“School? Absolutely not, no way!” Mother shook her head defiantly. “You young boys, are you out of your mind? Don’t want to become great farmers? Our heritage-”

“I know, I know, mom!” Emmet pleaded. “But we’re not abandoning farming! We’ll come back, and what we learned will help us farm better! Tribe head Maury even said - in the future, it’s not just tilling speed and farming sense that makes a good farmer. We need problem solvers too!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Yorick agreed with a rapidly nodding head. “Plus, if we have a warrior, we could also protect the crop better if bad guys come!”

“Boys... “ Mother let out a sigh, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “Such strange boys. All the other boys in the tribe are so committed to becoming great farmers… but you two…”

Knock! Knock! There was a quick knock on the door.

“Hm?” Mother turned and went to go answer the door, inwardly curious. Had father returned already?

When the door opened, it was actually tribe head Maury, accompanied by a strange purple-cloaked old man! Tribe head Maury seemed to have brightly lit eyes. Seeing the two, the boys’ eyes lit up. They had come, and could convince mom!

“Ah… hello, hello!” Mother gave a greeting. “Tribe head Maury… and…” She turned her gaze toward the other unfamiliar man.

“You can just call me Tarhoh,” the man smiled and extended a hand. “How are you doing today, ma’am?”

“Good…” Mother extended her calloused hand and accepted Tarhoh’s shake. “What brings you here today?”

“Carlene, this esteemed man here…” Tribe head Maury spoke up with a barely-concealed excitement in his voice. “This man here is a formations expert! He’s come to talk to you about taking Emmet and Yorick to specialized formations and warrior schools in the city!”

“Formations… expert?” Mother blinked a couple times. She had heard Emmet mention the word when he had tried to convince her that going to school was a good option, but she only heard nonsense. Formations? What was that? It sounded like a made-up word!

“Yes, formations expert!” tribe head maury excitedly exclaimed. “From my travels to town, even a humble man like me has heard mentions of Tarhoh the formations expert from the time to time! He’s somewhat of a local celebrity! The art of formations - making amazing structures and contraptions to do amazing things - Tarhoh can be said to be at the top of that world! Even lords respect him!”

“Haha, you’re too kind, tribe head Maury,” Tarhoh laughed. “I can’t call myself an expert. Like everyone else, I’m always learning.”

Mother didn’t seem to absorb what they were saying, her face stuck in a confused expression. Formations… pinnacle of the world… what?

“You’re saying that Emmet and Yorick have… talent?”

“Yes, yes!” Tarhoh explained. “Yorick awoke his mana naturally, and seems to have an affinity with fighting, making him great material for a warrior. But especially Emmet… I don’t know if I’ve seen that kind of raw talent in my entire life! Maybe if he was born in a noble family, and given the right resources, he would be considered a supreme genius!”

Mother blinked a couples times. Supreme genius… Emmet? Ever since he was young, he had always been solving puzzles and creating weird sophisticated devices… that was considered supreme genius?

“Furthermore, ma’am, I assure you,” Tarhoh continued. “This doesn’t mean that the boys have to give up their heritage as farmers. In fact, this education will greatly improve their farming potential! Think about it - becoming a warrior will give Yorick great strength, allowing him to till the fields faster. Not to mention Emmet - I’ve been told from tribe head Maury that his contraptions have already improved the harvest from last year, correct?”

Mother nodded slightly, coming to an understanding. That was right - those things could only be beneficial to their future careers as farmers! After thinking for a few moments, she finally spoke out.

“Alright… I think… I think I agree. If I talk to their father, I think he’ll agree too.” She glanced back and stared down at the two boys. “But you two, you’d better not forget your farming heritages, you hear me! You better come back with greater skills, and renewed vigor!”

“Yes mom!!!” Emmet and Yorick excitedly bowed in agreement.

--------------------

“They said it’d be four years…” Yorick tightly held Emmet hands. “Emmet… this is incredible! Slap me, is this really happening?!”

Taking the opportunity, Emmet freed his hand and slapped Yorick on the cheek.

“Ow!” Yorick scowled and rubbed his cheek. “Sheesh, should’ve known you would do that…”

“Hehe…” Emmet first attempted to look smug, but then his expression changed into an expression of nervousness and excitement. “Four years… we’re going to two separate places. I’ll be going with Torhah himself, while he arranged for one of his assistants to pick you up and send you to your warrior academy. Apparently, these schools we’re going to are so strict and intense that throughout, we can’t even go out to visit mom or dad until we graduate (or get kicked out). I wonder what’ll change in that time?”

