Tansen was looking over the wall onto the surrounding town, appreciatively rubbing the smooth stone. The soft breeze played across his goatee as he went over the past few days.
'a complete disaster' was the most accurate summation of these past few days.
The whole trial incident hit the academy at its weakest point, exposing the fragile glass core for any who would care to look. The caster families demanded to know who had the audacity to surpass their precious spawn and damage their prospects. The parents of the fire sorceress and water mage were among the most hysterical, as they had somehow convinced themselves that their children would have been the one going up against Veronica, and won no less, if not for the trickery of the crafter.
But the guild used a special protocol to hide the name behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy and bureaucracy until the guild head, Mason, felt the parents had calmed down. Since they had the most non-magical humans in the academies operation they were the group who depended on the crafters the most. With the parents trying to interfere in guild operations by essentially demanding a crafter to be handed over as a sacrifice, their stupidity had opened a gaping wound in the roughly stitched together body of the academy and guild as the latter felt its space was being pushed upon by a hostile force.
But worst of all was Agatha, she was the sole head of the Fronts operation here and for the past two days she had effectively cut herself off from everything. This communication blackout had basically rendered huge portions of the academy's own staff useless as their chain of command required Agatha to sign off on their pay, acquisitions, and field operations.
'Well, one things clear, going forward I'm getting more people who answer only to me. I put off the staffing problem for too long and let myself lean too heavily on external help.' Tansen thought idly to himself. Surprised that after all of his achievements and experiences that he could still be so foolish.
The only one in high spirits was Aki. His winnings proved so ludicrous that he was able to bathe naked in his golden winnings. A sight Tansen had the misfortune to bear witness too just this morning. Suppressing a shiver, Tansen made his way down the wall stairs to the main gate where a carriage and Aki were waiting.
As headmaster, he rarely left the dorm area except for the end of the semester. This academy was his baby and part of maintaining it was making sure his graduates were up to snuff. So at the end of the semester, he would personally go over the students' evaluations. This would determine if they could fully graduate or be bumped up to mages in training.
His practice was considered eccentric, going far beyond what the other heads of academies would ever consider doing. But this practice was a part of his decision in moving the best academy on this continent to such a backwoods crapshoot. All the academies were assigned to teach their territories magical talents. This meant that the academies of the richer western region had far bigger facilities to accommodate their larger number of students. It was these schools that provided the flow of thousands of magical talents needed to keep the veins of the Coalition pumped with fresh blood.
But when Tansen came to this land and looked at this setup he saw an incredible opportunity. If there was an academy that focused solely on quality over quantity, they would quickly rise to the top of the pack. Given the framework of an academies' obligations, this academy would have to be located somewhere the students would come in a small enough trickle to allow for his personal oversight. This weaker region also came with two benefits: without the exorbitant expenses associated with living on the coast, he could go that extra mile in providing for his students which would break the banks of any other academy. Also, the lower mana levels of the area allowed the students to safely get more hands-on experience than their counterparts who lived in regions with powerful monsters.
After buying a rundown academy from the previous head who couldn't have given any less of a shit about anything beyond his next bottle, a river of gold was poured into the facilities and replacing all of the dilapidated woodwork with specially made stone buildings crafted with magical tools. Results speak for themselves, and over the course of time, the right people began to notice that the people coming from the Diamond academy were a cut above the others.
The casters always knew how to craft, the crafters always knew how to mold their items to best fit their customers instead of just making generic trash, and all of them had a strong working knowledge of magical monsters and how to dissect them derived from some experience in the field that those students in other academy's lacked. Of course, some Diamond academy students just laid about doing nothing or didn't care to put forth the effort during their stay, but these would never receive the stamp of the guilds' official approval as they soaked up their parents' tuition money year after year.
Once that first senator put up the expense of getting his daughter here, the flood gates opened.
Aki gave a light cough which pulled Tansen out of his meanderings.
"How did your talk with the military recruiter go?" Aki asked.
Tansen huffed unhappily at the question.
