Chapter 24: The Trials Start

Eli's POV

_____________________________________________________

The Base was located deeper into the forest towards the west. At a single glance you could tell wasn't a fortress like its two counterparts. The whole assemblage had more of a mix between a sprawling medieval town and roman city. It had a large network of aqueducts criss-crossing the city and a large bowl serving as an arena on a hill in the middle overlooking the rest of the city. While the aqueducts and arena had the same brick less, white appearance of it's associates, the civilian structures had the dilapidated look of the poorer towns, which gradually grew better and more luxurious closer to the arena. But as I rode into the town with Veronica and her ensemble, the smell getting into the carriage made it clear that the water was not used for any sort of sewage system.

"Mom, couldn't we arrive a little later? The scion rounds happen nearer to night. Its not even noon." Veronica complained in the most reasonable tone she could manage, giving a slight yawn in the early morning. She then sipped some of her tea and set the cup down to the side.

"I would, if it meant we could find a room in any remotely decent inn for the night of our victory celebration. Even without that, we need you to be at peak physical condition and getting there in the afternoon may take the little bit of energy that would make THE difference in the final contest." Agatha replied, moving a piece of blond hair out of her daughter's face.

"But the boys don't worry about that". Veronica pouted. Looking at me with an unspoken accusation.

I looked at Eska, the black haired girl with glasses, but she only bowed her head in a light apology.

"What do you mean?" Agatha asked.

"Ryan was going to spend all morning plowing through a few women. " Mia, the red headed friend, said in Veronica's place.

Agatha got a look that conveyed a deep sense of dislike for the subject of this conversation before she got her face under control and came up with a response.

"He takes his duty seriously, as should you" Agatha said.

Eska decided to distract from the conversation by dragging me in front of the firing squad.

"I saw that you brought several items or one really big item, maybe you really are a capable crafter." She said looking at me with a tease in her gaze.

"So how long has Eli been here anyway? I heard some noise about him being a good crafter and making waves socially." Mia asked the group. They all looked at me with a mischievous air as they proceeded to talk about me like I wasn't around to hear them.

"I couldn't find anything about his back ground but he managed to make a craft on his first day, which was only about 3 weeks ago and has gotten into the good graces of Jeff." Veronica sounded off like she was giving a battle report on the enemy position.

This drew looks from the surrounding women. Veronica had some odd notions, but the rumor mill said she came with a competitive streak a mile long. Most people didn't even merit a second look to her, but those who did would have every detail of their lives examined for their coming conflicts as she took every measure to make sure she came out on top, as long as it didn't interfere with her mornings.

The other traveling companions seemed to be struggling with what was more odd: that she had deigned to notice a mere crafter or that all of her sleuthing abilities had fallen short in getting my background. Of course, her sleuthing abilities couldn't investigate what wasn't there.

"Why did yo-" Mia started.

"Its a gut thing. He has a look of determination that shows an uncompromising will when he works. It gives me a niggling idea that he is more than meets the eye." Veronica said, looking at me with a ponderous expression. "Well what I can see of his expression."

Her hand came up and made a slow motion to remove my veil. I quickly leaned back and put up a hand to block the motion. She pouted in dissatisfaction and was getting into position to try and wrestle with me when Eska gave her a kick in the shin.

"Enough, although I am curious. Why do you wear that veil? Is the deformity so bad you won't let anyone else see it even when asked?" Eska asked as Veronica rolled on the bench clutching her leg.

"For my people, some one who shows their face in public gives the impression that they are trying to lie to us. People mislead, deceive, and muddy the truth when their identities are known because we have a reputation to protect, a livelihood to maintain, and a family name to uphold. It is only when we are faceless that we speak the truth to each other. The only exception would be if it is a close friend in a private setting. This is a sign that they trust us with their most intimate self, in full knowledge of the lies they tell themselves and everyone around them." I replied.This got a long look of consideration from the others.

"But you can still lie even if your face is covered up." Mia countered.

"Yes, of course. But when speaking anonymously there is less incentive to do it as your words are the only thing being judged. Also in larger groups this means you can speak the truth as brutally and as uncaring as you wish, with no regard for rank or status. This is the sieve through which lies are culled. Although generally the eyes are allowed since they convey more truth without words." The hypocrisy of me pretty much lying non-stop since I got here and arguing these points was so thick I almost feared the magic in this world would decide to give it a physical form to rebuke me, but I would like to think my extraordinary circumstances warranted leniency.

"So no ones ever seen your face except your parents?" Eska asked.

I didn't have much hope in expounding on the differences between online viewing for the masses and one-on-one viewing online or in the flesh. Nor arguing whether the viewing of entertainment media should be assumed to be a lie and thus invalidates the shame. These differences weren't all that clear in our own culture and the debate wouldn't make sense to someone who had never even seen a video monitor or the intricacies of the soul to data debate. So I lied more. If I was going to be a hypocrite I might as well be consistently hypocritical.

