Kaden woke up at sunrise. He had a really good sleep despite his excitement. All his training goals had been met. All his worries had been worked on at least on some level. The work should be paying off.

He felt good! This was certain to be a very good day!

After quickly getting his clothes on, he went to eat breakfast just like he would on any day. As usual Aden and Ann were already awake and preparing for the day. Kaden sat by the table and began to eat simple porridge with some spice herbs added that could be collected around Dashire.

“Looks like you are ready for today”, Aden said and laughed a bit. “I know you have worked hard and I hope you best, Kaden. Just give it your best. Nothing else matters.”

“Prepare well”, Ann said with smile. “There is no rush. It is still few hours until the tournament starts.”

“Younger generation will be going first”, Aden added. “Those who come at top will get to fight the next age group and compare. Even, if you don’t get that far, you can watch and get good pointers.”

“I’ll do my best”, Kaden nodded as he was eating.

“If we are lucky, by then end we might get to witness strongest of Dashire’s hunters perform a magic technique!” Aden said with bright eyes.

A magic technique. They were called different things by different occupations or their intended purpose. A fighter ability would likely the be called magic technique while more direct heavier mana use type would be called a spell. Something more general magic could be instead called magic skill. Often simple tricks and basic use of mana might be called magic skill too. Then again people with less knowledge might call a simple magic skill or technique a spell simply because in their eyes it was so wondrous. It didn’t really matter, but lot of people liked to be specific.

Technically, for example, healing spell the priest Peil would use was a spell, but it was such basic release of life type mana that it could not really be called one. It involved basically nothing more than the release of correct kind of mana. A magic technique or spell would require training and effort to learn and comprehend.

Dashire had a single tome detailing a magic technique that the village had been able to purchase long ago after long accumulation of wealth. It was part of town heritage!

Only strongest hunters at Channel Opening stage were allowed to practice it! The Force Thrust!

Aden had in fact seen it used once when he was much younger. Kaden had listened Aden tell stories of it. It was method which allowed a hunter to eject piercing burst of force along with a spear strike. It was enough to penetrate through toughest dire beast hides!

Kaden wanted to see one too! Perhaps today would be the day he saw a true magic technique to be used!

With such thoughts in his mind, Kaden continued to prepare.

As Kaden was about to start leaving towards the arena, his mother stopped him for a moment.

“I have something for you Kaden”, she said. “I inteded to give these to you a bit earlier, but then I thought day like this would be better.” Ann brought out pair of boots. Boots lined with wolf fur.

Kaden looked at the boots a bit strangely.

“You made the kill”, Ann continued. “They should be yours.”

Kaden grinned and put the boots on. They fit extremely well and felt really nice to wear.

“Maybe they’ll bring me luck!”, Kaden said as he took a few steps to get good feel. “I had quite a bit of that when I fought to wolf.”

“You sure did”, Ann agreed.

Kaden left his home happily. The youngest fighters would wait at the arena for tournament start. They would register their intent to take part and then their fighting group order would be determined by age. Everyone started cultivating mana roughly at the same age so, if someone younger could progress and fight against older who had more time to grow stronger, it would be a sign of potential.

As for Kaden’s parents and others who did not participate would be watching on the side so they would come a bit later.

Kaden found quite a few people waiting by the arena already. They were waiting by a tent that had been set up there. With a few questions Kaden found out that they would register in there and have their number soon.

While waiting, Kaden noticed Jon and his group of friends. They all had dark circles under their eyes. Kaden felt smug observing the fruits of his work!

Everyone waited for some time until one of the village elders came. He was in charge of setting the fighting order and such, in other words, the referee. He told everyone to come in one by one. A somewhat disorderly line formed quickly with Kaden somewhere around middle of it.

While Kaden was still in the line, some of the older people began showing up, including those who weren’t participating. Things were going to start very soon.

Eventually Kaden got his number. His number was six.

Soon someone stepped up on the arena. Everyone silenced and only the footsteps on the sand layer on the arena could be heard. It was Stelan! Dashire’s village chief and the strongest hunter around!

“Thank you all for coming here on this day”, Stelan started his speech. “Most of you should know the true reason for all this and why we need to do this. Yet, I wish today we all take this moment to put aside these ominous thoughts and enjoy the day. There will be the tournement on this arena that I’m standing on, but also other enjoyments such as music and food.” Stelan smiled as he spoke. “This is a good day. Without further ado, lets beging the day with the tournament starting with our youngest fighters!”

That little speech received a bit of applause. Cheering continued for a moment and then people concentrated on the referee just next to the arena. He had a box with all the fighters numbers in it.

The referee started pulling numbers from the box. First ones were one and five. “Numbers one and five please step on to the arena and begin!” Shouted the referee.

Soon afterwards two boys holding these two numbers were called to the arena. All of the first fighters were of the same group that were initiated with Kaden so he knew them. It was two boys called Sen and Ronni. While they were not exactly hunters, their families collected herbs and other materials from the forest. It was slightly dangerous job and they often followed hunters. They would also pick up the materials from slain beasts that hunters couldn’t simply carry with them easily. Therefore these two boys could at least fight enough to defend themselves.

