enough if you have your men spread the word of our deeds here. We will wait long enough for you to prepare to leave and rejoin our companions once we see that you are on your way.¡± The merchant smiled back. Knights errant cared more about their honor and fame than anything else. A poor one or one in need of temporary assistance might be willing to take a reward but many of the wealthier ones would not. For a merchant like him, to be rescued by rich knights errant was a godsend. Not only were his wares safe and most of his people still alive, but he also only had to spread the word of the knights¡¯ deeds as recompense. This was a bargain in any country. ¡°Thank you sir knight, we will surely spread the word of your deeds.¡± Chapter 26 - Windreach City Derek and the others waited for the merchant''s caravan to begin moving once again then returned to the Windreach delegation. When they caught up they reported the events that transpired to Nicholas and returned to their places along the column. The rest of their trip was uneventful and they arrived in front of the walls of Windreach a week and a half later. Forty foot tall whitewashed stone walls surrounded the inner city at the top of a large hill. Below, white cob buildings with red terra cotta shingles spread out around the harbor. Another, lower wall surrounded the sprawling outer city and around it farmland and windmills could be seen as far as the eye could see. This was the largest city Derek had ever seen. It was considered one of the most important ports in the region and the neutrality guaranteed by the Academy made it even more valuable to the merchants and sailing vessels that came here. As they entered the streets Derek was stunned by the amount of noise in the city and the many different styles of dress worn by the people walking the streets. His own normal clothing looked drab in comparison. They rode through the outer city, up an avenue towards the gates into the inner city. From the avenue he could see the city sprawled below him. There were a half dozen markets spread throughout and dozens of ships pulled up to the wharfs. On the north side he saw a large colosseum and everywhere he looked people thronged in their masses. As they entered the inner city he saw spires of towers all around him. His mother leaned towards him, ¡°The entirety of the inner city belongs to the Academy and the House. The larger buildings in the center are the colleges and the dorms and the others around them are where the faculty, staff, and guards live. There is an arena and a grand library on the east side, the grand hall of the House on the north side, the Academy''s ceremonial hall on the south, and a garden and park on the west side with views of the harbor and city below. This area is almost a city of its own with a market in among the college buildings to handle the needs of the students.¡± She smiled at the wonder in his eyes and whispered, ¡°Your grandfather is bringing us to his place for now to visit with your grandmother. You have to be on your best behavior. She is very strict.¡± He smiled at her and held her hand, ¡°Yes, mom. I promise I won¡¯t embarrass you.¡± They rode through the Academy grounds to an estate on the north side near the grand hall. They were shown to their rooms and allowed to freshen up before being received in the main hall. There, an older woman in a dark green dress with iron grey hair pulled into a bun read a report in a chair facing the hearth. When Nicholas led them in he walked over to her and said, ¡°Dear, I have brought Eona, her son, Derek, and her apprentice, Alicia. Also, these two are Derek''s paternal grandparents Ander and Rebekah and these are the three knights of Serris I wrote to you about, Sirs Kylin, Duncan, and Kenneth. Everyone, this is my wife, Madeleine Windreach. She is the current Dean of the Mage College here at Windreach Academy.¡± They could all tell how proud he was of her, he practically stood an inch taller while speaking of her position. She put down the document she was reading and turned towards them. She glanced over all of them before her vision came to her daughter and grandson. A tender look flashed across her face before it was replaced by a chill. ¡°I see you have finally decided to return to me. Rebellious girl, I told you that man was trouble but did you listen to me? No, you left with him to some backwoods place where they mistreated you every day as if you were some unwanted peasant girl. ¡°You were the pride of the House! You could have picked any unwed prince within a thousand miles or you could have stayed here and probably become one of the core professors in runic studies, but you went to some no named place without even consulting me or your father. ¡°You didn¡¯t even think of my feelings, did you? You didn¡¯t think of all the relatives who looked out for you over the years. But you come back with a boy almost grown and want us to claim you two as our own now? What nerve! What do you have to say for yourself? You never even came to visit!¡± Derek stood next to his mother and felt her shake at these words. He looked and saw that she was holding back tears from years of grief on her face. He hugged her to his chest and looked at his grandmother who he had just met. She had not given him a good impression.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Grandmother Madeleine, we just met so I don¡¯t know what you are like, but mother has been ill all my life. She couldn¡¯t leave Redwyrm for fear of her illness taking a turn for the worse. She always told me of how loving and good you were to her and sang me the songs you sang for her. Please don¡¯t be so harsh on her. She has missed you this whole time and done the best she could.¡± The old woman looked down her nose at him and snorted condescendingly at him. ¡°Who missed whom? Eona, if you were ill you could have told us! Were you too proud to seek our help? We would have sent people to cure you and tutor your son. We could have brought you here years ago. You merely had to ask. ¡°Did you think your father or I would have denied you anything? Did you think we would have allowed you to live in that woodcutter''s cabin? If I had known that was how you were living I would have came for you and gotten you away from there immediately. If I had known how they mistreated my daughter I would have pulled that castle down around their heads.¡± His mother started to weep, ¡°I am sorry mother, I know I should have told you.¡± In a moment the older woman had crossed the room and reached for her daughter. She whispered, ¡°Eona, my Eona. I have missed you so much.¡± The two held each other for a while. Derek was not used to seeing his mother like this. He stood awkwardly to the side. After a while the two released their hug and Eona looked to Derek. ¡°Mother, this is my son. Even when things were at their worst for me, he has been the source of my happiness. He has been a good child and his aptitude is great. I promised his father I would keep him in Redwyrm until his coming of age ceremony. Now I have brought him to you to enroll in this Academy and be a member of this House. He is every bit the genius you once thought I was.¡± Madeleine looked him over and checked his status. She was surprised by his affinities and some of his blessings, but when she saw his attributes she couldn¡¯t help but praise her daughter''s handiwork with the runic schema. She delved it and said, ¡°Eona, this schema is a masterpiece. This proves the thesis you wrote back then. When this spreads it will revolutionize how runic schemas are formulated.¡± Eona smiled while she spoke with a frustrated voice, ¡°Yes, yes, but the schema is my creation. Derek has already used level six spells in combat, he has slain a Greater Demon, he has created tier four rune smith works, and Ovid says he already has the skill to be considered a weapons master. If this isn¡¯t genius, I don¡¯t know what is.¡± Her mother smiled, ¡°It looks like you gave me a good grandson then. Getting accepted into the Academy should not be too hard for you. I will have some examiners arrive in the next few days to evaluate you officially. ¡°From what your mother said, you should have the aptitude to join more than one college and each one you have aptitude for will invite you but you may only pick one, though you will still be able to take courses from the other colleges and will even be required to do so. Which are you considering?¡± Derek thought for a while. The colleges at the school included the mage college that his grandmother was dean of, the runic schema college his mother had been a genius of in the last generation, the rune smith college, the alchemist''s college, and magic warrior college. He could probably meet the requirements to be invited into the mage college, runic schema college, rune smith college, and magic warrior college. Between the mage and magic warrior colleges, it was a hard choice but he was already on the road of the magic warrior and the two schools shared most of the important classes with only a difference in priority, with the mage college favoring theory a lot more than the practicality of the magic warrior school. Derek had been raised in theory, having listened to his mother and grandmother discuss it all his life. He was much more interested in the practical applications taught in the magic warrior school. Derek thought for a while and responded, ¡°I will select the magic warrior college to continue my current path of training. It will also prevent others from being able to accuse you of showing favoritism. In fact, I should register as a Thorne and not a Windreach for the same reason. I do not want special treatment from the other students because I am from the family. Furthermore, I should mask my status so that I can see their true attitudes and not draw attention to myself. Grandmother, what levels and tiers do the starting students usually possess?¡± She thought for a bit, ¡°The lowest that will get accepted will generally be mid tier zero with the majority from level seven to ten of tier zero. The top candidates will be low to mid tier one and a few strong ones and geniuses at high tier one or even low tier two, though the ones at tier two will be counted on one hand.¡± He looked at her dubiously, ¡°Really? Only the top candidates are at tier one?¡± She laughed, ¡°Do you really think every family is barbaric enough to send its children out to hunt demons at sixteen? Most people that tier up to one will do so in their early twenties, while we pride ourselves in the fact that our graduates will all have done so by age twenty.¡± Derek thought for a moment, then said, ¡°I will mask my power a little bit then to about the middle of tier one and mask my affinities to be more in line with the expectations of the Thorne clan.¡± His grandmother smiled and cast her gaze to everyone in the room, ¡°I am sure that will be fine. Everyone, dinner will be ready shortly. We are glad to have you all. When we have eaten we can discuss things further.¡± Chapter 27 - Entering Windreach Academy The next few days were a flurry of activity. They received several guests as other members of the house came by to visit with Eona. Among them was the Dean of the Runic Schema College. Charlotte Windreach had been a close friend of Eona¡¯s when they were young and she was anxious to bring her over to her faculty. Similarly, Madeleine was interested in getting Rebekah to teach holy magic. Practitioners of holy magic were a rare specialty, being mostly the purview of religious orders. While Rebekah couldn¡¯t teach the Thorne Clan¡¯s secret techniques and spells, her knowledge of the attribute was still greater than any members of Madeleine¡¯s faculty. Due to their teaching positions, they were offered housing around the Academy. Eona, as a member of the House was offered a particularly grand villa near her mother¡¯s place, with guest and servant¡¯s lodgings, a stable, and gardens. Rebekah opted to live with her daughter-in-law and Ovid, as Eona¡¯s armsman, opted to stay there as well. Derek and Alicia would have rooms for when they visited but would be expected to stay in the dorms for their colleges. Ander opted not to teach at the rune smith college because his link to rune smithing was religious in nature. To teach what to him was meditative and spiritual worship of his deity in a secular manner would be both unauthentic and demeaning. Instead, he intended to set up his forge in the little smithy attached to Eona¡¯s stables. This little smithy was as large as his previous shop in Redwyrm. The villa itself was comparable to the castle at Redwyrm in size, though designed for comfort instead of defense. With the assistance of the house the family moved into their new home and Derek and Alicia were lectured on the various forms the testing would take. Alicia¡¯s intent was to join the runic schema college to follow her teacher and both Eona and Charlotte spent their time preparing her for the tests. Derek spent his time with his grandmothers improving his magic fundamentals and with Ovid sparring when he wasn¡¯t helping his grandfather set up his forge. He also spent some time visiting the town and hosting Prince Kylin, Sir Duncan, and Sir Kenneth. His relationship with the three was growing quite deep and he would listen intently to their tales of adventure and the campaigns they had served on. The desire to go errant grew within him and they often discussed him visiting Serris when he graduated from the Academy. A week after their return to Windreach, the city was abuzz with visitors from all over as Windreach Academy¡¯s spring entrance examinations started. On the afternoon of the first day, while most of the potential students were still registering a small group of examiners came to visit Eona¡¯s villa. They were there to examine Alicia and Derek¡¯s qualifications to join the Academy. One group of examiners took Alicia into the main hall, while another took Derek into the practice yard. When they arrived he was surprised to see Ovid speaking with another man. The man wore, varicoloured doublet, jerkin and hose in the popular fashion of the region. The blue and green of his attire matched the House Colors of Windreach and the symbol over his breast revealed a rank insignia. The rank coupled with his close cropped steel grey hair was a dead give away to Derek, who recognized him from descriptions given by visitors in the last few days. This was the Dean of the Magic Warrior College, tier seven Mage Knight, Karl Windreach. Coming to a stop, Derek gave the man a salute. Karl looked him over, ¡°Good, you know who I am. Your grandmother told me you would be applying to my school today and that you would be masking who you were. As far as your classmates are concerned, I am fine with that. However, for my faculty that will be inappropriate. ¡°First, remove the masking technique you are using so I can record the correct status results. Good. Now you may begin with the second test. First I want you to demonstrate for me your highest level spell. After that go ahead and continue the rest of the test at level three so that you don¡¯t needlessly waste mana.¡± Derek followed the man¡¯s instructions, the status results were intended to determine his magic attribute affinities, the school required more than one affinity to be outstanding or above. His across the board supreme affinities were not unheard of but were very uncommon among youths. It was far more likely for generalist mages to acquire such fantastic affinities through great expense in resources by their mid forties. The second exam was to determine his spell casting ability, the ability to cast a single third level spell was necessary to pass, but greater spell casting ability would determine class placement moving forward. Derek¡¯s ability to cast at the sixth level was more than enough to put him in some of the more advanced classes. The remainder of the examinations were for placement in the various courses he would take. He demonstrated his riding, archery and weapons; both mounted and dismounted, manipulated a runic puzzle that would demonstrate his level of attainment in runic smithing, then were the academics tests; magic theory, schema design, mathematics, history, knowledge of the classics, reading comprehension and composition, statecraft, military science, etc. The tests finally completed in the late afternoon. Finally, after reviewing his evaluations, Karl waved him over, ¡°Boy, your results look good. You are lacking in a few academic fields but that is what the Academy is here to remedy. Your initial course load will mostly consist of core academic work. If you are interested in further education in Runic Smithing and Runic Schema design you can opt to take Advanced courses in that. ¡°As for the Magic Warrior College, you have shown great promise and I will mark you as an Advanced student there as well. You will be required to train with your classmates but you will be given more responsibilities to match your skill. You should take at least one Mage school course for this term as well, based on your attainments I will suggest an aura specific class.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Aside from all that, I suggest you continue your own studies in your own time and not allow this golden time to pass. It is far better to set a strong foundation when you are young. Do you understand what I am saying boy? Good, here is your acceptance letter. Please present it to the Dean of Students¡¯ office when the term starts. They will sort out your housing.¡± He looked Derek over once again before turning and motioning for his examiners to leave with him, ¡°I expect great things from you boy. Don¡¯t let me down.¡±
The next week Derek escorted Alicia to the Dean of Students¡¯ office. The Dean of Students oversaw housing and dining for the students on campus as well as punishment for bad behavior. When they arrived, they found that many students had arrived before them and were waiting to be helped. Derek couldn¡¯t help but notice how well dressed the majority of the students were. The ostentatious wealth demonstrated here was astounding to him. There was a parade of colors, with the young men wearing silk puffed and slashed doublets, particoloured hose, and jerkins of many colors and the women wearing dresses and mage robes of the finest quality as well. Compared to them his choice to wear the black and red cotton underpadding doublet and hose, with his arms and armor slung over his shoulder made him look more than a little bit out of place. He was glad for Alicia because she had worn the mage robes of her House colors today and those were of the highest quality. So he had no reason to fear that she would be mocked in this crowd for her clothing. In spite of his childish rivalry with her for his mother¡¯s affection and the occasional argument with her due to that, she was still the girl that had grown up in his mother¡¯s household with him and he had no desire to see her mistreated. Unfortunately due to her almost otherworldly beauty, born of her natural good looks and the Moon¡¯s Blessing, he had another, unforeseen problem. The moment she entered the waiting area, the blond haired girl drew the heated gaze of every young man in the room and quite a few of the women too. Once the men were able to break off their vision it immediately fell on the young man next to her. He was handsome enough, though next to her he looked like a toad and his clothing, while not shabby, definitely didn¡¯t show the wealth that the majority of the young applicants possessed. If the gazes of the young women of the room seemed to have gone green with envy towards Alicia for her looks then it could be said that the looks that many of the young men gave the boy walking so close to her were dripping with hatred and ill intent. Derek caught onto this quickly and subtly moved to expand the distance between the two of them as they approached the front counter but she seemed to subconsciously drift next to him not allowing him to open the distance. As they made it to the counter he could feel the murderous intent aimed at him from every direction. He could only be grateful that his hand on her side was being used to support his gear because if she had been able to grab for it then they definitely wouldn¡¯t have been able to find his body in the morning. On the other side of the counter was an older woman of the Windreach family sitting across from them. The older woman smiled when she saw them, ¡°Derek Thorne and Alicia Telis. I have already received your registration information. Please take a seat with that group over there and wait until someone has time to bring you to your new dormitories. It won¡¯t be long now.¡± They both smiled and thanked the woman before turning to find a seat. As they approached, a good looking young nobleman in green and yellow stepped forward with a smile on his face. He glanced back at his companions, ¡°Haha, didn¡¯t I tell you that a girl this beautiful was obviously going to be added to our group. There is no way she would not have talent. I am Count Desmond from Westmont and this is¡­¡± He and his group quickly surrounded Alicia and cut Derek out of the group with their backs. Alicia made brief eye contact with him as if to apologize and then started meeting these people. Derek took this opportunity to break off as well, these people seemed to be quite the talkers. He strolled over to the waiting benches and deposited his gear next to him as he sat down. When he set his gear down the youth next to him glanced at it, then looked at him. ¡°Your rune smith must have been talented to make that gear. If I had to guess, it is either top quality tier one or high quality tier two. Mind if I ask who made this for you?¡± Derek looked at the guy and noticed that his armor was of decent make as well. Maybe not quite as good as his, but still of good quality. The guy was huge. He stood a little over seven feet tall and his muscular build was quite intimidating. The only thing that broke that intimidating look was the honest look to the guy¡¯s face and the goofy smile that was plastered from one ear to the other. Derek said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t get your name? I am Derek Thorne of Redwyrm.¡± The other youth looked embarrassed, ¡°My bad, I am Garrett Smith of Windreach. My father runs a smithy by the arena. I have worked that smithy with my father for years so I have a good eye for quality and your equipment is probably the best out of everyone¡¯s here.¡± ¡°Haha, no problem Garrett, this equipment was made by me and my grandfather. Are you here to join the rune smith college?¡± Garrett was surprised when he heard Derek say he made the equipment with his grandfather but decided to assume that it was mostly the grandfather that did the work. He shook his head, ¡°No, this year I participated at the tournament at the arena. I got third place so I got an invitation as a scholarship student as one of the rewards. I don¡¯t want to be a smith all of my life so I am joining the magic warrior college. And you? I assume you are going to the rune smith college considering your skill.¡± Derek shook his head and tugged his medallion out of his doublet. ¡°No, I am already a Disciple of the forge god and my grandfather can teach me more if I need it. I am also applying to the magic warrior college.¡± When Garrett saw the medallion his eyes widened. He had never met a Disciple before. As Derek was replacing the medallion under his shirt he said, ¡°A Disciple! You are the first I have ever met. No wonder your gear looks so strong. Hey, I have an idea. Since we both grew up in a smithy and intend to go to the same college, we should be friends and watch each other¡¯s backs.¡± Derek rather liked this honest looking fellow and laughed while taking the big guy¡¯s hand, ¡°It¡¯s a deal.¡± Chapter 28 - Moving into the Dorms The two boys sat talking for a while before their conversation was stopped by a whistle. A group of men and women in Windreach colors stood at the front of the room. Their clothing was uniform and they each had a pin on their breasts that showed they were staff at the Academy. The man in front smiled at the gathered children, ¡°Welcome to Windreach Academy. We have bright expectations for you all. Please come forward as I call your name and a member of the staff will lead you to your dormitories.¡± He then began calling out names and with every four names a staff member would lead them away to their dorms. It was all a rather efficient operation and after a while, Derek heard his name called. As he approached the front of the room he also heard Garrett¡¯s name called and that nobleman from before, Desmond Westmont. When they arrived at the front of the room they were joined by another boy who gave off a cold and distant vibe and practically stared down his nose at them before dismissing them altogether and turning towards the staff member who had come to lead them to the dorms. ¡°Ok, Derek, Desmond, Garrett, and Tristan? Good, let¡¯s go! Here¡¯s your keys, you four are being assigned to room 24C. The easy way to remember that is building two, floor four, room C. Do you understand? OK, great. I am Jonas and I am the manager in charge of that building so let me know if there are any problems. Also, don¡¯t break any of the rules, or I will have to punish you and I don¡¯t want to have to go through that hassle and all the paperwork it creates for me. ¡°This will be your room until you graduate, so it will help if you guys get along. You are lucky to be in building two really, it is one of the closer ones to the cafeteria and the girl¡¯s dorms. Though I strongly suggest you don¡¯t get caught going over there. The managers in the girls dorms are more strict than us in the guys dorms and they have been known to be quite cruel in handing out punishment to young men they catch over there...¡± Jonas kept talking as he led them to dorm two. The dorms were just behind the Dean of Students¡¯ office. Between two groups of them was a large cafeteria. On either side of the cafeteria, arranged in a horseshoe around a central green, were groups of four story dormitories. Theirs was the one nearest to them on the right, with a large ¡®2¡¯ painted over the doorway. The building was whitewashed as most of the others in this city were with terracotta tiles on the roof and red painted window shutters. It was rectangular with the doorways in the middle of the short length. Next to the doors were stairwells leading up to the other three floors. They climbed to the fourth, and were pleased to see that due to being on the top floor, they also benefited from the sloped roof, with much higher ceilings than the other floors. Theirs was the third door on the right, with rooms A through F on the right and G through L on the left. Jonas opened the door for them and they saw four beds, dressers and writing desks in the rather large room. ¡°Alright boys, this one¡¯s yours. Decide amongst yourselves who gets what beds, but don¡¯t start a fight over it. There are restrooms down at the end of the hall and a washroom on the ground floor. There are staff that will be by every week to replace your linens, but it will be on you four to keep your room clean. You understand me? Good. Enjoy your stay here boys.¡± With that, he headed back down the stairs and the guys went in to pick their beds. Two of the beds were on the side of the room near the door, while two of the beds were under the windows on the far side. Between the beds along the other walls were the dressers and desks. Desmond and Garrett immediately started arguing over one of the beds near the door, so Tristan and Derek picked the beds near the windows. Derek looked out of the window over his bed to see the green between the dorms and the cafeteria and on the other side of the cafeteria stood the girl¡¯s dorms. There were groups of students walking around the green and he could hear snippets of their conversations brought up to him by the wind. Placing his armor on a rack at the foot of his bed, he turned to see that Garrett and Desmond had gotten quite heated. He glanced at Tristan, who was busy ignoring them and placing his books on his desk, he focused on the other two, ¡°Guys, there are two beds near the door, Garrett why don¡¯t you come over to the one on this side of the room?¡± Garrett turned to him as if to argue further, but seeing as his friend had staked a claim on the other side, he finally decided to cede the bed over to Desmond. A few moments later, porters came up with their belongings and in short order the four boys were unpacked and ready to start their lives at the school. Derek was looking over his gear when he heard Garrett from the other side of the room, ¡°So, uhh, Derek, who was that girl you came with today?¡± Derek looked up quizzically, ¡°You mean Alicia? She¡¯s my mother¡¯s apprentice. Why do you ask?¡± He noticed that Garrett was sitting on his bed, looking kind of bashful, but he also could not help but notice that even though Tristan was acting like he was reading and Desmond was trying to act like he was still writing the letter he had started, they were definitely listening in. Garrett quickly noticed that he had the attention of the whole room, so he started to blush as he stammered out, ¡°W-well, you s-see, she¡¯s really p-p-pretty. Do you know what she likes?¡± Derek thought for a moment. What did the one thing have to do with the other? She preferred sweeter foods and nice dresses. She showed a particular fondness for cute animals and had a collection of figurines she rather treasured. There was also the music box she always played with, but that didn¡¯t seem to be what they were asking for, ¡°Um, she likes studying and talking about magic?¡± He remembered that over the last few weeks she had really enjoyed spending time with the adults and showing off what she had learned during her apprenticeship. It seemed to give her a lot of pride, so he went with that. The admission, though, had an effect on the room. Desmond and Garrett both looked deflated, while Tristan looked a bit more smug than he had a moment ago. Derek could not tell what was going on in these boy¡¯s heads. After a moment of awkward silence, he finally spoke up, ¡°Er, well, I guess since we are going to be sharing this room, we should probably introduce ourselves. I am Derek Thorne, I am a sponsored student of the Magic Warrior College. My sponsor was my grandmother who will be teaching holy magic at the Mage College.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. That definitely broke the ice, Garrett spoke up next while Desmond was finishing his letter, ¡°I am Garrett Smith, from Windreach, I won a scholarship for the Magic Warrior College at the arena this year. I scored Third place, but they made a spot for me because they said I had a unique schema.¡± His voice was full of pride and he thrust his chest out as he said it. Desmond almost dropped the letter in his hand as he started laughing, ¡°Hahaha, that¡¯s not what I heard, they said your schema was uniquely terrible. I heard them compete to describe how bad your schema is.¡± Derek couldn¡¯t help but be alarmed when he heard this, ¡°What, it can¡¯t be that bad is it?¡± Even Tristan was looking up from his book at this point, and Garrett was looking rather deflated as Desmond continued to laugh at him. Finally Derek interceded, ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad, Garrett, do you mind if I check your status, we can all take a look at it and see just how unique it is.¡± Garrett looked a bit poleaxed from being mocked by the other boy, but he nodded in affirmation. Derek cast the best status checking magic he could at his masked level, revealing a gnarly mess. Tristan¡¯s book hit the floor and Desmond¡¯s laughter came to a complete stop. Derek checked the magic and muttered to himself, ¡°That can¡¯t be right¡­¡± ¡°What is it? It looks like a regular status right?¡± Garrett was now starting to fidget. ¡°Don¡¯t worry man. Your schema is trash but that can be fixed.¡± Garrett looked at him, ¡°Just how trash is it? My family saved for a year to buy that schema.¡± Tristan spoke up, ¡°Have you ever seen the first attempted doodle of a rune by a child?¡± Garrett turned to face him, ¡°Yes?¡± Tristan continued, ¡°Now imagine if that child was drunk.¡± ¡°Really?¡± At this point Desmond couldn¡¯t help but laugh and pitch in, ¡°And blind.¡± ¡°What? Come on man.¡± Tristan¡¯s follow up came right after, ¡°And using its feet instead of hands.¡± ¡°...¡± Finally Derek had to step in too, ¡°While asleep...¡± ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± As Garrett lunged forward, Derek dodged back, laughing, ¡°I am sorry I had to do it! But don¡¯t worry about it, I am sure they are going to do something about it. Your schema really is a mess, but the most interesting thing is the Titan¡¯s blood enhancement you inherited. I imagine that made the difficulty of writing your schema too much for any common schema designer which explains your ¡®unique¡¯ schema. In fact, I bet if the school makes you a new schema and resets your level you can grow to be one of the strongest people here.¡± Somewhat mollified, Garrett sat down on his bed. Derek turned to Desmond, ¡°What about you Desmond?¡± The young man stood up from where he was sitting, ¡°I am Count Desmond of Westmont. I got first place at the tournament at the Arena this year and won a scholarship to the Magic Warrior College as well.¡± Finally the three turned to the fourth young man, who had picked up his book to begin reading again. He glanced back before he tersely responded, ¡°I am Tristan Brennon of Dewnens, I am a Second Tier Mage and will be attending the Mage College. Unlike you lot, I paid to be here, so I would rather you not disturb my studies.¡±
Garrett Smith-
Class Magic Warrior Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 1 Order Good 6r1 Low2 (11)
Level 3 Water Good 6 Low 2 (11)
Light Good 7 Low2 (12)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Good 5r1 Low 2 (10)
Strength 14 Chaos Excellent 6r1 High 2 (16)
Body 12 Fire Supreme 8 High 3 (28)
Agility 6 Dark Excellent 7r1 High 2 (17)
Mind 5r1 Earth Supreme 9 Peak 3 (29)
Essentia Pool High Tier 0
Previous Classes- Burgher Permanent Enhancements- Magic Warrior, Tier One: +1 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Agility, +1 Mind Titan''s Blood: Improved Essentia Utilization for Strength and Body (+100%). Increased Schema creation difficulty. Unknown. Equipment- Runic Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 4 Runic Great Hammer, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 4 Runic Sword, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 4 Runic Shield, Tier 1: basic defensive low t2, maximum spell level 4 Chapter 29 - Training Grounds ¡°...Awkward,¡± Garrett mumbled under his breath. Desmond tensed up for a moment before returning to writing his letter. Derek¡¯s mouth hung open for a moment before snapping closed. He glanced around for a bit before shrugging, ¡°I think I¡¯ll take a walk. Garrett, want to come with me?¡± The larger boy turned to him and nodded, leading the way to the door. Out in the hall, he turned to Derek, ¡°What¡¯s his problem? We were just trying to be friendly.¡± Derek thought for a moment, ¡°I don¡¯t know the guy. It could be anything or we could really take him at face value that he is here to learn and has paid a lot of money to do so. I guess if I paid that kind of money I wouldn¡¯t want to be disturbed either.¡± Garrett nodded, ducking his head to avoid the frame of the stairs, ¡°I guess I can see that, but isn¡¯t meeting the other young talents of the region part of the benefit of coming here?¡± They descended the stairs in silence. Derek looked over at the taller boy as he opened the front door of the building, ¡°Sure, but perhaps he¡¯s not interested in meeting Magic Warriors or people who would need a scholarship to come here? I don¡¯t know. Where to first?¡± They looked around from the lawn between the men¡¯s dorms and saw other boys leisurely strolling, wrestling on the lawn, reading under trees, and other activities. Garrett pondered for a minute before pointing at a bulletin board on the lawn near the cafeteria. It appeared to have a map of the campus on half of the side facing them. ¡°I suppose we can go check the map and see if there are any interesting landmarks we can check out.¡± This seemed like a good plan to Derek so he leisurely followed his friend over to the board. There were already a few guys gathered over there studying the map and determining where they wanted to go. On the other portion of the board were notes that had various rules that the administration wanted to remind them of, sign-ups for various excursions and competitions and notes from the various students either offering to buy or sell various items or requesting or offering services like tutoring and crafting. As he was perusing the advertisements he heard Garrett speak to him, ¡°It looks like there is an Arena on the east side of the Academy with some training grounds to the north of it, do you want to go over there?¡± Derek knew where those were as his room at his mother¡¯s house overlooked those training grounds. He figured it wouldn¡¯t hurt to head over there with Garrett, ¡°Sure man, let¡¯s check it out.¡± They headed north between their dorm building and the cafeteria and passed a few academic buildings before coming into an open area. To the northeast of their dorms stood the Arena; a five story open air amphitheater. Around it were arrayed dozens of training yards with small horse pens and changing rooms spaced around them. The training yards had low wooden railings to differentiate their space from the pathways and the rest spaces that were interspersed between them. All of the training yards had benches for spectators to sit comfortably. As they walked through, Derek saw that several training fields were in use. Some had people practicing or receiving instruction alone or in groups, while others had people sparring. Some of these fields had quite large groups gathered nearby to watch. After walking half a mile they arrived at the Arena. It was not in use and they could only go out into the spectator¡¯s area to see the massive number of seats and the dirt floor in the pit of the arena itself. Derek inagined demonstrating his skills before such a large crowd as could be crammed in here and he felt a slight anxiety from the thought of it. Seeing his friend gape at this, Garrett laughed, ¡°If you think this is big, wait until you get into the Colosseum in the outer city. There is nothing like winning a fight in front of seventy thousand cheering spectators. It¡¯s the greatest thrill of all time!¡± Derek sat in the shade and looked across the grand space in front of him as he considered what it would be like to perform in front of such a crowd, ¡°Was it that great? It seems like it would be terrifying to me. I would be afraid that I would mess up.¡± The larger boy leaned against the ramp wall and looked down at him, ¡°Sure it is kind of terrifying at first, when you are getting ready, but when you come out into the arena and after your eyes have adjusted to the light, the people kind of blend together, and the noise they make becomes a garbled roar, and the most important thing is the guy across from you. He¡¯s the only thing that seems real and you know you have to beat him so the crowd becomes this unreal thing that is mere visual and aural background at that point. Yeah, you can get cues from the sounds and movement, but you have to process those at the back of your mind and focus on that man in front of you.¡± Derek thought about that for a while as he imagined fighting in front of such a large crowd. He wondered if that was what it would be like for him. After a while he looked up at his friend whose silly grin and far off look made him seem to be reliving past glories or imagining future ones. He laughed quietly as he stood up, ¡°Come on, Garrett. I am sure we can make time to spend here and at the Colosseum during the term. For now, let¡¯s go down to the training fields, I want to see what all the fuss was about down there. The big guy shook his head to bring himself back to the present. ¡°Ok, that sounds fun. Maybe we will get to run into some of the pretty girls I have seen around here!¡± Derek chuckled at the brute as they came out of the Arena and back into the training grounds. There was quite the commotion off on the west side of the grounds. It seemed a large group had gathered around a particular training yard on the western border of the grounds near the main north to south avenue. As he approached, Derek saw that on a raised platform Desmond was sparring with another young man. The man was quite handsome and gave off an air of confidence as he and Desmond tested each other. Underneath the practice armor, the man was wearing a white coat and pants with gold highlights. The symbolism and coloration on the coat gave away that he was some sort of acolyte of the Sun Goddess. The Church of the Sun was one of the few other organizations outside of the Thorne Clan that specialized in Holy Magic. Many of their spells were filled with religious significance for them. This led the Thornes and the Church to collaborate and butt heads on many occasions. Their relationships were often tumultuous.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Derek and Garrett were able to find a place next to the fence surrounding the training ground and were able to get a look at the following spar. The two were quite skilled at swordplay but the acolyte had an edge in both skill and level. Derek could sense it, a greater amount of essence gathered in the acolyte, indicative of almost half a tier of further progress than Desmond. The fight continued for a while longer, and the crowd only continued to gather. Derek didn¡¯t even notice as another spectator joined them. The newcomer spoke up as the other fighter was putting Desmond on his back foot, ¡°Pretty good, aren¡¯t they? What do you think about them Derek?¡± Derek was startled by the question. What is more, he was startled by the man who had asked him. It was the Dean of the Magic Warrior¡¯s College, Karl. He saluted him before responding, ¡°They are both very good. The Acolyte¡¯s form is near perfect and Desmond is much more creative with how he fights. I believe that if Desmond was closer in actual level to the acolyte he would have quite a high chance of defeating him.¡± The Dean smiled as if satisfied with Derek¡¯s answer. A quick flurry of attacks from the Acolyte finally caught Desmond off guard and broke through his defenses, effectively ending the duel. Karl turned his attention back to Derek, ¡°Why did it sound as if you were holding back? Was there something you opted not to say?¡± Derek was rather embarrassed by this, ¡°Err, yes. While the Acolyte¡¯s form is near perfect it is formulaic and lacks creativity. Any creative foe with as much sword fighting skill and close enough attributes would easily dispatch him. As for Desmond? He¡¯s nowhere near as polished as he could be at this age. It is almost as if he was taught by a typical armsman. He isn''t terrible, but he isn''t great either. Desmond as he is can be defeated as he just was, by exploiting his weaknesses in the fundamentals. He will sometimes be able to come up with creative solutions to counter his disadvantage as he is but eventually a fighter with better foundational training will eat him up.¡± Karl nodded before walking off. Derek was unsure about Karl¡¯s intentions after asking that question and just walking away, but he didn¡¯t have long to ponder before he was rudely interrupted, ¡°So, you think you have what it takes to criticize other people¡¯s sword forms. Are you willing to prove it?¡± Derek was surprised by the question and turned to see the speaker. It was the young man who had just defeated Desmond. Desmond was standing behind him a little red in the face. He seemed pretty angry about what he just heard. ¡°Yeah, Derek do you want to prove it? Can you even beat me? Who are you to comment on other people¡¯s ability?¡± Derek shook his head, he didn¡¯t know how to defuse this situation now that it was already lit. He started to respond, ¡°I was just stating what came to mind as I watched you fight¡­¡± Desmond stepped forward angrily, ¡°Will you fight or will you not? I didn¡¯t ask what you were saying.¡± This provocation set Garrett off, ¡°Listen Desmond, if you want a fight you can fight me. I haven¡¯t had a good exercise in a few days. Let¡¯s do this.¡± Desmond laughed, ¡°I have beaten you before, I can beat you again. Come on up, I don¡¯t mind embarrassing you in front of all these people.¡± Garrett hopped over the fence and beelined to the Weapons rack. He pulled on the training armor which shifted to fit his size, then selected a great hammer from the stand. It made him look rather imposing with his height and reach. By this point the acolyte had stepped out of the ring and joined a group of spectators that were fawning over him. These students seemed to hold this guy in very high esteem. There were several young ladies that seemed to be making exaggerated efforts to catch his attention. Derek didn¡¯t really understand, but assumed that maybe the guy came from a powerful family or something. As the two boys in the training yard were preparing to fight he heard a familiar cheerful voice from nearby, ¡°Hey Derek, what¡¯s going on here?¡± Derek turned to see Alicia walking over with his mother and paternal grandmother. With them were his mother¡¯s cousin that he had met before, Dean Charlotte of the Magic Schema college, and a couple of other professors in mage robes. They had a gaggle of students trailing in their wake. He smiled and waved them over, ¡°Good morning Alicia, Professors, Mo¡­ Professor Eona, Grandmother. I seemed to have provoked a few guys a little earlier when I assessed their sword skills, so they challenged me to fight them, but my friend accepted the challenge before I could.¡± ¡°Oh, you already made friends since you got here. I am so proud of you, ¡®Student¡¯ Derek~.¡± his mother teased as she pushed a lock of his hair back in its place. Derek was terribly embarrassed by this, ¡°Mo.. I mean, Professor Eona, you¡¯ll be interested in my friend. He¡¯s got a very peculiar schema and a scholarship. I imagine he will get a schema reset soon if the house is planning on nurturing him.¡± That got her attention, most of the professors here were members of the Magic Schema faculty. They all glanced at him and some of them coughed when they recognized the boy. It was true they had competed to describe his schema in the most horrible way before and the memory was still fresh in their minds. Charlotte only needed a glance, ¡°Oh yes, this boy. Eona, you will want to participate in this, his lineage might allow us to really explore applications in rare and abnormal bloodlines.¡± His mother stopped teasing him to focus on the boy currently being dominated in the training yard. His physical strength and toughness were matched to a palpable connection to the earth and fire mana he was using. This required Desmond to be particularly careful of his opponent¡¯s attacks, but Garrett¡¯s proficiency with the weapons left much to be desired. Derek was already frowning, thinking about the process it would take to correct his incredibly flawed fighting style. The boy wasn¡¯t even moving his shield around, instead leaving it as some kind of decoration on his left side. It didn¡¯t take long for Desmond to defeat his opponent, a quick feint above the shield at Garrett¡¯s eyes caused Garrett to bring both the shield and the sword up in an exaggerated attempt to block it, and while Garrett¡¯s view was blocked by his own tools, Desmond stepped in and drove the tip of his sword up into Garrett¡¯s armpit. A white flash strobed out as the armor recorded the hit and protected the boy before causing him to freeze up and tip over. The crowd cheered for Desmond, as he had demonstrated great skill, while Garrett sat dumbly on the ground. Desmond turned to him, ¡°That¡¯s twice I have beaten you now, and it isn¡¯t some fluke. I am better than you, remember that.¡± Derek had climbed over the fence to help his friend up, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it man. He is better than you right now, but that¡¯s because it looks like no one with any real skill has taught you how to use your weapons. I can only imagine you learned by mimicking what you saw others do. On the down side, you seem to have collected a lot of bad habits. On the up side, any change would be an improvement. So we can look forward to that.¡± Garrett didn¡¯t know what to think. Was his friend trying to cheer him up or make him feel worse? But he didn¡¯t have much time to ponder as Desmond attempted to goad Derek into a fight again, ¡°So Derek, are you going to let your meathead friend get beat up doing all your fighting for you or are you going to actually back up your words from earlier.¡± Derek turned to him, ¡°I can back up my words, but to be fair, neither of you are my match. I would gain nothing by beating you and instead bring shame to myself as a Weapons Master.¡± Both of them gaped at him for a moment before the acolyte started to laugh, ¡°Weapons Master? You? I don¡¯t believe it. If you are a Weapons Master then I am theArms Master of the Order of the Ardent Dawn.¡± Most of the crowd around him started to laugh at that before another man''s voice spoke up. ¡°Oh, he is a Weapons Master, but I would be wary about calling myself the Arms Master of any order young master Reynald.¡± Chapter 30 - A Short Lesson The crowd turned to face the latest speaker. Derek didn¡¯t know when Karl Windreach had returned, but he was now standing with the group that had come with Alicia. Ovid and Derek¡¯s grandfathers were with him and were discussing something among themselves. ¡®Young Master¡¯ Reynald didn¡¯t take Karl¡¯s words very well and his face grew flushed, ¡°Has Windreach Academy declined so much that you feel the need to lie to maintain face?¡± Derek frowned hearing that. What would motivate this guy to speak ill of the Academy? Was this young man not a student here as well? The Dean did not seem bothered by the young man¡¯s outburst. ¡°I have no need to lie young man. Our school is doing as well as it always has. If I wasn¡¯t confident in the students here, I wouldn¡¯t allow enterprising young dojo busters like yourself onto the grounds. Your presence here certainly isn¡¯t part of the curriculum and your motives definitely aren¡¯t noble. Perhaps you intend to convince some of my students to come train under your master but how will that benefit them? ¡°Every single member of my faculty is as good or better than your Master. I even have a few that could teach your Grand Master a thing or two. As for students, I have enough that can beat you. I assume that is why you have been targeting my newly enrolled freshmen. I am telling you right now that the young man you just challenged is far superior to you and is a Weapons Master who has personally taught the Crown Prince of Serris. If you insist on challenging him after hearing that, only you will lose face. You have been warned.¡± The young man was clearly displeased at what he heard and the group that had formed around him seemed to have soured. Many attempted to put space between them as realization dawned on them as to what this man¡¯s purpose here was. Even Desmond seemed off-put, a look of doubt crossing his face. Reynald¡¯s face contorted in anger before he finally responded, ¡°I doubt that. You are bluffing. If a Weapons Master this young had arrived in town, he would already be well known and why would he come to this derelict school? You are both lying. Boy, will you or will you not prove your claims.¡± Derek looked at the guy quietly for a moment. Sure, he was obnoxious, but Derek had nothing to gain from beating him. It was considered bullying for a Weapons Master to beat up someone of a much lower skill in a situation like this. On the other hand, when the challenger crosses certain lines by being offensive and calling the Weapons Master¡¯s integrity into doubt, things don¡¯t tend to go well for the challenger. A duel to the death with someone clearly superior to you usually ends with unpleasant results. Derek supposed this was the fault of masking his status. If the high tier one acolyte in front of him knew Derek was well into tier two and could see the qualitative gap between the two of them, he might have been more cautious. As things stood though, he was going to have to embarrass this young man and he was going to have to do it quickly and leave no doubt that the defeat was not a fluke. ¡°Very well,¡± Derek said as he turned to the weapons rack, ¡°But don¡¯t say we didn¡¯t warn you.¡± Derek quickly strapped on a training set. These were higher quality than the ones he had used in Redwyrm. They could withstand much stronger blows and they felt lighter on the body. After fastening the last piece he selected a sword and buckler. As he faced off against his opponent, he saw that the young man had once again chosen a longsword. Derek shook his head, he had already seen Reynald fight with this weapon and had not been overly impressed. Perhaps the young acolyte had been holding back? There was only one way to find out. Reynald initiated combat quickly, seeking to catch Derek off guard. He lunged forward, utilizing wind mana to gain a burst of speed bringing his weapon down in an overhead strike. Derek used a similar spell to meet him, bringing his buckler and sword up to achieve an advantageous bind. The duel was over in a second. With his sword hand he drove his opponent¡¯s sword to the outside and down while he rotated his left wrist. This brought his left hand next to the blade while his right hand continued to drive it downwards. In a smooth motion his gloved hand firmly clasped his opponent¡¯s blade and he twisted his hips. The surprised acolyte was not prepared to release his blade and was dragged forward and onto his opponent''s thrust which was accurately aimed at his exposed throat. His armor flared white, signaling his defeat. Only then did he release his blade as he was deposited onto the ground by the force of the thrust and the seizing armor. The crowd which had been noisy before was quiet now as the onlookers processed what they had seen. Some hadn¡¯t even caught the action. The whole process, from the meeting of the blades to the killing blow, occurred in the blink of an eye. Finally the silence was broken by clapping. Karl spoke up, ¡°Bravo, excellent demonstration of a basic blade grab. Students, take note of how little control Reynald had in the moment that Derek gripped his blade. The loss of the bind and the outward force from Derek¡¯s blade drove him into a position where Derek was able to pull him completely off balance when he got a hold on his blade. ¡°Though, in a dueling situation it is better to release the weapon when this happens. If you can drop the weapon and withdraw out of reach before a killing blow is landed you will be allowed to reclaim your weapon and restart the duel. It is unfortunate that young master Reynald was unaware of that during this duel though as it is usually quite shameful to lose because your opponent had more control over your weapon than you did.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. There were sounds of affirmation from the various students, while a dry, mirthless laughter could be heard from a few of the professors in attendance. The young acolyte didn¡¯t miss this and was sputtering in rage when he stood up. He was staring daggers at everyone involved, especially Derek, who had already placed their weapons on the weapons rack and was almost done removing his armor as if the whole situation was routine for him. He didn¡¯t even look in the direction of the young acolyte. He knew he had made an enemy this day and knew it was better to not add fuel to the fire. He didn¡¯t know who the older boy¡¯s backers were and he wasn¡¯t ready to make any real enemies in the city. He hoped the kid wouldn¡¯t be so petty that he would start anything in the future, not that he was uncertain that he could handle himself if Reynald started anything, but because he did not want the hassle of having to deal with people out to start trouble with him like Jacob and his family used to. The young acolyte quickly realized he wasn¡¯t going to get another rise out of Derek so he stripped the armor he was wearing off and left it on the ground of the training field, leaving it so that a staff member would have to collect it. No one moved to stop him. Even those fawning over him were no longer interested, instead they listened to Dean Karl¡¯s impromptu lecture on blade binds, grabs, and counters. Derek hopped across the fence again to hear his mother teasing, ¡°Oh my hero, you looked so gallant out there.¡± ¡°Mo- Professor, is it really ok to tease your students like this.¡± ¡°Ufufu, if I could have a student as handsome and adroit as you I would be very happy. Look girls, I hear this one just moved here and hasn¡¯t met any nice girls yet. It would be a shame if you let someone else snatch him up first. You should act quick.¡± As Eona turned her attention to the students behind her, Derek¡¯s face turned red as an apple. He quickly scuttled away from the now giggling group of mages to where Desmond and Garrett were waiting for him. Desmond sheepishly spoke up first, ¡°I am sorry for what I said back there. I didn¡¯t know you were actually a Weapons Master. I have never heard of someone our age being one.¡± Derek nodded in agreement, ¡°It¡¯s not common to acquire the skill to be a Weapons Master at our age, but quite a few do, especially those with outstanding Masters themselves. It¡¯s much less common that someone our age has the skill and has had the opportunity to use it and earn the title. You need to remember that the title is just that, a title. A Weapons Master is someone who teaches weapons. That Weapons Master can be great with the weapons he teaches or he can be just good enough that others would be willing to pay him to teach. ¡°So when someone tells you they are a Weapons Master, that really shouldn¡¯t be the only indicator of skill that you are relying on. It is usually a good idea to observe someone claiming to be a Weapons Master to see how good they are, but it¡¯s also important to know who is around when they make that claim. If I was just some fool who had taken coin to teach some village militia how to fight, it would be very bold of me to claim to be a Weapon¡¯s Master in a place where there are easily a dozen high tier Weapons Masters within hearing.¡± Garrett¡¯s face scrunched up in concentration when he heard that, ¡°What do you mean ¡®easily a dozen high tier Weapons Masters¡¯? I see Dean Karl, but who else are you referring to?¡± Derek laughed and patted him on the back, ¡°Don¡¯t hurt yourself thinking too hard. Look around you. Look at all those other training yards where students are being instructed. Each one of those instructors has mastered what they are teaching. Watch them; their forms are near flawless. The few snippets of teaching I have heard on the wind have been insightful and well thought out; as if what they are teaching was a part of them and they had been teaching it for years. ¡°Each of those men and women are way stronger than me and I don¡¯t dare claim that my mastery is greater than theirs. It would be bold indeed if just anyone was to come here and claim to be a Weapons Master when there are so many within earshot. It is already amazing to me that this Reynald we just met was bold enough to say what he did when I can easily see a couple dozen students in those other training yards who are much closer to mastery than him.¡± Desmond looked around, the defeated look from earlierimproving to one of determination. He turned to Derek, ¡°I really am sorry. I have worked so hard to learn what I did that I took your criticism as an insult and lashed out at you for it. It was inappropriate and I really do apologize.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it man. I have already forgotten about it. Just realize that when people criticize things it is up to you how you take it. If you take it as valid criticism and work on it to improve then it¡¯s a blessing. If you take it as invalid criticism and do nothing then it is just passing wind. If you take it as an insult, then really the fact that you are insulted is your failing, because it was you that made the opinion you disagree with so important to you that it became insulting.¡± Garrett¡¯s face screwed up again, ¡°Wow, that¡¯s really smart. How did you come up with that?¡± Derek laughed at him, ¡°I didn¡¯t, my mom told me that when I used to get bullied as a kid.¡± Desmond looked puzzled at that, ¡°You used to get bullied. I don¡¯t believe it. You are so damned good at fighting I would never have considered that.¡± Derek just smiled at him, ¡°I just considered it motivation to get better. No one comes from nothing, man. I always felt like I had to use every little bit of motivation to wring out just a little bit more improvement. Getting good at fighting is mostly about hard work and good teachers. The rest is being clever enough to learn from the mistakes you make instead of continually repeating them.¡± The two other boys looked at each other for a moment before Garrett spoke what was on both of their minds, ¡°Do you think you could teach us how to fight like that?¡± Derek had expected this so he laughed when they finally admitted it, ¡°Sure, you can join me when I practice. Let¡¯s talk about it later when we know our class schedules.¡± Chapter 31 - Dinner at the Cafeteria The three boys stayed to listen to the lecture that Karl was giving. As it was wrapping up, Ovid and Ander walked over. Derek glanced around and saw that his other grandfather, Nicholas, had joined his mother and Alicia¡¯s group and was happily chatting away with them about the finer concepts of magical theory. They started to walk towards the park on the west side of the inner city and Alicia waved goodby cheerfully towards them. Derek could have sworn his mother was going to do something to tease him again, but her father had clasped her hand at just that moment and prevented it. Derek waved back and turned to his master and grandfather, bowing to them both. ¡°Grandfather, Master, these are my dorm mates, Garrett Smith and Desmond Westmont. I have agreed to teach them how to fight in the future. Garrett, Desmond, this is my Weapons Master, Ovid Balder, and my grandfather, Forge Disciple Ander Kennick.¡± Ovid nodded, ¡°That is good. I have been asked by Dean Karl to teach weapons skills for one of the groups of freshmen. In exchange I requested that you be assigned to my group. As one of the students determined to have an advanced attainment in this, you will be assisting me in training the other students. I will ask that these two get added to that group as well.¡± Derek noticed that Garrett was looking at Ovid strangely, ¡°What is it Garrett?¡± ¡°O-Ovid B-Balder? As in ¡®Balder the Undefeated¡¯? Fifty consecutive wins in the Colosseum, twentysix against other Weapons Masters, culminating in the fight against the legendary Grandmaster Giovanni Fiore himself?¡± Ovid waved it off, ¡°It was a long time ago young man and Giovanni wasn¡¯t a Grandmaster then. We were both about your age during that tournament. I am not so sure I could pull off a streak of victories like that after all this time inactive.¡± ¡°Still, you are a legend at the Colosseum. Many people still talk about you. Many wondered where you had gone. They say that the Grandmaster has issued a challenge to a rematch every year since then, but that you had never dared to show¡­ oh. W-well, that¡¯s what they say anyways.¡± Garrett blushed and stammered as he realized he might have inadvertently insulted a living legend, cursing his foolish mouth for saying too much. Ovid laughed it off, ¡°They can say what they want. I am no longer a pit fighter in the Colosseum, ready to risk life and limb for a little fame and wealth. My life has new purpose now and I am happy with it as it is.¡± The other older man laughed as well, ¡°Derek, you seemed to have made some good friends here. Why don¡¯t you bring this young Smith here to the forge in the mornings with you. It will be good to work him hard in the morning so that he is too tired to run his mouth foolishly in the afternoon. Perhaps your other friend would like to join him? A little time in a smithy is always good for a young magic warrior. Learn enough to keep your gear in repair and make sure a ¡®smith isn¡¯t ripping you off.¡± Garrett paled when he heard that while Desmond waved his hands in front of him defensively, ¡°Sir, I have to take a rune smithing class already, wouldn¡¯t it be counterproductive to learn from you as well?¡± ¡°Bah, I will just get Karl to wave that class for you and clear up your mornings like I did for the other two.¡± Derek caught something in his grandfather¡¯s admission just then, ¡°Grandpa, what do you mean ¡®did for the other two¡¯ does that mean you already did so for Garrett?¡± The old man stiffened for a moment as he realized he had revealed too much, ¡°Bah, you are too sharp by half. Karl came by earlier to talk to your Mom and her friend, Charlotte, about a student of his who was going to get his status reset and would need a means to regain the essence lost to it. Turns out the kid grew up in a smithy, so I suggested he come work in my forge. ¡°Good, hard work in a mana enriched forge is one of the best ways for a teen to gain essence without sending him hunting for monsters. He agreed, so I had him make room for both of you to come to my place in the mornings. It will be good for you both, euheuheuh, and I get free labor. Ahaha, since you are all friends, a third won¡¯t hurt either. Two, no three, four birds, one stone! Hehehe!¡± Derek just smiled awkwardly at his grandfather. He got all too pleased with himself when he thought he had done something particularly clever. It was rather embarrassing to him, but it made the rock of a man quite loveable to see him this way. He glanced at his friends, Garrett seemed to have gotten over it and had a look of mild embarrassment on his face and Desmond looked quite perplexed, as if he was wondering what he had gotten himself into. The awkward moment was brought to an end as the Academy¡¯s clock tower started to chime. It was dinner time and all the students started hurrying to the large cafeteria in the center of the Academy. The other two boys took this as their cue to sprint off and Ovid clasped Derek¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Be sure to come visit your mother regularly. She¡¯s built her life around you these many years and though she¡¯s starting to come out of her shell now, she won¡¯t take you not visiting very well.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°Of course, I will definitely stop by every day.¡± Ovid looked at him, ¡°Ok, I have said what I needed. I am going to go join your mother in the park. Come by the house if you need me.¡± ¡°I will master.¡± The old disciple stood there for a moment watching the other three head off, ¡°Boy, our Master wants something for that boy. I just haven¡¯t figured it out yet. Remember this. All Smiths belong to Him. Do you understand? Any harm done to a Smith is done to Him. In a couple of days we are going to go down to the temple district to give thanks for the last few years of prosperity. Bring your friend with us. I am certain our Master will show us the way.¡± Derek nodded seriously. It wasn¡¯t often that his grandfather was this serious. Even in the forge he was professional but never this serious. His faith in his skills gave him such confidence but now he was deadly serious about something to do with Garrett and it made Derek worry for his friend. The old man ruffled his hair, ¡°Do not bother yourself too much about this, boy. We will know what we need to when the time comes. Now hurry along to dinner. I am going to go find your grandmother.¡± Derek didn¡¯t need much more convincing. He had seen the other students streaming towards the cafeteria and didn¡¯t want to stand too far back in the line. He hurried off and joined the crowd that was gathering around the large building. Entering, he saw dozens of long tables arrayed up and down the length of the room. There were already a couple hundred students seated and eating. Their trays had a soup of some sort, a hunk of bread, some beef and vegetables, and a dessert cake of some kind. They each filled their glasses from one of the pitchers in the middle of the table.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Derek spotted his friends taking seats at an empty table and waved in response to them before joining the rapidly increasing que. Once he had received his share he joined his friends and poured himself a glass of water. The other drinks were flavored with fruits. He had barely sat down when he heard Alicia call out, ¡°Oh Derek, there you are.¡± He turned to see her with her new group of friends coming his way and smiled at her, patting the seat next to him. She sat down and smiled at him, before turning to the two with him, ¡°Thank you. Who are your friends? These are the two from the practice yard right?¡± He smiled in response, ¡°Yes, this is Garrett Smith that I mentioned before, the one that Dean Charlotte says will get the schema reset and this is Desmond Westmont, who is also going to be in the Magic Warrior College with me. My grandfather has already conscripted them to work in the forge with me and Master Ovid has also dragged them into his class with me, so I suppose the three of us will be sharing most of our days together.¡± She stuck her tongue out as she tried the bread before placing it on his plate, ¡°Too bitter, you eat this. Most of my core academic classes have been waived, so I will be in mostly magic theory and magic schema classes, so we shouldn¡¯t be sharing many classes this term. I did get your grandmother to let me into her holy magic class in the mid afternoon and she said she was going to get you to be her assistant. So we will have that class together at least.¡± He smiled at her and slid his dessert over to her and she beamed at him happily before continuing, ¡°I heard your only mage class is on auras, but since I don¡¯t meet the prerequisites I won¡¯t be able to join you.¡± He looked at her, casting a status spell. The class in question had the prerequisite of casting all elements at level six. Most students in that class were tier four, but for her to take that class she would only need to improve her Affinities in order and chaos and gain one additional essence in mind. While she appeared to be quite far off of these prerequisites, she had actually only barely missed them. He smiled at her, ¡°It¡¯s ok, you will be able to take that class next term I am sure. You are just on the cusp of reaching the prerequisites now. At least we have one class together. That will be nice. At least the rest of your classes will be in theory and schemas. Mine look like they are all going to be academic. It sounds boring.¡± She laughed at him, ¡°For some it is, but knowing these things will help you in the future. Look, if you are having a hard time I can always tutor you.¡± She had always been the helpful sort. It made him feel bad about how he had treated her all that time she was at Redwyrn with them. ¡°Thank you, Alicia, I will take you up on that if I am having any difficulties, but you must remember that your studies are important too. Besides, look how popular you¡¯ve become. There are so many people who want to spend time with you. Don¡¯t waste that by just hanging out with me.¡± She turned and looked at the others who had started to talk among themselves, but quite a few were just waiting for an opportunity to talk to her. Derek returned to eating and listened to the others talk and before long the meal was over. He was pouring a citrus flavored drink for Alicia when he heard a staff member from near where the food was served, ¡°Excuse me, everyone. Your class schedules have been posted on the bulletin boards. Each of you have had your schedules sent to your rooms as well. Please consult them tonight and don¡¯t be late for classes tomorrow. Alright, you can continue eating now. Remember to return your trays and dishes to the counters for cleaning.¡± Derek was excited to learn what his schedule would be so he excused himself from the table. He brought his tray to the counters before hustling back to his room. Tristan was still studying at his desk when he arrived and there was a folded paper on Derek¡¯s desk. He looked over it quickly. His early morning had been left free, but his first class was at nine. It was a Statecraft class. After that was Classics, then lunch, History, Military Science, Aura Magic, Holy Magic, then the rest of the afternoon was in Weapons Training. Considering he would need to get up before dawn to get to the forge, his only free time was breakfast, lunch, and the time after the Weapons Training course ended, about an hour before dinner. His days were going to be full indeed.
