“Thanks again Gar.” Clain said as he left the Inn for the last time as he was set to move into the academy prepared residences.

It had already been a week since the revelation to him by the Magus. Now he was to report to the Headmistress to receive further instructions to his additional role and the functions that came with it.

After a few knocks on the large and sturdy door he announced himself waiting for a reply, “Clain Crispin here for your Headmistress.” 

“Enter.” came the clear reply, unmuffled the deceptively thin door. 

Clain pulled on the doors open with ease and noticed the light flickering of the enchantments placed upon it.

“Still intrigued by the enchantments Mr. Crispin?” The Headmistress Artrask asked.

“In all honesty ma'am, yes.” He said facing her straight on but then moved towards the seat to the side of her simple, hardwood work desk.

“That was a masterwork of an Erun enchanter specialized in structural enchanting and so is this.” As she finished her statement her eyes began to glow and so did the walls of the room connecting to the whole of the academy building as the veins of enchantment-laden metal snaked beneath the plastered walls.

Most of those already in the Academy took no heed of the glow or gave cursory notice to the light glow. But those who were new or uninformed stopped in their tracks alarmed or surprised by the uniform glow. They were kindly filled in by other passers by about the occurrence and went back to their motions.

“A small thing, keeps the walls clean most of the time though it can be a warning system or a fortifying bolster to the whole of the structure.” She explained as she took her hand off of an octagonal crystal jutting out from behind the table to her right and was slowly descending back into the floor leaving no sign of being there in the first place.

“Now back to the matter at hand.” She remarked and snapped him at attention. “For now you should know the reasons we serve. First, is that we, the holders of the living tattoos, are to safeguard Trask and its people in times of DIRE need. Second, is the advancement of one's knowledge and skills and its impartation or recording into the academy. And lastly, to value the sanctity and protection of life against forces natural or unnatural for the good all. In shorter words we protect this city, better ourselves and share it, and to help others.”

“Seems simple enough.” He remarked. “Anything else more specific ma'am?”

“I take it that you are familiar with common law at Trask?” She asked, to which Clain responds with an affirmative nod. “Then no. Then for now you just continue with the imparting of your casting technique and also you are to report to a forge and engraver. Bring these with you.” 

Clain received two clear white envelopes with the seal of the school melted into the wax glob. One had a mark of an anvil with rabbit ears while the other had a small vertical chisel crossed in front by two thin pointed bars with sharp tips.

“The forge, I take it you already know where?” She replied with a quick nod. “Good. I advise you pass that second one to the vice-captain of the city guard. You can find him either at the main barracks just next to the academy or find him at the main martial courses sparring sessions.”

“Anything else Headmistress?” Clain asked

“Nothing, that would be all.” The lady Artrask waved to him and went to a stack of bound once the young instructor left.

The next day, Clain was free and went to the forge in a fairly quick manner as he was made familiar with the area and passed it a few times before but had yet to enter the establishment. Though it did strike him whenever he passed near the area, that was the near constant and rhythmical clink of metal on metal. It reminded of something of interest he had never seen except only in his dreams, a mechanism of gears, springs, nuts and bolts made in sheer precision and artistically housed in an exquisite shell decorated with all pomp and regal flare that nobility might no doubt want it all for themselves. A thing of craftsmanship that his strange dreams were giving him the understanding was that it was a tool for “telling the time.”

He was pulled back into the here and now as he found himself standing before the door of the forge.

He gave the sign hanging above a quick look to confirm that it was indeed the “Long Ears Forge”. He then thought to himself “Might as well get those over with” and promptly entered and heard the sound of the bell upon opening and closing the door.

The sounds of hammering seemed to lose a pair strikes though that didn't detract much towards the remaining tempo of three hammers pounding away in the background. Clain only had a few short moments to admire the various pieces and sets of armor and weapons before a door behind the counter opened and revealed a pair of gray bunny ears with a tied back head of brown hair.

“Good morning and welcome to the Long Ears Forge. What may I help you with sir?” The cute little face said after stepping onto a raised portion behind the counter.

