1 Chapter 1

Sal abruptly opened his eyes. A huge smile was already plastered on a young and round face. He jumped from the bed and without even changing clothes the boy ran out from his room.

He was already charging towards the house entrance when a slender white hand caught him from behind.

"Where're you running?! Look at yourself! At least put some clothes before you go out."

Sal was still trying to reach the door completely ignoring the young lady who was reprimanding him.

"SAL'A'ZAR BLACKSNOW! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?" – The lady completely lost her patience and threw him backwards.

"Come on mum, today is my tenth birthday and I can finally know if I'm qualified to become a Golden Mage…can…"- Some tears were starting to take form in the corners of his gray eyes. – "…can you let me go…please…"

But Juliet Blacksnow wasn't some sort of a softhearted woman. Her son's tears couldn't move her one bit.

"No. Now return to your room, and change your clothes. Then return here and eat your breakfast with me and your father."

*Hmm* The kid snorted arrogantly completely destroying the image of weak crybaby he created one moment ago and went back without saying anything else.

"You know that now he will probably escape from the window?" – A low manly voice sounded from the kitchen.

"Obviously I know. But still he should have some basic respect for his parents. So when he returns I will punish him." – Her red lips formed a very creepy smile.

"You're being too hard on him. He is only ten years old." – A tall and muscular man entered the room and hugged her.

"Only ten years old?" – the ladies short black hair moved abruptly when she escaped the man's embrace. On her pretty face one could notice some annoyance. "Lets remember what WE were doing when we were ten years old."

*Kough* The man coughed, visibly embarrassed, but was still smiling. –"But we are a bit different. Also, my parents tried to stop me but it created even more problems…" *CLANG* The sound of a window being closed forcefully interrupted him.

The woman sighed and the man, still smiling looked at her with a "I told you so" expression.

"Stop worrying so much about him. He will be fine."- and seeing that the woman wasn't so convinced by his words he added –"Remember, he is our son, and has our bloodline in his vines. He will be ok."

The woman sighed another time and didn't escaped from his hug this time. –"Yeah, probably you are right."

*******************

"Hahahahahahaha i am so smart! She is probably still waiting for me in the kitchen." Sal was thinking excitingly while running towards the center of the village.

Red Forest village was a small settlement bordering with the homonymous forest on the northern side. The primary activities here were farming and hunting in the outskirts of the forest. The village head, Sal's father, prohibited anyone to go in the forest depths because it was dangerous.

"And here I am!" meanwhile Sal arrived in the center of the village where the World's Will stele was located.

It had the appearance of a huge tree made of gold. Even though it was bare without any leaves no one could tell that it wasn't majestic.

The World's Will Steles were normally formed naturally by the World itself and afterwards usually some villages were created near it.

The presence of the Stele was essential for the prospering of the village or the city because one could trade things or ensure missions though it. To trade or put missions one had to pay the World's Will, but it was very easy thing to do because it accepted every form of energy like prayers for common mortals, mana for mages, qi for warriors, blood for dragons, etc. One could also pay by giving directly a part of the tradable merch but it was usually more costly.

Fortunately for the village, Sal's father, Victor Blacksnow, could use magic so he could pay the small "tax" if someone wanted to trade.

There was no one near the stele because everyone was already working on the fields.

Sal took a long breath and put his hand on the tree's bark.

[First access detected]

A cold voice sounded directly in his head. Surprised he wanted to take his hand back but couldn't do so.

[Identification…Sal'a'Zar Blacksnow…Access granted]

[What do you desire?]

Quickly recovering Sal rejoiced. Usually when he tried to use the stele there was literally no effect but now not only it responded but also granted him some type of "access"!

"Everything's going well!" Thinking that he sad loudly –"I want to become a Golden Mage!"

[Verifying…You have the qualifications to become a Golden Mage]

"YES!!!! I CAN BECOME A GOLDEN MAG…" – But a cold voice interrupted him.

[Please ensure a payment before the procedure is finished.]

"…Hmmm? A payment?" Sal furrowed his brows. He took out a golden coin asking doubtful. – "Can I pay with this?"

[Request negated. Golden Mage's activation is a special task with high energy consumption. Common valuables are not accepted.]

"Fu*k. Dumb stele! Gold is not some common valuable…" A loud laugh interrupted his though process.

"Need some help, kid?" – A blonde muscular man was looking with his gray eyes at struggling Sal. His smile, showing two rows of white teeth was very familiar to Sal.

"…hi Dad."

Seeing his son behaving this way Victor added -"Relax Sal, your mother isn't here."

After knowing that he won't be punished immediately, Sal grinned. –"That's good. Whatever, Dad, what is this story about payment to become an official Golden Mage?"

This question left the man surprised. "So he really can become a Golden Mage?!" But he hasn't shown in anyway his surprise.

"Well, let me explain you something. This World's Will Stele is a device, created directly by the World's Will to make possible the communication between it and us, the common people. Though this device we can trade with other people, or with the World itself. The is also the possibility to give missions and through the stele everybody could take them. Everything clear so far?"

Sal who was listening attentively scoffed. "Well, extremely clear and easy. I'm not stupid."

"Year, I know." – Victor nodded acknowledging this fact. – "Ok, and why do you think would the World gave us these steles?"

"Hmmm…oh, there are probably some benefits for it, right?" - answered Sal after some quick consideration.

"Exactly! For every transaction that you want to do through the stele, you have to pay. Sometimes it will accept some common material good, like money, but for what I know the World's Will prefer to trade using the energy like mana for mages or qi for warriors like me."

He stopped talking and looked on the limpid blue sky.

"But Golden Mages are different. They are like children of the World and have some privileges. For example they can trade with the world directly without using the stele, or have a discount on some goods they want to purchase. The more powerful one become, more benefits can he have. But its not for free, and to become a Golden Mage one must pay a price. It isn't very big…" – Victor looked at his son - "…but still very difficult to pay if you are a ten years old kid."

Sal glanced at his father. "I know what you want, Old Man. You want me to ask you to pay for me. Damn, it's not that I have a choice." After that his expression morphed in one of extreme respect.

"Daddy, can you please pay for me. Please, please, please…PLEASEEEE!"

"Well, I surely can, but, you know, you technically escaped your room this morning, was disrespectful towards you mother…"

"Oh, so you want to play it dirty, Old Man?" His expression became even more pleading but there were some traces of malice in his eyes now.

"Daaaddy, I've just remembered that time when you were talking with that young woman from the merchant caravan. What was her name? Mary, I think, or something similar. Well, I forgot to tell this to Mommy. I think that she will be very curios about how…" - *Kough, Kough* - "…How friendly you were with her."

Victor face lost some color. Even if he knew that he was innocent, but he also was sure that the kid before him could be very persuasive. – "Black-hearted twerp. Stabbing your old man in this fashion."

His face twitched a bit.

"Well, let me pay for your advancement. This will be your birthday present. Put your hand on the stele."

Sal, satisfied with the result, obeyed.

[What do you desire?] – Asked the familiar cold voice.

"I want to become a Golden Mage!"

Victor putted his hand on Sal's shoulder.

[Verifying…You have the qualifications to become a Golden Mage]

[Please ensure a payment before the procedure is finish…Mana, qi, Dragon Force, Time Essence and Space Essence detected. Chose one to complete the payment.]

Sal, surprised, looked at his dad.

"Don't look at me like that. Just chose qi."

Sal nodded without asking anything else, but still was very curios. "Why Dad has all these types of energy? I always thought that he was a normal warrior, but he also has mana. Dragon Force…"

[Payment accepted. Permission granted.]

*Bruuum* A golden lightning hit Sal'a'Zar.