"The only combat experience that man has is the brawl for the last buttered roll at the buffet table, I'd stake my life on it. Probably some general's cousin's aunt's precious child so they got his plump ass some easy position where he wouldn't have to ever do anything actually important. He gave some excuse about 'no real-world military applications' and promptly left for the Bulwark." Tansen said, his voice betraying no attempt to even hide his sourness.
"Well, he's not completely wrong," Aki said,
"Maybe, but to not give the person with the vision to make such fine crafts even a chance to prove themselves is just negligent. I suspect that it was being known as the guy who brought in a crafter more than anything else. Musn't let things like new possibilities for the magical world get in the way of mommy's praise for his spotless record. Of course, I sent out a complaint letter to the local military mage branch to try and get a second opinion but spirits know they're struggling to keep up with everything as is." Tansen finished
"Speaking of that great crafter, people in the records room are starting to piece together who made the volcanoes punch," Aki said, looking out the window.
"What?" Tansen responded
"The thing that put all of our lives through hell these past few days," Aki replied.
"Oh, well, things to be more precise. They had multiple crafts. Besides I don't think you're having too rough a time of it if your morning activities are anything to go by." Tansen teased.
Aki looked back at his younger friend and huffed. "It's just to mask the pain. I assure you my ears are still ringing from the banshee wail of that fire user's mother."
"All right enough dawdling, tell me who it was," Tansen said, the first bit of eagerness he felt in a long time coming out as he leaned forward on his bench.
"It's that new kid who got into a not-scuffle with Ryan. Not that it's hard to see once you know how new he is to the academy and the fact he isn't from around here. A few of the parents are starting to pay attention to him, so I'd imagine the guilds hand will be forced soon."
"Ah, so why have his backers not come forward to gloat? God knows most of the parents did before the trials even began." Tansen asked.
"That's just it. I don't think he has any backers, at least not ones that are present. I haven't gotten word from anyone whose even seen him before he came here."
"How can we not know who his backers are? What about the records?" Tansen asked
Aki put up his hands defensively. "This is the first time this problem has come up. Magic talents are so rare that the people who nurtured them will come forward and make their names known without our prompting. Clearly we will have to make it a part of the signup process in the future."
"Clearly" Tansen replied.
"It won't make any difference here anyway. With the academy shut down, I can't dispatch a messenger to tell them about their prodigies performance in the trials." Aki replied.
"We're not shut down, we just have a systemic staff .....hierarchy issue right now," Tansen replied icily.
"Yeah right. We just have about 90 percent of our networks and functions rendered useless. That's totally different than being shut down. People who spend their time playing word games would be better off trying to find a solution to their failures, instead of trying to blur the lines with bullshit." Aki responded to his younger friend.
After a long moment, Tansen sighed and nodded in agreement allowing the rest of the ride to pass in silence.
The dual structure of the classrooms came into view and the carriage stopped at the large entrance doors. As he came in the staff bowed as they went about their various tasks.
Making his way up the staircase to the highest floor was the evaluation area. It took up the entire right side of the floor. The smooth white stone left only a door on the immediate right as you came off the staircase. Going through the door lead through a long hallway with small rocks wrapped in leather, which had another door on the right. In this big room were more of the leather-wrapped rocks and a long table with a row of chairs, with some straw dummies further behind. All of this inner stonework was done up in the same white seamless style in contrast to the more grim grey brickwork of the rest of the building's interior, although the floor still had the plush red carpet.
These rocks held wind enchantments that would deaden sound like the crafting pods, helping to make sure the private evaluations stayed private. The thicker white walls made the room seem smaller than what the size of the building's floor would allow for, making it another layer of protection from prying eyes. Tansen sat down in the biggest chair in the middle with Aki taking a seat to his right. A knock was heard from the door.
"Are we ready to begin sir?" the short-haired blond asked, as she poked her head through the door.
