Neither of my parents asked me anything about my cultivation, but then again it was against the law for commoners to ask or spread rumors about such matters. For them it was probably common sense that they shouldn’t pry, for which I was incredibly grateful because it meant that I wouldn’t have to lie to them yet again. We mostly spoke about mundane matters after we had arrived home, with mother quickly moving to prepare breakfast and father sitting down with me at the table.

“Most of the Forge Lore can only be spoken of in the forge room itself, Heller.” Jaws said in response to my question – I had asked for him to teach me more about his craft. He continued with a toothy smile, “But if you like I will apply for you to become an apprentice.” His expression then became more serious, “There isn’t a strict age limit, but you must be able to strike hot iron one hundred times before it cools.”

He didn’t need to add that the test for apprentice would be impossible for someone under ten or eleven to pass, and he had added that even then most new apprentices needed dozens of tries over several months before they could become officially accepted. It wasn’t uncommon for a would-be apprentice to spend more than a year or more at the smithy before the blacksmiths were allowed to teach them anything, but that didn’t mean the time was wasted. Far from it, actually, and in my opinion having the opportunity to observe the Smithy in operation without having official duties was an incredibly wise way of training new blacksmiths. It might take a bit longer, but the resulting tradesperson would have a much stronger foundation to build on.

I knew that, after I had practiced with my magnetic fields enough, I would be able to use my powers to help me pass the test with ease. My Ion Shield – and the magnetic fields throughout it – would be able to easily bridge the gap in strength and stamina required to pass the apprenticeship test, but since I had somehow been outed as a Cultivator I no longer had the freedom of a normal commoner. Technically, since I hadn’t stolen a Cultivation Technique from the Great Houses, I had done nothing illegal, but according to the law of our land commoners were not allowed to cultivate.

Which meant that if I didn’t join one of the Great Houses I would be a criminal… and my parents would be held responsible for my crimes. And so I found myself at Academy against my will, training in the path of the warrior so that I could officially join House Flameward. I was deeply mired in a legal grey area, but since there actually was a legal precedent (Merrik) for this kind of strange loophole I figured there was little chance that I would be treated as a criminal as long as I went along with what the Great Houses wanted.

“Can I take the test on the next Freeday?” I asked my father. I looked over at mother (who’s shoulders had jerked at my words), “Is that okay, mom?” I asked her, knowing that it would be hard for her to give me up to the forge, “I could have breakfast at home each Freeday, apprentice at the Smithy during midday, and return before dark to spend time with you?”

Asking this question somewhat broke my heart… I knew it would be hard on mother to see me so little, but at the same time… I really wanted to learn how to be a blacksmith from father. After I finished at Academy I might be shipped anywhere within House Flameward’s territory, and it was unlikely my new duties would give me much spare time – so I had to take the opportunity now while I had the chance.

Jaws started a grin which faltered and died as he looked over at mother. He wanted to teach his only son his craft just as much as I wanted to learn it, but he also knew his wife even better than I did. He stayed silent, watching for her reaction.

Mother stayed with her back turned to us for a moment as she finished what she was doing, not replying to my question yet. When she did turn around we saw a fierce smile on her face and small lines of tears leaking from each eye. “Ah, my baby boy, Heller. Reach the highest heights,” he voice broke slightly, but she carried on without acknowledging it, “and show everyone why I am so proud of you!” She approached, carrying our breakfast on a wooden tray.

I knew that her words were honest and heartfelt, and that she would never let anything as foolish as emotion get in my way… but that didn’t make it any easier…

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The day went by quickly, a large majority of it spent walking through the village and visiting the park in The Fortress. Having Jaws with us made a rather substantial difference to the experience of walking through the village as we were constantly stopped by villagers he knew (or who knew him), and I was introduced to many people I hadn’t met before. Mother only had a few close friends, and she tended to simply ignore most people unless she needed something from them… and now I could guess it was because she grew up in The City. Life there must be quite different than here in North Stone Village, but the one time I had asked her about it (earlier this morning) she had said I would find out myself soon enough… and then gently refused to speak more of it.

That night I got in touch with Wolfram again, but he had nothing new to report. He had been trying to get ahold of the Cultivation Technique that his Great House used (the one he would start learning soon), but he was told he needed to reach a certain level of language proficiency first. The reason for that, he found out, was that the tutors themselves would be executed if they read the Cultivation Technique! Apparently that was part of their agreement with House Spiritwind, so they had to be sure that Wolfram would be able to read the book on his own before passing it along to him – any questions he asked them could be deadly.

It felt nice sleeping in my own room again, and I quickly found the bag of iron filings I had stashed in a corner with the rest of my belongings. It didn’t take me long to add the new (and far more pure) iron to my Ion Shield while getting rid of some of the larger chunks I had gotten from the melted sconce back in the Garrison.

I had been told that I would have a new room once I returned to Academy, and that I would have roommates just like every other student… which I didn’t feel was even remotely fair. I was half the size of most of the other students there! But none of them were cultivators, I suppose, so maybe it wasn't actually as bad as it might have been. Still, I would have to be very careful to make a first impression that would get me started on the right foot with the other students in the warrior training program.

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I woke up in the early morning to the faint sounds of mother making food in the kitchen, causing me to smile. I had to leave before breakfast, and a small troupe of Guards were supposed to pick me up just after first light and escort me to the Marker outside Garrison. From there I would be picked up by a quad of House Flameward solders (quad was what they called the teams of four soldiers, while a squad was two quads, and a platoon was four squads… it was very confusing), who would escort me back to Academy. Each Freeday every one of my fellow warrior trainees would receive the same treatment, with a full quad of soldiers assigned to individually escort each student back from the village.

There was clear favoritism shown, because while the same general pattern was used daily to ferry the ‘general studies’ students back and forth between the village and Academy, there was only one quad assigned for each ten students. But then again, they moved in a single large cohesive group in a single trip each way, half of an entire platoon (sixteen soldiers) working together to guard the forty of so students. A strange system, to be sure, but I was sure there must be some kind of reason for it, and it was probably something to do with the Beast Attacks.

I had a bit of time before I had to leave, so I worked on my Character Sheet again. Ever since my ‘fight’ with Alder I had decided to make it smaller and more compact, because if I needed to access it in combat it would block far too much of my view. I expected the end result, pleased enough with it for the moment.

HellerAge: 5Str: 5Health: 6 / 6Dex: 6Stamina: 6 / 6Fit: 6Total CP: 34Wil: 14Spent CP: 34Per: 12Available CP: 0

Authors Note: Last chapter before Heller's 'school days' start. :D

Please be careful of expectations though, as I'm not following any kind of formula here. Characters in the story will react according to their personalities and life experience, not based on strange artificial guidelines, so the story will at times go in unexpected directions while still remaining a wuxia at heart.

PS. Let me know how the table looks.