Timeless Prominence

“Long, long ago, the aurae of the stars gave birth to numerous beings in the world. Humans were one of these beings. Humans were the weakest at birth, yet had the most potential, so it was told. Soon enough, humans found methods to develop that potential. Those who could tap into the potential started having longer lives, fantastical powers that included flying through the skies and splitting mountains into rivers with a wave of the hand!”

Blacksmith Tiehr paused before lowering the volume of his voice, as well as transitioning to a sorrowful tone.

“Cultivating their potential, some of these humans became gods. They were forever flying through the stars, having long forgotten the earth below them. Their battles would destroy the mortals on earth, yet the pain of mortals was disregarded. After all, mortals were mortals, and gods were gods…”

Once again, Blacksmith Tiehr ceased his words for a while, this time even longer than his previous pause. However, no one complained and patiently waited for him to continue. Blacksmith Tiehr now transitioned to a grand tone.

“Eventually, a hero made the very first Spear of Heaven. Was he a god? Not initially! Even when he was a mortal, he had already become a master of the craft. Even before his ascension, he comprehended the intricacies of godly powers! With the help of many mortals, he created a technique called inscription, intricately crafting aurae systems onto a short spear, thus giving the spear the strength to pierce the heavens! During a conflict between two gods that ravaged the mortal town below, the hero lifted the very first spear of heaven and threw it with venom at these two stars high in the sky!”

“The two gods at first regarded the spear as nothing but the bite of an ant, and in their arrogance, one of the immortals even allowed the Spear of Heaven to strike his body.”

“But this spear was no normal spear. It was a ‘Spear of Heaven’, its form strengthened beyond mortal limits by meticulous inscriptions carved across its body. And thus, the immortal discovered that the bite of an ant was actually the jaws of a tiger, and the immortal fell back to earth with broken wings, forever pinned onto the ground through his chest by the Spear of Heaven!”

Jein stared at Blacksmith Tiehr with wide eyes, holding onto every word, wondering if there was a continuation of the tale. After all, what happened to this so-called ‘hero’ of this tale? However, Blacksmith Tiehr tightly closed his lips. Clearly, the tale had ended.

Rein has heard this tale before. Blacksmith Tiehr had always been skillful in drawing interest in these tales from children.

As for himself, the important information was that the ‘Spear of Heaven’ weapon type can be sold to those interested in killing advancers of a higher stage than themselves. He himself may be a mortal, but transporting and selling these weapons to advancers who had only begun their journey was very profitable. This was why he had been sent to acquire knowledge on these weapons under Blacksmith Tiehr’s guidance.

He had once wanted to become an advancer, but he had been deemed talentless. Children in every mortal town were tested by ten years of age.

All of a sudden, a clapping noise could be heard at the doorway to the forge. It came from a scholarly looking young man with dark bushy eyebrows, who was dressed somewhat funny. He appeared to be wearing a traditional blue tunic that looked slightly similar in design to Rein’s, but there were a few details that made one instantly notice it wasn’t quite the same. It could be described as overly simple and fashionably archaic. Perhaps the scholarly young man came to the town from a foreign area.

“Blacksmith Tiehr, I, too, have heard of this tale, but a few minor details in your tale appear to be different. Granted, I have traveled across the realms, and no common tale is always strictly the same. Still, tell me, for I am curious--what did you, yourself, conclude from this tale?”

Blacksmith Tiehr looked at this scholarly young man with a furrowed expression. After all, this man had mysteriously shown up with no prior warning as if he was the wind.

“I won’t comment on your unannounced intrusion, however, my own conclusions are obvious. Clearly when one rises too high and grows arrogant, he would sooner or later return back to earth due to that arrogance. Am I not correct in my interpretation?”

The scholarly young man did not look surprised by Blacksmith Tiehr’s statement, but he did not appear to fully agree either.

“Yes, that would be true if your tale was fully accurate and did not contain any bias through what I detect, your own interpretation. However, I was told the tale without any mention of the gods’ arrogance. To me, the tale indicates one clear maxim of life: If careless, those who rise too high would always be struck down by the cooperation of those below.”

The scholarly young man appeared to be held by a sense of melancholy for a blink of the eye as he made his statement. Although the scholarly young man’s expression quickly returned to normal, this did not escape Blacksmith Tiehr’s notice, who laughed even though he had just been accused of being ‘biased’.

“Hahaha, young man, you clearly have an interpretation due to your own bias as well.”

Blacksmith Tiehr and the unnamed scholarly young man stared into each other’s eyes for a tense few moments. But then, at the same time, both of them suddenly burst out in laughter at each other. The scholarly young man then turned toward Rein.

