It was an important day for Kaden, a thirteen years old boy. He was from a small village of Dashire located at the western side of Alpian province of Sarcronan Empire. He was as normal a villager boy as anyone else. Dark brown hair, average height, but had slightly tougher build since he was son of Dashire’s blacksmith, Aden.

It was the yearly day on which local priest, Peil, would bless and initiate all children who were thirteen or would become thirteen within that year. At that time church would provide everyone the most basic mana system to gather mana so that their understanding and ability to gather mana within themselves would reach a minimum level. Generally the practice was called Magic Cultivation.

Indeed, mana or its use, magic, was important aspect of life. Even children knew the story of what happened a very long time ago. It is difficult to determine the exact time, but roughly ten thousand years ago humans, now only known as ancients, broke a terrible taboo! They did this in their ignorance and greed. It was the beginning of event known only as the “cataclysm”!

The world shattered. Mana, the essence of things, of concepts, began leaking into the world! Ancients and their extremely advanced civilization began crumbling down as free chaotic mana twisted the world into incomprehensible forms.

Just as despair took hold on last survivors, gods decended upon the world! They halted the chaos, but damage was already done even beyond their abilities. Mana was free and it was going to be that way in the future. Gods decided to keep a closer watch when before they had not even let anyone truly be sure, if they existed.

In order to prevent further damage, they taught remaining humans how to manipulate mana to keep them safe from its effects.

Mana had changed the world entirely. Everything absorbed mana. Animals. Plants. Inanimate matter. Anything could be affected in myriad ways. Humans were no longer the absolute dominant race on earth. At most humans now occupied perhaps one third of available land.

Beasts had absorbed mana too. They did so in more primitive manner, yet it was effective. Their ability to control mana was far less than humans, but power was brutal in comparison. Beasts ruled at least another third of the land available. Many of them had evolved over time and under effects of mana and were at least as intelligent as humans. Even less powerful ones could still be very clever even, if they were still wild beasts.

The rest belonged to various races that sprung into existence over time. Some just popped out of nothing. Some were elementals that appeared under effects of dense mana. Almost anything that could be imagined could technically appear from mana that was the essence of concepts. There had been simply too much free mana available during the cataclysm. Even random dreams or nightmares could gain form.

It was indeed a harsh world for humans. For this reason all current human empires and churches provided at least basic magic cultivation methods for all their people. Kaden and his home village was no exception despite being small and far away from larger cities.

Kaden was one of the group of children that got their first initation that year. He had been known to have some talent for magic. Indeed, as the priest examined him, he was found to have mid quality talent. Perhaps in his life, Kaden could break into the first true stage of magic user, Channel Opening! Every few years one or two such children were found so it wasn't rare, but not many had such ability.

Village such as Dashire needed certain amount of able people. Sometimes beasts would encroach too close and had to be put down. Sometimes even a dire beast! This kind of beast had grown to be equivalent of a Channel Opening human. This sort of beast was already more intelligent than common beasts. If no one could stop such a beast, the village could be doomed. A single dire beast could probably annihilate and kill everyone in village the size of Dashire, if there were no one able to fight it. Luckily people with enough talent such as Kaden, were common enough.

Kaden wasn’t a warrior, though. He had learned the craft of smithing from his father, Aden. Their family worshipped the fire god Fualu. Fires of their forge would be better quality. Perhaps Kaden would never truly fight, but he might be the one who makes weapons and armor for the warriors. It was a family business and as such Kaden’s mother, Ann, was the one to craft things from fabrics and leather.

After the ceremonies Kaden was returning to his parents. There was a small celebration. Even, if there were no children old enough to start true path of magic, there would still be such celebration to honor gods and beseech their blessings for next year.

“Where are you going Kaden!” Someone shouted from behind.

Kaden knew the person right away, Jon. He was son of one of the stronger hunters. Like Kaden, Jon was also one of the more talented type, in fact, slightly more so than Kaden. This had been confirmed during the initiation.

