-Earth, summer 2007- 

A soft summer breeze was blowing through the leaves while the sun stood high in the sky, shining down intensely. A scent of flowers permeating throughout the area. 
One could find a lush vegetation, beautiful rose bushes and small white tulips in the garden of the Strono household. At the moment a young teenager with short curly, brown hair was repeating the same movement over and over again. An energy, slightly visible but yet intangible, could be seen coating the boy’s body. 
“Perfect, looks like you mastered body enhancing, with it you are faster, stronger and more robust. Remember, letting Force run through your body like that, will enhance your whole body’s structure exponentially, so from now on every moment you have enough Force train yourself with this method.” the ginger haired Paketa approved with a tint of pride in her voice.
“Hah...Hah...Phew… that took some time… finally it’s done, with that and all the offensive spells I mastered I should be an advanced Force manipulator, right?” after catching his breath Alexander asked excitedly. 
“That is correct! And I can with confidence say you are the youngest one at that! No one else accomplished this feat before even turning ten years old! And from now on I will allow you to invent personal spells with your unique Force and learn advanced spells like flight, teleportation and divination.” promised Mrs. Natpiea before dampening his mood somewhat, “As I have mentioned to you and your family quite often, from now on you will have to study in school for real again, this year’s subject focuses on crafting. I’m very bad at any kind of crafting to be honest and can just give you general tips.”
Alex took this calmly as he had heard the same sentences multiple times over the years, he knew that his private tutor couldn’t weave, chant or even produce the necessary materials for the crafting process.
As he had learned last year, weaving entailed the study of crafting Force armors, weapons or any kind of enchanted trinket, One would literally weave Force strings into lasting enchantments, granting people without space or time affinities the ability to teleport as well, for example. One would also need to master blacksmithing, tailoring or any kind of profession where one produces wearable goods. 
Chanting meant the process of brewing concoctions, imbuing Force into the components of the desired potion. The manipulators would be singing with a Force laced voice, empowering the ingredients’ own Force. Herbalist or alchemists are often known to dabble in this area.
Alex’s tutor was just too clumsy for any of the specific steps and nearly failed her middle school years because of it. That was also the reason she could only teach kids from the first to the fifth year. Any higher and she would be required to be either a Force Smith or Force Alchemist. 
“Well, that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to provide some help for you, I have some connections to manufacturers and I bet that fleet admiral Balluo’nok would sell you materials at the market price too, to get onto your good side. After that awkward meeting where you turned down their requests to study your body and Force pathways, he will surely want to entice you with benefits. I say you take advantage of that and promise him to share your personal circulation method with them, only if he asks for anything in return of course. That would rather help humanity and you could keep your secrets.” suggested Mrs. Natpiea, as she remembered how easily she was let go even when she falsified the records of Alex’s test.
The invitation the Stronos received three years ago made them all afraid their secret has been leaked but Kathia ensured them that if a leak really happened there wouldn’t be an invite but a spec ops team abducting them without anyone noticing. At least that was what she had heard of multiple of her elders, the federation and especially the top brass always looked for ways to strengthen their hold on the universe and talents like Alex had multiple purposes. Not all of them entailed him living though. 
Fortunately the federation’s representative didn’t insist on Alex taking a B.M.D. or E.S. test though and let them go after letting him know that sharing the results or circulation method would reward the whole family with lifelong privileges. 
“Well, I’ll think about it but first could you answer one of my questions?” asked Alex.
“Sure, go ahead!”
“Since last year when I have heard of the methods used by crafters I was wondering how can one make potions or armors by singing and knitting with Force? That just seems really unrealistic….” queried the young teenager.
Chuckling the Paketa responded, “Hahah, I guess it does seem very abstract when you describe those professions so simply! First let me ask you, do you think everything in the entire universe is able to utilize Force?”
“Of course not! Only sentient beings can truly use Force, beasts do so instinctively until they develop a consciousness too.” to this question Alex could only roll his eyes as that was something he learned during the first year.