He simply handed the letter after a quick bow as the still smiling young lady received the letter. “Ah. Yes. Wait one moment please. Please look around, maybe you might find something of interest.” Then disappeared quickly back into the doorway behind the counter.

Clain just then noticed that the 'clerk’ which greeted him had on a leather apron and even through the slightly sooty sleeves she also had on, still gave away a hint of built muscle. 'A bunny blacksmith’ he mused to himself before turning back to giving the displayed pieces a closer look.

'Seems like the surfaces on the armors and weapons are prepared to be able to carry an inscription or two.’ It isn't much but was an awfully considerate little thing a smith could offer as these touches were a bit fiddly in nature and often skipped by  other smiths unless things were made for specific commissions.

In Clain's thoughts, “These weapons and armour were made in a way that a common citizen may be able to purchase after a few good seasons of harvest or an affluent one could get decorated and enhanced to no end.” And he noticed the sounds of hammering had stopped for a few moments already and the door behind the counter opened to let out two pairs of ears.

“Come over lad.” The strong voice said more as a request than a command.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Clain compiled and stood before the powerfully built rabbit. Then eyed him head to toe and took a quick look around Clain which had worn a plain reddish brown doublet over a nice off-white shirt, loose brown pants and a pair of well-worn boots.

“Your weapons?” The bunny asked him

“I am just fine with a bow and sling, better with a crossbow. Still just fine with a spear and a two-handed sword but I much prefer a short sword or half spear with a round shield.” He listed off in response.

“Any magic and imbuing affinity?” The smith then asked.

To which Clain stepped back and unsheathed a small dagger off his belt and then proceeded to draw a tune with his free hand over his weapon and at the same time was calmly muttering a spell. And after a breath, the rune flared to life and the liquid out of his water sack half flew onto the blade and half in front of his open palm. The dagger then took on three times its length and was now like that of a proper short sword and the rest of the water became a free-floating shield.

The older bunny then looked to the younger one and nodded and she then handed him a half spear behind her. Then with great quickness  the old smith struck. Once, twice, thrice and finally a fourth the series of attacks ended as Clain was pushed back two steps, barely managing the first two strikes on his shifting fluid shield, parrying the last two and was ready with a flash spell to be followed by a downward cut. Only to stop just before releasing the spell as the smith relented.

“Good enough. The name's Dale. Now follow me.” the older bunny quickly introduced himself before disappearing through the door.

 Clain's thoughts were at a blank as he dispelled his flash and the gathering mana for an icicle bolt he had planned on following with after his now-halted lunge.

“I'm Glen by the way. Best be moving now.” The younger bunny said as she bolted the front door closed.

And so he walked towards the back of the counter and carefully dropped the water he had used as a shield and blade extension into a cleaning pail.

He followed Glen as they passed into a larger display area which made Clain wonder of the rank and status of this forge. “These works here could rival the better gear within the royal armory back in Rothram.” He thought to himself. They stopped at the end of the room just before another door before Glen began to give him instructions.

“First, please take out your personal armor and weapons, and equip them. Relax dad won't be testing you wearing it.” She said, stopping the rise of Clain's anxiety and proceeded to take out his armor from his storage and wear it. “Is that all? Okay, now take a few steps back and follow the motions I am going to do.” 

Dale came from the other side of  the door and was holding something in his hand. The grizzled old smith simply watched as Glen led the series stretching and mobility exercises noticing the armor harness that Clain had produced from a satchel that hung behind him on his belt.

At the end of the motions, he stood there clad in his full set catching his breath. His helm was a sallet with a short tail and a beavor to protect the mouth and throat. The padded cap underneath had a bit of mail to drape behind the neck and rest on the top of the shoulders. He had a solid single chest piece on the front and segmented plates in the back joined together by leather thongs and worn over a mail shirt, to which the sleeves cut midway on the forearm with bits of rounded plate to cover shoulders and elbows. The rest of the forearms and the wrists were protected by a vambrace and hourglass gauntlet combination with fingers of segmented plate stitched over leather. His mail shirt went over his waist and reached halfway over his thighs. He had mail breeches underneath and ended around the ankles and these were further reinforced by a covering of a plate leg harness which only covered the front of the thighs, knees, shins and feet. For ease of movement he had soft leather shoes with  hardened soles as some bits of plate covered the top of his feet to the tips of his toes.

