Cael tugged at the collar of the uniform he'd changed into. If it was any stiffer, he’d likely have started chafing by now. He glanced at Tar on his shoulder with a little bit of jealousy. The cat didn’t have to wear any of the same heavy cloth or the accessorized metal plates that Cael did.

To be fair, his last set of clothes had been sufficiently bloody and full of enough holes to make it immodest, but the ineffective plates of etched metal strapped across his chest almost made him miss it.

The ornamental armor consisted of a breastplate that covered only his chest and back and a single vambrace on his left forearm. The vambrace had been easy to figure out, but he’d struggled to tighten the breastplate while it was on him, and literally couldn’t put it on if he tightened it beforehand.

Not a single one of the voices in his head had a clue on how to put it on, so he’d been forced to ask her. Tar didn't have enough physical strength to help.

He turned to face the spector again, who had introduced herself as Balbanda while helping him with the armor, only to find that she was nowhere to be seen.

“Uh.”

‘She turned left one hall back.’ Tar flicked his tail pointedly and Cael backtracked.

“So,” Balbanda began, “Did you really come here to apply for our school or just to break our dungeon?”

“I broke the dungeon?” Cael furrowed his brow.

“Well, you popped out of a spatial rift, covered in a multitude of wounds, and then the rest of the applicants fell out too.” She waved her hand, “Since the dungeon is restricted to low-threat trials, you are the most suspicious. You being a changeling also works against you, as I am sure you are aware of the stigmas.”

Considering he’d been accused of murdering himself a couple of times, he could guess what she meant.

‘He is a changeling. Lying is what they do.’ Ava parroted the antagonistic bear, and… yeah. That was also probably a stereotype of some sort.

“I promise I didn’t mean to break it. I arrived on Codisco this, uh.” Cael paused, unsure if a full day had passed since he’d entered Ava’s dungeon. “How long ago did we enter the dungeon?”

“Yesterday morning,” Balbanda answered.

“Right. I only got on this planet yesterday morning and Mereo was recommended to me as a good academy to apply to.”

“So you don’t have any reputable connections that you are willing to claim.” She guessed correctly.

“Exactly.” Cael agreed. “I was hoping Mereo would accept me.”

Balbanda hummed to herself. “Well, if you aren’t in jail at the end of this, you will likely be forced to take classes here anyway. Mereo would be ill-advised to allow you to leave after breaking a successfully augmented dungeon.”

‘Shit.’

“What is it?” He turned to the cat.

‘He’s going to lose our bet.’ Ava announced smugly.

“I’m sorry?” Cael looked into the void where Tar’s eyes would have been if he’d had them.

‘Yeah. I thought you were going to be thrown out, but Ava disagreed. Said you were going to be incarcerated.’

Cael didn’t want either of them to win. “When did this even happen?”

‘You were unconscious for a long time.’ Ava replied defensively.

‘We are easily bored.’ Tar answered more honestly.

Cael rolled his eyes and followed Balbanda into a brightly lit laboratory.

The lab, interestingly enough, was not made of the same white stone of every other building in the city. Instead, the large room was lined with a layer of tree bark.

‘Is that clepar wood?’ Ava perked up.

‘That’s what the System calls it.’ Tar confirmed. ‘What does it do?’

‘It eats mana. In this lab, it’s probably a safety feature.’ She informed them, ‘If something goes wrong, they can activate it and drain the whole room.’

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“What are we doing here?” Cael asked the spector.

Balbanda blinked (Winked?) at him. Is it either if you only have one eye?

“Don't tell the old bear. It’s my lab. I make enchanted items and experimental artifacts.” She picked up a small cube on a table. “For instance, this box is meant to act as a pseudo-familiar. It’s one of my unfinished projects. I never managed to make it change its shape.” She stared at Cael meaningfully.

“What exactly does that have to do with me?” Cael asked cautiously. He’d been dissected enough for one week.

‘I thought you said it was fine!’ Tar complained at that thought.

‘It would be concerning if he didn’t at least hold it over your head for a bit.’ Ava pointed out. The shadow elemental grumbled unhappily back at her.

“I wish to ask you some questions and take a few drops of blood.” Balbanda waved her fingers and a small booklet appeared in her hand.

A glance at the font size made Cael hope those weren’t the questions she wanted to ask.

“Can't you ask someone else?”

She shrugged dismissively. “Changelings are difficult to find, and when they are discovered, they usually aren’t in the mood to talk.”