“Haha…” Yorick gave a nervous yet excited laugh as well. “Four years… that’s a long time!” His face suddenly turned serious. “Emmet, we must make a promise!”

“Promise?”

“A promise between two men!” Yorick face was stern and noble. “We can’t let mother and father down. In four years, we must return to the tribe as incredible men! From then, we will bring our tribe to prosperity!”

“Agreed!” Emmet immediately chanted.

The laughter rang out through the night.

When it was time to go, the two boys felt it was surreal. This would be the last time would see each other in at least a couple years. Within that time, they would have grown up. How would these four years change them? What would it be like when they reunited?

The day the boys set off, tears filled mother and father’s eyes. Yorick and Emmet said one last goodbye, by Yorick’s side Wolfie barking emotionally as well. Then, they separated.

---------------------

They were off. Emmet could scarcely believe what was happening.

Just a few days ago, he had just been a simple farmer boy. He might not have went outside the tribe to venture into town even more than a few times in his life. But now, he was heading out, far far away, on the adventure of his dreams! Out to become a formations expert!

He was sitting in the back of a large carriage, drawn by two huge, muscled horses. Joining him were Farhoh and his son Tauruk, both wearing their signature purple cloaks. This was his first time in a horse-drawn carriage. Although he had seen some before, he had never gotten into one. The experience was amazing!

“Here,” Tarhoh passed a small blue pill over to Emmet.

“Hm?” Emmet looked up and received the pill curiously. “What’s this?”

“It’s called a mana pill,” Tarhoh smiled. “I noticed that you haven’t awakened your mana yet. Must have been restricting, having to only use sunstones to power your formations, huh?”

“M-mana pill?” Emmet eyes lit up. It was true. Without mana, he was severely restricted in what kinds of contraptions he could build.

“In fact, your brother is a special case,” Tarhoh smiled. “Although many noble families carry pure blood, and are able to awaken their mana naturally, most commoners won’t awaken their mana their entire lives. Yet, all humans possess some sort of mana, it’s only a matter of awakening it if one has the means. Inside this little blue mana pill is a formation to awaken the hidden mana within you. I forged it myself, hehe.”

“Awaken my mana…?” Emmet’s eyes twinkled escastically. So it really was possible for him to awaken his mana? He could be like Emmet, able to channel that mystical blue substance?

“Go ahead,” Torhah chuckled. “I’m curious to see what your mana potential is.”

“Alright!” Emmet didn’t delay. Although his heart was nervous, he brought the pill to his mouth and swallowed it.

Immediately, a stirring sensation began in his stomach. The sensation soothed his body for about half a minute before dimming. Suddenly - fuoosh! It was like a flow spread out from his stomach to all over his body, invigorating him! A powerful sensation circulated throughout his entire body making him feel amazing. A few moments later, the flow slowed, and began to even out.

“Mm…” Torhah nodded slightly. “Looks like your mana potential is somewhat below average… although for a commoner, that’s probably normal.”

“Oh...” Emmet opened his eyes and sunk his head a bit. It looked like he wasn’t special.

“But that’s okay,” Torhah reassured. “Maybe for a warrior, that would be a make-or-break condition, but you’re going to be a formations expert. Personally, I’m more concerned with natural intuition and talent. If I’m not mistaken, yours should be exceptionally high.”

Emmet lifted his head, his eyes hopeful.

“Although one could say that your brother is exceptionally talented, having naturally awakened a large pool of mana, I personally wasn’t really too interested in him,” Torhah explained. “In the noble world, people with naturally high levels of mana aren’t too rare. However, someone with natural-born formations talent… now that’s something to behold!” His eyes shone. “Even if a formations expert doesn’t have the greatest mana pool, if they’re wily enough, they’ll be able to more than make up for it through their cunning! In fact, in some ways, a smaller pool could be an advantage - it forces the person to make improvements to their formations otherwise not necessarily needed. Myself, compared to many others, I actually don’t have too big of a natural mana pool. However, I’ve still managed to get around that and be considered an ‘expert.’”

Emmet nodded excitedly. Although he was initially saddened by his apparent lackluster mana, he found that those worries were quickly fading. Torhah’s words made sense: that restriction could even serve as a crux for improvement, were the person smart enough. Although, he hoped he could rise up to meet that requirement.

“Alright, shall we head off?” Tarhoh patted Emmet’s shoulder and smiled. “Off to a new adventure!”

“Yes!”

From the side, Tauruk sulked silently. Great, there was now another person that his father could compare him to to diminish his accomplishments.