Walking into the village and looking around everything seemed pretty much the same as it was. Not much has changed in the 9 months I was gone. Wonder how bad my mom is going to kick my ass. He thought while meandering through the village.

Waving to some of the villagers in greeting, he kept proceeding deeper into the village looking for his family. Seeing his house come into view, there was an old man, a young man, a little girl, and fat lady, all sitting on his porch.

Looking closer at the fat lady, he realized it was his mother. Finally, it only took me getting lost in the woods for them to make a new kid. Deciding to play a prank on the 4 of them, he snuck off to the side and around the house.

Using his heat raising steps to reduce the noise his feet made, he crept up to the side of the porch. Listening to them discuss how they missed him, he felt a little guilty but also felt the mood was way too sombre.

“Oh, you miss me so you had to go and replace me I see,” Kael said while walking around the corner of his house. Coming into view he was greeted with the faces of four shocked people. The first to shake off their shock was Raen.

Instantly bursting into tears, Raen flew off the porch straight into Kael. Catching her Kael was about to say something but was interrupted by her sobbing and beating on his chest. Choking out, “I hate you! How dare you run away without telling me!” she hugged him tightly and continued to cry.

Not really sure what to do, Kael rubbed her back gently. While this was going on his father walked down the porch and around to the side. Smacking him across the back of his head he began to lecture him about the sudden change in plans.

As his father was scolding him, Alavarah finally came to her sense. Shouting, “Oh my baby, you’re alive!” She rushed over, fat stomach and all, crushing herself into Kael. Wrapping Kael and Raen both up in a hug.

Crying, his mother said, “How dare you slip off like that. After I’m done hugging you and your father is done beating you, I am going to dig a basement to lock you up so you can’t run off again.”

Being hugged by Raen and his mom Kael thought, Uh, I think my adult mentality told me it wasn’t a big deal, but my childish age means I’m screwed. “Come on mom, I’m fine, you guys told me I would have to go against heaven’s will to not end up a cripple for life so that is what I did.”

His father immediately smacked him again, “Don’t try to blame us, we gave you the ok to leave for a month, not for almost a year. Not only did your disappearance almost send your mom to the grave in worry, but you also dropped all your commitments to the mercenary groups.”

“That’s not fair either, I told them I would be gone, I even had them send you a gift!” Kael shouted back.

“That’s the only reason I’m not stripping you bare and beating you right now!” Iradin shouted back.

Raen interrupting both of them said, “I can’t breathe, and Varah shouldn’t be this excited, let's go inside to continue yelling at him.”

Everyone agreed and began to funnel into the house. As Kael passed Muta he got a clap on the shoulder and a very quiet, “Good job, boy.” out of him.

With everyone reconvened inside, the verbal beating started up again. After about 20 minutes of a crying girl, a crying mom, and a pissed off dad yelling at him, things finally calmed down. Once everyone finally calmed down, Muta asked, “So Kid, what did you do with your hammer?”

Hearing her father’s question, the fire in Raen’s eyes reignited. Staring down Kael she waited for his answer.

Seeing the two grumpy smiths, Kael smiled and said, “It’s ok, I still have it, and thank you Raen! If it wasn’t for the details you added to the handle, increasing its grip, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

Happy that her work was able to help him, her anger died down some, but she still asked, “So then where is it?”

Kael grandiosely said, “It’s right here of course.” Reaching out in front of him he grabbed at the air while willing his hammer out of his ring. Continuing to show off, he spun the hammer in his right hand a few times before handing it over to Raen with a bow.

Surprised at the hammer popping into existence from nowhere, Raen paused a moment before accepting it. Looking it over she could see the wear and tear on it. The bladed end was especially messed up. What did he do to this thing, go mining? She thought while running he hand over the chipped up back end.

As Raen looked over the hammer, Iradin said, “Kael, where did you get an interspatial item, and where is it?”

Not wanting to go over everything bit by bit, he sat down and told the group his story. Knowing his mom would freak out, he watered it down quite a bit. Coming to the end of the story, he said, “Oh yeah I have some gifts for you guys.”

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Taking out a few packages he handed the first one to his mom. As she unwrapped it she saw the jacket she had been hounding Iradin to buy her. Smiling she gave her son a hug and thanks. Handing the next gift over to his father, it was a small book. “Dad, that is a copy of a xiantian level body refinement method the Old Ape passed to me. I transcribed it at night while in the city.”

Looking over to Muta, he handed him a small package wrapped in a red rabbit fur. As Muta took the package, he immediately recognized the skin as a rank 10 flame rabbit. Stroking the soft skin, he carefully unwrapped it to see a book that looked similar to Iradin’s. Cracking it open he saw the title, How to Refine for Idiots. Thinking it was just a gag gift from the kid he snorted and tossed it back to him. “You may need this more than me.”

Catching the book, Kael completely missed the sarcasm at first, “Oh don’t worry I kept the original, this is just what I transcribed. Wait, Don’t get thrown off by the title. It was written by an Artisan Saint who was just one step away from becoming an emperor.”

Suddenly the book in Kael’s hands was snatched away. Muta sat back down casually reading it like nothing happened. Smiling, he looked over at Raen. “Could I have my hammer back now?”

Waving the hammer at him in fake anger she said, “Not unless you have something nice for me, I still haven’t forgiven you, jerk.”

Taking a pouch out of his ring, he said, “Sorry Raen, all I have for you is this tiny little pouch.”

Looking over the cloth pouch in Kael’s hands, Raen was sure it was not normal. The material it was made from practically glistened in the light. Slowly taking it from him she asked, “What is it?”

“It’s a spatial pouch. It holds 50 cubic feet, which should hold whatever you want. It’s attuned to me right now, but I had asked the old ape about it once. He said that pouches could have their attunement broken by someone with a strong spiritual sense. My parents should be able to help.”

Listening to the children, Iradin stood up and took the pouch from Raen. Running his fingers over it, he took out his own. Holding it up, it was apparent that they were the same style, just that the one Kael had given Raen was much older.

“Kael, where did you get this exactly?”

“Dad, I told you already.”

“Son, this was definitely made by the Darksteel clan. You need to explain everything you left out of your story.”

“Dad, I know the origin of everything, I just did not think it was a good time to discuss it.”

Muta listening to the father and son bicker back and forth looked down at the book in his hands again. Standing, he suddenly grabbed Kael’s shoulders while shouting, “Wait, Kael, the person who wrote this was part of your family? You had a Saint ranked blacksmith in your clan?”

Sighing, Kael gave his father a dirty look. “Yes, one of our ancestors was named Nocturne Darksteel. He was a Saint ranked smith.”

Muta gave Kael’s shoulders a shake out of excitement and said, “Boy, why have you been wasting time picking flowers when smithing runs through your veins! Heresy I tell you, blaspheming your ancestors! Iradin did you know about this!?”

“Calm down Muta, between Varah’s family and mine we have had a fair share of Artisans of various types,” Iradin said while regretting bringing up the pouch.

“Muta if you keep shaking me like that you won’t have an apprentice to shout at for very much longer.”

Exasperated with the Kael and his father, Muta shouted “You people have no idea what you're talking about! Nocturne wasn’t just any saint, he was THE smithing saint. His passion for creating new things drove him forward like a madman. The only one who could tolerate being near him was that damn money he raised. Wait, you said you met an old ape? Tell me where he is, that bastard still owes me! He stole a rare ore from me when I was commissioning a sword from Nocturne!”

Raen, watching her agitated father literally frothing from the mouth was hit by a sudden case of the giggles. Once she started nothing could control it. Every time she looked up and saw him with flecks of spit and foam on his beard she would laugh harder. Soon Muta’s ravings were drowned out by the entire groups laughing at him.

Looking at the four laughing at him he became even more enraged. “Kael, you dreadful little shit, tell me where that monkey is or I am taking you with me to find him.”

Kael seeing the old man getting genuinely mad reined in his laughter. “Slow down old man, I will give you directions but he is under an array cultivating in a cavern, and his lifespan is about up. I will genuinely miss the old ape, but the reason he sent me away is so he could die in peace.”

Snorting, Muta said, “You think I will let that bastard die, let alone die in peace? Dream on! Now tell me where he is!”

Realizing it was no use, Kael gave Muta directions. Watching the old man scurry towards his forge in haste, he thought to himself, There is no way Muta can find him. That ape has been hiding for too long for a puny little smith to track him down. Hold on, he said he bought something from Nocturne, but Bantan said he died over 2,000 years ago. Holy shit, how old is Muta? How many monsters are living in this little village?

While Kael was lost in his own thoughts Raen came up behind him. “Thanks for getting that old stick in the mud out of the house for a while. I can finally have some peace. You had better come to visit me tomorrow though or I won’t forgive you for leaving.”

Looking over at Raen who was on the verge of tears again Kael comforted her and sent her on her way home. When she was about 10 feet from his house, she turned around and said, “Kael, I am really happy you are back. Don’t you ever run off and leave me like that again!” before taking off and running home.

Getting back into his house, he sat down with his parents and went over his trip more in-depth. Going over the items he received his parents were both shocked and excited at his fortuitous encounter. Sitting around the house with his parents, they spoke late into the night. After speaking with his mother at length about leaving, he truly felt guilty. After telling them about his breakthrough into Qi Refinement and his current rank the entire family was happy. Promising to tell him about soul refinement soon, they sent him off to bed.

“Iradin, it looks like we will have to tell him about our lives sooner than later. I don’t want him to get wrapped up in it though. You have to think of a way to keep him in the village long enough from him to become truly strong enough to go out. You also need to work on his maturity and not doing things in the heat of the moment.”

“Varah, he is your son too, you should help. Didn’t he want to learn arrays? Now that he can use Qi externally you can slow him down with alchemy, smithing, and arrays. The poor kid thought those shitty powders were actually alchemy, he has no idea how difficult real alchemy is.”