Kenna had done it.

Beck was sat across from her, watching with interest. The backs of his hands still hurt from last night, but he had been entranced by the way the shell moved as the large woman applied her flames. The ruddy material almost seemed to melt, flowing at her direction to open as she placed the horn into the center.

The shell twisted around the horn, wearing at it until it broke apart, pieces being carried away as those sections of shell-flow solidified as the base of the pick's head until finally, the point solidified. The shell glowed orange for a moment, then seemed to solidify and cool instantaneously.

Otherwise, there was minimal fanfare at the achievement. Kenna simply blew a sigh of relief and ran a finger down the side of her pick. The thing was no larger than before, though granted, it had been twice the size of a normal pick before. She seemed happy, though, so Beck simply watched and waited.

She glanced up at him, a small smile on her lips. "Moment of truth." The smile grew as she channeled her mana directly into it through the handle, and the head began to glow. Beck was sat about a foot away, close enough to feel the blistering heat the thing was putting off. Far more than the horns did normally.

Beck scooted back a bit before he spoke, breaking Kenna from her giggling fit. "That's definitely more than I expected." The heat died down as he spoke, the large woman no longer channeling power into the weapon. "How did you even do that?"

Kenna's smile didn't dim the slightest bit. "I just compressed it a little, spread the horn powder evenly through the shell. Then I mana-quenched it. The trick is mana control; if you lose your focus, it'll blow up in your face. Or just ruin your material, if it's something more stable. Mother taught me how."

Beck perked up at the mention of her mother. "Now that you mention it, I haven't met your ma."

The large woman's smile vanished, lost in a cringe, and her eyes lowered. He had said exactly the wrong thing. "She uh... She died. It was years ago. I try to stick to happy memories." Her last statement was accompanied by a weak smile, her eyes rising back to his face.

It took a moment for Beck to put together a thought. "I uh... I'm sorry."

She waved it away, shifting her massive weapon to the side. "It's alright. I like to think I'm over it. Let's go get lunch, alright?"

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The rest of the month went by in a blur, and before he knew it, the day of the First Hunt arrived. He had heard the name in passing initially, and when he asked, it was explained that it was something of a rite of adulthood. Whenever enough of the tribes children passed the Age of Awakening, or Ignition, as the Kode called it, they held the First Hunt.

The kids would be organized into a hunting party and attempt to take down a crab, with either the chief or one of his children being in the lead. Kenna, being his only child, would be taking this position for the first time, which had taken Beck by surprise.

"Wait, you're only 15?!"

That had earned a bark of a laugh from the large woman, who clapped him on the shoulder immediately after. "No, no. Last month was my eighteenth birthday. You can only take part in hunts as a member, not the leader, unless you have spent 18 years in the tribe."

Beck realized then that they were the same age. His own eighteenth had been earlier in the month, but he had been too consumed in trying to grow that he hadn't even realized. Not to mention that he had assumed the woman who stood head and shoulders above him was at least four years his senior before today.

The rest of the walk to the rendezvous spot was spent in silence. Once they arrived, they were greeted with the rest of the crop from the tribe: Tephra, two larger Kode boys wielding the same two handed picks as Kenna, though theirs were significantly smaller, and all the other boys from crossbow practice. The pick-wielders were the only two that Beck didn't recognize, but Kenna called them each by name.

"Ætan, P'tah. Are you ready?" The boys nodded, followed by each of the boys carrying crossbows. Finally, she turned to Beck, and he nodded. Those with ranged weapons were split into three groups, while Ætan and P'tah took their places by Kenna. Beck was in the same group as Tephra, and he took the time to examine the boy again.

He was a rare case. His skin was the opposite of his father's, charcoal black and covered in bone white freckles, while his long hair was so similar it almost could've been a mirror to Zephyr, mainly that it rippled in the same non-existent wind that his father's did, though it flowed upwards as well. Beck had met the boy's mother earlier in the month, and even though her skin was much lighter, he could see the resemblance.

Even after almost a month of regular interaction, though, it was still a novel experience to say he knew one of the rare products of two different affinities mixing, instead of one winning out over the other. Mason's mother had been fire-aspected like the Kode, and his father had been earth-aspected, so it was no real surprise when he had been born with the same aspect as his father.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then it was time to go. The crab had been located and confirmed by multiple Kode rangers, so once everyone was organized, it was time to mobilize. Kenna and her pair of bruisers took point, with Beck and Tephra's group on the left, the other two groups to the right or directly behind, forming a diamond formation.

