Vaunce walked into the kitchen area where his mom just finished putting the morning meal onto the table.
“Morning mom” he typed drearily, yawning into his fist while sitting down at his place.
“Good Morning Honey” Sliding a plate of food in front of him “Are you ready for the graduation ceremony today? Are you excited to finally begin your Taskings?”
Looking at the plate and bowl he saw it was some eggs, some toast, and some bacon. Looking at it closer he noticed it all glowed slightly blue; The presence of mana infusing them.
“Mana infused?” he typed inquisitively while stuffing his mouth full of eggs. He felt the invigorating feeling that mana always brought to him, like drinking a cold cup of water with ice in it after working in the sun for an hour. His body always felt like he never had enough mana but he was used to it having worked with mana for the better part of 4 years while he went to the nobles academy. He had heard others talk about how it felt to them, but he could never relate because he always felt like his body was a sponge that constantly absorbed the mana around him; never very fast or very much, but if his body wasn't full of mana he could feel it being sucked into him.
“Of course, it is a special day after all” Sitting down in her place his mom continued “not every day one of our boys graduates and starts preparing for his Tasking” looking up she beamed at him happily.
“Mom it isn’t a big deal, it’s just standing around for 3 hours while one of the nobles from House Thantis drones on about how we will do great in whatever we’re going to do in life and how ‘we’re the future of Humanity’ or whatever”
“House Thantis? They actually have one of the Orators coming to speak?” she sent into chat while eating
“They do every year honey” His father sent into the group chat from elsewhere in the house, probably his study “I know you aren't used to it, since Wade’s graduation didn’t have one. Normally there is an Orator from House Thantis but last year they had something come up and couldn't send someone out”
“Oh okay” his mother sighed exasperated “I wish Wade would come home every few months. I know the mage academy is strict but I miss him”
His older brother, Wade, had gone to the mages academy in the mages floating city, Kristolith. It had been over a year since he had been allowed to come back and visit but the last time he did, his brother’s presence had felt vastly more refined. Still Vaunce missed him and the brotherly moments they had spent together, practicing mana control and making all sorts of ephemeral shapes dance around the backyard and training area.
Standing up, Vaunce sent “Gotta go or I'll be late for practice, see you guys in a few hours” waving before he left the room as his parents echoed their goodbyes.
Managing to make it early, Vaunce started looking around for his normal group of friends while making small greetings to everyone else there. He didn't particularly feel any strong way towards most of them, but since they were all nobles of powerful houses or powerful students in their own right, he tried to stay somewhat friendly towards them. Feeling his wrist vibrate, he looked down and saw Fred’s invite to join the local group chat with the others. Tapping join, he sent a greeting into it.
“Yo, where are you guys i can’t seem to find you in this mess”
“Back right from where you are looking right now”
Vaunce turned around and saw his group of friends all staring at him, wide eyed as if they had seen him do something crazy. He looked down to inspect himself confused, before walking up to them giving a slight wave.
“What? Is there something going on?”
“No we all just wondered what your reaction would be if we stared at you long enough” Lilith sent into the chat laughing soundlessly.
“Lil! You weren't supposed to tell him damn it” Fred sent, mimicking being angry at her.
Lilith threw her hands up to ward off the “angry” looks she got from the rest of the group “Fine fine, i’m sorry” she sent, making the saddest pouty face Vaunce had ever seen.
His group had at first just been him and Fred at the start but Year 2 and 3 of school they had made friends with Lilith, Tim. Last year, Bryce joined their squad as well since they needed 5 people for the dueling part of their ‘Mana Manipulation’ class. Together they had become great friends and done nearly everything they could in the academy together.
Fred, Full name Fredrickson von Frite, was their group's leader and loud-mouth. He was first to do things, usually with little to no thought, and was naturally charismatic. His family had a natural affinity for fire mana, but Fred was a Duel-Type holder of water and fire mana. That made him one of the stronger people in their year but because they were of opposing elements, and he couldn't combine them, he couldn’t cast the more powerful versions of any spells.
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Lil, full name Lilith Von Leshtin, was one of the most powerful people in their entire class. Her family's mana affinity was air, but she had a natural affinity for lightning; A combination of air and fire. On top of that she could use fire mana and air mana separately, giving her access to 3 types of mana. There were rumors that she had another mana type that could also combine with fire and air, but Vaunce had never seen her use another. Most of the class was afraid of her, either that she was from one of the major families or from her personal prowess.
Tim was a bit of an oddball. Vaunce actually didn’t know his full name or where he was from. During their second year, he kind of just showed up and started hanging around them until eventually he was just always with them at school and was considered one of their closest friends. He only had an affinity for earth mana, but he was extremely good at manipulating it for whatever he wanted, and already had plans for becoming a city architect so that he could build walls. Tim really seemed to enjoy building walls. Vaunce wasn’t sure if Tim was insane or very enthusiastic, either way he was always cool to hang around with.
Bryce was their newest addition, full name Bryce Kysten. He was from one of the minor noble houses but was granted access to the major houses academy because he had a triple combination mana affinity. He routinely got shunned by the others, but when year 4 rolled around he was the only one remaining that didn't have a team for dueling. Vaunce’s team happened to come into class late, so he got grouped with them. They had become pretty decent friends with Bryce since none of them really cared about stature. Despite the fact that he was stronger than most of his class because of his ability to make things out of some sort of mana ‘Glass’ that he had an affinity for, he was still shunned by the nobles of higher ranking.
