Fifteenth day of the month Mengyoru in the year 203 of the Sasuke Empire

“There, look at the color of the fire,” Silas shouted at his young apprentice as he worked the metal on the forge.

The fire spat as the coals grew almost white. The boy at Silas’s feet worked the bellows and listened to the clanging of metal on metal as Silas hammered into the thin piece of metal. He took a moment to look up at his master. Silas was the village’s protector and looked every bit of the part. He was short but barrel chested and had a bit of a gut. He looked like a roaming group of men who claimed to be the world’s strongest men and would lift and carry around large boulders and show their muscles off. Silas’s bald head had a sheen of sweat from the heat of the fire and his green eyes looked intense as he worked the metal.

“It’s too hot, Reiko, stop blowing on the fire. Let it cool,” Silas commanded and picked up the metal he was working with tongs. “We’re almost done for the day, anyway. I need a break,” he said as he dipped the metal into a bucket full of oil. Reiko scooted back to make sure nothing spewed and spat on him. Such an accident had burned badly once before by such an accidentReiko give him a pill that glowed a soft white and smelled like melon, coconuts and cranberry. Silas was devastated for days after and normally took better care to not spray him after that. Reiko’s parents were of course furious, but once Silas cured Reiko of the burns they were placated,.

Once Silas took the metal from the oil and hung it to cool and dry, he pulled a towel from the apron he wore and wiped his head. As far as Reiko could tell, the man didn’t need to wear the apron. Nothing seemed to penetrate or hurt the skin of his master.

“Come on, dress down and let’s cool off with some water,” Silas said and removed the apron, exposing his tanned smooth skin. Silas walked away from Reiko and headed to a back room from where they were. Before he entered the side room, he hung the apron on a peg just outside of the doorway.

Reiko was thankful for the break. His master was a cultivator and was sweaty. Reiko hadn’t grown his core yet and was not only directly responsible for the heat of the fire but also sat right in front of it. He stood and looked around the foundry that Silas worked out of. It was a dump, if Reiko was being honest with himself. It looked more like a barn than somewhere a blacksmith worked.

Then again, Reiko reminded himself, Silas wasn’t a simple blacksmith. Silas was an arcanist. He was someone who not made weapons, but he also imbued them with magic. Through various ways Silas gave the weapons, he forged spiritual properties. They’d tap into the universe and have magical properties.

The place, still looked like a dump. When you walked in the front door, which may have well been a barn door, there was a simple counter with a cash box. Past that was the forge and fire pit they had been working on. On either side were racks of things he kept around for sale. Nothing special, still imbued with magic, but bulk items that were cheap.

He gave one last look around before he headed into the back room where Silas went and hung his own apron on a different peg outside the door. Once inside, he found Silas sitting on a simple bench and drinking cold water from a mug. He drew the water from a barrel that sat next to the bench that had runes carved around the top and bottom to keep the water fresh and cold. Next to Silas was a mug already full of water, waiting for him.

“Master,” Reiko objected. “I’m supposed to get you water, not the other way around.”

Silas looked up and shrugged. “I was faster. We’re both hot and sweaty, and we’re both trying to cool off. Sit and drink,” he said and then nodded his head towards the empty spot of bench beside him.

Reiko knew better than to object to his master’s improperties any further. Instead, the boy just sat and picked up the mug of water. He took a long slow pull from the mug, letting the cold refreshing water revitalize his insides from sitting in front of the head of the fire.

“So, I have news for you, I think,” Silas announced after they each had drank a bit more water.

Reiko lowered his mug and looked up at him expectantly. He had been asking and subtly griping about how his master hadn’t let him grow to his core yet. He had been working for months to grow the channels through his body. The channels that would funnel the aura through his body and make him, in truth, a cultivator.

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The village they lived in was small, there were only a few other kids who had been taken in by a master and learn the ways of cultivation. They had already grown their cores. When Reiko told Silas this, the man just snorted and shook his head. Silas would then remind him how the so-called master in the village wasn’t known and none of his students had been selected to go to the School of the Jade Mountains. He assured Reiko that patience was the best course of action and that Reiko wanted to have a very stable foundation so he could progress down his path.

