A fledgling landed and hopped aimlessly in the yard without a care in the world. Yao looked enviously at the fledgling from his kneeling position. He trembled from holding the rod above his head; this was his punishment for neglecting his studies.
Yao was the only son in a branch of the Jin clan of sorcerers in the land of Xuan. The land was dominated by sorcerers with ordinary non-magical people at the lowest rung of the society. Among the sorcerers, there were four levels of mastery for sorcerers - incubation, emergence, development and zenith.
Incubation began as early as one year old. All children of sorcerers were tested by a crystal ball to determine if they can practise sorcery. If they could, the crystal ball would light up after they touched it. The children who lighted the crystal ball with more than one colour are considered gifted. Yao was one of them.
While many of his peers were still practising incubation level of sorcery, he reached the emergence level of mastery with his talent and diligence. At incubation level, the children were still trying to feel for magic in their veins. At emergence, Yao was able to channel his magic into other objects. Being satisfied with his achievements, Yao decided to reward himself with a catnap. However, his father, Zhan, was not impressed. He not only reprimanded Yao for losing his momentum but also punished Yao by making him held a small rod over his head.
Yao felt that time passed slowly. He seemed to be there for eternity and was envious of the fledgling that could move around freely. After a long time, Yao was finally released from his punishment. “Father, I am sorry and will devote myself to my training.” Yao apologised. With that, Yao was dismissed. After bathing, Yao began reading the Jin family sorcery manual. Most of the sons and daughters of the Jin clan were trained in the Jin family school of sorcery. For the few born without magic, they were sent to the clan farms to be labourers of the clan. To prevent the dilution of the Jin magical bloodline, the non-magical men were sterilised as soon as they came of age, while the women were married to other clans as concubines to maintain the ties between Jin clan and other clans. This treatment of non-magical children was common in the Land of Xuan. There were little to no progression for the non-magical commoners; the most they could look forward to was a steward in one of the estates of a sorcerer. At this moment, Yao did not have any thoughts about the non-magical commoners but he definitely would not expect to have dealings with any non-magical commoners in his life.
Zhan would be quizzing Yao on his progress of sorcery. Zhan was still practising the emergence level of sorcery. The sorcerers could take a maximum of 50 years to practice the emergence level of sorcery before they could reach the development level. Within the emergence level, sorcerers could choose different areas, such as combat and healing. For combat, sorcerers could practise channeling their magic into their weapons of choice, such as sword, sabre, whip and even needles. The Jin clan was famous for sword. The children practised with wooden swords. Yao had a dagger, a reward for attaining emergence at six years old. The silver dagger looked simple but inscribed with spells that maximised magic channeled through it. If the wielder was proficient, he or she could seriously injure the opponent with the dagger.
While the Jin clan sorcerers could choose weapons or even become healers, they faced slower progression as compared with other clans that were specialised in those areas with their secretive and sophisticated training systems. This was the same for the Jin clan; the clan sword manual was a closely guarded secret and clan member could be maimed for leaking it. However, the Jin clan was not satisfied; it was constantly experimenting with sorcery to improve the clan manual. However, the Jin clan did not make much headway. Simultaneously, the Jin clan continued to maintain high expectations of the clan members to excel. With resources limited, the clan only devoted resources to the more gifted members. The less talented members were sent to manage the various businesses, workers and slaves. In the Land of Xuan, many clans owned slaves. However, they needed their sorcery to bind the slaves every year. This was exhausting and so, the clans usually owned slaves to work in their important or secretive businesses. The slaves were monitored with sorcery and instantly killed if they had ill intent. The clan members were mostly too proud to ill-treat the workers and slaves, who were deemed to be inferior beings. For those that did, they were banished if their actions caused ill consequences to the businesses. For example, some workers ran away to rival clans, contributing their skills and knowledge of the Jin clan businesses. The banished members were usually robbed and killed by sorcerer bandits or lived impoverished lives until death. For the clan members who thrived, they could live like kings in their estates. Nevertheless, the Jin clan was cautious.
With the Land of Xuan being ruled by clans that maintained a balanced among themselves, but no clan was indispensable. Some clans were wiped out because the clan members overindulged in material needs and neglected their sorcery skills. Without strong skills, they were unable to defend their assets against the more powerful aggressors. After the clans were wiped out and the aggressors made off with their loot, the other clans stepped in to seize whatever remained of the assets. Therefore, most of the clans maintained discipline in their clans and wastrels were usually banished to barren lands, where they were unable to burden the clans.
Zhan was far from being a wastrel. While he might not be a prodigy like his son, Zhan was a responsible and diligent man who ran his silver mine meticulously. With silver being the main currency in the Land of Xuan, silver mines were a lucrative business. Zhan inherited the mine from his father, Guang, who was the youngest and favourite son of the clan leader two generations ago. Despite being the favourite, he was too young to be the clan leader. Therefore, the clan leader gave Guang a silver mine. This had created tensions between Guang and his older brothers. The tensions subsided after Guang ran the mine well and sent his brothers expensive gifts during various clan events.
While Guang was a prodigy, he understood the importance of maintaining good relationships with his older brothers, who were established in their clan businesses and allied with other strong clans through their wives. Nevertheless, Guang did not try to marry a woman from a more powerful clan. Usually, the clan would prefer men like his brothers, already established with connections. Although Guang had a silver mine, his influence was weak as compared with his brothers. For the powerful clans who expressed interest in marrying their daughters to him, Guang was wary. He did not want to provoke his brothers and weakened the Jin clan. Eventually, Guang married a woman from another combat sorcerer clan of equal standing to the Jin clan. The wives of the Jin brothers were all trained in sorcery. The clans trained most of their daughters in sorcery so that they could marry into clans of equal or stronger standing. After marriage, the daughters usually maintained ties with their families so as to maintain their standing in their husbands’ clans. The women would also recommend their brothers’ businesses or connections to their husbands in mutually beneficial deals. Therefore, the women’s families would assist their sons-in-laws or grandsons when needed. Like his father, Zhan also married a woman from another combat sorcerer clan of equal standing. For years, Zhan’s family had maintained an amicable relationships with his cousins, including the current clan leader. However, this was about to change soon.
