0:140 on the 67th day of Winter

My palms were sweating as I entered the mage testing room. I had already finished the physical testing. They had me run around a track, do a bunch of body weight exercises, and lift a bunch of bags loaded down with different amounts of supplies and then do it all over again. It had gone well enough. They weren't exactly looking for physical fighters and I had served in the iron legion reserves for years. Now I had to pass the mage test.

Arin and I had talked about mage testing several times so I thought I was prepared. However, the method I had worked out to cheat the test was highly dependent on how the test actually worked. I thought I knew but I could be wrong. Looking around I saw a bunch of exotic equipment. It was like a gym from earth but I couldn't recognize any of the machines.

The teenage girl that was ahead of me in line downstairs was standing at a large device with a middle-aged man holding a clipboard. I moved closer to see if I could learn how the tests would be done.

"Now place your hands on the base of the device." said the proctor. "When I say go, use your magic to spin the ring as fast as you are able. One, two, three, go."

As he said go, the device they were standing by began to spin. It was a vertical axle with a ring around it and an mechanical speed governor. The weighted balls spun around the center, moving out farther depending on how fast it was spinning. The device spun faster and faster until the girl let out a breath and it started to slow back down. The proctor recorded the reading of exactly how far out the weights moved before turning back to her.

"That's all Mage Flood." he said. "You can proceed to the barracks on the ninth floor to be assigned your room and schedule."

I was startled by her name. I caught her eye as she left the room and she certainly resembled my master. Perhaps a daughter or a niece?

"Are you just going to stand there?" said the proctor.

I jogged up to him.

"Mage Aegis." I said with a respectful nod.

He looked at his clipboard before finding my name and ushering me over to another testing station.

"Light mage testing is a bit simpler than the others." he said pointing to a large glass orb set into a metal frame on top of a table. "This ball has been enchanted to test the ability of light mages. You try to make it light up and it will glow different colors depending on how strong your magic is."

I looked at the orb. There was a kind of stone taken from the back of a rainbow basilisk that would have the same effect. This could just be a polished channel. Or this could be something more complicated.

"May I touch it?" I asked. "And, if you don't mind telling me, what color am I going for?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you can touch it." he said. "And no, I won't tell you about the color scale. Just try for white and the ball will do the rest."

I moved forward and put my hands on the orb. Looking at it under my microscope I found the same sort of complex fractal structures as I had found in other channels. I couldn't make heads or tails of them but I didn't have to.

Reaching around to the back I formed the image of a microcore in my mind. Curling my hands around the orb I started to work. I formed half a dozen microcores in between my fingers before sliding them forward to fuse them to the outside of the device. Each was putting out a small amount of light mana and soon the orb started to glow. First a dark red, then orange, then yellow. I got engrossed with my task and just kept going until I heard a sound behind me. I turned to see the proctor had dropped his clipboard. His eyes were wide in shock.

"S rank light magic." he whispered.

My eyebrows went up. The ball was glowing a deep violet by now. Arin was only A rank which meant she was stronger then nine out of ten other light mages. Maybe I overdid it. I reached into the microcores and started blocking their reaction loops. The ball's glow moved back down the rainbow colors, passing red before shutting off entirely. I kept my hands on the orb to clean up as much of the evidence of my trick as possible. After another measure I was confident that even a close inspection wouldn't find anything.

I removed my hands and turned to the proctor. He had retrieved his clipboard by now and was looking at me with a bit of awe. Yep, definitely over did it.

"Well, what's next?" I asked.

He seemed to come to his senses at the question.

"Nothing. I mean you're done." he said, stumbling over his words before regaining his composure. "Please proceed to the ninth floor where you can get your barracks assignment."

I simply nodded and left the room. What's done is done.

I passed and that was what was important.

***

0:025 on the 68th day of Winter

The next day I found myself right back in front of the testing orb. I was cursing myself for yesterday’s slipup. This time the proctor and I were joined by a short, stern-faced man in a much fancier uniform than mine.

"As I was saying Mage Aegis. Please, repeat the test just as you did yesterday." said the proctor.

He told me his name was Muotrih when he came to drag me out of bed this morning. The other man still had not introduced himself, though I recognized the mage commander rank insignia on him. I just shrugged and got to work. Just as before, the orb shifted through the colors of the rainbow until it was glowing a bright violet.

"Stop!" called the commander. I turned to look at him. "How are you doing that?" he asked.

His face was scrunched up in confusion. This was still roughly according to plan. My version of light magic was weird. I knew that, so the story was not that I was a regular light mage but a special kind of light mage with my own advantages and disadvantages. So, before he could come to his own conclusions I provided my own explanation.

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"My light magic works a bit different from most." I said. "I imbue things with light."

Without fanfare, I took my hands away from the orb. Muotrih was clearly shocked but the commander's expression was unchanged.

"I'm not all that strong," I said. "But I can keep on imbuing more and more light magic into the test orb. I just kept going until it glowed violet."

The commander walked forward to look at the orb. I was confident that my work on the back of it was obscured by the bright light it was emitting. I started sweating when he placed his own hand on it. It was then I noticed that he had one of the death magic detector bracelets they handed out after the worm summoning. My heart stopped for a mark before I realized that it was currently inert, indicating that no death magic was present. I thanked Mez for all the practice I had put in to suppress any trace of radiation from the printer spell. After a couple of marks he took his hand away from the orb and turned back to me.

"How long will that last?" he asked.