"Yes we are, spirits have mercy on us all." Tansen said, signaling the beginning of the deluge. The crafting master came in at this. She was a short woman with long grey hair, her green eye and glasses coupled with her weight gave a look similar to a toad disguising itself as a woman, or maybe a woman trying to disguise herself as a toad. This was still a matter of some debate in certain circles.
After a few hours of going over the crafting students Tansen was getting bored. It all went through the same motions. Students arguing that just because their crafts damage their material it shouldn't mean that they get penalized. Most of these were clearly destined for an existence barely different than that of a magic-less human once their parents' patience or money ran out. But a few had put in the effort and would make something of themselves, especially now that they were mages-in-training allowing them access to the Base and all of its opportunities. Their crafts displayed a competence that would pass the Diamond academy's high standards as they showed off a variety of flaming swords, wind assisting bows and various assorted goodies to Tansen, Aki, the toad woman, and the judge assigned to monitor the performance of their items during the trials. While the trials were over, the guild insisted that the school be in charge of inspecting the gear students would bring for their work at the Base and only the items they showed here would be allowed on the premises until they had gotten settled in with the guild.
Then someone walked in who blew the rest out of the water. He had a metal tube sticking out over his back that had a leather sling over his shoulder. His armor looked like a patchwork of brown leather armor at first glance but on closer inspection, there seemed to be a method to the madness. The reinforced patches on the hips of the leather jerkin and the thighs of his leather pants were too symmetrical to be put on as a slapdash effort. Anyone who had seen the leather items used by the crafting victor in the trials would immediately recognize the similarities.
The helmet was made up of an interlocking iron neckpiece with wool put snug up against the neck. This piece was holding a spherical helmet covering the whole head. What made it interesting was this iron helm seemed to be crying as the holes provided a distinct pair of eye sockets with a strap of leather around them while two thin lines of metal ran straight down past the chin.
Aside from the tube he also had a leather glove on his left hand and what could be a club in his right hand. It had a long metal shaft with four thick rings of copper around the shaft. A light bow and the previous students judge left to allow this new student's minder in. The woman was the same short brown-haired woman who had been assigned as the scions' group leader and who had insisted on being his monitor for the trials. Tansen took a deep breath and scrunched up his face in concentration, which accentuated the ridges running down his forehead.
"My people are wise and learned about the world, as such we are blessed with insights that pass by the dimmer eyes of more ignorant peoples. Drawing on our ancient traditions of deduction and reasoning I believe I have pierced the veil of secrecy and see that you are the one who made the crafts that upset the trials." Tansen said, in a lighthearted manner.
The minder gave a bemused smirk. "Your people are truly enlightened. If only we all were blessed with such vision. Sorry for making you wait, but for obvious reasons we thought it would be a good idea to have him equip them in the hallway out of sight." She said stoically as she sat in her chair on the far right of the table with Aki between her and Tansen.
"Time is the only resource I can't stand wasting, so let's not waste any of it here. You've passed, obviously. Once you finish the survival course you will officially be named mage in training as long as your other supplementary courses are done." Tansen looked to the judge for confirmation.
"Ah, he still needs to finish the history lectures and a magical etiquette course. But once that's done all of his other courses can wait till he is near graduation." She responded with Tansen nodding in satisfaction.
"There's no point trying to give you ideas on crafting when we don't even know how your trial items work. Of course, getting you to divulge such information would break just about every written and unwritten rule of the magical world, but do know that we will need a demonstration for these new crafts if you want to become a mage-in-training. Also, for getting a draw in the final round of the trials you will also receive an official commendation from the academy and a prize of 100 gold coins. " Tansen said as the corner of his eye told him the crafting master to his left was rubbing her nose irritably at the treasure trove slipping through her fingers.
"Oh? I didn't know there was a prize." Eli asked.
"Well, we try to keep the prize out of the picture when it comes to competing in the tournaments. Glory and recognition are what we emphasize to the students as well as a few other prizes. But now, if you would?" Tansen said a little bitterly towards the end as he thought of the stubbornness of magical associations. Guaranteed entry into any magical association of the victors choosing was another unspoken prize of the trials, but if Eli didn't know about what he was being denied then Tansen saw no reason to sour the boys' mood.
