River looked down at the boy, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “Your answer, shows both wisdom and respect.”

He inspected Tristan noting the blood that was covering the ground. Normally participants in the abyssal chalice did not bleed. In fact, the worst he had seen was a headache. His own trial had been a pleasant conversation, like a master talking to a child. Most people with a metal kern were killed outright, though their average tier was three with a potential of five. Maybe the grand ancestor was making a point by sparing Tristan.

This was dramatically different than any previous time, however Elder River had one question. He looked Shadow Fist in the eye, “Would you really kill your own flesh and blood?”

Shadow fist grimaced, “ it, it would pain my heart, but I did not gain a title because I’ve valued myself before my clan. “

That was enough to cut through the agony in Tristan’s chest. Would Shadow Fist actually harm him? Turning he looked at his mother, Helen was weeping off to the side, her younger brother was holding her back and keeping on hand over her mouth. A wrong action here could doom Helen as well.

River nodded, and said,” Well, then my verdict is this as his father-.”

“ You shall take care of the boy, he will be an example to all those who ever oppose the grand ancestor,” Elder Forest turned his glare on Elder River, “ old man, do not presume to rule my clan.”

Elder Forest had no love for Tristan. He was a teen with no condemning or redeeming qualities. However, he cared for his younger sister, he could do no more for her, as it could jeopardize his position. There might even be heavy penalties to Helen’s family in terms of status and finances, but that was preferable to losing a child.

As soon as Tristan heard those words he went limp. Curling up he tried to block out the pain. Many people would be able to soldier through this kind of pain, but Tristan was not that kind of person. He had a privileged lifestyle, courtesy of his mother. Once Elder Forest declared his intent Helen’s brother released her, it was now safe to let her approach the stage.

Tristan‘s mom was there in an instant, kneeling beside him, and cradling his head, chanting, “Oh my baby, it’s all right, it’s all right.”

Shadow fist loomed over the crippled boy. With one lung destroyed, he would struggle to run and play with the other children, if they even would be willing to. He would most likely be confined to manual labor in the fields, working at a percentage of the pace of the normal workers.

Shadow Fist sighed, “Looks like I will never be rid of you boy.”

He grabbed Tristan by the back of the neck and picked him up like a puppy. Hellen was still weeping and tried to take her son from Shadow Fist, however, he wouldn’t, no he couldn’t, let her take him. He had to be savage. He had to be ruthless. If he had been anything less the elders would have executed his son. It was fortunate that most of the elders were on unfriendly terms.

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When they arrived at the gates of the forest, caldera, one of the guards, the young man who could barely shave named Keith waved at them. He had a tier one water kern and a talent for the spear, but not much else, he was very talkative, a trait that many found annoying. Shadow Fist did not have a bad relationship with the young man, however, carrying his unconscious son, he had no desire to talk.

The board guard had other ideas though, “Hey, Shadow Fist, how’s it going? How did your son do?”

Shadow Fist briefly contemplated punching the smile off Keith’s face. However, that would be unprovoked. It was also poor manners to punish someone for a well-meaning question.

Shadow Fist frowned, he contemplated being honest, but if Keith knew, everyone knew, “It did not go well. Tristan was hurt, on our trip. But he did get an uncommon result.”

Keith smiled,” Well that’s great. I look forward to him getting a new name like his dad.”

Shadow Fist flinched, there was no way he was going to get a name like he did. The best he could hope for is something with the word scrap in it. He just hoped his son would never be put in a place where he needed to earn a name. With his nonexistent potential, it would result in his death.

Fortunately for Tristan‘s parents Forest Caldera lived up to its name. Trees were heavily featured in the structure of the homes and the streets were lined with them. This made it relatively easy to get Tristan home without any more awkward encounters. The trees produced an ample amount of shade and Shadow Fist was best at moving unseen in shadows. With this method, it only took a few minutes to make it back.

Their house was part of the clan's main ring. While the Warriors were off protecting the rim of the caldera from mythical beasts, the tier two clansmen would manage their affairs. This gave them access to special housing. In the center of Forest Caldera, the Chief's house stood. Every chief got the title of Forest, just as every other caldera chief got the name of their respective clan.

In a ring around the central house, the leaders of the manager class made their homes. Large trees formed the center pole of the round houses and thatch roofs to catch any rain that made it through the canopy. The walls were made of an extremely resilient mixture of limestone slurry and the webs from a death weaver spider. It was an expensive yet durable mixture that was excellent at keeping the summer heat out.

The interior of the building was separated into several rooms. A connected living room and kitchen with the doors to two bedrooms corner from the far side of that large room. The smaller of the two rooms belonged to Tristan and the larger to his parents. On the far side of the building, both bedrooms shared a bathroom. If seen from above, it would look like a pie cut into four differently-sized slices.

Shadow Fist and Helen laid Tristan down on his bed. They discussed what to do about his results. Anything to dampen the destruction of their son's future. However, Shadow Fist knew how he would treat another person who had the same traits as Tristan, so there was no way he could expect him to be treated as an equal by anyone.

After hours of talking in circles, Tristan finally woke up. He coughed and ground. His lung still hurt, which sucked he had kind of been hoping the entire thing was just a dream. He would be going to get his evaluation now, right?

Shaking his head, he almost broke down, crying. The previous worst-case scenario was him getting dark affinity with a tier zero kern. He had bottomed out so much lower than he thought possible. To top it all off, he didn’t even have a healthy body anymore.

He looked up at his father, “What will happen to me? “

Shadow Fist sighed, “First of all boy, I’m sorry for kicking you. I need to give the elders a certain impression so they would not execute you.”

At first, Tristan had thought his father was betraying him. However, it did not take a genius to realize there were much simpler ways to end the life of a teen. Especially a teen that had already been sentenced to death.

“I know, “ Tristan put his face in his hands, “ how am I supposed to do anything? Everyone is going to hate me.”

Shadow Fist chuckled,” Well, that’s an easy enough solution to solve. Nobody cares about anybody else. What people care about is the value that you have.”

“ People value me because I have certain skills. I am not overly powerful for dark kern, I just had the correct attitude to use the skills that I had. We just have to find something that you can do that no one else can. Which should not be an issue, as you were the only person in the entire caldera with a metal kern.”

Tristan thought about it for a moment. His metal affinity was weak. As low as you could get. However, weak as it was, it was still better than anyone else had. At least he had a future, even if it was not a bright one.