"Nope." I said.

Agatha cleared her throat and decided to get the conversation back on track before the girls could process what that all meant for how I currently saw them.

"Anyway, Ryan is not some one you want to look up to when it comes to training." Agatha said

"But isn't he preparing for battle just as well as us? Men do get more powerful from sex after all." Veronica asked the group with an eye to me in particular.

I was preparing a scoff at the question. But she had been the one who insisted on letting me ride with them so I didn't want to be an ungrateful ass about it. I swallowed the verbal comeback I had been preparing.

Eska, looked at Agatha with me. I tried to convey a question while Eska seemed to be accusing her of some unspoken charge.

"Well sex does boost men's egos which could be considered a type of power." Agatha said, lamely. Eska just sighed and turned to look out the window while I looked askance at the conversation and decided to take in the surrounding woodwork of the carriage.

Eventually we arrived at a cross roads in the city. I had to be at the arena immediately while they were going on a street to the left to rest at an inn.

"Again Thank you for your kindness. I wish you all luck in the arena." I said as gracefully as I could manage. They all said a few generic goodbyes as I made my way to the back and picked up my package. I managed to catch a snippet of Agatha coaching the carriages occupants as I made my way into the crowd.

"Well, be that as it may, we need to go over the latest information on the people who will actually be your opponents. Ryan has recently mastered a rock wall that..". The voice faded as they took off down the smaller side road.

'God, why were the witch burners the only people who could comprehend the mystery of sewage management?' I thought to myself as I tried to keep to the main parts of the road that had been kept clean.

It had been a long time getting here on foot in the first half of my trip, but the carriage rates had skyrocketed beyond all reason this morning. I would have to whip up something in the future to let me hoof it to me destination faster if I didn't want to rely on strangers letting me bum a ride.

'Hmm, an apparatus like the one I made was built for combat with short quick bursts. Maybe something like a glider with expandable wings or maybe just get a vehicle. I am sure there has to be a way to make an engine or maybe even powered wheels.' I stewed in my thoughts

Coming into the arena, the floor was hardened dirt from so many people walking over it. Off to the side was large sign for the crafting students. When going over to them I saw the competition. Well, competition was a rather generous word. Most of the students seemed to be carrying around smaller boxes for regular weapons. A few even had their swords out in plain sight and apparently uncaring about the degradation cause by mana use if the cuts and dents on them was anything to go by. A few also brought shields or larger boxes like the one I was carrying showing at least an inkling of initiative.

After a few minutes we were escorted through the first floor crowded with eager patrons of the arenas arts. The high ceiling of smooth white with the arches of the outer pillars did not provide any cover against the rising sun. A large staircase on both sides led up to the main spectator section of the arena but we students were here for the large gate underneath the stairs which held the performers for the main show. The passage was well lit with lamps that showed a staircase of grey cobbled bricks, which we went down that eventually opened up onto the main floor of the underground complex.

It was equally well lit with stacks of cages in the middle holding the tell tale green skin of orcs. They were dirty and had rags that would barely rate as clothing. One of the orcs, a rather fair looking girl with red pig tails got up and looked at the oncoming group with eagerness in her eyes but was promptly pulled down by a compatriot. The right side had more cages with various beasts of both magical and mundane nature. All of these rested on more of the grey brickwork.

My group was then shown to the left towards a long row of various halls with doors running down their length. Once the whole group got settled in a middle aged man dressed in leather armor with a metal shoulder guard came up to us. He had a short black beard with strong cheek bones below his green eyes.

"All right mighty scholars of our age, this is where all those books you've read meet reality. Down these halls are soldiers who will be using the items you have graced us with today. Let's get one thing straight, it's your job to make the item and it's our job to use em. If a soldier can't work the sword you gave us properly then I don't want to hear any bitching about how we screwed your score up instead of your own incompetence." He said. This drew some glares from the students, who clearly thought they were above the smack talk of a peasant. But before he could be put in his place, the man started calling names from a list and directing them towards the various doors.

"Eli" He eventually called. I raised my hand and picked up my box from the ground.

"Room 15" He said as he pointed down a hall to his left.

I eventually got to the door with the proper number painted on it. Pushing it open I came to surprisingly large room of bare brown dirt. In the middle was apparently my combatant, a slightly older man of mid 30's with a plain grey shirt and brown pants. He had short brown hair and green eyes with a simple stone block to his left. His tan skin and lean muscular body told of a life of physical labor but not enough to bulk up into monstrous proportions.

"Oh a big box? Well apparently I'm in for a treat today. What've we got lad?" He said, eyeing the wood block curiously.

I took out and handed him the hammer. He hefted it appreciatively then smacked the block with it. The block was chipped and but the head maintained its form.

"I like the grip but why make the head stone, seems like metal would be far more reliable." He asked.

"When you start the swing, press that other finger groove on the grip." I said, trying not to seem smug at what was coming.

