The receptionist at the desk had no problem accepting Roge’s application, the grizzly dwarf looking over his Status with a fine tooth comb before giving them all a nod. “Status recorded. The application manager will be with you shortly.” He then waved them all off to the waiting area, Roge getting a bit grumpy at all of the waiting, but glad Sean’s vouching had fast tracked the application to the testing phase.
“I don’t have any training for defense or attack. You sure I’ll do okay?” he asked quietly, Sean giving him a wide grin and a pat on the back.
“You’ll do fine. It’s basically just making sure a stray arrow isn’t going to kill you and you can keep a goblin off your back. Both of which I’m comfortable you’ll do fine… with…” Sean trailed off, the tiger’s face hardening at something behind the dragon. Roge turned around at the look to freeze in place as he spots Paul and a group of church officials walking into the Guild Hall. At the same time, the dragon heard someone call out his name from behind them, apparently not having to wait for the manager.
“Go. I’ll talk to these guys,” Sean growled, Roge quickly taking the advice and following the confused foxkin into one of the back offices.
“If you have problems with the church…” she hesitantly asked, Roge shaking his head she led him into her office.
“I recently came into a Mage class that my probation officer saw last week, though it offers no Spells, only Skills.”
The foxkin raised an eyebrow at this, waving Roge to sit down in front of her desk as she sat behind it. “A Mage Class you say?” she muttered, going over the paperwork Roge and the receptionist had filled out. “We haven’t had one of those in a long time. Skill based Magic makes sense. I assume you don’t really know the difference between Skills and Spells?” At his nod she continued. “It’s not common knowledge, but Spells have to be prepared beforehand, writing out the Magic into a book before being able to cast. Very rigid in what a Wizard can do but it leaves the cost of the Magic low as they cast it in chunks.
“A Mage, however, can cast their Skills on the fly, twisting them to help different situations, sometimes past what the original description allowed. It is raw Magic they use after all, though the magic can do absolutely nothing if they try to bend it too far. The rigid structure of the church, for all it helps a Wizard, will have no benefit to you in the long term, as you need the flexibility to change what your Skills are doing on the fly. Same as Oracles, though they are looked on more favorably. So coming to us first was the best decision in that regard.”
She made a small smile at Roge, the dragon writing all of this down in a summoned notebook. She took the time to look over his paperwork, nodding at certain sections and finishing at the same time Roge finished with his notes. “Everything looks in order. Next we have the tests, though by ytour paperwork, you’re coming at them with no foreknowledge?” Again a nod, mirrored by the foxkin. “Alright. The trainers will explain and I’ll be there just to observe. Kim Smith is the name, by the way.” Roge shook her offered hand, feeling a bit dizzy at the fast pace of everything as she lead him out of the office and into an open section of the Guild. Peeking her head into a nearby open door, Kim spoke quietly for a moment before coming back to stand at Roge’s side, the dragon feeling a bit of anxiety settle in his gut.
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The bearkin that came out of the office almost couldn’t fit through the door, having to duck to get his large frame through. He momentarily stunned Roge as a blush flashed across his face, though Roge quickly got his mind away from the beefcake and looked just at his face. It was a bit harder when the bear came close to the dragon, inspecting his form and even having Roge move around a bit. “Solid at least,” he growled, Roge shivering at the low tone.
“First is attack.” He took Roge to the first part of the courtyard, waving at 3 training dummies set up in the middle of a dirt circle. “Hit them as hard as you can with as many attacks as you want.” Roge took a deep breath as he stepped forward, preparing mentally with his eyes closed for a few moments before snapping them open and flicking his right grapple vine forward with a snap. It hit harder than Roge had thought it would, creating a somewhat nasty looking line through the ‘chest’.
Maybe I should add thorns to the next ones… he thinks quickly, snapping the other vine out as well to deal a hit. Next he wrapped the dummy up in the vines, commanding them to stick and squeeze as he pulled back on them. It didn’t seem to cause much damage, but the dummy tipped over pretty easily and caused Roge to flinch as the wines got momentarily flattened. The pain had translated to an ache in his arms, pulling back the vines with a grunt of effort to get them out from underneath the figure.
He looked back at the manager and bearkin, shrugging at the less than impressed look from the bear. Both of their eyes then widened at something behind him, Roge feeling his familiar’s claws dig slightly into his scales. Courage had balanced so well on his shoulders that he’d practically forgotten about the little dragon, though he turned his head after hearing a woosh. The little Familiar had let out a ball of Dragon Breath, Roge’s eyes widening as it hit the fallen over dummy. Various plantlife quickly grew around it, nearly cementing it to the floor as he could hear a creek. Apparently the Dragon Breath created plants were stronger then his grappling vines.
“Good. Next is the defense,” the bear stated, Roge almost falling as the bearkin drags him along to the next area. “Block or dodge to get to the other side. She’ll check your health at the end.” This area had various crossbows lined up to a goal time at the back. The arrows all had sandbags on them to presumably not cause too much damage, though it’d still cause some.
Taking a few seconds to calm himself down, Roge casts Leaf Armor on himself for the first time. He felt a bit tired at this, not used to spending that much Magic in one day, though feeling his Magic levels at a decent amount for more Skill work. The leaves wrapped around his arms, hands, chest, and legs, leaving gaps at the joints to not hinder movement. He then used a technique he’d developed to make taking care of his plants easier, tying the Skill to his Magic pool, letting the spell go for longer without him having to re-invoke it. At first when he tried to Accelerate the plants, he’d only been able to do one at a time, but letting it pull from his Magic pool allowed it to refill itself when it ran dry.
He glanced over the Leaf Armor, frowning at the shiny dark green color. It looked too much like his mid-green scales, making his look naked in places. Focusing down the line from his Magic pool, he tried to change the color to a matte black, surprising himself as the leaves quickly followed his mental command.
“I’ll give you extra points for that in stealth,” Kim stated, making Roge jump as he almost had forgotten where he was. He nodded at the foxkin before getting into a running stance and preparing to start. Once he took one step into the area, the arrows started flying, Roge wincing as he’d been hit by two of the right off the bat. He didn’t pay attention to that though, the armor blocking some of the hits as he flicks both hands forward and vines stuck to the wall behind the finish line. He didn’t exactly think the move through all that well, flying far ahead of the rest of the arrows but smacking front first into the wall at full speed. He hazily looked up at the sky, the voices around him a blur as he swiftly fell unconscious.
~---~
“Of course he did,” Sean mumbled, fretting behind Marge as she used her Healing Skill on Roge, his body quite still on the ground with blood dripping along his maw from a broken snout. His familiar sat nearby, apparently having the sense to jump off when the dragon had flung himself. “He has a tendency to get tunnel vision…”
“Oh don’t worry Sean, that won’t effect his test scores,” the manager stated, the foxkin mostly focused on her notes. “It actually showed his mobility and utility off quite nicely if I do say so myself. Especially his utility considering the vines aren’t an active part of his Skills and can be given to other people. We might even get requests for people to purchase some from him after this stunt and the swinging he’s been doing all week.”
Sean sighed in relief at that, watching Roge’s face slowly reconstruct itself. Knowing his close friend would be okay, he could then focus on the uninvited guests in the courtyard, the clergy watching the events and whispering to each other.