“I have it!” I burst into the smithy with an ear-to-ear smile. Even though unauthorized people, just like myself, shouldn’t be allowed around here…

“And? Want a pat on the shoulder or something?” Zarah huffs but I know her well enough to not buy her act.

She stopped. Whatever she’s been making has been put to the side and her attention is on me. Big softie can’t be honest with herself.

“Can I help now?” I ask since almost everything made down here goes through a long and arduous process of enchantment.

And for the second time since asking her to teach me I witness a veritable battle of emotions happen on Zarah’s face. She chews on her lips, wrinkles her eyebrows, and looks through every weapon waiting for inscriptions. I really don’t think my question was all that complicated. Even those ears of hers easily an eight out of ten on the fluffy scale just by their looks funny as they wiggle around.

“Uhm, maybe you should practice first.” She finally offers, handing me some scrap mental for me to realize. Yeah, my skills probably aren’t at the Fist of Krieg standard yet. “Here, carve a rune of heat into this.”

I quickly visualize the Rune on the practically garbage metal and build a step-by-step process in my head… Then I realize yet another important tidbit I’ve failed to consider when picking my Class.

I’m still closer to drawing rather than carving. Especially since the Canals of Mana requires something real and liquid for me to do my thing. And liquid rarely likes hot metal.

“Yeah, maybe I should experiment a little first.” I nod, not dejected since becoming a weapon manufactory wasn’t the main objective from the start.

“Good, now shoo.” She waves me off and grumbles something under her nose since her previous work has by now cooled and is basically ruined.

“It’s okay, I’ll stay.” I answer. It’s clear it wasn’t a request but I’m more comfortable here. Even despite the heat.

Stealing some paper and a cup of water are all the preparations I need before finding an empty spot at a tiny table. Runes can have at max nine shape-defining features, which already goes to the detriment of power, at max two elemental features, four launch features, and a few other minor delicacies like mana delay, timer, and focus. Easy peasy. I’ve been doodling for months now… but for some reason, I’m feeling nervous.

“Okay, let’s start with something simple.” I mutter and something simple it is.

I dip my finger into the water and my Skill makes it stick to my skin, shimmer and spread smoothly once it touches the paper. The Urge to Create probably has a blast, Perfect Strokes is likely the only thing stopping my hand from shaking, and Merciless Scrutiny points out every tiny blemish even if they won't really affect the outcome.

It’s working.

A vertical line intersected near the top by two parallel, curved lines sweeping outward to the sides, like a stylized gust of air escaping the earth. The base, defining wind. That’s it.

Despite the task being braindead simple on the scale of true inscriptions, I’m drenched in sweat and feel absolutely exhausted. But it seems good.

As usual, the last step is to add a drop of mana.

Once my finger touches the water infused with my Skill, it glimmers for a fraction of a second before a gentle breeze begins to caress my face. It’s weak and uneven but that’s mostly due to how little mana I dare feed the symbol. Once the supply increases and the wind picks up…

“Tone it down, you-” Zarah is about to scold me as usual but as her eyes land on me and my shenanigans her irritated eyes go soft. She steps over and gives a quick look at my work before making the verdict. “It’s a little sloppy.”

“Hey!” I’m about to snap.

“But, I probably had worse things to call my product when I first started out.” Then she points at the two ends of the straight line. “It’s not common knowledge but if you thin narrow the two ends it’ll create sharper gales. If you make it stubby then the wind will be a little sluggish but have a greater push. Keep it up.” She nods and gets back to her work.

That was without a sliver of doubt praise. And I quite enjoyed it. She liked what I made and… it feels just as awesome as I imagined, especially since it came from someone like Zarah.

But I feel like, no, I know there’s room for more. Actually, I’ve been pondering on a certain Rune ever since we cleared the abomibunny cave. Mostly because I still haven’t figured out how to use light magic… Anyway, a sudden change in brightness, even just from completely pitch dark to basic daylight can suck. But what if I tuned that up by like a factor of nine and threw it into a room?

I’d sure hate it if that happened to me. I wouldn’t be able to see even my own eyelids, and would probably hit the ground within seconds, most likely dead.

“Hey, HEY!” I yell for attention over the sound of the roaring furnace and the ringing of metal. Zarah’s grunt tells me I have it. “What’s the symbol for light?”

Finding the basic four, water, fire, earth and air, in books was no issue but anything beyond that is hard to come by. Especially since the last step of every inscription work is encrypting it. A nasty thing. Totally understandable as well because if I were the artisan and someone tried to steal the idea behind my work I’d do my best to conceal it as well.

Zarah eyes me for a few seconds, likely contemplating my motives before one of her fingers turns into literal fire and she carves the symbol into the wall right by her side. And it’s not the first time she’s done that. There’s a complete tapestry of material composites, runes, shapes, or other random words on every surface.

“And what about sound?” Something brilliant begins to brew in my mind.

***

After only a few hours, far too few hours Martha found me and dragged me away to the courtyard. I wasn’t finished but she didn’t seem to care, even though I was so close to creating something devious.