Alicia Tellis-
Class Moon Maiden Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 1 Order Outstanding 12r1 + 10 Low 5 (42)
Level 7 Water Supreme 13 + 10 High 5 (48)
Light Supreme 18r1 + 10 Mid 6 (43)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 18r1 + 10 Mid 6 (53)
Strength 11 Chaos Outstanding 12r1 + 10 Low 5 (42)
Body 14 Fire Supreme 13 + 10 High 5 (48)
Agility 17r1 Dark Supreme 18r1 + 10 Mid 6 (53)
Mind 19r1 Earth Supreme 18r1 + 10 Mid 6 (53)
Essentia Pool Mid T2 Mage
Previous Classes- Princess Permanent Enhancements- Moon Maiden, Tier One: +2 Agility, +4 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Blessing of the Moon Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 to Mind, +5 to Light, Wind, Dark, and Earth Attributes Equipment- Runic Robes: basic protection high t1, maximum defensive spell level 6 Runic Staff: +5 to all elemental attributes, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman: +5 to all elemental attributes Chapter 32 - First Day of Classes That night Derek had a nightmare. It wasn¡¯t much and he barely remembered it but it was embarrassing to wake the other boys in the night like that. No one said anything but Tristan gave him a withering stare when he woke. Derek apologized to the other boys and resolved to have his wind and dark sprites muffle and shroud his part of the room so that the others would not be disturbed any further. He woke very early as was his custom and woke Desmond and Garrett. The three of them quietly readied themselves for the day before heading for Derek¡¯s mother¡¯s house. By the time they arrived the adults were already up and moving. Alicia joined them on the path up to the house and the four of them had a quiet talk before being called in for breakfast. Breakfast was a hearty meal prepared by the household servants and it pleased Derek to see his mother so well taken care of. After breakfast the three boys joined Ander in his forge. Derek immediately started the process of preparing the forge for the day¡¯s work, and Garrett joined him, needing little instruction due to his familiarity with tasks in a forge. Desmond was the only one not used to the environment and after a few minutes of instruction from Ander he shadowed Derek who walked him through the process of lighting the forge. After a few hours of vigorous work in the forge, the old smith sent them off to clean themselves and change clothes before their first classes. Each had different course loads based on their attainments before joining the academy so they split up when they reached the Academics buildings. Derek joined a small eclectic group of other students in an auditorium clearly meant for far more people. There were slightly more boys in the group than girls and more magic warriors than mages. It stood to reason since in spite of the Academy priding itself on its arcane achievements, there were generally more magic warriors in the populace than mages. All in all there were sixteen freshmen gathered in the room when the Professor walked in. She was a kindly older woman of darker complexion that Derek had met in passing when he was helping his mother move in. ¡°Greetings children, I am Afua Windreach. I will be your instructor for the Statecraft portion of your education. I am sure you are probably wondering why you must take a class on such a dry subject when the Academy purports to teach the Arcane, yes?¡± There was a murmuring of approval from some of the students who seemed to already be harboring such thoughts already. The old woman smiled at them with understanding before turning towards the door, ¡°Come, follow me. We will be going to one of the most important places on this campus.¡± Afua continued to lecture as she led them out of the building and towards the south eastern part of campus, ¡°To be fair, the Academy originally didn¡¯t teach the core academic courses here, but throughout the years we saw that our students were quite successful in the fields we taught them, but many would trip up on unforeseen difficulties. ¡°It stands to reason that the powerful will naturally gravitate towards positions of power. So a powerful mage today is likely to one day govern a realm of his own. The faculty of the Academy watched with pride as their students spread throughout the land and became leaders in their own places, but we also watched in trepidation as they stumbled upon difficulties that were in many cases predictable. They rarely truly failed, but the process was always made more difficult than it needed to be.¡± She continued describing the past struggles of their predecessors as she led them to a large building that dominated an area of well manicured lawn, ¡°This, children, is the Library of Windreach, I dare say that it is the largest such building in Western Elanith. Within these walls are the recorded musings, lessons, memoirs, triumphs, and failures of the preceding generations of students of this Academy along with works procured from every civilized land. ¡°We have studied the works of those that came before us and have prepared an education that willensure that you will not be impeded by the difficulties that they encountered. Every course taught in the core curriculum of the Academy is intended to prepare you for the very likely possibility that you will one day need these skills. You may not be a specialist in these skills by then, but you will know enough to navigate the initial pitfalls and you will have the foundation to prepare yourself more appropriately at that time.¡± As she finished her lecture she brought them into the central rotunda of the library. They looked around and up, at the several floors of collected books. Academy staff pushed carts with books and scrolls down the aisles to return them to their places. Even this early in the morning they could see many people studying various manuscripts at the desks and couches around the room. The students were suitably impressed, quite a few gaping at the sight before them. One boy finally spoke up, ¡°So many. Are we going to have to read them all?¡± She smiled knowingly at him, ¡°No, nobody expects that of you. Even some truly ancient ones have spent their whole lives and have only put a modest dent in these archives. No one would expect you to read it all, but this resource is here for you as a student of this Academy. We merely ask that you not damage the manuscripts. ¡°That said, your class instructors will have outlined several manuscripts each that will be required reading for their courses. Copies of those manuscripts will be delivered to your rooms by the end of the day. You will be required to read all of those.¡± There was an audible groan from a few of the boys when she said that. She laughed lightly, ¡°I have faith that you will complete these. If not this term, then maybe next term, but by the end of your education here you will know this material. If we failed to ensure that you learned these vital lessons here, what would we say to those family members of yours that paid a small fortune to get you into this Academy?¡± The mirth in her voice had given way to a stern coolness that caused Derek to shiver. Gone was the matronly and warm older woman from before. The person revealed in this moment seemed to be a callous and cruel taskmaster. Derek swore to himself that he would not fall behind in his course work for her class.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Alright, children, let¡¯s return to the class for now. I would like to go over my expectations for this term with you all. Please don¡¯t dawdle, there is much to go over before the class is over today.¡± Derek and a few of the other students gaped as they hustled to follow her back to their class room. It seemed as if an illusion had passed and the kind old woman was back. Only, they could see the hints in her mannerisms that proved that what they had perceived had been no illusion. When they finished the class, Derek scuttled off to his next class, the one covering the Classics. The distance and his lack of familiarity of the buildings had almost made him late. Once more, the number of students wasn¡¯t particularly large, only fifteen in this class. The professor was an old bespeckled man hunched over his cane, Eomer Windreach. His beard almost touched the floor and the man lectured in a long, droning voice, but there was something peculiar about it that kept the students strangely focused. Derek hardly realised the time had passed when the clock tower signalled the end of the class and the beginning of their lunch time. The old man seemed consternated at the interruption and hemmed and hawed for a moment before letting them go. Derek and the other students rushed to get down to the cafeteria in a timely manner. They knew that the later they got to the cafeteria, the longer they would have to wait in line and the less time they would have to eat. Unfortunately for them, one of Eomer¡¯s small pleasures in life was making his students late to whatever else they had to do and he had timed releasing them just so. The old man snorted contentedly to himself as he saw his students queue at the end of an already long line before he shuffled off to the faculty dining area. A few of the other instructors shook their heads at the cantankerous old man, some remembering when he had done the same to them all those years ago. Being late to the cafeteria, few places were open for him when he went to select his seat. Alicia waved at him, but her table was full.There was a spot next to Garrett and Desmond, so he merely waved back at her before sitting next to them. The others were wrapping up their meal but Derek knew he didn¡¯t have much time to finish eating so he focused on that and let their banter roll over him. He barely managed to sop up the last of his soup with his bread and stuff it in his mouth as the bell tolled to warn them to head to their next classes. He was lucky that his next two classes would be in the same room. History was first and Military Science was second. He was surprised to find that it was Dean Karl teaching these two and his style of pedagogy was brusk and to the point. In each class he spelled out his expectations for them and gave short introductory lectures explaining the importance of these classes for the students before him. A little over two hours passed before Derek found himself hurrying off to the Mage College¡¯s buildings. HIs first class here was an advanced practical course on Aura Magic. When he arrived he was surprised to find he was the youngest student in the room. The other students seemed to detect this pretty quickly too and teased him a little before making him the de facto mascot of the class. Luckily, he recognized one of his classmates as a cousin of his, one of the few who knew he was part of the Windreach family. This was Charlotte¡¯s daughter, Sofia. She teased him a little too, but there was nothing mean spirited about it. ¡°Come sit next to big sister,¡± She patted the spot next to her and the other girls giggled but accepted it. They seemed to be close friends. Derek sat down in the spot offered and smiled at her. The average students in this class were tier three, with a few in low tier four. He was clearly the weakest of them all and didn¡¯t mind relying on his cousin among this crowd. In all there were twelve students in the room and he was surprised to find that the instructor was none other than his grandmother Madeleine. He still wasn¡¯t very used to her as she had quite the thorny personality and they had only met recently. She looked over the room before starting her lecture. ¡°Students, you should know who I am by now. For many of you, this class will be one of the last before you graduate, as such, we will combine things you should have learned from the lower level magical courses. ¡°Auras are the magic we use to bolster our allies in combat. They are not as simple as a static area of effect enhancement spell. They are targeted spells that utilize the mana you inject into them to bolster the specific individuals of your retinue. To understand how this works, we must look at the structures formed by the mana when crafting the spell and at the core runes in the creation of these spells. Do you all understand? Then let us begin.¡± Her lecture started off strong and Derek was caught off guard because he was not expecting her to launch into the meat of the course right off the bat like that. He quickly recovered though. With the assistance of his cousin and relying upon the foundational knowledge he possessed from his education at Redwyrm he was able to keep up with the older students, only having to pause slightly more frequently to allow his mana to recuperate. In no time at all the class was over and he hurried on to find his next class. He failed to catch the look of pride in his maternal grandmother¡¯s eyes as the stern woman watched him go. HIs next class was Holy Magic where he was required to assist his paternal grandmother in the instruction. The rarity of holy magic specialists outside of religious organisations meant that there was a very shallow pool for the school to recruit from, and since the school was loath to lower its standards there hadn¡¯t been a holy magic instructor in years. Unlike his previous classes, this one was packed. There were fifty three students in this class and clearly students closer to graduation had been given priority as the only other freshman in the class was Alicia. Even here amongst older students, she had gained a following. Several young men and a couple of the young girls had gathered around her, ostensibly to make friends with her. Derek was amazed at how poised she was managing to be in spite of the constant attention. When she saw him, she immediately rushed over to talk to him and pouted at him a little, ¡°I was hoping you would sit with me at lunch but you got there so late.¡± He smiled wryly, noticing the glares he was getting from a few of the older boys, ¡°I am pretty sure my teacher did it on purpose, but if you want to make sure I can sit with you, just sit next to Desmond and Garrett tomorrow and ask them to save a spot for me.¡± Her smile was back in full force, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good idea. I will do that next time.¡± As they talked his paternal grandmother came in. Rebekah smiled at Alicia, ¡°It is good to see you sweetheart, please go take your seat. Derek, come sit over here, next to the podium. I will have you demonstrate some techniques and when we break out into practicals I will have you overlook a portion of the class.¡± As Derek took his spot, she introduced herself and laid out the course before the students. In the final minutes of the class, she wrapped up her lecture and asked for questions. One of the students seated at the back stood up. The man had a fighter¡¯s build, and wore the white and gold of the church of the Sun. There were other, similarly dressed students sitting nearby so Derek assumed they were all of one group. He could tell this guy was here to start trouble. ¡®These people again,¡¯ he thought to himself. ¡®What is their problem?¡¯ The man spoke up , ¡°Yes, I would like to know why savages are being brought to this Academy to teach Holy Magic? If the students here want to learn this they could always come to the Church.¡± Chapter 33 - "Thorne Clan Savages!" The room burst into chaos after the man¡¯s words; some students were shouting at this man, while others started speaking among themselves about the merits of the man¡¯s claims. Derek frowned and looked at the Acolyte who said all this. He was surprised that this was the first time he had been required to cast status magic to judge someone¡¯s strength since he had arrived. The man¡¯s class, tier, and holy affinity worked to stymie his Demon Sense ability. The status revealed the man to be a mid tier four Paladin. His class seemed to be a variation of magic knight that favored basic attributes and holy and wrath magic. He also possessed a blessing from his goddess that improved these still further. Derek assumed that depending on his equipment he could cast low to mid tier seven holy and wrath magic. The noise began to rise as some of the acolytes joined in on the shouting match with the students and more of the students started speaking excitedly with each other. Finally, Rebekah had listened enough, ¡°Enough! Students be silent! Young man, you are a bit old to be one of my students. So, who are you and what are you doing here disrupting my class? Has the Order of the Ardent Dawn become so lax that its Paladins have free time to cause trouble outside of the chapterhouse? How do you expect this to reflext on your Order, Chapterhouse and Chapter Master?¡± The man turned his nose up at her, ¡°Savage, I am no student of yours, but as a graduate of this academy I have a right to sit in on any classes that I so choose. Only recently word reached the Church that a class on Holy Magic would be taught here and it would be a savage of the Thorne Clan teaching it.¡± He glanced dismissively at some of the other acolytes beside him before continuing to speak to Derek and Rebekah, ¡°While some members of the Church may be merely interested in what you are teaching here and naively believe you to be a benign pedagogue, my Chapter Master knows you and this boy for the abominations that you are and has sent me to guide our wayward youths back into the flock and invite any here to join us.¡± He turned to the others in the room, ¡°You students shouldn¡¯t allow these savages to lead you astray from the light.¡± Rebekah laughed lightly, though Derek could sense the undertone of malice in her voice, ¡°Oh, your Chapter Master seems to have grown to be quite the dutiful man to concern himself not only with these acolytes from the Cathedral, but also with the well being of the other students. What motivation could have driven him to take such action? Was it selfless goodwill towards those that may be led astray by us horrible savages or was it a desire to combat the evils he spied in the world, those hateful savages that oppressed his rise to greatness? Or could it possibly be an act to draw attention and potential new students to his failure of a religious school that has never really performed to expectation? ¡°It couldn¡¯t be that, could it? How shameful would it be if the Chapter Master was to send several agents into the Academy where many of his predecessors were taught to try to poach students without some form of hypocritical excuse? How shameful would it be to smear the names of the people that once fought side by side with your order to make a name for yourself and this failure of a school you represent? I would definitely hope it wasn¡¯t that, as I would be terribly embarrassed to be seen doing something so shameful. For the honor of your Order, I truly hope your Chapter Master truly sent you for the former two reasons and not the last one.¡± When she finished, the room was so quiet that only the man¡¯s ragged breathing could be heard. The man¡¯s face was turning beet red as he labored to bring his emotions under control. He looked around the room and saw few supporters. Even the contingent from the Cathedral didn¡¯t seem ready to support him, though they looked to be feeling rather awkward in their seats. Only those few acolytes he had brought with him from the chapterhouse seemed ready to support him. He opened his mouth to retort but a cold voice interrupted him, ¡°Paladin, you claim that your church could teach holy magic, but the students here already have a teacher. How were you intending to prove that your church can teach us any better than the teacher we already have?¡± Derek glanced over at Tristan in the far corner. He was surprised the young man was there as he hadn¡¯t even noticed him to this point. His dorm mate shot him a cool glance before returning his attention to the Paladin who had just begun to respond. ¡°It is simple, I claim that my school provides better Holy Training than these savages can, so I suggest we have a contest between students. Students from my school versus students from theirs. Whoever demonstrates greater capacity will prove the effectiveness of the teachings.¡± There was a chuckle from the crowd, ¡°The fool just admitted he is here on behalf of his school, how can he be so thick skinned?¡± Rebekah lightly tapped her staff on the ground in front of her; the knocking noise reverberated around the room, ¡°Silence students, it isn¡¯t wise to inform those that intend to deceive you that you have seen through their deception, but if this young man believes his fellow students can defeat my grandson in Holy Magic spellcasting, it would be interesting to see how he intends to prove it. Derek, if you will.¡± Derek smiled at his grandmother before stepping into the demonstration circle in the middle of the room. Across from him, one of the three acolytes from the Paladin¡¯s retinue haughtily took his place. Derek nodded cordially to him, ¡°I am Derek Thorne, sixteen year old Demon Warrior of the Thorne Clan.¡± The young man before him responded gruffly, ¡°Gregory Robbins, twenty year old Acolyte of the Ardent Dawn.¡± Rebekah then smiled at the Paladin, ¡°If your goal is to prove superiority, then how about we use a standard battery of spells that any Holy Practitioner should know? I suggest ¡®Healing Light¡¯, followed by ¡®Aegis¡¯, then finishing with ¡®Holy Bolt¡¯.¡± When she had the Paladin¡¯s consent she turned to the young acolyte, ¡°Acolyte Gregory, since your side are the visitors here go ahead and demonstrate your magic. Go all out, Derek has been casting these spells almost as long as he has been walking.¡± The young Acolyte cast his spells to the best of his abilities, it seemed that he had the capacity to cast them at low level six but unfortunately the most complex formula he knew was level five, so he empowered his level five spells to achieve an effect somewhere between peak level five and lower level six. Derek nodded to him when he completed his casting. The young man was clearly superior to most of his age. In fact, he was certain that Elton and Ferus would barely be able to compete with him if at all. Waiting for the effects of the last spell to dissipate, Derek took his stance before casting his spells at low level six, each clearly superior to his opponent¡¯s but not entirely out of reach. The young man looked deflated as he walked away, but the Paladin clapped his back as he returned to the group, seeming slightly more sure of himself. He sent another Acolyte forward, this one a female slightly older than the last one. She was able to cast her spells at low level six, if barely. Derek simply repeated casting the low sixth level variants he had used before until finally one of her spells miscast, singing her hands with light mana, at which point his success in repeating it once more scored him another victory. He even proved to have greater control than previously demonstrated by extending the range across the circle to heal her hands. This act caused quite a few murmurs from the crowd and a look of doubt temporarily crossed the faces of the Paladin¡¯s party. It had to be said that both of the previous people sent against him were the peak of tier one. Derek knew that the other Acolyte was low tier two and smiled at him as he arrived in the circle. This one was twenty five, nine years older than Derek and already old enough to have graduated from the Academy. He cast his spells at the middle of level six and Derek easily matched him until finally the other man had run out of mana. He was quite deflated as he walked away. Rebekah smiled when he saw this and turned to the Paladin, ¡°Is there no one else who would like to embarrass themselves by competing with someone younger than them?¡± The Paladin¡¯s face started to turn red yet again and Derek was starting to wonder if he had blood pressure problems. Finally, he stepped forward, ¡°I am Rhys Wallace, 33, Paladin of the Ardent Dawn.¡± Derek¡¯s mouth dropped open and there were mutters from throughout the crowd. Just how shameless could this guy be? Rebekah once more hit her staff on the ground, this time with more insistence, ¡°Are you kidding me? You are over twice his age and tier four. What kind of game are you playing?¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Hmph, the boy has his status masked, so I can only assume that he is hiding something. So to prove it I must take a stand in the name of the Sun! Just so you people don¡¯t claim I am bullying the boy, I will even give him a handicap by removing my Talisman.¡± The man held aloft atalisman in the form of the holy symbol of the Sun Goddess that seemed common to all of the Acolytes Derk had seen. He made a great show of handing it to one of his students and strutting around on his side of the demonstration circle. Derek continued to gape at him for a while before returning to his senses. He saw the awkward glances from around the room and sighed. Shrugging his shoulders he removed the masking he had used on himself, revealing his early tier two stats. There were a few gasps from the crowd as a few people recognized how impressive his attributes were. Other reactions ranged from jealousy to admiration. Derek sighed again and turned to this man who had just given up his advantage by handing over his talisman. Simple calculation could create an approximation of another person¡¯s spellcasting ability as long as the user¡¯s Status magic provided all the clues. Maybe the equipment wasn¡¯t always fully factored in, but the castor should gain enough knowledge of the other¡¯s spellcasting to be able to estimate his max spellcasting effectively. The math Derek was using showed an advantage for him, not the Paladin twice his age. Finally, Derek signaled his readiness and the man cast his spells to the best of his abilities. Each spell was a solid high level six. Derek shook his head before responding by casting each spell perfectly at peak level six. The man gaped at him for a moment before snarling andattackingwith another level six spell, this time a mix of light and fire called ¡°Flare¡±. Light and Fire was a mixture favored by the Church of the Sun that they called Sun Magic. It tended to burn brighter and hotter than regular fire, and often caused its victims to be blinded. This was a targetted area of effect attack that would easily overcome many equal level defensive spells. Derek responded almost by reflex with the same spell he used against the Greater Demon, ¡°Righteous Fury¡±. The spell was instinctual, snapping into place almost immediately. A shield of fire burned around him and absorbed the flare before reaching out to burn the area directly around him. Before he could react and throw up a shield of his own, the Paladin had already become a writhing mass of burnt flesh and his clothes were in smoldering ruins. When his shield came into place, his screams could be heard as his lungs finally gained access to the air he needed to vocalize his pain. The rest of the people in the room quickly recoiled backwards as the place had become as hot as the interior of a furnace. Beyond the exaggerated effect on people not even involved in the confrontation, there was a much more serious downside to his instinctive response. Blood flowed into Derek¡¯s mouth and he felt searing pain throughout his body. In his haste he had accidentally cast the spell at seventh level; overdrawing his spellcasting and causing a backlash. His sight began darkening around the edges as he resisted passing out. A bright light strobed through the room as Rebekah¡¯s enraged voice boomed out, ¡°Enough!¡± Derek¡¯s spell unravelled before the insistent pulse of light. This spell was a type of spell known as a Dispel. They act directly on other spells, unraveling the runes and matrices holding them together and forcefully dispersing the mana contained within. No longer maintaining a spell outside of his maximum spell level, Derek felt clarity start to return to him. After the last of the mana from his spell dispersed, his grandmother shifted the effect of her Dispel entirely on the Paladin. Once more capable of casting, Derek was able to take a knee and begin healing his injuries from the overcast. A few moments later the room had been flooded with staff and faculty who had responded to the man¡¯s screams and Rebekah¡¯s enraged shout. Among them stood the old curmudgeon from Derek¡¯s earlier class. Eomer looked him over, ¡°It is good that you are well, boy, but could you please not burn the furniture in the future? Those were far older than you.¡± Derek laughed dryly at the old man¡¯s attempt at humor but appreciated the veiled concern. He watched as the old man approached the still smoldering Paladin. ¡°Rhys, you were a student here once. What could make you lift your hand against another student after all this time? What am I to do with you? You know what the punishment for intentionally using a lethal attack against another student is right?¡± The Paladin somehow managed to pale under his second and third degree burns and Derek was starting to worry about whether he was going to survive the questioning without any assistance much less whatever the punishment was. Finally, Rhys spoke up, madness and fear guiding his words, ¡°You can¡¯t do anything to me. I am a Paladin of the Order of the Ardent Dawn. If you harm me; they will destroy you. I will be considered a martyr for exposing the corruption in this Academy. You are sheltering two savages and abominations! I will be a martyr!¡± A strange glint was in the old man¡¯s eye, ¡°Oh, I am afraid you won¡¯t...¡± It was then that a soft and sweet voice made itself heard, ¡°Excuse me, teacher.¡± The old curmudgeon turned to the speaker, it was a young and petite freshman girl in the white and gold of the Church. He smiled warmly at her, the perpetual scowl dissolving from his face, ¡°Hello there child, what can I do for our young Priestess-in-waiting?¡± ¡°Instead of punishing him yourselves, do you mind handing him over to uncle so that the church can punish him. I am sure my mother will not want conflict between the Church and the Academy.¡± Eomer listened politely before nodding his head, ¡°You are your mother¡¯s daughter, aren''t you? Yes, we will do it that way. Send one of your people to the Cathedral to have your ¡®uncle¡¯ come collect this man. I will have this fool healed and placed in a holding cell until he arrives. For now, the rest of you should run along. This class is dismissed.¡±
Rhys Wallace-
Class Paladin Elemental Attribute Elemental Affinity Point Value Spell Level
Tier 4 Order Supreme 26r4 + 5 Low 7 (61)
Level 7 Water Supreme 18r4 High 5 (48)
Light Supreme 26r4 + 5 Low 7 (61)
Basic Attribute Point Value Wind Supreme 17r1 High 5 (47)
Strength 27r2 Chaos Excellent 15r2 Mid 4 (35)
Body 30 Fire Supreme 26r3 + 5 Low 7 (61)
Agility 24r4 Dark Excellent 15r2 Mid 4 (35)
Mind 25 Earth Supreme 20r4 Low 6 (50)
Essentia Pool Mid T3 Mage
Previous Classes- Noble, Magic Warrior, Magic Warrior, Magic Warrior Permanent Enhancements- Magic Warrior, Tier One: +1 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Agility, +1 Mind Magic Warrior, Tier Two: +1 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Agility, +1 Mind Magic Warrior, Tier Three: +1 Strength, +2 Body, +1 Agility, +2 Mind Paladin, Tier Four: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Rhino Horn: +2 to Strength, +4 to Body Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Equipment- Runic Armor: basic protection low t5, maximum defensive spell level 7 Runic Weapon: basic offensive low t5, maximum offensive spell level 7 Talisman of the Sun Goddess: +5 to Order, Light, and Fire Attributes Chapter 34 - The Guardian and The Chapter Master Derek felt his grandmother¡¯s mana delve him. It was a calm and gentle warmth he had known all his life, a softer blend of holy energy that trended towards the healing and fortification of the beings natural to the world. She scanned his body and schema and clicked her tongue, ¡°Tch, boy, your mom is going to be upset when she sees this. Run along to her classroom and get her to look at you before you go on to your Weapons class. I will inform Ovid that you will be late.¡± He looked at her with a confused look on his face, ¡°But I don¡¯t know her classroom?¡± ¡°Of course you don¡¯t, dull boy, but Alicia does. Get her to take you. Now run along.¡± She flicked his forehead before waving him off. He turned to see his mother¡¯s apprentice waiting with a small group of hangers on. She seemed to be quite concerned but still cheerful. ¡°Derek, that was dangerous. I am glad you weren¡¯t hurt.¡± As she led him out of the room, she introduced him to her friends. Now that he had removed his masking, there was no longer any reason to hide who he was. Some of these girls and boys seemed genuinely interested to meet him while the rest merely humored Alicia. It seemed to Derek that most of the boys had some hidden hostility towards him but he couldn¡¯t figure out why. Perhaps they were mad because of how unpleasant the room had gotten when he cast his spell. Some of their clothes were not quite as pristine as they had been before the class. A few minutes later Derek encountered his mother coming out of another building. She seemed more than a little upset. Stepping forward he clasped her hands, ¡°Mother, what¡¯s wrong?¡± When she saw him, she hugged him tightly to her, ¡°I heard you were attacked in your grandmother¡¯s class. I was coming over to see if you were hurt.¡± As he held his distraught mother, he felt her mana pour into him quite urgently. Water, Earth and Light mana merged into a comforting mix that deftly explored his body and schema before arriving at the part of his schema that his grandmother had identified as problematic. She began working on it while speaking, ¡°Oh, you have damaged your mana pool, the mana it gathers has started escaping back into the world. Give me a moment¡­ there all done. It is patched for now and will heal in time.¡± She released him and rubbed a speck of blood from the corner of his mouth with her sleeve. ¡°You have to be more careful. It scared me to death to hear you were hurt like that. Tell me you won¡¯t do it again.¡± Derek looked down at his doting mother, it hurt him to see her fretting like this, even if her demand seemed a little absurd. He smiled comfortingly at her, ¡°Yes mom, I promise I won¡¯t do it again. Are you OK now?¡± As he finished saying that, the bell for the next class started to ring, ¡°Oh, we¡¯ll be late, you need to go into your class and I need to go to the practice yards to Ovid¡¯s class. I love you mom, bye.¡± With that he scampered off to the amusement of the students gathered around. He ran across the grounds and found Ovid¡¯s class in the practice yard to the north. There were easily thirty students there and Ovid had them drilling basic drills to tell their proficiency. When Derek joined them, his Weapons Master ordered him in front of the group to demonstrate the techniques they were doing. The practice continued nonstop and at varying frequencies for a few hours before Ovid dismissed all but Derek. ¡°Boy, I heard about what happened in your grandmother¡¯s class. You did well in beating those others, but don¡¯t take things for granted. ¡°That Paladin may not be particularly strong for his tier and his spell casting should have been his weakness, but don¡¯t expect things to go so easily next time. The man was two tiers higher than you. His physical stats alone should make him a threat to you and at his age he shouldn¡¯t make any foolish mistakes while fighting you like that boy from before. If he had drawn a blade on you, it might have been you getting carried out of there instead of him. ¡°Otherwise, good work. Now run off to your dorm and change. I expect your mother will want you to come to the house to eat tonight instead of going to the cafeteria. You can bring your friends if you want, a livelier table makes her happy.¡± Derek saluted his master before returning home to his Dorm where he saw the other three boys sitting around talking about what happened in the class. Tristan turned to him, ¡°Why did you mask your status? Tier two freshmen get treated entirely differently here from the normal tier ones.¡± Derek laughed it off, ¡°Why would I want that? I already get the best treatment I would here since I am part of the House. I just wanted to be treated like a normal student by my peers.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The young mage thought about that for a moment before speaking up, ¡°I can understand with your background how you can cast Holy Magic so well. Your family is known for its barbaric obsession with demons for a reason, but where did you learn that final spell?¡± Derek started wiping the sweat from training off of himself with a damp rag from a bucket in his corner of the room, ¡°The last one? I call that ¡®Righteous Fury¡¯. It¡¯s from a branch of magic that an ancestor of mine taught me that merges Wrath and Holy spells that he called ¡®Holy Fury¡¯. I have only used it twice, and the backlash this time was quite harsh. The base is a Clan spell called ¡®Righteous Blessing¡¯ that is intended to enhance human soldiers when fighting demons. The addition of fire mana though makes it quite dangerous for those that are not the target of the enhancement, and I don¡¯t know if I have the control yet to cast it on more than just myself. You saw how badly hurt I was from that overcast.¡± Garrett gaped at him, ¡°So it¡¯s true you actually beat a Paladin in a spellcasting contest? That¡¯s crazy, the lowest tiered paladins are tier four, maybe three if they have very strong foundations.¡± Derek laughed, ¡°Well yeah, but he wasn¡¯t a particularly strong caster, and he even impaired himself by removing his holy symbol. To be honest, I don¡¯t know what he was thinking. If the idea was to convince students from here to go to their school then he not only failed but managed to make them look worse than they did before. He was too hot headed by half.¡± He pulled a shirt over his head to finish dressing and turned to the other three boys, ¡°I am going to my mom¡¯s house for dinner, do you guys want to join me?¡± His friends glanced at each other and Tristan acted like he had not even been asked before Garrett spoke up, ¡°Is Alicia going to be there?¡± Derek looked at him with an odd look on his face. Somehow all three boys were interested in the answer to this question. He just didn¡¯t understand, but he shook it off before responding, ¡°Yes? But I don¡¯t see...¡± ¡°Oh then I¡¯ll go!¡± ¡°Yeah, me too!¡± Garrett and Desmond blurted out. Derek didn¡¯t know what to make of it, these guys were really behaving strangely. Tristan finally spoke up, ¡°Do you mind if I come?¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°Yeah I guess so. The more the merrier! Let¡¯s get going then.¡± Thefour of them hurried out of their building but came to a halt as they ran into a crowd watching some kind of altercation. There were three groups of adults arguing at the entrance of the school. The first was a group from House Windreach, some faculty, staff, and other members of the House. The other two groups were marked in the clothing of the Church of the Sun. One group wore the trappings of the Church itself, while the other had the markings of the Order of the Ardent Dawn. The disagreeing parties got louder as Derek and his dorm mates shouldered their way forward. As he broke through to the front of the group of onlookers he heard an enraged man say, ¡°What do you mean you are handing him over to the Church for punishment? Who are you to demand the punishment of my people, especially when the one harmed was him, not the boy you claim he attacked?¡± Derek saw that it was his maternal grandfather that responded. ¡°Chapter Master Ordino, your man attacked a student of this university in front of several witnesses. I already have testimony from six people that had been in that room, and I could easily provide more. Furthermore, the Priestess¡¯ own daughter has witnessed this. It is already an expression of respect and trust for your Order and the Church that we are merely releasing him to Guardian Willem instead of punishing him ourselves.¡± The Chapter Master looked like he was about to respond when the leader of the other group from the Church spoke up, ¡°Thank you, Baron. I will take him into our custody now and bring him before the Priestess. When she has heard the testimonies from the young ones that were in the room and from the Paladin, she will pass judgement. You will receive word of the proceedings by the end of the night. Is that sufficient.¡± Baron Nicholas nodded, ¡°Thank you, my friend. I of course trust in the Priestess¡¯ wisdom and judgement. I look forward to the resolution of this folly.¡± With that the prisoner was brought forward and given over to the Guardian. The Guardian turned and looked pointedly at the Chapter Master, ¡°Ordino, return to the Cathedral with me, I am certain the Priestess would love to hear why your errand boys have been making trouble in the Academy.¡± There was no room for negotiation in his voice. He made no request but rather demanded that the Chapter Master join him. Derek was confused by that as Chapter Master Ordino sheepishly followed Guardian Willem out of the Academy. Baron Nicholas spied Derek from the crowd and approached the boys. ¡°Grandson, do not be worried. I assure you we will get a satisfactory response from the Cathedral before the night is through.¡± He then turned to the other students who were trading rumors not too quietly. ¡°Go on students, it is almost dinner. Do not waste your time gossiping or we might determine that your workload is currently not enough!¡± Derek took this as his cue. He nodded to his grandfather before turning to lead his dorm mates to his mother¡¯s place for dinner. Listening to them chat, he really started wondering at why the other three could even care about which of the three of them his mother¡¯s apprentice would like more. Even more puzzling was why this conversation was interesting enough to draw the normally taciturn Tristan into it. As they approached the manor they saw that Alicia had already arrived and brought her dorm mates as well. Strangely, when the group finally gathered together, his roommates no longer had so much to say. He was left chatting with Alicia while the other six sat in awkward silence before they were all called to the table. Chapter 35 - Nightmares of Another Realm Derek sat next to his mother and ate quietly while he listened to the adults talk. After a while the conversation turned to the students and they joined in. He let it wash over him as he ate, focused instead on internalizing the lessons of the day. His spell competition with the Paladin and following altercation in particular having given him quite a bit to process. As they wrapped up their meal a runner came along to inform them of news from the Cathedral. Eona, Rebekah, and Derek met him in the parlor. The runner bowed politely to them before going into the details of the Priestess¡¯ judgement. Paladin Rhys Wallace had been punished for disturbing the peace and behavior unbecoming of a person of his rank with menial labor in the Temple District to be overseen by the City Guard for the next few months. For assault against Derek Thorne of House Windreach his punishment was twenty lashes to be administered in the public square of the Temple District at noon the next day and a fine of five hundred gold talents to be paid as recompense to the victim. For conspiring to disturb the peace at the Academy, Chapter Master Michele Ordino as well as the othermembers of the local Chapter of the Order of the Ardent Dawn were forbidden from entering the grounds of the Academy. Any communication necessary between that organization and the Academy was to be routed through the Cathedral for the Church to act as intermediaries. Eyeing the small chest of talents that the runner had brought to him, Derek finally turned to Eona, ¡°Mother, can you keep this with my other money? I don¡¯t really have need for it now.¡± She smiled at him and touched his cheek, before signalling her butler to have it carried off, ¡°Of course, son. Just let me know when you want it.¡± Turning to the runner from the Cathedral, she thanked him while withdrawing a small pouch from a nearby stand, ¡°I am grateful to the Priestess for her wise judgement. Please inform her that our family will be visiting the Temple district on the next holiday and that I would be most pleased to thank her in person then. Please take this for your troubles today.¡± The runner received the pouch and bowed smoothly before leaving. ¡°I will inform her, thank you.¡± As the man left, Derek¡¯s family returned to the dining room. His mother turned to him and pretended to straighten his collar. ¡°I am proud of what you did today. Just remember to be careful. Do that for me.¡± Derek nodded in acceptance before kissing her forehead, ¡°Yes, mother, I promise.¡± She smiled at him and clasped his hand, ¡°You are my only son and one day you will have to leave me but for now allow your mother this selfishness.¡± They returned to the table to find that Ovid and Ander had already retired for the evening but the young men and women around the table were talking happily amongst each other. Eona lightly clapped her hands to get their attention, ¡°Alright everyone, you should all return to your dorms. Tomorrow morning will come early for all of us.¡± After some short farewells the students left the house and each group went their own way back to the dorms. Derek couldn¡¯t help but notice that the time spent together had slightly warmed Tristan up to the others. The boys managed to return to their dorm right as the lamp lighters started doing their work. After arriving, they washed up for the night before finishing their homework and going to sleep. That night¡¯s nightmares were worse than the ones before. Derek even managed to remember snippets of pain and horror. He remembered being in another place where order and light had no sway. Beings of amorphous power clawed and scratched their way out of a pit and he was one of them. Each time he would break free some form of danger or violence would cast him back in only to climb his way back out again. He yearned to be free of the pit, to exist in a place where he would be the strong and nothing could harm him. He yearned for a world where he could determine who survived and who would return to the pit. He yearned for freedom and power. As his dreams became darker and darker, he finally felt a gentle pulling and heard a playful voice, ¡°Master, that isn¡¯t you. Come back to us.¡± And in response he heard a chorus of other voices, ¡°Yes, master come back. Come back to us.¡± He woke with a start to find his portion of the room warded by his wind and dark sprites, Sylph and Wisp. On his bed he saw the little mana spirits looking at him. Eris, his chaos sprite playfully pinched his face, ¡°Welcome back master. You were scaring us for a moment there.¡± The others nodded, making exaggerated expressions of fear. He smiled at them, ¡°Thank you for waking me. I was scared as well. Wake me sooner next time, ok?¡± They all agreed, nodding their heads vigorously. Sighing, Derek checked the time. it was shortly after midnight, so he settled back in for more fitful sleep.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°What do you mean, he¡¯s not here? The boy only just underwent his coming of age ceremony less than a month ago. Don¡¯t you know that we require the months afterwards to be spent in contemplation for a reason? Where is he now?¡± In Redwyrm, Patriarch Daren was being grilled by an angry old woman. He glanced at the other two men in the room and the oldest of them shook his head, while the younger one raised his hands as if to beg for surrender. Neither seemed willing to speak up and draw the attention of the woman who was pacing in anger in front of Daren. ¡°Granny, please. He is in good hands, he went to Windreach with his family to join the Academy there. What could possibly harm him there?¡± ¡°What could possibly harm him? You have been the Patriarch of this family for over a decade now; have you not read the secret texts? Don¡¯t you know that the most dangerous stage is not during the coming of age ceremony, or even during the demon hunt, but in the time afterwards, when the soul of the Demon Warrior must defeat and consume the soul of the Demon! ¡°What do you think could possibly harm him in this case? What aside from the soul of a Greater Demon devouring his own? Buffoon, those books are there to be read, not to collect dust on the shelf!¡± The Patriarch looked wounded, and mumbled to himself, ¡°But they¡¯re so boring¡­¡± The old woman looked like she was about to launch herself at him, but the oldest one there finally spoke up, ¡°Ehehe, Katherine, please calm yourself, the boy is partially right. The books are rather dry and the odds are things haven¡¯t progressed to such a negative state yet. I will go to Windreach myself and get Penny at the Cathedral to help me with the boy. Why don¡¯t you stay here with Christof and keep an eye on the rest of the Clan until Peter and Rodney return?¡± She turned and looked at him; visibly working herself down from her rage. Finally she responded, ¡°Matteus, you must hurry. There are so few children left. We can¡¯t afford to lose them to foolishness like this.¡± The old man laughed as he headed towards the door, ¡°Ehehe, I will not let anything happen to the boy. I promise you.¡±
The next morning Derek woke to someone shaking him. He couldn¡¯t hear him until he had Sylph lower the sound shroud around them, ¡°What is it Garrett?¡± Garrett smiled, ¡°Good, you¡¯re up. Get dressed, we don¡¯t want to be late to the smithy. I didn¡¯t know you could be such a heavy sleeper.¡± Derek glanced around noticing that both Desmond and Garett were already prepared. Even Tristan was starting to prepare for the day. Realizing that he woke late, Derek sprang from his bed, dressing and preparing himself in record time. His grandfather had instilled in him a fear of being late to work from a young age and it had been ages since he had even come close to being late. The three boys waved at Tristan on their way out. Derek sheepishly spoke up, ¡°We should hurry. We don¡¯t want to be late to breakfast as grandfather will definitely not allow us to be late to the forge. I am sorry I slept in, I had more nightmares.¡± The other two glanced at each other and all three picked up their pace. Luckily they were able to arrive at his mother¡¯s place just as Alicia arrived. She had come alone this time, the other girls from her dorm having their own early morning obligations. She smiled sweetly at them, ¡°Good morning to you three. Derek what is wrong with your eyes, you look like you haven¡¯t slept at all!¡± He raised his hands in defense, ¡°I did sleep, I just didn¡¯t sleep well.¡± She seemed a little mollified by that and nodded, ¡°Hmm, you should try to make sure your sleep is as regular as possible. It helps promote a healthy mind, magical aptitude, and even with schema harmonics...¡± He weathered the lecture quite well knowing that she meant well by it. His friends whispered among themselves and chuckled, provoking a dark look from him. Finally, they arrived for breakfast and joined the adults of the house at the table. This morning there were three other adults at the table with them. The first was Charlotte Windreach and the other two were professors from her college. Derek greeted her, ¡°Aunt Charlotte, it is good to see you. Sofia is in my Auras class.¡± She smiled at him, ¡°I know, boy. She told me about it last night at dinner. If you need any help in the class be sure to tell her and she can help you out.¡± As they continued their meal eventually the topic of the conversation turned to why she and her professors were there. She looked at Garrett, ¡°Garrett, we intend to pull you from your classes today to prepare you to reset your schema and to begin the design for your new one. Are you ok with that?¡± Garrett looked up in alarm, ¡°Already?¡± She smiled, ¡°Yes, already. The sooner the better. Resetting someone in their late teens makes the odds of them returning to Tier One much lower so the sooner we can get this done the more likely you are to successfully attain Tier One again before the age of maturity. We need to ensure not only that you have the time to gain the essence required to promote ten times, but we also need to provide you with as much time as possible to familiarize yourself with the schema as well. Your body will change fundamentally because of this even if we ignore the fact that you will be weak as a baby when you first begin your level reset.¡± Garrett nodded, anxiety and excitement seemed to war across his face, ¡°OK, but when are we going to do the actual level reset and the craft the new schema?¡± Charlotte thought for a moment, ¡°I would like to do it as soon as possible, but I want to give Eona some time to design it. How long do you think you will need, Eona?¡± Derek¡¯s mother finished sipping her drink and set down her cup, ¡°Two weeks, three weeks on the outside. I would like to give our other faculty time to review it.¡± Charlotte and the other two glanced at each other before she responded, ¡°Yes that seems reasonable. Let¡¯s schedule it tentatively for the first week of next month then. Is that ok with you young mister Smith?¡± Garrett seemed to steel himself before looking around, ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do this.¡± Chapter 36 - Abomination That day, Garrett stayed at Eona¡¯s house while Derek and Desmond left for the Forge. They saw him again when they returned for dinner. Tristan tagged along again and the conversation was quite lively as his friends grew more accustomed to Alicia and her friends. Derek was happy that they were getting along so well, but he grew weary and begged permission to head back to his room. His mom escorted him to the door, but before he left she delved him, ¡°Hmm, your grandmother and I can¡¯t detect anything wrong with you, but you look terrible. Go home and get some sleep. Do you need me to send someone with you?¡± He smiled, ¡°No mother, I can make it back myself. There is no need to worry about me.¡± She smiled back before kissing his cheek, ¡°Hmm, ok, I love you, hurry home and sleep.¡± Kissing her cheek he turned to head out the door, ¡°Goodnight, mom. I love you too.¡± The trip back to the dorms wasn¡¯t supposed to be a particularly long one, but he felt as if it was taking forever. Halfway across the training grounds his vision started to distort and he would get confused and take incorrect turns. Eventually, after getting lost many times, he made it to his dorm building. As he entered, Jonas the manager turned from lighting the first floor lamps to look at him and gasped in surprise, ¡°Derek, you look awful. What is wrong with you boy?¡± Derek waved feebly at him and headed towards the stares, ¡°I am ok, just a little tired. I will head up to my room now.¡± The manager sealed the lamp he was lighting and came over to him, ¡°You are most definitely not ok. Let me help you to your room.¡± Grabbing the boy by the shoulder, he pulled him up the stairs. Derek was starting to stumble, so the man lifted his arm over his shoulder and half carried him up the stairs before unlocking his door and bringing him into his room. He placed Derek on his bed and hurried back downstairs, grabbing his coat and rushing out into the darkening evening. The moment he lay on the bed, Derek was asleep and already in that nightmare land. He felt terror as he repeated the cycle of spawning, clawing his way to the top, then dying and being cast into the pit again. He knew only that he needed power and he needed to break free. There was some barrier containing him and he felt that he must break through, so he threw himself at it, rending and tearing at it and howling in rage and pain as he felt every wound he rent into it. The pain was deep as if his every fiber was being torn. After making some headway he would collapse from the pain and be sent back into the pit and there he would have to climb his way back out to rend the barrier again. Over and over again he repeated this process as he felt the fanatical need to break free from this place. Then there was light. Holy magic, firm, powerful, and insistent, washed over him and the dreamscape shattered. He heard feral cries of pain, fear, and rage from within it as his mind was freed from the cage it had been entrapped in. He gasped, pain wracking his body as he tried to sit up, but strong hands restrained him. ¡°Calm yourself boy, you are safe.¡± Derek heard a familiar voice and started to relax. He calmed himself before checking his surroundings. His bed was a mess, sheets tangled and bloody. His clothing was torn and bloody as well, and hs skin where it showed through the torn fabric showed signs of freshly healed injuries. There were almost a dozen people in the room with him. His grandfather, Ander, was the one holding him. Once he stopped struggling, the old man released him and stepped away, oblivious to the fresh bloodstains on his clothing. His mother and other grandparents were there as well, hovering anxiously behind the old smith. There were other adults from House Windreach around the room and Derek could hear other people outside the room as well, whispering and gossiping among themselves. What was most surprising was the other man beside his bed. Derek gasped, still struggling with the memory of pain, ¡°Old ancestor, when did you get here?¡± ¡°Ehehe, boy, it is good to see you haven¡¯t forgotten me already. I arrived a few hours ago and was meeting with some other old fogies when we heard of your ailment. It seems Granny Katherine was correct. That old beast is trying to have his vengeance on you. I have dealt with the problem for now, but that is only a temporary solution. Tomorrow, we will go down to the Cathedral to meet someone. For now, sleep.¡± At that command, Derek¡¯s body went limp and he was fast asleep. One of the old men in the room signaled servants forward to bring Derek out on a stretcher and others to change the bedding. They were quick and efficient. Soon the room was clean and the old man signalled for the others to leave with him. As he entered the hallway he turned to Derek¡¯s dorm mates who had been standing by the door. ¡°You may return to your room now. Your dorm mate will return when his ailment has been cured. I apologize for the disturbance. You should get some sleep now. Classes for each of you will resume in the morning.¡° The next morning Derek woke to find himself in his room in his mother¡¯s house. He turned his head to see his mother sleeping in the chair next to him. He quietly got up and tried to fix her blanket without waking her, but she reached up to grab his hand. Her eyes opened, and he could see her worry and love in them, ¡°Silly boy, you scared me to death last night.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Mother, it isn¡¯t good to sleep like this. You will be sore during the day.¡± ¡°Oh, you aren¡¯t changing the topic. I heard from some of the staff that they saw you stumbling through the grounds. If you were that tired you could have stayed here and we would have been able to get help to you faster.¡± Eona seemed rather cross with him, and the fear and worry he saw in her eyes hurt him deeply. He had never meant to scare her this much. He kneeled next to her chair and hugged her, ¡°I am sorry mother. I was just tired when I left. I didn¡¯t know it was anything more significant.¡± She clung tightly to him, tears forming in her eyes, ¡°Derek, my son. You were so bloody when we entered the room. There was Unholy mana pouring out of you. It was as if I was walking into my worst nightmare. I was so afraid for you. My son, my only son.¡± He held her as she wept. It seemed that she had been bottling her emotions up during the night and needed a good cry. He was truly sorry to have frightened her so much, ¡°It won¡¯t happen again mother. I promise.¡± After a moment there was a light knock on the door before it was opened, ¡°Ehehe. I am sorry to interrupt but we should get going now. My Penny wouldn¡¯t be pleased with me to delay too late into the day with a matter this important.¡± Derek¡¯s mother tensed up, before sighing and reluctantly releasing him. ¡°Derek, get dressed. You will be going with your Ancestor to the Cathedral. You will be there for a while so I will send a servant to deliver clothes and your books. You are not to fall behind on your coursework while you are gone.¡± ¡°What about my classes?¡± He asked as he stood. The answer came from the doorway as his maternal grandmother walked into the room and responded before his mother could, ¡°Your classes will be there when you return boy. You will only be gone for a week or two and we will send your coursework to you. If you keep up with those you will only have to worry about your practicals and the only class where that could be problematic for you is the Auras class I am teaching. I will have Sofia help you when you return. For now all I can suggest is that you convalesce quickly so that you have less catching up to do when you get back.¡± Madeliene turned to her daughter and handed her a scroll, ¡°Eona, this is his truancy permission form. I received this from Karl and have already informed all of Derek''s instructors. You do not need to worry about him falling behind and from what this Ancestor of his has said he will be in good hands at the Cathedral. So come, let¡¯s return to our duties. You can go see him at the end of the week.¡± Eona took her mother¡¯s hand and stood to leave the room, ¡°Yes, mother. Derek, I will be by in a few days. Be good while you are at the Cathedral.¡± Derek changed quickly, wearing the dark doublet and hose he preferred to wear under his armor. Coming into the antichamber, he met up with the old ancestor. ¡°I am ready Ancestor, should we go now?¡± ¡°Ehehe, of course. Let¡¯s go boy.¡± The old man led the way out of Derek¡¯s mother¡¯s house, setting a quick pace through the Academy grounds. This time there was no strange method of traveling and while they moved at a decent pace, there was no strange distortion of the surroundings that caused them to warp from place to place like that night in the mountains. They exited the gates of the inner city as they were being opened and entered the city proper before turning to the southeast to head down to the Temple District. In spite of how early it was, there were already many industrious people moving along the streets or setting up their shops and stalls. The streets were not yet as busy as they would be later in the day, but already they were coming to life. As they walked the old man talked to Derek, ¡°Ehehe, now boy, when we get to the Cathedral you must be polite to the people there. Our Clan has a deep relationship with the Church of the Sun and throughout the years many of our clansmen have been part of the Church or have collaborated with it. In fact, our first Ancestor was originally an Archpaladin of the Church before founding the way of the Demon Warrior.¡± Derek glanced over at him, ¡°If that is the case, why are so many of the followers of the church so hateful to us? They call us abominations and savages.¡± The old man smiled sadly, ¡°It¡¯s reasonable isn¡¯t it? it¡¯s been five thousand years since the war, and five thousand years is a long time. In the time since the war, the Church and our Clan have grown apart from each other and there have been many opportunities for the two to interact and they haven¡¯t all been positive. Five thousand years provides ample opportunities for grudges to develop between prideful people. ¡°But, I am afraid that isn¡¯t sufficient reason for them to call you an Abomination, heh. During the war our first Ancestor was the first to act out the ritual we have come to know as the coming of age ceremony. There were many others who did it, but only he survived the war. The records of the war are spotty, but there are some records of these other Demon Warriors. ¡°Our Clan coming of age ceremony prescribes a period of months where the youth meditates at the Shrine of the Sword for a reason. There is a danger to becoming a Demon Warrior. The soul itself is put at risk and if the Demon Warrior isn¡¯t prepared appropriately, they will succumb to the very Demon whose heart they have consumed. Their soul will be devoured by the Demon and their body will become its new host. ¡°From there, the atrocities that would follow were truly horrible to hear tales of. There were entire cities destroyed by Demonic infiltrators, orgies of blood and death, and treachery of the most heinous kinds. The records speak of untold horrors committed by them, and some of the more horrific and hard to explain events of the war against the Demon Lord are often suggested to be more cunning Demons given human vessels this way. ¡°Those failed Demon Warriors were called Abominations and it is right that they are feared. Certain members of the Church hold on to that teaching and believe that since the war has been over for thousands of years now, the practice of creating Demon Warriors should be considered anathema. They believe that our ways present more risk than benefit to human society and they would see us scoured from the world for it. It is only because they have lost sight of the true threat that Demons still pose to us, boy, never forget it.¡± He looked up and Derek looked as well. They were in the Temple District. Ornate buildings could be seen in every direction, each block having its own form, conforming to the aesthetic of its church or order. Before them was a grandiose building with dozens of itinerant buildings around it. The old man smiled, ¡°Ah yes, the Cathedral of the Sun. We are here boy, now let¡¯s see if Penny will make us breakfast. I am starving, ehehe.¡± Chapter 37 - The Cathedral of the Sun Derek followed the old man into the Cathedral grounds. There were beautifully manicured parks between each building; with fountains, benches, pavilions, and the like throughout. Everywhere he looked he saw clergy and staff of the Church. There were also many lay people strolling through the parks, talking to each other and mingling with the staff. The Ancestor lead the boy along the north side of the Cathedral, bypassing the public area and the few administrative buildings and coming into the housing area. As they passed a few dormitories for the acolytes a gangly old man rounded the corner, ¡°Ah, Matteus, I thought it was you. What are you doing here this time?¡± ¡°Ehehe, Reginald, it has been ten years. Can¡¯t an old man come and visit sometimes.¡± Reginald peered at him for a second, his face a mask of doubt. Finally he flatly rejected, ¡°An old man? Yes, You specifically? No. Ten years isn¡¯t long enough and she¡¯s still mad at you. You had better leave before she catches sight of you. You will have her in a rage and you don¡¯t have to live with it. I do. Now shoo, begone. Go to the Cathedral in Rockheim or the one in Dunberry.¡± Hearing this, Matteus'' eyes bugged out, As he responded his voice grew louder, spittle started to spray from his mouth, and his arms gesticulated wildly. ¡°What do you mean I am not welcome? Rockheim? Dunberry? Those are a week away. I need to see¡­¡± Derek was astonished. The old man always did seem to be a bit of a rascal but this? This went too far. He started feeling embarrassed and started looking around for a place to hide himself from the attention his Ancestor was drawing to them. Finally the other old man had had enough. ¡°Ok, come to my office so we can talk this out. I don¡¯t want you bothering my sister so early in the morning.¡± With that he turned on his heel and walked towards one of the administrative buildings the two had passed earlier. Ancestor Matteus was left sputtering for a moment before he hustled after the other man, ¡°Derek stay here. Bother! Bother! You wretched old fart, I will have you know¡­¡± Derek was left in a daze, gaping as the most powerful person he had ever met behaved like a petulant child. He stumbled over to a nearby bench and watched the people pass by. Many were dressed in the white and gold of the church, while others were dressed in their finest clothes, from the silk of nobles and merchants, to the linen of the lower classes. He watched as bees and butterflies flitted from flower to flower and watched squirrels and birds eating from the feeders around the park. His reverie was interrupted when hesaw a little old woman coming down the pathway carrying a pack of gardening tools over her back. She was walking with determination but taking short steps. She leaned heavily on the gnarled walking staff she had. He could hear incoherent grumbling coming from her. The few words he caught caused him to blush. Who knew old ladies could speak like this? She looked awfully small under her bag of tools so he stood up and walked over quickly before pointingat her bag, ¡°Excuse me granny, can I carry that for you?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s your granny?¡± She snapped as she whipped around to glare at him, but her expression softened quickly, ¡°Oh, maybe¡­ This old granny is tired. Will you carry my bag young man?¡± Derek smiled bravely, ¡°Ok, granny, I can carry¡­ oof.¡± The bag turned out to be heavier than he thought so he had to lift it with both arms. He definitely couldn¡¯t get it over his shoulder like the old lady had had it. He continued to put up a brave front, ¡°O... k. Where are we going with this?¡± The old lady began leading the way. They passed through a few of the gardens before she stopped and looked back at him. ¡°I am tired.¡± She whined, ¡°Do you think you can carry me sonny?¡± He looked at her for a moment, not quite certain how to answer. Finally, he nodded, before kneeling in front of her to let her climb on his back. He stood back up, attempting to adjust his posture so that the two loads would balance with each other. He followed her instructions for a while before arriving at her destination. ¡°Hmm, let me down over here and put the bag over there. Get the hand trowel and the clippers.¡± Once he set her down, she began pulling little weeds from the flower bed not at all concerned about her hands or the white robe she was wearing. Derek got her the tools she needed and placed them next to her before finding himself pulling weeds with her. She didn¡¯t talk except to give him instructions and the two of them worked for a few hours before she was finally satisfied. She had him carry her and her bag of tools again and directed him towards a small walled courtyard in the back of the compound. Inside was a toolshed and a small cottage. The yard itself was another small manicured garden; with flowers, shrubs, herbs, and a few fruits and vegetables. Once inside she had him let her down again and told him to put up the tools while she went inside the cottage. Derek looked around the inside of the toolshed. Even here it was tidy and he could guess where the tools went by where tools were missing from the racks so the task was rather simple and quick. Coming out of the shed he heard her call to him from inside the cottage, ¡°Come wash your face and hands, then set the table. I am making us something to eat.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The instruction reminded him that he had yet to eat that day and his stomach growled as if to criticize him for his oversight. He knocked as much dirt off of his clothes as he could before he walked in, scraping his boots against the boot scraper outside her door. He found the wash basin in the back of the room near the stove. The water was still hot as he used the hand towel to wash his arms up to the elbows and his face. As he straightened up, the old woman pointed towards the cupboards with the spoon she was using to stir the pot on her stove. ¡°The dishes are up there, boy. Fetch down two bowls, two plates, and two cups. Get some spoons out of this drawer here.¡± He quickly had the table set, and shortly thereafter she brought the pot over to pour soup into their bowls. She then brought out a loaf of bread from her oven and cut it into thick slices. ¡°Ok, eat up. Don¡¯t let your food get cold.¡± A silence settled over them as they ate until finally she spoke up, ¡°What¡¯s your name and whose child are you boy? That old scoundrel must have brought you here to me for a reason.¡± He looked up at her, ¡°My name is Derek Thorne. My mom is Eona Windreach and my father was Jared Thorne.¡± She looked closely at him, ¡°Was? Did he die? Who were his parents?¡± He nodded, ¡°Yes, he died when I was a baby. His mother was Rebekah Thorne and his father was Ander Kennick.¡± Recognition dawned on her face, ¡°The blood tells no lies. I could sense it in you. How is that child doing?¡± ¡°Child?¡± He asked, his face scrunching up in confusion. She flicked his forehead, ¡°Dull boy. Rebekah, how is she doing?¡± His eyes widened. He had never heard anyone call his grandmother a child, but he supposed that if anyone could, this old lady could. He answered quickly, knowing his grandmother¡¯s reaction if he failed to answer fast enough after she called him that, ¡°She¡¯s ok. She lives with mom and grandfather at mom¡¯s house and she got hired to teach Holy magic at the Academy.¡± ¡°Hmm, a Mage of the Thorne Clan teaching Holy magic at the Academy. My, how things have changed. What tier is she now?¡± He thought about it for a while. ¡°Eight, she tiered up during the sweeps of the mountains last summer.¡± A forlorn look flashed across her face as she heard this. ¡°Oh, my sweet child is already an Archmage? How nice. I will definitely have to go see her when I can. Now you, boy, why did that old rascal bring you here?¡± ¡°He said that I left Redwyrm too quickly after the coming of age ceremony. He said I needed help to overcome the final part of becoming a Demon Warrior.¡± She went rigid when she heard that, a fury blazing in her eyes, ¡°He said that did he? What is that fool child Daren doing letting children leave without completing the penance portion of their coming of age ceremony? Does he think losing members of this family to Abomination is a joke? What about those old fogeys? There should be enough of them to keep an eye on things. What were they doing? I ought to find that old man and box his ears. I ought to invite him back into my home just to kick him back out again! That old scoundrel! Does he think we have descendents to spare?¡± Derek gaped at her as she seemed to grow angrier and angrier. She was pacing about the room and gesticulating wildly as she shouted at the top of her lungs. Finally, after a short while, she paused to catch her breath and that¡¯s when he heard a familiar voice, ¡°Ehehe, Penny, did I come at the wrong time? I brought a grandchild along to keep you company¡­¡± When she heard the old man¡¯s voice her anger went through the roof, ¡°Get out! Get out of my house you old rogue! I should have listened to my father when he warned me about you! I should have never married into your barbaric family! My mother wanted me to marry a Prince. I should have¡­¡± ¡°This is good soup. You always made the best soups.¡± The old man had slipped past her tirade and sat at the table. He winked shamelessly at Derek. ¡°Thank you, no I mean, get out. What? What are you doing here Matteus?¡± The old woman sputtered out and just stared at him as he sat with Derek eating the soup. ¡°Penny, I brought the boy because that fool Daren let him come down off the mountain right after the coming of age ceremony. Two of the Grand Elders had been sent to other seal sites to assist with recent outbreaks while the other three of us were in the mountains searching for more Hell Gates after Derek here brought a hell gate gem and a Greater Demon¡¯s heart back from his coming of age trial. ¡°Katherine is infuriated right now, it seems that dull grandson of hers has focused entirely on the wrong things, opting to teach the children instead of running the clan. She has him reading the old scripts now and sent me to check on the boy. I got to the city just in time to catch the Demon attempting to take possession of Derek and I suppressed it temporarily. ¡°I know it is only temporary and that I will not be able to get him back to the Shrine of the Sword in a timely manner, so I brought him here to you.¡± ¡°Hmmph, you only thought to bring him to me because he was in danger?¡± He threw his hands up in surrender. ¡°Penny, that¡¯s not what I meant at all. I was planning on visiting you anyways after we had scourged the mountains again. I would have told you then.¡± She looked over at him pensively, ¡°Have the outbreaks really been that bad?¡± He nodded grimly, ¡°Yes, more are breaking through every year and gates are appearing. Our allies only control five out of the eight seals and the loss of the Congreal seal has slowly destabilized the rest.¡± Her mouth twitched, ¡°The Order of the Light lost that Shrine to the Barbarians sixty years ago. Are you trying to say that we are only seeing the effects now?¡± The old man shook his head, ¡°No, we have been seeing the effects the whole time. It¡¯s just that now the effects are more pronounced. It will only get worse in the future. Especially with Chaos worshippers in control of the Shrine of the Light now. If they were to fully desecrate that seal, it would only be a matter of time before a significant Demonic Incursion broke out. Not just there, but at the location of every other seal as the Shrine of Light is one of the two keystones of the whole formation.