They were very young people. Despite their combat abilities they were basically just throwing punches and kicks. It wasn’t very impressive. These boys didn’t have the talent or resources either. Both of them were at first layer. Eventually a winner was decided when Ronni finally gave up after Sen managed to land a few stronger hits.

There were a few cheers while both of them stepped down from the arena. Afterwards the referee pulled out next two numbers. “Numbers four and … six! Step onto the arena!”

Kaden frowned as he looked around who could the number four be. Then he noticed another person going towards the arena.

His opponent was a girl who had been initiated at the same time. Kaden knew her talent was lower, but she was still a hunter trainee and was at second layer. Her name was Sheli and she had started training a bit later so she was not a fullfledged hunter yet. Also not any time soon. Even someone like Jon who had been groomed for years, was not quite there yet. Still, Sheli would likely not be nontrivial opponent.

Kaden stood on the arena calmly and Sheli a short distance away in front.

“Just give up Kaden”, Sheli said before the match started. “I’m a trained fighter! You are a smith. Who do you think wins?”

This sort of people were just what Kaden had prepared for. Use mana for defense and strike hard when chance opened up.

“Thats why I need to win and get stronger”, Kaden replied and looked at the referee to start the match.

There was no need to extend the wait any longer so indeed the referee called for the match start. “Begin!”

Sheli attacked in quite expectable manner. Nothing fancy. Probably all the fights with youngters were expected to be like this. A few kids throwing a few punches until one gives up.

Kaden prepared to take the hit by moving mana in the area that was about to be hit. He had practiced this quite a bit and correct mana usage was useful in smithing too. It required some effort to move around mana like that, but the result was significant. Sheli’s hits didn’t really hurt, but it did waste some mana.

Sheli noticed her hits felt like punching rock. She knew she needed stronger strikes to deal with Kaden and began using mana in her strikes and started attacking agressively. Kaden was clearly on defensive and she only had to smash through that defense. She was the attacker with fighting ability and Kaden was the smith boy. Sheli gained some confidence as she charged forward.

Kaden could not dodge and got hit. As he staggered backwards, Sheli got this smile as she expected victory soon.

*Swish*

“Gaaah!” Sheli screamed and this time she staggered backward due to sudden interruption. Sand! Sand in her eyes!

Kaden grinned. He had just waited for a good moment to throw some sand and disrupt Sheli. Now it was his turn to strike back. Kaden charged forward while gathering mana in his arm and fist. He punched the girl right in the face!

At this time in the audience, Aden looked around at other parents with embarassed smile while Ann was covering her eyes feeling similar thoughts as Aden. What the hell was Kaden doing?

Some of the audience were having a bit of laughs and the others looked unhappy. Very few neutral looks. There were no cheers for the fighers this time, though.

As for the referee, he frowned a bit, but did nothing. It was not against the rules, but it was slightly dirty.

Sheli flew backwards and Kaden followed right after. He was not going to give Sheli chance to get back her momentum and knew he needed to stay close. Kaden kept attacking with the best of his ability giving Sheli punches and even a few kicks.

“Ah! I give up!” Sheli finally screamed. Her nose was bleeding and bruises everywhere. She was still trying to rub rest of the sand out of her eyes as she stared at Kaden in rage. She was absolutely livid. “Referee! Kaden clearly cheated!”

Referee shook his head. “While it shows really bad sportsmanship and is a dirty move, throwing sand in your opponents eyes is not against the rules.”

“Its not good to find excuses when you lose, Sheli”, Kaden said confidently and smiled. He has just won a match!

“You!” Sheli screamed.

“What? Do you think a beast is going to let you go, if you feel wronged by losing to it?” Kaden continued with slightly self righteous voice. “You said I was weak. I’m aware of that so it stands to reason I can use cleverness and intelligence to even the odds, right? You need to fight smart! How is it my fault, if you are dumb enough to not take me seriously?”

The referee coughed a few times. This timely interruption prevented Sheli from directly attacking Kaden again. “Please return and start preparing for your next fights.”

Kaden smiled widely and stepped down. Sheli stared at him in rage, but eventually snorted angrily and left the arena too.

The audience and rest of the tournament participats looked at Kaden oddly. It didn’t last long, since the referee started pulling out next numbers. Kaden paid a little attention to that.

“Sheli was pretty strong”, Kaden thought as he sat down and attempted to gather back some lost mana. “As simple as the fight was, each time I had to defend or strike, I wasted quite a bit of mana. This won’t do.” Kaden frowned, but he didn’t really have any tricks to play this time. Was this the extent of his ability? It was not the worst, but couldn’t match up to the strongest?

“I have one victory at least”, Kaden reminded himself. “I will not be at the bottom! That should get me some resources.”

After making himself feel better with these thoughts, Kaden continued his preparations for next opponent!