Admittedly this was Clain's “heavy/soldier set” as most of the time he would be using only a mix of parts of the armor at times whenever appropriate and had only used the full combination for two monster horde subjugations, aside from the occasional heavy training sessions.

For the next few minutes only the sounds of lightly labored breaths and the clinking of metal links were audible. Then the session ended as Glen called out to her father.

“Was that enough dad?” to which was replied with a nod. But was then followed by a question.

“Where is your wand lad?” 

To which the now calm assistant instructor/researcher pulled off a gauntlet and let the living tattoo manifest on his bare hand and released mana which formed into a benign-looking orb of swirling green, blue, yellow and white.

“A multi-elemental mage using shield and sword. Now this has become much more interesting.” The younger smith remarked as the older one nodded while in thought before moving towards one of the sets of armor off to the side.

Having at least two elements was common for any mage and having only one or three was less common, the rarer were four and legendary had five. Namely, all the elements were fire, water, earth, wind, light and dark. The former four were like points on a wheel where one was effective towards the other and weak to another, while light and dark were opposite to one another.

“Mister Crispin. It if you don't mind me asking, can you meld elements?” Glen asked with a mix of curiosity and inquisitiveness.

To which she was answered with “Its fine but I'm afraid to disappoint as I am only able to cast them individually with confidence and anything less than a full incantation, a magic circle and a casting tool is needed for me to let out any noteworthy spell.” Something Clain is striving to improve with the help of the Magus.

“Try this on.” Dale handed him what looked to be like an integrated shield and gauntlet. 

The piece itself was quite simple and plain with the fist having articulate fingers with similar fingerplates affixed to a sturdy leather glove. A padded lining was on the inside of the forearm sleeve and the shield portion was like that between an ovate and round shape as it ran the length over the wrist and ending on the elbow but not as wide across.

Clain tried it on and found it a little tight with the mail and padding he had on.

“Try channeling some mana now, like you would with your warding.” Dale instructed

Clain followed and focused his attention towards the task at hand. And shortly after, he found the same sized mana shield he regularly used but then noticed the relative ease in forming and maintaining the whole ward. Not only that, there was an efficiency to it that he felt he could've been able to hold warding/shield spell three times longer. He then thought to himself, “What if…” and looked to towards the old smith.

Dale his gaze and nodded a “Go ahead” which set him to task in 'sculpting’ the shape of ward. First thing that came to mind was doubling the thickness. Next he did was thinning it back down while making it twice the size. After that was shaping it into a diamond, curved rectangle and then a convex oval. Finally Clain made the ward contort and curve around his arm and fist forming a gauntlet of mana that was thrice the size of his actual hand.

“As expected of someone from the academy.” The old smith said approvingly as he intently watched the display of spell manipulation the assistant instructor had made.

“Thank you sir. You are too kind.” Clain responded as he himself admittedly improved by leaps and bounds even in his short two months in the Trask. The whole truth being, was that once the Magus found out his affinity yet lack of both melding elements and a large mana pool, he had been drilled and pushed to his limit at the same time taught to be efficient and cost effective with his mana use. The result of which made him more confident and versatile with shaping and molding mana for counter spell slinging and making tools out of them to efficiently make use of his limited resources. The tidbits of inspiration from the ‘dream/memories’ he sometimes had were also a factor, it giving him the creativity and insight for his current combat methodology.

Content with the gauntlet-cum-casting tool, Clain loosened the straps to return the piece. And after handing it to a waiting Glen, Dale asked him a question.

“Anything else you might want to add to this?” he said with a bit of sterness in his tone.

Clain then accessed the storage of the brooch fixed on his doublet. “Can you add this to the metal to use for the gauntlet?”