“Eli, Valka, as it's only two days before you depart for Sereban,” Again, I add in my head to Martha’s little speech. “I want you to meet the other four cadets who’ll start their studies alongside you.” She motions towards the other four… I can’t really call us kids anymore. Youngsters? Yeah, that’ll do, so the four youngsters beside her.

Although no introductions are needed.

The moment I saw them it wasn’t hard to guess who I have the pleasure to. Not like it’s my first time meeting them or anything and had the displeasure of talking to some of these obnoxious bastards sometime in the past while I lived here.

They, as a team, are good as much as I hate to admit that. From left to right a massive boy acting as vanguard wielding the lava elemental with a tower shield, a girl a bit taller than me but shorter than Val, using a halberd to mow down anything in her path, a halfling guy with a crossbow as a sort of stealthy miniature ranger, and an elf girl throwing some nasty zaps.

There should be another one with dual swords and a barrier mage if I remember correctly… guess they were the weakest.

[Warrior lvl 73]

[Warrior lvl 76]

[Ranger lvl 72]

[Mage lvl 75]

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Although the rest of them aren’t too impressive either.

“These here are Bernard, Eva, Morbeg, and Tialha.” Martha tries to create a friendly atmosphere. “They are-”

“If you have any honor left in you then step back and give your posts back to those who deserve it.” The halfling basically grows, starting the conversation I was kinda looking forward to. “Sheer luck and favoritism are the only reason you two were selected instead of Tim and Fritz. Those stupid Blessings of yours are nothing compared to the hard work they put in to reach where they are.”

Man, this is so cliché… They’ll keep yapping, we’ll have a short and pointless argument and in the end, the two of us will simply hand them their asses once they get too loud.

Valka takes a deep breath to start the verbal beatdown before I grab her arm. She eyes me, questioning why I stopped her but I just shake my head a little with a thin smile.

This is way too good.

“Yeah, they deserve this opportunity more than anyone.” The big, no, medium girl continues the empty debate. “Our teamwork is flawless and the two of you destroy the composition we’ve been working on for years. We won’t even be able to compete in the team tournaments because of the two of you!”

So either Martha told them a different story to sound less biased or they drank extra deep from the cope juice today.

“Are you done?” Valka's level, almost quiet voice interrupts my entertainment. She’s most likely not enjoying this farce as much as I do. “If you think they worked harder than anyone else and are so deserving of this privilege then give up your spots.” She crosses her and raises an eyebrow mockingly. “C’mon, do what you preached about, do the right thing, step back, and let one of them take your place!”

“Stop it!” Martha finally groans, seemingly in pain while massaging her temples. “You’re on the same side, don’t-”

“Please stay out of this Captain.” “It’s already on, Martha.” Eva and I shoo her back to the sideline as one.

The girl looks me in the eyes and scoffs. “Let me be straight; you don’t deserve this. Be good and don’t make things more difficult just because you think you’re a little special.”

“Be honest with yourselves, we are stronger.” I take over the berating tournament hopeful to get them even more mad and this whole thing more enjoyable. “If I’m honest I think even the four of you would only last about five minutes against us two, so I have to ask… what delusion makes you think we don’t deserve to go to the Academy?”

She huffs like I just told a joke. “You’re older, bitch. Even farmers can boast about their level with decades under their belts.”

I didn’t write them off right away when Martha shared the situation with me. I was willing to give them a chance like I did with August, and just tolerate each other. But I just can’t stand this level of stupidity. We should be within their Identify level range, even if just barely, so… No, I can’t even fathom how this whole thing isn’t dead obvious to them.

“Why don’t you prove it then, huh?” The halfling asks. “If you’re so confident then let’s do it. But if you lose you have to give up your spots.”

“That’s not how this works.” Martha states before we can make any stupid bets.

“And what if we win?” I raise an eyebrow, almost purring as I play with my food. “There’s nothing in this for us. You’re just wasting-”

Valka slaps a hand on my mouth. “Fine but if we win you’ll do your best to avoid us and shut the fuck up.” Then she winks at me. “You think we can lose this?”

No you idiot, I wanted to scam them!

“Fine, whatever!” Martha throws her arms up. “Damn children with Krieg putting the words in their mouth. Do it, don’t listen to me, your elder, superior, and instructor! Duke it out all you want, just be prepared because after you’re done, it’ll be my turn.” She’s pointing her finger at us with sparks dancing around in her hair. “And why is it that you’re always involved one way or the other?” She looks at me specifically.

I simply gawk at the accusation that’s not exactly baseless yet not on point this time. I didn’t start it.

I was looking forward to this. I’m not an advocate of violence and do hope to solve issues in any other way before starting a wreck fest… This was not such a case.

Since this is the Fort and everyone is always in training uniform for convenience’s sake, and because they’re kinda comfy, all we have to do is take up position in the courtyard and wait for the signal to start the fight.