¡± She looked at him pensively, ¡°I will tell my Guardian to relay this to the rest of the Church. For now, leave the boy with me and tell that girl Rebekah to come visit me. As for you, you don¡¯t have to go home, but you can¡¯t stay here. Get out!¡± Chapter 38 - Granny Penny Derek spent the afternoon with his Granny Penny. Her actual name was Penelope, but other than her brother, there was no one alive that still called her that. As it turned out, she was ancient when his grandmother was a child andhis grandmother''sgrandfather before that. Several generations of young Thornes from their branch of the clan had grown up calling her Granny Penny. She led him around the back side of the Cathedral grounds doing various chores. The people largely ignored her, presumably believing her to be a simple groundskeeper. As they worked, they got to know each other a little better. This Granny of his had grown up on the grounds of this very cathedral. Her father had been the Guardian of the Priestess of his generation. He had married a noblewoman from outside of the city and they had been blessed with two children, Reginald and Penelope. Later, Penelope and Reginald had been selected as the next generation¡¯s Priestess and Guardian and she met Matteus a few years after she had taken up that post. Matteus was a young Demon Warrior of the Thorne Clan and an exemplary Knight Errant at that time. The three had quested together for a few years and she had married him in spite of the resistance of her mother. Matteus had stayed with her in Windreach until the next Priestess had taken her place and they returned to the mountains to start a family. There they raised that family in the ways of the Thorne Clan and eventually reached the peak of tier ten. Their lives changed then, and eventually the new requirements and pressures on them had created a rift in their relationship. Only one hundred years ago Penny had returned from the mountains to settle in this old cottage. ¡°But Granny, if you moved back a hundred years ago, how did you know my grandmother?¡± Derek asked as he scooped leaves out of a fountain. ¡°Oh, that was a few years later. Her grandfather brought her to me to avoid some of the trouble around the clan. She was quite young at the time; probably about half of your age. Such a cheerful little girl, she liked picking my flowers and braiding them into her hair. It¡¯s sad. they all grow up so quickly.¡± He smiled at her, ¡°I am sure she will come by when she has some free time, Granny. I think we are done here, what next?¡± They continued working until supper time and returned to the cottage. While they were out, some people had come by to drop off some of Derek¡¯s things. His mother had sent a few changes of clothes as well as the course work from the Academy and a nice note sending her love and reminding him to be on his best behavior. Penny reheated the soup and Reginald came to join them. The old man didn¡¯t say much, only greeting them when he entered and listening while Penny lectured Derek about his courses. It seemed she knew quite a lot about these topics as she had graduated from the same academy generations ago. ¡°But I don¡¯t understand, Granny. Why is there so much focus on tier zeros in statecraft. If there is so much benefit from gaining tiers, like the advantage in our bodies and minds, stronger magic, and ability to live longer, why after all these years is there still such a low percentage of people at higher tiers? Why isn¡¯t the majority of the population high tier now?¡± ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s a good question,¡± she said, ¡°but your common sense is off because of the circumstances of your clan. Normal people don¡¯t have access to the wealth that your clan does. Even if your clan is poor compared to its neighbors, the traditions passed down throughout the generations, the shrine itself, and even the Demons of the mountains give you a massive advantage that normal people don¡¯t possess. Even the commoners of Redwyrm don¡¯t share in this advantage. Normally it would take a noble family thousands to tens of thousands of talents to produce just one child with your training, schema, and tier. Regular people would be lucky to see that kind of wealth in a lifetime. ¡°The resources needed to continue to grow in strength are even more difficult or more dangerous to accrue as you get stronger. The easiest way is to go Errant and gain essence and rare materials through questing, but with that comes the risk of death and the vast majority of people want to live peaceful lives and are unwilling to put themselves into the kind of danger necessary for that. All that leaves for them is to spend money on the resources gathered by others. ¡°Even wealthy parents usually cannot afford to raise many children and limit themselves to one or two to ensure that as many resources can be funneled into those children as possible. Then there is the essence cost. Producing children takes a price in essence from the parents and while a peasant who will never gain a tier in his life has no problem sacrificing essence that can no longer strengthen him, the higher tier a person gets, the more valuable their essence is to them. Sure they can regain it, but how long will it take? ¡°That doesn¡¯t even go into the changes in the human body that occurs as more essence settles into it. The trade off to longevity is always speed of reproduction. Insects live very short lives but reproduce often, while powerful dragons may only give birth to a single clutch of hatchlings in their entire lives. So too with humans augmented by essence. The more powerful you are, the longer you will live, and the lower your drive for reproduction will be. A peasant with no real gain in longevity will be driven by hormones to reproduce to a greater degree than a noble who can live to a few hundred years. ¡°It¡¯s even worse for those of us who practice holy magic. The sheer nature of our magic is known to suppress sex drives and the church even has to encourage it¡¯s most powerful practitioners to reproduce if only to keep our bloodlines going. There are still more reasons for higher tier people to be less likely to reproduce or more likely to have reduced sex drives. But they are as varied as the ways we grow stronger. ¡°You are likely a great example of this, though you probably haven¡¯t even noticed it. I imagine your sex drive is even more suppressed than others. The easiest reasons to point out are that your tier is not comparable to your age and you are a potent holy magic user. ¡°Also, with the coming of age ceremony not quite complete, the Demon¡¯s constant damage to your soul is naturally having a secondary effect on your sex drive as well. The entire psyche is under attack so the mind can¡¯t even be bothered by these desires while it struggles to merely exist. Impotence is, after all, a common effect of mental illness among men. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Then there¡¯s those other markings on you¡­ No, I would be far more surprised to find out that you were showing interest in others at all than the lack thereof with so many suppressing effects on you. So don¡¯t worry my boy, everything is normal considering your circumstances.¡± ¡°Err¡­ Thanks?¡± Derek didn¡¯t quite know how he felt about his granny going on at length about sex drives. At first they were talking about why there are so many more tier zeros than high tiers, and while he felt she had adequately explained it, the direction she opted to go afterwards was rather awkward for him. It did give him some insight into the strange behaviors he had seen in others since coming to the academy. Those teens spending so much time focused not on training, but on socializing. ¡°I know it is awkward, boy, but eventually you will need to consider it. Your bloodline is the combined work of all of your ancestors, and due to the essence transferred at conception, it is also a representation of all their essence as well. The very nature of our power discourages us from passing it along, but in the end, it is up to us to keep their hopes alive.¡± ¡°Granny, what happens when an old bloodline dies out?¡± She thought for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders, ¡°I suppose a new one will take its place. Though, they rarely truly die out. Maybe the Thorne name will disappear one day, but there will be people unknowingly carrying the bloodline along. Let¡¯s not invite bad luck, though, the world still needs fanatics like the Thornes, no matter what the fools of the world say.¡± She continued instructing him on statecraft until just before dusk when she stopped the lecture to lead him to the cathedral. ¡°Come boy, the Sun is setting and we must wish Her a peaceful rest.¡± The Cathedral at dusk was beautiful. Stained glass windows lined both the eastern and western sides of the room to show the Sun¡¯s magnificence at dawn and dusk, and a central skylight did the same for the sun at noon. As the sun set, beautiful colors were cast around the room. It seemed this service was reserved for the people of the compound as the only lay people in attendance were family members of the clergy and the staff. Dozens of families eventually took their places in the various rows of pews in the sanctuary and finally as the Sun was setting the Priestess took her position and began the Rites of Sunset. Derek felt a soothing sensation as the service continued and finally when it ended he was left in a relaxed and composed mood. He saw that the other participants were as well, and no one talked to each other as they returned to their homes. Once more in his granny¡¯s cottage, he wished her goodnight and prepared his guest room for sleep. That night there were no nightmares. Derek woke full of energy and joined his grandmother to head once more to the Cathedral for the Rites of Sunrise. The day was cloudy but that did little to dampen the mood as the service seemed to energize the families there. As the rites reached their peak, Derek heard a whisper in his consciousness, ¡°Boy, I see that you need my aid, and I similarly need something from you.¡± The whisper was equal parts feminine, regal, and proud. As he felt the power of this presence washing over him, he could guess who it was. He cast his gaze upon the representation of the Sun Goddess and responded back, ¡°How can I possibly help you?¡± ¡°Child, I cannot directly intervene in many things, but I can empower or encourage champions to take action for me. There is something I wish for you to assist me with, and in exchange I will grant you my blessing. Will you do this for me?¡± Derek understood. Accepting a blessing was not like any other boon one could gain. The blessings of the gods were conditional and demanded service. They were signs of a pact between the god and the blessed. These pacts were almost always beneficial to both parties as gods rarely gave blessings to those whose goals did not align with theirs. Knowing that she would not seek a pact with him if their goals were not in alignment, he nodded, ¡°I accept, what is it that you need me to do.¡± ¡°You will know when you encounter the situation.¡± Her voice quieted as the rites came to an end. The congregation seemed invigorated after the service. They left smiling and chatting with each other. As he followed his granny and her brother out he heard a voice calling out to him from one of the side aisles, ¡°Oh, I know you. You were the one from the Holy Magic class that beat Paladin Rhys in spellcasting. So fierce!¡± He turned to see the young freshman that his teacher had called the Priestess-in-waiting. ¡°Oh, hi, I didn¡¯t realize I would see you here, but I guess it makes sense.¡± She smiled at him, ¡°Yeah, I live here and take a carriage over after the morning Rites. Why are you here?¡± Penelope and Reginald had stopped when they heard the girl¡¯s voice and it was Reginald that answered her, ¡°This is Derek Thorne, Diana, and he will be staying with Granny Penny. She is treating him for an injury he has suffered.¡± Seeing the old man, the girl reacted quickly. Hurrying over to hug him she said, ¡°Oh, Pappy, I didn¡¯t see you there. I am so happy to see you. Hehe.¡± He sighed, berating her good naturedly, ¡°Silly girl, it is not appropriate to run in the sanctuary. You are already this old and still behaving this way.¡± As the old man bantered with her a young man Derek recognized from the class also joined them. Derek¡¯s impression of him from the class was minimal, but seeing him now he recognized thatthe impressionwas similar to the one Hector gave by remaining in Belany¡¯s shadow. Derek nodded to him, ¡°Hello, I am Derek.¡± The boy nodded back and spoke barely above a whisper, ¡°Anthony.¡± Granny Penny stepped forward, ¡°Derek, these two are Diana Tesni and Anthony Marsh. Diana is the current Priestess¡¯ daughter and one of Reginald¡¯s descendants, while Anthony will be her Guardian. That is, if he can defend the position against the challenge from Reynald of the Order of the Ardent Dawn.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°I have fought him before, how do you think you will do?¡± Anthony¡¯s face blanched and he shook his head. Understanding crossed Derek¡¯s mind and he gave the other young man a reassuring smile, ¡°Well keep trying, I am sure you can do it.¡± At this point Diana finished chatting with her Pappy and turned to grab Anthony¡¯s hand, ¡°We need to hurry, Tony, we don¡¯t want to be late for class.¡± Watching the two scamper off, old Reginald let out a sigh, ¡°It would be a shame if he were to lose that duel. The boy is much more talented than Reynald and much better with Diana as well.¡± Granny Penny nodded, ¡°It is strange indeed. The two boys have received comparable resources and their status is almost the same. They have even received the same instruction, yet somehow Reynald has never lost a match with young Anthony. I simply do not understand it.¡± Derek turned to them, ¡°Where do they train? Have you watched them to see if there is anything off? Perhaps Anthony is not putting in as much effort?¡± This time it was the old man that responded, ¡°They train their weapons at the Cathedral but we haven¡¯t watched them, their Grandmaster has asked that elders not disturb his students so that they can train without obstruction. Others are allowed to go watch, to encourage people to join his school, but he has asked us not to interfere.¡± Derek watched the young man helping the petite priestess up into her seat. Finally he responded, ¡°Interesting. You don¡¯t think they would mind me taking a look, do you?¡± Chapter 39 - Fior di Battaglia Derek spent the day gardening with his Granny again. A few hours after lunch they cleaned up and headed to the front of the Cathedral¡¯s grounds to wait for Diana and Anthony to return. When the pair arrived Diana excitedly approached their group, ¡°Derek, your grandmother is amazing. Her grasp on holy magic is fierce!¡± Reginald sighed and looked like he was ready to say something, but Penny cut him off, ¡°I would hope so, she was taught by me when she was your age, just like your mother.¡± The little girl hugged her Pappy and cheekily smiled over to the old lady, ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why. Granny Penny is so fierce!¡± ¡°You girl! Quickly come give me a kiss and take Derek to go watch Anthony¡¯s weapons training.¡± Pecking the granny on the cheek, the petite girl turned to Derek, ¡°Ok, it¡¯s kind of boring to watch, but I like to cheer Tony on. He tries so hard but that Reynald bullies him so much. I just want to punch that guy in the nose, but Pappy and Momma won¡¯t let me.¡± She led him to a courtyard where many young men and women were practicing various weapons. She sat on a bench in one of the covered areas of the courtyard while Derek leaned against a nearby pillar. The majority of the youths were practicing forms in lines in the center of the courtyard while the instructors had pulled Reynald and Anthony to opposite corners and were training them individually. After a while of watching, Derek had a troubled look on his face. As the students were starting to pair up for sparring, he heard a voice from behind him, ¡°Oh, it looks like we have a visitor. What do you think of my students so far?¡± Derek turned to see a man in green and red doublet and hose approaching him. The amaryllis on his blouse signified who he was. He bowed politely to the man, ¡°Grandmaster Fiore, I did not realize that the master instructing here was you, but it makes sense that the Cathedral would hire the most famous Weapons Master in the city.¡± The older man smiled magnanimously at him, ¡°Of course, of course. Though, the majority of the training is done by students. I train very few students these days but I do take the time to visit the Cathedral to see how the training is going. It is always good to see how the next generation is doing.¡± The students were now broken up into pairs for sparring and the two watched as Anthony and Reynald sparred. Finally the Grandmaster spoke, ¡°Tsk, so much wasted talent, why is his stance so poor, and why is it he is not using the Contra-Contrario at all. Reynald¡¯s skills are solid but he lacks imagination and talent, this Anthony should absolutely be his better. What would I tell his mother if she were still alive?¡± Derek turned to him, ¡°Oh? So you had just arrived when you approached me? That would explain your confusion.¡± ¡°Yes, I saw you when I walked in and was impressed with how calmly you were assessing the students so I approached you directly. Why do you ask?¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°They are teaching him this way on purpose. I watched the majority of the practice time and Anthony truly would be a prodigy if trained by someone of your caliber. You can tell because his body kept finding the best stances naturally. The issue is that his instructor was specifically coaching him into these awkward ones you are seeing now. None of the other students in this room have been taught like this. ¡°As for the Contra-Contrario training he should be receiving, I watched them instruct Reynald with those techniques, but none of the other students have been taught this. I can only imagine they specifically want to create a group of students with fundamental weaknesses in their training for them and their preferred students to exploit.¡± The older man had turned his gaze towards Derek, and it burned with anger, ¡°You are making bold accusations young man. Why would a Master of my school intentionally sabotage one of his students?¡± Derek met his gaze, ¡°That would be for you to find out as it is the future of your school that is at stake here. If you allow this to continue, it will not just be Anthony that is harmed by these corrupt instructors, but your school¡¯s image in the community as well. ¡°It would be a shame too, because Anthony¡¯s instincts towards how to wield his weapons align more perfectly with your style than anyone in this room, including these instructors. If you have been seeking someone to truly inherit your mantle, this young man would be it. These instructors seem hell bent on denying you that.¡± Giovanni Fiore stared at Derek for a while, his emotions easily visible on his face. Derek met his gaze, unflinching before the much more powerful man. Finally the Grandmaster broke eye contact and strode out into the courtyard, drawing the attention of all of the students in the space. They all bowed courteously to their Grandmaster as he walked up to the chief instructor.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The instructor had a worried look on his face, he had never seen his master so furious since he had met him. ¡°Master Fiore, what can I do for you? The lesson isn¡¯t quite complete for the day¡­¡± ¡°Giancarlo, stand aside. Students Reynald and Anthony, come demonstrate your form before me.¡± The instructor¡¯s face turned slightly red at being dismissed in front of his class like this but he dutifully stepped aside for his master. Reynald and Anthony both took up positions in front of the Grandmaster and began showing their forms. Reynald¡¯s was near perfect but unimaginative as if learned by rote. Anthony¡¯s was terribly flawed, but he would occasionally transition well as he allowed his body to move in the way that felt right to him. After watching for a short period of time, a placid emotionless mask had settled upon Fiore¡¯s face. Finally, he spoke again, ¡°That is enough, stop. Reynald stand aside. Anthony, I want you to relax and start over, this time forget how your instructors taught you and remember the moves as they are written in the manual. I want you to perform the forms in the way that feels the most natural for you.¡± At this point the instructors¡¯ faces paled. Anthony nodded his understanding and relaxed his body. He closed his eyes and stood perfectly still for almost a full minute before he began once again. This time his moves were more fluid and his stances were more stable. His form was not perfect but it was far better than it had been and it demonstrated his natural potential to the fullest. The Grandmaster nodded as he watched. Then he turned to the three instructors. ¡°This is more like it. You three almost achieved something rare here. You almost wasted a talent who had come to my school for teaching. I would love to know why, but I am unsure of your integrity so I will not ask. I feel ashamed that it took an outsider to reveal this farce to me, but now that he has, it will no longer stand. You three are excused from instructing the students here for now. We will talk later to determine fault and whether you can be trusted to instruct my students in the future. Now leave¡± The lead instructor stepped forward, ¡°Master, may I know at least who it was that impugned my honor like this so that I can demand satisfaction?¡± The older man¡¯s mask broke as rage became visible before he spoke, ¡°Oh, are you going to duel yourself? It is a fact that you have been teaching my students incorrectly. The person who made me aware of it is not at fault for that. Would you like to disgrace yourself any further today or are you going to leave my sight first?¡± The area around him erupted in mana as his anger reached its peak. The greys, blues, and yellows of wind, water, and earth twisting in the air around him. The three instructors were quickly cowed and left the room. After a moment the Grandmaster had regained control of his emotions as the Guardian walked into the courtyard trailing a few guards. ¡°Giovanni, it is rare to see you so enraged. Is there anything you need me to do to keep the peace.¡± Fiore smiled sadly to the man before pointing to Anthony, ¡°Ah, Andre, today has truly been an embarrassment for me. I am sorry to have alarmed you, but I am glad you are here. I want to take this boy as my personal student, can you do me this favor.¡± The Guardian smiled back, ¡°If you want to take him as your student that is fine, but as the future Guardian he will still need a diverse education and is expected to finish his education at the Academy.¡± ¡°That is fine, I can¡¯t be bothered to teach him those boring things anyways, but I will want him for the rest of his time then.¡± ¡°Then as long as the boy is fine with it we will not interfere.¡± The Grandmaster turned to Anthony. ¡°So what will it be boy? I wish for you to be my student. If you accept my teachings I have no doubt that one day you will advance my art beyond even where I have brought it. So what do you say? Will you be my student?¡± The Anthony was quite surprised, he looked around. He got a nod of approval from the Guardian and a glare from Reynald, but the most important was Diana¡¯s response. She hopped on her bench and shouted, ¡°You can do it Anthony! So fierce!¡± Smiling, he turned to Fiore, ¡°Grandmaster, if you will take me, I will be your student.¡± The Grandmaster smiled back before turning to the other students, ¡°Good, I expect you to work hard from here on out. As for the rest of you, your training is complete for the day. Take the rest of this time off. I will arrange new instructors to come here tomorrow.¡± As the rest of the students filed out, Fiore had a short talk with the Guardian before making his way back to Derek. ¡°Thank you young man. I owe you for this.¡± ¡°I am glad it worked out,¡± Derek responded before turning to the petite Priestess hugging her future Guardian. ¡°I will see you two later, I should probably go find Granny Penny now.¡± Anthony nodded while the girl stuck her tongue out at him. Waving them off he headed out of the courtyard. He had barely made it ten steps from the courtyard when a man stepped in front of him. Derek recognized him as Giancarlo, the instructor who the Grandmaster had reprimanded just moments before. The man moved to strike Derek, but a hand snapped out to stop him. The Guardian spoke up, ¡°I don¡¯t care why you feel the need to slap someone in public, but I do care that you were planning on doing so on Cathedral grounds. I would remind you that you are on sacred ground and that you would be breaking the law if you were to act on that impulse. You should think twice before taking your next action.¡± The man looked at the Guardian and his face drained under the pressure of the man¡¯s aura, ¡°Of course, Guardian, but this man has impugned my honor. I demand the right to duel him.¡± ¡°If you wish to demand a duel, you may do so outside of the Cathedral grounds, Giancarlo.¡± The man glared daggers at Derek, ¡°Then come out if you dare, boy.¡± Derek watched the man walk out into the street then grinned in his direction and turned on his heel to go see if his granny had dinner prepared. A commotion from the street caused him to turn around again only to find that the man had fainted in his rage. The boy laughed, "Guess I won the duel." Chapter 40 - The Demon Lords Seal Returning to his granny¡¯s cottage, Derek found her preparing dinner. By the time he was washed up and had set the table the meal was prepared and the two settled in to eat. The old lady once again used this opportunity to lecture him on topics related to his classes. After their meal they met with Reginald and joined the others at the Cathedral. Derek once more felt the calming effect of the Rites of Sunset and as the service camecloser to its end, he heard a soft whisper, ¡°Good child, you have performed admirably. You have my blessing.¡± As he heard those words, he felt a warmth grow within him that seemed to fortify him and he felt as if a strain on his psyche that he hadn¡¯t even noticed had been reduced. He could tell by the remaining effect that the strain wasn¡¯t completely gone, but he felt much better and his mood improved. She continued, ¡°Child, you now have the tools to defeat your enemy. To grant you more would be to deny you your own agency in your immediate struggle. This struggle will be the first of many for you. Let your struggle be a mirror of the struggle of all life caught in the balance between Order and Chaos, Light and Darkness. Your''s is the Unholy Seal of the Hell''s Gate mountains. I expect your struggle will be greater than that of any of the other remaining Seal Bearers. ¡°Now focus your mana, boy. Settle it into your Talisman. Reach out through the connection within it to your other Patrons so that they might collaborate with me. Good, I can sense them, their gaze is settling upon you.¡± A matronly voice cut in, ¡°Oho, what¡¯s this? Has our precocious boy also caught your attention, Aine.¡± ¡°Canti, it is always a pleasure. I will need you and your husband¡¯s aid to reforge this Talisman.¡± the Sun goddess replied. ¡°Of course, dear girl, of course. Come, old man, assist us.¡± Derek felt their presence. The dusky light coming through the west wall''s stained glass windows seemed to settle upon him as his talisman heated and rose from his chest. He focused upon it and heard their whispered instructions. He raised his hands around it and channeled his mana into the little sprites that assisted with the intricate work of intertwining the runes. He felt as if the complexity was almost beyond him but with the assistance of the three gods he was able to overcome the hurdle and even glean insights for his own runecrafting. As the piece neared completion, he felt the heat from the piece absorb into it. The surface cooled and the Talisman dropped into his hand. Now a many-rayed sun shone upon the hearth in which the hammer rested. He touched it, tracing the lines of the work and marveling at its intricacy. He could sense the heat from before seeping into the center where the greedy little sprites were eating it up. As he held his new Talisman, he heard the voices of his Patrons. The first to speak was the Forge god, ¡°Congratulations boy on your new Patron. Remember our pact and be well.¡± The matronly voice was next, ¡°Child, I have been most pleased with you. Stay healthy and continue to make me proud.¡± Finally, the sun goddess spoke again, ¡°Finish your current conflict and prepare yourself. I will have much need for you in summer. The future conflict will be a crucible, but I expect you to come forth from it all the stronger.¡± He felt their presence receding. Looking up, he saw the light coming from the western windows climbing up the eastern walls and the rest of the cathedral was now bathed in candle light. The congregation was all looking at him. Embarrassed, he turned to his granny to see her smiling at him, ¡°Congratulations boy, the Goddess has marked you as her own. As long as you bear her blessing you will be considered part of the Church.¡± He turned to look around and saw the looks of approval from the various members of the congregation. Even the petite priestess had clenched her fist in his direction and was mouthing ¡°so fierce¡± in his direction. On the dias he saw the Priestess smiling down at him, seeing that she had his attention, she spoke, ¡°It is wonderful that the Goddess has chosen one of ours to bear her blessing this day. Everyone, let us finish with the closing Rite and consider this auspicious event in our preparations for tomorrow...¡± With that, she led the conclusion of the service, releasing the congregation for the evening. Derek followed his granny back to her cottage, where she delved him, ¡°Hmm, indeed, you have been blessed by the Goddess. HerBlessing will improve your abilities with fire, order, and light magic. Naturally, your grasp of Holy and Wrath magic will improve as well. It is only natural for you to familiarize yourself to her Blessing with ease as your first ancestor was once an Archpaladin of our Goddess. He served her all his life and the techniques of your Clan were techniques derived from the sacred teachings of the Goddess. ¡°Tomorrow, we will practice Holy and Wrath magic to ensure your adaptation to the Blessing so get some sleep, boy. I am very proud of you.¡± Derek went towards his room but paused in the doorway, ¡°Granny, what¡¯s a Seal Bearer and why does being the Seal Bearer of the Hell''s Gate mountains mean my struggle will be somehow greater than others?¡± The old woman looked troubled for a moment before speaking, ¡°So She mentioned that, did she? Derek, a Seal Bearer is one who is bonded to a Seal. These Seals form a part of a greater Seal that spans the continent. This greater Seal is known to your Clan as the Demon Lord¡¯s Seal. The Seal is empowered by the dedication of those that maintain it and the individual Seal Bearers are focuses for their portion of the Seal. Their mere existence empowers it, while the Seal itself empowers them.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°There were originally eight seals, of which only five are now actively maintained. Yours is the Unholy Seal of the Hell''s Gate mountains. It is one of two Unholy Seals, the other being the Unholy Seal of Gate Spire Keep. While the Seal of Light and Seal of Order were the keystones to the formation and corruption of those would lead to the eventual collapse of the whole Seal, the two Unholy Seals sit upon the two places of greatest Unholy power on the continent. They could be said to be the foundation of the Seal. Loss of even one of the two would lead to a Demonic Incursion that would likely cause the deaths of millions before it was contained. ¡°And you, boy, are the Bearer of one of them. For now, it is suppressed, your body is too weak to safely contain the energies within so you must grow stronger. Your path will be one of struggle. The Seal Bearer must be strong and that strength must be his own. You may acquire strength from Patrons, but the core of your strength must be earned because in the end, the Seal Bearers are the guardians of their Seals. ¡°But that is a problem for you to consider later. Tonight you must sleep, because you have a more immediate battle to fight.¡± He nodded to her, doubt and insecurity crossing his face before determination took its place, ¡°Ok, granny. I will do my best.¡± ¡°I know you will, boy. Do not let it bother you too much. You still have us here to guide you and protect you until you are strong. Now go to sleep.¡± ¡°Goodnight Granny,¡± He smiled at her and entered his room to change for bed. Laying down he felt warmth flow through him from his Talisman and quickly fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, he found himself back at the entrance to the cavern he and his cousins had faced the demons in. He was equipped with his armor and weapons. He glanced down to see the Talisman shining brightly on his chest. He touched it lightly and felt his confidence bolstered by the warmth radiating from it. Inside the cavern he heard the screeching and howling of demons. Taking a moment before entering, he cast Righteous Fury upon himself at seventh level. This was the spell that had injured him greatly just a few days before, but now with the enhancement to the Talisman and the Blessing itself he was able to cast it without worry. As the spell settled upon him, he felt his body grow stronger, more robust, and lithe, while his mind became clearer and thoughts became quicker. He sensed his Light, Order, and Fire attributes improve, pushing through the eighth level and into the ninth. A flaming shield formed around him, providing protection while charring the immediate area around him. Sensing the improvement, and calculating the formula for his next spell, he cast Righteous Blessing, the first of the two spells Belany had cast that injured her so gravely. Successfully casting it at level nine, he felt his base attributes improve once again, along with his light and order attributes. Along with the empowerment came a more solid holy shield that overlapped with the one from before. Striding forward, Derek clasped his glaive and entered the cave complex where he had almost died before. This time he felt more confident. His skills had improved since the last time he had fought this demon, his knowledge had improved, and he had even taken a portion of the demon¡¯s power as his own. The Demon on the other hand, had diminished. It had expended much of its strength attempting to overpower Derek¡¯s psyche and while Derek¡¯s injuries had been healed by his elders, the Demon¡¯s had not. Derek could sense it, the dread coming from the Demon as he took his first step into the cavern where his party had been ambushed. There, arrayed before him, was the army of Demons he had faced before. Derek smiled, ¡°In this place, you almost killed me and my cousins. It did not happen then. It will not happen now.¡± He then finished his spell. Empowered by the enhancements of the two spells he had cast before, this was the most powerful Sanctuary spell he knew how to cast. At level ten it more than filled the cavern, enhancing his body still more while greatly weakening his enemies. The light rain of holy mana from the spell struck the tightly packed Demons on the other side of the room and quickly the Least Demons were immolated and falling to ash on the ground. The Lesser and True Demons lunged towards him, but as they entered his range he blasted out with a level ten Holyfire directed in a cone towards them all. Nothing but husks were left of the Lesser Demons that had been caught in the blast and the one True Demon caught was greatly burnt but continued to rush forward with the others in tow. Derek backpedaled blasting out six more level ten Holyfires before the last Demon was also crumbling to ash before him. He recognized them for some form of construct within this space, their forms in reality having been destroyed the first time he was here. He called out, ¡°Demon, I am coming for you. Do not think to hide.¡± He strode forward towards the Demon¡¯s throne room. This time he cast another level ten sanctuary into the room itself to give himself as much advantage as possible. Firming the grip on his glaive and walking in, he found the Greater Demon hunkered on it¡¯s throne. There were claw marks on the backing and armrests as if it had been thrashing in place. The Demon looked at the collapsed gate and ruined alter on the other side of the room, ¡°You have closed the gate and sealed me off from my source of power. You have destroyed my body now you seek to destroy my soul. I, who have lived for eons would be ended by you? Is that what you seek boy?¡± Derek looked at the Demon and remembered the pain from the Demon¡¯s attempt to crush his own mind and turn him into an Abomination. He remembered the fear and pain from that night when the Demon had almost killed them in that ambush. He remembered a thousand other instances of the predations of Demons from the Sword Ceremony. He smiled grimly at the Demon before him, ¡°Yes, it is.¡± The Demon snarled and lunged at him seeking to use what was left of its once considerable power to lash out at him. Derek cleanly sidestepped, before lashing out with the strongest Smite he could muster, cleaving the creature in half at the abdomen. The two halves of the body started to turn to ash just as the others had. The Demon looked at him as its body scattered, ¡°You think you have won, boy, but I will now be a part of you. Always watching. Always waiting for that one chance to seize from you what you have taken from me. I, Panklethu, will always be here. Remember that name boy and tremble, because one day I will return this favor.¡± Chapter 41 Recovery Derek woke to find his bed drenched in sweat. He felt an agonizing pain reminiscent of the peak of the Coming of Age Ceremony. The room was aglow in holy light and he turned his head to find hs Granny standing over him channeling holy energy into him. This energy interacted with the existing feeling of fire within him and dispersed it into the cells of his body. Her eyes glowed in holy light as she finished her spell. She smiled at him and patted his cheek. ¡°There boy, your Coming of Age Ceremony truly is done now. The remnant power of the Demon has been fully transferred into your body. Truly barbaric, but considering your Clan¡¯s financial straits, it is an effective way to gain power.¡± ¡°Granny, he said he would be watching me, he said he could still take over. Will I always be at risk of becoming an Abomination?¡± ¡°Hmm, there will always be that risk child. The power of the soul has been absorbed by you and the soul has become a part of you. Just as our elements often inform our behaviors, the methods of enhancement do so as well. Your very nature has been altered by every attainment in magic you have gained and by every enhancement you have received, but you are still you. What you do with these enhancements is still essentially driven by you, not by the urges they may present. ¡°Still, it is beneficial that you have accepted so many Blessings. The power of your Patrons will encourage you to behave more like they desire. The god of the forge will encourage industriousness, while the goddess of the hearth will make you more protective and loving. The goddess of the sun will make your temperament more fiery and contentious, but also drive you towards greater zeal in upholding what you value. What power can a mere remnant of a Demon have over you when you already have three gods heavily influencing your behavior?¡± He looked puzzled for a moment, before looking up at her and grinning, ¡°Is that why you get mad at that old fogey so easily? Because of how deep your connection to your goddess is?¡± Her eyes bulged for a moment before she flicked his forehead, ¡°Don¡¯t get smart with me dull boy. You aren¡¯t big enough that I can¡¯t wear out your hide. That old man has earned all the anger I can muster towards him and more. Now go to sleep.¡± ¡°Ouch, I am sorry granny. Goodnight.¡± The youngman started to yawn as he saw her hunched back leaving the room. He saw a slight smile on her face as she turned to close the door to his room and sleep quickly took him.
The old woman sighed and sat down at her kitchen table, ¡°Old man, that was almost too much. Your people¡¯s rituals are too barbaric. He should have been tier four at least before attempting a Greater Demon¡¯s heart.¡± A shadow moved from the corner to sit across from her, revealing itself to be Matteus. He reached across the table to grip her hands. Massaging and pouring holy energy into her through them, he spoke, ¡°Penelope, you know why the Clan does these things. We are not wealthy, yet we are required to keep the Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains under control. We must produce enough powerhouses to prevent fools from clearing us out of there for whatever misguided reason they may have. It¡¯s all in service to the ancient Pact our Ancestor made.¡± She looked at him and snorted, but her voice lacked the edge it normally carried. It almost sounded plaintive, ¡°But I didn¡¯t make that Pact, Mat. I had no part in it and have had to watch generation after generation of my descendents struggle, bleed, corrupt their spirits, and eventually leave their bones exposed in those mountains. Exorcism becomes a mercy for them then, their souls eternally tainted. Even bound to the Church, Reginald¡¯s progeny have lived long, full lives and died happily surrounded by their children and grandchildren, but not mine. Not mine.¡± The old man got up and walked around the table to hold his wife, ¡°I am sorry Penny, but if you saw the things the Sword has shown us, if you saw the horror that we had seen, you would understand better.If you want a peaceful life for some of your progeny, then ask Derek to allow you to raise one of his within the Church, because the first time they experience the Sword Ceremony, no thought of peace will ever enter their minds again. There can be no true peace for a Thorne while Demons still ravage this world. It is in our very Essence.¡± ¡°It almost killed him, Mat. This one is not even twenty yet. He''s still a child and his soul was almost extinguished in this very city. He and his Grandmother are the last of our line. They are all that we have left when there had once been so many.¡± The old woman had begun weeping and the old man could only hold his wife to console her, ¡°I know, Penny. I know.¡±
The next morning Derek woke feeling sore all over his body but his head was clear and he felt stronger and more vigorous than ever. He heard his granny shuffling about in the kitchen so he dressed quickly to join her. Seeing her preparing a meal he walked over and hugged her, ¡°Good morning granny. Let me wash up and help you.¡± She continued chopping the meat she was preparing but turned and smiled at him. ¡°Good, I need you to dice these peppers and toss them into these eggs I have prepared here.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. As he diced the vegetables, the room became quiet except for the sound of their chopping and the fire in the stove. He glanced over at his granny to see that she had moved on to preparing rolls. When he was done dicing the peppers he added them to the eggs and stirred them together. He finally broke the silence, ¡°Granny, what next?¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± she said, ¡°We are almost prepared, Set the table for us and leave extra settings for that old rogue and Reggie in case they come by.¡± He nodded and as he set the placings the two fell into silence again. After a while Reginald came by and sat at his place, not breaking the silence at all. Shortly afterwards there was a knock on the door before Matteus walked in. He read the mood and took a seat next to Reginald. Derek began moving the dishes to the table as his granny finished preparing them. Soon, they were all able to sit and eat. The quiet in the room was finally broken then as the food was passed around. There was more than enough for the four of them, and Derek¡¯s granny insisted he eat extras. He did not complain as he had felt famished that entire morning. Three omelets and several rolls had already disappeared down his gullet when he started to slow down. His granny just smiled as she handed him another slice of ham. Finally, she spoke. ¡°Eat as much as you want. Your body has gone through a major trauma. You will need a lot of food to provide you the energy you need to repair it. After the Rites of Sunrise we will go for a nice stroll around the grounds to loosen you up before we begin practice today.¡± The boy nodded to her and continued eating. As they finished eating, Matteus stood up and gripped the old lady¡¯s shoulder assuringly, ¡°Penny, I have to go back to the mountains now. Send word when things are decided.¡± Derek¡¯s granny smiled and turned to him, ¡°I will. Stay safe old man.¡± As he exited the door, he turned and smiled at her, ¡°Ehehe, as if anything in those mountains could kill me.¡± After cleaning the table, the other three headed to the Cathedral to participate in the morning Rites. Derek allowed the experience to wash over him. He felt the holy energies of the service seep into him; rejuvenating, vitalizing, and healing his body. As they left the service he nodded to the young priestess and her would be guardian as they boarded their carriage for the trip to the Academy. Their walk through the parks behind the Cathedral was peaceful and by the time he had eaten his lunch he felt as good as new. His granny led him to a training yard towards the rear of the compound away from prying eyes and began running him through a rigorous round of training, going over the spells he knew and the ones he had been merely improvising. After a few hours of this Reginald joined them, covering spells that were more specific to a magic warrior¡¯s repertoire. Seeing that Derek had advanced beyond sixth level casting, Reginald began instructing him in the advanced use of Weapon Channeling type spells. Starting with the smite that Derek had practiced a million times in his life, he showed how to formulate a spell matrix that would encapsulate the energy and hurl it towards his enemy at range. A weaker caster could only reach a few dozen paces with this type of attack, but a stronger caster could reach out to a few hundred, negating the need for ranged weapons altogether. Derek practiced with it and within half an hour had gotten used to the technique. He began blending the spells he knew into it and was met with varying degrees of success. Smite was his most successful, but only because he was most familiar with it. He had been making minute changes to smite for years as he sought to get the most effectiveness out of it. That evening, after the service he slept easily and the next day he began his new routine, being lectured by his granny while manicuring the gardens and training magic with his granny and her brother before the Rites of Sunset. His improvement in Auras and Weapon Channeling was significant over that time as he focused on repetition and trial and error to increase the efficiency of his spell casting. Finally, as the week came to an end and holiday began, Derek was pleasantly surprised to see some visitors after the Rite of Sunrise. Eona, Rebekah, Ander, Ovid, and Alicia had all come to see them. Derek smiled as he saw the reunion between his grandmother and her granny. ¡°Rebekah, it has been so long and look how you have grown. I am so happy to see you, girl. I have missed you so.¡± the old lady said as she looked up and tried to reconcile the girl with ponytails she had once known with the matron before her now. ¡°Granny, you don¡¯t look like you have aged a day. You look just as healthy as you did when I was smaller than you.¡± ¡°But I have, child. Age doesn¡¯t affect the bodies of the powerful like it does for a normal person, but time still passes and continued existence is a curse of its own as you watch the world pass on¡­. Enough of that, let us go and eat. I will make the peach cobbler you liked when you were little.¡±
Derek Thorne- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Demon Warrior, Tier Two: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Greater Demon Heart: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Armor: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Warsword: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Glaive: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Bow: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 42 - Two Duels The family had a cheerful meal together before heading over to the Cathedral at noon. The noon service was the one intended for the general public and all the pews were filled. The Sun¡¯s rays through the stained-glass skylight bathed the room in a wash of beautiful color. The service was charged with an uplifting feel that bolstered the people¡¯s spirits. As the crowd filed out of the building to go about their day, Eona approached the Priestess. ¡°Venerable Cleric, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Eona Windreach and I wish to thank you for your wise judgement in the case of my son¡¯s attacker.¡± The woman turned to her and smiled, ¡°It was my pleasure to handle this matter. I am also grateful that you put this matter into my hands. While Rhys is a bit of a fool at times, he is not a bad man, just overzealous in his desire to advance the causes of the Church. ¡°Sadly, he has been convinced by his Chapter Master that undermining the Academy¡¯s influence is one such cause. When coupled with the prejudice many more radical members of the faith have towards your late husband¡¯s Clan, it is easy to see what his motives were. It is a shame though. I have been very disappointed in the recent behavior and lack of discipline demonstrated by the members of the local Chapter of the Order of the Ardent Dawn.¡± Granny Penny snorted, ¡°That fool Ordino is so interested in corporeal power that he forgets his order¡¯s tenets. He should be warylest he loses the goddess¡¯s favor one day with his fixation on power politics.¡± The Priestess let out an exasperated sigh, ¡°I know, but that is for his Order to figure out, not me. I have already done everything I can to mitigate the disturbances they were causing.¡± Penny patted her hand gently, ¡°It¡¯s fine, girl, I am sure the Grand Master of the Order will step in before things get too out of hand. Send my love to your cheeky daughter will you, I will be taking my family around the Temple District to visit the other Temples.¡± The Priestess smiled, ¡°Thank you, I will. May the Sun guide your way.¡± Saying goodbye to the Priestess they strolled out of the Cathedral grounds and turned to go deeper into the Temple district.The family didn¡¯t get far before they were stopped by a group barring their way. These newcomers were glowering quite rudely at the party as they spread to surround them. Reginald glanced at his sister and spoke before she could erupt at these people. ¡°What is the meaning of this? Today is a holy day and you are disturbing the peace. Do you want the guards to come down on you?¡± Two men stepped forward from the group blocking them. Derek recognized them both. The first was Giancarlo, the disgraced Weapon Master, and the second was Rhys, the Paladin who had assaulted him. Giancarlo spoke for the two of them, ¡°Oh but the guards won¡¯t be coming down on us. My friend and I are here to demand a duel and these others are here to witness it.¡± Derek looked at him and asked incredulously, ¡°So you really want to challenge me here, in the Temple District, during a holy day? Don¡¯t you have more important things to be doing?¡± Giancarlo snarled and strode forward to slap him, ¡°You have dishonored my good name. There is nothing more important for me to do. As a Weapons Master I demand a duel at this moment.¡± It was then that Ovid stepped forward, ¡°I do not know you, but since a tier six is bold enough to request a duel with my tier two student, I have the right to accept this duel in his stead. I will warn you though, threatening my student in front of me on a normal day would quite likely be the last mistake you ever made. This being a Holy Day, I am willing to be lenient. I, Tier Five Weapons Master Ovid Balder of Windreach, accept your duel and I promise I will not kill you.¡± The man¡¯s confidence dropped instantly. He stammered, ¡°O-Ovid Balder. When did you return to the city? Master Fiore has been looking for you for a rematch all these years.¡± ¡°If Giovanni wishes to face me again, he can come find me. I would welcome the competition. But as of right now, you have a much more immediate concern than your master¡¯s desire to fight me. Now that you have gotten the duel you requested you should draw your weapon. Or were you only interested in dueling if you knew you would win?¡± The man¡¯s face paled, and he shakely drew his blade. The crowd that had gathered formed a circle around them. Both duelists were using the longsword. Derek watched with great interest as he had never seen his Master fight. His Master was clearly the better swordsman, as he moved smoothly from attack to defense and back again. The difference in their tiers seemed to have little effect on the overall fight as Ovid¡¯s skills were sufficient to bridge the gap in attributes. As Derek watched he heard a bemused voice from beside him. ¡°Ah, it is good to see Ovid back in the city. I was afraid I would never again meet someone who could truly challenge me.¡± Derek turned to see Grand Master Giovanni standing there. Derek was confused, ¡°Aren¡¯t you concerned for your student?¡± Fiore shook his head, ¡°That man is no longer a student of mine. His vindictive behavior and his willingness to take coin to deliberately sabotage one of his students were too much to overlook. I cast him out of my school after I had discovered it. Truly a pity. When he was young he had been such a promising student but poor integrity is too important to overlook.¡± Derek turned back to watch the duel. Giancarlo was already bloodied and winded. He could not find an opening and was instead constantly having his guard broken by his clearly superior opponent. The cuts upon his body had added up, and not a single piece of his clothing was unbloodied. Finally, with an abrupt flick of Ovid¡¯s blade, the tendons of Giancarlo¡¯s wrists were cut and the man¡¯s weapon fell from his hands. Several people gasped in shock at the way the fight ended. Ovid himself waved the other man away to be healed by his second and cleaned his blade before returning to the group. Fiore applauded loudly, ¡°Bravo, Ovid! Your dueling style is as sinister as it once was. I look forward to an opportunity to compare notes in the near future.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Ovid smiled at the other man. There was something predatory in the way they looked at each other, a barely concealed aggression reserved for opponents they truly respected. He nodded to his old rival, ¡°I would be honored.¡± After Giancarlo¡¯s wounds were tended, Rhys stepped forward, ¡°Abomination, I underestimated you last time. I will not do so again. Do you dare to fight me?¡± Derek stepped forward, ¡°I am no Abomination, Paladin. I do not desire to harm you. Do you really feel the need to do this on a Holy Day?¡± Rhys merely glowered, ¡°What better Day to defeat a filthy Abomination like yourself? I, Tier Four Paladin Rhys Wallace, challenge you to a duel. Do you dare accept my challenge.¡± Derek felt his irritation spiking before he heard his granny whisper to him, ¡°Go ahead boy. Fight to your heart¡¯s content. I will make sure neither of you die.¡± ¡°Thanks granny,¡± he whispered before turning to the man, ¡°Fine then, I, Tier Two Demon Warrior Derek Thorne, accept your duel.¡± The crowd was slightly taken aback by this. It was not unheard of for a tier two to be able to fight a tier four but it was incredibly rare. The Paladin¡¯s insistence on a duel was seen as quite dishonorable, as nothing would be proved by defeating someone of such a lower tier than him. They both drew their weapons. Unlike the earlier duel between Weapons Masters, this one was not limited to sword skills. They both readied their longswords before Rhys charged forward, a Holy Aegis in place and flame being channelled through his weapon. Derek¡¯s brought his own Holy attribute defensive spell up as he moved to meet his opponent. He dodged the first swing, feeling the heat from the fire attribute spell as it barely missed his scalp, then parried the second, third, and fourth. The paladin was stronger than him, but not by a large margin and Derek could keep up with his motions. He settled into a defensive stance, relying on his superior weapon skill and spell casting, intending to allow the Paladin to burn through his mana pool first. The fight continued for several minutes until finally the Paladin¡¯s mana had run out, Derek blasted the Paladin with a Wind Buffet from the side, catching him off guard and knocking him off balance. He lunged forward, using Wind attribute mana to accelerate forward. Before the Paladin could regain his balance, Derek had landed three hard blows with theflat of his blade to the ribs, right collarbone, and wrists. Each connection was accompanied by a cracking sound as the affected bones were broken. As if to mimic the previous duel, Rhys¡¯s weapon also fell to the ground. The crowd erupted in excitement. Grand Master Fiore turned to Ovid, ¡°Your student¡¯s skill is reminiscent of your own at that age. Only he seems less blood thirsty than you were at the time.¡± Ovid shrugged his shoulders, ¡°The boy doesn¡¯t consider humans his enemies. Only Demons. Why would he be as bloodthirsty as me? I had human enemies to spare at his age. We both did.¡± The Grand Master snorted, ¡°Demons? They exist? I¡¯ll believe that when I see it. Just tales told by the Church to keep people in line.¡± Ovid looked sharply at Fiore, ¡°They do. I have seen them. They can be terrifying and a true nightmare to defeat for normal folks.¡± The other man¡¯s incredulity hadn¡¯t abated. He just looked at Ovid and shook his head. Finally he responded, ¡°Sure. If you say so.¡± Derek sheathed his sword and returned to his family but when Rhys was healed he pushed forward again to demand another duel. Derek looked at him incredulously, ¡°I have already beaten you, twice. Why should I fight you again? For what reason do you demand another duel?¡± Another voice spoke up, this time from the Paladin that had healed Rhys and Giancarlo, ¡°Because you are an Abomination and it is only right to challenge you. It is a Paladin¡¯s duty to stand up to the tainted and corrupt! If you will not accept a duel from him, then accept one from me. I am ...¡± Before he could finish granny Penny stepped forward and shook her walking stick at them. ¡°That¡¯s enough. It seems you fools have been sorely mislead. You believe this boy is an Abomination? Then how has he been casting Holy spells this entire time? Holy magic is just as anathema to Abominations as it is to Demons and neither Demons nor Abominations can cast it yet this boy has cast at least two dozen holy spells in front of you today. ¡°Even if you didn¡¯t know that, look at his Amulet. It has been fully displayed this entire time. Do you not see your own goddess¡¯s symbol on it? It may well be a Paladin¡¯s duty to stand up to the tainted and corrupt, but is it your duty to attack someone bearing the blessing of your very own goddess? Are you not afraid of our goddess¡¯s retribution should you harm one of her own unjustly? How stupid can you be?¡± The Paladin¡¯s mouth was left open in a surprised expression as the old lady shook her stick at him. As she lectured his face went from surprised to angry to embarrassed. When he saw the holy symbol on Derek¡¯s neck and turned to look at the crowd that had begun gossiping around him his embarrassment only grew. With the granny¡¯s final insulting question, he finally had enough and left with his people. Granny Penny turned to the crowd then, ¡°What are you people all doing here? Don¡¯t you have better things to be doing on a Holy Day?¡±
Rhys Wallace- Previous Classes- Noble, Magic Warrior, Magic Warrior, Magic Warrior Permanent Enhancements- Magic Warrior, Tier One: +1 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Agility, +1 Mind Magic Warrior, Tier Two: +1 Strength, +1 Body, +1 Agility, +1 Mind Magic Warrior, Tier Three: +1 Strength, +2 Body, +1 Agility, +2 Mind Paladin, Tier Four: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Rhino Horn: +2 to Strength, +4 to Body Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Equipment- Runic Armor: basic protection low t5, maximum defensive spell level 7 Runic Weapon: basic offensive low t5, maximum offensive spell level 7 Talisman of the Sun Goddess: +5 to Order, Light, and Fire Attributes
Derek Thorne- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Demon Warrior, Tier Two: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Greater Demon Heart: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Armor: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Warsword: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Glaive: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Forge God¡¯s Bow: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6 Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 43 - In the Temple District ¡°Ovid, I will see you in a few weeks. For now I have a new student to pick up.¡± Grandmaster Fiore left as the crowd dispersed. Ovid watched him leave before shaking his head. He turned to Derek. ¡°This student must be something special to have Giovanni so excited.¡± ¡°He is, Master,¡± Derek replied. ¡°His instincts are good and he seems to have a natural grasp of Fiore¡¯s style. I expect within just a few short weeks the worst faults in his fighting style will have been corrected.¡± ¡°Hmm, he had better hope so,¡± Granny Penny interjected. ¡°He has a trial by combat with Reynald of the Order of the Ardent Dawn in early summer to determine who will be little Diana¡¯s Guardian when she becomes the Priestess. Come now, the day is wasting. This old lady hasn¡¯t left the Cathedral grounds in a few years and I would like to see the sights.¡± As the group left the scene of the two duels, the spectators had already dispersed and only the small spattering of blood on the ground remained to prove anything had happened there. The crowd of Holy Day goers largely ignored the blood as they did the dung from the horses in the street. As far as they were concerned horses defecate andpeople fight. As long as there was no corpse, a little blood on the street would excite no one. The only news of the duels from just after noon had been that a Paladin of the Order of the Ardent Dawn had dueled and lost to a young man two tiers below him and that Ovid Balder had been seen talking with Grandmaster Fiore. This spread like wildfire through the taverns and gossips of the city and by evening, most of the populace had heard exaggerated reports of it. The youth had defeated three Paladins and Fiore had defeated, no slain, Ovid once and for all or perhaps the youth had defeated the Chapter Master himself and Ovid and Fiore had scheduled a duel within the Colosseum. The stories grew wilder as the day continued, causing headaches for many. Heading deeper into the Temple District they saw the ostentatious Temple of the God of Merchants. A massive golden coin stood over the entrance to the Temple and a flood of shopkeepers, caravan guards, teamsters, merchants, bouncers, tavern keepers, and barmaids could be seen going in and out of the place. It was clearly one of the most popular temples in the district. With good reason too, Windreach was a port city situated on one of the busiest highways on the western side of the continent. Easily thirty percent of the wealth in the west flowed through this very city and as the God of Merchants and Wealth and the guarantor of Oaths, this deity would naturally have a huge following. The wealth evident on the face of this building was proof enough even without the throngs of supplicants entering the Temple. They were soon distracted by the mouth-watering smells coming from in front of the Temple of the Goddess of the Sea. Fisherfolk had set up stalls in front of their goddess¡¯s Temple with a variety of cooked and raw fish and shellfish and a lively throng had gathered there to sample Her bounty. Derek¡¯s family each tried various things. Being from the mountains he had had little in the way of seafood before, but he was particularly fond of the fish he couldn¡¯t identify roasted in a honey glaze. As they were preparing to leave Derek heard a voice he recognized and turned to see his teacher, Afua Windreach, speaking to a few of the sailors closer to the entrance of the Temple. These sailors shared her dark skin and wore light, loose fitting clothing. Sensing his gaze, Afua turned to him and smiled upon recognizing him. ¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t my absent young student. I was told your status was quite grave, but it seems you have already been rehabilitated. Have you been keeping up with your lessons?¡± He smiled thinly back at her, still haunted by her display in the library, ¡°Yes, teacher, my granny has been teaching me. I have done all the coursework you sent and have it in my room at the Cathedral.¡± She smiled in response, appearing once more as the perfect image of the kindly old lady she had appeared when she had first entered the classroom. ¡°That is good, I would hate for you to fall behind. The amount of makeup work would be quite troublesome indeed.¡± Derek felt chills as she said that, imagining how much more course work he would have to do if he had fallen behind. What she had already sent him to work on had amounted to several new scrolls of writing and a sore wrist. He laughed nervously, ¡°Of course, of course. I have no intent of falling behind, teacher. My family¡¯s leaving, so I will see you later, goodbye.¡± He scuttled away, barely hearing the amused laughter coming from her and the sailors. He joined his family as they were passing the Goddess of the Earth¡¯s modest Temple. As the goddess of farming and mining, Her temples were rarely ostentatious, except in large mining towns. Next to her Temple was the Temple of the God of Nature. As the ruler of weather, his temple got plenty of attention from people seeking clear skies or rain, relief from drought or natural disaster. He was also known as the protector of explorers and the wild places.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Across from that was the temple of the God of War. Seeing it, Ovid turned to his student, ¡°Derek, whenever you decide to take the Weapons Master class you will have to come here. The Masters here will test you and confirm you have the skills necessary. After that there will be a ceremony in which you will tier up and the god will mark you as one of his own.¡± Derek turned to contemplate the building. Flanking the doors were two armored statues with their spears pointed out and up. Over the doors was a bronze shield with crossed spears. The building was squat and low with none of the ostentation from other Temples, but definitely not humble. It was more like a barely concealed predator. He nodded to Ovid, ¡°I will keep that in mind next time I need to Tier, Master.¡± ¡°This building may not look like much but it is the core of the God of War¡¯s church here. The other main facility in this town is the Colosseum. The contests held there are meant to honor the deity. You will have an opportunity to see the Colosseum at the end of the term when the finals of the Academy¡¯s Student Tournament are held there. You will get to participate yourself if you make it to the finals.¡± Derek looked back as his master, ¡°There¡¯s a tournament? That seems like a waste of time. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to just focus on our training?¡± Ovid laughed, ¡°It may seem like a waste of time, but by holding it, the Academy can showcase to the people how excellent their students are and the families sending their children to the Academy can gage how well their children have grown under the Academy¡¯s tutelage. A great showing during the competitions will show just howgreata choice it was to send their kids here, and encourage more to do the same. ¡°Besides,¡± he smiled, ¡°the prizes are usually fantastic: rare resources for forging weaponsand rare tonics to bolster attributes or increase affinity. The prizes for the Finalists for every age group can be said to be around a thousand talents, and the prizes for winning your age group would be more. It is said that the person who wins the overall contest will receive a prize worth thousands and will become famous throughout the region.¡± Derek thought about that for a while before smiling, ¡°I hope I can win then. I want to become a famous knight errant.¡± Ovid shook his head and smiled at him, ¡°Then you had better not skimp on your practicing. You may be able to beat an average Paladin, but the top students of every year are by no means average. Some have had the fortunes of kingdoms funneled into their development and while I would never assume any had worked harder than you towards growing stronger, many have worked just as hard.¡± Derek continued to smile, growing glassy eyed as he imagined the epic fights he would get to experience during the tournament. He was brought out of his reverie with a cuff to the back of his head. His grandfather spoke gruffly, ¡°Pay attention, boy, you almost walked into that lady.¡± The boy looked around in embarrassment, but saw that the woman had already walked off. The area was crowded and not jostling into people was difficult here. They were approaching the Temple of the Hearth Goddess. This was the goddess his mother had prayed to for all those years in Redwyrm and also the goddess who had granted him Her blessings when he turned sixteen. He smiled, gripping his mother¡¯s hand as they proceeded inside. It was a cheerful, bustling place with flowers decorating the various parts of the well lit room. There was an eclectic mix of people in the room: families gathered to request blessings, pregnant women gathered to speak with the priestesses who also functioned as midwives, orphans selling craft goods for their orphanages, and injured people seeking healing on the Holy Day. One of the priestesses approached, ¡°The Mother¡¯s blessings be upon you. How may I help you today?¡± Eona smiled, placing a pouch into the offering tray next to her, ¡°Mother¡¯s blessings. I came to offer thanks for the many blessings and protections my family has received and to ask that She continue to watch over us and guide us.¡± The priestess led them through a prayer and spoke with Eona for a bit. Derek watched as more and more people came to request healing. He saw the clergy cycle through healing people as they exhausted their mana pools and others took their place. The cycle continued even after the conversation ended. Seeing his interest, the priestess spoke up, ¡°During the majority of the year we only heal life threatening wounds in exchange fordonations, but during Holy Days, we open the doors to any who would seek healing. The burden can be immense, but by the end of the day, those that came will leave healed. ¡°We use the donations from this to fund our orphanages, halfway homes, and soup kitchens, but it takes all of our clergy from the surrounding regions to work together to accomplish this as there are always vastly more people who need help than can give it. I can sense the holy mana in you and I know you use it for whatever struggles the world has brought your way, but perhaps one day, when you are weary of fighting, you can come here and help these people on a more personal level.¡± His mother reached over and straightened his hair, ¡°Derek, if you wish to help heal the people, we can wait here for a while. I am sure it will be a pleasant experience.¡± The boy looked over at Eona and saw her reassuring smile, ¡°Ok, thank you. I would like to do that, sister, what should I do?¡± The priestess smiled at him, ¡°Of course, just leave your weapons here with your family and we will go over now. It is important to listen to the supplicant as often the injury is just as mental as it is physical. Be sympathetic towards their feelings and help them to overcome any anxieties they may still feel towards the situation. Do you understand? Ok, it seems there is a place available for you over there. May the Goddess guide your hands.¡± Chapter 44 - Temple of the Forge God Derek was worn out. Not only had the last hour drained him of his mana as he healed the commoners that had come to him, but he felt emotionally and mentally drained from listening to their anxieties and psychological stresses as well. He could not solve their problems but the combination of physical healing and a sympathetic ear worked wonders. Though the experience took a lot out of him, he felt strangely uplifted by it. Finally he stepped away and was met by the priestess once again. She smiled at him, ¡°See what good you were able to do? It is only through our interactions with our communities that we can truly be human.¡± He returned the smile and responded, ¡°Thank you for this opportunity priestess. I will remember it.¡± She nodded as she led him back to his family. ¡°Of course child, thank you for your help. May the Mother¡¯s Blessings be upon you.¡± As Derek returned to the front of the building, he saw that his mother and Alicia were buying flower wreaths for their hair from one of the orphans¡¯ stalls. The others were sitting and chatting nearby. When she saw him, his mother smiled warmly and came to hug him. ¡°Oh, look how tired you are, you didn¡¯t over do it did you?¡± He hugged her back, ¡°I am sorry for making you wait. I am fine. It was just harder than I thought. These people go through quite a bit.¡± His mother paid the young girl behind the stall before leading him and Alicia away. ¡°It is true. All people have their hardships and not everyone is as lucky as we are to have the backing of powerful families. It is good to remember this often or we risk losing our humanity. With how long high tier people can live, it truly is something to be concerned about.¡± As they approached the others, he saw Granny Penny and his grandmother having a quiet conversation while the three men listened. His grandfather was the first to see them and stood to greet them, ¡°Ah, it is good to see our young physician has returned. I had half thought he was going to quit the family business and run off to be a village healer.¡± Derek turned to look at the line that didn¡¯t seem to have diminished since he started. ¡°While it was very spiritually rewarding, tending these people was quite stressful and fatiguing. I do not know whether I have it in me to commit to doing this long term. Besides, I still want to become a questing knight. Though this is nice, I would much rather do that instead.¡± Ander laughed at that, ¡°Yes, it is what you have wanted to do since childhood, I don¡¯t think any of us could convince you otherwise. Come on, the next temple over is the Temple of the Forge God. Let¡¯s get over there before it is too late. We have offerings to make and proof of your work to deliver to the priests there.¡± The family exited the Temple of the Hearth Goddess and went back into the busy street. Right next to Her brightly lit and warmly decorated Temple was another building, Utilitarian in contrast but showing the finest of craftsmanship this building was no less grand, if a little more understated. Smoke could be seen coming from furnaces and forges throughout the building, and the distinct ring of hammering could be heard along with the sounds of saws and several other tools. Among all the industrial smells Derek could smell the more unpleasant stench of tanning, but the whole effect of the competing smells didn¡¯t seem so bad to him. The women of the group all seemed to have a different opinion, covering their noses and opting to head across the street to visit the Temple of the Goddess of the Moon. They were escorted by Ovid and Reginald. As the goddess who rules over the night, her worshippers included maidens, the recently married, and night watchmen. Her Temple was quiet and reserved in comparison to the others on the street. Waving goodbye to the others, Derek hurried to follow his grandfather. The old man smiled at him, ¡°You understand the ways of our god, but this will be your first time interacting with the priesthood. They are craftsmen just like us. They each have their favored trades. Treat them all with the respect you would of any master craftsman and you will be respected in kind. Do you understand me? Good.