"Come with me, James," Dad said to me one morning.

"Ok."

I got dressed quickly and followed him. It had been a little over a year into sparring practice with the older kids. I sparred at least twice a week in the afternoons in addition to helping out around the house and training in the morning twice a week. Overall, Swordfighting was up to level four, Archery was level two, and I'd gained another level. Additionally, END and CON both increased by one as well.

"So, James, you'll be going for your testing in a couple of months. How are your stats looking?"

"I thought that was supposed to be private information," I teased.

"It will be public knowledge only once in your life... for your school placement."

"What do you want to know?"

"All of it, though you can start with your level and skills, which, depending on what you choose to do when you grow up they may be things you will need to be open about at least with your profession."

"Ok. I'm level three with Reading four, Language three, Archery two, Swordfighting four."

"That's damn impressive! How about your attributes or stats?"

I told him the list. The look on his face was complicated, though mostly it was in shock.

"Strength of 23 at your age? That's crazy! Most of your stats above 15 as well... You're a little monster, kiddo!"

"That's a good thing, right?"

"Yeah. Some people will be jealous of that, though."

"Ok."

"Now for your magic affinities. As you know, I have the affinity for Red magic."

"How many affinities are there?"

Dad thought for a moment.

"Eight I think. Black, Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, White, and, um, Violet."

"And what does the symbol after the number mean?"

"It measures how strong the affinity is. It's on a scale from one to one hundred with a higher number being stronger."

I already knew this, of course, but I couldn't let him know.

"All of my affinities are a 10."

"So not too strong in anything. Which ones do you have?"

"All of them."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"You really are a little monster!"

Dad gave my head a rough rub. I smiled.

"Well, that complicates what schools will want you... and by that, I mean all of them will. The ones like the church will want you for your magic and the ones like the guard school will want you for your physical stats. You'll have your pick of them and likely will be tuition-free at many of them, thank the Lord."

"What schools are there?"

"There are the two you know about already, the guard's and the church's. The guard's school trains guards and hunters for the town. The church's school trains healers and, for a fee, things like writing and painting to an advanced level. In Fredericton, our city, there is only one other school, the adventurer's. That one trains adventurers and mercenaries. It's the one that is most balanced between physical and magic, with the guard's being focussed primarily on physical and the church's on magic. There are other schools not in this city to consider as well, like the knight's school in the capitol that trains knights and officers for the military, but we can't afford to send you to those and they won't pay for you to go like the three here would."

"Thanks," I said, taking in the new information.

I hadn't touched magic yet, and that was something I was looking forward to. If I continued as I was now, I'd be pushed towards the guard's school. The church's school held nothing for me. I didn't want to just be a healer since I had all of the affinities. That left only the adventurer's school. Maybe if we were a wealthy family, something like the knight's school would have been a better option, but that's life. As long as I could learn magic and keep working on my skills, I would do well enough. I was used to working hard and that wouldn't change any time soon.

"Think about it between now and when you have to select following the ceremony."

"I already know which one I want to go to."

"The adventurer's..."

"Yeah."

"Can't say I'm surprised. Your mother will not like that choice very much, but we can't keep you protected forever. You'll need to know how to do that on your own and the adventurer's school is the best for that."

We talked more on the way to the center of town. There was nothing new said besides the typical idle banter. When we arrived at our destination, I felt my heart leap up. It was the market!

"Here, kiddo," Dad said as he gave me two small silver coins. "This should be enough for you to get something small that interests you. Take a look around and meet me back at this entrance at lunchtime. That should give you about three hours to check out the sights and see what this is all about. I heard the hunters brought back a Giant Boar that should be on sale today."

"Thanks, Dad!"

I kept the coins in my left hand and walked in the direction of the center of the market. There were rows of stalls in the open square with shops along the perimeter. Many of the stalls sold food and other consumables like that. Other stalls sold trinkets. Yet others sold weapons and armor. Finally, there were a few that sold raw monster products. That's where I wanted to go first.

The stall run by the hunters had several tables filled with monster parts ranging from meats to hides to even more exotic things that I couldn't identify. Manning the stall were five people dressed in full combat gear. They didn't have their main weapons, but they did each carry a knife at their hip. I stopped in front of the table with things that I couldn't identify.

"Can I help you, young man?" one of the hunters, a man, asked me.

"Can you tell me what these things on this table are? I recognize the meat and skin, but not these."

"These are monster cores. When we kill a monster, these are left inside them. Here, take a look at this one."

He handed me a mostly spherical object about an inch across. It had a black and red aura to it.

"This one came from a biter."

"What are they used for?"

"Well, mostly they're used for poisons that we use to hunt monsters with. That one is five big coppers if you're interested in it."

I thought about it and handed over one of the little silver coins. The man returned with five big copper coins as my change. I placed the core into a pocket and placed the coins into another pocket in the front of my coat. I left a hand in that pocket just in case.

I thanked the hunter and looked at other stalls. The trinket stalls had everyday items like irons and toothpicks as well as things I wasn't sure how to use. I stayed away from those places. I had a feeling they were less reputable than the hunter's stall had been.

For the last stop, after wandering around, I came to one of the weapons stalls. The items on display were anything from daggers to halberds and everything in between. The weapons came in a variety of colors from a white steel color to a blue-green that reminded me of tarnished copper yet that somehow still maintained its metallic sheen.

"Excuse me," I asked.

The owner of this stall seemed less inviting.

"What you want, kid?"

"What are the metals in the knives and what do they cost?"

"This one is steel," he held up the white one that I would have thought was steel. "Goes for a big silver. This one is magic iron," he pointed to a blue looking one. "Goes for a small gold. The last one is mithril. It's a big gold for that dagger."

"Thanks."

"Are you getting anything, kid?"

"Not today, sorry."

He turned away from me. It seemed to me, from that I could understand, that weapons were damned expensive, especially the ones that used these new metals. Magic iron was ten times as much as steel, and mithril was one hundred times as much as steel or ten times as much as magic iron. Even if I had the money, I wasn't in the market for anything yet. I needed to know what the different metals meant!

I saw that the sun was hanging directly overhead, so I went to the meeting place and saw Dad waiting for me with a skewer of meat. He handed it to me.

"How was the market?"

"It was awesome!"

"Glad to hear it."

I gave him the remaining small silver and five large coppers.

"Did you get anything you liked?"

I showed him the monster core.

"Be careful with that. If your mother knew, she'd throw a fit. It's poisonous, so don't eat it."

I nodded. I only wanted to study it and see what properties it had. I'd been a scientist in my previous life, and that curiosity was only bolstered by my current childlike appearance and attitude.

When lunch was over, we walked home.