A light nod was all the student said in return. He went by the table towards the straw dummies in the back. As he took the rings off his club Tansen noticed that the staff had a few empty lines running down it with some rope coming out somewhere as he put them into a line on the floor. Once Eli moved out of the way when setting the first one down it became obvious the bottom half of the rings appeared to be hollow to hold a long line of rope with each having bits of a different color about 3 feet apart. The small painted rings were blue, red, green, and yellow. When he came back towards the table he pressed on the handle and a light shower of lava spray came out of the rings through their small holes on the outer topside. The spray came out in a wide cone with the stone plopping on the bare floor as it gradually cooled. Finally, the small bits of melted stone disappeared after a minute as their enchantment had the stone scheduled for a short lifespan.
Everyone was stunned for a second but the crafting master recovered first. Her green eyes went wide as she ran to the student.
"How?" she asked.
"The top of the ring has an empty chamber that summons-" The crafting master cut him off.
"Yes, yes. I can imagine several ways to do that part but how did you manage to set it off when you had already pressed it?" She said as the student handed her the staff.
"The squares in the grooves of the handle react to grades of pressure instead of just being pressed. The bottom of the shaft has a lid that you lift up which has another square that will activate an AND square that will trigger the mines if you squeeze hard enough." He said, his voice partially giving a slight reverberation from its metal cage. " The range is about 100 straight feet of rope for each ring."
The woman looked impressed and looked over the staff with its multicolored fingers of the grip one last time before returning to her seat.
"As impressive as this all is I would caution you against relying too heavily on stone and fire. Those elements are great for weaker enemies but there is a flexibility to wind and water that the other elements can't easily match, at least not without using far more mana. To say nothing of possibly running into a stone or fire-based monster." Tansen cautioned.
"I know, which is why I have this" Ei said, holding up his leather glove.
Suddenly a square wall of water appeared about 5 feet high and wide in front of him. When Eli walked up to one of the dummies it went over the straw dummy but kept it in the square as it expanded over the dummy. When he moved his hand further away it picked the dummy off of the stand and kept it inside the shimmering prison.
It wasn't as flashy but the technical side of it was just as intriguing. Eli explained how it was using multiple water enchantments, the first of which would just summon the water. But as the object pressed against it, it would summon more water to try and keep the original square shape. The other enchantments would then try to hold the shape of any water that fell into their field. It wasn't perfect as any outside water could quickly drain the enchantments mana reserve but still, it was a phenomenal tool.
"Excellent, young man." Tansen said impressed despite his best attempt to appear as the aloof master who had seen it all before.
"Thank you, but I have to admit I got this idea from Veronica's performance. But the helmet piece is an original idea." Eli replied
"The concept behind this piece is that it uses the leather strips inside the metal lines on the helmet to channel a large amount of mana from the batteries in the neckpiece to the leather straps around the eyeholes to emit a noise so loud it bursts the target's eardrums, maybe even knocks them out. But I don't have any subjects to test this out on."
None of those present were willing to sacrifice their hearing for the advancement of magical crafting so they decided to just take him at his word.
After demonstrating the hand cannon on another defenseless straw man, the judges were quite pleased with the explosion and more so by the smoothness of taking it out and using it. But it was a play on something they had seen before and the high standard the student set for himself made this achievement only acceptable in relative comparison to the other pieces.
Finally, the last piece of equipment was shown.
Eli used a slight running jog to give himself a slight bounce. But this slight jump sent him high in the air, nearly hitting the ceiling. It prompted some involuntary oohs from those around the table, with Tansen and Aki being taken back 3 days ago to the start of their current hell. But they managed to keep the pain off of their faces and just enjoy seeing their student thrive in their abilities.
The student then came around the table and stood proudly in front of the table. Tansen felt an odd kind of familiarity towards Eli like he was similar to someone he met before but couldn't quite put his finger on who. While the brown-haired woman just gave a light clap which the others soon joined.