¡± The old man turned and led them into the interior. Inside was a large open space, with an opening in the roof. Blast furnaces powered by a waterwheel were situated in the center of the room, with crafting stations arrayed around it. There were men and women scattered throughout the room working at many of the stations. The various noises all blended to create what felt to Derek like a hymn to the god of industry. At the back of the room was a great altar with racks of items behind it. Derek¡¯s grandfather led him to it and came to a stop before the dias it was situated on. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. An older priest in a leather apron came around the altar and offered his hand to greet them. ¡°Welcome, welcome. I am Rune Priest Cnut, what can I do for you?¡± Derek¡¯s grandfather stepped forward and shook his hand firmly. ¡°Cnut, I am Disciple Ander and this is my grandson and apprentice, Derek. He has recently completed his Dedication and we have brought our works as offerings of thanks to our patron.¡± The priest seemed well pleased at this announcement and beckoned them up to the altar. Disciples bringing their works before the god would bring examples of their best work as a way to promote their own prestige and the prestige of the church as a whole. Thus for any true follower of the forge god it was always a pleasure to see these works when presented as some would be true masterworks. Once they had climbed the dias and come up to the altar, Derek saw the intricate rune work on the top of it. The priest beckoned them to place their offerings upon it and a few others gathered around as well. Ander brought forth a great maul that he had recently completed. The weapon was exquisite. Intended for a tier ten warrior, it could accept level ten spells as well. It even housed some arcane properties that Derek was too weak to discover. It¡¯s shaft and head had intricate carvings covering its entire face that showed runes within runes. They extended all the way to a solid butt with a red and black tassel trailing from it. It was truly one of the best works Derek had seen. The weapon was not as great as the Thorneblade, but fantastic nonetheless. As he stared at it, so too did the priests that were gathered around. After a time the Rune Priest cast his mana into the altar and it began to glow. The maul rose into the air, bathed in a bright light. The tassel flapped as if exposed to high wind before the maul settled gently back onto the altar. A light golden sheen was showing from the fine runes in the altar. The priests were surprised, whispering among themselves before Cnut turned to the pair, ¡°Truly amazing work Disciple Ander. This weapon is classified as a minor artifact and will be preserved here as a relic. It is a pleasure to meet a grandmaster artisan like yourself. There is only one other grandmaster in the city and he has been in seclusion for several months. Now that people will know that you are in town, I am sure they will be inundating you with commissions even if the people who could wield an artifact such as this would be few and far between.¡± Ander smiled and nodded, he had been able to create tier seven equipment when he had moved to Redwyrm, and throughout the years he had focused on honing his craft. He had progressed to the ability of producing tier ten weapons just a few years before. An unexpected boon of overseeing Derek¡¯s Dedication rite was the insight into how to add in the additional magical properties that turned a mere tier ten weapon into a minor artifact. He had spent the preceding months consolidating his epiphany and working it into a successful prototype in this very maul. As the priest gingerly carried the great maul to the racks in the back of the room Ander clasped Derek¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Now boy, place your offering onto the altar.¡± Derek stepped forward, drawing another offering from his storage pouch. This was a two and a half meter long spear. It had a razor sharp head and a red tassel just below the base of it. The wood of the haft was pristine and unblemished as well. The weapon was tier five and could accommodate tier 9 spells. While it was nowhere near as fantastic as his grandfather¡¯s own offering, Derek saw an even greater look of pride in the old man¡¯s eyes upon seeing his work. The Rune Priest once again channeled his mana into the altar and the spear rose in a similar way to the maul before also returning to the altar, a royal blue coloration coming from the depths of the altar¡¯s runes. The assembled priests all looked up at Derek and the Rune Priest smiled broadly, ¡°Disciple Ander, I am truly amazed. Not only are you a Grandmaster Artisan, but you were able to raise such a young Expert Artisan as well. Ability to craft at tier five at his age is truly exceptional. You have my greatest respect. ¡°Young Disciple Derek, you truly are a young talent. You have my congratulations on your attainments.¡± The old man merely laughed while Derek stammered in embarrassment, ¡°This isn¡¯t all my attainment though, some of it was the assistance of the sprites and the enchantments of the forge itself, while some was inspiration from the forge god himself and most was my master¡¯s teachings. I can¡¯t take full credit for this.¡± The priests all laughed then and Cnut shook his head, ¡°We all use various tools to enhance our chances of success, we all have had inspiration from the god, and we all had masters that taught us as well, but very few of us were able to craft at tier five at such a young age. No, boy, you truly are a great young talent. To act humble would be to be disingenuous. So please take this praise that you have earned if only for your master who has taught you so well.¡± Derek nodded and smiled and watched as the rune priest hung his spear just below his grandfather¡¯s great maul. This day, news of a new Grandmaster runesmith and his Expert apprentice was destined to spread from the Temple to every forge in the city and other groups interested in such things. It would cause quite a stir are grandmaster runesmiths were indeed few and far between. Chapter 45 - A Task From the Forge God Derek and Ander spent some time conversing with the priests in the Grand Forge, as the temple was known. They discussed techniques and material prices for a while before taking their leave. As they were headed to the front entrance Derek saw a familiar face. Garrett was entering the building with an older man who looked to be his father. As Derek saw his friend, the aged voice of the Forge God spoke to him, "This one is one of mine. You must assist him." Hearing this alarmed Derek and he looked closer at the two men entering the temple. This time Derek noticed the trepidation on the faces of his friend and his father. They appeared to be quite anxious. Derek turned to Ander, "Grandfather, I think something is wrong with Garrett''s family. Our god told me to help him." His grandfather smiled at him before nodding, "Yes, boy. I know. I can help you but this is your quest. It will forge you into a better Disciple." Turning to his friend who had just noticed his presence, Derek stepped forward and smiled, "Garrett, it is good to see you after so long." His enormous friend reached over and hugged him, "Derek, I was worried you had been injured severely. There had been so much blood that night that we thought the worst. When they told us you had been taken to the Cathedral, they said it would take a few weeks for you to heal, but look at you, already all healed up. I am really happy to see you better. "Dad, this is my friend Derek. He''s the Disciple I told you about and this is his grandfather Ander, who has been teaching me. Derek, this is my dad, Calan Smith." Derek didn''t know how, but the older man was even larger than his son. He was easily seven and a half feet tall. His body was massive too, radiating an image of pure strength. Calan had a red colored beard that came halfway down his chest and a bald head tanned almost as dark as leather. The man walked over to Ander and began speaking urgently with him while Garrett turned to talk to Derek with an embarrassed look on his face. "Derek, I am probably going to have to drop out of the Academy. Something has come up with my family. I am sorry." Derek smiled reassuringly towards his friend. "Calm down and tell me what happened. Maybe I can help?" The larger man just shook his head, "It''s a family problem. I can''t just involve you for no reason." Derek placed his hand on Garrett''s shoulder, "We are friends right? We were supposed to watch each other''s backs. What problem could be so bad that I wouldn''t be able to help or at least hear what is happening so I can at least be supportive?" Garrett paused for a moment before nodding and speaking up, "My dad took a commission with the Fontana House a few months ago. It was to create twenty tier four, level five swords. Things were going well as long as we had materials on hand, but this last few months we have not been able to acquire the steel for the last ten swords. Either the steel on the market is too low quality to produce the weapons we need or the steel is too expensive for us to purchase for this project. "The remaining ten swords are due next week and we have not been able to source the materials for the remaining weapons. If that happens, my father will be penalized for breaching the contract and will be indentured to the Fontana House for a year. From what I heard they work you really hard for low pay and penalize you for the smallest things. I have heard some smiths have been locked into their service for years due to these penalties. It would ruin our family so I need to leave the Academy to help him attempt to complete this contract." Derek looked at him oddly, "Why would you need to drop out though? It''s only a week." He shook his head, "We are going to have to purchase the materials from House Fontana so I will need to earn the difference back. I was thinking about going to fight in the Colosseum. It will probably take about a year to earn back what we will lose from this deal." Derek had a puzzled look on his face. "Why are you sourcing from House Fontana? Wouldn''t that be like paying them to take your labor? Can''t you buy off of merchants?" Garrett shook his head again, "No, Fontana has control over all the steel coming into the city. They''ve even taken efforts to prevent smiths from going to anyone outside of the city for their iron. That''s why they were able to raise the prices. It''s been that way since they drove House Michel out of the market. The only people they don''t price gouge are the Priests and Disciples here, that''s part of why we came today to see if we could acquire some steel, even if it is just scraps from here to help defray our costs."Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Derek thought quietly for a few moments, "Garrett, if your dad knew they had a monopoly on steel in the town why did he take this contract? That seems like such a low level mistake for an experienced smith like him." "House Michel was still in business when he took this contract. In fact, we weren''t the only ones to take a contract like this. Easily twenty smithies in the city were contracted this way right before House Michel went under. Only a few lucky ones had the materials on hand to complete the project, the rest of us were hoping another powerful trader would come along to break their monopoly." Derek turned to his grandfather who had finished talking to Garrett''s father. The Priest, Cnut, had come over as well to listen to the discussion and had a grave look on his face but theCalan looked mollified after having talked to the Priest and Disciple. Ander turned to Derek, "So boy, do you have any thoughts?" Derek smiled, "Yes grandfather. I have a few ideas, but I wonder if you could advise me on them?" "Of course boy, tell me what you want to do." After a short discussion which had gathered the attention of several others in the room, Derek had outlined his ideas. A few had been shot down, a few had been considered decent, and a few had been considered quite clever and had been encouraged by the older men in the room. A few of the Priests even volunteered to help with some of the peripheral tasks as long as Derek knew that the task was his to resolve. Derek hugged Garrett warmly and shookCalan''s hand as they parted in front of the Great Forge. Their plan was set and Derek was eager to get started. The first step was to be started in the morning at Ander''s forge. Derek and Ander met up with the rest of their party after leaving the forge and returned to the Cathedral to eat dinner. That night Derek moved back into his dormitory and was happy to see Desmond and Tristan there. They talked for a while before Garrett joined them. Garrett''s excitement was palpable. "Derek I spread the word, the other Rune Smiths will be meeting at your grandfather''s house in the morning like you suggested." Derek smiled, "Great, this will be fantastic. I can''t wait to see how those swindlers react." Desmond couldn''t help his curiosity and asked the question on both his and Tristan''s minds, "What''s going on?" Derek smiled, "Oh just some unscrupulous businessmen are going to get what''s coming to them. Haha!" Garrett laughed with him and the other two just stared at them with baffled looks on their faces. The next morning Derek, Garrett, and Desmond left for Eona''s house as usual. In spite of enjoying his time with his granny, Derek was happy to be back on campus. He had sworn to go visit her when he could though, and that had seemed to mollify her a bit. When they ran into Alicia, Derek was amused to see the other boys'' reaction to her. He supposed his granny was right. While he was rather fond of his mother''s apprentice he had never considered her as a potential match. The understanding that she would marry for her kingdom had been ever present and their relationship had become too familial at this point for either to even consider changing that up. The other boys seemed to not be concerned about that though, and Derek found it rather humorous as he realised that the two were trying to impress her in spite of the impossibility of a relationship between them. Their breakfast was quite good and was only interrupted when a servant came to inform Ander of a delivery. The old man smiled, "Good, boys, go help the servants unpack our supplies. I will join you in a moment." Derek and Garrett shared a grin while Desmond shook his head and grumbled about his friends being unnecessarily tight lipped about what was going on. The three boys went out to the forge where they found a half dozen carts filled to the brim with low quality iron. They started unpacking it right away and no sooner had they unloaded one cart when another pulled in front of them. They lost count of the carts as the crates started to fill the yard. All told the invoices showed two hundred cart loads, easily fifty tonnes of the material. The three boys panted from their exertion before being called into the forge. Ander''s voice called from inside, "Alright, boys. We have company. Come in and greet them." The three came in and saw that almost two dozen men and women were crowded around the forge. They all wore the garb and had the bodies of a smith. Priest Cnut was standing with Ander and the two were talking with asome of the ones nearby while others scowled at each other. A few even traded the occasional barbed insult. Derek smiled as he saw all these people. They were all proud folk. As Expert Rune Smiths they deserved it. The people here represented all of the shops that had been swindled by House Fontana. Some had been lucky enough to avoid the trap that the others had stumbled into and were less anxious than the rest but they still showed some anxiety. With Fontana''s hold on the quality steel absolute these smiths would be hard pressed to be able to earn a decent profit on any new work. Ander smiled at his grandson before turning to the other folks assembled in the room. ¡°Thank you for coming. I believe everyone here knows what we will be doing here, but I am going to give my grandson a chance to explain his plan to you all as the one that came up with it. Derek, please explain to the others what the plan here will be.¡± Derek smiled, ¡°Everyone, really, thanks again for coming, we will need all of you to pull this off.I believe you all know what is at stake here. House Fontana has gone too far and is trying to back you all into a corner so that you will be forced into servitude. They are using their control over the quality steel at the market as the linchpin in this plan, but I have my own plan to correct this. "We are going to break their monopoly. And we are going to start today!" Chapter 46 - The Plan Derek expected more of a reaction from this crowd than he was currently receiving. They seemed to be much less enthused than he had imagined. He turned to his grandfather who sighed, ¡°Don¡¯t be daft boy. Arrogant claims don¡¯t convince anyone. You need to explain your plan and possibly even prove its viability first.¡± The other smiths were nodding. One man among them spoke up, ¡°He¡¯s right boy. We know you are a Disciple and that you have great skill in crafting, but most of us have apprentices older than you. Many of us are in a tight spot right now and we would need a compelling argument to take a risk on your proposal. Bold words are never enough.¡± This made a lot of sense to Derek as their very futures were at stake right now. He cleared his voice, ¡°Quite right. I got a little ahead of myself. Let¡¯s talk first of the problem that faces the Rune Smiths of Windreach city. ¡°A large number of smiths have taken bad contracts out with House Fontana. Any smith who breaches the contract will be penalized with servitude to the House. For all of us here, this is alarming enough, but the true crux of the problem lies in the House¡¯s control over the supply of the materials we need to produce our goods. ¡°By possessing this monopoly on quality steel, House Fontana is in a position to eventually force the smiths of this city into harsher and harsher contracts until they are all forced into serving the House. That is the most important point and that is why I have brought you here, to discuss what we can do to break the House¡¯s monopoly. ¡°To that end, we have invited two guests to officiate this meeting. The first is Priest Cnut of the Great Forge; I am certain you have all at least seen him there. The second is Arbitrator Nolan of the House of Weath. As a servant of the God of Merchants he is oath bound to arbitrate fairly for all sides in a contract. Priest Cnut, Arbitrator Nolan, if you will.¡± Priest Cnut stepped forward, ¡°It is a pleasure to see you all. I will represent the interests of the Church of the Forge God in this, as he is interested in seeing these underhanded dealings be stopped.¡± The Arbitrator was next, a man in gold and red stepped forward from where he had been seated, ¡°The Church of the God of Wealth has guaranteed the contracts that you have all signed so we will be forced to enforce them no matter how they go, but our doctrine is to favor successful completion of a contract and to encourage the growth of industry, not allow it to become stifled due to an individual or small group¡¯s self interest. I have been requested by the High Priest to participate in this meeting and any further dealings as an advisor and notary.¡± Derek nodded to the two men. ¡°Thank you both for coming.¡± Turning to the others, he continued, ¡°The problem may seem dire, but if we look candidly at the situation as it is, we find that it is not as dire as we first make it out to be. Windreachimportsover two hundred tonnes of iron ore a month from the mines in Westmont. The harborimports an additional five hundred tonnes of iron ore, iron or steel ingots. Ignoring the city¡¯s strategic reserves, at any given time there is usually two to three thousand tonnes of iron available at the market, whether it be ore, iron, or steel. ¡°Of these two to three thousand tonnes, only about two hundred tonnes of it is the quality steel needed to produce armor and weapons and only about fifty tonnes of it is produced or imported every month. House Fontana has spent quite heavily in buying up the smelters of the high quality steel and all of the imported stock every month. ¡°This cannot be cheap and in the long term will eventually fail as more and more cheaper high quality steel gets brought to the city by other merchants. Eventually they will not be able to continue to purchase all of the steel on the market and their local monopoly will collapse. They are not stupid enough to strangle their own trade with high prices, so clearly their goal is the people who would buy it. Their target is you, the Rune Smiths of the city and these contracts of yours are merely one part of it.¡± Derek looked around the room to see if the others were following his line of reasoning. A few of the smiths, Priest Cnut, and Arbitrator Nolan were nodding in agreement with what he had said so far. A few of the others had stony looks on their faces, as if they hadn¡¯t followed or were annoyed by his speech. While the rest could not be read, giving away no indication of their thoughts on this topic. His grandfather simply smiled at him, encouraging him to continue. One of the more temperamental smiths in the room finally spoke up, ¡°Well, out with it boy. If all you brought us here to do was to waste our time telling us the problem we are in, then I would rather spend my day trying to come up with a solution. I don¡¯t have time to listen to inane prattle.¡± Derek smiled at the man, ¡°I apologize if that was a bit long winded, but I believe I have accurately stated the problem now and knowing the problem I can now propose my solution. It is simple and will solve both the short term problem of needing high quality steel to complete your contracts and the long term problem of House Fontana¡¯s attempt to manipulate this market and coerce you all.¡± With that, Derek pulled twenty bars of the lower quality steel from his pouch and placed them on the work bench in front of him forall of them to see. He then continued, ¡°This is the lower grade steel that can be purchased throughout the city. House Fontana has deemed it beneath their notice. Unlike the two hundred tonnes of high grade steel House Fontana has bought up, there is easily seven to eight hundred tonnes of this in the city right now, all of it available at decent prices and with that much material for our process available, we can break the back of House Fontana¡¯s plans altogether.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He smiled, stepping forward and calling out his sprites and the sprites of his grandfather¡¯s shop. The old man had nurtured quite a few over the years. As they came forward from the various places and tools within the shop, Derek began guiding them with his rune casting. He guided them into the first bar, which he tasked Sylph with holding in place in the air in front of him and Aurora with illuminating so that the others could see the changes being made to the bar. He instructed the fire, light, dark and air sprites to control the temperature of the bar, while the earth, chaos, and order sprites manipulated the material directly and the water sprites quenched it in oil. After a short few minutes, the ten kilo ingot had now been refined. Derek smiled as he looked at the others. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the refining process by which we can solve this current problem. ¡°By my calculations, with the sprites on hand and sufficient mana resources, we can keep five Rune Smiths working on this full time, and one Rune Smith can complete one hundred to one hundred and fifty kilos of refining per hour. That would come out to six to nine tonnes of refined steel per day. In just the first day of work, we will have created enough to fulfill the material requirements for all of your contracts. Please inspect it, I assure you that this refined steel is at least as good as what house Fontana is buying up.¡± The others came forward to inspect the refined steel. The quality was indeed at the level they needed. As they began speaking excitedly amongst each other, Derek spoke again, ¡°I took the liberty of buying fifty tonnes of low grade steel for this process. I am willing to sell the refined steel at the original market price for this quality of steel, but I have another suggestion. ¡°To really break House Fontana¡¯s monopoly, we will need much more steel and we will need to make a concerted effort to push into the steel market. Just one or two of us alone won¡¯t be able to affect the market enough to achieve this though, so my suggestion is that we form some kind of contract that we will all work together to achieve this. To this end, I would seek Arbitrator Nolan¡¯s advice.¡± Nolan thought for a minute before he spoke up, ¡°Your use of sprites to further refine the steel is a great shortcut but it won¡¯t be sufficient long term, nor do I think it is the best use of these sprites as the use of a Grandmaster¡¯s forge to merely create refined steel would be a tragedy. For now though, it seems reasonable. ¡°My suggestion for you all is to form an Association and establish rules in that Association for how you will do business with each other and collaborate in the future. All members of the Association should buy into it to have an equal stake within it, whether through the use of resources or labor. Of course, to go with the cost of joining, there should be a benefit, such as preferential prices on goods produced by the Association for members. ¡°From there, with the existence of the Association in place and the capital on hand, the purchase of further tonnes of this lower quality steel could be guaranteed and after the initial effort of refining the steel has borne fruits further methods of refining could be pursued. To put the intended pressure on House Fontana, I suggest you begin undercutting their steel prices by ten percent. This will force them to lower their prices or purchase your goods. ¡°If they lower their prices, you lower yours again, until the price settles back to where it should be, or until they purchase your product. If they purchase your goods at any point, you continue to introduce goods to the market to force them to keep their prices competitive. If things turn out in your favor, they will not be able to continue this business model and they will have to give up their idea of monopoly.¡± One of the men in the room spoke up at that point, ¡°And if they don¡¯t go in our favor.¡± The Arbitrator looked at him, then at the others. ¡°If things don¡¯t go in your favor, then your opponents will outspend you, and you will instead go out of business. Looking at this situation, though, It is harder to raise the price of something arbitrarily high than it is to suppress the price. Especially when you consider that your opponent¡¯s finances are already strained by their efforts. ¡°That is my suggestion at least, use of it what you will.¡± The people of the room turned and started talking to each other. Derek spoke quietly with his grandfather, Priest Cnut, and the Arbitrator for a while before stepping forward once again and interjecting, ¡°After taking the Arbitrator¡¯s advice into consideration, I have this suggestion to make then. ¡°I suggest that we move forward with the plan of an Association. The buy in would be the purchase of one tonne of high quality steel at the original market value. What say you?¡± With that, negotiations began. With the expert advice of Arbitrator Nolan, the Windreach Rune Smith¡¯s Association was founded. It was notarized both by the Church of the God of Wealth and the Church of the Forge God. The two churches had been given honorary membership in the association, with important positions for the two men involved. Entry into the organization was set at the fair cost of one tonne of refined steel or the labor to produce two. The benefit of joining the Association was the ability to purchase goods from the Association at a significant discount and the ability to subcontract out work at competitive rates to other members of the Association. Each member of the Association would also receive a dividend from any successful ventures of the Association. Their next courses of action as lined out by Arbitrator Nolan were to hire and elect representatives of the Association to work for the interest of the Association as a whole and handle its business deals, to acquire storage for the Association¡¯s goods and a storefront to sell them, to spread the word among other Rune Smiths in the city, and finally to commence the work on the refined steel plan. Derek smiled as he watched the Rune Smiths leave to commence their tasks in the whole plan. He was feeling very confident that they would be able to succeed. His grandfather walked up beside him and spoke, ¡°Derek, this is only the beginning. The plan looks good for now, but we have yet to see what House Fontana will do about it. Don¡¯t expect things to be so easy. ¡°That said, there is now fifty tonnes of low quality steel in my yard. Why don¡¯t you use the remaining part of your time before classes to start refining it?¡± Chapter 47 - Return to the Academy Derek and his friends stumbled out of the smithy two hours later, some apprentice and journeyman Rune Smiths taking their places in the forge. All three had wrung every bit of mana out of themselves they could and refined the steel at the fastest rate they could under Ander¡¯s expert eye. Derek had been the most successful of them, producing over three hundred and fifty kilos. His skill with smithing and his intimacy with his sprites had definitely enabled him to complete the process efficiently. Garrett and Desmond had been quite a bit less efficient than him, the two only completing just under four hundred kilos between them. Garrett had more skill in smithing but a weaker mana pool so the two had been quite matched in production speed. They were haggard, they had run their mana dry only to squeeze more out after a short rest. All three felt like they had already practiced all day when the old smith told them to go get washed up to head to their classes. The showers were hot and relaxing and eased the burden on their minds. It helped that Rebekah had come by to see them off and had cast a high tier rejuvenation spell upon them. The boys split up and headed to their classes individually. Derek had been dreading the return to his Statecraft class but was pleasantly surprised that his mounds of homework had been intended for the month of stay at the Cathedral the instructors had predicted. He was now ahead and was happy to be able to give a better showing in this class. Instructor Afua seemed quite pleased with him. His next class wasn¡¯t as positive as Eomer Windreach decided Derek needed more work now that he was ahead and assigned several new books to his reading list. Derek was aghast to find that these works were longer and more archaic than the ones he had already had to read. The old man gave him a predatory smile as he reminded Derek that he was going to have to write summaries of what he learned from each of these new books. This left Derek wishing he had stayed in the Cathedral. The old man delayed their escape to the Cafeteria once again and the line was already extending out the door when they arrived, groaning at their bad luck. They couldn¡¯t help but note the spring in the old instructor¡¯s step as he headed off to get his own meal. Finally, several minutes later, Derek had his meal in tow as he walked over to take his spot in the seat Alicia had reserved for him. He was happy to see that his dorm mates had been fortunate enough to integrate with her circle of friends. Tristan was seated across from him and was discussing magical theory enthusiastically with Alicia while the other two sat next to him and were discussing some news they had heard from the Colosseum. Derek was amazed to see Tristan so energetic, or well, as energetic as he was at this moment. While he wasn¡¯t waving wildly and speaking loudly like the two boys on Derek''s left were, he was still talking quickly in his quiet voice, some level of warmth having entered it. Derek listened intently to their discussion and surreptitiously switched his dessert for her bread. She smiled happily at him before returning to her conversation. She had always preferred sweet treats over the bitter and grainy bread that he had always been partial to. As they ate the whole table eventually took interest as talk turned to the yearly competitions. As the youngest class, they would all be competing with each other. Eventually the conversation turned to the students arguing over who would win for their year group. A few students claimed that this or that scion of House Windreach would win while some of the students pandered directly to Alicia claiming that she would win. Others believed it would be Tristan and Alicia insisted Derek would win with Desmond and Garrett backing her up. As the table grew more rowdy, the bell finally rang signalling that their lunch was over. Derek grabbed his and Alicia¡¯s plates and took them for cleaning. Hustling over to his next class he saw Dean Karl was already there. Karl happily welcomed him back before starting the class. Luckily the Dean was content with Derek¡¯s learning while at the Cathedral and opted not to increase his work burden like old Eomer had. Two hours later, Derek was once again in his Auras class. His grandmother, Madeleine, glanced over him as he came in and smiled but said nothing. His cousin, however, made a big deal of fussing over him before being silenced by the domineering Dean of the Mage College. After a short introduction, they all moved rapidly into the practical portions of the lesson and began attempting to form a simple Earth based aura intended to provide a massive boost to defense and mass for all allies within the area. He had practiced auras with his granny at the Cathedral but was not quite fully recovered from the morning¡¯s mana expenditures so he was forced to burn through his mana and recover once again. By the time he was done, he was once more exhausted. Some of the older students had fared no better as their mana pools were either as small or smaller than his. Derek still practiced diligently, focusing on fine control instead of raw power as he had been taught in his childhood. Power was easier to scale with a large pool and access to higher level spells, burning mana for greater efficacy. Fine control on the other hand paid off in dividends the stronger the user got, saving mana, speeding casting, and sharpening the effect of the spell with the precision of the caster¡¯s mastery. As this class ended he waved goodbye to his cousin and grandmother and headed over to his Holy Magic class. There he saw Alicia sitting with the little Priestess. They were holding hands and whispering together while the others of their two groups sat around them. His paternal grandmother had arrived before him and saw his fatigued look. Laughing, she cast the rejuvenation spell on him again. ¡°Haha, don¡¯t look so tired now, you have to demonstrate the spells as I teach them and then you still have to help Ovid teach his Weapons Class.¡± Derek¡¯s face paled thinking of it. He had been quite worn out from the day¡¯s events already and there was still so much more to do. This prompted another laugh from her. ¡°Oh don¡¯t start now, you can cast these spells in your sleep. This will probably be the easiest part of your day.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. She turned to the class and spoke, ¡°Alright everybody, now that my little helper has returned we can really get started. Let¡¯s start with the basics, ¡®Holy Light¡¯. Most of you should be able to at least cast this at the lower levels. At level one, a simple healing effect is generated and mends wounds on the self or a touched target. The efficiency is poor, pretty much a direct trade of mana for healing. At this level, a water spell may be more efficient. Derek, if you will¡­¡± Derek cast the level one Holy Light spell, deliberately making the runes of the spell visible and drastically slowing the mana as it flowed through. This took quite a bit of control, but his grandmother was right, he had been casting this spell since he was a small child. He could do this in his sleep. He was certain that even Elton and Feros could do the same. They progressed through the spell, Derek slowly increasing the level of the spell, increasing its mana efficiency and increasing its range, until at level six he showed how it could become an area of effect spell or an incredibly potent single target spell. Deliberately slowing the spells beyond this point would put great toll on him so his grandmother opted to do them herself, demonstrating all the way to level ten where the spell was so potent that it could bring everyone within the space of the room they were in back from the brink of death if so necessary. Her fine mastery of this spell brought awe to the students faces. Many of the professors here could cast level ten spells, but few could do so with compounded elements while deliberately manipulating the runes to provide students the greatest chance to see them being cast. Even the little Priestess could be seen clenching her fist and Derek was certain he heard her whisper, ¡°So Fierce!¡± He could only shake his head at the precocious young lady¡¯s antics. He could see a fire glowing in her eyes, the desire to one day be able to do the same. Having met her mother and Ancestor he knew she definitely could do so, it was only a matter of time. As his grandmother finished her spell, casting it and allowing the comforting holy energy to wash over her students, the bell rang once again. Rebekah demanded a peck on the cheek from her grandson before dismissing him to head over to Ovid''s Weapons class. In the training fields Derek was drafted to aid the other students of his class with their forms. Ovid was teaching spear forms that day and Derek quickly got into the swing of moving down the lines, correcting postures and explaining the moves. It was almost relaxing for him. Unfortunately for him his master seemed to think the same, so after their training finished he pulled Derek aside and had him practice his Weapon Channeling spells in his mother¡¯s courtyard until just before dinner was ready. Hearing from one of his mother¡¯s servants that it was time to eat, Derek quickly stripped off his sweaty shirt and cleaned his upper body before donning the shirt she had brought him. At this point his body was just as tired as his mind had been earlier in the day. His friends clowned on his shaky arms when they saw him until Derek warned them that if Ovid heard them, it was likely they would be joining him in the training yard the next day. Derek never begrudged his harsh training. Pushing his body to the edge every day had tempered his will greatly. Being from a clan of Holy Magic users, there was little fear of permanent damage from his training. He could drive himself as hard as he wanted, only having to pay the price in pain and fatigue if he ever took it too far. When his mother saw him she came over and embraced him. He felt a cooling stream of Water mana flow through him. While not as potent as his grandmother¡¯s Holy healing spells, this Water was still quite effective and soothing in its own way. Afterwards he felt earth mana being guided to the places where the training had caused the most damage. He felt it as it bonded to his muscles and bone, making him just that much tougher and stronger. He leaned forward and kissed his mother¡¯s forehead. It was comforting to know that even after their social circles had grown, she was still his number one advocator. Eona smiled and whispered to him, ¡°Come eat, the table is set.¡± He smiled and followed her to the table. The table had grown quite lively as Derek and Alicia¡¯s friends mingled together. Ander came in late after finally closing his shop for the day. The old man clapped his back hard before sitting down next to him. ¡°It was a good day boy, we completed a little over seven tonnes today and all of the smiths still under contract received the metal they needed. A few shops were subcontracted to provide the additional labor some of the others would need as well. ¡°We have a few leads on talented Association staff and have even scouted a nice warehouse and shop space for the Association in the Market District close to the docks. Also, most of the Smiths of the city have now joined the Association or expressed willingness to join. All in all, things are falling into place rather nicely. After all of our projected expenditures, I expect that the Association will be able to reimburse your initial expenditure of five thousand talents, and have an additional ten thousand as well.¡± Derek smiled before a trace of worry crossed his face, The lesson on logistics and strategy from his Military Science class that day had crossed his mind when he heard this good news. ¡°Grandfather, House Fontana didn¡¯t get into their position of power through foolishness. When all of these smiths complete their contracts in spite of the House¡¯s best efforts they are going to realize something is amiss and they will start taking actions against us assuming they don¡¯t realize when they see our refined steel hitting the market. ¡°Their plot so far has been to strangle supply to the market. There is no reason to believe that they won¡¯t try to strangle other avenues of supply as well. We should use a significant portion of the money we have gained to stockpile more of the low quality steel, wrought iron or iron ore to make sure that we have enough in reserves to compete with these people if they decide some other form of trickery and we should continue to do so until it is either no longer feasible to acquire more or until we have succeeded.¡± The old man made an effort to look like he was thinking it over, "And if they choose to steal these products?" Derek laughed, "What fool would steal something partially owned by the House of Wealth? They would only be signing their own death warrants. Besides, I am sure Nolan will have already thought of this and has guards on hand as the House of Wealth takes its investments very seriously." His grandfather smiled at him and patted his head like he had done when the boy was younger and had answered a problem correctly. He withdrew a document from his coat before continuing, ¡°Smart kid, so you saw this as well. Arbitrator Nolan has already drafted a proposal to do just what you proposed, if you would just sign off on the use of your funds for this, Nolan has guaranteed that you will see excellent dividends in exchange for this investment.¡± Derek smiled and reached for the document but was stopped by a pain on his forehead and a matching red mark on his grandfather¡¯s. Derek felt his eyes start to water from the stinging pain as he heard his grandmother¡¯s cross voice, ¡°You two had better save that for after dinner. I won¡¯t have you spoiling our meal with your talk of business.¡± The two covered their foreheads and meekly nodded in acquiescence to Rebekah, much to the amusement of the others at the table. Chapter 48 - Friends and Faiths ¡°Derek, I have been thinking about something and I have a question for you.¡± Derek, Desmond and Garrett were all training in the courtyard of Eona¡¯s house. The three were exhausted from yet another long day of classes and refining steel but they still continued to train as they had been instructed. Derek was practicing casting different forms of weapon channeling spells and slinging them at the training dummies on the other side of the courtyard while Desmond and Garrett were focused on forms. ¡°Hmm?¡± Derek grunted at his friend to continue. ¡°So I am grateful for the help you have given my family, but why are you doing it?¡± Derek glanced at him before casting another spell, a white light flashed in an arc and travelled to his targets. He smiled with satisfaction at the success of his experiment before responding, ¡°I mean we¡¯re friends right? That¡¯s what friends do.¡± Garrett finally stopped his practice to look at him. ¡°But then why do you tend to talk about this as a Task from your God?¡± Derek shrugged, still focused on the spell he was casting through his blade, before he swung it again and a similar white light flashed across the courtyard. ¡°Well, yeah it¡¯s that too. I am a Disciple of the Forge God and he tasked me with dealing with House Fontana¡¯s plans. He said that you are one of his and that I must assist you.¡± Garrett¡¯s face scrunched up, annoyance entering his voice, ¡°But I don¡¯t want to be a Disciple or even a smith. I want to be a warrior.¡± Derek turned to his friend. ¡°You already are a smith and your life is already tied to him. For that reason he asked me to assist you.¡± ¡°Look man, I am just as pious as the next guy, but a god just can¡¯t claim someone if they don¡¯t want to serve them.¡± Derek just shrugged his shoulders in response. ¡°And yet, he has. That¡¯s for you and him to discuss. Either way, it has certainly benefited your family.¡± ¡°But I didn¡¯t want it, now I am indebted to him.¡± Again Derek shrugged, ¡°If you didn¡¯t make an agreement, then you have no debt. Besides gods don¡¯t tend to ask of us what we were unlikely to be willing to provide to begin with. Take this situation for instance. ¡°I would have wanted to help you anyways, but I would have been less sure of myself as much of this whole process has been so far outside of my comfort zone that I am still unsure of how we will succeed. Instead, with the Task given by the God, I know that there is a way to succeed and that the tools will be provided to me. For example the Priests of the God go out of their way to assist knowing that I am working in the interests of their deity. Many are very experienced men who can all offer advice and guidance. ¡°In this way the Task is much less a matter of doing something the God wanted of me and much more him providing me with the tools to do what I wanted to do to begin with. They select their followers from people whose aspirations mirror their own. In this way the gods encourage their followers to do what they were already interested in doing and both the follower and the God benefit from it. It¡¯s a mutually beneficial situation, you see? Nothing to worry about.¡± Garrett sighed, ¡°Yeah, but I still don¡¯t want to be a smith.¡± Derek just laughed, ¡°You already are, man. You know it too. You enjoy working in the smithy. I have seen it. You gain great happiness even while doing the repetitive process of refining. Sure, you want to do other things as well, and so do I. But that doesn¡¯t change the fact that in your heart you are already a smith. If you keep fighting it, you will only make yourself unhappy. Besides, the boons of the gods are powerful, there¡¯s no reason to turn away a God that so closely matches you.¡± ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t know man.¡± Garrett¡¯s noncommittal response could be heard through the towel he was using to wipe himself off with. Derek shrugged as he wiped himself down next to him. ¡°It¡¯s your choice man. Like I said, that¡¯s between you and the God. You know the choices I have made in that area and I do not regret them.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll think about it.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Desmond finally took that as an opportunity to join in on their conversation as the three young men started heading into the house for dinner. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t think too hard. Don¡¯t want you to hurt yourself.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± The three laughed as they approached the table. Tristan, Alicia, and her friends were already there as well as the adults. After a round of greetings they began to eat. After a happy meal, they all got up to go to their respective places for the evening, but they were interrupted by Eona. ¡°Garrett, please stay a while. I want to show you what we came up with for your schema design.¡± This seemed rather interesting to Derek so he stuck around as well. His mother took the two boys and her apprentice over to a desk in the parlor, where a runic design had been drawn into a parchment. ¡°As you can see here, what we have come up with is a rather solid foundation, but it will need to start with a base foundation of five in most of your base attributes and a ten in body. It will be somewhat expensive to acquire the resources but we believe we should have them available in time for your schema reset. We will give you the resources to use first, then reset the schema after signs of them taking effect have been confirmed. ¡°With these resources, the House will have invested quite heavily in you. Per your contract, when you graduate the Academy you will be bound to the House as a retainer for two decades. After that time, you will have the option to join the House officially or do whatever else you want to do.¡± The large boy nodded to her, ¡°I understand and do not mind coming to work for the House.¡± ¡°Good, we still have quite a bit to do, but I believe with your unique status and a lot of work, we will be able to turn you into an invincible hero.¡± Done showing him the proposed schema, she sent them home. They rejoined their friends outside and the two groups split up to head to their own dormitories. Tristan sat down to read one of his books while the three Magic Warriors all collapsed into their beds and were quickly asleep. Later that week an Alchemist from the House delivered the first of a battery of potions for Garrett to drink. They smelled horrible and Derek found it hard to keep his appetite just being around them. His giant friend seemed to agree and didn¡¯t eat his next meal though he found himself so famished that he ate extra during dinner that night. At the end of the week the fated day arrived when all of the Rune Smiths¡¯ contracted pieces for House Fontana. The shops of the town had worked overtime to complete these orders. Garrett, Derek, and Ander as well as Priest Cnut and Arbitrator Nolan joined the various Smiths for their deliveries. When the large group leading several wagons arrived at House Fontana¡¯s impressive shop they were blocked at the door by guards. After finding out who these people were and why they were there, one of the guards went inside. A few minutes later a small group of merchants came out of the building to guide them into the courtyard between the warehouse and shop itself. Most of these men wore the uniform of the House, while a much better dressed man was their leader. He was escorting an Arbitrator from the Temple of the Wealth God. Their hushed discussion had no urgency so they group waited for the two men to finish talking. Finally the leader addressed the large group of men and women, ¡°Ah, my good Rune Smiths. I am glad to see you all. While it pains my heart to think that some of you may have defaulted on our agreement, it at least makes me happy to see that you are all honest folk who wouldn¡¯t try to evade the penalties.¡± There was a sardonic smile on his face as he said this and quite a few of the smiths muttered darkly to themselves due to his behavior. The merchant smiled more brightly at having gotten a rise out of them before gesturing towards the Arbitrator. ¡°This man is Arbitrator Locke of the House of Wealth. He will be overseeing the rest of this transaction to ensure that the process is fair.¡± The priest of the God of Wealth stepped forward with a smile, ¡°Hello, I have reviewed all of your contracts and am ready to stand as Arbitrator for the closing of them all. Please work with me and I will ensure this task is complete in no time.¡± When he had finished speaking, Arbitrator Nolan stepped forward to greet him, ¡°It is good to see you today Locke. I am here as well, representing the interest of the Church¡¯s new endeavor. For the purpose of these contracts I will defer to your judgement my friend.¡± Locke merely smiled back as the man next to him¡¯s eyes widened in surprise before turning to the Arbitrator, ¡°What is the meaning of this? Is the Church now interfering with contracts?¡± Both Arbitrator¡¯s faces turned hard as they looked at the man. Arbitrator Locke looked at the man coldly before speaking, ¡°An Arbitrator¡¯s integrity is never in question. Even if one side of the contract was the Arbitrator himself, he would never break the faith in regards to his ruling. The God of Wealth is also the God of Oaths. To break an oath is quite simply blasphemy to us. ¡°To insinuate anything else is slander against the Arbitrator in question, the church as a whole, and the God himself. For that, we can deny service and support. If we were to do so, you would find it hard to continue to do business in the civilized lands as most potential trade partners would be loath to cooperate from someone so shunned by our church. It would be wise for you to remember this in the future, Baron Fontana.¡± Properly chastised, the Baron bowed his head in submission and stepped back. Seeing his change in behavior, the Arbitrator smiled once again, before turning to the smiths, ¡°Alright, let us begin the process of finishing this transaction. We will go alphabetically starting with Abnet¡¯s Smithery.¡± Chapter 49 - The Next Phase Derek watched as each smith¡¯s contract was completed. All in all there were over three hundred weapons delivered to order. As realization that not one of the smiths had failed to complete their contract dawned on the Baron he began to attempt to find fault in the completed weapons. ¡°Look at the coloration of this steel, it is obvious that Smith Farnese has opted to use some of lower quality to produce this. Cutting corners like this is guaranteed to reduce the quality of her work. The contract clearly states that she was to deliver ten tier four swords capable of accepting level six spells and I do not believe these weapons are of that tier. The quality of the materials are clearly inferior to what is necessary to produce weapons of that caliber.¡± So far he had only nitpicked some specific pieces and his complaints had been waved off, but this was a serious complaint. The steel indeed had a more mottled appearance than most. Rune Smith Farnese had opted to use steels of different qualities in her work to use as little of the new refined steel as possible in the new work. The mottled pattern was a sign of her welding the different steels together. Derek had been impressed when he saw her work as being able to produce a strong weapon that could accept mana for weapon channeling from so many types of steel was a sign of her great skill and yet, here was this merchant finding fault with the very proof of her skill. Derek turned to his grandfather. The old man gave him an encouraging nod so he turned back to the Baron who was still making his case to the Arbitrator. Stepping forward, Derek spoke up, ¡°Sir, I have tested the quality of every weapon here. Each weapon fulfills the requirements of your contract. This mottled pattern is proof of Smith Farnese¡¯s great skill and the unfortunate price manipulation by your own House that has increased the price of quality steel in this city. ¡°The pattern comes from the welding technique she used that provides a two fold benefit. First it provides an even strength down the length of the blade that will increase the length of time the blade will last, while allowing for the edge to retain its great sharpness and second it allows for mana to travel the length of the blade unopposed. This technique is indeed fantastic and as long as the price of quality steel is kept artificially high in this region by your House I can only imagine that the technique will grow more popular as a solution for the various smiths of this city. Your complaints are unfounded, the weapon is of the quality specified in the contract.¡± Baron Fontana only glanced at him for a moment before turning to Smith Farnese and responding with derision, ¡°Oh? So some apprentice has quality tested your goods and I am to believe his claim that the weapons are of sufficient quality? This is no place for children, boy, nor is it a place for your lies so run along. Noone here needs the ¡®expert¡¯ opinion of a child.¡± At this point Arbitrator Nolan also spoke, ¡°Baron Fontana, I don¡¯t think it would be wise to continue like this. Disciple Derek is an Expert Rune Smith and he did test the quality of all of these weapons under the supervision of Priest Cnut, Disciple Ander, and myself. Each weapon has indeed passed inspection in front of the three of us. These weapons from Smith Farnese do have this interesting mottled pattern but they do not fail to meet the standards required of them by contract.¡± Arbitrator Locke listened to all three individuals before turning to Derek, ¡°Young Disciple, I do not doubt your integrity nor do I doubt the integrity of my brother or the two clerics of the Forge god but the customer has a concern about the quality of the work. Do you mind demonstrating the manner in which you appraised these weapons?¡± Derek smiled and nodded to the man, ¡°Of course, Arbitrator, I am sure you possess spells like this as well, but mine is a variation on the Appraisal spell that gives more exact detail into the structure and strength of the item. Mine favors the light and order attributes as those are my greatest strength.¡± As he described his spell, he cast it slowly so that the Arbitrator could examine the magic, then when it was in place he selected one of the swords and it glowed brightly before a statusscreen appeared. Derek intentionally scanned the length of the sword to demonstrate how the weapon¡¯s structure stayed consistent down the length. The Arbitrator nodded as he watched. When the full scan was over, the magic completed the calculation, showing that the sword was of high tier four quality and capable of channeling level six spells. The Arbitrator smiled, ¡°That is indeed an impressive Appraisal spell. The fact that it includes the ability to calculate the outputs for you and present that information in such an intuitive format makes it quite valuable. Where did you learn it?¡± Derek scratched his neck in embarrassment, ¡°It¡¯s something I created because I was too lazy to do the calculations myself. I merely took the Appraisal spell my grandfather taught me and added the status calculations from my grandmother¡¯s Status spells and blended them for this. It costs quite a bit of mana but if you are only using it occasionally that should not be a problem.¡± Locke looked surprised at this, ¡°But you used it on over three hundred weapons. If it consumes a lot of mana, then how did you do it?¡± Derek¡¯s face paled, an off cherry taste assailing his memories. Nolan laughed, ¡°Haha, we just force fed him low quality mana potions that were close to expiration to get him through the process.¡± Derek glared at the man, he was pretty sure the sour taste from some of the potions had been proof that they were not merely close to expiration. Arbitrator Locke gave him a commiserating look before turning again to the Baron. ¡°As you can see, Baron Fontana, these weapons have all been tested for quality. This one in particular is of a slightly higher quality than you had even requested. I assume you have no further complaints or accusations for Smith Farnese?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The merchant was silent for a moment before he waved his hand dismissively. ¡°No, I have no further complaints.¡± The Arbitrator nodded to him, ¡°Hmm, then I shall continue. This contract can be considered completed. Smith Farnese has delivered 10 tier 4, level 6 swords. By the terms of the contract she is owed a total offive thousand talents. She has already receivedtwenty five hundredso that leaves an immediate payment oftwenty five hundredtalents, Baron Fontana.¡± It was apparent that Baron Fontana had not expected to pay so much that day as his face grew a little paler. His expectation was that the majority of these smiths would have failed to complete their contracts and that he would only have to pay for a third of their contracts at most. Each weapon was worthfive hundredtalents, meaning the total cost of this transaction would amount to overone hundred and fifty thousand talents. He had paid half up front for each contract, which was how he had intended to entrap the smiths, but that meant that he had already investedseventy five thousand talents into this scheme. Coupled with the lack of sales for his overpriced steel and the amount he would have to pay out that day, his available funds were drying up rapidly. What was worse was that he hadn¡¯t even sourced buyers for these weapons and the weapons were going to be sitting in his shops, warehouses, or cargo holds for a long while before they are sold and he could only expect to sell them for about what he had paid for them to begin with. This deal would have only been beneficial for him if the smiths had failed to complete their side of the contracts. Something had gone wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong with his plan. Where had they gotten the steel? Finally his eyes widened, the steel, that¡¯s where it went wrong. Many of these weapons contained a high quality steel he had not seen before. Where had it come from? As the final smith received his pay, Baron Fontana saw that his accountants were quite distressed. His laborers were already moving the last crates of weapons into his warehouse. He turned to the Arbitrator and spoke politely, ¡°Thank you Arbitrator, I will not keep you. I need to handle some more things here for now.¡± Without waiting for the Arbitrator to respond, he signalled his people and marched back inside. With their pay secured the members of the Windreach Rune Smiths¡¯ Association filed out happily. Derek followed his grandfather who was talking to the two Arbitrators and the Priest. They came to a stop at the Arbitrator¡¯s carriage. The man turned to Nolan and Cnut, ¡°If you are heading to the Temple district you can ride with me. I would love to find out what you two have been up to.¡± Nolan smiled, ¡°I will take you up on that, but let me speak with this young man for a second before we go.¡± He turned to Derek, ¡°What do you think our next steps should be, Disciple?¡± Derek thought for a while before speaking, ¡°Fontana was surprised by our ability to produce these weapons so I would expect him to spend a few days trying to figure out where we sourced our steel. He has two ways he can attempt to counter our actions. The first way would be to attempt to buy up the other iron and steel sources in the area to deprive us of the ability to produce more. He might do that, but it would probably take loans that would be too costly and his financial situation isn¡¯t that great right now. The other solution would be to try to drive his own steel prices so low that we cannot compete with him in selling steel. This seems more likely, but we are Rune Smiths not smelters. Low price of steel was our purpose to begin with. ¡°If he opts for the first then the solution is to have stockpiled enough iron to outlast him. With the kinds of debts he would accrue in that venture, and not really making money off of it, he would be throwing money away. It would only be an amount of time before he collapses under his own debts. ¡°If he goes with the second, then we can oblige and buy the steel as long as it is at that low price and sell our product at a lower price to match. This will mean that if he wants to sell the weapons he just bought from us in this market he will have to take a loss. Moving them to other markets will also be a loss as he cannot expect to get more than a five to ten percent markup on them anywhere nearby. ¡°We should still save our refined steel for when he tries to do something funny again. I think that it would also be prudent to continue with the recruitment effort and convince more of the Smiths in the city to join our Association. I also don¡¯t think it would hurt to try to incentivize some of the cities smelters and mine owners to join as well. This way we can guarantee our supply chain. What do you think?¡± Nolan thought for a while, before he nodded, ¡°Good, you seem to have thought this out quite well, but once you have your supply chain under control what will you do?¡± Derek thought for a while, ¡°Well, as Rune Smiths we don¡¯t often have to try to seek out work. It tends to find us, but with so many interests tied into the Association we might need someone to go out and seek customers for us. I have no experience in this and I was hoping the Arbitrator could enlighten me.¡± The man smiled, ¡°Ah, finally something you don¡¯t know. It is simple really, partner with talented merchants to sell your product and I know just the family that may be able to fulfill that role for us.¡± Derek thought for a while, ¡°You don¡¯t mean the Michel family? I hear that their losses were tremendous when House Fontana pushed them out of the market.¡± The Arbitrator smiled, ¡°Quick kid. Indeed, We have already thought to reach out to House Michel. In their current state, assistance from us would be timely, and I believe we can easily convince them to join our Association.¡± Derek nodded, feeling much more confident about the future of their venture, ¡°Yes, I imagine with House Michel¡¯s inclusion, we will be in a much stronger position moving forward. Thank you, Arbitrator Nolan, your counsel has cleared away my doubts.¡± ¡°No problem, no problem. By giving the Church an interest in your Association, you have guaranteed our assistance. For now, though, I had best get going. I will see you two at the next board meeting.¡± Chapter 50 - Street Fight After saying goodbye to the three clergymen, Derek and his Grandfather began the walk home. The streets became less busy as they passed through the residential area between the inner city and the merchant¡¯s district. The avenue they were walking on was quite calming with a manicured median between the two sides of the road Shortly after entering the avenue Derek felt that something was off. He turned to warn the old man, ¡°Grandfath¡­¡± Before he could finish, the old man pushed the boy hard into the cover of some bushes before a blast of flames struck him. Derek looked up in horror with the scent of burned flesh in his nose. His grandfather¡¯s clothes were still smoldering and his entire upper left torso was a charred mess, but the old man was standing strong. His tier seven body¡¯s immense durability would require much more than a low level spell to take down. The old man pulled a warhammer from his storage pouch, ¡°Some fool is tired of living to attack me with such a weak strike.¡± Derek heard the whisper of projectiles on the wind and saw another fireball come flying at his grandfather. The old man ignored the bolts and arrows and smashed his hammer into the fireball, once more relying on his body to shrug off the effects of the weapons while brutally crushing the spell with his hammer. As the hammer struck the spell, the mana of the spell was forcibly dragged into the hammer and back out into a shield of fire that appeared around the old smith. The fire shield burned away the last few arrows before they could strike and even nullified the next spell that struck it before it collapsed. His grandfather¡¯s fighting style was the classic warrior archetype. Sacrificing spellcasting in exchange for great physical power and making up for that weakness with equipment that would insulate him from the negative effects of his enemies. His greatest weakness at the moment though, was his lack of range capacity. While he could convert the enemy¡¯s spells absorbed by his hammer into ranged counter attacks he wasn¡¯t confident in his aim and he was unwilling to burn the town down to defend himself when the enemies were no more than gnats to begin with. Derek saw his grandfather¡¯s plight and searched for where the enemies were attacking from. He spotted three mages on the rooftops, as well as a half dozen crossbowmen and archers. His Demon Sense told him that there were more men crowding towards them from the nearby alleys. A brief scan told him that the most dangerous enemy was a man coming from the right alley who was tier five. There were four tier fours coming from the various alleys as well. The three mages were only tier two while the six rangers and almost twenty others coming from the alleys were tier zero. His grandfather seemed to sense the threat from the right and turned to meet them, swinging his hammer with great force. A powerful concussive force gathered at the head of the hammer and swept towards the opening of the alley. The tier five and tier four opponents managed to evade his attack, moving into the street, but the first two of the tier zeroes behind them were not so lucky. Their bodies were catapulted back into the alley, crashing into the men behind them who stared in horror at the crushed bones of the men that had been leading the way. Soon the avenue was filled with their attackers as other groups of assailants came from the other alleyways. The tier four fighters moved quickly to support their leader who was being suppressed by the old Rune Smith. The tier zero armsmen then formed a formation around them using polearms to try to cause damage and harass Ander. It seemed as if their goal was to whittle him down with the ranged attacks and the polearms while the fighters held him in check. Seeing that the mages were preparing to blast his grandfather with another set of spells Derek acted quickly. He knew that the mages currently presented the greatest risk for his grandfather so he drew his war blade as he burst out of hiding. He angled away from the melee and slashed forward three times. Three blades of energy shot towards the three mages from the tip of his blade as he used his newly learned weapon channeling technique. He didn¡¯t go with anything fancy, instead focusing on speed and accuracy with the Wind Blade spell. Two of the mages didn¡¯t even notice and were bisected by the level four attack spells he had cast. At level four the spells were enough to cut through a half meter of granite much less a human being. As those two fell in equal parts to either side of the buildings they were on, the third mage¡¯s fire shield sprang to life, intercepting the blade in time to prevent him from being cut but unfortunately not fully absorbing the force of the attack which knocked the mage backwards and off the roof he was on. Derek could sense that the mage was not dead, but couldn¡¯t focus on him as he had drawn the attention of some of the armsmen and the rest of the rangers. As they took aim, he cast a Righteous Blessing at level seven, his most powerful capacity. He didn¡¯t have the time to aim it so that it would only affect him and his grandfather so he had to settle for only protecting himself. The spell improved his basic attributes by more than half and his light and order attributes by enough to allow him to cast his holy spells at ninth level. More importantly, a spherical film of light gathered around him to shield him. The rangers looked on in impotence as their shots all bounced from his shield with little effect on it. It would take much more than a half dozen shots to overpower a seventh level shield spell. Derek responded with more channeled Wind Blades. In moments he had sprinted halfway down the avenue firing off over a dozen spells. The rangers in their exposed positions were all either caught by the spells or forced to drop off the back side of the houses to avoid being targeted by Derek.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Seeing that they were no longer in a position to threaten him and sensing that the mage had made no effort to rejoin the fight yet, Derek turned to the assailants that had chased him from where his grandfather was fighting. He saw that he had gotten the attention of a half a dozen of the armsmen and one of the fighters who were approaching him cautiously. Seeing the armsmen clumped together in the middle of the avenue, Derek repeated what he had done with the archers during the bandit attack a few months prior. He cast his Firestorm spell and a cyclone of wind and flame engulfed them, the power of it¡¯s pull even denying them the ability to scream as it sucked the air around them into its funnel. After watching his men die like that, the fighter drank a potion and discarded the bottle before lunging forward to engage Derek. The man¡¯s attacks were wild and powerful. While Derek could match him, whittling him down in a methodical fight and taking advantage of his greater sword skill, he was concerned about his grandfather who had been fighting the others this whole time and had received no healing since the fight started. As the man delivered a vicious chop towards Derek¡¯s waist, the young man stepped into it, bringing his own attack down on his opponent''s shoulder. He flared more power into the aegis around him while simultaneously casting a simple earth based weapon channeling spell as the two weapons struck. The aegis flared in power as it attempted to soak the damage from the man¡¯s attack, while the man¡¯s own armor tried to resist Derek¡¯s attack. In the end both men were smashed to the ground by the other¡¯s offensive. As the assailant was blacking out, he at first felt some comfort that he had managed to bring down one of their targets in spite of everything. The boy had managed to kill many of the men they had brought here and the boy¡¯s final attack had managed to cleave halfway through his chest, crushing many organs and bones. The man knew he was done for, but at least he had killed the boy before he could kill any more of his brothers. It was then that the man saw the shadow over him. ¡°But how?¡± he asked. Derek looked down at him, clutching his side and pouring a powerful Healing Light spell into himself. His hip was mending itself at a visible pace. The boy smiled through bloody teeth. ¡°It¡¯s real hard to bring down a holy magic user. Guess whoever sent you after us didn¡¯t know much about me. Well, I guess that¡¯s good for me. No hard feelings now.¡± As he finished, he slashed downwards at the man¡¯s neck to end his suffering before focusing on the fight where his grandfather was. The old man was caked in blood and still surrounded, but by much fewer enemies. Many of the armsmen were down, only two were left in fighting form. A few were crawling away to avoid being hurt further by the wild clash behind them. The leader was still doing well and the blood on him was not his own. The two remaining fighters had both been injured but were both still in the fight. Derek started running, he slashed forward with several new weapon channeling spells. Two Wind Blades were aimed consecutively at the leader, but both missed as the man expertly dodged backwards to avoid them. The next three Wind Blades were aimed at the two armsmen and one of the fighters around his grandfather. The first two connected, killing both men, while the third struck its target but was absorbed by the armor. The fighter was still knocked off balance though and forced to disengage temporarily to regain his stance. The final two spells arced in and struck his grandfather directly in the back. The holy energies within had consumed most of what was left of Derek¡¯s mana and had challenged his level of control quite greatly. These were both at level nine, the maximum level he could cast while enhanced by Righteous Blessing. The first was a Holy Light spell that quickly healed most of his grandfather¡¯s injuries while the second was a Righteous Blessing for the old man, providing him with a more powerful boost to his stats and accompanying shield than what even Derek had received with his level seven version. As the old man felt the effect of the spells upon him and saw the change in the battlefield, he seized the moment, brutally attacking the fighter that was still in combat with him. The fighter managed to avoid the first two of his wild swings, but could not keep up with the old man¡¯s new speed and when the hammer impacted on his armor it caved in, crushing and puncturing the man¡¯s heart and lungs. The man drowned in his own blood moments later. The tier five leader was infuriated by this turn of events. He had been misinformed about the power of this duo. The elder Disciple had been as he expected, powerful but not particularly skilled in his weapons or spells. It was the boy that had ruined his plans. He had single handedly routed his rangers and mages then killed a significant portion of the rest of his force. Without their assistance, suppressing and killing the older Disciple would have been much harder, but that last minute heal and enhancement and the other casualties the boy had inflicted had been too much. As he watched his last subordinate¡¯s head get crushed by the enraged smith¡¯s hammer, he turned to the boy that had ruined his plans. The boy was clearly fatigued, panting from having used most of his mana. The assassin¡¯s face twisted into a vicious smile. Perhaps he couldn¡¯t kill the old man, but the real target had been the boy all along. He cast his own weapon channel, sending a flaming blade shooting towards the boy whose eyes could only bug out as death came hurtling towards him. The assassin only barely recognized the hammer crashing down on his own head as he saw the Flame Blade intersect with the boy¡¯s shield. As the shield cracked and the flame struck the boy in the chest the assassin¡¯s world went dark.
Derek Thorne- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Demon Warrior, Tier Two: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Greater Demon Heart: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Equipment- Forge God¡¯s Warsword: basic offensive mid t3, maximum offensive spell level 7 Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Bonuses- Righteous Blessing, Level 7: +14 to Basic Attributes, +14 to Order and Light Attribute, Level 7 regenerating shield. Chapter 51 - Reprisal ¡°Ouch,¡± Derek moaned from where he was laying on the ground. By now there were no longer any enemies in combat with them. The surviving rangers had joined the mage and fled into the city. Eventually coming to grips with the pain of his burns, he accepted the hand offered by his grandfather. ¡°Good job, boy.¡± The old man yanked him up from the ground and patted him on the back before leaning heavily on his warhammer to catch his breath. Around them they could hear the moans of the dying and injured assailants. Derek leaned heavily against his grandfather for a moment before recovering his mana enough to cast a healing spell on the two of them. He had been lucky their attacker was only capable of peak seventh level spells because if that attack had been any more powerful it is likely he would have suffered catastrophic injuries. For that matter, if the man had been able to cast a follow up spell Derek would have been a goner. He had come very close to dying just then. As it was, his own middle seventh level aegis had been able to soak most of the damage before collapsing. Derek felt the burns sooth as he periodically cast low level healing spells on himself and his grandfather. The old man¡¯s body was quickly healed and it only took a few more spells to heal himself. As the last of the injuries mended themselves guardsmen came rushing into the avenue from either end. On one side were guards from the town council while the other side were guards dispatched from House Windreach¡¯s garrison next to the gates to the inner city. Seeing the two not making any attempt to move and that the combat was over the two groups dispatched a few healers to tend the wounded people on the ground and others to search for other injured combatants in the area. A few others were sent to block off access to the scene and the majority of both groups moved to surround the boy and his grandfather. The leader from the council¡¯s guards nodded to the Guard Captain from the Windreach side and let him take control of the situation. The Guard Captain looked around for a while longer to assess the rest of the situation. His critical eye scanned the entire battlefield before stepping forward to speak to them while gesturing the council guard leader to join them. ¡°You seem to have been in quite the fight. Tell me exactly what happened.¡± Derek had been quite apprehensive until the man spoke up. The Guard Captain¡¯s voice was authoritative, commanding their full cooperation, but it lacked any hint of accusation. Derek turned to his grandfather who wearily signaled to him to speak for them. Derek nodded before responding to the guards, ¡°Captain, I am Derek Thorne, son of Eona Windreach, Disciple of the Forge God and student of the Academy. This is my grandfather, Disciple Ander Kennick, Grandmaster Rune Smith and guest of House Windreach at my mother¡¯s home. We were returning from an appointment in the market district when we were attacked in this avenue. The opposition had one tier five magic warrior of some type and four tier four warrior types. There were three mages of tier two and six other tier zero ranged attackers. They were supported by around twenty tier zero armsmen. One mage and two of the rangers managed to escape towards the docks, and aside from the wounded here, there is a ranger trying to hide about a block away.¡± Seeing that the Captain didn¡¯t quite seem satisfied with that answer, he spent a moment to describe the fight in detail. The Captain sent runners to check the nearby streets and they caught the ranger that had been too injured in his fall to get away. Wrapping up his story, Derek spoke to the Captain, ¡°I have a sprite tailing the remaining mage and the two scouts now. If you wish to catch them, we need to get moving quickly as they will soon be leaving the radius of my abilities.¡± The Captain nodded before turning to the council¡¯s man, ¡°Watch Leader Kirin, can you take over this site? I will leave some men to assist you. I would very much like to know who would be so bold as to attack members of my House in this city.¡± The other man waved him off, ¡°Of course, Captain Drake, go ahead. I have no interest in assaulting a nest of assassins. That tends to reduce life expectancy. Your specialists are far better at it than my guardsmen.¡° Drake¡¯s head snapped around as he looked at the bodies around him. Even a few of the wounded had become corpses at this point, some successfully committing suicide under his people¡¯s watch while the guards wrestled poison pills from the rest, ¡°Oh, assassins? That settles it. We need to move fast to keep them from escaping.¡± The man barked out orders to his people and a dozen men joined them before he signalled Derek to lead the way. Derek nodded, taking a mana potion from his grandfather and drinking it before leading off at a brisk jog to allow the tier zero guards to keep up. In all there were ten tier zero guardsmen, two tier two individuals that appeared to be scouts of some kind due to their movement ability and lighter armor, and the Captain who was a tier five magic warrior. As they left the avenue, the Guard Captain cast an Aura onto them that mixed wind with water mana to increase their movement speed and reduce fatigue. Derek led the way, following the direction his Dark sprite, Wisp, was leading them. The route led them into the docks district and they turned onto a road with warehouses on either side shortly after their targets had slipped into one of the large wooden buildings. Derek sent Gnome to search for secret tunnels and had Aurora and Sylph move to the opposite side of the building to make sure no one tried to escape from that side. Meanwhile Wisp had already infiltrated the building. As they arrived into the area the guards proceeded to rush to cordon off the area with other guard units that had joined them as they crossed half of the city. As the Guard Captain was coordinating with the guards from at least three of the power blocks in the city, Gnome returned to Derek with news of an escape tunnel while Wisp was indicating that the assassins were starting to head towards its entrance in the warehouse. Derek spoke up quickly, ¡°Guard Captain, there is an escape tunnel that leads directly in front of us, may I open it from here?¡± The man turned from him to glance at the leader of the Harbormaster¡¯s guards. The man thought for a second then nodded, ¡°As long as it gets repaired. I don¡¯t much fancy chasing them through their trap filled warrens.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Derek nodded before starting to shape earth mana to break open the street directly in front of them. It started off slowly as the cobblestone was shifted to either side by his spell. The other mages around him quickly moved to assist, and between the four of them an opening had been created just as Wisp was informing him that their targets had gotten to the door to the tunnel. The opening wasn¡¯t large, appearing like a small crater with the material easily deposited to either side. Below was a neatly formed stone tunnel. Previously clean, there was now a layer of broken stone on the floor. The tunnel appeared as if it had been made to accommodate smuggling efforts so it was wide enough for a cart if not terribly deep. Derek and his grandfather dropped down after a few of the elite guards and they were followed by several of their tier zero rank and file. The men immediately got into formation across the width of the tunnel. Meanwhile the Guard Captain proceeded to lead his men in tackling the Assassin¡¯s hideout itself, his scouts leading the way. Down in the tunnel Derek and the others didn¡¯t have to wait long before they encountered the fleeing assassins. The scuffle started as soon as the assassins had opened the door into the tunnel. They had not expected to be met by the halberds and crossbows of the guards and before they could react the crossbowmen had already fired. To further deny them any advantage in the dark environment, Derek cast a light magic spell called flare amongst them, secure in the fact that having just come down from the day lit street the men with him would be much less impaired by it. The light blinded them as the melee guards rushed to engage them. The fight wasn¡¯t entirely one sided as Derek noticed that one of the assassins wielding two daggers was another tier four. From her movement she appeared to be a scout type of some sorts. Even blinded, her frenzied attacking style was enough to drive off the men that tried to overpower her. She had even managed to severely injure one of the guards. Derek was loath to engage her in melee as too many men were already pressed in tightly at the entrance of the tunnel and he was concerned he would be more hindrance than help at the front line, so he instead opted to grab the injured man and dragged him back to a safe space to heal him. His grandfather had no such compunctions though, barrelling through the fight and straight into the woman. Her daggers had proved useless against him as his body glowed a bright yellow from some Earth element spell shielding him. Blood spewed from her mouth and a sickening crunch was heard as they made contact with the wall. The wall itself proved not to be magically enhanced as it gave way and the old man pushed the now lifeless body into the basement of the warehouse she had just come from. Derek quickly ignored the fight that was now going firmly in favor of his side and instead Delved the man he had dragged back to safety. Sensing the extent of the wound and the poison the woman had used, Derek first cast a Purify spell at fourth level. The Holy spell proved sufficient to burn the poison out of the man¡¯s body, though he writhed in pain from the heat of the purification searing him from within. Attempting to comfort the man, he whispered, ¡°Be at ease, this is almost done.¡± Once the poison was burnt out of the man, Derek cast a Holy Light on the man, level five being sufficient to counter the damage from the attack, poison and purification. Next he channeled a flow of water mana into the man that worked as a sedative to calm his nerves and emotions and the man finally relaxed. Patting the man¡¯s shoulder, Derek spoke to him before getting up, ¡°Ok, rest here for a moment, the fight is done.¡± For the next few moments Derek went back and forth through the guards healing any further injuries he found. It didn¡¯t take much as the fight had been particularly one sided. The most dangerous foe had been taken out by his grandfather. Derek looked down at the woman¡¯s crushed body before looking up at his grandfather. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were part buffalo.¡± The old man laughed, ¡°It¡¯s an old trick I learned during the war. You¡¯ll never guess how many castle gates have been foiled by a very motivated high tier warrior using an Earth¡¯s Might spell. Nor how many enemy formations have been destroyed that way for that matter.¡± Derek looked at him and shook his head, ¡°I imagine the number of high tier warriors breaking their own bodies on walls harder than they had assumed wasn¡¯t particularly low either though.¡± The old man got a far away look before laughing again, ¡°You got that right. You should have seen the smeer that pompous ass Sir Tynik turned into at the Battle of Danvin Falls. Though he was a great fighter, he was a total prick. Noone regretted his passing, except maybe the whorehouses of the region. I am sure they lost quite a bit of business with his passing.¡± Derek knew better than to go down this route with his grandfather, first it started with gallows humor, then the old man would decide to go wash away his memories with drink. He hadn¡¯t had an episode of the kind since Redwyrm, though Derek guessed he now knew why his grandmother would take the old man¡¯s drinking so personally and get so angry at him for it. Derek decided to steer the conversation in another direction, ¡°Grandfather, What do you think we should do now?¡± The old man shook his head a little bit, clearing his thoughts before looking around, ¡°Nothing much boy. I suppose we let the guards do their job here for now and maybe join them when they decide to explore this smuggler¡¯s tunnel. Rest for now, we don¡¯t know what¡¯s on the other side.¡± Hearing that, Derek sat next to his grandfather and watched the guards start searching the place. A pair of scouts led the way further into the warehouse, disabling traps along the way. Knowing there were no enemies about to ambush them, they were able to take their time and within half an hour the elites from the various guard units that had assaulted the warehouse had joined Derek and his grandfather in the basement. Their next task was to explore the tunnel.
Ander Kennick- Previous Classes- Burgher, Fighter, Fighter, Rune Smith, Rune Smith, Rune Smith, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Fighter, Tier One: +1 Strength, +2 Body, +1 Agility Fighter, Tier Two: +1 Strength, +2 Body, +1 Agility Rune Smith, Tier Three: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Rune Smith, Tier Four: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Rune Smith, Tier Five: +3 Strength, +3 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Rune Smith, Tier Six: +3 Strength, +3 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Rune Smith, Tier Seven: +3 Strength, +3 Body, +3 Agility, +3 Mind Grand Disciple of the God of the Forge: +6 Strength, +6 Body, +15 Fire, +15 Earth Dragon¡¯s Blood Elixer: +6 Strength, +6 Body, +4 Agility, +4 Mind Equipment- Siege Breaker (Minor Artifact): basic offensive peak t10, maximum offensive spell level 10, spell absorption, spell reflecting. Talisman of the Forge: eight elder sprites +10 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 52 - The Smugglers Cove Derek was exhausted. The sun was just barely above the southwestern horizon. He was moving from man to man in the temporary field hospital they had set up in the Smuggler¡¯s Cove they had found. The hours since they began their push down the tunnels had been a harrowing experience. Now Derek was wringing out every bit of mana he had to assist the recovery of the wounded guards. The grateful faces of the men and women around him a testament to how many of their comrades he had preserved. Just a few hours earlier they had been in high spirits after clearing out the warehouse with no true casualties. The man Derek had healed was already recovered and back with his squadmates when the guards that had taken the warehouse itself had joined them in the basement. Guard Captain Drake surveyed the room and the slain assassins before ordering the exploration of the tunnels. One of the guard squads stayed behind to secure the warehouse while Drake led the rest down the tunnels. The scouts moved first, searching for traps and ambushes. After that was an elite squad in service to the port authority followed by the leadership of the various guard forces involved in the operation. The remaining guards followed behind, working together as if they had done this several times before. This line up allowed for the elite guardsmen and the tiered leaders to aggressively suppress any opposition until the weight of the rest of the guard units could be brought to bear. Derek and his grandfather fell in behind the Captain himself. Their progress was rapid as the scouts knew their jobs well. They passed several disarmed traps and disabled sentries. Half an hour later their luck ran out as the sounds of a skirmish and flashes of light indicated that the scouts had come into conflict with someone up ahead. The guards around him picked up their pace, hustling to join the conflict as quickly as possible so as to not lose the initiative. Derek cast his Righteous Blessing on himself, his grandfather and the nearest few leaders as he followed at a quick jog. He came around the last bend to find the room in chaos. The room turned out to be a mixture of warehouse and barracks. It seemed that the scouts had been detected while entering and had been forced into cover to exchange ranged fire with the assassins and sailors in the room. Anyone foolish enough to try to approach across the no man¡¯s land would be targeted by the ranged attacks of their opponents. This stalemate had ended abruptly when the elite guardsmen and squad leaders had come pouring into the room. A few of the guards had fallen but the ferocity of their charge had carried them quickly across the room and into melee range with the defenders. The fight had swung entirely in the guards¡¯ favor so Derek turned to assisting the downed guards. The first man he ran to had been unlucky. An arrow to the eye had taken the man¡¯s life instantly so Derek ran on to the next. This guardswoman had taken four arrows to places unprotected by her partial armor. Derek, first Delved her before using a low tier water spell to soothe her nerves. He then withdrew the arrows with the assistance of his magic and sprites. Finally he cast three rounds of low tier Purify and Holy Light into his patient before marking her injuries as healed on her breastplate. He gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder before running onto the next wounded guardsman. This one had only taken a single arrow, but it had gone completely through the knee. Derek once more followed his procedure of Delving, anesthetizing, removing the arrow, then Purifying and healing. This guy had taken less overall damage and when he indicated his desire to rejoin his friends on the line Derek nodded, before removing the anesthetic and pumping a direct blast of earth and fire mana into his system to give him a temporary energy boost. These kinds of direct applications of mana were not quite spells. The mana expenditure to use these were less efficient than actual spells but could grant the intended effect on the fly as long as the caster understood what they were doing. Finished healing the man, Derek patted his helmet and gave him a thumbs up before running onto the next downed guardsman. There was already a healer there. This guy was tier zero like most of the other guards but he had spent time and energy improving his ability to cast water and earth mana. This allowed him to stabilize his injured comrades before getting them to a field hospital. The cost of raising elite troops was only marginally less expensive than raising people to tier one. No leader worth his position would willingly send them into combat without some form of healer support. Dropping down next to the man, Derek felt a shudder from his aegis as a pair of arrows bounced off of it. From its angle he couldn¡¯t tell if it had targeted him, the healer, or had just been a wild shot. Derek looked down to see that the guard on the ground had been burnt by a fire attack of some sorts. He then looked up at the healer to see a woman just a decade older than him. He spoke up, ¡°Sister, what¡¯s his status?¡± She glanced up from her patient, not recognizing him but her eyes soon focused on his holy symbol. The symbols of the Hearth and Sun were both indicators of healing ability. Some tension drained from her seeing this, ¡°He is in critical condition with burns across fifty percent of his upper body. His armor has fused to his chest and his breathing is shallow and heart rate is weak. I have just now put him to sleep to start work on his injuries.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Derek nodded before glancing around to see that the fight had progressed further into the room. He first cast Sanctuary where he was, providing a physical boost to all of the guards in the area, while a gentle rain of holy mana fell on all in the area. He then began to slowly use earth and fire based mana to pull the armor from the man with the assistance of his sprites. The Sanctuary had almost doubled the man¡¯s body attribute, granting him a robustness that would allow him to overcome the damage inflicted by removing the fused metal of his armor. Derek was able to remove the armor and the Sanctuary started healing the man¡¯s wounds immediately. He Delved the man quickly to confirm his status then got up to move to the next wounded person. The healers were quick to make use of the Sanctuary Derek provided. The static area of effect of the spell allowed them to move the wounded into its radius and save mana on healing. Within minutes the fighting remaining injured had been healed and several of them had cycled back to the front to join their comrades. Derek followed the sounds of the fighting, stopping every once in a while to help wounded guards he found. At the next bend in the corridor he found an unfortunate scout who had been slain when he missed a trap, spikes pinning him gruesomely to the wall. Nearby Derek found another scout who had suffered from a blade trap. The man was holding desperately to his stomach to hold the contents in. Running up, Derek quickly delved the man. The man¡¯s injuries were severe. Aside from the near disemboweling he had suffered, he was also suffering from poison and some other impurities in his system. Worse, Derek could tell that the blood loss was extreme. Derek immediately got to work, adding earth element to the water element he normally used. This bolstered the man and strengthened him while the water element reduced his pain. Derek then cast a Healing Light and Purify spell and checked again. The man was still incredibly weak, so Derek grabbed a potion out of his storage space and fed it to the man. This was no healing potion or stamina potion, but a potion with raw nutrients that would provide his body with the necessary fuel to keep healing itself. If Derek hadn¡¯t cast so much already that day he could have been able to craft a spell to do this, but as of now he was almost tapped and the potion would be sufficient for his needs. Sensing the effects of the potion flooding the man, Derek cast another Healing Light to help it along, before using the nearby blood to mark the man healed. Finished, he hurried down the remaining corridor before entering what looked like the first floor of another building. There were a few more wounded guards here but he was waved on by the healers supporting them. Derek rushed out of the front door to see a cove in front of him. Derek glanced around to see more guards on the ground but he also noticed a ship escaping out of the cove. Frustrated, Derek cursed, ¡°Damn, they got away.¡± A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He heard his grandfather¡¯s voice from beside him, ¡°Only a few made it to that vessel. Most will be staying here.¡± Realization crossed Derek¡¯s mind as he looked around. He saw that the guards had captured three other vessels and the rest of the fighting was dying down on the beaches, docks and in the buildings of the cove. Even remembering his efforts to preserve the guards that had been wounded, he was reminded of the shadows nearby, dead or dying sailors and assassins. For every wounded guard he had seen several of their opponents on the ground. Even now, as the remaining opponents were being taken down, the fight was still largely in the guards¡¯ favor. Derek turned to see the healer he had worked with before bringing wounded towards a temporary field hospital one of the guard Mages had set up. Seeing this, Derek nodded to his grandfather before running off to join her. The field hospital turned out to be merely a collection of blankets laid out to accept the wounded. Derek¡¯s first action upon arriving was to cast a Sanctuary on the area, which came close to using the last of his mana. He felt his knees go weak before he caught himself and withdrew another mana potion to drink. He tasted the refreshing mango berry flavor before he felt the revitalizing energy pour into his mana pool. Refreshed, he moved to the nearest bed and began healing wounded guards. Hours later as the sun was setting, the last of the wounded was brought into the field hospital. The other healers had used up all their mana at this point and could only help with mundane tasks. Derek wrung out one more round of Delving, anesthetizing, Purifying, and healing before sitting down heavily on the chair that had been brought for him. He looked around at the others, and they were all spent, especially him and the Mage who had set up the field hospital. Derek looked around and saw that new groups of guards were arriving from the tunnel as well as a few ships belonging to the city¡¯s navy. The place was soon teaming with fresh guards and sailors to replace those that had fought here. After a while, Derek saw a man in a silver breastplate and blue and green doublet come off of one of the ships. This man had a distinct golden anchor on his breastplate that denoted some high position. Derek watched as the officers of the various guard forces in the cove gathered around the man and led him around the cove. Finally, they brought him up to the field hospital where the guards that had been most badly hurt and the healers who had tended them were still recuperating. Seeing the man approach, the various healers all got up to meet him. Derek didn¡¯t want to seem rude so he did the same. The man was a force of personality, greeting the healers and the wounded guards who had gotten up to meet him. When he finally came to Derek, his eyes lit up, ¡°So young man, my men say that they have you to thank that so many of them survived this fight. If I hadn¡¯t already heard from Captain Drake here that you were a student at our school, I would be trying to snatch you up to come work for my Port Authority. As it is, I will have to get my son to pressure you to make the right decision when you graduate, hahaha.¡± Derek looked confused, ¡°Your son?¡± The man laughed at Derek, ¡°Of course, my son, Karl Windreach, the Storm Knight. I am sure you heard of him.¡± Chapter 53 - The Red Cabal ¡°You¡¯re Dean Karl¡¯s father?¡± Derek asked incredulously. While this man did look a few years older than Karl Windreach, he didn¡¯t look old enough to be the Dean¡¯s father. The old man laughed, ¡°Haha, of course I am. It¡¯s not my fault the boy has aged so poorly. If he spent less time in the Academy and more time out on the sea like me he would look as hale and hearty as I do!¡± Derek was confounded by this logic. It was clear that the older man had probably tiered up faster or had a prodigious body attribute that had made his aging slower than his son. The only way the man¡¯s explanation worked in Derek¡¯s mind was if Karl¡¯s time in the Academy had slowed his progression and that the old man¡¯s time at sea had done the opposite. That¡¯s assuming the old man wasn¡¯t just speaking ballyhoo. Either way it was obvious by this man¡¯s age and equipment that he was an important person within House Windreach. The man had already moved on and was congratulating and thanking the guards in the field hospital before moving on to inspect the next part of the cove. Captain Drake signalled for Derek to come along so the boy hurried to catch up. The guards had already begun cleaning up. They had placed their fallen respectfully on one of the piers while the dead assassins and sailors were being laid out in lines on one of the beaches. Their survivors were chained in long strings and forced to sit in the sand near their dead compatriots. The surviving rogues were clearly dispirited and many had injuries that had yet to be healed. Derek was surprised by the disparity in losses. There were easily almost three hundred dead or captured enemies, while their side had only lost seven men. His confusion must have been apparent as Captain Drake laughed next to him, ¡°You are wondering how we were able to overpower so many enemies with so few losses of our own?¡± Seeing Derek nod the man continued, ¡°It¡¯s pretty simple really. Their forces were spread around the cove here and in the tunnels. We were able to engage them on our terms by attacking the separate groups with our full force one after the other.¡± This description reminded Derek of one of his lessons. He turned and asked, ¡°So this is an example of the concept of defeat in detail?¡± The Captain nodded before he swept his arms to encompass the whole cove, ¡°Once we arrived in the cove, we split off a smaller force to clear the east side which only had the one pier and that warehouse over there. The rest turned west and swept around the cove. Conveniently, the cove¡¯s shape limited the scope of the conflict and the aggressiveness with which we attacked kept our opponents off guard. It also helped that some of these people¡¯s leadership fled on that vessel that got away. The lack of high tier opponents allowed our own to cause tremendous damage to the regular tier zero fighters. Your grandfather¡¯s advanced tier helped with that. A tier seven let loose among low tier enemies is a disaster unless those lower tier folks are supported by higher tier allies. ¡°Finally, there¡¯s the fact that you and the other healers were able to take care of our wounded and get them back into the fight so quickly. The Harbor Master wasn¡¯t joking when he said that you are the reason so many of our men survived. Between your healing directly saving their lives and the guards that were able to rejoin the fight because of your efforts, you easily reduced our casualties by half or even two thirds.¡± Derek understood what the man was saying and felt slightly embarrassed at the praise. He looked at the other guards around him and saw that many of the ones were faces he recognized, men that he had healed. They all looked at him with faces of gratitude and respect. A sense of pride welled up within him. This was what he wanted, to do great deeds and be honored for them. He saluted the men before turning back to the captain, ¡°Thank you for saying that. It was the first thing that came to mind. After that first fight in the tunnel, I realized that the guards were working together as a team and that because I didn¡¯t know how to work with them my skills would be better used supporting them.¡± Smiling, Drake agreed with him, ¡°You were right to think that. No matter how skilled a person is in individual combat, it often takes time to learn to fight in a group. Teamwork is the difference between a normal warrior and a true soldier. It takes discipline and practice. Not to worry though, I am sure with your intelligence you would pick it up quickly.¡± Their group came to a stop inside what looked to be the assassin¡¯s headquarters. There the various squad leaders and their assistants were busy gathering information about the place. Entering the single room on the ground floor, Derek saw his grandfather sitting in a window and smoking from his pipe with his hammer leaned against the wall next to him. When the old Harbor Master saw Derek¡¯s grandfather the man let out a roar before barrelling over to the other man, ¡°Ander Kennick! Haha, I haven¡¯t seen you since Argon¡¯s Springs, or was it Fort Hastur?¡± Hearing the other man coming Ander turned before a smile appeared on his own face, ¡°Warwick, you old pirate! What are you doing here? I could have sworn that you would have had your neck stretched by a rope somewhere by now.¡± The two men embraced in a fierce hug and started pounding each other¡¯s backs. The shockwaves coming from their blows were enough to cause some of the men around them to take steps backwards. Finally, the two broke their hug and Ander turned to Derek, ¡°Derek, come here. I want you to meet an old friend of mine, this Is ¡®Black Dog Warwick¡¯. He¡¯s a pirate that¡¯s wanted in a dozen countries all up and down the coast¡­¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The other old man was quick to cut him off, ¡°Privateer, not pirate! There¡¯s a difference and since the war¡¯s over, I am no longer wanted by those other countries.¡± Ander continued as if he hadn¡¯t even heard him, ¡°We served together on at least twelve campaigns with the The Velvet Host.¡± Derek looked strangely at the two men before speaking up, ¡°The Velvet Host? That name hardly inspires fear or confidence.¡± The two men who looked like they were about to get into an argument about the difference between privateers and pirates turned on the boy. The Harbor Master was the first to respond, ¡°The Velvet Host was a prestigious company boy.¡± Derek was looking at the man dubiously, ¡°Eh, did you wear really fancy clothes? Did you scare your opponents off with how well dressed you all were?¡± The men in the room started laughing but stopped quickly when Ander swatted the back of Derek¡¯s head, ¡°You no good child, of course we were well dressed. Part of securing lucrative contracts is looking damned good. Good looking mercenaries are disciplined mercenaries and disciplined mercenaries win battles. The Velvet Host was known for its discipline and it had to look the part. We made damned good money back then, and we looked damned good while doing it. Don¡¯t question it boy, it¡¯s one of the unspoken rules of mercenary life. Well dressed mercenaries are successful mercenaries.¡± Derek rubbed his head while the two old men turned back to each other. Derek watched the various officers scurry about the room while he listened to his grandfather and his friend while they caught up. They definitely had a tale to tell. It turned out that the two hadn¡¯t seen each other in decades. Ander had left the mercenary company to refine his smithing skills while Warwick had returned to Windreach to take a formal position within his house. To hear them tell it, that was almost sixty years ago. Many of the battles they participated in and foes they fought had already been forgotten to history as well as many of their comrades. Derek thought that was pretty sad. He wondered about all the people who had died in those conflicts and whether there was any meaning to their deaths at all, but to hear the two old men talk about it, those deaths had opened doors for others and had possessed meaning in those moments. It was only time that had robbed them of that meaning. After a while more of the officers had entered the room as well as investigators and aids. These people waited patiently for the two men to finish their conversation. It seemed the Harbor Master had been waiting for one woman in particular to join them. This woman was similarly attired to the Harbor Master though the anchor on her breastplate was silver. Seeing this person, the harbormaster beckoned her forward, ¡°Ander, this is my second in command and aide de camp, Estora Windreach. Estora, please begin your report.¡± The woman nodded to her boss before turning to the table and arranging her notes. Finally she glanced at Derek and Ander before she spoke up, ¡°Earlier today, two Disciples of the Forge God were attacked in the streets of Windreach by a group of assassins. The majority of those assassins were either slain or captured on the spot. The two Disciples worked with the city¡¯s guard organizations to first trace the escaping assassins to their warehouse hideout and then assault the warehouse. ¡°Their quick thinking prevented any of the assassins from escaping that position and allowed our follow up attack through the tunnels into this cove to possess the element of surprise. Through the hard work of all of the participating guard units we were able to seize this cove and capture most of the smugglers and assassins that were here. Unfortunately, it appears that one vessel got away.¡± She looked around to confirm that everyone in the room had followed her briefing up to this point before she continued, ¡°Our casualties for this operation were light, only losing seven guardsmen. We will mourn these losses but are grateful that more of our own were not lost. ¡°In comparison, we were able to slay two hundred and thirty three of these criminals and capture an additional seventy eight. We have successfully seized four warehouses and two vessels full of goods and are currently cataloguing them. Furthermore, we have determined that the assassins were members of the Red Cabal and that the smugglers were an affiliated organization. ¡°With the success of this operation we can be certain that the Red Cabal has been crippled within Windreach City and will need to put significant resources into rebuilding before they can begin operations here again. Does anyone else have anything to add?¡± The Harbor Master¡¯s second in command scanned the room. The officers had nothing more to provide about the general situation, instead focusing on discussing specific tasks that still needed to be completed or inventories they were working on. As this conversation continued, Derek turned to his grandfather and the Harbor Master. ¡°Grandfather, who are the Red Cabal?¡± The old men turned to him, his grandfather thought for a moment before responding, ¡°The Red Cabal are something of an enigma. They are known to have a network across the entire continent of Elanith. They commit every sort of crime from assassination to smuggling to robbery. ¡°They are generally not welcome even among the criminal underground as they have been known to strike against anyone they desire. Due to this, they often work through intermediaries like these smugglers we captured today. Unfortunately, they are very resilient and no sooner is one branch removed than another grows in its place. Also, their members are very zealous about their loyalty to the Cabal and they have been known to be willing to fight to the death for it. This is why the only Cabalists we were able to capture were the gravely injured ones.¡± Derek thought for a moment before looking back at them, ¡°Then do we need to be concerned about reprisals?¡± Warwick laughed before responding, ¡°Haha, boy you should always be worried about reprisals, but for now the Cabal has nothing to threaten you with. If they had stronger forces in the city, they would have sent them when they tried to assassinate you.¡± He stood up and clapped, ¡°Okay, you two, you don¡¯t need to stay here any longer. I can have my men bring you back to the Academy if you¡¯d like. When we have fully catalogued this mess I will have my men bring over your portion of the prize and bounties.¡± Chapter 54 - A New Schema Derek and his Grandfather returned to the Academy just in time for supper. The two were greeted by Rebekah and Eona when they arrived. The two women¡¯s eyes locked on the bloody and scorched clothes they were wearing. Derek smiled at his mother as she habitually delved him for injuries. It felt nice to have someone concerned about him. Hugging her gently, he did his best to soothe her. ¡°I am fine, mother. I wasn¡¯t hurt.¡± Rebekah had gotten a hold of her husband at the same time. She was scolding him within a sound barrier so their grandson couldn¡¯t hear it. The old man just smiled at his wife and placated her. Derek could sense the love between the two even in this disharmonious situation. As Rebekah worked herself up and tears started to form in her eyes, the old man finally reached around her arms to hug her and brought her to him to kiss her. Her half hearted effort to push him off with her fists only managing to make the two seem to be decades younger than they were. Finally, as the two leaned into the hug, the tension drained out of Derek¡¯s grandmother and she let the sound barrier drop. She turned to her grandson and reached over to him so he walked over to give her a hug too. As she held him close she whispered to him, ¡°Boy, you are the spitting image of your father at your age and you two got your adventurous traits from this foolish old man. You need to be more careful. You two could have been killed today and where would that leave me and your mother?¡± Seeing the hurt in the two women¡¯s eyes Derek knew today¡¯s events had worried them greatly. He sighed. He wanted to be a questing knight when he grew older and he knew that to a questing knight days like this would be common. His path would be fraught with danger. He knew this meant that the future would only hold more worry for them, but his every fiber demanded that he follow this course of action. He smiled sadly at her, ¡°I am sorry we worried you grandma. We did our best to reduce our risks.¡± The old woman sighed, ¡°Of course boy. I know this is in your bones. Just promise us you will be more careful. Now you two should go get washed up and changed for dinner. The others will be here shortly.¡± Derek nodded before hurrying off to get cleaned up. In only a few minutes he was back down in the foyer clean and with a fresh set of clothes. It wasn¡¯t long before Derek saw a small group of young men and women come into the house. It seemed that Alicia and her dorm mates had met up with the three from Derek¡¯s room and had been out for a walk in the park on the west side of the campus. He smiled as he saw the seven come in and noticed that Desmond and Garrett had made some progress with the girls. Or maybe the girls had made progress with them. The bookish brunette with the long braided ponytail in the sky blue robe had Desmond listening and nodding to everything she said. She practically had him eating out of her hand. Derek was surprised by this as Lynette was the last one Derek would have expected Desmond to go for considering their interests. The girl from the Mage College was clearly much more interested in academics thanDesmond was, in spite of how interested he seemed while she was lecturing him about applications of elemental attribute magic in farming and Derek knew for sure she had absolutely no interest in fighting. Garrett had picked or been picked by a girl surprisingly different from him as well. Where as Desmond and Lynette¡¯s interests were wildly divergent, Ronelle was interested in all things crafting and the local craftsman¡¯s daughter had joined the Alchemy College herself. She was also clearly interested in stories of adventure and could match Garrett word for word when it came to gossip about the greatest heroes in the city, hopping up and down on her small legs in an unconscious expression of her excitement. In those moments the mousy little girl would truly come out of her shell in front of the others but that defined their deference. While Garrett was approaching seven feet tall and seemingly growing larger by the day, this petite little thing was just over four and a half feet tall. She was also on the skinnier side as well, and if Derek didn¡¯t know she was a student here, he would have assumed she was much younger than she was. He smiled as he thought of the girl riding the giant¡¯s shoulder. He assumed their relationship was born out of shared interests and social class and perhaps something inside his brute friend demanded he protect her when he saw the shy girl. Oddly enough Derek was surprised to see that any trace of shyness was gone as she led the much larger boy around, her distinctive hops betraying her excitement at the conversation the two were having. Derek was interested to see that it was not Alicia that was the fifth wheel in this group as the only magic warrior from her dorm room was listening in to Garrett and Ronelle and occasionally adding in her own insight into the conversation. Monica Windreach had struck Derek as one much more interested in her own gender than the other and she didn¡¯t seem very put out that the others had paired off. She was a dashing young lady and from what Derek knew she was Karl Windreach¡¯s niece. Like the rest of her immediate family she seemed most interested in the sea and practiced the storm magics of her uncle. Having just met her grandfather, Derek could see where that interest came from. That left Tristan and Alicia chatting about a particular spell formula, Derek could tell from the partially finished spell runes glowing above their hands. This was a particularly tricky level five spell and the two were focused on a particular point where the two had divergent ideas of how to proceed with the spell. The two were hitting it off quite well, but Derek knew that as the heirs to their respective kingdoms, neither really had a choice in who they would marry. At least it seemed knowing that there was no chance of romance, it had cleared the way for a budding friendship and rivalry for the two mages. ¡°Derek, it¡¯s good to see you. We saw my grandfather¡¯s people as they were heading back to the outer city and questioned them. It seems you had an exciting day.¡± Monica smiled as she greeted him. The other¡¯s conversations came to an end as they came forward to greet him. Garrett took the lead, striding forward to grab Derek by the shoulders. ¡°I heard you were attacked after delivering the goods to House Fontana. Those bastards, we should go teach them a lesson!¡± Derek smiled at his honest friend, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Garrett, Fontana isn¡¯t stupid enough to make such an overt attack like this so soon after our deal. In fact even if they didn¡¯t do anything it will put them in a bad light and force them to be much more diplomatic with us. This attack couldn¡¯t have happened at a better time, haha.¡± The others seemed to be lost in thought, but Tristan seemed to see through it right away. Nodding he said, ¡°Indeed, at this point they will have to show their sincerity. If they don¡¯t handle this correctly their image will be damaged beyond repair and for a merchant image is almost if not more important than money itself. Fontana¡¯s image was already in the dumps after this failed attempt to entrap the smiths of the city. ¡°That will make it much harder for them to come to agreements with others in the future by itself, but now two Disciples get attacked on the way back from a transaction at their place? I think this will force their hands in directions they were not previously willing to go. I don¡¯t imagine your Association will have to worry about conflict with them for the near future after this.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Derek looked at his friend. The mage was damned smart. Derek was willing to admit that Tristan was much smarter than him. That cold nature of his made him incredibly calculating when he needed to be and having been raised as a prince of a country surrounded on all sides, he had learned as much of strategy as he had of spellcraft. In just a few moments the man had been able to pierce this issue much deeper than even Derek had. Derek¡¯s own assumptions around this issue had come from overhearing the Harbor Master and his grandfather talk with the Harbor Master¡¯s bold second in command. Estora had a mind like Tristan¡¯s though Derek doubted it had been as sharp as his friend¡¯s at his age. She had relied on her great experience as the Harbor Master¡¯s aide de camp for the last few years to arrive at these same conclusions. The timing of the attack was too soon after they had left, if it had been House Fontana that ordered it, then they would have only been able to send direct retainers in that time. Furthermore, Fontana wasn¡¯t stupid enough to poison their name further at this point. It would ruin their ability to continue doing business in Windreach even if the local forces didn¡¯t destroy them for cooperating with the cabalists. Finally, this wasn¡¯t how House Fontana liked to do things. They much preferred to trap their opponents and out maneuver them in the markets. It was a matter of pride to them how many opposing merchant houses they had defeated this way. To defeat opponents through thuggery and murder was entirely outside of their modus operandi. When Estora Windreach laid these arguments out, Derek was awed at her clarity of thought and grasp of the situation. Tristan coming to the same conclusion with the few clues he had available was further proof to Derek that his friend was a genius when it came to strategy. Derek knew he had a long way to go before he could match either of the two. As they spoke they heard a clapping from the door to the dining room. Eona spoke up, ¡°Alright children, I hope you washed up. Dinner is ready.¡± Derek hurried to his place as the other seven rushed to wash up as Eona had suggested. As they all sat down, the conversation naturally turned to the events of the day. Ander decided that now was the perfect time to brag about him and his grandson¡¯s exploits during the ambush and the later operations in the tunnel and the cove. The dinner turned boisterous as the family enjoyed the tale together. As dinner wrapped up, Eona called Alicia, Derek and Garrett into her study. On the desk in front of her was a reddish crystal on a bronze mount. Within the crystal a three dimensional model of a schema was stored. Derek looked at it and saw that it was marked ¡®Titan¡¯s Blood tier zero¡¯. He gasped because he had never seen a tier zero schema this intricate. Even his own was nowhere near this intricate at that tier, his tier one schema only barely edged this one out for intricacy. He knew that most people¡¯s schemas wouldn¡¯t get this complex until tier three or four at the earliest. Maybe princes and princesses of large kingdoms or empires could afford designs that would allow them to achieve this level of complexity at tier two or maybe late tier one. Alicia smiled and giggled as he saw the looks of the two boys. She had expected Derek¡¯s surprise, but Garrett¡¯s glassy eyed look proved the boy¡¯s lack of education in schemas. At a nod from her Mistress she spoke up, ¡°Garrett this will be your new schema after the reset. The faculty at the Runic Schema worked hard on this new design using the metrics they gathered from your physical tests over these last few weeks. ¡°The schema follows the classic mandela design that has been popular on the western side of the continent for the last five millenia. If we consider the outermost portions to be the leaves where the essence is absorbed, we can then follow the flow of the essence into the bud where it assigns to the basic attributes. Here we can see the first major difference between this schema and all others. ¡°At the core of the bud are the body and strength attributes. Due to the Titan¡¯s Blood bloodline that you possess, this section can be much more robust. In the first cycle of the essence once it enters the mandala, it will be given one opportunity to enter the body and then the strength attribute portion of the bud. Normally that would be the end. But with the Titan¡¯s Blood Enhancement your body and strength attributes can take twice the essence that a normal person¡¯s can. To take advantage of this we have designed into the circulation of the essence a second rotation that will enable more essence to take the opportunity to bind to those attributes. ¡°Further essence will flow up the bud into the agility and mind basic attributes and the essence will then have the opportunity to bind to those attributes. After that, there are the petals of the eight elemental attributes, but here again, we have an abnormality. Our tests these last few weeks have determined that the Titan¡¯s Blood bloodline will enable twice the amount of essence to be attributed to your earth and fire attributes. To facilitate this we have designed the flow of essence to cycle through those two petals one extra rotation before returning down the stem towards the mana pool. ¡°The third major difference between your schema and a normal schema is here, below the essence pool where essence would normally flow out of the mandala if it had not assigned to any abilities or the essence pool itself. This is the essence catch basin that my Mistress designed based on her studies. Her thesis on this was formulated years ago when she was a student here and it is proven effective in Derek¡¯s own schema. ¡°This catch will allow excess essence to accrue before each level up, allowing a higher number of attributes to have essence assigned to them before a level up and preventing wastage. This catch further releases all essence back into the mandala as it unfolds into a new level up, allowing that essence to attempt to assign once again to the various attributes at that point. What this means for your schema is that the essence conversion efficiency for tier zero will rise from eighty percent to over ninety percent, there is a possibility that you will achieve one hundred percent essence conversion in tier zero just like Derek!¡± With this last part, her voice rose in tenor as she made what she considered a bold claim. She saw the desired effect in Derek, his eyes widening in surprise, but Garrett didn¡¯t seem to get it. Derek saw the grumpy look coming across his mother¡¯s apprentice¡¯s face so he turned to his poorly educated friend, ¡°What that means is you are much more likely to gain all the possible attributes with every level. Most royalty only achieve a ninety percent conversion, while normal folks only get fifty to seventy percent in the lowest tiers¡­¡± He saw that his friend was still not following so he summed it up for the big guy as simply as possible, ¡°It means you will get more attributes per level.¡± Garrett nodded, before responding, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that before?¡± His two friend¡¯s eyes bugged out at him while Eona laughed delightedly. She had grown rather fond of her son¡¯s somewhat dull friend. The boy was incredibly endearing to her. Looking at the time, she spoke up, ¡°Alicia, you had best wrap this up. It will be curfew soon and I want you all to be able to make it back to your dorm rooms tonight.¡± Alicia nodded mutely for a second before continuing, ¡°The final touches, as you can see, are where the stem and the petals meet. You can see here, that the interaction of earth element with the body will perform the effect of hardening your body to unprecedented levels. Further, the connection will enable much more rapid natural healing, equivalent to a much higher tier¡¯s regeneration. This will have the secondary effect of reducing fatigue as well. Meanwhile, your fire attribute¡¯s connection to your basic attributes will enable much greater resistance to disease, poisons, and other negative effects, as the fire naturally purifies them and will enhance the explosive power of your physical body as well. The rest of the mandala will interact with your Titan¡¯s Blood to fully activate it¡¯s bonuses. All in all, by the time you have completed tier zero, your body should be much more robust and powerful than even most tier three and tier four heroes. You will be an invincible warrior!¡± This time she got the reaction she wanted out of the dull boy. Now she was talking his language. He stood up and cheered as she said that. Chapter 55 - Rewards Derek shook his head at his friend¡¯s excitement. His large friend¡¯s current schema was garbage and unless he had access to many powerful resources he would never be able to get further than tier four. Each tier required subsequently higher standards to progress into them. Most notably, the person needed a powerful body to accept the higher demands of the schema at those tiers and a certain amount of mind to accept a larger and larger mana pool and elemental attributes. Even with his garbage schema Garrett had more than enough body to progress, but his mind attribute was not sufficient. This would have led to Garrett hitting a bottleneck that he would have found incredibly difficult to overcome. With his new schema, the conversion rate for the mind attribute would be sufficient to carry him until the highest tiers. From there it was merely a matter of taking the risks necessary to gain the essence. As the excited Alicia wrapped her sales pitch and his equally excited numbskull friend ate it all up, Derek couldn¡¯t help but think that this girl was definitely fit to be his mother¡¯s apprentice. He could only wonder what amazing new discoveries she would make in Schema crafting. Perhaps she would overcome that hurtle to allow for tier eleven schemas, or maybe she would come up with new and inventive ways to allow for more essence to be assigned per tier, like how Garrett¡¯s new schema would work. With the design of the schema explained, Eona finally shooed the three youngsters from her study. The others were waiting for them in the front hall so they joined their friends for the walk back to the dorms. The two groups said their goodbyes before splitting off towards their specific areas. Derek definitely enjoyed this environment. He had made many friends since joining the school and more new acquaintances. There were no bullies like Jacob¡¯s sons had been and the wealth possessed by his mother¡¯s House meant he had little to worry about. To top that off, he and his grandfather had been able to earn quite a bit for themselves in this time. The only negative was the violence he had been through. In just a few weeks Derek had fought three duels, been attacked with murderous intent twice, and participated in a raid with the guards that saw the deaths of hundreds. Thinking about that really made him realize that the concerns he had in that village in the mountains had only been small time. The stakes were much higher out in the rest of the world. For many, this would have been very chilling. Most people do not want to live a life of danger, but for Derek, it made his blood boil. His father had been a questing knight and Derek had grown among the traditions of his clan. The Sword Ceremony had shown him so much. A part of him wanted to be in those dangerous situations so that he could test himself and grow stronger. That part of him demanded more. The other part of him remembered the concerns of his mother and grandmother and those two parts seemed to have achieved a delicatebalance. Derek knew that he needed to act with reason. Accept too much risk and he might die or be crippled, accept too little and he would never achieve his goals. He needed to keep his eyes on that middle ground so that he could achieve his goals without worrying his mother and grandmother too much. The next few days Derek and the others continued their same routines. They ate at Eona¡¯s house at breakfast. They worked for Ander in the forge in the morning before heading off to classes. They ate lunch in the cafeteria with Alicia and her friends before afternoon classes. Then finally they went to their weapons¡¯ class where Derek helped the others improve under the watchful eye of his Weapons¡¯ Master, Ovid Balder. There were two interruptions to this schedule. The first was that next morning when surprising guests came to Ander¡¯s forge. As they were wrapping up their work, Priest Cnut and Arbitrator Nolan came by. ¡°Derek, Ander, it¡¯s good to see you. I have news from the Association. After you two were attacked, Baron Fontana reached out to the Association to negotiate with us to de-escalate tensions between our organizations. After several hours of negotiation, we were able to come to an agreement. ¡°In exchange for a mutually beneficial production contract, we were able to buy their foundries in the city for a reasonable price. We were also able to acquire the two iron mines that they possess in the Westmont area. These mines produce high quality ore that when coupled with the foundries in the city will mean that we will have no further problems sourcing iron. ¡°House Fontana has also become a five year probationary member of the Association and assuming they are still in good standing at that time, they will have the chance to become full members. Finally, to show their sincerity and concern after you were attacked they have asked us to deliver these gifts.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. At this point, Nolan¡¯s chauffeur and servants had brought a crate and two small chests from the back of the carriage. The crate possessed many very high quality materials for Ander¡¯s crafting. These materials were rare and hard to find. With them Ander could craft quite a few powerful high tier weapons. The two small chests were handed to Derek. Opening them, he saw a strange fruit in one, while there was a brownish red root in the other. Derek looked at them with curiosity. He didn¡¯t quite know what they were but looking at the mana that came off them he recognized them as treasures. Setting them down, he invited the others to come appraise them. Priest Cnut and his grandfather were only able to confirm their preciousness, but the Arbitrator had seen many unique items before. He smiled and addressed them, ¡°These two are both very valuable enhancement treasures. The first is a Storm Plum. It is said they only grow on plum trees near the oceans. The regions they grow in must not only be near the ocean or another great body of water, but they must also experience many powerful storms to grow into a treasure like this. These are level two enhancing treasures and will permanently enhance the agility, mind, water, and wind attributes.¡± Derek nodded at that. Level two enhancing treasures could only affect attributes that were under twenty. This meant that for Derek this Plum would only be able to improve his water and wind attributes. If he had gained access to this treasure before tiering up to tier two he would have gained far more out of it. Even then, he was still pleased as his water and wind attributes were his lowest elemental attributes and he could expect at least five points of enhancement in those two. As a well rounded spell caster, he was definitely interested in improving his weakest elements. Though he would gain less than the maximum benefit from this treasure, he was still quite happy to have it. Nolan pointed at the brown and red root vegetable and continued, ¡°This is a thousand year Volcano¡¯s Son root. These grow on hills or mountains where there is a large amount of fire and earth essence available. After a thousand years this root is now a level two enhancing treasure that will permanently enhance strength, body, fire, and earth element attributes. ¡°These two are worth at least two thousand talents each and could easily go at auction for twice or three times that. Coupled with the crate of rare materials that is of equal value, Fontana really has shown their sincerity today.¡± Derek, Ander, and Cnut all nodded as they evaluated the gifts. Derek turned to Nolan, ¡°Please convey my thanks for the two treasures. I truly appreciate them.¡± The others nodded and Ander also expressed his gratitude. After a few more moments of discussion, the two clergy left. Derek placed his two treasures into his storage ring with a thoughtful expression on his face. The second interruption was when Derek got called from class to go to the guard¡¯s barracks by the entrance to the inner city. He joined his grandfather there and was surprised to see that Warwick Windreach was there along with his second in command and several of his officers. Derek smiled when he saw the man. In the last few days he had asked around for information about him and had been blown away by the kinds of rumors he had heard. Warwick had indeed been a pirate in his youth. The more accurate word would have been privateer as he had a letter of marque from the kingdom he worked for. During that time he was one of the most wanted men on this side of the continent. He then accrued legends for himself working as a mercenary for years before returning to his piracy whenever he could. The man was now the Harbormaster for Windreach city and had finally settled down. He was now one of the top five most important people in the city and sat upon the council. The old man brightened up when he saw them enter. Signalling to his men, he spoke up loudly, ¡°Ander, Derek. Come over here, I have your prize money from our captured goods. It was a great haul this time. Between the facilities, bounties, ships, and supplies the prize was a little over sixty thousand talents. You each will receive one portion and the four guard forces each receive one portion. ¡°That means you each earned ten thousand talents from this. Haha, to think boy, when I was your age I had to work for years to earn this much. Lucky kid. How about you give most of it to me so I can do something useful with it, like go get drunk?¡± Derek was both excited and embarrassed by this turn of events. He knew he would get a portion but he had no idea how much it was going to be worth. Ten thousand talents was what his clan back in Redwyrm would make after ten years from that cedar grove. Thinking back on what he had gone through, it was easy to get emotional now that he had so much, but the old man¡¯s shamelessness helped him keep himself together. Derek finally spoke up, ¡°Thank you, Harbormaster, but I have some Ideas about how to use it. I am certain it won¡¯t go to waste.¡± Smiling the old man turned to Derek¡¯s grandfather, ¡°How about you, old goat, want to contribute to your ol¡¯ pal Warwick¡¯s grand crusade to get drunk?¡± The old fellow just laughed at that and replied, ¡°Well, I all of a sudden came upon some cash so maybe we can do just that. Derek, go on back to class I will have people come take your portion back to your mother¡¯s place.¡± Derek smiled and waved to them before heading back. He was already trying to think of what he would do with the money and treasures he had just gotten. Chapter 56 - Schema Reset Later that week the three young Magic Warriors were once again practicing in the training yard of Eona¡¯s house. Desmond was practicing spear forms while Derek was showing Garrett how to get the most out of using a large maul he had taken a liking to. Garrett was perspiring greatly as he practiced this incredibly heavy weapon. As the reset potions were taking more and more effect, Garrett¡¯s prodigious strength was flagging. Derek could tell that his friend was frustrated and in great physical discomfort. The reset potions Garrett had been given worked in a very sinister manner. They deconstructed the imbiber¡¯s schema one level at a time, freeing all assigned essence from the person and weakening them one level a day. There was a beneficial side effect to this as the scouring of the essence from the individual would reform their bodies and minds and enhance their basic attributes dramatically. This was why these were called Elite Body Reformation Potions. Potions similar to these were used to reset the attributes on loyal tier zero retainers to allow them to grow into true elites. The more essence removed, the higher the bonus it provides. It would enable those tier zero soldiers to level back up again and grow much stronger than they were when they achieved level ten the first time. This potion was beneficial as well for young people who had achieved many levels but needed a reset to acquire more powerful schemas. In exchange for the temporary weakness of having lost all of their levels and the discomfort and pain of having their essence drained away from them, they are granted an incredible initial enhancement that would provide a foundation for very powerful schemas. Similar to the schemas for the tier zero elites these schemas would have much higher essence conversion rates. But, taking a potion such as this came at a large disadvantage as the user would be back to level zero of tier zero with much fewer years to break through to first tier. Similarly, while the new schemas would provide much higher essence conversions, sometimes up to one hundred percent, the potion¡¯s most detrimental side effect was that until the imbiber reached a level higher than the level they were at when they took it, they would find it a lot harder to gain essence, as the remainder of the potion naturally repelled essence. It generally took twice as much effort to progress back through the previously lost levels. Derek used a status spell on his friend. He saw that Garrett was only first level of tier zero now. He saw that the supplemental potions his friend had taken had stimulated his Titan¡¯s Blood enhancement, and that it had already started to bolster Garrett¡¯s body, strength, fire, and earth attributes. He also saw the impressive effect of the Elite Body Reformation Potions. While his friend¡¯s attributes were much lower than they had been, that gnarly schema was almost gone and in its wake was a very strong foundation. Derek thought things over before he made a decision. He clapped his friend on the shoulder before speaking to him, ¡°Garrett, when we get back to the dorm, I have a gift for you.¡± Garrett looked at him, ¡°What is it? It¡¯s not a girl is it? Ronelle won¡¯t like that.¡± Derek couldn¡¯t help but laugh, this friend of his was a simple guy. He never over thought things and often came to some strange conclusions. ¡°Haha, no, why are you thinking about girls? If you have time to think about girls, you have time to think about practice! Get up, we have one hundred more swings of the maul before you are done today!¡± Derek reached deep into his memories of the years of training under Ovid and he worked his friend until he collapsed and could not swing his maul anymore. Derek and Desmond used this moment to ruthlessly tease their friend. Smiling the three boys went in for dinner and later returned to their dorm with Tristan in tow. As they settled down to do some homework Derek brought over one of the chests he had gotten from Arbitrator Nolan. He opened it and showed it to Garrett. His big friend furrowed his brow as he looked at it. He could tell it was a powerful resource from the mana coming off of it, but he couldn¡¯t tell what it is. Frowning, he looked at Derek, ¡°What kind of beet is this? It looks rather potent. I don¡¯t mean to sound ungrateful but I don¡¯t even know what it is or what I should do with it.¡± Derek smiled and clarified the situation for his friend, describing the thousand year Volcano¡¯s Son root and its properties. He told Garrett to wait until his schema had been fully stripped away by the potion tomorrow before consuming this rare root. Garrett attempted to refuse the gift but when Derek explained that he was too strong to use the Volcano¡¯s Son he chose to accept it. The oversized man started to choke up when Derek offered it to him. He hugged his good friend and said, ¡°Thank you, you have done so much for me lately. You are a really good friend.¡± Derek could only smile at that and pat his friend on the shoulder comfortingly. After a few hours the four of them finished their studies before shutting out the lights and going to bed. Garrett could not sleep and he lay on his bed contemplating recent events for a while. It was already early in the morning before he finally fell asleep. The next day, Garrett took the last of the Elite Body Reformation Potions that had been made for him and by the end of the day the last of the essence in his body had been pushed out. Now he had no schema and no essence within him. Even then, he was quite physically strong. Taking Derek¡¯s advice he ate the thousand year Volcano¡¯s Son root that he had been given and he felt his body regain even more of its original strength. The root even helped to further awaken his bloodline. Later when he went to Eona¡¯s place for dinner, he was pulled aside by the alchemists, Runic Schema designers, and Mages that had been working on his reset. He was scrutinized by over twenty high and middle ranking members of House Windreach before they all sighed with satisfaction. This young man was guaranteed to rise in the future, he was already much stronger than most tier ones and he had not even had his schema inscribed yet.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. They gave Garrett two days of rest before his schema would be implanted and during that time his family came to visit them. Having been instructed to relax so that he could be in his best physical and mental state, he took his father and mother, as well as his two sisters and brother down to the nice park on the west side of the inner city. They all enjoyed the views of the harbor and the rest of the city from the overwatches there. After a carefree two days, Garrett was as ready as he could be. He was nervous, but at the same time expectant. His dorm mates, his girlfriend and his family were all there to support him. They brought him into a medium sized chamber. In this place there were rows of benches for observers around the edges. Further in, there were over a dozen locations for the people working on the schema, their assistants, and some mages. In the middle of the room was where he was supposed to sit. His friends and family all sat on the edges of the room. He was pleased to see Priest Cnut and Disciple Ander sitting in the room as well. As he approached the center of the room, Derek¡¯s mother smiled at him and told him to remove his shirt. Garrett had done this before and knew that the majority of the schema would be imprinted on his chest. As he took his shirt off he heard Ronelle snicker and it caused him to blush. The small girl was very good at tweaking his nose. This caused many of the older women to laugh before Dean Charlotte¡¯s pleased voice cut in, ¡°Ok everyone let¡¯s take our positions.¡± As the people began taking positions, Garrett finally noticed that the floor had inscriptions on it. He quickly realized that he was sitting inside of an array. He gasped as the last time he got a schema, the man had created no such array. Interested, he watched where the people went. Six high tier mages from House Windreach took up positions on the outer ring of the array, they stood at the apexes of a six pointed star. The positions they stood at were between an inner and outer circle and there was a runic script in the ring the circles made with these mages. Garrett knew many runes from his rune smithing and he could tell that these runes were intended to conserve mana and direct it inwards so it could be used inside the formation. Inside each point of the star were more runes which were intended to guide and refine the mana provided by the mages. There were six more stations inside the star. Three were intended for the schema inscribers, and three were for their assistants. Garrett glanced around, noticing that the inscribers were Derek¡¯s Mother, Eona, who was sitting behind him, Charlotte, the Dean of the Magic Schema College to his left and front, and an old male instructor from the Magic Schema College whose name he couldn¡¯t place right now. To either side of Eona were two more instructors from the Magic Schema College and in front of him was Eona¡¯s apprentice, Alicia. When he glanced at her, she beamed at him. He could tell how excited she was to participate in this. Garrett also saw excitement in the eyes of all of the others participating as well. At this moment he couldn¡¯t help but be excited as well. Soon the mages began to pour their mana into the array. As he felt the thick mana washing over him, he sensed mana being injected into him from behind and heard Eona¡¯s voice, ¡°Garrett, listen to my voice. Slow your breathing and calm your nerves. Count down from one hundred. One hundred, ninety nine, ninety eight, ninety seven, ninety six ...¡± Derek watched the process as his mother¡¯s water mana and soothing voice lulled his friend into an anesthetic trance. Shortly thereafter, she took control of the strong mana gathered inside of the formation and began using it to imprint a new schema into his friend. She started by spreading tendrils of mana through the blood veins to all of the parts of his body. This would enable the essence to flow into the body and reinforce it later. She then connected the roots to a bud in the center of his chest, between his sternum and backbone. Derek saw the intricate lines start to form and watched in fascination as the golden mana began forming that wonderful mandala that he had seen in the design. As of now, even the leaves were wrapped around the bud and nothing had opened and the stem below that led to the mana pool and catch was very small. He saw that both the mana pool and catch appeared deflated as well. They both appeared to rest in the area of the diaphragm. Derek knew that this schema was not a physical object. There was no way to touch it physically. It took magic to craft, modify, and destroy these. He had heard that some barbarians used physical tattoos for schema but he had never once seen one. He watched in awe as his mother continued to work on it, placing layer on layer of magic within the schema and enabling it to support many levels from the beginning. He was surprised to see that she had been able to do most of the work, with the other two inscribers only providing insight as she worked. The three assistants didn¡¯t even have to do anything. After three hours, Garrett¡¯s new schema had been completed and Derek couldn¡¯t help but feel pride in his mother for her great work. He doubted that even his own schema could match her latest work. The other instructors all had fanatical looks on their eyes as they recorded the success of Eona¡¯s work. They knew that news of this new schema design would shock their peers. Between Garrett and Derek¡¯s Schemas, Eona had more than enough proof of the validity of her dissertation all those years ago. This proof, along with the essays she had written to defend her original dissertation, would put the Windreach Academy at least two generations ahead of the other Academies on the western side of the continent. History had been made this day. Slowly, the mages powered down the array, and Eona removed the anesthetic from Garrett. As the boy woke he felt no changes to his body, but he saw from the excited looks of the people around him that the inscription had worked. He knew that at this moment, his life had been changed for the better, he just didn¡¯t know how much.