The School was up in the mountains that overlooked the village. It was a well-known school and accepted students from all over the empire and beyond even. Not only that, but the school didn’t cater to anyone elemental path. They were the only school, in fact, to welcome students who wished to learn any element in the world.

“I have an old friend coming to help me train you. She’s going to train your martial ability. She’ll take what I’ve given you and build on it. I would, but you are much too lithe and quick for a fighter like myself. She’ll have you dancing between my blows in no time,” Silas explained.

Reiko looked up at his master and gasped. “You’re not….”

“No, I’ll still be around and me and Kio will talk about and plan your training. She’s a much quicker fighter than I am though, and that’s what you’ll rely on, I think,” Silas said as he looked into his mug.

Reiko was speechless. He couldn’t imagine being able to keep up with his master’s strikes. The man was well into the spiritual realm of cultivation. Reiko wasn’t sure exactly where he was in the ranks, but he considered himself lucky to be Silas’s student. He was well past the other master in the village.

“Have you given any thought to what element you’d like in your core? What Kami you’d like to pay homage to for your power?” Silas asked him and looked at the boy in his eyes.

Reiko gulped. “I was thinking wind, Master. It seems like a versatile element, and it seems fitting, since this is a farming village. It’s said that Minoru watches over our town and makes sure we have good crops every year.”

Silas nodded his head and smirked. “Even more reason I’m glad I called my friend to help. She’s a water cultivator. You both will dance around battlefields and frustrate slow oxes like me.”

Reiko wasn’t sure how to respond so he just nodded his head and said, “yes Master.”

“Go ahead home after you get the shop cleaned up and see your parents. I’m not telling you when we’ll do it, but you’ll have your core soon. Tell your father I said hello,” Silas told his apprentice and patted the boy on the shoulder.

Reiko grinned and nodded his head. His father was the reason Reiko could become Silas’s apprentice to begin with. His father held a position of some influence in the village. He was a go between the region’s capital Kawaguchi and their own little village. He represented the village in matters in the capital city and sometimes would even get selected to go to the Empire’s capital of Yoshino.

Silas had come to the town with his wife, Himari, who originally hailed from the village. They had both taught at the School at the top of the mountains and fell in love. They decided cultivation was a dead end and came to live a peaceful life and try to raise a family. Reiko’s father had thrusted the position of Village Protector on Silas who begrudgingly accepted the position. Silas knew he was the most powerful man in the village and he didn’t want to lead the lambs to slaughter, as it were.

Then he went to Silas a month later and practically begged the master cultivator to take his son as an apprentice. It was a thought fight, but when the politician offered to get Silas help so he wouldn’t have to worry so much about his job, Silas relented.

The next day Silas showed up at Reiko’s house and put him through a series of tests. He waved a small stone over the boy’s body. He pricked him and dropped a bit of his blood into a vial that glowed red. Then Silas questioned Reiko. He wanted to make sure the boy wanted this life. The life of a cultivator, Silas almost spat. When Reiko assured Silas that not only did he want it, but he would do anything Silas wanted to teach him, Silas relented and took the boy as his pupil.

It had been about two years since then and since then Reiko had worked had as Silas’s apprentice in the foundry. It wasn’t until about a year ago that Silas finally started showing Reiko how to cultivate. The first things were just forming your base, as Silas told him. Forming your foundation. All Reiko did was meditate and cultivate spiritual energy. He let the energy burn through his body and create the channels that would carry the aura through his body from his core once he had one.

Reiko had grumbled sometimes about how the couple of other kids in the village had cores. Silas had two responses to this. He would either flat out ignore his apprentice, sometimes he would roll his eyes and give a soft chuckle with a shake of his head.

Eventually, Reiko watched his master drain his mug and set it on a shelf by the barrel. He then stood and went to a hook that was in the side room. He wrapped his robes around his form, told his apprentice to have a good night, and reminded him of a couple of spots the boy usually missed when cleaning. When Reiko promised him, he would make sure to get them, Silas smiled and nodded his head and then left.

The apprentice sat there for a few more moments and drank his water. Eventually, he refilled the mug with a ladle with a long wooden handle and then headed out into the foundry to clean.