After the banquet Derek returned to the cabins with his family. He could tell that his mother was very happy. This helped his mood as well.

The next morning he continued his training with renewed vigor. He only had another week left and it was important to get as much out of the time he had as possible. Over the next few days he intensified his training, focusing on mitigating the flaws in his form and improving essence growth through hard work.

With three days left before the trials his contract to train the Prince and his knights ended. The next day he sparred with Ovid a few times, comparing insights and practicing advanced forms. He ended his training at that point to allow his body to be fully rested when the trial started.

He had seen tremendous advancement in the few weeks since he performed the dedication. With the enhancements to his basic attributes his mother was able to enhance the runic schema to still greater heights. It must be understood that a schema’s overall power is restricted by two things: the combination of the creator’s talent and intimacy with the bearer and the bearer’s own capacity.

Eona’s talent and intimacy with Derek was truly exceptional. She was an unparalleled genius in the study of schema and she had acquainted herself with her son’s body and spirit from the moment she sensed him in the womb. That left Derek’s own capacity; which Eona had grown meticulously, building a strong base with each level in tier zero. With the blessings he had received during the dedication his capacity had grown still further. She took full advantage of this, expanding his schema as much as the capacity would allow.

This had allowed her to keep the rate at which essence was accepted into attributes maxed out, to increase the size of the essentia pool to its maximum, and to increase the rate at which essence was gathered as well, among other things. Derek was truly lucky to have his mother’s personal attention with the growth of his schema. These early tiers had the most impact on attribute growth and a powerful schema like his would have a direct impact on that. It can be said that, barring some truly fortuitous events in life, these earliest tiers would determine the overall growth potential of the individual.

Derek spent the next few days with his mother and her family. The Prince and his knights had decided to stick around to witness the coming of age ceremony but after completing their training with Derek they decided to stay near their guest lodgings so as not to interfere with Derek’s time with his family. During these few days Derek got to know his grandfather quite well. He was a mage of great power and a very proud man. Derek would listen to him expound at length about the history of the house of Windreach, magic and the various important matters and factions near the city of Windreach itself.

His mother had been very happy since reuniting with her father and the small family moved into the guest house with him and his people. Those evenings Derek would sit and listen with Alicia to his mother and grandmother discussing magical theory with his grandfather. He was quite pleased and his heart was at peace to see his family so happy for this period of time and that had a beneficial effect on his preparations for the fourth trial.

The morning before the trial his mother checked his status. He had already advanced to level five of tier one. His attributes had grown with no waste. His strength was sixteen, body eighteen, agility fourteen, mind sixteen. His elemental attributes came out to seventeen for order, light, earth, and fire, and twelve for water, air, dark and chaos. His essentia pool had grown to a point that only the peak of tier two and some low tier three mages could expect. His mana, stamina, and health regeneration had become quite strong, better than most late tier three people. It must be understood that most people’s schema had no room for the regeneration formations until late tier three yet Eona, with some help from Rebekah, had been able to include these in Derek’s schema as early as late tier zero.

Eona was quite pleased with this status. She had little doubt that her son would be able to accomplish this fourth trial. In her opinion it was only a matter of time and then they would all be able to return to Windreach and their woes will be a thing of the past. They spent the day together, waiting for the ceremony to start when the moon had begun to rise.

The whole clan and their guests gathered at the castle’s training yard for the commencement of the trial. Derek moved to stand with Belany and Hector. Elton and Feros stood on the other side. Belany and Hector wore new blue armored battle robes and wielded staffs of wood and iron. Elton and Feros wore green armor and each possessed a bow, glaive and warsword. This equipment had been made over the last few weeks by Derek and Ander and it was top of the line tier zero gear, capable of taking up to level five spells. It was clear that the four of them were waiting to tier up to tier one during the ritual at the end of the coming of age ceremony, as was pretty standard for Thorne clansmen.

The idea that every member of this clan was expected to tier up by the end of their coming of age ceremony was quite foreign to the guests gathered in this place. For even the most powerful of clans who could pay for the strongest of schemas and best training materials, they don’t even push their youths that hard. Twenty-five was the age of spiritual maturity. That was the point where it would be determined if a youth would never tier up in their life. For most of these clans twenty-five was good enough.

But for the Thorne Clan it was not good enough. Every summer brought bloody battles with the demons of the Hell’s Gate mountains. Though they rarely lost anyone in the fighting they knew that they were a clan in decline and the youth were under a lot of pressure to take their place among the adults.

