Unholy Alliance
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A gruff man introduced himself as their instructor - Rohodan, an ex-mercenary, member of the Crescent Moon.
"We have a lot to go through today. We have our final arrivals so I'll be marking your sigils and assigning teams. I hope to cover at least a little surviving-hardship-in-tandem course material eventually."
"Since you are 61 instead of the usual 40, there will be 19 teams of three, and two teams of two. You may know that half of Class 210 prospects are unfortunately dead, allowing many of you to be here. I expect you will cherish this opportunity, and take it as a lesson - you need survival skills. I'll try my best to teach you that, and wish you'll become qualified mages, even wizards. One can hope."
"He looks young to have already retired", Aldy quipped.
He had joined the Asva and Tommy at some point, and the two had been chatting while Tommy took notes. The three sat on the floor - rather, the grass. Looking around the gym, one couldn't tell that they were indoors.
"Reiterating myself, when I mark you with the Rived sigil, that will identify you to the Academy wards. I recommend picking a visible spot on your body. No place near a vital organ or where you plan to cover with another enchanted equipment. Sigils are complicated pieces of magic, prone to interference, and often need touch to activate."
"As for your teams, you will share your lives - classes, quests, training room quota, Tutorials, exams, budget - altogether as a team. Get to know them closely. Your first assignment will be to pick a name for yourselves. Second assignment, read up on Rived Sigil, page 10-29 of the guidebook."
"First, the teams of two - Liu Durand, Verona Lyric Jr..."
So it went. Each team went up when called. They stood in a formation circle, Rohodan asked them something inaudible to anyone outside the circle, then the runes at the edge glowed and they were marked with fist sized tattoos, either on the neck, shoulder, back of the hand, or calf.
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"... Team eleven - Comm von Buchanoir, Denerik von Buchanoir, Dalda Derek Dreamspire..."
Tommy had known about magical brands - an expensive magical way of making contracts, specially slave or employment contracts. The Academy sigils were like that too. The guidebook said that sigils were mandatory for all mages in the kingdom, not just the cadets, identifying their tier of spells, elements, and progression. The Rived sigil seemed to have a few additional functions.
First, a basic mana bolt attack. It could be deployed by focusing mana onto it, guided by strong intent, like hostility. The attack was only a last moment measure, useful in moments of emergency when a mage would be most debilitated. For the same reason, it was quite hard to operate for barely competent first years, to avoid accidents.
Second, an interface for simple measurements and display. Information like mana tier, learned spells, etc could be visualized through clever use of illusions.
Third, ability to locate the cadets anywhere within the bounds of the Academy. It also passively checked for the vitals passive checkup, and an active alert when a mage was close to death. It also displayed a map, and broadcast notifications for the mages within the tower, although that required significantly more mana and skill.
Fourth, a passive mental defense.
Tommy thought back to the trinkets in his shop, and how trivial they were compared to these sigils. 'So embarrassing that I was so proud my magical collection.'
He heard his name being called, "I repeat - Aldenaat D'vier, Asva Nasi Wybol Decat, Etome Miles."
They all stared at each other. Clearly surprised that they were in the same team. None of three had noticed that they were the only ones left.
Then, the significance of their identities dawned upon Tommy.
'An unholy alliance has just formed.'