Garrett Smith- Previous Classes- None Permanent Enhancements- Elite Body Reformation: +5 Strength, +10 Body, +5 Agility, +5 Mind Thousand Year Volcano''s Son Root: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth AwakeningTitan''s Blood: +5 Strength, +5 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +5 Fire, +5 Earth, 2x Essence: Strength, Body, Fire, Earth Chapter 57 - Enhancements A couple of days later Derek and Garrett were working at Ander¡¯s smithy after dinner. The two boys were sweating from the hard work and the heat of the forge. It was already past curfew but instead of returning to their dorms, they worked this forge as they had done for the last three evenings. The old man sat at the entrance of the forge sipping from a wineskin while he watched the two. As Derek finished the piece of armor he had been working on and put it in place with a set of others, he glanced at his friend who seemed to be in a trance as he hammered out a blank. Derek could sense the fire and earth sprites of the forge gathering around Garrett like stars around the moon. The boy didn¡¯t seem to care as he was lost in his work. Hours later they were heading to the rooms Eona had set aside for them while they stayed at her place. There was a clock on this hall and it started to chime the hour. As if he had just thought of something, Garrett turned to Derek with a puzzled look on his face, ¡°Derek, why are we spending so much extra time working your grandfather¡¯s forge? It¡¯s not like he has us working on a particularly important task.¡± Derek had been waiting for this question for a while, he smiled at his friend, ¡°There¡¯s a couple of reasons really. The first is that my grandfather¡¯s forge is one of the most essence dense places in the city. The same runes that nurture the sprites that help him with his work will also nurture you. This way your schema will get reinforced, your attribute affinities will be nurtured, and you will gain a steady supply of essence, which will start to rehabilitate your attributes. At the rate we are going, you will probably gain a level or two by the end of the month. ¡°The second reason is spiritual. You do not realize it, but the schema reset did significant damage to your body, mind, and spirit, and while we can use magic to fix the body, the mind and the spirit need constant tempering and reinforcement, especially with the kind of damage that potion did to it. Allowing you to do work that you are accustomed to and that allows you to feel a sense of purpose is the perfect way to help you with your mentality. Even if the parts we are working on are not for specific orders now, we both know that the quality of the items we have produced are first rate and someone will be willing to buy them. That feeling of fulfillment we get when we look at the work we completed at the end of the day can¡¯t be replaced by anything.¡± Garrett nodded, ¡°I guess that¡¯s right. Working at the forge has really seemed to help keep me focused lately and I feel a lot better. It seems now more than ever that working the forge makes me feel comfort that I don¡¯t get anywhere else. If I wasn¡¯t so big I would wonder if I had Dwarf¡¯s blood and not Titan¡¯s blood.¡± Derek smiled at the big guy, who did seem to have gotten bigger. ¡°Haha, they say that the Dwarfs are only the finest smiths in the world because the Titans vanished all those years ago. If the Titans were still around and claimed that Titans were the second best smiths in the world, who would dare claim they were first?¡± Garrett frowned and thought things through, then spoke up as if he had come upon some secret, ¡°The Forge God would be first.¡± Derek laughed and shook his head, ¡°The Forge God was a Titan before he was a god.¡± Garrett looked at him strangely. ¡°How do you know that? Are you sure he¡¯s not a Dwarf?¡± ¡°Disciple, remember? The Forge God made the Dwarfs with his wife so their daughter, the Earth Goddess, would not be lonely after the other Titans vanished.¡± Garrett nodded, ¡°I think I heard that story when I was a kid. Why did the Titans vanish?¡± Derek shrugged his shoulders but responded anyways, ¡°I don¡¯t know, that happened a long time ago and the Forge God doesn¡¯t talk about it. They might have become another race or become the Gods. They could have died off. I don¡¯t know. I heard some people say that they left this world to pursue perfection in the planes where earth and fire mana originate since they are very intune with those mana types.¡± Garrett seemed to ponder it for a while, before he thought about something, ¡°Hey Derek, why did my Titan¡¯s Blood Enhancement change? It seems to have gotten much stronger.¡± His friend glanced at him, ¡°It did get stronger. My mother says it is because connecting the schema to it has stimulated it. She was most pleased by that unexpected benefit. To be honest, I am a bit jealous. You are going to be way stronger than me when you catch up to my level.¡± Garrett laughed at this, ¡°Ahaha, then I can finally beat you down for all those times you bullied me in the practice yard! Hahaha.¡± Derek smiled wryly before responding, ¡°You are a hundred years too soon to think that a mere attribute advantage will allow you to beat me. It will take you decades to get as good with weapons as I am now. Even though your growth in earth, fire, and lava spell types has improved tremendously. but, still, so what? You will need to learn quite a bit more before you learn how to apply those spells in a way to beat me and I am not planning on slowing my own training to let you catch up.¡± Garrett deflated a bit. After a moment he thought about something else, ¡°Derek, why doesn¡¯t everyone who has achieved higher tiers as early as us take the Elite Body Reformation Potions? They gave me such a powerful Enhancement and are far better than any you have.¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t blaspheme. All of my Enhancements are either from Tier up or boons from the gods. My boons can improve and the strings that they come attached to are connections I am willing to have.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°I assume some people probably use the Elite Body Reformation Potions that way, but it takes a lot of resources to do so. Furthermore, it comes with side effects, especially for youths below the age of mental maturity. The damage to your body, mind, and spirit we talked about earlier is very dangerous and it takes the monitoring of many powerful people to ensure that the patient isn¡¯t harmed. That is why you constantly had to visit with so many of those Alchemists and Inscribers while you were taking the potion. ¡°Furthermore, we had you working the forge the whole time to try to keep your spirit and mind in top condition. A lot of powerful specialists were needed to make sure that you weren¡¯t harmed during this process. There may be some factions willing to do this, but very few can afford the personnel to do this more than once or twice every year. As far as I know, Windreach only does this twice a semester, and we can do so because of how many powerful instructors we have.¡± Garrett thought about it for a while before the implications dawned on him. ¡°Oh, then the House spent far more on me than just the materials of the potions and the schema?¡± Derek shook his head. His friend wasn¡¯t dense, at least not mentally, but sometimes he revealed just how little he thought about some things with his questions and statements. Taking a breath Derek finally responded to his big friend, ¡°Yeah, they invested quite a bit in you. That¡¯s why they had you join them. Your life is now bound to the House. You will serve the House for the rest of your life and your children will grow up as the children of Garrett WIndreach and they will be bound to the House as well. ¡°Even your siblings and father have been bound to the House. Didn¡¯t you help them move into the Inner City? The only people that live in the Inner CIty are the members of the House and their servants and armsmen. Your family now lives with the families of the armsmen of the House, and your siblings are having custom schemas prepared for them by the House as if they were already members of the House. ¡°Garrett, the normal armsmen that take the reset potions you took are usually over twenty five. Because they are past the age of maturity they need far less supervision while they take the potions and the House will offer twenty or thirty of those armsmen that opportunity a year, but even then, the armsmen that get that many resources spent on them are still bound to the House for the rest of their lives, and they will serve the house until they retire. ¡°With so many more resources spent on you, your value to the House is far greater and in a few decades you will become the head of a new branch family of House Windreach. That token they gave you is a sign of belonging. For good or ill, you are now bound to the ship that is House Windreach.¡± Garrett thought about it for a while, before shrugging, ¡°I don¡¯t mind. The House has taken care of me and my family and they will give me the chance to be a great Magic Warrior in the future. Besides, it doesn¡¯t suck being rich. Hahaha.¡± Derek started to laugh too. He knew that Garrett had already spent the allowance the House had given him for the month on gifts for his girlfriend. The giant had no real need for that money anyways. Derek could only wonder if his friend was starting to become a real silk pants. When he returned to his room, Derek took the Storm Plum from its chest. After focusing and getting himself into his best condition, he bit into it. It was sweet and had an airy flavor to it. It practically melted into his mouth. After eating it, he felt a mystical energy flow through his body. After a while he sensed that the energy had been consumed. Casting a status upon himself, he saw that both his Wind and Water attributes had improved by five points. Satisfied, he placed the pit back into the chest and went to sleep. After a week of working late at the forge, Derek and Garrett finally went back to their dorms. They had not fallen behind in their school work as this portion of the semester was reserved for preparations for the competitions that were coming up the following month. There were also preparations for the Holy Day coming at the end of the month as well. Derek used this Holy Day to go visit Granny Penny at the Cathedral with his family. They enjoyed a day in the Temple District much like they had the time before, only this time there were no rude interruptions. When they arrived at the Forge God¡¯s Temple, they saw Garrett and his family coming out. Derek smiled when he saw his friend. He found it hard to believe but the big fellow appeared even more at peace with himself than he normally was. The young man was even wearing the medallion of the hammer and anvil on his chest. ¡°Hey Garrett, how are you, my friend?¡± Seeing Derek, Garrett got excited and rushed over to hug him. ¡°Derek, you will never guess, but the work I just submitted proved that I am an Expert smith, the time at the smithy has really improved my skills. I can make tier four weapons now. It¡¯s all because of you and Disciple Ander. Today, I even received the Blessing of the Forge God.¡± Smiling back, Derek patted his shoulder and spoke up, ¡°Good, good. Not only an Expert, but now a Disciple as well. May the Forge eternally temper you.¡± The others were quite happy for Garrett as well, congratulating him and his father. Derek was quite moved by the harmony he felt in this boisterous situation. Smiling, he watched as the two families chatted happily in front of the Temple. In that moment, Derek heard an ancient voice speak to him, ¡°The quality of work is good. I am most pleased. Continue to do good works and remember that it is you that gives the work purpose.¡± As the voice quieted, his medallion warmed on his chest as he felt a surge of power grow within him..
Derek Thorne- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Demon Warrior, Tier Two: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense Disciple of the God of the Forge: +3 Strength, +3 Body, +7 Fire, +7 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Greater Demon Heart: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Storm Plum: +5 Water, +5 Wind Equipment- Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 58 - Spring Semester Competition After the Holy Day, all of the students doubled down on their preparations for the end of semester competitions. For the students in the Mage College and Magic Warrior College this largely meant preparing for the Spring Tournament. For the Magic Schema College, Alchemy College, and Rune Smithing College it meant getting into the best state possible for their appropriate crafting challenges. While their competition would not be as confrontational as the Tournament, it would still be highly competitive. The crafting colleges would all hold their competitions in their college buildings. The competitors would be given a day to complete the best item they could with the resources available. Their completed product would then be judged for quality and inventiveness. They would then be ranked first by grade year then the winners of each grade would be compared to the others. The top ten in each year would be granted prizes to encourage growth with greater prizes going to those who achieved the most in comparison with the other grades. While this method did favor the older students, there would sometimes be young geniuses that would win the overall prize at younger ages. Enabling the younger students to compete against their seniors allowed them to have targets to strive for. Meanwhile, the older students were encouraged to improve so as not to lose face in front of their juniors. The end goal was to foster a competitive environment that would encourage further growth in all of the students and to showcase the Academy¡¯s ability to grow young talents in front of the masses. Unlike the crafting competitions the Spring Tournament was a whole different beast. Students from each year would compete with each other in a double elimination competition in the training yards until there were onlytwo left. The remaining matches would be held in the Arena in front of all of the students, faculty, families, and other assorted guests. The Arena could hold forty thousand people and would be packed tight for these final matches. Once the champion for each grade year had been selected, the final competition would be held at the Colosseum. There another double elimination tournament would be held to determine the true Champion of the Spring Tournament. As with the other competitions, the top ten in each year would be granted prizes with the greatest prizes going to those who performed most admirably in the second part of the competition. None of the students dared let up on their practice. Derek and his dorm mates practiced and sparred every day in an attempt to improve their odds. Finally, the day before the competition, the details of the competitions were released along with the names of the students selected to participate in the first round. Of the roughly three hundred first year students, two hundred and thirteen were from the two combat focused colleges. Forty three randomly selected competitors received a bye in the first round and automatically advanced to the round of one hundred and twenty eight. Of their dorm only Desmond was one of these lucky people. ¡°Haha, guess my luck finally turned around! I will be rooting for you guys from the sidelines the first round.¡± Desmond was naturally pleased and couldn¡¯t help but gloat. The others could only shake their heads about this. Tristan thought about it for a moment before speaking up, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that bad for us. Most of our competition is made up of tier zeroes. Eighty percent of our classmates have yet to class up after all. Due to that, our first two or three rounds should be the easiest for us. The worst draw out of all of ours would be Derek¡¯s. He pulled a tier two princeling from the south, Prince Sid of Ancrest. I hear that guy¡¯s got quite the ego and has been making a name for himself around here by beating several upperclassmen.¡± The others all looked at Derek with pity in their eyes. Derek laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, worst case I take a loss and move to the lower bracket. As far as I know, there are only four tier twos participating in our year. Odds are, I won¡¯t see another for three to four more fights after that.¡± Tristan nodded, ¡°I have seen the guy fight, he relies on his attributes too much. I don¡¯t think you will have much trouble. The next tough situation is Garrett, with your recent schema reset are you sure you can compete?¡± It was the other three¡¯s turn to laugh when he said this. Garrett shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. After my new schema was inscribed, my base attributes were already almost where they were when I joined the academy and my Earth and Fire attributes improved. After the last month of training I am certain I can go toe to toe with most of the tier ones in our year, much less the tier zeroes. With Derek drawing one of the only tier twos that means one less of those for me to worry about until I end up in the loser¡¯s bracket. No, I should be pretty good for a few matches.¡± Nodding, Tristan smiled, ¡°Good, my matchup is against someone much weaker than me, so the only one out of all of us we have to worry about in the morning matches is Derek. How do the girls look?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Derek looked up when he heard this, ¡°Alicia¡¯s in the Schema competition tomorrow and Ronelle¡¯s in the Alchemy competition the day after. Lynette got matched up with a tier zero from the Magic Warrior college so she should be successful in that match. Looks like Monica got a bye as well.¡± Tristan thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°Good, good. We should reduce our practice and rest up during the next few days. Today is the Rune Smithing competition. Do you guys want to go see it?¡± This got a shrug out of Desmond but Garrett and Derek both affirmed their desire to see it. Derek spoke for both of them, ¡°Yeah, I would like to see this competition. Also, if we go, we will get to sit with the judges since my grandfather and a few other acquaintances of mine will be judging. As long as we don¡¯t disrupt anything we should be able to get the best seats in the house. Same goes for the Schema competition later this week, my mom will be judging that one. The Alchemy competition might be hard to get good seats for, but maybe Garrett can snag us a place considering he knows most of those instructors on a first name basis now.¡± Garrett scratched his head, ¡°I think I can do something about seats, but are you sure you want to do all of the crafting competitions? They can be pretty dry. I only want to go to the Alchemy one because Ronelle asked me to.¡± Derek laughed at that, ¡°I don¡¯t mind the Smithing competition, I could watch that any day. The other two though, we have friends competing in those, so we should definitely go if only to root them on.¡± Desmond nodded, ¡°If any, I would want to dip out on the Smithing competition. Lynette¡¯s making me go to the other two. Issue is I don¡¯t want to be the only one conspicuously missing during the Smithing competition. That old fart might make me work it off later.¡± Derek glanced at Tristan, ¡°What about you?¡± Tristan shrugged, ¡°It will be interesting to see how people do in all of these. If you guys go, I will go.¡± Derek smiled, ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. I will talk to my mom and grandfather this afternoon when we go to dinner about reserving us spots. Garrett, it¡¯s on you whether we get good seats at the Alchemy competition or not so no pressure.¡± The others laughed at this before breaking up to do their remaining preparations. Derek was already done with his so he went for a walk around the campus. For a while he watched the steady stream of carriages flowing in and out of the grounds of the campus. These brought the families of the other students or their representatives. There were also dignitaries from neighboring hegemons and representatives of other families that were considering sending students to the Academy. All of these people were housed in hotels around the campus grounds. After growing bored from watching the new arrivals, Derek made his way back to his mother¡¯s house. He was surprised to see a carriage pulled up in front of it when he arrived. Going inside, he saw his mother and Alicia meeting with several people. The group consisted of a woman a little older than Derek¡¯s mother, a young man in his mid twenties, and a smattering of guards and maids. The woman was seated on a sedan with Alicia and they appeared quite intimate, while the young man sat beside them on a chair. Derek¡¯s mother was seated opposite the man and was speaking with the woman in the sedan. When Derek approached, Eona stood up. ¡°Therese, I am sure you remember my son, Derek. He is also going to school here. Derek, This is Queen Therese Telis. The last time you would have seen her was when she brought Alicia to us to study all those years ago. This young man is Blake Elnon. He is the Prince of Elnon and now he is Alicia¡¯s fiance.¡± Derek smiled and bowed politely to Therese before nodding to Blake. ¡°How do you do. It is a pleasure to see you again. I am sure Alicia is quite happy to see you here in time for the Spring Competition. I have it on good authority that she is expected to place quite well in the Runic Schema competition.¡± Therese seemed happy to hear this and responded, ¡°Of course she will. We would expect nothing less after all these years. Eona, I am so happy at how much she has progressed. I knew I could count on you to teach her.¡± Eona smiled and patted the other woman¡¯s hand, ¡°Oh no, Therese, your daughter¡¯s success is largely due to her own hard work. She has been the ideal student, the best I could have asked for.¡± Derek smiled and took a seat. The three women spent the next hour catching up before finally it was time for dinner. As the usual crowd arrived, they were all introduced to the two new guests and everyone was seated for dinner. It was then that Blake finally decided to speak up, ¡°Derek, since you have lived with my fiance all this time. What can you tell me about her.¡± Derek sensed something in his undertone that he found odd, so he thought a moment before responding, ¡°She is a diligent student and a hard worker. She often stays up late studying or practicing.¡± The guy seemed stumped after that, but quickly recovered. ¡°Surely there¡¯s more, you have known her for so long. What are her likes and interests? How does she spend her time?¡± Derek looked at the man for a moment, before nodding to him and returning to his eating. ¡°Oh I see. Yes, she likes learning about magic. She spends her time studying and practicing.¡± There were a few people in the room suppressing a laugh. They had heard similar from Derek when he had just moved to the city. Back then he had been utterly clueless when it came to relationships. Now, he had definitely improved, but still he chose to answer in the same old way. With this, the man stared at Derek for a minute, before thinking of something. A calculating look crossed his face before he turned to speak to the other guests. Derek smiled as he traded his dessert for Alicia¡¯s bread. Chapter 59 - Runic Schema Competition The next day, Derek and his friends went early to take their seats in the judge¡¯s booth for the Runic Schema competition. The judges were all high level members of the faculty and distinguished alumni of the Runic Schema College. With the assorted guests, the booth had a little over twenty people in it. Derek and his friends were joined by Alicia¡¯s roommates, Alicia¡¯s mother and fiance, and several other assorted family members and distinguished guests of the judges. Derek was happy to see his cousin Sofia there. She often teased him in class but it had always been very good natured. Her mother was the Dean of the Runic Schema College, so it was natural for her to be at this competition even if she was a student in the Mage College. When she sat with him she looked him over, ¡°Derek, are you ready for the competition in a few days? I hear you got paired up with another tier two for the first round. I hear it¡¯s going to be a tough fight for you.¡± Prince Blake of Elnon overheard this from where he was sitting in the corner. He had done nothing but scowl at the normal students he had seen. He had perked up when Sofia appeared as she looked quite stunning in her mage¡¯s robes so he was paying close attention to her conversation with Derek. Derek¡¯s opinion of his friend¡¯s new fiance was continuing to plummet, no matter how much benefit of the doubt he tried to give the man. The glass of wine in his hand this early in the day was one demerit, the second was the young man¡¯s active leering at every good looking woman in the room. Now the man decided to contribute to the cause of reducing Derek¡¯s opinion of him audibly as well, ¡°Tier two? I thought this was an elite Academy. How strong can it be if the tough fights are between tier twos?¡± Derek glanced at the man. He knew Blake was late tier four, which was rather high for his age. He had reason to be proud of himself, but he seemed to misunderstand some things about the school. Sofia seemed a bit incensed by this statement though. As a member of House Windreach, the prestige of the Academy was a significant portion of her identity. Before she could speak up to scold the arrogant young prince, Derek squeezed her hand and spoke, ¡°Big sister, there is no need to be upset with him. He will learn soon enough the caliber of this Academy.¡± She glared at Blake before snorting, ¡°Hmph, as if tier two sixteen year olds would be something to turn your nose up to. Does this fellow even get that this Academy graduates tier four students as young as twenty years old. Is late tier four something so great at twenty five? This old lady is only twenty two and I have been late tier four since last summer.¡± Blake¡¯s scowl got deeper as he heard this. He was already proud of his own accomplishments, but he was tier one at sixteen. He had only reached tier two at nineteen and had made it to this level only recently through the expenditure of some expensive treasures and by executing death row inmates for essence. To think that this Academy produced students as powerful as him by age twenty? That was quite the blow. Derek was still trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. He smiled at him, ¡°The Academy accepts only the elites of the region. If everyone here was weak, people like Queen Therese would not have come over a thousand kilometers from home to go to school here. The students are usually tier three or four when they graduate here, with the vast majority graduating early due to reaching the qualifications of completing the course load and reaching tier four. ¡°This is why the vast majority of the students you will see in the next few days will be in the first through fourth grade years. Maybe anywhere else, it would be quite the achievement to reach tier four by twenty five, but here? A student is much more likely to die before graduation than fail to reach tier four.¡± As they talked, the students filed into the competition space. There were over six hundred students gathered here for the competition and their names and year groups were marked in front of them. The students of the crafting schools were much less likely to graduate earlier than the students of the combat schools due to the fact that the essence gain from crafting was nowhere near as rapid as combat. Also, the crafting schools focused far more on teaching technique and the students were far more likely to willingly lengthen the time they spent in the Academy to continue to improve their craft. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. This meant that these colleges were much more likely to have a better balance of new to older students. This fact was proven by the near even distribution of students to grade year prior to year nine. Year nine and ten had slightly fewer as many students would have gained as much as they could by age twenty four. The students of each year group were clustered together and they all looked quite eager. Derek made eye contact with Alicia at the back of the room and joined her other friends in waving to her. She smiled happily when she saw them, but quickly focused as the judges announced the beginning of the competition. For the normal person, it was hard to tell what they were doing. They each had a plate in front of them that they inscribed into. It would then project a three dimensional shape into the air above it. They were each attempting to create the most unique and powerful schema they could. Though Derek was an ameteur schema inscriber, he knew enough of the process from listening to his mother that he could understand what he was seeing. Furthermore, runes were universal, and Derek could easily translate the power of the runes he was seeing. Their seats were perfect. Derek could see each student¡¯s work and his inexpert eye gave him some insight into what they were doing. Most were doing their best to create more traditional Mandala style schemas. Some wanted to go for a unique design and went with the Lotus style of the east. Derek saw with some surprise that many of the more proficient students were attempting to include his mother¡¯s mana catch into their designs. He felt pride knowing that once this caught on, his mother would be known as the person who had advanced schema design the most since Alton Sindmire proved that one hundred percent essence conversion was possible two hundred years ago. This mana catch would increase the essence conversion of a schema by up to thirty percent, making the vaunted one hundred percent much more likely. Early estimates already boasted that his mother¡¯s technique would be able to revolutionize schema creation in the region and increase the percentage of the population with over ninety percent conversion from merely one percent to twenty percent. The process of creating these schemas proved to be too boring for some. Garrett and Desmond both received elbows in their ribs from their girlfriends for falling asleep during the competition, though only Garrett snored. That earned a few good natured laughs from his neighbors and a sardonic sneer from Alicia¡¯s new fiance. After several hours, the last of the schemas had been created and the judges left their stands to compare and judge them. After half an hour of inspection, they all returned to their seats and began their deliberation. Finally, late into the afternoon, they announced their findings. It was no surprise to Derek that Alicia had received first place for her year group and he was even more pleased to see that she had made it to fourth place in comparison to the other years. Her design had been quite innovative, showing off all the lessons she had learned as Eona¡¯s apprentice. When she received her prizes she was quite excited and came over to hug her mother, her teacher, the girls of her dorm room, and finally Derek. He laughed as he saw how excited she was and he thought back to all the years she had stayed with them. He remembered the rivalry they once had and the friendship that had grown between them in the last few months. He had to admit that she had grown on him and he was quite proud of her success, as if a member of his own family had been successful. The others in the booth were quite happy for her as well. She received many congratulations from the others and the mood was generally good. There was only one person who seemed to be set on ruining the mood. Blake seemed to take exception when he saw his fiance hug Derek. He turned to Derek and pulled off his glove. He reached out to slap Derek with it, but the youth dodged it easily. Derek looked at the young man with some consternation in his eyes. Several others had seen it as well. Alicia looked on awkwardly, but her mother Therese finally broke the silence, ¡°Blake, what was that? We are guests here. We are quite far from Elnon right now. This isn¡¯t a place where you can just do what you want.¡± Blake had been surprised at Derek¡¯s quick reaction, but after being scolded by his future mother-in-law, he remembered his purpose. He looked at her, then back at Derek before explaining himself, ¡°I would normally try to stay low key, but this young man has crossed the line. He is all too familiar with my fiance and now he has put his hands all over her. I demand a duel.¡± Derek looked at the man like he was an idiot. How could a hug be considered putting his hands all over a girl? How could his behavior the last day be considered low key? Furthermore, what gave this guy the confidence he had right now? Derek had already seen his status. Though he was a high tier four mage, his casting ability wasn¡¯t much better than Derek¡¯s. Blake saw Derek¡¯s look and seemed to grow even angrier. He looked like he was going to make a scene before Derek finally spoke up, ¡°If you would like a duel, we can have one, but it¡¯s going to have to wait until after the Spring Tournament.¡± Chapter 60 - The Alchemy and Rune Smithing Competitions ¡°What¡¯s his problem?¡± Garrett was furious. The boys were back in their dorm room. Derek could only smile and shrug. ¡°That guy has some really ugly traits. I was wondering what bothered me about him yesterday, but after observing him today I am sure of it.¡± Tristan nodded, ¡°His kingdom and mine are neighbors. I have heard some things about this young crown prince over the years. Sometimes things like this are just bad rumors spread by the envious but it seems to be true this time.¡± Desmond sat up from his bed, ¡°So what are the rumors? Or do you want us to guess based off of our observations today?¡± Tristan laughed and waved him off. ¡°From what I have heard the guy is the pride of his kingdom. His elders are very proud of his strength and he can do no wrong in their eyes. To speed his growth he is the royal executioner. I have heard he has killed over a hundred men.¡± Derek shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s not uncommon though. I learned in my statecraft class that it is very common for powerful families to cultivate their promising youths by allowing them to kill powerful criminals. It¡¯s not considered very humane, but in many parts of the continent it is considered the norm. So what¡¯s the difference? I hear that in some of the more corrupt places, they round up undesirables to allow their youths to kill them as well.¡± Tristan glanced over at him, ¡°That is true but their family has made a big deal of making it look like a fair trial by combat. I hear he goes into an arena and duels these people until he has killed them. In this way, his image in his country is bolstered still further as a brave and strong leader. But the people truly in the know understand that he has never been at risk. The criminals are usually poisoned before they go in to make sure he¡¯s never in danger. ¡°The image of this guy is that he is a brave and powerful mage, a talented young prince of his kingdom. That has only managed to strengthen his ego. Couple that with the fact that he can get any woman he wants in his country and it gets even worse. This man has robbed many wives and ruined many daughters and from the way the people in his kingdom act, it is only their good fortune. The husbands and fathers can say nothing and their king usually compensates them for their ¡®contribution¡¯.¡± Derek frowned, ¡°What about the woman, are there ever any complaints from them?¡± Tristan had a disgusted look on his face. He sighed before he continued, ¡°I imagine so, but that country is very chauvinistic. They don¡¯t really care about what the women think. Our two countries have clashed multiple times due to the overbearing nature of the men from that kingdom.¡± Derek nodded as he thought of this. ¡°I heard from my mom that he tried to force one of her maids to service him last night. There was an argument because of it and in the end she switched the maids in that wing out for butlers. She even had Ovid keep an eye out for her people last night.¡± Garrett was seething, ¡°What a prick! What about Alicia? Her family is willing to marry her to a guy like this?¡± Tristan thought about it for a moment. ¡°From what I know, Telis is under a lot of threat from outside forces right now and needs a strong relationship to keep the peace. Elnon is one of the only neutral countries around them with three others eyeing Telis¡¯ territory at all times. Elnon is known for its hardy fighters and strong army, so a marital alliance between the two countries will really bolster Telis¡¯ safety in the next few decades. Perhaps an alliance like this could even allow the two to become much more aggressive in the near future and allow them to gain many more territories.¡± Desmond thought about it and nodded, but Garrett still seemed to be thinking about things, ¡°But that still doesn¡¯t explain that guy¡¯s attitude. He practically accused Derek of having indecent relations with Alicia and we all know Derek¡¯s practically a monk. If I hadn¡¯t seen it when we were showering I would assume he was a eunuch¡­ ehh, no offence Derek.¡± Derek scratched his head, ¡°Err, none taken, I guess?¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The others got a laugh out of this. Tristan thought it through, ¡°Well with his personality, Blake probably couldn¡¯t have lived very long with Alicia without doing something and with how Derek and Alicia behave, many people would assume they were quite intimate. We all know it¡¯s more of a sibling thing between the two of them but to a guy like Blake? Well, do we even know if he has left his sisters alone?¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°This is no good, we can¡¯t let Alicia marry this guy.¡± Desmond frowned and disagreed, ¡°It isn¡¯t that easy Derek, this marriage means a lot to her people and you know Alicia better than the rest of us. Would she really be willing to break it off with her family over an arranged marriage like this?¡± Tristan nodded at Desmond¡¯s words, a brief moment of anger and regret flashed across his face as he thought over the situation, ¡°Trust me Derek, I would be the first person to back you up if I believed Alicia would appreciate it, but her family and her kingdom mean too much to her. She has been raised to be traded this way. To her, this marriage will be a sacrifice at first, but there is no reason to believe that she will forever be unhappy. ¡°Blake¡¯s father was just like him as a youth but aside for his infidelities, he has treated his queen with only the greatest care. To men of his kingdom, possessing the most sought after wife and being able to show her off and protect her from the advances of others is the greatest sign of honor. Blake¡¯s mother has been the best treated woman in that country and everyone says she has been very happy, especially after Blake was born. Providing an heir has cemented her place beyond even her great looks. It¡¯s quite possible that Alicia will never be mistreated while she is there so being upset for her is a bit premature really.¡± Derek thought about it for a while, ¡°That country sounds like a real piece of work but it isn¡¯t our problem for now. We have two more days before our part of the competition. Let¡¯s get some rest.¡± As Garrett laid down he thought of something. ¡°Hey Derek, what do you think your chances are in the duel against this guy?¡± Derek thought about it for a moment, thinking about what he had gleaned from Blake¡¯s status. Finally he answered, ¡°His attributes are a bit higher than mine, but I am confident in my skills. I would say maybe seventy percent chance, maybe more. I don¡¯t know, if anything goes wrong in the competition, maybe less. It isn¡¯t worth worrying about right now though, we have at least a week before I have to worry about it, let¡¯s get to sleep.¡± For once, the boys hadn¡¯t worked themselves into exhaustion that day, so they were left with their thoughts. Each had things to think about from the events of today. It took each of them quite a long time to get to sleep. The next day was the Alchemy competition. Garrett had been unable to acquire them seats in the judge¡¯s booth but they were able to get a different booth with some of the other faculty. Eona and her guests joined them in that booth again and the presence of the Prince of Elnon made things awkward for a while before people started to ignore him. He was infuriated by these people that didn¡¯t seem interested in givinghim face and was sulking from having his private bodyguards beat up last night by Eona¡¯s armsman. He had intended to teach the man a lesson but when he saw Ovid that morning at breakfast he realized that the ¡®armsman¡¯ was much more powerful than him. He wisely decided to step back, but he had still made his displeasure known with his future mother-in-law. The woman had proved useless, choosing to chastise him instead of asking their host to flog her armsman. The Alchemy competition proved to be interesting for some but quite boring for others. Garrett was cheering his girlfriend on and Desmond had opted to stand to prevent himself from falling asleep again. It proved monstrously difficult even still so he resorted to attempting to visualize different sword forms in his head. In the end, many of the students in the Alchemy College had produced quite interesting potions and demonstrated their skills and creativity. Ronelle only managed to place towards the top of her year, not securing any prizes but it was still respectable. She had been able to create a tier three potion and would likely one day be a great alchemist. The next day was the Smithing competition and Derek was quite excited to see the skills of the students in that College. Priest Cnut made a guest appearance and sat in the judge¡¯s booth with them as well. Derek got front row seats to seeing all of these enterprising young Rune Smiths. He wondered how many would join their growing Association. The competition was stiff, finally in the end, the overall competition was won by a burly young tenth year that had crafted a peak tier five warhammer. There were many pieces of great beauty in the hall and Derek could only admire how good the talents gathered at Windreach Academy were. The idea of roping them into the Association went out the window as he thought that ninety percent of these students would be offered positions as personal smiths to kings in the area. Remembering Blake¡¯s derision of the Academy from before he glanced over at the man. To Derek¡¯s surprise he found a thoughtful look on the young man¡¯s face. It seemed there were some positive qualities in this man after all. Derek knew he was going to have to work through some prejudices if he was going to be happy for his mother¡¯s little apprentice in the future. Chapter 61 - The Spring Tournament Begins That evening just before dinner, Eona¡¯s household received a surprise visitor. Derek hurried out of the front of the house to meet the carriage from the Cathedral. When he saw Granny Penny descending from the carriage he hurried over to help her down. He hadn¡¯t known her long but he could sense the care she held for him and his family. ¡°Granny, have you come to watch the tournament?¡± He was excited to show off in front of her but unfortunately she was not too interested in that. She patted his cheek and spoke, ¡°No silly boy. I don¡¯t care about tournaments. I have brought someone from the Cathedral to meet you.¡± Derek turned to see the old man Reginald getting down from the carriage as well, followed by a woman in a red habit. Even with most of her covered up, Derek could tell that this woman was stunningly beautiful. She had a stern look to her, just this side of severe, and she looked about the same age as his mother, though from the purity of light and order mana coming off of her, Derek guessed she was probably a little older. He smiled at her and bowed. Red was a special color within the Church, belonging to the Orders and Clergy tied directly to the Seat of the Church itself in Aroye. These people only reported to the Saintess of the Church and the Council in Aroye itself. His Granny smiled down at him, ¡°Rachel, this is that descendent of mine you wanted to see, Derek Thorne. Derek, this young lady is Inquisitor Rachel Inhurst.¡± Hearing her introduction, Derek was surprised. He had heard of Inquisitors. Depending on who was talking, they could be a nightmare or a blessing. There were tales of people being tortured and killed, but also tales of people unjustly accused of crimes being pardoned. The primary role of the Inquisition was to ensure that the local churches didn¡¯t stray from the doctrine of the faith, which meant that the majority of its work was in judging the orthodoxy of the clergy. It¡¯s role from there then stretched into seeking out corruption and ensuring that certain threats could not grow within the Church or in areas administered by it. One such threat was the possibility of abomination. Derek felt Inquisitor Inhurst¡¯s gaze upon him. He could feel the mana move around him as a particularly powerful status spell was cast upon him. After a moment, the sensation ended and the woman spoke warmly, ¡°Indeed, your descendent is exceptional as you said, Mother Penelope. Derek, it is a pleasure to meet you. If you do not mind, I have some questions for you.¡± Derek nodded to her, ¡°Of course, Inquisitor, it will be my pleasure.¡± The woman snorted, ¡°It is rare to hear someone say that it would be their pleasure to be questioned by an Inquisitor so honestly. Please lead the way.¡± Derek led them into the house and seated them in a reading room just to the right of the parlor. He ordered his mother¡¯s maids to bring them some refreshments and informed the majordomo that he was likely to be late for dinner. The man smiled and left to inform his mistress. After they sat and had been served, Derek broke the silence, ¡°I must thank you Inquisitor, my Granny is not a fan of carriage rides anymore so she rarely comes to visit. It seems your mission here has given me a rare opportunity to spend time with her.¡± Rachel smiled, ¡°I am happy to hear that. Often my appearance in a place causes distress, even for the innocent. My order is not popular with the lay people. It is interesting that you show no fear.¡± Derek thought for a moment, but then shrugged, ¡°I am not afraid because I have a clear conscience. I bear the Blessing of the Goddess of the Sun so I would clearly know if I ever fell out of her favor. My assumption is that if your appearance here is really to do with me, then it would be in relation to the Demon that almost destroyed me.¡± The Inquisitor nodded her head, ¡°You are partially right, but mostly wrong. In fact you are not under any form of investigation by the Inquisition. I merely wished to inspect the after effects of the Demon¡¯s assault on you. More importantly though, the Goddess has marked you as one of her own, specifically as one of her Champions in the coming Crusade.¡± The young man frowned, glancing at his Granny, ¡°Crusade?¡± His Granny smiled at him and reached over to pat him on the hand, ¡°Yes boy, Crusade. In the next few days, most of the Cathedrals of the west will receive a call to Crusade against the barbarians of the north to retake the Shrine of the Light. The goal is to take the Shrine by the end of summer. There will be many Holy Orders called up, Crusader volunteers will be gathered, and Mercenaries will be hired. Many of the local lords will be encouraged to send their own forces and with these troops, we intend to retake the Shrine of the Light and consecrate it to the Goddess of the Sun.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Derek thought for a moment. He felt his blood boiling. He had heard of Crusades before and they had always been met with varying degrees of success or failure, but the most important thing for him was that they were always a time for young knights errant to make names for themselves. If he could participate, then perhaps he would be considered the next great hero from those tales. He also knew that participating in this Crusade would be in line with his pact with the Sun Goddess and that he could gain great benefits from it. He looked up from his thinking, ¡°When will it start? I have to finish the tournament and this semester, but I am certain they will let me go for this summer.¡± His Granny laughed, ¡°See, Rachel? I told you it wouldn¡¯t be hard to convince him.¡± The Inquisitor smiled, ¡°Indeed. Do not worry about being able to participate young man. The forces must be gathered first, and that will take time.¡± They spoke for a while longer before they were invited to dinner by his mother¡¯s majordomo. They joined the other guests in the dining hall and began to eat. After a good meal, the boys returned home, excited about the next day¡¯s competition.
The next day, Derek went to the training yards outside of the Academy Arena. When he arrived at the training yard intended for his match, he saw that a crowd had already gathered. Some of his friends were there and there seemed to be quite a few other people there, either to root on his opponent or to spectate on the first match between tier two students in their age group. Derek quickly donned his training armor and selected a sword and buckler for himself. His opponent chose a similar weapon set and lined up with him. The young man appeared rather arrogant and didn¡¯t attempt to speak to him prior to the match. When the official started the match Derek quickly buffed himself by casting Righteous Blessing upon himself at seventh level and advanced towards his opponent. Prince Cid similarly buffed himself and advanced. After testing his opponent for a while, Derek realized that the young man¡¯s form was terribly sloppy. His fame must have come from relying on his higher attributes, but unfortunately, Derek¡¯s were higher than his. After Derek had found the extent of the young man¡¯s skill, he began to rapidly barrage him with attacks. It took little time at all to break through the man¡¯s guard. After only two or three more strikes the shielding spell Cid was using was overcome as well. Finally, with a flick of Derek¡¯s wrist, he struck the breastplate of his opponent, causing a white light to burst out. The young prince¡¯s body froze up as the armor seized up to protect him and signal his defeat. The crowd was stunned as they had expected the fight to be a lot more balanced. Instead, after an initial period of testing each other out, Derek¡¯s single offensive had enabled him to overpower his opponent. There was nothing flashy about it, merely a one sided route by a much more skilled person over another. Some in the crowd seemed dissatisfied and began to boo. Derek just shook his head and removed the training armor, while his opponent stomped out of the training grounds in a huff. Derek watched him go then shrugged before looking over to a board near the official. He saw that his friends had also won their first rounds. In a few more minutes all of the competitors had completed their rounds and the second round was selected. Derek smiled when he saw his next opponent. As he walked to his next competition he was joined by his family who wanted to cheer for him. Alicia smiled when she saw him, ¡°You did very well, Derek. I doubt anyone here will be your opponent.¡± Blake seemed dissatisfied from hearing this, ¡°I don¡¯t see how these people are any good. That last guy clearly wasn¡¯t any good at fighting.¡± Derek just shook his head and entered the field for his next fight. After selecting his armor and weapon he went out into the field. On the other side was a young man in white and gold. Derek smiled at him, ¡°Anthony, I heard you won your duel. Grandmaster Fiore must be very proud of you.¡± Anthony smiled back, ¡°I really must thank you for your help with all of that. If it wasn¡¯t for you, Grandmaster would never have taken me as his disciple and I would never have won that fight.¡± Derek laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t doubt that old man, I am sure he would have found out about you easily enough. Now come, show me what you learned in these last few months.¡± Anthony nodded and responded, ¡°I won¡¯t be holding back.¡± The two boys went back and forth for fifteen minutes. Derek had a massive status advantage on the other young man, but he wanted to see just how much Anthony had grown in the meantime. The boy¡¯s technical skill was tremendous and in the short amount of time he had trained under the Grandmaster, he had become almost as good as Derek was. ¡°Good, Good! You have made great improvement. Now take my full power strike!¡± Derek shouted out. ¡°Don¡¯t hold back!¡± Anthony would not be cowed, his competitive nature drawn out by the vigorous duel the two had just participated in. In a flurry of attacks, Anthony managed to only defend as Derek¡¯s greater attributes allowed him to overpower the other young man. Eventually, Anthony¡¯s mana depleted and Derek managed to land a blow on the buckler that would have broken the young man¡¯s arm and cleaved into his body without the enchantments of the armor. It flashed white and Anthony fell to the ground. Derek was incredibly proud of the young man across from him. He had progressed quite admirably. He helped him up and patted his back, ¡°Good job, man. If your status was equal to mine, we might still be fighting! You really are a great swordsman. You will be a master soon enough!¡± Anthony, though he lost, was still quite happy to hear that from his opponent and as they walked from the training yard, the little priestess came running up, ¡°So fierce Anthony! I knew you could do it.¡± They all laughed at that, it seemed in her mind the young man had actually won the match. Derek smiled and shook his head. He glanced up to see where his next match would be and headed over there. Anthony and the young priestess opting to join them since Anthony no longer had anything else to do for the day. Chapter 62 - Spring Tournament Day One For the next two matches, Derek found himself paired up with tier zeroes. It was their misfortune to match up so poorly but Derek gave them both time to show off what skills they had gained. With their families spectating, this small indulgence was appreciated. Garrett¡¯s day ended in the fourth round. He did well, defeating one tier one and an early tier two in his second and third rounds, but he lost to Tristan in round four. Lynette got defeated in the third round by a magic warrior who lost to Monica in the fourth. That left Derek, Tristan, Desmond, and Monica still in the day¡¯s competition going into the round of sixteen. After the fourth match was a three hour break for the competitors to rest and eat lunch. Derek met up with his friends and family to eat and go over their matches. It was quite the lively atmosphere. Even Blake opted not to ruin the mood, which was a pleasant change. Derek¡¯s fifth fight was against a decently talented tier one but it still posed little difficulty for him, but Monica went up against the only remaining tier two other than Derek and Tristan and she lost during this round. In the round of eight, Desmond went up against Tristan and lost, while Derek got another relatively easy fight, facing the last tier zero to make it this far. Looking up to the announcement board by the official, Derek saw that his next opponent would be the other tier two, while Tristan would be fighting the last of the tier ones. Heading over to the location of the next fight, Derek saw the young man he was to fight. This was one of the more low key individuals of their year. He was a prince from the interior of the continent but had made few waves during the year and focused on his training and class work. Seeing that his opponent had opted to equip a poleaxe, Derek chose a glaive and entered the training field. His opponent nodded politely before taking his stance. With the announcement of the official the fight started. Derek started once again by casting his enhancement spell upon himself while his opponent did the same. He noticed that his opponent had used a pure earth based enhancement, which he could assume to provide much greater defense and incredible weight behind the blows, but not much in agility and speed. Knowing this, Derek began testing his opponent. He quickly learned that he was right about the opponent¡¯s agility but the man¡¯s strong technical foundation meant that he would make few mistakes and the young man managed to parry seven out of ten strikes. The strong earth based shield spell absorbed the few that got through. Stepping back out of reach, Derek weighed his choices. He knew that a fight with someone with this level of defense and strong earth based enhancement would mean that he could take the offensive. The opponent¡¯s fighting skills were solid but not as advanced as his own, which meant that as long as he made no mistakes he could keep the other youth under pressure and prevent him from attacking as long as he made no mistakes. The question would then come down to mana and stamina. The strong earth based enhancement and defensive stance would ensure that his opponent would not tire as fast as him and as long as his opponent blocked most of his attacks, Derek would run out of mana long before he depleted his opponent¡¯s. Thinking about it made Derek smile. Finally, a challenge! His opponent watched him warily. The young man knew his victory lay in tiring his opponent so he had to be much more alert. Derek¡¯s skill and agility, along with the weight of his attacks gave him reason to pause. He was uncertain that his attrition based strategy was going to be successful with an opponent this good. Smiling Derek stepped back further and ended his Righteous Blessing. Shortly afterwards a red glow gathered around him as flames sprang into being in his vicinity and the temperature began to spike around him. He had cast Righteous Fury. It was a risk to cast this, as the mana consumption was much higher than his other spell, but Derek believed that his opponent¡¯s mana would drain far faster than his as his shield would be resisting the area of effect damage of this spell. As his opponent showed surprise to his action, Derek advanced again and began to pressure his foe. The young man¡¯s guard was fantastic, managing to block or deflect many of Derek¡¯s attacks, but over the next few minutes the strain started to show. The young prince¡¯s mana started to bottom out before finally collapsing under a flurry of attacks from Derek¡¯s glaive. With a flash of white, the armor protected the contestant and Derek withdrew while ending his spell. Amazingly enough, the young man¡¯s stance had not been greatly affected and he was still standing. ¡°Amazing,¡± Derek couldn¡¯t help but praise his opponent. He clasped his hands and bowed slightly in respect for his opponent before returning to his corner. He checked his mana pool to find that he had consumed ninety percent of his own mana to win that fight. Just a minute more and he would have lost. Stepping down from the field, Derek stripped his armor and rested for a moment. He glanced up to see that Tristan had won his match. The two of them would fight next in the final round of the first day. That fight would be held in the Arena in half an hour, so Derek sat for a while to regain his mana and stamina. After a few moments Derek saw Ovid come over. The man clapped his shoulder before sitting next to him. ¡°Good fight, I wondered how you would handle that guy.¡± Derek smiled at him, ¡°His foundations were good and his style favored defense. With a stronger mana pool he would be unbeatable.¡± Ovid shook his head, ¡°It would indeed be difficult to beat him, but not impossible. There is no unbeatable style. It would be best to remember that. If you are done resting, let¡¯s head over to the Arena. The others have already left to get seats.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The two made the short trip to the Arena. There were lines outside of all of the entrances, but the two were waved in by the attendants. Ovid headed up towards the seats while Derek took a ramp down to the waiting rooms below the field. When he arrived he saw Tristan already waiting with a wry smile on his face. ¡°It was lucky that you had to fight that guy. I am sure I could have beat him but I wouldn¡¯t want to start this fight with my Mana depleted.¡± Derek laughed at that, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a bit unfortunate. I am not sure I can regain all of mine before the fight starts.¡± Tristan shrugged, ¡°Don¡¯t expect me to delay the fight for that. I know how good you are. I am going to take any advantage I can.¡± Derek nodded while looking as the attendants signaled that they were ready. He turned to his friend. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I would have done the same. Are you ready?¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± The two went up their respective ramps to the Arena grounds above. They were taken aback by the number of people jammed into the building to watch them. The sound of the excited spectators was almost deafening. Derek felt his blood race as he saw all of these people. He thought about how Garrett had described fighting in the Colosseum and could almost understand the other boy¡¯s excitement about it. They moved to equip their gear. Derek took a warsword of similar proportions to the Thorneblade and equipped his armor. Tristan chose a staff and a robe with the same enchantments as the armor. The two stood ten yards apart from each other. If it was half a year ago, Derek would have to cross that distance while soaking or deflecting Tristan¡¯s attacks to get to Tristan. Now, though, he had more tools for dealing with a mage opponent. Once the two were ready, the official started the fight. Derek knew his mana was low so he opted not to enhance himself. Meanwhile Tristan cast an enhancement on himself of the air element. Derek watched as his opponent floated a few yards from the ground. Derek didn¡¯t even bother approaching, instead taking his stance. Seeing that Derek would not approach, Tristan began casting Wind Blades and firing them at Derek. Derek watched the bombardment of spells and deftly slashed outwards six times. Each slashing attack shot out a weapon channeled Wind Blade back at Tristan¡¯s and they smashed each other apart. The rest of Tristan¡¯s barrage pounded into the ground around Derek kicking up sand and chips of rock. Tristan cast again, sending a barrage of Fire Bolts down at Derek, which Derek similarly destroyed with a water based counter attack. Each time Tristan attacked, Derek selected the most mana efficient counter. Tristan quickly understood what Derek was attempting to do. By using the most mana efficient counter to all of Tristan¡¯s attacks, he could potentially rebalance his mana disadvantage and if it went long enough, Tristan would naturally lose. Once both ran out of mana, Derek was still a warrior, while Tristan would not be able to protect himself at close range. Derek was using the same strategy as his previous opponent, defending until the other side was too weak to continue. Tristan knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to play into Derek¡¯s strategy. Thinking quickly, he switched to a much higher level spell. He started by casting three of the same spell and anchoring them near him. These were a higher level form of the Fire Bolt that repeatedly cast the same spell over a period of time until all mana used in their casting was consumed called Fire Sentry. It was a simple spell that required little concentration to direct their targeting. Once these Fire Sentries were in place and Derek was busy casting Water Blades to disrupt them, Tristan started casting a much more powerful and slower to cast spell. Derek saw it and knew that this was the moment to decide the fight. Once that spell was cast one of them would be defeated. He continued to defend against the three spells until he saw his friend cast his next spell. His heart jumped into his throat seeing the sixth level Flame Burst spell spring from his friend¡¯s hands and fly directly at him. ¡°Be Careful,¡± Tristan shouted. ¡°Hah, this is it. Take my strike!¡± Derek shouted in response. His arms then blurred as he slashed forward five times with his blade. Then he cast a wind sequence enhancement on himself and dashed forward. The audience was cheering madly, the fight had come to a climax as the three Sentries continued to blast downwards and the great orb of the Flame Burst quickly made its way towards Derek. Five bright slashes of energy shot back from Derek¡¯s position. The first intercepted the Flame Burst and the energy within the slash burst the orb like a bubble halfway to its destination. The energy of the blast seemed to corrode as the bright energy seemed to consume it. In a cascade of red then whitish blue, the Flame Burst ceased to be in a colorful, if anticlimactic way. The next three slashes pierced into the three sentries causing them to burst in a blast of red fire mana before continuing on to splash into the shield in front of the spectators. That shield fluctuated in place before calmly reforming. The final slash struck Tristan who was still recovering from his last casting. The shield from his enhancement flared to life before the bright slashed flared and consumed the shield and enhancement. Tristan found himself falling back to the floor of the Arena and was only able to cast a quick spell to slow his fall before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Derek holding his shoulder. Derek smiled, ¡°I win.¡± Tristan stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before finally getting a grip on the situation. ¡°You used weapon channeling with your dispel? How?¡± Derek laughed, ¡°Well, yeah, I have been working on ways to use weapon channeling with all of my spells since I learned it. I figured it would come in handy and it did.¡± The crowd had gone insane. There were to be nine other fights in the Arena that afternoon and already this one had been incredible with demonstrations of powerful Mage and Magic Warrior techniques. The later fights would all be higher years of students too, so the crowd could not wait to see how good these older students would be if the first years were already this good.