“What were you thinking?” I slap Val as the other side discusses strategy. “What if we lose?”

“Will we?” She huffs.

“No, but we are supposed to be the more refined people. The good guys.”

“Wow, someone is grumpy. Didn’t sleep well?” She pats my head and I bite, although she doesn’t even flinch as my teeth close on her hand.

“Nah, bah ah goff me neu clafs.” I answer.

And she understands my every word. “For real? You picked a new Class? Wanna test your Skills first?”

I spit her hand out, left with a generous amount of saliva, before answering. “Nah, none of the Skills is exactly made of combat so I want to get this over with and get back to the smithy.”

Maybe the Aggressive Mana Scribe would’ve served me better… No Eli, think about it in the long run! But man I would’ve loved to give a proper test for some of my new toys. I’m not quite ready for that, not yet.

“Jokes aside, I’m here to win this and I know I will win because that’s what we agreed on.” I’m once again met with Val’s good old indomitable gaze. “What about you?”

“Fine, I get it. Now shut up and help me come up with the best approach to teaching them a valuable lesson.” I mutter in defeat. After my duel against Val, the rabbits, crabs, and countless other smaller bouts in the name of training I think I’m ready to fight properly again.

Sadly on the information front, they have a tiny advantage over us. Everyone saw the battle between Val and me when we arrived so our hands were mostly revealed. Except maybe the second Classes and things like plasma…

Who do we have to take out first?

“The halberd could be dangerous.” Valka remarks as if reading my mind.

She can weather cuts and bites with little difficulty however there are Skills that either heat up the blade, make it sharper, use some nasty wind coating, etc. They do some serious damage and would have no problem slashing through Valka’s Manaforged.

Our opponents will no doubt protect the Mage at all costs since she’s their best shot against a tank. The Ranger will be hard to catch and that tower shield can survive a lot of punishment… The halberd has to go first.

We also come with a few contingencies. For example, if they dogpile on Val we estimate she can weather their combined might long enough for me to decimate all four of them. If they target me, which is way more likely, I’ll stall and keep them at bay while Val hunts down the mage and hopefully the halberd.

It’s never optimal to make extremely convoluted plans, only for them to fail and leave you in even deeper shit than just marching head in and skipping the whole planning phase. I’m sure there are some Master Strategists who can even figure out when a fly is gonna fart but for us simple is the way to go.

“Let’s get this over with!” Martha shouts, clearly not in the greatest mood. “Everyone ready?”

This is another weird feature of duels you only realize after being ambushed once or twice. Nobody cares if you’re ready, or rather the enemy will wait until you aren’t before they strike. I still nod like everyone else and Martha lets us loose.

“Go, beat each other up you feral-”

Both sides bolt forward to grasp the initiative. Despite us being stronger individually by quite a bit, we’re still not invulnerable against pincer attacks. While the other side needs to maneuver carefully because there’s no way they can withstand our concentrated assault, we stick together and force them to reveal their hands.

Valka rushes forward and I keep close to avoid being separated as our opponents break into two groups. The shield dude with the mage at his back while the ranger swings around to flank with the halberd close behind.

They’ve decided on a textbook hammer and anvil tactic against us to hit the vulnerable backline, while the anvil, or shield in this case, holds us back. This destroys all our plans with a move we never accounted for.

This is a joke, right? Do they not realize I can’t be taken down like this?

“Eli I should-” Valka stops and tries to adjust the plans but we’ve fought side by side long enough to read each other’s thoughts.

“Go!” I yell and continue forward.

They are giving us victory on a silver plate. Mage on mage I demolish the elf and the shield can’t really block anything I shoot around it in the first place. Val might need a little help if the energy is too slippery but I can’t see her losing. Seems like our enemy has terrible luck when it comes to thinking, be that debates or plans.

Tialha, the elf mage, ducks out from behind the advancing shield with lighting already crackling between her fingers. Premonition snitches on the trajectory of her attack based on her eyes and her partner’s movement. I choose to create the easiest and cheapest shield possible by simply shifting the ground under the charging vanguard’s feet and dragging him in the attack's path.

The boy manages to keep his balance through some miracle or rather through the aid of a Skill but completely fails to defend against the lightning slamming into his back. It’s lightning, it’s meant to be fast. The warrior remains standing but clearly the both of them are flustered after the comical blunder. And I haven’t even attacked yet.

They regroup, wasting their initiative and I don’t even push them any further to force more mistakes out of their already shaky teamwork. It would be overkill. I’m seriously concerned if this is the best the Fist could find. They hide behind the shield once more positioning themselves to force me away from the other three duking it out.

Yet despite the tense atmosphere I only dance and hum. A jolly tune I heard at the crab festival and movements that carry no mana. It’s merely a distraction.

My ridiculing eyes meet Tialha’s as I let the bolt of lighting loose from the edge of my Ethereal Stage straight at her chest. Since she has the element and the Skill that goes with it, the damage should be minimal so it’s all good.

Still, I find this almost insulting… Maybe my standards are a little skewed.