Min Family Castle

Min Rou's Residence

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~Dinner Table~

"Grandpa. Why did you give the guards a false report on our cultivation stage?" Min Qing asked as she took two sips of the wine on the dining table.

"Right grandpa. Why did you lie to the guards?" Min Hong chimed in since he was also curious.

"Ahem!" Min Tian cleared his throat before sipping a bit of wine to flush down the food remnants down his belly.

"I concealed both your cultivation bases because of the coming of age ceremony which begins in about five months from now." Min Tian calmly spoke at the quiet dining table.

"Coming of age ceremony?"

"I don't understand." Min Hong and Min Qin voiced out their confusions.

"Hong'er… Qing'er. I think both of you quite underestimate the value and importance of the coming of age ceremony." Min Rou commented from the side.

"The coming of age ceremony is the most important event in our Min Family. It's so important that all members of the third generation are going to participate in it." Min Tian explained. "Not only is it open to all members of the Min Family, the rewards are quite alluring as well"

"Asides from the fact that it represents honor to the second-generation parents, the top ten participants will have their parents promoted to the position of an elder. Thus, they can join us in living in the castle."

"Also, the top ten contestants get to win fifty pockets of gold and choose at most a 'High grade Mortal rank' weapon of their choice." Min Tian added.

"What! A 'High grade Mortal ranked' weapon?!" Min Hong was seriously shocked. He had read about blacksmithing and the quality of the different weapons they make. Blacksmiths are the third highest paid workers in this world, only losing out to Alchemists and Beast Tamers who occupy the first and second position respectively!

They forge all kinds of things; from kitchen tools to farming tools, weapons, carriages and the list goes on and on… they are ranked based on their knowledge and quality of their forged products.

They are ranked in the following order; Mortal, Royal, Earth, Sky and Heaven. The Mortal ranks are the newbies who are learning the basics of blacksmithing.

There are only a handful of blacksmiths in any given city, as blacksmithing is an extremely difficult occupation to master. Apart from the several hundreds of thousand minerals and ores you have to memorize, one must also deeply understand the characteristics of these vast amount of natural occurring minerals and ores.

From knowing where they can be harvested, to knowing the right temperature to melt them, the types of other mineral or ores you can or cannot mix them with. The list is an endless one.

So, since extremely few gifted people have the brains for that extremely vast amount of information, the population of Mortal ranked blacksmiths in any given area is one in a hundred people.

The Royals, understand some secrets in blacksmithing and asides making weapons and few other instruments of war, they also take people who are gifted in the way of the blacksmiths under their tutelage to bestow some secrets of blacksmithing at the Blacksmith Guild.

They're much fewer than the Mortal ranked, with a population of one in ten thousand people.

The Earth ranked are on another level, it is said that they can carve runes on their weapons to give them several special and unique effects. They are the elders of the blacksmith guild and they also accept people under their tutelages.

They are rarely seen and one can only find them in the guilds or if one is closely related to them. They have a population rate of one in a hundred thousand people.

The Sky ranked are virtually worshipped, as it is rumored that they can smith weapons that possess intelligence. These types of weapons have to be tamed and bonded with before they can be used.

As thus, Sky blacksmith are so rare that the Tiandou Kingdom have only heard of them, and they have a population rate of one in ten million blacksmiths.

The Heaven blacksmiths are said to be so rare that they are considered myths. Their myths say they are capable of creating weapons that can take the form of living beings or animals. Apparently, they only forge weapons for the Devas and Asuras.

The blacksmiths are also subdivided based on their knowledge and forged weapons, from One to Five stars based on knowledge and Low to Peak Tier based on weapons forged. Thus, a Five Star Royal blacksmith can forge a Peak Tier Royal weapon, while, a Five Star Earthly blacksmith can forge a Peak tier Earth ranked weapon and so on.

"Thus, the weapon being mentioned by grandpa was forged by a, Four Star Mortal Blacksmith" Min Hong reviewed all the knowledge he had obtained by reading about the blacksmiths.

"Then in addition to that, the top five contestants will receive one, mid-grade Qi Gathering Pill' and one 'Qi Trampling Pill' or any other equivalent pill of their choice." Min Tian paused a bit as he watched Min Hong enter another memory search about alchemists.

In summary, Alchemists are extremely similar to blacksmiths except that they major in medicine, studying the different types of plants, their characteristics and their different grafting methods.

It is the highest paid occupation because, they're not only pill makers but healers also. Their pills can be used for a myriad of things, from curing diseases, to helping cultivation, to its importance in the battlegrounds in form of either medications to allies or poison to enemies, and they are even occasionally used when forging specific kinds of weapons.

