That night, all of the clansmen regardless of what remaining work they wanted to get done, all attended this small banquet in celebration of Lance being accepted into the mystic school. Everyone was excited for many reasons, but also because the dean of Griffin Academy was said to be a very well respected expert even in Bitter Falls.
The dean has earned this reputation because it was said during his youth, he was one of the strongest experts in one of the top rated guilds in all of the Sun Dynasty. Due to this reputation, the dean long ago decided to retire and to build a school of his own. It may not have been the best school within the city, but no one was able to bully the students who attended.
Just because Lance was attending Griffin Academy, did not mean that the threat that the Yellow Serpent clan would disappear, only that before acting against the Sacred Ember clan, they would need to at least think a little more.
"With all of you gathered here tonight, I believe it is time to introduce one of our newest teachers who will help build our forces. You may not have heard of Kong if you haven't paid much attention to my son's growth, but my son's early success is because of his teaching." Lance's father told the room as his face became very serious.
"Now, I understand all of your frustrations about how the Yellow Serpent clan has made things very difficult for us. But, with Kong in our corner, we will be able to bring in some of the commoners and adopt all of the potential experts into our branch family."
"The Yellow Serpent clan has made it clear that negotiations could not be spoken about between us, and so we must treat this very realistically. Our ancestors were correct in protecting what they have found, and we must remember to keep the same thoughts as we continue onwards into the future."
"The plan, will be to recruit these experts to increase the strength of our forces in order to show merchants that visit the area, that they do not need to fear doing business with our clan. And as long as we can continue recruiting more experts, our time will come in the future when we will be able to finally openly stand against the Yellow Serpent clan!"
Cheers filled the room as a young female child and her mother was escorted into the dining hall by one of the guards that the Sacred Ember clan hired recently from Kong's recommendation. Seeing this girl, Lance recognized that it was that Samantha from earlier in the day.
"Everyone, this child's name is Samantha and this is her mother Marna. The two have been in the village for many years, and Samantha's father unfortunately passed away quite a few years ago. Today, though I would like to give my son all of the praise from the elemental affinity test, Samantha has proven herself worthy to also attend Griffin Academy."
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"I would like you to remember these two, because if they are willing to, I would actually be humbled to accept them into our branch family." the Patriarch of the Sacred Ember clan announced as both Samantha and her mother's faces became very red of both shyness and embarrassment.
"Thank you Patriarch!" both woman and child hurriedly accepted the offer as they were escorted to one of the tables with others to join in on the celebration. Seeing how the two reacted, the others in the dining hall chose to give them some space so that they could soak in this moment for themselves.
"I want to make it clear that even if Samantha were to fall short in her studies at Griffin Academy, we will continue trying to give her a proper education within the clan and hope that along with my son, she could be one of our pillars in the future."
Suddenly, the cheers finally settled down as Lance's father finished explaining some other small changes to the clan such as building another building close by in order to house the new branch family once it would be done.
Many hours went by until the celebration finally ended. Lance was going to take his brother to bed and to give him the last of his goodbyes, but he remembered that Kong wanted to speak to him earlier about something important.
Seeing that Kong had finally finished introducing himself to the other members of the Sacred Ember clan, Lance signalled Kong that he wanted to finally have that conversation with him as both exited the dining hall and headed towards the training ground.
"First off, I want you to remember how your clan reacted when they heard that you would be attending Griffin Academy. It may have made you feel very good, but that does not mean you will always be praised for your hard work and dedication as you become stronger."
"There will be more bad than good times especially since you are trying to become a dual master. You must remember that even if you are not praised by others, you must continue down your path until you eventually reach the peak of the expert we all feel you can become."
"Now, I have several scrolls with fairly good sword type techniques for those of the 1st rank of the warrior path to learn and use. My prediction is that in less than three months from now, if you continue your daily training, you will be able to step into that rank and could start learning real techniques."
"As of right now, you are far ahead of where I was your age, so it is very possible that you will be able to surpass the 4th rank of the warrior path in the future. If I had your drive as well as those techniques to form a proper foundation for my own swordsmanship, I would have also more than likely stepped into the next rank."
"The only thing that I will ask of you, is that you should practice these techniques in a private setting. 1st rank sword techniques may not seem all that powerful, but these are all at least medium grade. If it wasn't for me giving you these, you must understand that it would be very difficult for an organization such as the Sacred Ember clan to get ahold of these." Kong told Lance as both teacher and student spoke a little more until it was time for Lance to head in and call it a night.