To be fair, Cael didn’t really want to answer all those questions either. More importantly, he didn’t even know if he could. For the most part, Cael was missing a lot of the knowledge a changeling should probably have, and the few days he’d had to learn had been a little hectic.

“You may ask whatever questions you’d like,” Cael decided, “But it is my choice whether or not I answer them.”

“That’s wonderful!” Balbanda exclaimed. She sounded ecstatic, but Cael figured she would still be disappointed with what he could offer her. “I’d like to begin with the blood sample.”

Cael eyed the spector warily as she magically produced a large syringe topped by a thick needle. It was more of a straw, really.

“How much blood did you say you needed?” Cael inquired apprehensively.

“Like, a pint?” she said noncommittally.

‘That’s not bad.’ Tar commented, ‘That was a normal blood donation amount back on Earth.’

‘Perhaps so, but Cael isn’t a human anymore. Do changelings and humans even have the same amount of blood?’

‘Blood replenishes.’ Tar pointed out.

Cael shrugged and looked Balbanda in the eye. “That should be fine, but-” Cael’s words died in his throat as Balbanda abruptly stepped forward and plunged the imposing needle into his stomach.

Just as quickly, she stepped back again, her syringe filled with a large amount of Cael’s inky black blood.

He called his System terminal into being and scanned it for his [Health]: 28/30. That wasn’t too bad, but...

“Holy-! A warning would have been nice.” Cael protested.

Balbanda looked a little ashamed as she held the syringe close to her chest. “I’m sorry. I got a little excited…”

Her single eye was downcast and full of guilt. Just how old was she? She looked like a kicked puppy, but wasn’t she one of the instructors at Mereo?

He sighed heavily, “Listen, um. It's fine. You just scared me a bit there.”

'You're still far too forgiving.' Tar commented and he felt Ava agree.

Balbanda visibly perked up. She was a bit too easily influenced by his words.

“What has you all excited anyway?” Cael brushed a hand over his stomach in search of any damage, but he was unable to locate any injury and when he inspected his hand, there was no blood on it.

“I always wanted a familiar, but my Class is not a tamer type, so it is much more difficult for me to gain a bond on my own.” Her story reminded him of Trista a little bit. She settled a drop onto a paper-thin slip of glass.

‘Crystal.’ Tar corrected. Cael rolled his eyes and continued to watch her work.

The moment the drop of blood made contact with the pane, it spread thin across the surface. Ballbanda’s eye shifted colors from her normal sky blue to a deep shade of red. Blood-red? He wondered if that was related.

He activated [Mana Sight] and stared at the thick ropes of red mana that hung around her head eerily. It pulsed slowly like a miniature replica of Ava’s core.

‘It’s blood magic.’ Ava confirmed for him.

Balbanda’s eye flicked to him. “You have an impressive potential for the elemental affinities.”

“Will that be an issue?”

“No,” Her single brow furrowed slightly, “For a shape-changing familiar, I couldn’t think of a better subject.” She finally put his blood down and turned to face him fully, her eye shifting to a bright white that left no pupil.

“You have an abnormally large range of affinities. At a glance, I can’t find a single one you are lacking, even for a faen changeling, you have far too many. You already have a familiar bond— two, actually— so I can easily monitor how your soul interacts with those. On top of all of that, your blood signature is unnaturally new, which leaves a lot of room for growth.” She was growing excited again. Cael inched backward. The last time she had gotten excited, he’d been stabbed.

“Your blood might be literally perfect for this.” She continued. “Hell, even outside of this one project, there are countless situations…” She trailed off.

‘Well, she knows about me now, so there’s no point in hiding anymore.’

‘It was more of an open secret anyway,’

Balbanda turned away abruptly and began… multitasking. Yeah, that was the best way to describe it.

While her hands fiddled with her pseudo-familiar box, the syringe of his blood was emptied into a dozen small test tubes at various levels. She waved one hand and a handful of unrecognizable devices appeared on the table around her. Some vials zipped into place in front of each machine, and the rest disappeared into wherever she stored her things.

Cael noted unhappily that the packet of questions disappeared and was replaced by an even thicker version.

“Alright. Let’s begin with the questions.” She grabbed a pen from midair while the machines began to work, each a convoluted web of magic beneath the gaze of [Mana Sight]. “Where were you in the year 6265 when Indurin, the final king of the fairies was executed following the Eleventh Grand War of the High Courts?”

Cael groaned loudly, not particularly caring if Balbanda heard. This was going to be so much worse than he’d feared.