“That is incorrect! Anything can gain a consciousness with enough time and even before that Force courses throughout everything, therefore all materials or plants or weapons use Force in their own way even while not being sentient! The curriculum entails letting kids gradually discover this secret as it could be too much to stomach in an instant.” explained Mrs. Natpiea.
“Wait, so you want to tell me that even a blade of grass or a sword could develop a mind of it’s own? That’s even more unrealistic than making armors by knitting!” complained the stubborn student, if something couldn’t be explained with logic by him, he was rather insistent on his own opinion, wrong or not. 
“Hah, well, it is what it is, no one knows for sure if really everything can gain consciousness but there are elementals and also living weapons recorded in the federations archives. And to your claims that you knit armor or sing to potions, don’t ever speak that sentence in front of a Force Smith or Alchemist, they would slap you to the end of the world, if not outright kill you! Force Smiths have to learn blacksmithing as you know so they produce the armor through the normal forging process and then weave Force strings together to form an intricate enchantment that is integrated into the desired pieces. Alchemists instead just strengthen the already existing Force in the ingredients with a chant that purifies. But they also have to invest a lot of time into studying all kinds of herbs and other resources, to then refine them into a form worth chanting for. Often they also help smiths with their work or Force Smiths dabble in chanting to improve their work’s quality. Naturally only masters do so since learning both professions requires tremendous effort, and only old monsters are able to reach a high degree in both subjects. What were you doing last year? I swear your 100% mind Force affinity is just for show! Pay a bit attention in class, I won’t always be here to guide you through your carelessness!” reprimanded his tutor begrudgingly, after noticing how much her favorite pupil slacked when she wasn’t watching.
“I know. It’s just so much theory and I like the practical training much more. Michelle, Konstatin, Sven, Angela and I always train together and it’s much more fun instead of sitting in class and listening to boring explanations, the teachers after you were also much less invested and not as good as you.” Alex shamelessly hit his tutors soft spot, seeing her disappointed look.
“So you are telling me that you only want to be taught by me, how cute of you. But by now I already know your sweet talking skills! It’s not going to work anymore, focus on your studies from now on otherwise all those years training and nurturing you would go to waste. From this new year I won’t be able to help you much and you have to work independently to improve!” not falling for her disciple’s shameless tactic she continued to berate him, knowing that he had to better himself.
Although Alex had an immense talent he got comfortable with his success and often wasted his time when he should be training or learning. He developed a slight addiction to gaming and with his group of friends, he sometimes spent hours in the virtual reality, rich with all sorts of entertainment. However, due to his talent he was able to still get good grades, letting him slack even more.
“Whatever, just diligently study your profession.” the Paketa could only sigh and ask, “Did you already decide which area you will choose first? Last year you should have learned the basics of both arts, so this upcoming one will be when you will choose either chanting or weaving. Later on you can also choose a specialization like Tech Force Smith, there are multiple choices and I implore you to think carefully about it as it will define your first steps as a master Force manipulator!”
“To be honest I didn’t really care about either of them, thinking it would be a waste of time, that I would rater spend on mastering spells. However, when I thought about how I would get to fight with a weapon soon, I realized how useful it would be to craft one’s own gear. Therefore I decided to become a Force Smith, maybe even specialize in Tech. Developing Force crafts for the VR would be awesome!” replied Alex.
This was the very first decision he would be able to make for himself so he was eager for his next school year to start. 
[Author’s thoughts:
I plan to make multiple time skips from now on until we reach the main story. The basis for the book is established and I feel like I shouldn’t drag Alex’s story for too long. It will still take at least ten chapters but not too much longer. 
PS: Sorry for not uploading yesterday but I thought I could take the day off after continuously writing for seven days. This will occur from time to time as I sometimes would like to take a break and not think about the book. Today for example I enjoyed writing way more and it also flowed better. So don’t fret if you don’t see a new chapter everyday! ^^]