Finally there was himself. He was Vaunce Von Wilest. He was from a major family but was the second son, so he was able to have a first name that didnt start with the letter of his house name. He probably had the strongest mana of the class, since he had a combination of the 4 elements, but was not allowed to use his ‘Void’ aligned mana for anything combat spell related. So he was stuck using the other elemental type mana his body naturally sucked up. He wasn't exactly sure why he wasn’t allowed to use his void mana for dueling or combat spells, but he didn’t mind since he wanted to become a Manasmith anyway.
smacking him lightly on the head Lilith was trying to get his attention, snapping him out of his reverie. He looked around seeing everyone moving towards the seats that would be used for the graduation.
“We’re moving to seats now” popped up in a direct chat from Lilith. He sent back a quick thanks and went to his seat at the front where all the major house students were sitting. The Orator was already on stage talking quietly to someone else from House Thantis.
“We will now begin the practice for the ceremony, and then after lunch we will do the ceremony for all the families for the students that are graduating”
A few hours passed as the students got up and down, practicing for the ceremony and listening to the long practiced speeches about life and how important they were to humanity. Vaunce couldn’t be bothered to listen after the first time, it bored him to death and he wasn't interested in it, especially since his family was mostly shunned because his mother was from a minor family instead of one of the major families. It was all stupid, doubly so because there were records and even some current major house members that were married to people outside of the major houses, even some currently married to commoners. It never seemed like a big deal to Vaunce, but apparently in relation to his family it was.
Finishing lunch and preparations for the ceremony, Vaunce and his group went home to change outfits for the ceremony. Hurrying back to the school they were messaging over their shared private chat when it finally became time for them to all take a seat and the orator from House Thantis began his speech.
“Thank you all for attending the graduation ceremony for Burklies Academy….”
Vaunce immediately stopped listening and began to quietly browse the internet on his wrist speaker-watch. The “Internet” had been a pretty recent development but it had quickly become one of the best ways to burn time and in general one of the best encyclopedias of knowledge. It had all sorts of things on it from reviews to local shops, to recipes for food and crafting things. So far it was kept as a universal knowledge exchange for humanity but Vaunce had dreams of what it could be and was intrigued.
Many hours passed as multiple people came on stage and congratulated the students for stepping into their new phase in life and wishing them well. Finally it was over and time for all the students to proceed with starting their Taskings. Taskings are basically what a student wanted to do in life, but no one really knew what they wanted to do at age 12 or 13 like they were, so this allowed them to explore around and see what they were interested in. Vaunce knew he already wanted to be a Manasmith, someone who worked with mana aligned ores and metal, so this was just customary for him. Students began filing out of the room and finding their parents outside.
Vaunce found his parents and they began walking toward the crafts section of their city. They had already chosen a forging shop for Vaunce to be apprenticed to and work at, they simply needed to get the Master Blacksmith’s signature and it would be decided. Walking into “Master Blacksmith Randall’s Forge” ,which Master Randall said was the best name he could think of, Vaunce motioned for his parents to stay at the front while he walked back to find his Blacksmithing Master. Following the ringing of metal on metal, he found him hammering a bar that looked like it would become a blade of a scythe used for farming. After standing there watch Master Randall drenched the hot metal in water, creating a plume of steam. Pulling it out he looked at it and nodded to himself and placed it on his workbench. Noticing Vaunce for the first time as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead.
“Ah Vaunce, is it time for the documents?” grabbing a pen off his workbench, he motioned for Vaunce to follow him to the front.
Seeing Vaunce’s parents he bowed “My pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Wilest”
Nodding to the blacksmith Vaunce’s Father typed out and tapped the holographic display for the blacksmith to see.
“Nice to meet you, I am Walter; First born son of Wesley Von Wilest. This is my Wife, Caroline.”
Walter brought out the papers he had in his coat pocket and handed them to the blacksmith, typing out “Please sign these and we will take these back to the academy while Vaunce begins his apprenticeship here”
Randall beamed and started talking pleasantly while signing the documents “Thank you very much for the opportunity, I don’t think i’ve had one of The Silenced here to apprentice under me”
He continued to ramble a bit while signing the papers, not noticing Walter stiffen a bit when he used the phrase used to refer to those whose ancestors had eaten the crystals when offered. Caroline rested her arm on his to help calm him down. It wasn't exactly an insult, but it was rude since it touched on what they had all sacrificed for the continued survival of Humanity. Most, if not all, of the noble houses felt this way, and commonly anyone heard by a noble using it was quickly put in a bad situation. Handing the paper back he continued on.
“Vaunce is a great kid and I'll do my best to teach him all I know, although I can't claim to know anything about mana and all that; I’m the best Blacksmith in Burklies.”
Walking off his parents waved to him while he got a message from his mom “We’re going to drop the paperwork off at the academy, do your best! and maybe see if you can get Mr.Randall to stop calling us ‘The Silenced’. If not, I think your father may actually stab him.”
He sent back a quick “okay” as he started to follow Mr.randall to the back of the shop.
“Okay Vaunce, since you're just starting out today i will show you around and we will do a bit of knowledge testing to see what you know about metals, and forging in general. Then tomorrow I’ll have you watch me do some forging, and then you'll hit the books of all the different ores and metals we work with. How does that sound?”
Vaunce brimmed with excitement, he was finally going to start making things with his own hands. Even if he had massive books to read first. He nodded and showed he understood while Randall started giving him a tour of the shop. He was going to be having long days from now on.