Tristan Brennon- Previous Classes- Prince, Royal Mage Permanent Enhancements- Royal Mage, Tier One: +2 Agility, +4 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Royal Mage, Tier Two: +2 Agility, +4 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Natural Attunement Elixer: +2 Mind, +5 Water, +5 Wind, +5 Fire, +5 Earth Alignment Attunement Elixer: +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Chaos, +5 Dark Equipment- Runic Robes: Basic Protection Mid t2, Maximum defensive spell level 7 Runic Staff: +10 to all elemental attributes, Maximum offensive spell level 7 Chapter 63 - Spring Tournament Day Two Derek woke up early on the second day of the Spring Tournament. Since it was the day for the loser¡¯s bracket to fight, he had no fights of his own but he still wanted to root on his friends. He didn¡¯t want to bother them during their preparations so instead of joining them, he went to his mother¡¯s for breakfast. Eona was not planning on watching since her son wouldn¡¯t be fighting today. Since she would be staying home, Derek accompanied her until just before the Tournament started for the day. Afterwards he left to go watch Desmond¡¯s first fight. Today, Desmond wasn¡¯t as lucky as he had been the day before. Instead of getting a bye in the first round he drew Anthony. As Derek approached he saw the little priestess cheering from the side. He always found the girl¡¯s enthusiasm and optimism uplifting. Her devotion to the young man who was to be her Champion was even more endearing. Derek laughed as he approached, ¡°Diana, it is good to see you this morning. Do you mind if I root for Desmond from here?¡± The girl blinked cleverly at him, ¡°Un. As long as you are rooting for Desmond and not against Anthony! You already won yesterday, so you can¡¯t be greedy!¡± She shook her fist cutely at him before turning to cheer her Champion again. Derek laughed and similarly shouted encouragement to Desmond. It wasn¡¯t long before the two started their competition and the fight was fast and furious. Derek noted that Desmond had greatly improved since that time he had seen him competing against the Acolyte from the Order. He felt pride to think that his teaching had been a portion of that improvement, even if most of it was the teaching of Ovid and several other instructors. On the other hand, Anthony¡¯s skill seemed even more refined than during their match the day before. He had internalized the things he had experienced first hand and from watching the latter matches. His perception was outstanding and Derek was certain that it was only a matter of time before Anthony would be a serious challenge to him. Derek was glad. His relationship with the young man was positive and he had close ties with the Cathedral as well. It never hurt to have talented friends. The fight didn¡¯t take long. After a flurry of strikes Anthony broke Desmond¡¯s guard and landed a series of strikes before Desmond¡¯s shield failed and the armor flared white. Derek applauded the two. Though Desmond lost, it was still a good result to last so long against Anthony. ¡°Great job Anthony! So fierce!¡± The little priestess was clearly pleased by the results as Derek went over to where Desmond was exiting from his side of the field. ¡°Better luck next time my friend. Looks like you¡¯re done with the tournament for this year.¡± Derek consoled his friend as he patted him on the back. ¡°Thanks man, I thought I had improved quite a lot, but Anthony¡¯s rate of improvement is out right astonishing. It was a bad draw to get him first thing. There are probably only three or four others that would have been a worse match up for me." ¡°Yeah, you did well though. There¡¯s always next year. Who do you want to go see next?¡± Desmond thought for a minute before speaking up, ¡°You know, my mom and sisters just arrived in town. They aren¡¯t into these kinds of things so I think I will take them around the city.¡± ¡°Oh well, that¡¯s good too. Take it easy then.¡± Derek responded, waving him off. Derek knew there were some special circumstances around Desmond¡¯s family so he understood why his friend would skip the rest of the day. The second match he chose to watch was a fight between Garrett and a pretty talented tier one opponent. After the fight started, Garrett quickly buffed himself with a fire based enhancement that Derek had taught him. It was a great choice as this increased the speed and impact of his fighting style enough to match his opponent¡¯s. In the end, Garrett¡¯s raw power allowed him to overcome his opponent. For the third match Derek went over to watch Lynette fight, but she lost to her opponent after a few minutes of fighting. Her rather large family came over and consoled her after her defeat so Derek merely waved at her before heading on. He thought it was rather unfortunate that the girl lost in the third round both days, but from what he knew of Lynette who was more interested in scholarly pursuits than the battlefield he was certain that she wouldn¡¯t mind losing much. Derek was surprised to see that just before lunch Tristan drew a match against the tier two Derek had fought in the second to last match the day before. Joining the crowd he got to hear a little more about this fellow. His family was known as the Kani Clan and their hereditary lands were to the south at the Great Wall. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. There, they made war with the barbarian tribes, orcs, and ogres that tried to invade the continent from the badlands in the south. It was said that their martial tradition was as old as the Thorne Clan¡¯s, if not older. Ogres and orcs were known to worship demons and they fought ferociously to break past the wall every year to get into the softer lands to the north. Due to the importance of holding the Great Wall, the many kingdoms and militant orders in the south had alliances to support the Kani Clan, which was wealthy itself from its access to mines in the Ironhome mountains. It was said that the Kani were descended from people who married into the dwarven clans of those mountains ages ago. Their skills in construction, mining, armor and weapons smithing, as well as their famed heavy infantry reinforced this belief and the Kani never really denied it. Derek wondered about their heritage though, as the members of the Kani Clan he saw in the crowd and his opponent from yesterday were indeed stout, but they were easily as tall as any other man in the city, barring Garrett and his family. Their clothing was fine and well made, designed in a simple but elegant manner, with studs reminiscent of armor in places around it and reinforced in various places and all of the men had thick beards kept in various styles. After observing these people he turned to see how Tristan would engage his opponent. The two lined up and when the fight started they moved similarly to how they fought the day before. Tristan went with his wind enhancement and floated into the air, this time raising himself to four and a half meters. The young man from the Kani clan used his earth based enhancement and rooted himself into place. Derek could only describe what he saw next as a ruthless bombardment and a battle of attrition. Tritan used every technique he knew to try to force his opponent to run out of essence before him, casting Flame Sentries, Flame Bolts, Wind Blades and many other spells to whittle his opponent down. The young man from the Kana clan simply hunkered down and weathered the blasts. Finally, after thirty minutes, the warrior¡¯s shield collapsed and Tristan won the fight. Derek clapped fiercely along with the other spectators. Tristan humbly complimented his defeated opponent before leaving the competition platform. Derek laughed when he saw Tristan¡¯s pale face, saying, ¡°So, how much do you have left?¡± Tristan glanced over at him and knew exactly what he meant. ¡°My mana? There¡¯s only a small amount left, perhaps after two to three more spells I would run out.¡± ¡°Haha, now you know how I was feeling yesterday when you saw me. Lucky for you, your next match is after lunch. Let¡¯s go grab something at my mom¡¯s place. Your family didn¡¯t come right?¡± Tristan shook his head. ¡°No, they didn¡¯t come. I¡¯ll take you up on that meal though.¡± Derek nodded and the two set off to Eona¡¯s house. The others were still out, so they were only joined by the lady of the house. Derek¡¯s mother politely listened as they described the matches they had seen and asked about how the others were doing in the competition. With a shake of his head, Derek answered her, ¡°Desmond lost in the first round, Lynette was defeated in the third, and Garrett and Monica both lost in the fourth round, so Tristan¡¯s the only one in the competition a this point.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s unfortunate. Well, best of luck to you, Tristan. You two run along and have fun, I am going to return to my office.¡± The two boys said goodbye and went to the next field Tristan was meant to fight at. Derek looked at him and smiled, ¡°I think you should have this. Randal Kani was the only competitor in today¡¯s line up that was a good challenge for you. I will talk to you after the matches.¡± ¡°Oh, what about Anthony? I thought you said he was pretty good.¡± Derek laughed, ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s good, but he¡¯s a swordsman first. His spell casting and mana pool aren¡¯t good enough yet to bring you down or outlast your bombardment. You have this in the bag. Just don¡¯t tell that little priestess I said it.¡± With a laugh, Tristan waved him off as he went to prepare for his fight. Derek stood on the sideline and noticed that his opponent was the Prince Cid he had fought the day before. The prince¡¯s luck must have been pretty good to get this far as there were quite a few others that were much better than him as far as Derek was concerned. The luck had run out though as Tristan started bombarding him with an assortment of spells after the official had announced the beginning of the fight. The bombardment ended half a minute later, after the prince¡¯s armor flared with light to announce the hit. Tristan hadn¡¯t even taken the time to float up, knowing his opponent would never make it close enough to threaten him. Derek could only imagine that Cid¡¯s face was at least as ugly right now as it had been when he defeated the arrogant young prince. The next fight seemed to paint Derek as a prophet as Tristan defeated Anthony. Tristan didn¡¯t neglect this opponent as he had risen to six meters before beginning his bombardment. Anthony¡¯s mana held for a while before collapsing just as Derek had anticipated. The young priestess¡¯ mood didn¡¯t seem dimmed at all as she cheered her Champion and the student that beat him. It seemed to Derek that in her eyes a loss didn¡¯t diminish her friend but rather proved how exceptional his opponent was. The second to last fight was enjoyable for Derek as he got to watch Tristan and another mage bombard each other from either end of the yard. The explosions of different spells detonating against each other created quite the light show, but eventually Tristan¡¯s raw output overpowered his opponent and he won that match as well. Finally, in the Arena, Tristan defeated a tier one magic warrior of decent skill to clench his place in the finals for their year group. Derek smiled, looking forward to the opportunity to compete with this talented young mage again. He knew his opponent was good, but he was certain of his own skill as well. The two laughed as their competitive spirits soared. Chapter 64 - Spring Tournament First Year Finals Derek looked at the young man across from him. He ran through the ways he could fight Tristan in his head, discarding the way he had beaten him before and finally settling on the one that would be the simplest and have the least chance of failure. The pressure was intense as he knew the young mage was every bit as talented and skilled as he was. ¡°Begin,¡± The official shouted, starting the fight. Derek Immediately cast a wind based enhancement on himself, raising his speed without consuming too much mana and time. He then sprung to the left, barely dodging the first of Tristan¡¯s attack spells, a series of Wind Bolts that tore the ground where he had just been. Meanwhile, he began slashing out with weapon channeling spells, several arcs of white light lancing out at his friend. Tristan saw the incoming Dispels and also dodged to the left, floating three meters above ground with his customary wind based enhancement. Derek¡¯s spells continued past Tristan, splashing harmlessly into the shields protecting the spectators while Tristan began casting a barrage of Flame Bullets. Seeing them coming towards him Derek continued dodging left but this time angled further inwards, towards the middle of the tournament platform. He ducked low to avoid the last of Tristan¡¯s spells and shot out three more of his Dispels upwards to keep the pressure on the young mage. At this point, Derek had closed a third of the initial distance between the two of them, but Tristan also drifted backwards while continuing his clockwise rotation. This opened the distance with Derek back up, but Tristan was running out of room to retreat. Also, the height difference between the two of them gave Derek more dimensions to dodge Tristan¡¯s attacks than if they were both standing on the ground, requiring Tristan to cast more spells to cover more angles of escape. Derek smiled as he saw his friend calculating the trends of the fight. He knew Tristan wasn¡¯t a fool, so he raised his senses to the utmost to attempt to sense what changes the young mage would make to try to counter him. Sure enough, Derek sensed a distortion in the Earth mana below him. Casting quickly, he formed a series of solidified Wind ¡®steps¡¯ and sprinted upwards and forwards while the ground below him erupted in jagged Earth Spikes. One managed to strike his Shield spell before he could get high enough to escape the range of the attack, draining his mana slightly. Derek could hear the excitement of the Arena crowd as the two continued to clash. Now that the two were both in the air, the fight took on far more dimensions as Derek attempted to approach while Tristan attempted to keep the distance. A series of Flame Bullets and Wind Blades were met by brilliant flashes of weapon channeled Dispels as Tristan attempted to kite Derek around the space over the platform. Most of these didn¡¯t connect, instead splashing harmlessly on the shield around their platform. But occasionally one or two strikes would connect, but Derek¡¯s shield remained strong. Tristan, on the other hand, had come up with an excellent counter to the Dispels. He had layered a series of low mana cost Shields around himself that would consume the Dispels before they could interfere with his Wind enhancement. It was clever, but Derek smiled when he saw this. No matter how low cost they were, they were still a mana expenditure, and Derek was certain that his friend had consumed far more mana than himself. With their Mana Pools being almost equal in size, Derek was certain he could win the match trading like this. Derek¡¯s only concern was that he knew Tristan was smart enough to understand this. He knew that his friend¡¯s mind was far more sinister than his. It was true that Tristan was an excellent mage, but if that was it, then Derek would be fine. Derek could be considered an excellent mage himself. Derek had other talents to support him, but so did Tristan. Tristan¡¯s mind never stopped gathering information, cataloguing it, and considering how to use it. Derek knew that the situation could change at any moment so he continued to pressure his friend while staying as alert as possible. Finally, it looked like Tristan had nowhere to go, Derek had pushed him into a corner and managed to get slightly above him as well to cut off escape. It was then that Derek sensed the changes as Wind mana started gathering around Tristan. Tristan cancelled his Wind enhancement that had kept him flying and settled gently in the corner as further wind mana gathered into the spell he was casting. Sensing the danger from that spell, Derek dismissed his Wind Steps and slashed out with another short series of Dispels at his friend to attempt to disrupt him. He did not even need to wait for their effect as his sense of danger had not decreased in the least after casting them. Sensing that Tristan¡¯s spell was still casting, he cast a quick Flare then a Stone Body spell as he dropped towards the ground.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Flare was a simple Light based spell, intended to deprive the opponent of sight. Most mages could sense mana anyways so it wasn¡¯t terribly effective in most situations, but timed well it could obfuscate exactly what was happening. In this case, Derek used it to obfuscate the Earth series spell he had just cast. Stone Body had two significant effects. The first was to create a stone like body for the one the spell was cast upon, vastly increasing the body¡¯s defense while reducing agility and speed, but the second had the effect of connecting the body with the ground. As Derek cast the spell, he felt his body become hard as stone. He continued to drop to the ground while the ground similarly rushed up to him. Encasing himself in the oncoming stone Derek controlled it to flow around him and outwards while he continued downwards into the ground of the tournament stage. Blinded by the Flare, Tristan sensed the Earth mana forming a wall to block him into the corner and blasted out his finished spell into the center of the wall, where he had sensed Derek¡¯s casting. A Windstorm blew out from where he was towards the freshly formed stone wall. The Wind mana and the Earth mana competed with each other and while normally a stone wall would be much more resistant to a windstorm, Tristan had put far more into this spell than Derek had into his and the wall was blasted apart by the storm, fragments of stone flying into the shield on the far side of the arena and creating a colorful light display there. The tournament ground within the shield had been partially destroyed, with incredible damage done to the fighting platform. The crowd grew frenzied after seeing this incredible display, but Tristan could pay no attention to it. His finely tuned sense of danger and the fact that he still couldn¡¯t see his opponent caused him to be totally on alert as he cast a further series of shield spells around himself and prepared a retaliation of his own. It was then that Derek sprung upwards and cancelled his Stone Body spell. The ground behind Tristan exploded outwards as Derek appeared behind him. He had used the distraction of the highly destructive Windstorm to burrow below his opponent to plan this ambush. Now, in melee with the mage, he slashed downward with his warsword, striking his opponent¡¯s shield with another channeled Dispel. Allowing his fighting techniques to take over, he comboed into several other attacks, breaking through most of Tristan¡¯s defensive layers before the other young man could even react. Still, once Tristan knew the cause of the threat, he reacted quickly. He sprung forward while spinning to face his opponent and lashed out with a pair of Flame Bullets and an Earth spike, which Derek¡¯s shields had to soak, burning some of his mana. Derek powered through these, keeping the distance with Tristan and slashing away at his opponent. Pressured, Tristan began casting faster, but Derek merely relied on his Light series Aegis spell and his Dispels to continue pressuring his friend. The fight at this point was brutal. A Mage trapped in melee with a Magic Warrior could only hope that someone can save him or that his mana reserves hold up longer than the Magic Warrior¡¯s. Otherwise, he can only hope for his opponent to make a mistake. Derek and Tristan both did the calculations on the fight. There would be no outside interference due to the nature of the tournament and there was no question as to which one of them had consumed more mana. The only question was whether Derek would make a mistake, and Tristan knew he couldn¡¯t count on that. As he attempted to kite his opponent backwards, he layered more and more shields over himself and attempted to tie up Derek with more attack spells, even attempting to use crowd control on him by binding him into the ground, but Derek had prepared for that, using his own Earth spells to power through them. Finally, as Tristan was backing away at full speed it turned out to be him that would have the accident. His foot caught on one of the torn pieces of earth from his spell before and his attempt to prevent himself from falling gave Derek the time to catch up with him. After another brutal flurry of blows, a flash of bright light signalled that Tristan¡¯s robes had acted to protect him and the fight was over. The crowd was ecstatic and the cheering could be heard even in the outer city. Derek looked up and saw over thirty thousand people cheering him on in a frenzy. Once again he really did understand what Garrett was saying about how great this felt. The official stood and used magical amplification to be heard over the crowd, ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Champion of the First Years, Derek Thorne!¡± Derek glanced down at his friend who was still staring blankly at the sky. Tristan blinked a few times before focusing on Derek. He smiled wryly, ¡°Damn, that was brutal. I really don¡¯t want to experience that again. Even if a part of me knew that the training robes would keep me safe, there was another part that was screaming ¡®danger¡¯ the whole time you were in my face.¡± Derek laughed and dragged his friend up from the ground, ¡°Well, yeah, that¡¯s kind of what I was going for.¡± Under the frenzied cheering of the crowd, the two exhausted youths hobbled out of the Arena. Chapter 65 - The Colosseum Derek smiled as his friends and family came over to congratulate him. The other matches were continuing but at this moment he just sat in the ready room recovering from the fight. The room was packed with well wishers and he was pleased to see them. Tristan glanced over from where he was sitting. ¡°So, how much did you have left?¡± Derek smiled wryly. He knew what his friend was after. ¡°Thirty? Maybe twenty percent.¡± Tristan shook his head, ¡°Damn, I was hoping it was closer.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°Yeah, our mana pools are very similar in size, but your need to maintain flight to avoid melee and the higher cost of your attack spells meant that it was a matter of time if we kept fighting like that. I just needed to keep up the pressure and make sure you didn¡¯t catch me with any of your truly powerful spells. It pretty much forced you to take a gamble with that Windstorm and since I knew you had to do something I was only waiting to see what you would do to use my own counters.¡± Shrugging his shoulders, the young mage sighed, ¡°Yeah, well there¡¯s always next year.¡± ¡°I look forward to it.¡±
At the end of the day the ten champions for the various grade years had been selected. The next stage of the competition would be held on the grounds of the city¡¯s Colosseum itself. The contestants all received a day off to watch as grand contests were held in celebration of the event. There were displays of strength, magical prowess, martial arts, beast taming, and acrobatics. Finally, the capstone of the day¡¯s event was a duel between Grandmaster Giovanni Fior and House Windreach¡¯s Master Ovid Balder. It was an excellent display of skill. The two men fought for well over three hours, demonstrating the use of several weapons, but even after so long, neither was able to defeat the other. It was true that Fior still had a higher tier than his opponent but the honor of the Grandmaster demanded that he compete on weapon skills alone. In the end, the two men stopped to catch their breaths, laughed heartily and walked out of the arena arm in arm. The crowd was incredibly excited and the news of Fior and Balder¡¯s latest duel spread like wildfire throughout the city. By morning there was hardly anyone who had not heard of it. Derek was happy for his master. If the man had stayed in the city all these years, he would have been just as widely renowned as the Grandmaster. With the end of that fight, the day of celebration came to a close and the Priests of the War God blessed the packed dirt grounds where the tournament would continue the next day. The duels to come would be overseen by them and the competition would be sanctified by the War God himself. Excited for the challenges he would face in the morning Derek joined his family in returning to the Academy. The next morning Ovid led Derek into the waiting rooms under the competition grounds. He coached the young man on what he would expect. This competition would last three days and would have four rounds in both the winner and loser¡¯s brackets before the winner of each bracket would face off. The first round of the first day would be held between the youngest four grade years. The first and second year champions would fight, followed by the third and fourth year champions. The winners of those fights would advance to the second round. This did give the older students an advantage, but on most years the difference between the various grades was sufficient that it was not considered problematic. The existence of the loser¡¯s bracket would give everyone who had lost in the first day a second chance anyways. That said, Derek¡¯s first opponent was a talented young Mage from the second year. When he ascended the ramp onto the grounds of the Colosseum, the sheer spectacle took his breath away. He turned slowly, looking at the roaring crowd of fifty thousand plus spectators. They were all cheering wildly, encouraging him and his opponent to fight their best. Turning, he saw his opponent, just as taken away by the experience as he was. Standing between them was a Priest of the War God in bronze armor and helm, wearing a scarlet cloak. ¡°Haha, young men, is this your first time? It can be quite the thrill standing before the crowd. Many warriors never get enough of it and are drawn to come here to compete for much of their adult lives.¡± Derek smiled while looking back at the man. The sheer pressure the man gave off was tremendous. He seemed to give off a sensation of barely restrained ferocity. He glanced at his opponent, who seemed equally impressed by the man. ¡°Thank you for your words War Priest. I have looked forward to this experience.¡± The other student nodded in agreement, ¡°I had heard that being here would be entirely different than being in the stands, but only now do I know just how true it was. I can feel the raw energy coming from the crowds. It is easy to understand why some would become so beguiled by this place.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The Priest threw his head back and laughed loudly, ¡°Good, good, you two! Just know that today you are fighting under the eye of the War God himself. Do not hold anything back. Who knows? If you can catch his eye you may receive a boon. Even those that lose but fight with skill and heart have a chance to earn his blessings!¡± With that the War Priest stepped back, ¡°Fighters, are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The two men shouted in response. ¡°Fight!¡± Hearing the War Priest¡¯s instruction, Derek dashed forward while casting his Righteous Blessing. His opponent cast an Earth based enhancement on himself, and used the blessing to shift the earth underneath himself and slide back. The Colosseum¡¯s fighting space was much larger than the Arena¡¯s had been so the young man had much more space to move in and attempt to kite his opponent. Seeing this, Derek began slashing out with his warsword, shooting Dispels at his opponent, and anywhere else he saw mana condensing. After a few moments, he confirmed that his opponent prefered Earth system spells as most of the spells he cast were Earth based. He sensed traps being laid in the ground of the arena, Earth Fists being formed in the air and fired at him, earthen walls shooting up to protect the mage from the Dispels being fired at him and more. Only occasionally would a Fire Bullet or Wind Buffet be fired at him. Thinking about the nature of Earth magic he assumed that his opponent¡¯s defensive capabilities would be fantastic, along with high stamina and mana regeneration as long as he was touching the ground. The biggest trade off was a slower means of locomotion than what Tristan would have used. Still, with walls of earth appearing in Derek¡¯s way and slowing him down, the young man didn¡¯t need to be particularly fast. Derek was relatively safe, his senses were fine tuned even without his Demon Sense ability giving him a much higher sensitivity to disturbances in mana and his opponent¡¯s guileless but efficient style of fighting allowed him to catch all of his opponent¡¯s attacks before they struck him. He continued his pursuit, driving his opponent towards the wall on the far side. Sometimes he would go around the obstacles left in his way, while other times he went over, raining weapon channeled spells down upon his opponent. Finally, as his opponent was pushed into the corner, he used a familiar spell, Burrow. Derek smiled as he sensed the mana drifting off to his right before using Wind Steps to quickly sprint above that location. He then slashed downwards three times from his position two meters above the ground. The first spell was the bright green of an overcharged Wind Buffet, followed by the bright white of a dispel, and then the red of a Fire Blast. These spells caught the young man in the ground off guard as he believed he was concealed from his opponent and he believed that at the worst Derek would have retreated out of the ambush location. First, the Wind Buffet hammered into the ground exploding rock, sand, and other debris from above the second year champion. The young man even suffered quite a bit of drain from his shields as his body was partially caught within the blast radius of the explosion. Next, the Dispel struck his shield, bringing it down and leaving the champion defenseless. The explosion of the Fire Blast shield was matched with the brilliant white of the training robes protecting their wearer. The young man was still standing with his eyes and mouth both wide open from the shock of the situation. As he saw Derek approaching, he quickly got ahold of himself. Derek offered him his hand, ¡°While the Burrow spell can mislead many people and hide your position, it still has a mana signature and there are vibrations that can give away your position to a veteran fighter.¡± The young man nodded as he took Derek¡¯s hand, ¡°So that¡¯s how you caught me...¡± Seeing the two¡¯s fight ending, the War Priest shouted out, ¡°The winner of the first fight of the day is the Magic Warrior, Derek Thorne, Champion of the First Grade Year!¡± Smiling, he approached the two, ¡°Good fight you two. Derek you advanced to the next round. Arnaud, you will have an opportunity to fight tomorrow. You may return to your waiting rooms. Your next fight should be in about an hour, Derek. Rest up.¡± Derek nodded to the other man. He shook hands with his opponent then returned down the ramp to his waiting room. When he arrived, Ovid was waiting for him. ¡°Next round, you will be fighting whoever wins the second fight of this round, so either the Mage third year or the Magic Warrior fourth year. ¡°After that the rest of the second round will be the fifth year fighting the sixth year, the seventh year versus the eighth, and the ninth against the tenth year. This is the most fair you can expect as you will progressively have to fight older opponents. No matter who wins the next fight, I think you will be fine. You have faced more difficult opponents than either of them. ¡°But your third round will most likely be against the student from the sixth year, Marcus Riley. He¡¯s a tier four Battlemage. He¡¯s already a Dedicated of the War God and is considered the strongest student in the competition this year.¡± Derek looked at him strangely, ¡°The sixth year is the strongest student? Shouldn¡¯t the tenth year be stronger?¡± Ovid laughed, ¡°It¡¯s rare for a combat Mage or Magic Warrior to stay here for the full ten years. Most graduate shortly after getting to fourth tier and completing the required curriculum. Any student of the Mage or Magic Warrior College that is still here after ten years either grew very slowly or is studying something very intricate, in both cases, that means they are very unlikely to be very strong in combat. ¡°To be more precise the eighth to tenth years are almost never the strongest students in this competition. That is usually reserved for the fifth through seventh years. This year, it is agreed by many that Marcus is the strongest student, with seventh year Magic Warrior Xavier Celtus as the second strongest.¡± Derek thought for a moment before looking up, ¡°How do you think my odds are against Xavier?¡± Ovid looked at his student with a wicked gleam in his eye, ¡°Hehe, boy, let¡¯s just say you are about to be gifted with an excellent learning opportunity.¡± Chapter 66 - Battlemage Derek waited in his preparation area under the tournament floor. Even here he heard the muffled roar of the crowd above him. He worked hard to block the excitement he felt from it and instead focused on his breathing to regain the mana he had used in his last fight. When his mana reserves were topped off, he noticed the crowd was still quite rowdy but was otherwise quieter than it had been when he had started. After a few moments, Ovid came into the room. ¡°Derek, you have five minutes. Your opponent will be the fourth year Magic Warrior, Wesley Crane. He is early tier three but his spell casting and fighting skills are worse than yours so you should be able to power through the difference in attributes. Keep your head on straight and you have this fight, got it?¡± Derek nodded to him and got up from where he was seated. After a little bit of warming up, he grabbed a sword and buckler and headed towards the ramp up. He heard the crowd growing louder again as his next fight was being announced. He could not help but feel strangely energized by their excitement as he came up the ramp onto the tournament field. Taking his place, he saw his opponent on the other side of the field with a partizan and the same War Priest standing to the side. Seeing his opponent¡¯s choice of weapon, Derek started to consider his options for defeating him. The War Priest smiled as he saw the two of them stepping into place. Making eye contact with them both he shouted, ¡°Fighters are you ready?¡± The two young men responded and he announced the start of the fight. Derek and his opponent both cast enhancements on themselves and started to test each other¡¯s defenses. After a few probing engagements, Derek pushed in hard on his opponent, attempting to smash aside his opponent¡¯s weapon to get in under the range of the polearm and pressure him at close quarters. The other young man deftly dodged backwards, stabbing and slashing at Derek, while keeping him at range. He was confident that if he kept Derek at a range favorable to him, he would be able to win the fight, so he collapsed backwards rather quickly, aiming strikes at the feet, head, shoulders, and arms as he did so. But that was when a significant change occurred. As the young man collapsed back to keep the range on Derek, Derek similarly collapsed backwards as well, broadening the range between the two significantly. This caught his opponent off guard and the young man had only barely had time to switch from falling back to moving forward once again when Derek¡¯s Firestorm spell hit him. Suddenly caught in the area of effect of this hybrid Wind and Fire attribute spell, the young Magic Warrior could only rely on his shield to protect him, but he was startled to find that it was starting to collapse rather even under this. Just as his opponent started to try to break out of the FIrestorm, Derek finished with his second spell, Earthbind. His opponent¡¯s feet sunk almost to the knees into the tournament grounds below him. Derek then began slashing out with weapon channeled Wind Blades. With the pressure from the Firestorm almost collapsing his shield spell, Wesley was caught further off guard by the sudden entrapment in the tournament floor below him. Flustered, he attempted to brute force himself out of the trap, but then he felt several sharp shocks against his shield beforeit collapsed. With a bright light, his armor protected him and the round ended. ¡°First match of round two, Derek Thorne wins! Congratulations! Fighters return to your waiting areas,¡± the War Priest confirmed the results of the fight. Derek nodded politely to his opponent and the referee before returning as he was instructed. He had used much less mana in this fight, but he sat down immediately, quickly collecting himself and refilling his mana pool. When he was finished he glanced up to see his Weapons Master leaning against the wall. Ovid nodded to him, ¡°Good job growing used to the environment this quickly, some take several days in this environment to get used to all of the distractions.¡± Derek smiled as he heard the cheering growing louder through the walls and ceiling of the room, ¡°I can understand why, it really does quicken the heart to hear it.¡± Ovid looked at him seriously, ¡°That¡¯s true. You have done well to get this far, but your next opponent is Marcus Riley, he already defeated his first opponent. He¡¯s peak tier four and incredibly good at what he does so no one''s expecting you to defeat him. Just do your best, you probably have twenty or so minutes before your next fight.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°I understand, how did the other fights go?¡± ¡°Like you and Marcus, Xavier Celtus also won his match quickly. We are now waiting for the ninth and tenth year students to finish their matches. The two mages are just standing at range and battering each other¡¯s shields. It isn¡¯t particularly interesting but the crowd seems to be enjoying it. I suppose there is something to watching the light show as two mages batter at each other with the brute force of the elements.¡± Laughing at his Weapons Master¡¯s joke, he imagined the scene above from the sounds of explosions and roars of the crowd above. The fight lasted quite a while longer before the winner was decided. Derek couldn¡¯t be bothered to find out the results just yet as he focused instead on getting into the correct frame of mind for the upcoming fight. Soon enough, it was his turn to ascend the ramp again. As he ascended, he felt the anxiety he felt about his opponent get washed away by that same invigorating energy coming from the crowd. After a while, Derek stood in front of the War Priest again. Across from him was his opponent, the supposed number one contender in the tournament. He did indeed wear a robe, but unlike the mages Derek had faced before, Marcus was carrying a glaive. Seeing Derek¡¯s surprise at his weapon, Marcus laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised, Junior Brother, as a Battlemage blessed by the War God, I spend just as much time learning to fight with weapons as I do with my spells. Since the staves here do not have any enhancements that can assist with my spellcasting I opted to use this glaive.¡± Derek nodded when he heard this, ¡°That makes sense, I suppose. Why not use armor as well, then?¡± Laughing again, Marcus shook his head, ¡°Why though? the mage robes provide the same absolute defense the armor does and they¡¯re lighter. While the robes may not match my flair, I will take whatever minor enhancement I can get from the lower weight.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s a rather pragmatic way at looking at things, to be sure.¡± Derek said, thinking over what he just heard. At that, the War Priest joined in, ¡°Pragmatism is a great trait to have as a follower of the War God. Otherwise you don¡¯t live very long. Now, are you two ready?¡± With a ¡°Yes!¡± from both young men, he started the fight. Derek immediately cast his Righteous Blessing enhancement at level seven while tracking off to the left. His concern that his opponent might try to snipe him while he was buffing himself proved false as his opponent cast a similar enhancement to what Tristan used, floating upwards. Seeing that his opponent was casting lighter, faster spells like Flame Bullets and Wind Blades, Derek trusted his shield and ability to dodge while casting another powerful enhancement spell. Roughly fifty percent of his opponent¡¯s spells struck his shield, draining away a small fraction of his mana before his second enhancement snapped into place. The temperature on the stage began to rise as flames began to appear around Derek. With the boost to his mind from the Righteous Blessing enhancement, he was able to cast all of his spells at one level higher, so he opted to cast the mana intensive Righteous Fury at level eight. Now, between both spells, his Base Attributes had more than doubled, with an additional thirty in each attribute. With the enhancement from both spells towards his Elemental Attributes he was now able to cast tenth level spells in Light, Order, and Fire Elements, and eighth level in the rest. The only negative was that maintaining both spells at such a high level was causing an intense drain on his mana reserves, not to mention any cost from casting further spells, which he was going to have to do to defeat his flying opponent. Derek saw his opponent¡¯s eyes widen from seeing the overlapping enhancements drop into place. The confident smile on Marcus¡¯s face seemed to turn feral as his desire for battle was stimulated. The young man began casting spells at the recently buffed Derek. Derek didn¡¯t stand still. He felt an intense pressure from his opponent and he felt his own instincts respond to his opponent¡¯s emotions. Sprinting forward, Derek prepared a series of Wind Steps to approach his opponent while firing off several Weapon Channeled Dispels at his opponent. He sensed danger from below as the ground that originally had been softening to create a quagmire to slow him instead shot several stone bullets up at him. Derek¡¯s shield absorbed several of them while he dodged the rest. Meanwhile his opponent was forced to shift several times to avoid the Dispels arcing towards him. After a moment a series of Wind Blades and Fire Bullets came blasting towards Derek again. Seeing the veritable wall of incoming spells, Derek dodged to the right, utilizing more Wind Steps to protect himself. He continued slashing forward with his Dispels using as many tricky angles and combinations of attacks to trap his opponent or catch him off guard. Marcus was forced to focus more on defense, dodging and countering the incoming Dispels with spells of his own. This gave Derek time to close. When he did, he found himself trading blows with his opponent. Derek felt quite a bit of pressure as his opponent continued to rain down spells even as the two fighter¡¯s weapons clashed again and again. But Marcus wasn¡¯t feeling much better as he felt the strain on his own mana from the constant damage from the fire coming from Righteous Fury. The clash between the two young men was intense. Both displayed tremendous skill in both weapons and spells. The crowd was ecstatic, both the uninitiated and the masters were all quite impressed by this fight. Derek even started to pick up on how to occasionally separately cast simple offensive spells while he was trading melee attacks with his opponent. Seeing his opponent pick up his own technique through combat, Marcus began to laugh uproariously, his battlelust peaking. Even as Derek¡¯s techniques improved, the end was still a matter of time. In weapon skills they were equal. In attributes, the two enhanced opponents were not different enough for either to really say they have an advantage as even if Derek had a statistically higher amount, his familiarity with that strength was not sufficient to give him the full utilization of it. In spell techniques, the Battlemage had a significant advantage, but most importantly, the tier four Battlemage¡¯s mana pool was much more robust than his opponent¡¯s and Derek¡¯s compounded enhancements were a much higher drain on Derek than his opponent¡¯s singular one. After several minutes of frenzied fighting the Battlemage shouted, ¡°Good! Good! To think that a first year would be this exceptional! Junior Brother, this is it! Take my strike!¡± With that, Derek saw his opponent¡¯s pole arm glow a violent red as it came slashing down from above him. It quaked with the might of the spell being cast through it. Derek sensed a great sense of danger from it so he brought his own glaive up to meet it, focusing a Dispel of the highest level he could cast into it and channeling as much mana as he could. For one moment the intersection of those two weapons caused the world to wash in the colors of Red and White. After that moment, a concussive blast spread from where the two weapons met and Derek¡¯s world turned black. In that dark world Derek heard a powerful and arrogant voice, ¡°Ha ha ha, great show, that¡¯s the way. Never back down! Hey old man, give me a hand with this here trinket you made¡­.¡±
Derek Thorne- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One:+2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Demon Warrior, Tier Two:+2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense Disciple of the God of the Forge:+3 Strength, +3 Body, +7 Fire, +7 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess:+2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Greater Demon Heart:+3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking Blessing of the Sun Goddess:+2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Storm Plum:+5 Water, +5 Wind TemporaryEnhancements- Righteous Blessing, Level Seven: +14 to Basic Attributes, +14 to Order and Light Attribute, Level 7 regenerating shield. Righteous Fury, Level Eight:+16 to Basic Attributes, +16 to Order, Light, and Fire Attribute, Level 8 regenerating shield, Level 8 damaging aura Equipment- Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth:eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits
Marcus Riley- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Battlemage, Battlemage, Battlemage Permanent Enhancements- Battlemage, Tier One:+2 Agility, +4 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Battlemage, Tier Two: +2 Agility, +4 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Battlemage, Tier Three:+2 Agility, +4 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Battlemage, Tier Four:+2 Agility, +6 Mind, Increased Essentia Pool Great Blessing of the War God: +7 Strength, +7 Body, +7 Agility, +7 Mind Rite of the Arcane Awakening:+5 to all Elemental Attributes, Improved Affinities TemporaryEnhancements- Elemental Infusion, Level Seven: +14 to Basic Stats, +14 to Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth Attribute, Level 7 regenerating shield, Fly, Heal over time, Fatigue reduction over time. Chapter 67 - The Lower Bracket Derek woke up later that evening. He found himself within the room at his mother¡¯s place. As he looked around, he saw quite a few other people in the room with him. A moment later, he felt a cool touch on his forehead and wash of holy energy flowing through his body, removing what was left of the groggy sensation he was feeling. He looked up to see his grandmother, Rebekah, sitting next to his bed. After casting the spell, she smoothed his hair as she looked down at him. She smiled at him and spoke with a slightly teasing voice, ¡°Oh? Look who¡¯s awake now.¡± Derek looked at her with confusion, ¡°Grandmother, what happened?¡± ¡°You lost your fight, silly boy. You overdrew your mana and passed out in that last confrontation with that boy Marcus. You were the only student that needed to be carried out of the arena today but the crowd were so thrilled with your fight that they cheered as you were carried out.¡± Derek¡¯s face blanched when he heard this, ¡°Still, that¡¯s kind of embarrassing.¡± She smiled when she heard that, ¡°It may be embarrassing, but you seem to have impressed someone. When you collapsed, a red light appeared and illuminated the area around you. The War Priest that was officiating the fight said that you had received the blessing of the God of War as a reward for your excellent performance during the fight. This kind of blessing doesn¡¯t happen that often and the tale of the fighter who won the favor of the God of War has already spread throughout the city.¡± She looked at him for a moment, before patting his cheek, ¡°Either way, foolish child, you need to sleep now. You will have to participate in tomorrow¡¯s competition.¡± Derek felt a gentle surge of mana within him and didn¡¯t resist its effects. His grandmother¡¯s mana did its work, calming him and slowing his heart rate. In moments he felt the drowsiness returning and he passed back into a sound sleep. His sleep was so deep that when he awoke, if it wasn¡¯t for the morning light coming from outside of the house, he would have sworn he had only been asleep for moments. As he got ready, he checked his status. His grandmother¡¯s ministrations the night before had healed him of any injuries he had incurred when he overdrafted his mana. Overdrafting occurred when the user consumes all of his mana at once and attempts to draw more. When it is successful, nearby essence is drawn into the mana pool and spent through the spell, but it causes great strain on the mind and body. While it is dangerous, and often causes the spell caster to faint or feel weak shortly after doing so, it is not nearly as bad as Overcasting, which is forcibly casting a spell over the level that the user can handle. While Overdrafting causes strain and fatigue, Overcasting often tears at the paths that the mana uses and inflicts far greater damage to the mind and body as it does so. That said, Overdrafting will often leave the spellcaster feeling weak for a few days after it happens. This can be avoided through the use of some expensive herbs and a good healer. Conveniently for Derek, his family no longer lacked the former and never lacked the latter. Between his mother and grandmother and a soup made up of semi precious herbs, Derek was already healed before he had even returned to consciousness the night before. Getting up, he readied himself for the competition today. He found a new doublet and hose prepared for himself. This set was slashed in the blue and green of House Windreach, unlike his white and gold of the Thorne Clan from the day before. Once he was dressed he headed down to the dining room to join his family for breakfast. Derek ate quickly while he listened to his Weapon Master breaking down the fights after he had lost. In the same round in which Derek had competed against Marcus, Xavier Cortez had gone against the mage from the tenth year. The tenth year was a strong caster, peak of tier four, but his focus was on research instead of combat so Xavier had been victorious after a quick and brutal fight. The final match for the day had been Marcus Riley versus Xavier Cortez. From what Ovid said, the fight had been much more balanced than Derek¡¯s fight against Marcus due to Xavier being a high tier four magic warrior. The two had fought for quite a long time before Marcus finally defeated Xavier. It had apparently been quite the thrilling scene, with neither of the fighters seeming to have too much advantage for much of the fight. Thinking about it, Derek knew that if he did well today, he would end up facing Xavier at some point. He looked at the schedule for the day and compared his position with Xavier¡¯s. Due to how well he had done on the day before, he wouldn¡¯t have to compete in the first round. But his match in the second round was against the ninth year mage who had lost in the second round the day before to the tenth year Xavier had beaten. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Looking at Xavier¡¯s match up, he could not help but laugh, ¡°Oh that¡¯s unfortunate for that tenth year.¡± Due to how well the tenth year had placed, he was up against Xavier in the second round. Derek would have to go against Xavier in the third round if he could beat the ninth year. He glanced at Ovid, ¡°What was your impression of this ninth year? Do you think I can take her?¡± Ovid thought about it for a moment, ¡°She¡¯s early tier four, with a focus on research. She should not be terribly hard for you to defeat if you go in aggressively and keep her on her back foot.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°What do you think about Xavier then? Do you think I have a chance.¡± Ovid gave him that wolfish smile, ¡°Xavier¡¯s weapon skills and spell casting abilities are not too far off of yours. His physical attributes are quite a bit higher than yours and he is much more acquainted to fighting while enhanced than you are. I expect you are in for another excellent learning opportunity.¡± Derek nodded, all the sudden not as interested in getting a second helping of breakfast. He waited for the others to finish up before joining them in the carriage ride down to the Colosseum. The group split up once again when they entered the building. Derek and Ovid went down the ramp into the fighter¡¯s waiting areas, while the rest of the family went up into their viewing boxes. Watching the others go their own way, Derek noticed Blake glance back at him. The young man¡¯s face still showed hostility, but the arrogance he had once shown was long gone. Derek could only sigh as he turned around and began making his way down the ramp. Making eye contact with Ovid, Derek spoke quietly, ¡°What a piece of work.¡± Ovid nodded, ¡°Yeah, he hasn¡¯t caused any trouble since the first night, but he still says whatever he wants. He seems a lot less excited about dueling you now though. It seems that watching this tournament has had some form of effect on his confidence.¡± The two entered the room reserved for Derek and Derek began stretching and warming up. He glanced at Ovid, ¡°I seem to have received the Blessing of the War God. From what I can sense I have received an enhancement to my basic attributes.¡± ¡°That is correct. Battlemages may have another rite they perform to gain enhancements to their spellcasting but the Blessing of the War God is purely an enhancement to the basic attributes. Strength, Body, and Agility go without saying, but there is also the enhancement to Mind to enable the blessed to make the greatest use of the purely physical enhancements. ¡°With how ubiquitous his domain is, he has the ability to grant many blessings and he is quite generous with them, but be aware that he is just as quick to revoke his blessings as he is to grant them. He hates cowards and he hates fools. People that flee a conflict due to fear will lose his boons, but similarly people who refuse to retreat when that would be the best course of action will lose them just as well.¡± Derek nodded his understanding as he continued his warm ups, he could hear from the stadium above him that the first round was already over. Ovid skipped out of the room quickly to find out what had happened. Almost an hour later, it was Derek¡¯s turn. Glaive in hand, he went up the ramp to face his first fight of the day. Coming up the ramp he heard the excitement of the crowd. He would be a liar if he tried to claim it had no effect on him. He felt his heartbeat quicken and he grew excited himself. The old War Priest was standing there once again and across from him was the mage he would be fighting. She looked uncomfortable in front of the crowd but still held herself with confidence. Derek smiled at her, ¡°Go easy on me classmate.¡± Hearing this, she smiled back, ¡°I should be saying the same to you.¡± The War Priest laughed, ¡°Just do your best you two. Fighters, are you ready?¡± When the two students responded he started the match. Derek went with his go to strategy of enhancing himself with Righteous Blessing and his opponent went with some form of water enhancement that lifted her up into the air in some form of water bubble. Derek immediately began slashing out with dispels to break through her shields. At the same time he attempted to make use of the technique he had learned from Marcus the day before. Fire bolts formed unsteadily around him and blasted their way towards his opponent along with his weapon channelled dispels. His opponent became flustered as the number of attacks coming at her were more numerous than she had expected and she was slow to dodge. Even as she did, her evasion was quite sluggish so Derek was able to cut off her escape and pound her shield rapidly with many of his attacks. Psychology reared its ugly head once again as the young mage panicked under the bombardment. Her defenses cracked and very quickly, her robes strobed out with a bright light. Proof that she had been defeated. ¡°Oh pooh.¡± Derek heard something odd from the other side of the fighting area. He glanced over to see if she was alright and saw the young mage sitting dejectedly on the ground. Her choice of words and her sulking appearance made him think that this upperclassman really was quite cute in her way. She got up and primly dusted off her hands and the back of her robe from where she had sat before. The War Priest blinked a couple of times before announcing the end of the fight, ¡°The winner of this fight is the first year, Derek Thorne! Fighters, please return to your resting areas.¡± Chapter 68 - Xavier Cortez When Derek returned to his resting area, he saw Ovid waiting for him. The older man smiled as he looked at him, ¡°Good job. Both the ninth and tenth year students this year were quite strong statistically, but their specialty was not combat. Neither will advance past this round. ¡°So far, the martial warrior you fought in the second round of the upper bracket, the eighth year, and you have advanced. I expect Xavier Cortez to win his match shortly. Which means next round¡¯s matches will be the fourth year and eighth year, and you versus Xavier. I guess that¡¯s where you will be finishing this tournament.¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°Bad luck, I would rather have made it another round, at least make it to today¡¯s final fight.¡± Ovid just shrugged his shoulders, ¡°What can you do? The placement of competitors was determined by how well they had done in the earlier matches. You losing in the third round to the guy that won overall that day placed you pretty high on the list.¡± Derek nodded as he thought it through, ¡°Since Xavier made it to the last match and the year ten got knocked out the same round as I did, I guess I got lucky drawing someone who had been knocked out in the second round. So that will put me at having lost to Xavier and Marcus, who are likely to be number one and two in the rankings. Where will that put me in placement?¡± Ovid thought about it, ¡°I don¡¯t really know. My guess is that if you don¡¯t get third place, it will be fourth. The eighth year that is skating by right now got knocked out in the second round in the upper bracket by Xavier and is likely to get knocked out in the fourth round of the lower bracket. ¡°Considering your number of matches, they are a wash, you both fought in just as many rounds, not considering your having to compete in the first round. If Xavier goes on to win against Marcus, the eighth year will have only lost to the winner of the competition, while you will have lost against the first and second place competitors, which would give him the third place position. If Marcus wins, you will have still lost against the second and first place competitors but he will have lost to the second place competitor twice, giving you the third place position. ¡°At least that¡¯s how I see the ruling. Doesn¡¯t matter that much though, you gotta make it through your next match. Your opponent is a talented magic warrior, so give it your all.¡± As he finished saying that, the crowd outside had died down and the War Priest in the arena announced Xavier¡¯s victory. Hearing this, the crowd burst into cheers again. Derek smiled listening to it, ¡°OK master, if that is all I will focus for my next match now.¡± The armsman nodded his head before leaving to watch the matches. Derek focused on refreshing his mana and preparing for his next match. As the sounds of the crowd picked up for the next fight, a group of men barged into Derek¡¯s waiting room. Derek stood up quickly. He examined the men in front of him, ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Smiling, the first one stepped forward, while pulling a knife, ¡°Nothing much. Our master just wants to make sure the next fight doesn¡¯t have any surprises.¡± Derek used his Demon Sense on them. The man in the lead was early tier four, while the five others were tier zero elites. They clearly weren¡¯t local considering their willingness to cause trouble in the Colosseum and their accents were strange. He had heard the accent before but couldn¡¯t quite place it. Backing towards the rear of the room, Derek reached into the bag he had kept there, ¡°Well, your master must not value you very highly to have sent you here. He had to have known that once you attempted to upset the tournament you would be unlikely to be able to make it out of this place.¡± The man in front of him looked at him with confusion, ¡°What do you mean?¡± Derek smiled wolfishly as his medallion shone with a strange glint. ¡°This Colosseum is a temple of the God of War. The tournament itself is sanctified by him and everything here is under his vision. Do you really believe the Warpriests here are going to let you go after you have tried to interfere with that? I am amazed at your pluck though, for soldiers to do something that would enrage the God of War? You must not be interested in pursuing your profession anymore.¡± The men¡¯s faces paled. But, they quickly firmed their resolve and stepped forward, weapons at the ready. Derek¡¯s smile grew broader as he drew his warblade from the storage pouch within the bag. ¡°It seems you have made your choices. Foolish, but it was your choice to make.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. As the first man rushed at him, the others spread out. The elites pulled out light crossbows and aimed them at Derek, waiting for an opportunity. Derek didn¡¯t have time to cast his enhancement, settling for a seventh level Aegis. The shield sprang into effect and Derek moved to engage the leader. The man had a shield spell of his own, and he utilized it to great effect while attempting to break through Derek¡¯s Aegis. After a short clash, he jumped back, providing the soldiers with an opportunity to shoot. When they did, the crossbows lit up with arcane energy, at first the string and arm glowed green, then the bolt itself. The bolts slammed forward with great power, hammering Derek¡¯s Aegis. He felt his mana decrease rapidly. Slashing out to the right, left, then forward, he weapon channelled Wind Blades back at his enemies at the highest level he could output. Blood splashed as the Wind Blades connected with their targets. On the right, he had caught two of the soldiers and bisected them at the waist. On the left, another had attempted to block with his crossbow, but the weapon¡¯s enhancement exploded before the Wind Blade had continued on through, rising from his left hip to his right shoulder. In front, the tier four cursed, seeing the ripples of his own shield almost collapse as the WInd Blade encountered it. Derek followed up by closing with his opponents. An orb of fire appeared over his shoulder as he used the casting technique he had partially learned from Marcus. It launched forward, striking the wall behind the last two soldiers, and expanding towards the center of the room. The soldiers screamed as they burned, while their leader had to face Derek¡¯s blade coming down on his shield while the flames expanded from behind. As the shield started to collapse, the man attempted to parry the blade in Derek¡¯s hand but the warsword knocked away the knife before taking the man across the chest, destroying his ribs and the organs beneath. The only satisfaction the man got was the appearance of the shadow behind Derek in that moment. Sensing extreme danger, Derek rolled forward through the expanding flames of his Fire Blast spell. He felt the reduction of his mana once again as the Aegis protected him from that, but he felt it plummet and a pricking sensation in his back from an attack he had barely expected. The shield quickly stabilized as he looked to the back of the room. There, just behind where he had been standing, a man was forced out of stealth by the expanding Fire Blast. The man was nondescript. Derek¡¯s Senses showed him that the man was a tier five. In his hand was a dagger with some blood already on it. There was a sinister look on the man¡¯s face. ¡°You should have just let them rough you up a bit. Then no one would have to die. But since you decided to kill my master¡¯s soldiers, I will have to send you to the underworld to join them. Tsk, it will be a little messy for my master, but if I handle it correctly he should not be too troubled.¡± Derek stared at the man, a slight shiver running down his spine. Something felt strange, but he stood firm, ¡°It is too soon to say that, I could still kill you and make it out of here.¡± The man laughed, as if hearing the precocious ramblings of a child, ¡°No, I am afraid it¡¯s already over. The venom on this dagger is deadly enough to kill a Wyvern, known for their poisons. You have moments to live at best now that I have already wounded you with it.¡± The room began to grow dark and Derek felt his hands loosening their grip on his weapon. It was becoming hard to stay standing so he took a knee to try to stay up. The man smiled sinisterly, as he approached, ready to finish the deed. Growing alarmed as he lost control of his body, Derek attempted to cast another spell, but his grip on his magic seemed to slip away from him, even his Aegis had long ago gone dark. Summoning the last bit of control he had, Derek gripped his weapon once more and attempted to lunge forward. As he approached his foe, the man smiled at him with disdain before lazily slashing out with his dagger. Derek could tell it was aimed for his throat. It was then that Derek was batted aside as a new combatant entered the room. As the two men fought, Derek¡¯s world went dark for the second time in two days.