“Seeing as both the blacksmith and I have different opinions, how about yours, young man? Surely, you have yet to have been fully influenced and limited in views by the dregs of the world, right?”

Rein felt surprised. Compared to his younger brother Jein, he was old enough to understand and even read between the lines of the conversation between Blacksmith Tiehr and the scholarly young man. Never did he imagine that young as he was, he would be included in this discussion. Rein bowed his head for a few moments to think.

He did not really know what he thought of the tale. He had been thoroughly preoccupied with making a profit from selling these weapons.

Rein shrugged and solemnly declared his conclusion slowly but without much conviction, “To me, the only thing that I understand is that I, too, can reach the new height with these Spears of Heaven!”

The four adults in the room looked at each other with wry smiles on their faces. However, all of them seemed to radiate a sense of happiness and remembrance, as if there was a joyful memory they had long forgotten back when they were young. In the background, Jein could be heard giggling and repeatedly shouting.

“Take me there, older brother!”

Rein was tongue-tied by everyone’s response. In his mind, he really was only thinking of making a profit and growing the Hehr merchant company. His words had probably been interpreted to be some grandiose sort of declaration!

The scholarly young man warmly patted his hand against Rein’s right shoulder a few times.

“We old timers are just too jaded to draw such a perspective. I haven’t heard that in a long time. If ever we meet again, know that I am surnamed Yonhr, and my given name is Charh.”

Rein could not resist berating the young man in his heart though. This young man was calling himself an old timer?! He was clearly pretending to be some wise old guy to make himself appear intelligent and experienced!

Rein’s thoughts were quickly disproven. In a flash, to the shock of all those present except for Blacksmith Tiehr, Charh vanished into the wind as if he was never there. Jein’s expression was especially priceless. Both his eyes and mouth were wide open, as if his jaw had dropped down to touch the ground.

The only possibility that the man could disappear with such a magical technique was that he was an actual advancer, perhaps even a god! After all, gods often appeared young even if they were actually old ‘monsters’.

Jein immediately implored Blacksmith Tiehr about the world of advancers. Jein might be young, but he was no idiot. He was certain that the blue tunic scholarly young man who vanished into thin air was one!

Unfortunately, he would not have his plea answered, for a man’s loud berating voice could be heard coming from the shopfront.

“I am a god damn imperial soldier! I have been waiting for… I could have eaten ten large feasts in this period of time! The sun was to the east when I lined up. Now, it’s to the west! I’m on imperial business!”

Blacksmith Tiehr could only smile at Jein and apologize as he stood up.

“It would seem I have some trouble I have to deal with. Would you, your sir, be willing to provide some assistance?” Blacksmith Tiehr was requesting Rein’s, not Jein’s help.

Part of the Hehr merchant company business was selling weapons to the imperial soldiers stationed in the Golden Desert Town, and Blacksmith Tiehr was no doubt beseeching Rein’s aid in resolving this matter. Blacksmith Tiehr was quite worried about carelessly offending this so-called imperial soldier. The imperial corps instilled respect but also fear in the populace.

Rein pridefully nodded. This was a simple matter. He had been present in many negotiations with the imperial corps, and was fully aware of the customs among them. He was rather confused as to why an imperial soldier was losing his cool, or even shopping here. The Hehr merchant company already sends the imperial corps weapons every month.

The two walked toward the shopfront. Blacksmith Tiehr felt somewhat anxious but quickly calmed down upon seeing Rein calmly striding toward the shopfront with his head held high.

In front of Rein stood a young soldier, who looked to be in his early twenties. This soldier was the source of the cursing voice, clearly angered from waiting in line, but also oddly appeared incredibly anxious. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he non-stop cursed the shopkeeper.

Rein scanned the young soldier. The man was equipped with an iron lamellar armor, an iron cap, as well as a sword hanging by his waist. Clearly, he was from a notable family that could afford such quality gear. 

Normal soldiers, especially in a town on the outer edge of the country, would be much more likely to be simply equipped in light leather. It was likely that the young soldier originated from a noble family and just happened to be dispatched to Golden Desert Town for experience.

Rein continued scanning across the young soldier’s belt for a plaque, and could not help but snort. The man only had a lower rank nine soldier plaque, the bottom of the barrel.

Rein found this rather funny. He did not fear this imperial young soldier at all. Firstly, the young soldier was of the lowest rank-- lower rank nine. If the soldier had even a slightly higher ranked plaque, such as rank seven, perhaps Rein would actually give him priority.