Their destination was a group of rocky outcroppings poking from the ground, surrounded by cacti. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the edge of the ring of vegetation, though the crab was nowhere to be seen. Kenna gave the order to spread out, so they did. The back group was generally supposed to find high ground, but the area they had come to had very little other than the rocks inside the ring. So instead, they simply encircled the area.

Still no sign of the beast. Or any other, for that matter. Until one of Kenna's bruisers set foot in in the cacti circle, that is. A loud squeal sounded from within, and a blur of motion resolved into a Razorback running at him. Ætan, if he remembered which was which correctly, simply swung his weapon into the side of beast.

He was able to change it's direction from heading straight towards him to running straight into a cactus. The overgrown, metal-covered boar let out another squeal and decided that for once, it wouldn't fight. Its hooves carried it into the rock patch, its last mistake.

One of the rocks burst from the ground, claws clamping around the boar. Flames built in the crab's mouth, before it spewed a gout over the Razorback. It's final squeal cut short, signifying either its death or that its throat was burned away. Kenna gave the order, and every crossbow was loosed. Targets on the crab's body had been chosen, and eight bolts buried themselves into the point where shell and limb met, and another group plunged into joints.

Kenna and her bruisers surged forward, one going to flank the massive beast on either side. Beck did his best to keep his eyes on the trio while he reloaded, but it seemed he needn't have bothered. The boys on either side swung their picks into its claws and pulled, grabbing on to the shell with their free hands. The arms were spread wide as Kenna made her approach. Flames built up in the crab once more, licking the sides of its mouth, and he could tell Kenna was channeling mana through her weapon from the glow around the head.

The beast released a flood of fire, like if you pressurized a tank of lighter fluid and spray it over an open flame. It hit Kenna straight on, and for a moment, Beck thought she was dead. Then the stream split in two, and the woman jumped into the air, pick raised high above her head. She had to have quite a lot of Strength to jump like that with all the weight she carried, but it seemed she had gotten used to it, as she brought the pick down with her weight.

The head pierced the shell and went through until the handle stopped it. Her feet found purchase on the edge of the beast's shell, which she quickly scrambled on top of. Her new mount stumbled a bit to the side, the boys rushing to keep pace with its movements. P'tah was too slow. He lost his grip on his pick, and the claw bowled him over. He was lucky, though, because if he had been standing, he'd have taken a gout of flame directly to the face. As he was, the flame only brushed him, though it was enough to cause him to cry out.

Kenna placed a hand on the back of her pick's head, the other holding onto the shell. After a moment of the crab trying to buck her off and throw the two restraining its claws, there was a flash from the weapon embedded in the shell, and the beast slumped. Beck was already running to get to the boy's side, shouldering his crossbow and drawing his knife.

You have aided in the slaying of a Hearth Crab!

Level up! You are now Lvl. 3! +2 stat points!

That surprised him, but he was focused on the boy. He cut open a cactus as he passed, pulling as much water from it as possible. There was one thing he knew about burns: cool water helped. When he reached the boy, Kenna had climbed down and retrieved her pick, which was lying next to her as she looked him over.

Beck slid to a stop next to him, the water floating over his hand beginning to flow over the burnt portions of his face. P'tah sighed as the heat receded, falling into unconsciousness. Kenna summoned the same flame that had healed him, and pushed it into the boy. Now that he had a better look, it was less an actual flame and more similar to what she had used to upgrade her pick.

The burns slowly faded, the wrinkling of the skin giving way to pink flesh as the boy's breathing steadied. Satisfied, Kenna let the Skill fall away. Ætan had been hovering around them, worried about his friend, and Kenna motioned him over. "You'll carry him until we get back to camp, okay?" The boy- Young man, none of them were boys anymore, nodded, and immediately brought his friend into a fireman's carry, not wasting a single second in getting moving. A screen appeared in his vision, and he quickly went over its contents before closing it.

You have learned the Skill [First Aid]! +1 to Wisdom Years of nurse work have granted you an increased aptitude at tending wounds. You may not be a surgeon, but bandages and emergency stitches are well within your wheelhouse! Increase to healing speed for those you treat.

Kenna sighed. "That's two less bodies pulling." Then she turned to the rest of their party and raised her voice. "From this day forward, you're all men. Now, let's get this girl back home." Her last statement was accompanied by a slap on the side of the crab's shell. A number of the group produced ropes and began tying them onto legs and the point behind the claws, while still others tied knots along their lengths for handholds.

It took the rest of the day for them to pull the corpse back to camp. Ætan had joined back shortly after he had left, which surprised Kenna, but Beck was just thankful for the help. When they returned, they were met with cheer. Parents hugged sons, and some of the larger adults joined in to help pull.

A hole he hadn't known he had in him filled just a little.