School life

The three years went by without a hiccup or slip in grades or practice for Zain who had picked to be a craftsman or alchemy, smithing, and munitions crafting. Every course was filled with practice and tips and tricks for smoothing out the remainder of what was coming. Once a year Zain's parents and Mr. Damascus would come and visit for about a week to check on him and say hello. But in what felt like no time at all, three years had come and gone, and Zain was now thirteen with training and knowledge in three areas of crafting. Seeing his marks in all of his classes, upon his graduation the headmaster gifted to him a magical item that is only gifted to those whose academics never falter and are pursuing more than one career field, the analyzing glass. It was a monocle that would grant the user the ability to analyze the items that they are looking at, evaluate how rare such items are, if they have any magical properties, and even an approximate value for the item.

 Zain took great pride when receiving this item and even went to use it on a dagger he had crafted while in smithing classes. It was just a normal dagger not worth more than one gold piece, but it showed a crafter's name as well. This meant he could also do buying and selling based of crafters names alone if they were famous enough. But it also meant that if he became famous enough people with these analyzing spectacles would go looking for his items. As Zain had been at the academy more than two years this meant that he was not the representative for all graduates instead a twelve-year-old female would be taking that role as she had chosen the two-year course for becoming a Magic Knight, something only available to those with magic powers from nobility or with a family history of being knights which Zain understood.

 After the graduation ceremony was over, Zain's parents greeted him out front of the academy. "So, Zain with school done, where are you planning on doing formal apprenticeships at?" His mother asked curiously. Zain had to think about this as it was the first time it had been brought up. "Well mother, seeing as the best place to make a name for yourself is in the capitol of Emerdon I was thinking about there." This made his father, who stuck out like a sore thumb, bellow out a laugh that caught everyone off guard as he smiled at Zain and then spoke. "That's one way to get your name out there. But remember that a reputation and craftsmanship speaks as loud if not louder than just that you are an available source. Many adventurers come to your mother for her potions, many soldiers come to brother Dam for repairs, and many of the hunters around and even supply soldiers come to me for munitions. We are all known for our respective craft for quality so keep that in mind as well." "I will father thank you, but I also believe that venturing out to keep my work my own would be most valuable as to not be mixed in as a family business apprentice to outsiders." Both of his parents nodded at this, and then Damascus approached. "Mighty fine eyewear you got back there boy." He blurted out as he approached Zain and his parents. It wasn't an unusual sight to behold but the three of them always seemed to have a deeper connection than what they ever told Zain.

 That afternoon Zain, his parents and Damascus were all packing up Zain's belongings. His mother noticed his old alchemy work books and all of his additional notes on the side. She noticed that the teachers were more about pursuing the normal procedures than trying to innovate their ways of thinking about it. Zain's father noticed that in his munitions crafting books he had newer ways of fine tuning the munitions that the instructors didn't want to acknowledge and that seemed frowned upon. Damascus noticed in his smithing journals and progress reports he was asking what most would view as unnecessary questions but made sense to him. When all was said and done, everyone sat him down as the carriage prepared to leave and his mother started to speak. "We may not look like it now, but we were once part of an adventuring party together. We were elites sent to hold back floods when dungeons went unchecked for prolonged periods of time. I would apply alchemical gases and liquids that would disorient the beast, Damascus would throw himself into the quarrel most of the time and use his muscles to talk with the trusty glaive you always looked at upon entering his forge, and your father would pick off the enemies from a distance with a bow. We were all using our jobs to fight the monsters and help the people but one day we all stopped and that was because I was pregnant with you. Your track record shows you aren't good with a sword, you're not very fast, and a bow was hard for you to shoot for the longest of times. Emerdon has a dungeon in it, but with your limited abilities at this time I'm worried for your safety with you leaving for there so promise a worried mother, you won't do anything stupid." Zain smiled at his mother and softly spoke two words back to her. "I promise."

 Zain then climbed into the carriage, settled down on the floor, and then it took off into the distance headed to Emerdon. Not knowing what laid ahead of him, he knew his next destination would be one that would be trial outside of comfort.