Secondly, although the young soldier’s equipment suggested he likely originated from a noble family, Rein doubted a noble family would actually muster forces to come all the way to the edge of the nation to mess around over a minor weapons purchase. Rein concluded that there wouldn’t be an issue even if he were to throw the soldier out of the store with Guard Wein and Guard Shier’s help.

“Sir, please calm down.” Rein pompously spoke to the young soldier. “This is a shop under the wing of the Hehr merchant Company, and I am the Young Sir Hehr. I truly am rather curious why a ‘respectful’ soldier like yourself would come to the shop. After all, our merchant company directly handles all orders from the imperial forces stationed in this town!”

The young soldier seemed like he was about a burst, but restrained himself upon seeing Rein’s intricate red and yellow tunic. However, the young soldier also thought that it would be easy to trick the youthful Rein.

“I am an important imperial soldier, it’s best if--”

“Sir, you’re a lower rank 9 soldier.”

The young soldier wanted to raise his negotiating position, but Rein was much more knowledgeable than the usual teen.

Rein continued to wait for the young soldier’s reply with curiosity. What family did this young soldier belong to? Perhaps he would feel insulted by me and declare his origins. Not as if any clan would cause much trouble over a weapons purchase at the outer edge of the kingdom, Rein laughed in his heart.

However, the young soldier remained tightlipped. For some reason, it would appear as if the young imperial soldier did not want to leak his family origins here, or put his family name on the negotiation table.

Across the realms, the family name was of high value in any type of negotiation. Families naturally protected their own, and as such, people were always careful around those with a tight connection to powerful families, or powerful positions.

Rein felt truly surprised. This quality-armored soldier should have brought up his origins by now-- normally.

Rein was thoroughly confused as to why this young soldier wanted to avoid revealing his origins.

Behind the young soldier was a few common folk who had somewhat displeased expressions, for they had been skipped in line. Unlike Rein, they were in no position to stand up to the young imperial soldier. The atmosphere remained rather tense and awkward in this confrontation.

The young imperial soldier finally relented after a moment of hesitation.

“I will pay an extra ten percent of the fee, let us hurry. I need to return to my post as soon as possible!”

Rein could only slightly frown before giving the shopkeepers a nod. The young soldier’s statement quelled the displeasure of those in line, and the shopkeeper quickly proceeded to attend the young imperial soldier.

An extra ten percent fee was fair compensation for expedited service. It seemed the fellow was just desperate to get some extra weaponry. Perhaps this noble was just a bit of a scaredy cat being so far from his noble home.

It was a rather common sight for the rich to pay an additional price for priority service if they so desired. If one’s background was well known, some larger shops and restaurants might even provide automatic priority.

Rein nodded with a proud smile. That was easily resolved. He felt rather proud that he had gotten a bonus fee while resolving the issue without having to rely on brute force through those guards, Wein and Shier.

He truly felt he was contributing to the stable running of his father’s business. Of course, he doubted whether the soldier actually needed to return to his post. At Golden Desert Town, the imperial soldiers were generally quite lax overall.

The town occasionally had to deal with bandits, but that had nothing to do with the imperial garrison in town. The town itself had a ruling noble family surnamed Ahnk, who had his own forces that kept a lookout and defended the town.

The imperial forces were mostly here to keep an eye on the town and assist if there was a foreign invasion, which hadn’t occurred in god knows how long. Otherwise, the Hehr merchant company would not have been able to conduct stable business relations with the desert tribes for the past decade. All this knowledge was known to Rein, but not necessarily to the common populace.

Regardless, with this sorted, Rein, Jein and the two guards Wein and Shier returned to the Hehr Mansion and along the way Rein could not resist looking up at the beautiful blue sky again.

The two brothers ate lunch with their parents on their return. The meal was nothing special-- rice, fatty pork, and a vegetable native to the region, a rather common meal for a household of Hehr’s wealth.

During the meal, Jein ceaselessly asked his parents about advancers and the Blacksmith Tiehr’s story. Unfortunately for Jein, his mother could only provide some rather vague details that circulated among the mortals regarding the world of advancers.

“As for actual proper tales, I know none, Jein. But I’ve been told that the gods could change forms! They would be beyond massive, a titan so huge and tall, their fist would become the size of our mansion! The head of the titan would block out the sun!”

Even though Jein did not get a complete tale, the description was enough to kickstart his imaginations. Rein himself had heard many of these descriptions.

Rein wasn’t sure when this idea of his started, but he had always imagined these titans to be ape-like creatures as huge as the mountains that would pound the ground and cause earthquakes with their fists. Likely, a long forgotten tale he had heard during his childhood!