A couple of days later Derek and Garrett were working at Ander’s smithy after dinner. The two boys were sweating from the hard work and the heat of the forge. It was already past curfew but instead of returning to their dorms, they worked this forge as they had done for the last three evenings. The old man sat at the entrance of the forge sipping from a wineskin while he watched the two.

As Derek finished the piece of armor he had been working on and put it in place with a set of others, he glanced at his friend who seemed to be in a trance as he hammered out a blank. Derek could sense the fire and earth sprites of the forge gathering around Garrett like stars around the moon. The boy didn’t seem to care as he was lost in his work.

Hours later they were heading to the rooms Eona had set aside for them while they stayed at her place. There was a clock on this hall and it started to chime the hour. As if he had just thought of something, Garrett turned to Derek with a puzzled look on his face, “Derek, why are we spending so much extra time working your grandfather’s forge? It’s not like he has us working on a particularly important task.”

Derek had been waiting for this question for a while, he smiled at his friend, “There’s a couple of reasons really. The first is that my grandfather’s forge is one of the most essence dense places in the city. The same runes that nurture the sprites that help him with his work will also nurture you. This way your schema will get reinforced, your attribute affinities will be nurtured, and you will gain a steady supply of essence, which will start to rehabilitate your attributes. At the rate we are going, you will probably gain a level or two by the end of the month.

“The second reason is spiritual. You do not realize it, but the schema reset did significant damage to your body, mind, and spirit, and while we can use magic to fix the body, the mind and the spirit need constant tempering and reinforcement, especially with the kind of damage that potion did to it. Allowing you to do work that you are accustomed to and that allows you to feel a sense of purpose is the perfect way to help you with your mentality. Even if the parts we are working on are not for specific orders now, we both know that the quality of the items we have produced are first rate and someone will be willing to buy them. That feeling of fulfillment we get when we look at the work we completed at the end of the day can’t be replaced by anything.”

Garrett nodded, “I guess that’s right. Working at the forge has really seemed to help keep me focused lately and I feel a lot better. It seems now more than ever that working the forge makes me feel comfort that I don’t get anywhere else. If I wasn’t so big I would wonder if I had Dwarf’s blood and not Titan’s blood.”

Derek smiled at the big guy, who did seem to have gotten bigger. “Haha, they say that the Dwarfs are only the finest smiths in the world because the Titans vanished all those years ago. If the Titans were still around and claimed that Titans were the second best smiths in the world, who would dare claim they were first?”

Garrett frowned and thought things through, then spoke up as if he had come upon some secret, “The Forge God would be first.”

Derek laughed and shook his head, “The Forge God was a Titan before he was a god.”

Garrett looked at him strangely. “How do you know that? Are you sure he’s not a Dwarf?”

“Disciple, remember? The Forge God made the Dwarfs with his wife so their daughter, the Earth Goddess, would not be lonely after the other Titans vanished.”

Garrett nodded, “I think I heard that story when I was a kid. Why did the Titans vanish?”

Derek shrugged his shoulders but responded anyways, “I don’t know, that happened a long time ago and the Forge God doesn’t talk about it. They might have become another race or become the Gods. They could have died off. I don’t know. I heard some people say that they left this world to pursue perfection in the planes where earth and fire mana originate since they are very intune with those mana types.”

Garrett seemed to ponder it for a while, before he thought about something, “Hey Derek, why did my Titan’s Blood Enhancement change? It seems to have gotten much stronger.”

His friend glanced at him, “It did get stronger. My mother says it is because connecting the schema to it has stimulated it. She was most pleased by that unexpected benefit. To be honest, I am a bit jealous. You are going to be way stronger than me when you catch up to my level.”

Garrett laughed at this, “Ahaha, then I can finally beat you down for all those times you bullied me in the practice yard! Hahaha.”

Derek smiled wryly before responding, “You are a hundred years too soon to think that a mere attribute advantage will allow you to beat me. It will take you decades to get as good with weapons as I am now. Even though your growth in earth, fire, and lava spell types has improved tremendously. but, still, so what? You will need to learn quite a bit more before you learn how to apply those spells in a way to beat me and I am not planning on slowing my own training to let you catch up.”

Garrett deflated a bit. After a moment he thought about something else, “Derek, why doesn’t everyone who has achieved higher tiers as early as us take the Elite Body Reformation Potions? They gave me such a powerful Enhancement and are far better than any you have.”

Derek shook his head, “Don’t blaspheme. All of my Enhancements are either from Tier up or boons from the gods. My boons can improve and the strings that they come attached to are connections I am willing to have.”

He thought for a moment before continuing, “I assume some people probably use the Elite Body Reformation Potions that way, but it takes a lot of resources to do so. Furthermore, it comes with side effects, especially for youths below the age of mental maturity. The damage to your body, mind, and spirit we talked about earlier is very dangerous and it takes the monitoring of many powerful people to ensure that the patient isn’t harmed. That is why you constantly had to visit with so many of those Alchemists and Inscribers while you were taking the potion.