Kaden didn’t wish to meet Jon. The guy was insuferable and looked down on everyone he could. Then again, he had the potential to do so.

“Where are you running, Kaden”, Jon said as he stopped Kaden. Some of the girls from the village were following behind Jon and he was looking to impress them, it seems. “Show me some that strength of yours, smithy boy!”

“Why do you bother, Jon?” Kaden replied, not wanting to fight at all. “We both know you can beat me easily.”

“Hehe, now that we know our true powers, I think its time to determine the distance between two of us”, Jon said arrogantly. “Your talent is second best this year and I want to see how far goes.”

As soon as he said that he sent a kick toward Kaden, who could only do his best to avoid it. He was unsuccesfull and fell on to his ass. Kaden might be strong physically, but he wasn’t much of a fighter.

“Loser!” Laughed Jon.

Luckily teen like Jon, even with his slightly higher talent, did not have much mana yet and Kaden only suffered minor bruises. Not only that, some adults seemed to be coming their way. This caused to Jon to ceace his bullying.

Not wanting to stay around, Kaden also stood up and left before anything else could happen.

While Kaden was diligent and learned things very well, he had always felt, ever since he found he could use mana better than most children, that perhaps he should be warrior instead. He felt envy watching the other children being taught hunting and fighting while he only learned the basics. He would perhaps be able to fight, but only to barely defend himself in most cases.

Kaden finally found his parents and took up the subject.

“Do not worry about it, son”, Aden said and patted Kaden’s shoulder. “You have better talent than I have. Whether you ever fight or be a smith, your future is good! From today onwards you are considered an adult!”

“The other children who are taught to fight get all the cheering and praises”, Kaden said as he felt slightly down. Even the simple booklet that he got from the priest earlier, after his talent had been tested, didnt make him feel better.

“That Jon kid isn’t bullying you again, is he?” Asked Aden with a frown.

“A bit, but not too much”, Kaden replied immediately. “He is too busy most of the time. His father makes him train all the time. Jon has already hunted a few beasts with hunters before. I heard they are collecting herbs for him too.”

“Huh, they sure do bet on that kid”, Aden said and thought a bit. “They are grooming him to be next hunter leader. Anyway, as I said, don’t worry. He will be asking you to make him weapons. Right now you should continue learning smithing. If you can increase your ability with magic, now that you have been initiated, it will help your work. It will also be your way to put up a fight, if need be. Don’t let him push you around too much. Your talents are almost equal. If you work hard enough, you might be able to use magic to truly put up a fight. Pure fighting power isn’t always the winner.”

“Yes, father”, Kaden replied and looked at the little booklet he was holding. It was extremely simple, easily mass produced mana system. Its complexity was so low that even a child would understand it. It included a way to gather free mana and how to examine one’s own body. Both important and basic parts of practicing magic.

Aden looked around. The celebrations were starting now that children had returned from the temple.

“Lets find your mother. Enjoy this day. Tomorow I will show you some basic ways you can use magic during smithing. It is time I can finally start teaching you finer parts of our craft. Remember to practice the things in the booklet too. You will gain strength and your senses become sharper and more precise. It will be great help in all things you do in life.”

“Yes, father”, Kaden replied yet again. He sighed slightly. It seemed like he was going to be busy from now on.

Kaden took part in the celebration. He was after all one of the blessed children today. Jon didn’t get the chance to cause any more trouble. Just like Kaden had said, Jon’s parents and other important people who were looking forwards to his future were always around him.

With a few exceptions, that important day wasn’t bad at all. Kaden was indeed considered a young adult now. His life was going to change a bit, but that was normal. It was good to have a path to follow in future. For Kaden that was most likely a life of a smith.

Later that day, as sun was going down, Kaden returned home. In his room, he sat down on his bed and opened the booklet. The ways described in it weren’t much more complex than someone showing you in pictures how to do stretches. It merely involved matra of prayer to the gods you worship and performing certain movements with mana in your body.

It was finally time to learn directly what magic and mana was all about!