Thus, the Pill being rewarded was also concocted by a, two-star Mortal Alchemist. The Qi Gathering Pill helps to gather sufficient amount of Qi required for breakthrough, while the Qi trampling Pill helps to compress ones Qi to stabilize their cultivation base and produce solid foundation for one's cultivation base, speeding up future cultivation in the process.

Furthermore, Alchemists can also concoct pills with miraculous properties like, regrowing lost limbs, huge cultivation breakthroughs and even pills that can raise one from the dead, so they are relatively the most important set of people in any given village, town, empire or dynasty.

Alchemists, Blacksmiths and Beast tamers are extremely famous and powerful as they have many experts and influential figures owing them favors here and there. In fact, there's a saying that; it is better to offend the king rather than offend an Alchemist or Beast tamer or Blacksmith.

They are so influential that they can determine the prosperity, strength and stability of any empire or dynasty. Additionally, they are very rich and even if an empire or dynasty falls other neighboring or even far away empires and dynasties would fight amongst themselves to win them over.

"In addition to all that, the top three contestants would also get a chance to pick a, low grade Royal Rank Martial Art or Cultivation Technique." Min Tian added and paused once more to allow the information sink into the minds of his grandchildren.

"And lastly, the champion will receive one hundred pockets of gold, a top-grade mortal weapon, two mid-grade Qi gathering pill and Qi trampling pills each, including a mid-grade Royal rank martial art or Cultivation Technique." Min Tian added.

"Furthermore, the top ten contestants get to represent this Branch Min Family at the Main Clan Gathering Competition a year after the Coming of Age Ceremony." Min Tian ended his explanation.

"So, tell me. How important do you think this competition is, and do you think it is rational for your potential opponents to know your level of battle prowess?" Min Tian asked as he watched his grandchildren going silent.

Min Hong and Min Qing already understood the reason behind Min Tian's actions. After all, they weren't fools. Anyone wouldn't want to ruin the element of surprise in a competition of such scale, especially with the mouth-watering rewards that are up for grabs.

Min Rou looked at her father's face who had a demeanor of contention. Since his grandchildren already understood the importance of the upcoming competition, he knew it would only serve as a source of motivation during their cultivation.

Min Tian returned to his residence after the sumptuous dinner, while Min Rou retired to her room leaving Min Hong and Min Qing who were still thinking about the conversation and hidden warning their grandfather just gave them earlier.

"We must raise our strength and gather as much information as possible about everyone in our current generation participating in this competition." Min Hong declared to his elder sister, Min Qing.

"I am with you on that. Not only must we enter top ten and head to the Main Clan Gathering, one of us must at least be in top three." Min Qing added before she left to sleep.

"I must do this for mother and grandpa, they've sacrificed a lot for me to get to my current level. This is going to be my way of repaying their kindness and sacrifice for me." Min Hong thought to himself as he went to bed.

"In fact, I'm actually gunning for the top spot. I already have two Earth ranked martial arts; the mid-grade 'willow leaf palm' and the low grade 'song of the wind spirit' so I don't really need a martial art technique but I need the pills, the gold and the weapon…" Min Hong thought as he lay to sleep.

"Right! I can try to swap the opportunity of choosing a martial art and instead select another weapon, and if luck be on my side that I get a twin sword and an archery set, that would be best." Min Hong thought as he fantasized about being the champion of the upcoming competition.

Meanwhile, similar conversations about the coming of age ceremony which will happen in about eighteen months were taking place at almost every household under the Min Family.

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In Min Hong's Third Uncle; Min Lei's residence…

"When you get the top spot in the coming of age ceremony, you can actually trade all your rewards for a request from the family head…" Min Lei was currently psyching his son Min Kong.

"Then when I'm given the go-ahead, I would request for the body refining technique 'The Primal Jade Dragon Body'… Dad, I understand how much this technique means to our family, I won't screw this up." Min Kong completed his father's unfinished sentence.

"Honey, our son understands. You need to rest and prepare for your breakthrough; you've held back for long enough and the Nascent Soul is very difficult to awaken. This should be your main focus for now." An assertive female voice drifted out from a room in the residence.

"Mother! Father! Don't worry, even if elder brother fails, I won't!" A young tiny voice from the corner of the same room in the same residence; the voice seemed to come from someone a little younger than Min Kong.

It was Min Kong's younger sister 'Min Yan', she was fairly beautiful but had a body with special and mouth-watering contours in the right places, hinting that she was a bit, more matured than her age, and most of all she had just as much strength as her elder brother.