"All right. You clear the threshold for going forward as long as no one else objects." Tansen said as he looked around the table and got only nods of agreement in response. "While you could graduate from this academy outright on a purely technical level at this point, know that this school tries to teach the things that can't be taught. The real world isn't found in schematics or books but the hard, grueling application in the field which can't be replicated in the classroom. From this point forward, your opportunities will expand as will the danger that comes with those choices. Good luck and make us all proud." Tansen got up and shook the student's hand, as did the other staff members present.
It was at this that Tansen noticed a hint of disdain creep into the students' movements when he was touching them. But it passed so briefly that he wondered if it had been some trick of the mind.
The students after Eli would only let the judges down with their comparative lack of imagination, but they were professional about it and didn't ding these poor successors enough to be noticeable. Finally, as Tansen began losing the feeling in his legs, the long list of students was coming to a close as the scion evaluations started. Veronica was the first and after an elongated coaching from Tansen, water scion to water scion, she was heading out through the door to enjoy the rest of her day.
But the day seemed determined to make this review far more interesting as Agatha stormed in past the judge leaving with her daughter. She looked at her daughter lovingly but when she turned towards the table those present saw she had bags under her eyes almost as dark as her working dress. Her bun of blond hair also had a few stray hairs.
"Everyone but Tansen, out. We will be discussing confidential student information" Agatha growled at the table.
"The lack of sleep seems to have compromised more than your working duties. Anyone qualified to examine the students is also authorized to access their file information."Tansen said firmly, looking at Aki and the crafting master to make sure they were not thinking of leaving.
"So, it was Eli." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Tansen gave a heavy sigh and nodded in agreement.
"Well, points to him then," Agatha said with a cruel smile. She then turned to leave but a slam on the table made her turn around.
"He is my student, not yours. If your petty bullshit hinders his progress I will be launching formal complaints to your superiors." Tansen said as he stood up from his chair.
"I won't be taking any punitive measures. But as the leader of the Front, I have certain privileges. One of those is putting payments for the breeding stipend on review. And since Eli is such a great force for showing the potential of us mere crafters, we should make sure that any children under his name are actually his. Yes?" Agatha contended.
"Of course," Tansen said, not realizing the trap he had walked into until he had already sprung it.
"Yes, of course, so we will conduct a review of all his current brood mothers. After all, we wouldn't want an unworthy heir to tarnish the legacy of the 'great' crafter. I'm sure the women will understand this necessity when their payments are put on hold for this process." She said, with a heavy air of smug satisfaction.
"Ridiculous, you can't just target one man's women for your own personal grievances." Tansen almost yelled while he thought back to how much child support various governments had to dole out just from his activities alone. In a way, he felt that he was defending himself as much as Eli in fear of this becoming a common practice.
"Reviews are not abuse. We will be conducting a review of everyone so as to make sure the governments' money is not going to waste. Eli's review will just have to be more in-depth." Agatha pushed back.
Tansen could only internally weep for the poor boys' misfortune. Unfortunately as headmaster of the academy, he had no control over these stipends as they were paid for and distributed by the government. Tansen just hoped and prayed the women would be wearing slippers as they stomped on Eli's manhood.
Agatha gave a light bow and left through the door.
Ryans and Andrews evaluations passed through easily enough, their biggest issue being them trying to just brute force everything. It was this attitude that had cost them so dearly in the trials and would cost them far more in the future if they didn't change. His grueling task finished, Tansen went home to enjoy the rest of his day in relative peace. The private room that served as his abode had the same sense of elegant poverty that his office maintained. A simple room of white stone but painted a darker brown with a simple bed big enough to hold two people for the nights Tansen wanted company.
The area above the bed had a mana crystal chandelier. This would provide light for the book reading supplied from his bookshelf to the beds left or the review of a student file, the latter of which he was doing as the sun was falling on the end of this day. As he was laying down, snug in the blankets of the bed, Aki came in to wish him good night.
"Aki, is the Diamond academy a good place?" Tansen asked absentmindedly.