I resisted the urge to sigh in relief before looking at the glass ball. Should I lie? No, part of this was hiding my death magic but another part was to serve Cinder and by extension humanity. I wasn't going to cut corners if I didn't have to.

"I think the channel will wear out before my magic does." I said. "If I remember the reference text right that will be in about three years at this level of output. Maybe less given that it has been used for some time already. I could make it last longer with a red output."

The commander started scratching his salt and pepper stubble. He moved away from the orb so I started carefully, oh so carefully, removing the cores from the back. I kept an eye on his bracelet and it showed no sign of activation. Well that is a huge relief. When I finished he had turned back to look at me.

"You present me with a bit of a challenge, Mage Aegis." he said. "First, your magic is not right. It doesn't work how it should and that bothers me. But we are under siege so I can ignore that for now. Let the researchers figure it out if we all live that long."

He took out a long straight pipe and stuffed some dry leaves in a small slot in the middle. Despite being inside, in a room full of delicate equipment, he then proceeded to light the leaves with a wave of his hand. I winced involuntarily thinking of all of the parallel realities that were just destroyed so this guy didn't have to use a lighter. He seemed to think I was wincing because of his odious habit because he sounded annoyed as he continued.

"Second, most light mages act as signalmen." he said pulling smoke through the pipe and letting it out. Muotrih coughed and moved back but the commander didn't seem to notice his discomfort.

"With how slow your magic works, I don't imagine you'd be any good at that." he said but I held up a finger before he could go on.

I pulled out my signaling rod from my belt and held it up. I had set up a memory bank where I could store pre recorded signal messages. I pushed the button for the first one and the marble at the top started flashing.

I can signal. I said.

Not being an idiot I put on my signaling goggles. Sure enough the commander responded. Without moving a muscle his right hand lit up in a series of colors.

Is that so? he said. Well then let's see if you are listening. Take one step to your right.

After taking one step to my right I pushed the trigger for the second message I had queued up.

It takes me longer to compose a message, but after I do I just have to activate it. I said.

He raised an eyebrow.

"May I see it?" he asked, this time using his voice.

I handed it over to him and he immediately found the controls. He replayed both messages and then looked at me.

"Your creations work on their own?" he asked. "Do you need to maintain them? Is there a limit to how many you can make?"

"Yes, I can make items that work on their own. No, they shouldn't need maintenance but I am the only one that could fix a broken one. Yes, materials and mana both constrain how quickly I can make them but that is all." I explained.

He started scratching his stubble again as he smoked his pipe. I could practically see the gears of his military mind turning. Strategy in war is always based on the technology available to fight with. Guns changed how wars were waged but it took a long time for armies to develop the tactics that made them a game changer. It was really starting to bother me that I didn't know the commander's name. I wish the uniforms here came with a name tag.

Finally, he seemed to come to a decision.

"I will have to see what you can make before committing to anything." he said. "For now, you are almost useless as a light mage. Don't feel bad, all new light mages are useless at first. We need to get you an encryption amulet and train you how to use it. But that takes time and we don't have time." He took another drag on his pipe before continuing. "No, instead I am going to introduce you to some folks that work on signaling items for the legion. If you can really do what you say then they are going to make the best use of you."

With that he turned to the door and started to leave.

"Keep up!" he yelled at me and I hurried after him.

We went down two levels and three long hallways before entering what was obviously a workshop. Unlike Flood's workshop this one was extremely well funded. It was like a modern machine shop but instead of electricity, most of the crafting equipment clearly ran on water mana, or I should really call it space mana. There were auto-hammers, a lathe, and I could see a large drill press in the corner. There were a half dozen people in the room working, undistracted by our entrance. I may have just died and gone to heaven.

"Irmingar!" yelled the commander.

That caused everyone in the room to stop what they were doing and look at us. Out of a back office came a stocky young man in dirty leather coveralls.

"What!? Oh, Commander Reod. How can I help you?" He asked. So that was his name.

"I have a new light mage I don't know what to do with." said Reod while gesturing at me. "I think he could be very useful to you. I'll come back in a few days for a report. If you can't get anything out of him I will take him off your hands but until then try and get him to help you with the signaling devices for non-mages."

Without another word he turned and left.

Irmingar eyed me with a skeptical expression.

"Hi, I'm Theod." I said, extending my hand.

"I'm Irmingar, but you knew that." he said, shaking it. "We have a team of folks already on the project but if Reod thinks you can help then I guess I can show you what we're working on." He led me back to his office where he proceeded to retrieve a file labeled 'signalers.' He set the file open in front of me and I started reading.

Project name: signalers

Lead crafter: Irmingar Magma

Funding: 280 aurum per season.

Description: Tactical operations have requested portable communication devices. Light mage signalers currently provide the majority of long range communication support, with signal flags providing medium range support. However, this means that tactics are limited by the number of light mages. Further, risking light mages on dangerous recon missions leads to many losses. Portable communication items would enable more flexible tactics, better reconnaissance, and fewer light mage deaths.

Requirements

1) Capable of sending messages in signal

2) Operational life of at least eight hours

3) Minimum clear weather signal range of five kilometers

4) Robust design for field deployment

Constraints

1) The item must be light enough to carry into battle.

2) The item must take less than twenty days for craftsmen to make and cost less than 100 aurum in materials.

3) Maintenance must be limited to cleaning and changing out magic cores.

The folder contained schematics for several permutations of the design but before I could dive any deeper Irmingar interrupted me.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked.

Looking up from the folder I gave him a broad smile. They didn't know it yet but what they needed was a radio.

"Ya” I said. “I think I can help with this."