It's been three years since the day my mother and father perished. Their bodies have long since turned to ash and their souls moved on. The day they passed I was only five and couldn't remember much of the day's events but I knew that the demons that attacked the village had a part to play.

Over the years I have leant more about the demons and my own circumstance, since I'm an orphan I've been staying at a orphanage since I was five and have come to understand many things. My name is Shaun, being born to a poor commoner family meant that I did not have a surname but unlike the influential people whose backgrounds had long histories were the only ones who would have a surname.

I live in a little town called Haven, I call it a little town because it has access to most of the the basic infrastructure such as a Town Hall, Market centre, Blacksmith and other various guilds as well as services. Haven was located in the country of Esterden, one of five other countries but because I have only being taught then and there I have yet to learn of the other countries.

Today marks the day I am eight years old, and for children within the orphanage this marks the day that they are to go out into town to either work or look for an apprenticeship with some of the artisans but there was also enrolment into a good school or association. The good thing about the kingdom was that the Kingdom paid your tuition so anyone could go to school but it all depended on one's talent.

Many of the Kids were all taking the aptitude test to see whether they could use the world's energy. The world's energy was part of nature itself circulating throughout the world, it was given the name kei, those who are able to feel the kei within the atmosphere and absorb it can go on to become kei practitioners with either warrior or magician potential.

There were two Major organisations that everyone wanted to join, these were the Exorcist Society and the Adventurer's Guild. The Exorcist Society was a group of elite individuals tasked by the country to eliminate the demons and keep the public safe as well as control them. The Adventurer's guild was a organisation that accepted request and would task its members to complete them but the guild offered the most freedom allowing adventurers to travel throughout the continent.

.............

Shaun was ready to set out when suddenly the figure of a child came into his view. The face of the child had pained look on his face, when he saw Shaun his spirits lifted a bit.

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"Damn, the stupid cost for the test is the only thing weighing me down"

"What about you Shaun, I no you have a plan for earning the required money”,a child who looked to be 8 years old said. Shaun looked at him and smiled this was his friend Kurt, who he had been friends with since they came to the orphanage around the same age.

“Nah, don't look at me for ideas”, Shaun replied with a chuckle.“If I were you I would go into town to look for a job, one only needs 1 silver for the testing.” Kurt sighed as he himself agreed that the best option was to do some odd jobs which give him the total money.

The money system was universal from what I heard.

100 copper coins = 1 silver coin

10 silver coins = 1 gold coin

There were other forms of money higher than gold but my knowledge is still lacking and have yet to have heard of them. I quickly focused my thoughts as I had remembered today was the day I would go to the surrounding mountains to look for item to sell at a high price.

Kurt then asked, “So were you heading today”

“I am going to Oakmont mountain. It's perfectly safe and doesn't have any demons or monsters so I’m gonna try my luck to see if I can't find some unique herbs to sell at a high price “

Kurt started laughing because he knew the reason why Shaun was going so far to earn the money when he could have worked a day's worth of odd jobs to gain the money. Shaun could be described as someone who had no quarrels with anyone, among the children at the orphanage he did not interact with anyone accept Kurt who he found tolerable and always did his chores quietly but he too yearned to go out and explore. You could only leave the residence at eight years old when you were looking at future plans, respectively shaun had grabbed this opportunity to explore.

“(sigh) You know me too well but I have a genuine reason reason to go out because it would put to waste the knowledge i read about Basic Alchemy and Herbology.”

“Well good luck I'm almost done raising money, damn if I wasn't too lazy i could have finished yesterday”, Kurt said while preparing to leave.

With that the two friends went their separate ways.

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