The acquisition of a demon heart was the requirement for success in the coming of age trial. During the ritual at the end of the ceremony the youth would then eat the heart they acquired while the adults of the clan would maintain a spell to protect them from the negative effects and to pour light and order attribute essence onto the participants. Any heart would do, though the heart of a stronger demon meant greater rewards from the ritual. At the end of the ritual any youth who was ready to tier up would do so as a Demon Warrior, with attributes and powers granted depending on the strength of the demon heart. The light and order essence from the adults would also help to provide yet another boost to the participants’ light and order attribute in the form of a holy blessing.

This was the true purpose of the coming of age ceremony. It was to empower the youths of the clan to become mighty Demon Warriors. In essence, aside from the sword ceremony, this was the most important ceremony in the clan. The sword ceremony showed why the clan must act while the coming of age ceremony granted the tools to act. The strength of the clan came primarily from these two things.

The Patriarch looked down upon the crowd from his dais. He smiled at the five children standing before him, “Children, it gives me great hope to see you. Over the last month you have participated in the first three trials of the coming of age ceremony. Do not let your previous success over cloud your judgement though. Tonight you will begin the most important trial of the four. Tonight you will begin your first demon hunt!

“You will not return until you have acquired a demon’s heart or until the next new moon. If you return in two week’s time without a demon’s heart you will be banished from the clan, your name will stricken from the clan rolls and you will only be mentioned as a cautionary tale for future generations!

“But I know that you will not fail. All five of you are outstanding young talents in the clan. Because of this I have high expectations of this year’s demon hunt. You have all given me hope that our struggling clan will survive.

“Arrayed before you are five packs with all the necessities you will need for the hunt. Remember to listen to your leader, Belany, and stay alert in the mountains. Stay safe and happy hunting! We will see you all soon, make us proud!”

The old man was quite verbose. Derek shook his head as he shouldered his pack and took up four quivers of obsidian tipped arrows and one of steel tipped arrows for his bow. He strapped three quivers of obsidian arrows to his pack and the steel quiver and other obsidian one to his hip. He also put the bag he had prepared inside of the backpack.

This bag was a gift from his master. It was a low tier storage item that would give him much more carrying capacity. Inside he had packed extra arrows, strings for the bows, a whetstone, and some tools he needed if any of their equipment broke while they were out. There was even a pick for if he found any ore or gems in the mountains. Belany had teased him ruthlessly when she heard that he was bringing a pick but Derek knew that his clan didn’t have very many income streams so finding a lode of ore or gems might create a real windfall for the clan.

With his glaive in his hand, his bow and warsword strapped for easy retrieval to his bag, he looked up and saw that the others were ready and grinned to Belany. “Lead the way, oh, wise and noble leader.”

She laughed and looked to the others, “Let’s go! I refuse to believe that we can’t accomplish this in a few days.”

With this bold proclamation they set out. Shortly thereafter one of the elders slipped out after them. The elder would not interfere unless something truly dangerous happened in the mountains, his primary goal was to witness the behavior of the children and evaluate their actions. With that the fourth and final trial of the coming of age ceremony was under way.

Derek Thorne-

Class

Rune Smith

Elemental Attribute

Elemental Affinity

Point Value

Spell Level

Tier

1

Order

Supreme

17r1 + 5

High 5 (47)

Level

5

Water

Supreme

12r1 + 5

Low 5 (42)

Light

Supreme

17r1 + 5

High 5 (47)

Basic Attribute

Point Value

Wind

Supreme

12r1 + 5

Low 5 (42)

Strength

16r1

Chaos

Supreme

12r1 + 5

Low 5 (42)

Body

18r1

Fire

Supreme

17r1 + 5

High 5 (47)

Agility

14r1

Dark

Supreme

12r1 + 5

Low 5 (42)

Mind

16r1

Earth

Supreme

17r1 + 5

High 5 (47)

Essentia Pool

Peak t2 Mage

Previous Classes-

Magic Warrior

Permanent Enhancements-

Rune Smith, Tier One: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind

Disciple of the God of the Forge: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +5 Fire, +5 Earth

Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess: +2 Body, +2 Mind, +5 Order, +5 Light

Equipment-

Forge God’s Armor, Tier 1: basic protection low t2, maximum defensive spell level 6

Forge God’s Warsword, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Forge God’s Glaive, Tier 1: basic offensive mid t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Forge God’s Bow, Tier 1: basic offensive low t2, maximum offensive spell level 6

Talisman of the Forge and Hearth: eight juvenile sprites +5 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits.