Even though he had been defeated in the second trial, Derek was still excited. His master had described the dedication ceremony as a kind of tempering process, where the god of the forge would mark him as one of his own.

It must be said that a disciple of the god of the forge was welcomed anywhere they went by the local hegemon. The power of Rune Equipment forged by a Rune Smith were only rivaled by the creations of the most powerful of archmages and disciples of the god of the forge were considered the best of the Rune Smiths. Their skill was already unparalleled but they also had the ability to call on the divine power of their god to bless any item they create, making that equipment categorically superior to those made by other Rune Smiths and Archmages. In this way it was easy to see why any hegemon would welcome them.

They ate well that afternoon and shortly before sundown Eona kissed her son on the head, bidding him good fortune that night. He looked at her with confusion, “But aren’t you coming? This is important, why won’t you be there? You have to come! It’s my birthday!”

She smiled at him and sighed, “Silly boy, it’s also Alicia’s birthday today! As her teacher I can’t let such an auspicious night go. If we can complete the Ritual of the Moon Maiden tonight it will have a tremendous effect on her Status. Just as important as the dedication ritual you are enacting tonight.”

Her words had merit and he knew it, but he was still just a sixteen year old and his mother was the most important person in his world. He shook his head and cried, “No, it’s not fair. Why do you pick her over me? You’re my mom not hers. It’s not fair. Make her do the stupid ritual alone!”

Hearing him she turned rigid and snapped, “Derek stop! That’s not right and you know it. So you are unhappy that I won’t be there for your dedication? What about her? None of her family is here. She hasn’t seen any of them in almost four years. I am her Mistress. I am the only one she has here. You will have your Master and your grandmother there for your dedication which is still more than she will have.

“Stop this nonsense, you are disappointing me. I had hoped that these years you would have at least befriended my apprentice so that she wouldn’t have to be so lonely here and yet here you are suggesting she go through a very dangerous ritual by herself. Shame on you.”

“But mom, it’s not…” he started again.

“No buts. Go to your grandmother. She is waiting to take you to the smithy. We will talk about this again tomorrow.”

Stopped from continuing his whining by his mother, Derek gathered the things he needed for the night and went out the door. Behind him Eona had a troubled expression on her face. Of course, she wanted to spend her son’s birthday with him but tonight was just as important for her apprentice and there was no way for her to ignore that. All his tantrum had served to do was to upset her.

When he stepped outside he saw Alicia in the ritual garments for the Ritual of the Moon Maiden. Her already beautiful features took on an even more otherworldly beauty in those garments. She smiled at him saying, “Good luck at your dedication tonight.”

He looked at her coldly and said, “I hate you.” Then he ran down the path to where his grandmother was waiting for him, leaving a confused and hurt girl behind him.

As he followed his grandmother down the path into town he blankly listened to his grandmother while he stewed in all of his grievances throughout the day. First his victorious reveal at the trials had been snatched from him, now his mother had chosen Alicia over him. His grudges were just piling up.

His grandmother saw his attitude and couldn’t help but sigh. She knew from watching Jared perform this ritual before that Derek would need a clear head for the ritual but she decided to leave the coaching for the ritual to Ander.

She had an implicit trust in this old man. He had protected and trained her son and grandson all these years. He had quietly accepted the clan’s rules and provided for them from the shadows. His heart had been just as broken as hers when he heard that Jared had died while errant. She knew that he wouldn’t let this boy make any mistakes during this important ritual.

They made their way down to the smithy, which was still well lit. The old smith had set aside several blanks and prepared a chair out of the way for Rebekah. Derek was going to have to work all night long to satisfy the ritual and the old smith had prepared several items for Derek to make or to complete.

There were iron blanks, chain links, and padding to create a suit of armor. There were blanks, jade, and obsidian for a warsword. There were more as well as a haft for a glaive. There was a horn bow awaiting a runic inscription. And finally there was an old talisman of a hammer on a leather thong. When Rebekah saw that talisman she clutched it to her breast. It had been her son’s amulet that he had crafted during his own dedication ceremony.

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Ander placed his hand gently on Rebekah’s shoulder and replaced the amulet among the materials. He looked at Derek and saw his mood. “Boy, fire up the forge and work some of the blanks until your anxiety is down. You can only begin the ceremony when your mind is at peace.”

Hearing this Derek obediently began work. He placed the firewood, used a wisp of fire element to start the fire, then worked the bellows until the fire was at the right temperature. As his mood evened out he sensed the various sprites within the smithy start to playfully work as well. As he worked a few blanks into some preliminary forms he finally felt his mind enter the meditative state that was appropriate for rune smithing.

He lost himself to the work taking instruction from the old man as he did so. He felt that his meditation was deeper than it ever had been as he began working on the armor under his master’s instruction. As he worked he heard a gruff ancient voice, “Why do you seek to work the forge?”

He mumbled in response, “To give form to my dreams and to grow stronger.”

The ancient voice responded with some laughter in his voice, “To grow stronger? Why do you wish that?”

Still in a daze the boy whispered, “To protect my family and guarantee their well being!”

Another ancient voice spoke up, this one with a matronly tone, “Oh? I do like this child. Your disciple has found us a rare gem, love.”

The boy listened to the ancient voices, hardly realizing that he had switched from his master’s instruction to that of the gruff ancient. He continued working well into the night when he had completed every piece and come to the talisman. While he worked Ander watched quietly from the side with Rebekah.

When he came to the hammer talisman the ancient voice said gravely, “This was your father’s medallion, which he made to my instruction. Remove it from the thong and place it within a crucible to melt it down.”

As he was melting the medallion down he heard the matronly voice once more, “Take the medallion of the hearth from your neck and do the same.”

The command in her voice left no room for him to disobey, but as he added that medallion to the crucible he meekly replied, “But this is from my mother.”

He felt warmth wash over him and his mood stabilized again. The matronly voice soothed him, “Do not fret child. Your mother’s gift will still be there when you are done. Now pay attention.”

As the medallions melted into the crucible, the gruff ancient voice once again instructed him on how to complete his task. This piece was not completed with hammer and anvil but rather direct rune manipulation with the aid of the sprites. As the final work completed he saw the medallion taking shape. The medallion’s primary shape was that of a black iron hammer with a silver hearth with a lit fire nestled into it.

As he completed his work, the.medallion descended from the air in front of his face to land in his hands. As he caught it he experienced a rush of energy. From within that energy he felt the warmth of the hearth as well as the blast from the forge. For several moments he basket in that energy before he heard the blessing of the two ancient voices, “Go forth, my disciple. Hold to my tenants and you will possess my blessings.”

He gawked for a moment as he comprehended those words. As the energy he felt and the words he heard receded a voice spoke from the corner of the room, “See there, Rebekah, our grandson has received the blessing of the forge god and the hearth goddess. Our son would truly feel proud.”

Derek didn’t even hear that as he sensed many things while holding the hammer medallion in his hands. His runic schema had unfolded like a mandela, a sign that he had tiered up. He sensed the essentia that had been gathered in the catch basin his mother prepared start to move through the schema to assign to the various attributes.

He further sensed a growth in strength unattached to this essence assignment. He used Status magic to discover the blessings he had gotten, and to review any permanent Status effects. The effect of tier ups also fall into this category. These are often called permanent enhancements.

For instance, drinking the wyvern blood can lead to a permanent enhancement of two to five points to the body attribute, earth attribute and fire attribute each. The unicorn tears add a permanent enhancement of ten points to light attribute. The reason these ten points didn’t show up during the trials was because Rebekah had been instructed to specifically show unenhanced attributes. If she had cast a standard Status that searches for permanent enhancements no one would have been caught off guard by the results today.

Status magic is still a tool devised by mages. It is not all knowing. For most enhancements their essence imprints are easily recognizable and have long been categorized. Status spell formulas now include most of these, along with their commonly understood names. Some strange enhancements have not been cataloged and are typically flagged as unknown by Status magic.

When his Status magic was cast he willingly enabled the Status to be visible to his grandmother and master. This Status labelled his class as a tier one Rune Smith. His level had rushed to the middle of level three before the essentia catch basin had depleted. His Permanent Enhancements were Rune Smith, Tier One, two points strength, two points body, two points agility, two points mind, Disciple of the God of the Forge, two points strength, two points body, five points fire, five points earth, and Blessed Child of the Hearth Goddess, two points body, two points mind, five points light, five points order. Furthermore, his chaos and dark attributes had improved to supreme level.

Not only had he received a higher attribute boost than normal from the tier up but he had received two divine blessings as well. Even one of those blessings was superior to the Unicorn tears he had been denied. Even better he had already leveled twice in tier one and his schema was a third of the way filled for level three already.

His grandmother and master were well pleased with these results. They smiled at each other and the old smith walked up to appraise the boy’s work.