“Furthermore, we had you working the forge the whole time to try to keep your spirit and mind in top condition. A lot of powerful specialists were needed to make sure that you weren’t harmed during this process. There may be some factions willing to do this, but very few can afford the personnel to do this more than once or twice every year. As far as I know, Windreach only does this twice a semester, and we can do so because of how many powerful instructors we have.”

Garrett thought about it for a while before the implications dawned on him. “Oh, then the House spent far more on me than just the materials of the potions and the schema?”

Derek shook his head. His friend wasn’t dense, at least not mentally, but sometimes he revealed just how little he thought about some things with his questions and statements. Taking a breath Derek finally responded to his big friend, “Yeah, they invested quite a bit in you. That’s why they had you join them. Your life is now bound to the House. You will serve the House for the rest of your life and your children will grow up as the children of Garrett WIndreach and they will be bound to the House as well.

“Even your siblings and father have been bound to the House. Didn’t you help them move into the Inner City? The only people that live in the Inner CIty are the members of the House and their servants and armsmen. Your family now lives with the families of the armsmen of the House, and your siblings are having custom schemas prepared for them by the House as if they were already members of the House.

“Garrett, the normal armsmen that take the reset potions you took are usually over twenty five. Because they are past the age of maturity they need far less supervision while they take the potions and the House will offer twenty or thirty of those armsmen that opportunity a year, but even then, the armsmen that get that many resources spent on them are still bound to the House for the rest of their lives, and they will serve the house until they retire.

“With so many more resources spent on you, your value to the House is far greater and in a few decades you will become the head of a new branch family of House Windreach. That token they gave you is a sign of belonging. For good or ill, you are now bound to the ship that is House Windreach.”

Garrett thought about it for a while, before shrugging, “I don’t mind. The House has taken care of me and my family and they will give me the chance to be a great Magic Warrior in the future. Besides, it doesn’t suck being rich. Hahaha.”

Derek started to laugh too. He knew that Garrett had already spent the allowance the House had given him for the month on gifts for his girlfriend. The giant had no real need for that money anyways. Derek could only wonder if his friend was starting to become a real silk pants.

When he returned to his room, Derek took the Storm Plum from its chest. After focusing and getting himself into his best condition, he bit into it. It was sweet and had an airy flavor to it. It practically melted into his mouth. After eating it, he felt a mystical energy flow through his body. After a while he sensed that the energy had been consumed. Casting a status upon himself, he saw that both his Wind and Water attributes had improved by five points. Satisfied, he placed the pit back into the chest and went to sleep.

After a week of working late at the forge, Derek and Garrett finally went back to their dorms. They had not fallen behind in their school work as this portion of the semester was reserved for preparations for the competitions that were coming up the following month. There were also preparations for the Holy Day coming at the end of the month as well.

Derek used this Holy Day to go visit Granny Penny at the Cathedral with his family. They enjoyed a day in the Temple District much like they had the time before, only this time there were no rude interruptions. When they arrived at the Forge God’s Temple, they saw Garrett and his family coming out.

Derek smiled when he saw his friend. He found it hard to believe but the big fellow appeared even more at peace with himself than he normally was. The young man was even wearing the medallion of the hammer and anvil on his chest. “Hey Garrett, how are you, my friend?”

Seeing Derek, Garrett got excited and rushed over to hug him. “Derek, you will never guess, but the work I just submitted proved that I am an Expert smith, the time at the smithy has really improved my skills. I can make tier four weapons now. It’s all because of you and Disciple Ander. Today, I even received the Blessing of the Forge God.”

Smiling back, Derek patted his shoulder and spoke up, “Good, good. Not only an Expert, but now a Disciple as well. May the Forge eternally temper you.”

The others were quite happy for Garrett as well, congratulating him and his father. Derek was quite moved by the harmony he felt in this boisterous situation. Smiling, he watched as the two families chatted happily in front of the Temple.

In that moment, Derek heard an ancient voice speak to him, “The quality of work is good. I am most pleased. Continue to do good works and remember that it is you that gives the work purpose.”

As the voice quieted, his medallion warmed on his chest as he felt a surge of power grow within him..

Derek Thorne-

Previous Classes-

Magic Warrior, Rune Smith

Permanent Enhancements-

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

Demon Warrior, Tier Two: +2 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +2 Mind, +2 Dark, +2 Chaos, +2 Light, +2 Order, Demon Sense

Disciple of the God of the Forge: +3 Strength, +3 Body, +7 Fire, +7 Earth

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

Greater Demon Heart: +3 Strength, +2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Mind, +5 Dark, +5 Chaos, Expanded Essentia Pool, Masking

Blessing of the Sun Goddess: +2 Agility, +5 Order, +5 Light, +5 Fire

Storm Plum: +5 Water, +5 Wind

Equipment-

Talisman of the Sun, Forge and Hearth: eight mature sprites +8 to all elemental attributes, other assorted benefits