13 Examining the Potential of a Runemaster

Jack led Saiph through the city. Now that the boy's spirits were lightened from the great news about him being able to become a Mage, he looked around a bit more and was taken in by awe and wonder.

Stone and wood- building materials seldom used on Orion were scattered in abundance here. Wide, paved streets, copious amounts of people, and tall, towering buildings made Veritate truly another world.

In due time, Jack had led Saiph to a massive building with people swarming all around it. The density and amount of people made Saiph feel slightly claustrophobic.

"Jack, why are there so many people here?" he asked.

"Oh, well, this is one of the few admission exam buildings we have. The aptitude test stage is normally way worse, luckily you were late and we didn't have to sit through it. We receive 20 thousand applicants every single year, so there's obviously going to be a lot of people around. Its like the World Around Me just becomes tens of times more populated outta nowhere. You'll see what I mean.

"But yeah, this is the building that the runic test is taken in. Just go on inside and show your ID plate. I'm going to go to the library across the way and study for a test I have tomorrow. See ya in a few hours when you're done, 'ight?"

Saiph nodded and said his thanks before heading on inside the slightly intimidating building.

The first thing he saw was the hordes of people bunched up everywhere. Even in this entrance room, there were tons of people crawling around.

Saiph brushed past some of the groups and went to the back of the room, where a reception desk of sorts was cut out of the wall. There were a few people lined up, so Saiph stepped behind what looked like the shortest line.

Minutes later, it was Saiph's turn. He stepped up to the counter and handed the lady behind it his ID.

"Saiph… Glendoveer, is it?" she asked after looking it over.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Here you go. Take this and go to room 342. 3rd floor, 4th hallway, 2nd room. Good luck."

"Thank you very much." Saiph nodded and went up a stairway that was in sight.

He quickly found his designated room and opened the door. Inside, there were a few tens of kids jotting down things on pieces of parchment, sitting at tables that were scattered about the room.

Looking up, Saiph noticed an older teenager, maybe around the age of 14 or 15, sitting at an individual desk just across the room from the door. He walked on over to the teen and handed her his ID plate.

She silently accepted it, marked something down, and handed it back. She then turned to her desk, grabbing and then handing Saiph some papers.

"You have 3 hours to do as much as you can. Good luck," she said, her voice barely audible.

Saiph nodded and took a seat at an arbitrary table. He didn't even take a glance at the progress of all of those around him; his mind was set firmly dedicated to doing as well as possible.

On the table, there were a few different types of writing and drawing utensils: a proper set of quill and ink, charcoal sticks, a lead pencil, and a needle.

Saiph noted them all and turned to the papers in front of him. The one on the top of the pile gave a basic rundown on runes and how they worked, alongside an introduction to the test itself.

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Runes hold power over the Laws of the Tower, to each their own degree of proficiency. Some Runes have the power of the Laws of lightning and fire, others luck and death. Runes are made up of Runic Symbols, each having their own elements as well. A compilation of as few as two or three, as high as a few tens of thousands or even more- the possibilities are illimitable. Runes take in the natural Mana of the world to work. In this test, we want to see if any of our prospects have a talent for thinking like a Runemaster. There will be different dynamics to each section and further instructions will be laid out then.

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Saiph read the introduction thoroughly, not minding the time limit. Turning the parchment over, he read the next section. It was just a list of rudimentary runic symbols and the elements they pertained to. There was four of the five elements: wood, water, earth, metal. There were also some others: air, light, and dark.

These seven total rudimentary Runic Symbols were all very simple, just being a line or two. Yet, each was distinctively different.

Saiph looked over the list a few times and moved on to the next page. On it was an intricate design of lines and patterns interwoven into a Rune.

The directions specified that this was a Manaless "Fireburst" Rune, and that, from it, Saiph should try to derive any form of a Runic Symbol with the element of fire.

Frowning, Saiph looked over the Rune a few times and scowled even deeper. He didn't even know where to start. The lines and patterns were so intricately interwoven that it was impossible for him to tell where one started or ended.

After ten minutes, Saiph decided to take a wild guess. There was a portion of the Rune that looked nothing like any of the seven Runic Symbols he was given to work with, so he focused on that. Taking the lead pencil, he scribbled out what he thought to be a type of fire Runic Symbol in the answer space given.

Saiph felt rather lucky that he had lost his right arm, not his left, which was his dominant arm. If he had lost his left, he doubted that he would even be able to attempt Runemastery in his whole life.

He wasn't surprised by the lack of ignition from the Runic Symbol. Even though normally, a Runic Symbol would show physical manifestations of their element, Saiph wasn't a Mage. He couldn't imbue the Symbol with Mana since he didn't have any access to it.

That was what the test had said earlier, at least. All of the Runes and Symbols in the test were powerless. And, no mortal would be able to activate any anyway, so the entire procedure was exceedingly safe.

More time passed. Saiph was struggling to move through each congruent section; they just got harder and harder.

Finally, the last question of the test. It asked for the test taker to design any Rune of their choice and attempt to impress the graders as much as possible.

Sighing deeply, Saiph took a long time to ponder the opportunities.

Trying to make something elaborate would be pointless. Firstly because he wouldn't even know if it worked or not. Secondly, he wasn't confident in his runic prowess at all.

Hence, simple was best! Designing a Rune out of only a handful of Runic Symbols seemed like the best bet, as long as he could be pretty sure that it would work.

Flipping quickly through all of the pages of the test, Saiph skimmed and tried to find a few good complementary Runic Symbols to work with.

After a few minutes, he decided on two types of air Symbols and his projected fire Symbol from the first question.

Go big or go home, right? If it did work, then that'd be great. Besides, Saiph couldn't think of anything else to go together with only a few Symbols as fire and air could.

Charcoal in hand, he scribbled the runes around and made a circle out of the interwoven results, much like the initial fire Rune he saw.

Shrugging, he got up and went to turn the test in. It was up to fate at this point; he didn't care all that much. Even if he got a zero, he clearly wasn't made out to be a Runemaster and let it drop. He wasn't too disappointed since he still had Spagyric to support him.

The examiner received his papers and ID, skimming through the papers. She made a few marks on them and subsequently his ID, handing it back to him afterward.

"Not bad," she said. "Good luck in the rest of your exams."

"Thank you. I'll try my best," Saiph gleefully responded and headed out the door to go find Jack in the library.