"Well we can't seem to get rid of some of the little shits, so we must be doing something right" Aki replied dryly.
"But is the food served warm and fresh? Are the beds as comfortable as any in the capital? Are the underground pools pleasing to the eyes and soul as they warm their occupants in a balmy heat to wash away their stress?" Tansen asked, keeping his eyes on the file in his hands.
"Yes, they're happy little prunes when they lay on their plush beds. Where is this coming from?" Aki asked.
"I am looking over Eli's file and it seems he heavily resisted coming here. The guard even had to threaten him to make sure he attended." Tansen said, going over their paperwork again for the third time.
Aki got a surprised look. Then he just gave a light laugh at some long-ago memories. Tansen looked up towards him with a question in his features.
"He's a more reserved version of you a good decade ago. We all told you about why going to the Imperial Academy was a great idea, all the opportunities it would afford you, how many wonderful experiences you'd get to have. And all of the goodwill we managed to build up evaporated like spit in a fire the moment your father told you that you were going no matter what. Considering how much Eli has already accomplished he may turn out to achieve as much as you, despite his handicap." Aki said, a wistful look playing over his face.
"Maybe it was the messenger, more than the contents," Tansen grumbled.
Aki could only sigh at this. "Good night, Tansen." He said as he shut the door behind him.
The next morning Tansen was going through some paperwork in his office when he smelled a fire. Rushing down the tower staircase he came into the back end of a crowd working crafts that spewed water into the records room which was set ablaze. He shoved one bystander aside and strode into the blaze as he summoned a huge mist of water to put out the burning files and furniture. Looking around he saw one badly burned woman laying in a corner.
"Get the medical team down here now!" Tansen shouted at one of the guards who took off at a breakneck speed. Tansen went to look her over to see if she would survive, which if his limited medical knowledge was anything to go by she would.
The medical station was located by the academy entrance on the inside of the carriage station to allow the quick offloading of the injured. Tansen was in a plain wooden room with a small side table and window overlooking the dorms' main yard with the woman and Jeff, who looked like he wanted to either mourn or commit murder as he held her hand and looked over the slight burns on her arms and neck. He continually ran a hand through her dark red hair affectionately.
'Ah, so she's the assistant/fuck buddy I've been hearing about. A problem for another day but today I have to admit it's rather nice to see such tenderness in this world." Tansen thought while looking at the scene as he leaned against the wall.
"So do you know what happened?" A voice from the doorway asked.
Agatha, wearing a white shirt with a brown blouse, stood in the doorway. She looked quite nervous, with her hands in front of her lightly fidgeting. Then the woman on the bed, Annie, gave a light cough.
"I was working to set up the oil lamps for the upcoming review but one of them must have not been securely-" She gave a deep cough, which led to Jeff giving her a drink of water from the cup on the side table.
"securely set on the desk and fell onto the floor. But it spread so fast I couldn't get to the doors to escape" She finished.
"Well, it's past time we switched to mana lights. I'll put in the purchase once everything gets back in order." Tansen said.
"Indeed, although why are you still burned? Shouldn't the healing potions have kicked in by now?" Agatha asked.
Before Annie could respond, Jeff stood straight up. The chair was knocked to the ground but he didn't care as his face was red with anger.
"Because, you stupid bitch, after the one there were no more healing potions. Everything has been running low because you locked yourself away sobbing about how Veronica got her ass whooped by a magic-less human. Although I can't seem to figure out why when you weren't even a competitor in that fight." Jeff said, looking her straight in the eyes.
A light cough from Tansen drew Agatha's gaze, but she turned away when it became apparent he was trying to keep his laugh in his throat.
Annie tried to pull Jeff back and sputter out some apology but Agatha just put up her hand and sucked in a large breath.
"He's a rude cur, but a not wholly incorrect, rude cur. I will try to remedy this failing and make sure the healing remedies are prioritized in the shipping." Agatha said, giving a light bow and headed out the room. Tansen gave a nod towards the couple and left with Agatha.