Having sensed something strange in the nearby waiting room, Xavier had left his own to investigate. As he approached he heard fighting and saw the flash of an area of effect spell coming from within the room. He delayed no further, drawing his rapier and dagger from his storage ring. Rushing into the room, he saw his underclassman stumbling towards an assassin with a poisoned blade. With a yell, Xavier knocked the boy aside and stormed at the assassin, blades a whirl of death. The assassin attempted to stop his assault, but when a user of petty tricks is faced with overwhelming power there can only be one result. With a flurry of attacks, the rapier scored cuts in several places on the man¡¯s body while the dagger kept his opponent¡¯s own blade away from him. The man panicked as his guard broke entirely open. It was then that Xavier¡¯s rapier pierced through his chest in a well practiced thrust. From start to finish, Xavier¡¯s attack had only been twenty to thirty seconds, but this man had over a dozen cuts on him. Such was the speed and ferocity of the assault. Kneeling before his opponent, Xavier drew his dagger across the man¡¯s throat to ensure that he would commit no further mischief. Turning, he found his underclassman in dire straits in front of him. He quicklyplaced his weapons within his ring and lifted the younger man up, running through several halls to the infirmary. He hoped he would not be late. Chapter 69 - Seal Bearer Derek felt drowsy as he came to in a comfortable bed. He could sense the existence of many people in the room with him as he slowly regained consciousness. As he stirred, he felt a hand press against his forehead and a gentle wash of mana flow through him. ¡°Hmm, you are awake now? It¡¯s fine to move slowly. There is no rush.¡± He heard his mother¡¯s voice next to him. There was a mix of concern and relief in her voice. After a moment, Derek was able to collect his thoughts together and push himself into a sitting position. Looking around the room, he realized that he was in his room in his mother¡¯s house and aside from his immediate family, there were a few others in the room. Granny Penny was seated by the windows with a few others from the Cathedral. Derek noticed that Inquisitor Inhurst was among that group. In another corner of the room, he saw his grandfathers talking to Priest Cnut and Arbitrator Nolan while his grandmothers were conversing with the senior leadership of the school near the door. Derek felt somewhat strange. His injuries were gone, but his status seemed off. Focusing, he turned his Senses inward. There was a new flow of power within him, merging with the other enhancements he was already accustomed to. Derek Sensed a flow of dark and chaos attribute encased within a lattice of other elements. They strengthened him and then flowed back towards their source in a constant flow. Derek followed the source to a location in the center of his back. There he found a mark etched in place like a tattoo. Sensing the mark, he was reminded of the standing stones in the Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains. The markings on those stones and this one were quite similar. It was then that Granny Penny came over and sat next to him on his bed. ¡°Boy, you came very close to death this time. The poison that assassin used could only be countered by the dark energies of the Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains. Due to that, we were forced to remove the suppressions on the Mark of the Seal your ancestors in the Thorne clan had placed upon you. ¡°Normally, this would be delayed until the Bearer had reached tier four, but necessity dictated that we do so today. Conveniently, you already possess attributes worthy of tier four anyways.¡± A look of worry flashed across her face before she continued, ¡°Honestly, I cannot tell if this is a boon or bane for you. It will surely make you stronger, but it can draw unwanted attention to you as well. That is something you already have in spades. As the Seal Bearer of the Seal of the Hell¡¯s Gate Mountains you will continue to draw strength from the seal just as you strengthen it. In time you will grow even stronger from it, but it will make you a target for those who want the Seal destroyed or weakened. ¡°Knowing that, you could hide away and the forces that keep the Seals could protect you. That would not be terrible. You could continue to improve your forging, become a healer at the Temple of the Hearth, or clergy at the Cathedral of the Sun. In any of those cases, powerful guardians could be placed around you to protect you from any evil that might come your way.¡± Derek¡¯s face showed some dissatisfaction as she said that last part which elicited a sigh from her, ¡°I thought not. You are your father¡¯s son. The other option is to temper yourself. To grow strong enough to weather the attacks of others yourself without the need of guardians. This will require risk, as you will need to seek out challenges yourself for the tempering process. Do you understand me?¡± Derek nodded with a serious look on his face, ¡°Yes, Granny, I understand. This is what I wanted from the beginning. I wish to go forth and adventure, to grow strong and spread my name through word of my deeds.¡± The old woman looked at him for a moment, a sad look in her eye. ¡°You and your grandmother are the last of my bloodline child. I will be proud of you no matter what you do, but if this is truly what you want, then I can only step aside and watch. Just know that all I want for you is that you can be happy.¡± Derek reached over and grabbed her wrinkly old hand. ¡°Granny, I am already happy. I have been blessed with a loving family and many mentors who have taken time to teach me how to be better at what I do. I have made friends that I can trust and earned the respect of many others. With all of these I cannot help but be happy with my situation.¡± Squeezing his hand tightly for a moment, she released it and stood up, ¡°Good, then. There will be much for you to do. Rest now. The award ceremony will be held tomorrow and you will need to be there. I will come to visit you afterwards.¡± With that, his Granny left the room followed by the people from the Cathedral. The Inquisitor glanced back at him before following her out. Derek looked over at his mother that was just watching him from the side, ¡°Mom, are you mad that I didn¡¯t take the safer of the two options?¡± She gave him a smile that didn¡¯t mask her concern, ¡°No son, I already knew which option you would pick and there is little reason to believe that staying under someone else¡¯s protection would truly be safer in the long run than growing strong yourself. Instead of selfishly choosing for you, I choose to believe in you and your choice instead.¡± He smiled at her and reached over to give her a hug, ¡°I am glad, mom. I promise I will not take too many terrible risks.¡± He did not want to promise her that he would stay safe as that would have been a lie and they both knew it. He could only promise to try to reduce the number of risks he would have to take. That way he could at least somewhat mitigate her worries.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After a moment, Derek¡¯s grandmothers led over a man in Windreach¡¯s livery that Derek recognized. He smiled at the man, ¡°Captain Drake, I am surprised to see you here.¡± The man laughed upon seeing Derek¡¯s response, ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. You seem to be an assassin magnet. I had stopped by to inform everyone of my findings. It turns out those men that attacked you had an uncommon background and I can¡¯t just go kicking in their master¡¯s door to demand answers.¡± Derek¡¯s confused look got another laugh from the man, ¡°Well, rather, it would be impolite of me to kick in any doors to begin with, as he is staying as a guest here in our own Academy.¡± Derek¡¯s eyebrows lifted, ¡°Is that so? But first of all, how did you determine who their master was? Was the stealther that poisoned me captured alive?¡± ¡°Eh, no, he is very much dead, as well as the ones you took down. We were able to find out which force they belong to by looking at their equipment, their physical features and a few other things. Once we narrowed down the search to just a few factions, we were able to inquire at the places where they were staying whether there was a sudden decrease in numbers for the group. That left us with only one inn and after our own investigators, along with some others, had done their work, we confirmed it. Does the name Blake Elnon ring a bell to you? Recently, several of his guards and one of his aides has stopped returning to their inn.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°So it was Blake after all. I had a feeling it was him after hearing my attackers¡¯ accents and their mention of their ¡®master¡¯, but I had no proof.¡± The guardsman nodded, ¡°Well, we know who did it, but due to the diplomatic issues it might cause, we have been ordered to merely keep an eye on his people to prevent them from doing anymore damage. Sorry, but there is nothing I can do.¡± Derek shrugged his shoulders, ¡°The soldiers can only follow their orders so I do not hold it against them. Besides, the ones that attacked me are dead already. Their master though¡­ We have a little engagement scheduled for after the tournament. I am sure I can educate him about the mistakes he made at that time.¡± As he finished saying this, a hint of killing intent flashed across his eyes. The guardsman smiled when he saw that the youth had no psychological hang ups from the attack. He nodded to the young man before turning to Madeleine Windreach, ¡°It seems things are settled here my lady. If there is nothing else you need from me, I should be returning to my duties.¡± Derek¡¯s maternal grandmother turned to the guardsman, ¡°You have done well Drake. I will put in a good word for you with your superiors.¡± The guardsman bowed, ¡°I was just doing my duties ma¡¯am. I will take my leave then.¡± The man left the room along with two other guardsmen. Watching him leave, his materinal grandmother sighed as she turned to him, "Derek, we have confronted Prince Blake about this and he admitted sending his men to harass you, but he said he had not ordered them to kill you. Furthermore, the Queen of Telis has requested we show leniency in this case. Considering the actions of the Church right now and the fact that our forces may be called in to support their campaign this summer, it isn''t possible for us to take action against them. We have sent an official complaint to themand the Church of the War God has already sanctioned them for their actions. "As of now, that is all we can do. I am sorry. Just know that the Academy''s memory is long. While it may not be convenient for us to act now, it will not be too late to take action later. If these bumpkins don''t give a satisfactory response, perhaps in five years time there will be no Elnon on this continent." Having said her peace, Madeleine gathered up the other Windreach people in the room and left with them. Seeing that, Priest Cnut and Arbitrator Nolan came over with Ander. Cnut spoke first, ¡°Well, that was a close one boy. We were all worried for you.¡± Derek sighed, ¡°I suppose I am blessed to have so many who care about my well being but it is burdensome to know so many would be affected by this attack.¡± The two priests nodded, before Nolan took up the conversation, ¡°Well, it is a fact that you are a valued partner in the Association, so your wellbeing is of utmost importance to us.¡± Derek thought about that for a moment before speaking up, ¡°I have been too busy recently and have neglected my obligations to the Association. Is there anything I have missed.¡± The Arbitrator smiled, ¡°No young man, the Association is functioning quite well. We have gathered professionals to support the smiths and to guide the Association along in a healthy manner. At this point all you need to do is collect your dues as an investor. Though you are welcome to participate more directly if you are interested.¡± Derek shook his head, ¡°No, I am still too busy and I am likely to be gone for the summer anyways. The rest of you all know what we need just as much as I do. It is better to leave it in your capable hands.¡± Thinking for a bit, Derek glanced at Rebekah who was standing next to his mother and chatting quietly. He turned to Nolan, ¡°Can you pay my dividends to my grandmother there. I would like to let her use that money to help fund my Clan back in the mountains. I don¡¯t believe that there are no other resources there, what with the mana density in the region and all. I imagine with some dedicated surveying of the region we might uncover some new sources for our operations. ¡°If we can uncover more resources for our operations and revitalize my Clan at the same time, it would be a double boon for me.¡± The Arbitrator nodded, ¡°I can do that. If we can find a good mine in those mountains it indeed would be beneficial to both the Association and your Clan.¡± Derek smiled and thanked the two before they also left. The room now only had those he considered his close family. His mother and paternal grandparents were there along with his master. After the crowd left, Alicia slipped into the room and came over to hug Derek. She had clearly been crying, ¡°I heard what happened. Damn that Blake. He is no good. When I get a chance I will sort him out.¡± Derek smiled at her and patted her back. She was the same old kid he had known, no matter how many years it had been. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I will take care of him. There is no need for you to get too upset about it. I am sure he¡¯s already regretting his actions after the losses he just suffered. Besides, tomorrow after the awards, I will have a perfect opportunity to chastise him over this foolish behavior of his.¡± Chapter 70 - Awards and Punishments That afternoon, Derek opted to stay at his mother¡¯s place to practice and grow used to his new status. In the courtyard near his grandfather¡¯s smithy, he worked on his weapons forms and improving the new techniques he had learned. He had learned from a brief conversation with Marcus a few days ago that being able to cast spells independent of the ones used with his weapons was called Dual Casting. It worked on the same principle as casting a shield spell while similarly casting a spell into your weapon in a fight, but it took more concentration as the effects of the spell needed to be targeted to where the user wants without the crutch of using physical movements. From what Derek heard, this was a technique mages learned too, Still Spell. It was usually a technique reserved for veteran mages with years of practice. In a way the Weapon Channeling technique was something like a stepping stone or a good but lesser replacement for it as it allowed the offensive spells to be cast through the weapon, but Still Spell allowed the spell to be cast without the movement of the weapon. It just took far more concentration as the weapon was somewhat of a crutch for the user. But Derek saw the benefit of learning Still Spell and Dual Casting as they could allow him to vastly improve his offensive capacity while fighting. The more he practiced them, the more he realized their difficulty. He had heard from his mother that the Still Spell technique was intended for people who had worked with level seven spells for a few years. Usually, these would be tier four mages. Dual Casting was generally suggested learning for a fifth tier mage. After training for a while he sat and contemplated for a while. As he sat there, he heard a voice from the veranda near the house, ¡°Derek, these techniques you are practicing have a very high requirement for comprehension. Furthermore, you are expending mana too rapidly. I know you have an area of effect spell that can boost your mind and improve your mana regeneration, why don¡¯t you try casting that and practicing the techniques. Once you are more used to them, you will find it easier to do without the enhancement.¡± He smiled and nodded in the direction the voice had come from. He couldn¡¯t quite see her through the lattice but he could Sense that the visitor that had spoken to him was his grandmother Madeleine. She was sitting with his mother and paternal grandmother in the shade. They had been playing cards and watching him for a while now. After a moment of relaxing, Derek cast Sanctuary at eighth level. The area in the vicinity seemed to brighten, and a light rain of holy mana started to fall around him as the spell gathered the ambient mana of the area into its affected area. Derek immediately felt the effects of the enhancement on himself, all of his basic attributes had been improved, including his mind. He once again began practicing the techniques, finding the magical formulas required to operate them much easier to grasp than before. Similarly, the light mana rain not only provided him with mana to spare while practicing the techniques, but it also helped ease his fatigue from practicing and healed the minor injuries he suffered as he did so. When the spell finally ended half an hour later, Derek felt that he had made great strides with both of the techniques and had even worked to improve his use of them with the Weapon Channeling technique. He found in the end that as long as the dual spell he selected was of fourth level or lower, he could Weapon Channel, Dual Cast, and cast a defensive spell at the same time without slowing any of those skills. After some time spent recovering and contemplating his gains, Derek once more stood up and attempted to use the techniques without the benefit of the enhancement. It took another couple of hours, but as the afternoon started to trend towards dusk he finally felt like he had the knack for it. Even without enhancement he could still use the techniques reliably now as long as the spells cast were not overly complicated. As he finished his training, Ovid came back from the Colosseum. Smiling at the older man, Derek asked what was on his mind, ¡°Master, what were the results?¡± Ovid smiled back at him, ¡°The fight that just completed right now was the final. It was between Marcus and Xavier. While Xavier was able to last against Marcus for quite a while, Marcus still came out on top. Due to that, Marcus is the Champion of this tournament, while Xavier is second place and you are third. The rewards will be held tomorrow afternoon. Getting third place as a first year student is still very good so you ought to get a nice reward for it. Come on, let¡¯s head inside for dinner. I am rather hungry.¡±
The next day, Derek made his way down to the Colosseum once again. The building was just as packed as it had been the previous days and this time, all of the students who participated were allowed up to the ground floor to be presented with awards. First were the tenth through second place students from each grade year. They were all given weapons appropriate to them and their tier. Finally the ten champions were brought forward from the person that finished in tenth place all the way to the first place champion, Marcus Riley. They were each given something unique for them. Derek, who had gotten third place had been given some rare materials for crafting his next armor set. Joining his family after the awards ceremony, Derek didn¡¯t waste any time. He turned to Blake, ¡°Now that my prior commitments are completed, we can have that duel you requested at any time. I do hope you will not back out now.¡± He made no effort to hide his words, instead making them loud enough to be heard through the noisy crowd. The people in the vicinity all quieted down and it even caught the attention of the other competitors. Xavier and Marcus who had been quietly talking just before stopped and turned to watch as well as a few of the War Priests and other ranking dignitaries in the area. Seeing the attention Derek¡¯s words had brought, Blake was embarrassed. Worse, after watching the last few days of fighting, he was unsure he could win, but now his honor had been called out. He determined to beat the young man across from him using any means he could. Glaring at Derek, he finally spoke, ¡°Of course, we can have our duel now. Let me return to get my equipment and we can fight then.¡± One of the nearby War Priests laughed, ¡°Excellent, we were robbed of an opportunity to see this young man fight a few days ago but now we get another chance. If this is to be an official duel, I will officiate it just to be sure. It wouldn¡¯t be right if underhanded methods were used once again.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Smiling, Derek nodded to the other man. ¡°Then why don¡¯t we have the duel in the training grounds. We can head over while the young master goes and gets his equipment.¡± Hearing this, Blake left to get his gear, while many others headed back to the Academy¡¯s training grounds to watch. Those that heard about this had mostly been in the VIP seats at the Colosseum so the crowd was not too large but were all influential people and their followers. As they were riding back to the Academy in his mother¡¯s carriage, Alicia¡¯s mom, Therese, had a rather concerned look on her face. Finally, she chose to speak up, ¡°Derek, I know Blake has offended you greatly and that his people almost killed you, but the alliance with his family is the only way my people can be guaranteed peace in the next few years. Can you do me this favor and not harm him.¡± Derek looked at her and sighed, ¡°Your highness, the man is rampant. He has attempted to rape my mother¡¯s maids. He has had me assaulted in the Colosseum. He is no good for anyone. Are you sure that alliance with his family is really beneficial for your people?¡± Hearing this, she sighed softly, ¡°Telis¡¯s neighbors are many. Some have allied to pressure us. If the pressure wasn¡¯t so strong, we would never have agreed to this alliance. But as it is, for the survival of our kingdom we must go through with it. Please, do me this favor.¡± Derek thought for a moment, ¡°I promise I won¡¯t go too far, but for his behavior since he got here, if I do not make him lose at least some skin he will believe that he can do whatever he wants no matter where he goes. I will teach him a lesson, but I won¡¯t hurt him so much that the damage is permanent. Who knows? Perhaps the young animal will learn how to behave like a man afterwards. I doubt it though.¡± After a few minutes they arrived at the Training grounds. Derek equipped his weapons and armor. After a while, he saw Blake enter the fighting platform from the other side. Behind him were his surviving soldiers, also equipped to fight. Their matching armor made them look intimidating, but the effect was lost as a larger force of Windreach guards equipped for battle took up positions around them. There was no subtlety to the move at all. The formation of the guards was even set to demonstrate to all that the soldiers of Elnon were considered enemy combatants. The crowd began to whisper amongst themselves. Blake seemed to pale in that moment before blurting out, ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Derek realised that the man had yet to learn that they knew he was behind the attack in the Colosseum, he was probably the last interested party to find out. Shaking his head, Derek smiled grimly at the man in front of him, ¡°Did you think you could behave however you like in this city? Did you think your previous actions went unnoticed? These men behind you haven¡¯t done anything stupid yet and have no reason to be concerned about reprisal. But sometimes people make stupid decisions in heated moments. Perhaps if we take precautions beforehand, stupid decisions can be prevented.¡± Seeing Blake pale still further, Derek smiled, ¡°If you are ready, we can begin any time.¡± Hearing this, Blake brought his staff in front of him. He was wearing a red battle robe with brown leather straps throughout. Using his Sensing ability, Derek noticed a ring of some sort on his hand that provided some enhancement to the young man¡¯s elemental attributes. There also seemed to be some sort of violent upwelling of power coming from within the young man. As if to confirm his suspicions, the War Priest frowned and turned to Derek, ¡°It seems he has taken some kind of pill to improve his performance during the fight. Are you ok with continuing.¡± Derek smiled back at the man, ¡°In front of overwhelming power, petty tricks are meaningless. I will continue the duel. In fact, this will be better. If he loses even while doping, it will have a much larger effect on his confidence.¡± It seemed that others in the crowd had noticed the strange situation as Derek was hearing small parts of conversation from around him. Derek didn¡¯t care, it was his opponent¡¯s reputation that would be harmed by this in the end. Smiling, he advanced to the starting point. His opponent¡¯s attributes after the medicine he took appeared to be on par with Marcus¡¯s. Derek had faced that before. The biggest difference is that the power his current opponent was using was borrowed from the drugs he had taken, while Marcus¡¯s had been his alone. Knowing that, he felt confidence as he stood in front of the other man. A moment later, the War Priest called the beginning of the fight. Derek started by casting his two enhancement spells. The first was Righteous Blessing at level eight, once more improving his base attributes and his order and light attributes. This spell came out smoothly, much faster than half a year before. His constant practice and attribute improvements had paid dividends. The next spell he cast, similar to the fight against Marcus, was Righteous Fury at ninth level. It overlapped and improved the enhancement from RIghteous Blessing, stacking on an additional enhancement to basic attributes, and adding enhancements to fire, order, and light attributes. The two spells¡¯ shields overlapped, while the Wrath type spell added a powerful area of effect attack on the region around it. The War Priest quickly cast a shield upon himself to protect him from the effect as flames started to rise from the ground and the platform below began to char from the heat. Blake had only just managed to cast his first spell. It was some form of flame based enhancement that lifted him into the air and created a burning shield around him. Seeing that his opponent had managed to cast two spells in the time that he had managed to cast one he felt a certain degree of pressure, especially when he started losing mana as his shield tried to defend against the flames from the wrath spell. Derek smiled grimly as he saw his opponent¡¯s look. He immediately began attacking. Balls of wind mana started to form around him as he began chain casting Wind Blades using the Dual Casting technique. Meanwhile his glaive slashed outwards as rapidly as he could swing it, sending Dispels towards his opponent. The Dispels quickly overwhelmed the offensive spells Blake had tried to cast and started to strike Blake¡¯s shields along with the Wind Blades. It didn¡¯t take long before Blake¡¯s shields started to collapse. Several Wind Blades managed to make it through the breaking shield and strike him, causing minor cuts to his extremities and greatly damaging his combat robe. Feeling that his enhancement was about to be destroyed by the Dispels he began to panic as a fall from this height would possibly injure him greatly. Finally, the pressure was too much for him and he shouted, ¡°Ancestor, save me!¡± Hearing this, Derek felt a sense of crisis as one of the men behind his opponent began to move. The man spoke in a thunderous voice, ¡°Audacious!¡± Noone in the area had been able to act yet when the man was already on the arena. He reached out and stabilized Blake¡¯s spell with his own mana before slashing his hand forward, sending a torrent of pure fire mana shooting towards Derek. Derek¡¯s sense of crisis increased tremendously as that attack came towards him, and he funneled his mana into strengthening his Aegis as much as he could. In a bright flash of light, the fire mana clashed with the holy shield. After a moment both spells collapsed under the weight of a third force. Derek¡¯s unraveled gently, while his attacker¡¯s was broken up quite abruptly causing the man to stumble and cough out a mouthful of blood. A cold elderly voice was heard from within the compound, ¡°Humph, old man, are you tired of living? Attacking one of my students within my Academy. Did you think there was noone in this city that knew you were here or could do anything if you took action?¡± Chapter 71 - Culmination The area around the training field grew very tense. Ancestor tiers did not take action often as a fight between well matched individuals could level a city. There was an unwritten rule that they were not supposed to interfere with the lives of normal people. Even people without the backing of an Ancestor of their own would not be bullied as the other ancient individuals within the region would take offense to wanton acts. The people that had been observing the fight knew that this ancestor who had attacked Derek was truly an Ancestor tier person. They could feel it from the power he emitted when he attacked. The more powerful among them could even discern his relative power with Status magic, but even with the power he had, what could he do with it? At that moment there were no less than half a dozen pressures appearing around the city more powerful than his. There were even more around his power level. What was more important was that the particular actor that had stopped him was vastly more powerful than him and was coming this way. Derek was relieved. When he had attempted to block the Elnon Ancestor¡¯s attack with his Aegis it had been the most he could do to keep it from collapsing under the pressure. His mana had drained rapidly and if the confrontation had continued much longer his spell may very well have collapsed on him and he would have been placed in incredible danger. At the critical moment, the enemy spell had been forcibly destroyed, causing a backlash in his attacker, while his own had been quite gently unravelled, returning his mana back to him before he could harm himself by Overdrawing. There was quick movement as the Windreach guards in the area drew their weapons and aimed them at the soldiers of Elnon. Meanwhile, several figures leaped into the training field to protect Derek. Among them were older members of his family, Ovid, and several of the school instructors. None were on par with an Ancestor, but their combined might was enough to protect him now that Ancestors from within the Academy were actively paying attention. It didn¡¯t matter much though. As that ancient and powerful aura grew closer, Derek saw the increased pressure on the Elnon Ancestor. It grew until the man had been forced first from the air and then to his knees. Derek saw the man¡¯s knees penetrate the hard packed dirt of the training ground and wondered at the level of pressure on the man. Blake similarly had caught sight of his Ancestor¡¯s plight and he turned white as a sheetas realization of his current situation dawned on him. Finally, a grizzled old figure made its way into the view of the people around this training field. The man¡¯s face was pinched as if he had been eating lemons. He had a mean look to his eyes as if he was a shopkeeper expecting every customer to try to shoplift from him. Derek recognized him instantly. Wasn¡¯t this that damned old man that always made him late for lunch? This was his Classics instructor, Eomer Windreach, the man whose day was made brighter by taking petty actions against those around him. Thinking about it, Derek was amazed that someone like this old codger had grown to be an Ancestor tier person, but after a while he realized that it was quite possible the old man had not always been this strange, but had become this way through such a long life. Thinking about how casual the old man was with petty behavior and the amount of power he was showing right now, Derek started to think that maybe it was an unfortunate day for the people of Elnon here. It wasn¡¯t that Derek felt bad for them, but he really wouldn¡¯t want to intentionally make himself a target of this cantankerous old man. The old man moved at his own pace, not fast, nor slow. He walked calmly with his cane down the path through the training fields to come to the place everyone was at. After a moment, he came to a stop in between the people of the Academy and Blake and his Ancestor. Looking the two of them over, he finally broke the silence, ¡°Aren¡¯t you a little weak to be behaving how you want in someone else¡¯s city? What did you eat today to have the confidence necessary to take action here?¡± The Elnon Ancestor was embarrassed. He knew that there were some strong people in this place when he arrived. Five had made their auras known to him when he had entered the city. Those auras had come from various parts of the city and had each been about equal to his own. He hadn¡¯t realized that so many more had chosen to remain hidden. Five was already more than most kingdoms would possess. His own was considered fortunate with two and he was the stronger of the pair. Where would Windreach City get so many ancient masters? After the initial flaring of those auras when he had entered the city, there had been no further fluctuations to indicate the existence of Ancestor tiers in the time he had been here. Five would already make them the undisputed rulers of the region, with this many they could sweep through most of the Western half of the continent. If they had that level of power, why didn¡¯t they let it be known? Who would come here to cause trouble then? This Ancestor really felt mistreated in his heart. After coming to terms with the situation, he eventually had to speak, ¡°I apologize, I have indeed acted poorly in your city. It is no wonder that Windreach City is called the ¡®Great Kingmaker¡¯. You have all concealed your strength quite well. ¡°Well then, how do you wish us to proceed?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The old man looked at all of them quietly before signalling to the guards, ¡°Take these people into custody for now. There has been enough disruption during this Spring Tournament already. The rest of you are dismissed.¡±
The next few weeks went by in a flood of activity for Derek. In short order he wrapped up his coursework in his academics classes and demonstrated his proficiency with the skills being taught in his practical classes. In the mornings he worked the smithy with his grandfather, giving form to the materials he had been rewarded for the tournament. A new set of gear had taken shape. This one would serve him throughout the latter second and all of the third tier. In the evenings he worked on practicing his new techniques and got himself better acquainted to fighting while enhanced. Finally, as the term was ending, he was called into the Dean of the Magical Warrior College¡¯s office. Walking into Dean Karl¡¯s office, Derek was surprised to see his mother was already there. The office was ornately decorated and The Dean and Derek¡¯s mother were seated at a coffee table in front of a tall window that looked out onto the Academy grounds. With Derek¡¯s arrival the Storm Knight stood up and welcomed him over. ¡°Derek, welcome. Come over so we can have a talk.¡± Signalling for Derek to sit next to his mother, the man went to his desk and grabbed a document. Setting the document before the two of them he started talking, ¡°This is a waiver that will allow Derek leave for the summer. Normally, our students are only allowed to return to their homes during summer leave, this way their families take responsibility for protecting them. This changes after their fourth year has been completed with us at which point they are considered strong enough to protect themselves outside of the Academy. At that point they are encouraged to seek outside experience throughout summer campaigning seasons. ¡°There are generally two exceptions to this. The first is that the student is tier two and has sufficient combat skills to protect themselves. The second is when the student is accompanied by faculty or staff of the Academy. In those cases, we can provide a waiver to allow those students to similarly take those opportunities during the summer. ¡°Derek, I have been informed by your mother that you have been approached by the Cathedral to participate in their Crusade in the north this summer. You definitely fulfill the first criteria to receive a waiver to go. Due to the nature of the Crusade, the Academy has already prepared a force to participate. It will be comprised of Armsmen of the House as well as students from the various colleges. If you wish, you can join that force. The Captain we have selected for that force has already requested you take up a position in his command staff.¡± Derek looked at him with a puzzled look, ¡°Who?¡± Karl Windreach laughed, ¡°You have already met him. We have tasked Captain Drake with leading the contingent this time. That cutthroat has seen more than enough hard campaigns to lead this group we are creating effectively.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°If it is Captain Drake, I would be honored to work with him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit. Aside from you, there are a few you may know joining as well. Your roommate Tristan Brennon will be going as well as Marcus Riley and Xavier Cortez that you likely met during the tournament. From what I heard, Marcus and Tristan are being added to the command staff, while Xavier is going to be leading one of the cavalry squadrons. Meanwhile, your giant friend, Garrett, has been added to one of the infantry units. ¡°More are joining by the day and I am sure you will hear more rumors about it as summer approaches. We will begin mustering this force in the next few days. If you are fine with this set up, I just need your signature on this waiver to make everything official.¡± Derek looked over the form in front of him. It signified that he understood the risks he was taking. Karl had already signed it as a representative of the Academy and his mother mother signed as his guardian. Seeing that, Derek realized that his own signature was a mere formality. Dipping the pen in ink, Derek added his name under his mother¡¯s. When he was done he stood up and hugged his mother. He knew that just because she had acquiesced to his desire to join this campaign, she had not given up worrying for him. On the contrary, as he hugged her, he felt the pace of her heart and knew that she was even more worried. Holding her, he whispered, ¡°Mother, I will be fine.¡± He felt moisture land on his shoulder. There was an undercurrent of desolation in her voice when she responded, ¡°I know, son. It¡¯s just that you have grown too fast.¡±
Derek Thorne- Previous Classes- Magic Warrior, Rune Smith Permanent Enhancements- Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Demon Warrior, Tier Two: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense Disciple of the God of the Forge: +3 Strength, +3 Body, +7 Fire, +7 Earth Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light Greater Demon Heart: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire Storm Plum: +5 Water, +5 Wind Blessing of the War God: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind Awakened Seal of the Hell''s Gate Mountains: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Water, +5 Light, +5 Wind, +5 Fire, +5 Earth, +10 Chaos, +10 Dark, Expanded Essentia Pool Equipment- Magisteel Armor: basic protection mid t4, maximum defensive spell level 10 Magisteel Warsword: basic offensive high t4, maximum offensive spell level 10 Magisteel Glaive: basic offensive high t4, maximum offensive spell level 10 Magisteel Bow: basic offensive mid t4, maximum offensive spell level 10 Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits Chapter 72 - Mustering Two days later, Derek was standing in front of his mother¡¯s mansion bidding his mother goodbye. He had his equipment packed in his storage pouch and assorted goods in his backpack. His mother was mounting a carriage with Alicia and her mother. His grandmother, Rebekah, was also waiting to board that carriage. Ovid was already mounted on a bay stallion. The armsman looked at Derek, ¡°I must watch over your mother on her trip, so I cannot join you on this campaign. Do not concern yourself too much. There will be experts from the Academy with you, but try not to rely on them. This campaign is for you to temper yourself, not learn to rely on others.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°I know master. I will do my best.¡± Seeing the passengers had mounted the carriage, Derek approached it. His mother reached out her hand to touch his head, ¡°Son, your column will pass through Telis in a month. I will see you then. Take care of yourself.¡± Smiling, Derek reached up and held her hand for a moment, ¡°I will, you take care of yourself as well. I really don¡¯t have a good feeling about those people from Elnon. Don¡¯t let your guard down near them.¡± She smiled, ¡°I understand your concern, Derek. Do not let it bother you too much, one of the Academy¡¯s Ancestors is coming with us and the princeling¡¯s retinue will only be released when his family sends over their ransom. They should not be quick to lose more after how badly they have been gouged this time.¡± Derek nodded and said goodbye to her and the others in the coach again before stepping back. Surrounded by Telis and Windreach guardsmen, the line of carriages left for the north. Derek watched them go before turning to his grandfather. The man smiled at him, ¡°Well, now it¡¯s your turn boy. Be decisive about it, lingering only makes parting harder.¡± Smiling at the old smith, Derek responded, ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want to come with us?¡± The old man had a wistful look in his eye before shaking his head, ¡°No, boy, I will stay here. I feel like I am close to breaking through with my forging again so I will spend the summer here working on some things. Quite a few of the Association¡¯s smiths are joining the Crusading forces so I suppose I can help out with the Association as well.¡± Shrugging his shoulders, Derek turned to walk away, ¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case, then I should go down to the mustering grounds then. See you in a few months grandfather.¡± The old man laughed, ¡°That¡¯s the spirit boy. Have a grand adventure this summer.¡± Derek waved back to his grandfather before turning down the avenue towards the gates to the outer city. He mused that he had learned some odd things along with blacksmithing from that old man. This walking away with decisiveness, he supposed was one of those things the old man considered something ¡®cool¡¯ people would do. Smiling, Derek made his way across the Academy and was joined by a few of his older classmates. Seeing that they were all headed in the same direction, they walked together. As they went more students joined them. After a while Derek saw and greeted Tristan. Tristan smiled when he saw him, ¡°Derek, good to see you. I hear Garrett¡¯s coming too. He¡¯s at his parent¡¯s place now. We should see him when we arrive at the mustering fields.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°That¡¯s good, joining this campaign should help him with the essence he needs to regain his strength.¡± ¡°Regain, you say? He¡¯s already almost as strong as before his reset, but I get what you mean. The essence will be necessary if he wants to get back to tier one. Personally, I am hoping to get firmly into tier three this summer.¡± Looking out of the gates as he passed through them, leaving the Academy grounds and entering the outer city, Derek smiled, ¡°I think we can both expect tier three from this and if we are lucky tier four. From what I heard from the people at the Cathedral, they expect this campaign to be rather tough. We should definitely expect some sharp engagements.¡± One of the other students who had been walking nearby, a gregarious fourth year named Bruno overheard them and interjected, ¡°Do you really think they will let us participate in the thick of it or do you think they will shield us since many of our force will be students?¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Tristan glanced at him before looking at their group. Derek could see him analysing their group with a trained eye. Tristan wasn¡¯t the Crown Prince of his country for no reason. Derek heard that he had scored quite well in the state craft and war craft classes he had taken this year. It seemed beyond his talents as a mage, the young man had been trained from birth as a leader for his country. After analysing the students and thinking of the total number that would be joining their company, Tristan finally spoke up, ¡°Bruno, students or not, all of us going are at least tier two. I mean, Garrett¡¯s a bit of a freak, but in any other free company, tier twos would be cavalry troop leaders, or infantry platoon leaders at the minimum. Some less fortunate ones would have the tier twos as hundred man leaders and squadron commanders. ¡°As for our Company? Fully half of us will be tier two. The supporting troops will all be elite armsmen of Windreach tasked with protecting us. There are likely to even be some experts hidden among them to ensure our safety. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if somewhere in our baggage train, they hid an Ancestor just in case some disaster may happen. The odds are that the people in the baggage train will be the best professionals the school can provide, including healers and blacksmiths. ¡°No, with how powerful our force is likely to be, I doubt we can expect to be shielded on this campaign. I would expect us to be put on the front line first thing. We can expect many opportunities to hone our skills and improve ourselves during this campaign because of it.¡± Derek nodded in agreement. Watching Bruno and the other students, they seemed thrilled by it as well. As Derek was about to resume talking with Tristan, he heard an amused voice from behind them, ¡°Oh, it seems our junior knows his stuff, Xavier. He looks to have clear eyes and an analytical mind. It¡¯s a good thing at least one of us has those traits.¡± Derek turned to see another group merging into theirs from a side street. These were older students and they were led by Marcus and Xavier. Xavier turned to the battlemage and responded, ¡°Yeah, well I have an excuse. As a martial warrior I am expected to lead from the front. You are a mage, yet you are always at the front as well. Shouldn¡¯t you be more like this younger classman?¡± Laughing, Marcus waved it off, ¡°I could, but that would be boring. I much prefer to contest on the front lines.¡± Derek smiled at the two. He had gotten a chance to meet them both. He had fought Marcus in the competition, but Xavier he only got to meet during the awards ceremony. He was particularly grateful to his older classmate for saving him from that assassin. ¡°Marcus, Xavier, it is good to see you. This is Prince Tristan Brennon of Dewnens. Tristan, these are Marcus Riley and Xavier Cortez. I am sure you know who they are.¡± Tristan nodded to the two of them, ¡°Call me Tristan. I was impressed with both of your performances during the competition. I hope we can work well together this summer.¡± The other two laughed and exchanged pleasantries as well. The group continued to make its way through the city, gaining a few students here and there and even some of the Windreach armsmen joined their group on the way. After a while they came to the north gate and stepped through. On the plain north of the city, there were several encampments already set up. Several had the flags of the Church, representing forces gathered by the Church for this campaign. A few belonged to neighboring lords. Even more common were the encampments of Free Companies that had been paid to fight in this campaign. Nearer to the city were several encampments with the banners of house Windreach and the city. The majority appeared to be the official forces of the city, while one nestled near the center of the group had the flag of the Academy itself. The group that had been growing like a snowball rolling downhill made its way to that encampment. As they arrived they saw a clerk sitting at a desk near the entrance to the encampment. Being well trained by the school, the students formed a line while the armsmen broke off to join their units or to create another line in front of that desk. After a while, Derek made it to the front of the line. The clerk looked up disinterestedly, ¡°Name?¡± Derek went to respond, ¡°Derek Thorne, I am to join¡­¡± The clerk glanced down and marked him off on a sheet, ¡°Don¡¯t care, head to the big tent in the middle of the encampment, move along.¡± Stepping into the camp, Derek waited for Tristan who apparently was to go to the big tent as well. Marcus and Xavier both went other directions. The two youths made their way to the striped tent that took up the middle of this encampment. When they arrived, they were barred by the guards until summoned inside. Ducking his head into the tent once he had been summoned, Derek was pleased to see Captain Drake standing there. The man smiled at the two youths, ¡°It is good to see you both have arrived. I have requested both of you to join my staff once I saw that you were coming. Derek, I will have you serve as my Adjutant during this campaign. Tristan, we will make use of your Dewnens¡¯ famed art of war as my strategy advisor. Please make yourselves comfortable. The other officers will be joining us soon.¡± Derek was thrilled, he thought at best that he would be a messenger when he was assigned to the command unit, but to be an adjutant would give him a great opportunity to learn on this campaign. Chapter 73 - Gathering Forces The tent started to fill up. The next two to enter were older armsmen. Their gear was well maintained and their movements were sharp. Drake introduced them, ¡°Derek, Tristan, these two are Captains Bayard and Norton. Bayard will act as our Paymaster and Norton will be our Quartermaster.¡± The two young men saluted the newcomers, ¡°Good morning, Captains.¡± The other two saluted them back before Bayard spoke up, ¡°In this camp, only call Drake ¡®Captain¡¯. You should address the two of us by our role instead of our rank. It will reduce confusion at important times. There are a few other captains as well in other roles in this force. You will want to address them by role or name as well. Most of these roles are normally handled by sergeants or lieutenants, but this unit is an ad hoc force and many elites were assigned to it to provide the optimal learning experience for you students.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°Thank you for your clarification Paymaster.¡± Drake turned to Derek, ¡°Derek, the Paymaster and Quartermaster can be said to be almost, if not more, important than the actual leader of a free company. The Paymaster ensures that everyone gets paid while the Quartermaster makes sure everyone is fed and equipped. Since the normal soldier of a free company or a mercenary unit usually expects to be paid on a weekly basis and fed daily, if either method of compensation gets cut off it can lead to catastrophic consequences. ¡°More precisely, the Paymaster keeps a role of all men and women in service to the company, and distributes rewards and punishments as determined by the leader of the company and the contract of the soldier. The Quartermaster, on the other hand, is in charge of procuring the food, fodder, and other resources necessary for the campaign. They both have their assistants in their roles. As they Paymaster¡¯s chest is rather important to the company, his guard is usually made up of some of the most elite soldiers in the company. ¡°These two and you, along with some runners, are my command staff. They are both quite good at their roles, so I suggest you both spend some time learning from them during this campaign.¡± Derek and Tristan both expressed their understanding as eight more people entered the room. Derek recognized two of them. Xavier Cortez came in and stood on the left with another man dressed in lighter armor. Five others moved to the right, with Marcus Riley standing along with three other students behind a one-eyed veteran. The last woman came to a stop in between both groups. Drake looked first to the veteran, ¡°How are your infantry, Commander Collin?¡± The man shook his head, ¡°Trash, Captain, these troops are trash. Many have never drilled before. They can¡¯t maintain proper formations, they don¡¯t know right from left. Each one boasts of a different weapon and fighting style. I almost want to request getting shifted to one of the regular units.¡± Drake nodded his head, ¡°We expected their coordination to be bad. That is why we mustered early. Begin drilling them now. This unit is to be used as a free company to make the most use of the students, so do what you can about grouping people with similar fighting styles, but do not sweat stronger formations. Also, make sure to work with Bayard to record assignments of your troops.¡± He turned his eyes to the two men on the other side of the room, ¡°Cortez, Royo, how are your light cavalry squadrons.¡± The two men glanced at each other before Cortez spoke for them both. ¡°Most of our people have done this before, it will probably take a few days to work the kinks out. We will be ready to move soon enough.¡± Drake nodded again, ¡°In this campaign, your squadrons¡¯ primary role will be to act as scouts for our force. While it is less glamorous than harassing or attacking the enemy, making sure that we know where they are while they do not know our locations is far more important in this campaign.¡± The two cavalrymen looked discouraged. Drake laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t be that way, there will definitely be plenty of opportunities to win honor and fame in spite of that this summer.¡± Xavier flashed a smile, ¡°Of course, we don¡¯t doubt it.¡± Finally, Drake turned to the woman across from him, ¡°Morgana, how is your support team.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Morgana was a fifth tier mage in charge of the magical support team. Their role was to attack enemy forces, counteract enemy magic, and recover the wounded. A slight smile spread across her face, ¡°We are ready. The size of our team is definitely out of sync with the size of this company, but I expect that will just mean that we will be used for more difficult missions in exchange. I am looking forward to it.¡± Drake smiled after listening to her. ¡°That is great. Everyone, work with the people of your units. Drill them. Prepare them. Do what you have to do. In two weeks we will begin our march north. With the personnel available to us, we can expect great things from the Windreach Academy Free Company.¡±
Over the next few weeks, each encampment went through its own training process. The Windreach Academy Free Company was no different from the others. They didn¡¯t need to go through the effort of teaching the individuals to fight, but they did need to teach them to drill, pitch camp, break it down, stand sentry, etc. There were many important skills needed of a soldier that these powerful fighters did not yet have. The discipline of the students of the Academy helped rectify that quickly though. The Academy may never have drilled them like a cadet corps but the strictness of the instructors, whether on the training grounds or in the classrooms had prepared the students to take orders well. At the end of the two weeks, they could march in formation and even fight together without disrupting each other. Derek was no different. Every day, Drake would have him join one of the four infantry platoons or one of the two cavalry squadrons to practice drilling. Some days Drake would send Derek to work with Team Leader Morgana to learn how to work in the support team and he would practice everything from working with others to cast large scale protective magic over the unit, large scale attacks, or even treating the wounded. This was on top of expecting him to participate and learn in all of the planning meetings and directly working with the Quartermaster and the Paymaster. Due to this, in the first week, Derek¡¯s days were full. The second week, his days grew much busier as their command team would have to go to one of the church¡¯s encampments every day to begin going over the organization of the march. This specific encampment was in the center of the varied mustering grounds and all of the Company leaders were summoned to it. The first time they arrived, they were ushered into a very large tent. There was one large table with a map placed on it and seats placed around it for the various Captains. Captain Drake took his place along with the Captains of the Windreach forces that had been assigned to this campaign. Windreach had dispatched two heavy infantry formations of a thousand soldiers each as well as one archer formation, one heavy cavalry formation, and one light cavalry formation of the same size. The combined force mustered by the House was over five thousand soldiers, with many elites. On the opposite side of the table, as if not to be outdone, was the force of the Church. The local chapter of the Ardent Dawn had a single formation of over two thousand paladins and supporting cavalry. The Church also fielded five companies of a thousand crusaders. These forces were set up similarly to Windreach¡¯s free company, with the crusaders forming mixed formations. The biggest differences were size, quality of the troops, and the makeup of the support teams. These crusader forces were larger and of lowerquality than the Academy¡¯s free company and Academy¡¯s support team was made up of a mixed group of mages, the Crusaders¡¯ support teams were made up entirely of clergy. The encampment they had gathered in was the local headquarters of the Church¡¯s mustered forces, a separate detachment of Paladins and clergy from the Cathedral itself. This force was an elite force numbering only two hundred crusaders. While the church did field a larger force than the city, Windreach¡¯s guards were of higher quality on average. This was somewhat mitigated by the absolute elite advantage that the Cathedral¡¯s Defenders and the Order¡¯s cavalry provided. Between the Church and the House there were over twelve thousand mustered troops from the city. Along with those were roughly six mercenary free companies that had been contracted for the campaign, each ranging from a couple thousand to five hundred men. There were also several nearby hegemons that had fielded a force of crusaders to join them, though the quality and number of the troops differed greatly among them. Each of these forces had a seat around this table. Derek stood quietly with the other staff officers behind Captain Drake. After all the other Captains had taken their places, the host, at the head of the table, finally stood up to address them. ¡°Thank you all, I am Captain Kalne of the Cathedral¡¯s Defenders. Until we join the main body of the Crusade, I will be in charge of the almost twenty thousand crusaders gathered here.¡± Derek was blown away by that number. He had heard that they had gathered a rather large force and he even knew the sizes of most of the forces gathered there. He had just never really considered the scale of the campaign as a whole. If he thought about the various other forces participating, then it seemed like there would be a total of sixty and a hundred thousand people involved in this campaign. How could the barbarians withstand them? How could the local populations not suffer disaster in the way of their food stuffs being consumed by this veritable swarm of soldiers that would descend upon them? How would they be able to transport this force across a dozen petty kingdoms to even begin their offensive against the barbarians that had taken the regions around the Shrine of the Light? As he listened during these meetings, the questions in his head were answered and new ones replaced them. Chapter 74 - Marching North Derek spent a total of two weeks in the mustering grounds. His time was split learning from the primary leaders of their company, learning the basic commands that the other soldiers learned with the infantry, cavalry, and support teams, and finally attending planning meetings of the various forces gathered in this location. He learned many things, but they were in vestigial forms. At this point he could perform the actions required of him, but didn¡¯t quite know why everything needed to be done in every case. The lessons were very beneficial but it was like trying to drink a fast flowing river in many cases. At the end of the second week, a new force camped near the Church¡¯s encampments. This one was the personal retinue of the Grandmaster of the Order of the Ardent Dawn. Composed of 500 paladins and clerics, the formation was entirely made up of heroes that had surpassed tier one. This was one of the sharpest forces on the continent, with the squadron leaders even reaching tier five and many of the command staff were experts of tier seven and higher. This force had set off from Solreach in spring with the express purpose of following the Grandmaster to lead the Crusade. He would lead the forces mustered from all over the northwestern portion of the continent in this grand endeavor. As one of the most acclaimed generals of his generation, he was a widely respected man and few of the soldiers in the crusading force doubted their inevitable victory. The morale of the troops began to rise with the arrival of his force. Most notable was the renewed swagger of the local Chapter of the Order. Now that command had passed from the Captain Kalne to the Grandmaster, they immediately began to act with the bluster they had showed earlier in the year. That day, the leaders of the various forces were called to the Grandmaster¡¯s encampment this time for the final instructions before their march. Derek and Tristan followed Captain Drake towards the Grandmaster¡¯s encampment. The Quartermaster and Paymaster were left behind in the encampment to prepare the final preparations for moving out the next day. As the three entered the Grandmaster¡¯s encampment, Derek heard a voice he recognized from nearby, ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t that the Abomination from the Thorne Clan? It¡¯s rather bold of you to show up here isn¡¯t it?¡± Looking over, Derek recognized the Paladin, Rhys Wallace, standing among a group of other members of the local Order in the encampment. Glancing around he saw that the man¡¯s loud words had drawn attention to them. There were some people looking on with curiosity, while others looked to have varying other emotions, not least among them was alarm and aggression. Members of the Order knew what Abomination meant and they had little reason to doubt their brethren. Drake turned to Derek, ¡°Best to ignore it. We have been summoned for the meeting. If they take action to delay us, the responsibility will be theirs. If we respond to their taunts and are late, it will be a different story. The right people know you aren¡¯t an Abomination. This fool will only harm his own reputation by spreading slander and lies.¡± Derek nodded, ¡°Yes sir, let¡¯s keep going then.¡± Seeing that his taunt had no effect, Rhys said a few more things to try to goad Derek but failed. The three moved on to the command tent and entered. After the others arrived the Grandmaster began outlining the final plans for march and directing the different forces to move forward. The plan was for the forces gathered at Windreach to split into two and approach the north along two lines. In the east, the first column will travel along the High Road through Trowa, Telis, then Norintal. The column would be joined by local forces along the way before finally entering the barbarian north. After aweek''s marchnorth of Norintal they would enter the Charis Basin where the various forces from the northeastern part of the continent would gather together before commencing the true subjugation efforts on the way to the Shrine of Light. The second column would head up the western coast. First it would move through Stormham, Elnon, then Calith before proceeding on to the Basin to join the other forces. The Windreach companies had been placed in the first column along with some of the mercenary companies and other local ruler¡¯s forces. This column would be led by Captain Kalne of the Cathedral, and his force was attached to it. Meanwhile, the Grandmaster would take the other column. The various forces would leave at different times, with the second column leaving in the early morning and the first leaving at noon. This would prevent them from fouling up each other¡¯s march. By the end of the day, their routes would have diverged and both columns would encamp quite a distance from each other. Judging by the distance of travel, the first column was expected to arrive in the Basin amonthafter they started marching, while the second would arrive in the following days.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. This was preplanned. All of the forces of the campaign would gather in Charis Basin in the first week of the next month. There they would meet with friendly tribes and hire seasoned scouts for the campaign to come. That would also serve as their base of operations for the campaign. The might of the entire northeast of the continent was focusing on that basin, with almost eighty thousand soldiers converging on it from ten different columns. Derek was amazed by the logistical effort required to plan the whole campaign. He was particularly awed by the genius it would take to cause such varied forces to arrive in the theater of operations from so many places within such a short period of time. From what he had heard, this plan had been drafted on short notice in spring by the Grandmaster himself. His estimation of the man¡¯s abilities grew as he looked over the meticulous plans drawn from a thousand miles away. Looking at the man, he seemed to be in his late middle age, with a touch of gray coming in at the sides of his copper hair. There were crow¡¯s feet and some other creases on his weathered face that hinted at the years the man had spent campaigning, but an observer would never have been able to guess that the man was in his eighties. This was definite proof of the man¡¯s high tier and body attribute. As the planning session ended and all of the Captains of the various forces had received their orders, the old man finally signaled for the meeting to end, ¡°That¡¯s it. Go, get some rest. We have a hard march ahead of us and a difficult campaign after that. You are all dismissed. Oh, Captain Kalne, Captain Drake, you and your staff should remain. I have some things to speak to you about.¡± The other Captains got up to leave the moment they were dismissed but stopped to glance at each other in confusion after that last instruction before shrugging their shoulders and leaving, The Chapter Master of the Order from Windreach glowered at Derek before leaving. Seeing that, Derek¡¯s confusion was cleared right up. This was the man that was shamed in front of the people of the Academy all of those months ago by the Guardian of the Cathedral. Now that his master was here, the dog was starting to bear his fangs again. Once the others had left, the Grandmaster looked the remaining people over. Aside from Drake, Derek, Tristan, and Kalne, there were also four of Captain Kalne¡¯s people. Two were familiar to Derek. One was the little Priestess, Diana, while the other was her constant escort, Anthony. Next to the two of them were two knights in armor with a full helm. These people had been participating in all of the meetings so far but no one had questioned the secretive individuals¡¯ participation once, not even the Grandmaster. ¡°I have heard that there has been some conflict between the Order and the other forces of Windreach these last few years, including the Cathedral, Willem. I have even heard that there was some conflict between members of the Order and your young Adjutant Drake. I want to let you know that I will not tolerate continued conflict. ¡°I will punish any offender strictly according to military law, whether it is you or one of the members of my Order. I have already instructed Ordino in my expectations and I will not show favoritism to either side. We have a difficult task ahead of us and I do not want internal struggles to undermine our efforts. Do you understand?¡± Hearing the Grandmaster¡¯s words, they all nodded their acknowledgement. Thinking things through, Derek recognized yet another layer of depth in the Grandmaster¡¯s plans. The man had known about the conflict in the city and had planned to keep the forces of Windreach and the local Order apart. He had even come specifically to take charge of the march that the Chapter Master¡¯s forces would be taking. It may have looked as if he was explicitly supporting his subordinate but from another angle he was actually placing the troublesome individual directly within his eyesight to prevent any mistakes. Derek was once again awed by the man¡¯s foresight and meticulous planning. His confidence in the campaign had risen to a new level. Finally, the man dismissed them. Drake turned to the two of them as they left the tent, ¡°I hope you two learned something from this.¡± ¡°We did.¡± The two affirmed, before laughing at each other for responding the same way. The Captain laughed with them, then led them out of the encampment. The next day was busy. Their company was one of the first from the first column to march that day, but their departure was slated for noon. Once they completed packing, Derek and a few of the others watched the other companies marching down the road. By noon, half of the forces gathered in the area had already left. Shortly thereafter the Windreach Academy Free Company fell into place behind the Defenders of the Cathedral. They proceeded until late in the afternoon before pitching camp near the border to Trowa. The various other forces filed in and began setting up their own encampments as the afternoon drew towards dusk. The last unit to arrive had finally finished right before dusk. After running some last errands for the day, Derek sat down in front of his tent to polish off his dinner. He felt a little sore from riding all day and was grateful to finally relax. He still had some minor misgivings due to this being his first campaign but listening to the spirited discussions around himself, he couldn¡¯t help but be excited for the campaign to come. Even as he felt the exhaustion from the day, a smile started to cross his face. Chapter 75 - Arriving in Telis One week later, Derek¡¯s column arrived in Telis. This was Alicia¡¯s home. Derek was interested in the kind of life the people here lived. The altitude had risen as they came north. Telis could be considered highlands, with many ridgelines running through it. Herds of sheep could be seen everywhere on the green highland hills. Fortifications on those various hills and ridgelines controlled the high points and gave Derek the impression that invasion would be problematic. The region where Telis currently existed had originally been the border between a few of the neighboring countries. The capital, Telis, had been a border city between three neighboring kingdoms. The ongoing conflicts between those kingdoms had amplified the value of the border city. One day, that city had grown valuable enough and powerful enough to become the foundation for a new kingdom. Just two generations ago, the Duke of Telis had united the various highland lords to found his own kingdom. He became the new King of Telis and was the great grandfather of Derek¡¯s friend, Alicia. This had, naturally, not sat well with those neighboring kingdoms and Telis had been under constant pressure since its founding. They benefited from their natural terrain and their enemies¡¯ distrust for each other to keep their territory, but nevertheless, since its founding, the nation of Telis had spent most of its years at war. Such was the fate of most hegemons on the continent of Elanith. Due to the history of the region, every major strategic point and town had been fortified. They all commanded the high ground and controlled the roads. To follow the roads from one end of Telis to another, one would have to pass through dozens of such fortifications. Standing at the top most of the towers in one of these fortifications, one could easily see half a dozen other fortifications within view, and they could coordinate using signals in times of trouble. Setting camp for the night after having passed the second such fortification that day, Derek was sitting next to Tristan as they ate. They were looking at the terrain in the region and marveling at how the elevation could change so much. With the highway they were taking it would only take another week to cross this country, but without that highway their trip would have taken months. Derek looked into his bowl and scooped out one of the larger pieces in it. He couldn¡¯t quite tell what was in the stew. Everything had been cooked over the day and he thought the cooks had put in extra effort to render the whole meal into some kind of tasteless concoction. Not that he minded, starved as he was he barely tasted any of it as he mechanically ate it in his weary state. Tristan glanced up at him, ¡°We¡¯re in Telis now. Their contingent will be joining us at the capital and we might be able to see your family when we get there in two days. Are you excited?¡± Derek smiled thinly, ¡°Yeah, I kind of am. Maybe we can get something with some actual flavor to it. Do you believe the rumors that the meat in this is actually rats?¡± Tristan laughed and shook his head, ¡°No, it¡¯s not rats. It¡¯s just lower grade meat they picked up at the market. The bland flavor isn¡¯t them hiding unsavory materials, but rather from the effort they made to make the food easier to eat and digest. Why? Does the princess not want to eat rat meat?¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Derek snickered at the name. He had heard some of the more finicky students called that by the veterans of the camp throughout the march. No matter that they were all combat classes, some had never undergone hardship. They fussed over any inconvenience, such as long marches, standing watch, weather and camping conditions, and most frequently, the food. They were like those classical princesses from the stories that had never undergone hardship and they had been ridiculed that way. Derek thought it was funny that there were actually two students in their group who could be considered Princesses and both behaved far more admirably than the students getting labeled with that title. Thinking about it, perhaps it didn¡¯t fit. Maybe there is some more appropriate derisive name they could use to prod these students along? After a while of thinking about it, he decided not to pursue that line of thought anymore before answering his friend, ¡°No, I was just wondering where they would find enough rats to feed us all¡­¡± Tristan laughed even harder before setting his empty bowl next to him and leaning back to look up at the stars. ¡°Ha, that never occured to me. Can you imagine the Quartermaster going into a town and asking the local merchants to bring out all their rats? It¡¯s a bit absurd now that I think about it.¡± Derek had just finished his meal and used a bit of his water to rinse his utensils and metal camping bowl before dropping it in the fire. It wasn¡¯t enough to put it out but it did fizz a little bit. Looking at his friend, he shook him a bit, ¡°Come on man. Don¡¯t get comfortable there, you won¡¯t want to get up. I don¡¯t have watch tonight, so I am going to make the rounds before turning in.¡± Tristan groaned before getting up and cleaning his kit as well, ¡°You know, I thought I was in good shape before this, but I am quickly being disabused of that notion now. Hmm, unlike you, I do have watch tonight, so I will be turning in. See you later.¡± Derek nodded to his friend before beginning his rounds. Before they started marching, he had accompanied Captain Drake in this process, but now he could do it on his own and knew what to look for. He checked the temporary defenses and posts at the edge of the camp, then passed through the lines of horses, before checking each unit¡¯s tent lines. Then eventually he made it to where the supply wagons and camp followers had been gathered. He heard the craftsmen doing their work and even saw a farrier shoeing one of the horses. These scenes were quite common on the trip, as with this many horses the odds of a thrown shoe became almost a guarantee. He looked and saw a carpenter preparing a spare wheel for one of the wagons that looked like it needed a replacement, and eventually passed where the cooks were cleaning up after preparing the meal for the entire encampment. Nodding to them in gratitude for the sustenance during the day, he continued, passing through the final infantry unit¡¯s campground before returning to the command tent. He had been surprised at what he had seen. There were many students among the more veteran troops in the camp and those students should statistically be stronger than the older tier zero troops, but by far, the veterans were in better shape than the students after the march. Hell, even the craftsmen they had brought were still working, while the students were in many cases lying about or sitting like discarded sacks in the camp after their meal. Thinking about it, Derek thought of his own experience with the trip and realized that it must be conditioning and growing used to the fatigue mentally. In many cases, the students¡¯ bodies should be much more robust than the veterans they were with, but they simply had never been pushed this hard before. He supposed the march that was supposed to last a month and the pace they had maintained was a perfect method to get them used to the process before they travelled into enemy territory. Knowing that, he stood in front of his tent and began to practice, pushing himself just a little bit harder to get the full value out of this training opportunity. Chapter 76 - Forces Gathering in Charis Basin ¡°Derek, it is good to see you.¡± A warm voice entered Derek¡¯s ears, prompting him to look up from the map he was scrutinizing in the command tent. At the entrance stood his mother and a few others. The guard that had let them in saluted before exiting. ¡°It is good to see you too mother,¡± Derek smiled, before turning to Captain Drake. The man had already stood and was bowing to her. ¡°It is a pleasure to see you once again My Lady. We were going to make a trip into the city to visit you once we had settled the men.¡± She smiled at them thinly before responding, ¡°Yes, well, I decided to meet you out here in the camps instead. Things would be a little difficult if you came to the castle right now. The delegation from Elnon has arrived at the castle and made it clear their displeasure with the events that occurred in the city. ¡°While they were undoubtedly in the wrong, the King and Crown Prince of Telis have attached great importance to their alliance and they have made great efforts to placate them. In light of that, having you visit the castle would create an awkward situation at best.¡± Derek nodded. He could put two and two together. Alicia¡¯s family must feel quite threatened to continue to push for this alliance even after the disgraceful actions of Prince Blake at Windreach City. Walking over, he took his mother¡¯s hand to lead her to the table at the front of the tent. ¡°It must have been hard on you.¡± She reached up and straightened his hair with her hand, ¡°It hasn¡¯t been too bad. Neither Telis nor Elnon are interested in angering the Academy further so they have stayed civil. It has helped that not everyone in Telis is pleased with their new allies or their behaviors, so their delegation has been quite stifled since they arrived and have had to behave themselves.¡± Frowning, Derek thought for a moment before speaking, ¡°Well if they haven¡¯t bothered you, then that is fine I suppose. How has Alicia been?¡± Eona smiled at him, ¡°She has been fine. She was very happy to see her family members again after so long and since Blake arrived at the city, he has been the consummate gentleman in their interactions. They seem to have been making progress in overcoming their barriers.¡± Derek glanced at Tristan. His friend¡¯s expression was an unreadable neutral mask. Derek sighed. They all understood that people like Tristan and Alicia would never get to pick their own spouses, but the two had hit it off quite well at the Academy and most of their classmates had considered them a well made match.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Eona seemed to have understood so she changed the topic. ¡°Since we couldn¡¯t meet in the palace, the Queen sent food and some servants to serve it. We can at least eat dinner together here. Captain Drake, summon your officers, I have enough for all of them with me.¡± That night they ate well and Derek got to spend some time with his mother. The next day they set off once again. Telis¡¯ contingent fell in at the back of their column, one thousand elite infantry and archers. Derek lost sight of the city within a few hours and by the end of that week they had already proceeded into the next country. Norintal was the northernmost country on their route north. Beyond their borders was the plains and steppes of the barbaric north. The route through Norintal was much easier than through Telis as they descended from the highlands to the plains. Finally, almost a month after they left Windreach, they entered a valley between two hills that opened up into a basin that spread far beyond what the eye could see. Captain Drake turned to Derek and Tristan who were riding next to him, ¡°This boys, is the Charis Basin. The first part of our journey ends here. We will meet up with the columns from the east and the Grand Master¡¯s column should join us in the next few days. After that, we will hire scouts and head north. ¡°The basin is the gathering point of the southern tribes. These tribes have the most interactions with the civilized lands and have benefited greatly from them so we should be able to hire some reliable scouts to guide us. So far, this campaign has been quite peaceful, but north of the basin is enemy territory. Things will get difficult from there.¡± Derek and Tristan nodded. Their column travelled into the basin and marched north along a dirt road through farmlands along a riverside. The switch from stone highway to dirt road had introduced a new discomfort to the student soldiers, dust now caked their skin and irritated their noses, mouths, and throats. Derek spit out some that had gathered in his mouth as he continued to ride next to the marching soldiers. After marching one more day through the basin, they arrived at a large campground centered around a premade supply depot. The depot served as a trading post throughout most of the year but now it served its primary purpose. Arrayed around it like spokes on a wheel were dozens of encampments. As they arrived, their forces were guided into campgrounds of their own. They set the men to preparing their camp and sent runners for further instructions. Over the next few days further columns joined them. Now that they had arrived at their destination, there was little for them to do as a whole and many of the students found something new to complain about, boredom. The veterans merely shook their heads while in response to those complaints, the officers obliged with more drilling. Finally, a week after they arrived, the end of their boredom was heralded by the arrival of the final column of troops from the south. Thank You for Reading Hello everyone. It has been a while. I have been distracted by work and a few other things. When I finally started having time to write again I started thinking about what I wanted to do. When I would look at this work I realized that I was no longer interested in writing it. I learned quite a bit from it and am grateful for all of your support while I did so. I am sorry that I have become one of those people that started something and didn''t finish it but when I look at this story I realized it had stopped being something that created joy for me and had becomes something I felt an obligation to. Now, after all this time I just don''t feel like continuing this story. My takeaways- The early parts were especially rough. I blame myself, because when I first wrote this, it was a parody of wuxias and I had peppered it full of tropes I had started to hate. That was easily 5 years ago. Last year I got the itch to start writing again and opted to dust this off and edit it into something different. I didn''t spend enough time scrubbing it though and many of those early chapters were just plain boring. Furthermore I underestimated the desires a lot of people have to self insert into a story so I didn''t really think about how people would react to some of the choices the mc was making, and I didn''t think at all that having a pubescent boy with a low libido would be such a bad thing. lol, clearly I was wrong. SImilarly, it seems I underestimated how bloodthirsty a lot of readers can be when I wrote the situation with his cousins beating him up. I will need to either avoid the bullying trope in the future or handle it better. I think one issue with introducing Alicia was that people automatically thought she would be the female lead just because she was the first girl I introduced that wasn''t related to him. I have some obstinate people that tell me regularly that you just don''t do that, that all people invest into the character as if they are the female lead and that if the girl gets with anyone else it is naturally an NTR situation. That wasn''t what I was trying to imply at all with my story and I will have to give more thought to how I handle situations like that in the future. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. One thing I noticed as we kept going was that I was losing the MC''s agency as I continued to write. The further we went the more I realized he was more of a witness to the events than the person driving them. Those are my takeaways for now. I learned quite a bit while writing this. Not just the lessons mentioned here, but also the amount of time you have to spend just to get this much out, how much effort it is to maintain a schedule, etc. I will say my greatest takeaway was a greater respect for the effort a lot of these authors have to put in and I definitely learned that I needed to rethink how I commented in the stories around here because even the worst put together thing on here was something someone put a ton of effort into and I am certainly not paying these people for the free content they have provided for me. It was definitely a lesson in humility and gratitude. Anyways thank you all for following this story. I am currently writing notes for a couple other ideas and I still intend to occasionally write chapters for the other project I have already placed on RR. I don''t promise any regular uploads though as work and continuing education demand far more out of me than they did before, but either way I hope you all find great stories that are worth your time around here. One thing I was pretty happy about today was hearing that one of my favorite wn''s got a live action adaptation in "Joy of Life"... I don''t quite know how that''s written in chinese.