He looked at me with a question in his gaze but did as he was told. When he was in mid swing a burst of fire shot out the back of the hammers head and bludgeoned the stone with such force that the whole block blew apart in a shower of gravel.

"HOLY SHIT!" He said, once he said it again he finally calmed down enough to talk to me.

"You know, these rooms have enchantments that help block the travel of sound. Always thought they were a waste of time, put in because some paranoid big shot thought they would stroll in here one day with a weapon powerful enough to quench the sun. But I get it now. Sure you kind of have to let it go once the flame shoots out but still. Wow kid. Just holy shit." He said with eagerness in his eyes, looking at my box like it held the powers of the universe made manifest.

"I will explain the other functions of the hammer after I introduce the rest of the items." I said. The soldier looked at the hammer curiously but was polite enough to take it one step at a time.

"This next item isn't as flashy but it's for those 'oh shit' moments where you cant get the hammer in place or dodge" I said. I handed him the arm guard with the connecting long glove piece. Looking at it curiously he put it on and moved it around, clearly not getting it.

I motioned my arm facing towards the wall and pressed my right hands knuckle. He did the same which caused a wide stream of mud to shoot out of the hole in the middle of the arm guard. The stream quickly dried to a solid mound when it hit the wall.

"Ah, a hold them in place tool or to quench fires and fight water streams." he said getting a serious look on his face, finally nodding in approval.

"This last one is a bit tricky. How good are you with spirit magic? Like getting it out of your body and holding a single thought?" I asked. This was the biggest obstacle. The others were pretty straight forward but this one would shine like the sun or just be the worlds most useless leather armor based on the users abilities.

"Umm I am pretty good with it. Why?" He asked, seemingly a bit nervous.

I took out the shin guards sewn together with the back piece through long straps, which were far too long before they would be tied up to match the users height. I got into it and thought 'Flow' into one of the little pockets in the shin guard. I shot off to the side as the man almost blurred in my vision. I barely found my footing as I came down from the few inches off the floor I had been lifted up, now standing several feet away from my original position.

He looked at me with wide eyes for a moment then cleared his throat. I worked myself out of the item and explained the functions to him as I handed it too him. He treated it almost reverently as he slipped into it.

"But I have to warn you, doing them both at the same time will send you forward several yards in the air so I imagine you won't be getting any practice with that function." I said.

"Yeah, I prefer my skull un-crushed" He said. It took a few minutes but when he finally took off we both cheered as he tripped onto the floor several feet away from where he previously stood.

"Now for the rest of the hammers functions. Hold it firmly in place while keeping the head aimed at the mud pile. Then press the inside of the small hole then the flame button."

When he did the head dipped slightly sending it off course but it was close enough to the mud mound that it still hit around the general intended area which it pulverized into dust. Apparently the time it took to change the head was long enough to let some flame out the back if it wasn't given enough time to make the change.

"Ok, give it a second or two before pressing the fire stream button. But for the other function-"

"Other?" The soldier said looking at me like I was crazy.

"Kid, I'm not sure I can handle much more than these functions in a fight." He looked over the metallic sheen on the hammer shaft against the lamp light only now realizing that the head was already replaced.

I put up my hands in mock surrender.

"I know, while you will get another replacement from the head enchantment after that it will take it a bit to recharge. Shoot the head out one more time and then press against the hole again."

A stone hammerhead came to rest by it's brothers impact site, the other head having quickly dissipated after it completed its mission. When he pressed in the hole again a large tongue of flame came out. It continued for a solid 30 seconds before it ran out of stored mana.

The soldier just stared at the molten slag in front of him for a long minute.

"Well kid, I can't tell if you're a genius or just crazy but however this turns out I don't think anyone can say it was boring."

He stuck out his right hand with the other holding the hammer to lean over his left shoulder.

"Time is what usually separates the two when it comes to invention." I said shaking his hand.

"Any questions?" I asked before I made my way to the door.

"I typically don't say this. But with bouts like these some of the mages can get touchy about who wins what matches, if you catch my meaning. That's not even counting reprisals to your backers" He said, looking at me with something like trepidation as he tried to finish his thoughts.

"What I'm trying to say is, while I don't know about all the differences between you lot down here and the caster mages. But a lot of the casters parents are pretty viscous and if a crafter is perceived to be reaching above them I'd imagine they would deploy means to bring the upstart down to their... proper statue. It's the reason you all have to bring them in boxes as opposed to just carrying them regularly, which until now always seemed stupid to me. I guess we're both going to be doing some on the job training today." He said, sounding like he was half talking to himself.

"Well I'm pretty new here. It's not exactly gonna be some unfathomable mystery behind who these came from. What would you suggest?" I asked, suddenly remembering why I always stuck to anonymous groups online when working in collaborative projects.

"I am going to cover my self up and register as an anonymous soldier while we can say the guild 'consulted' on your project. You'll still get the credit and grade but people may think your just stand in for the real talent when they whisper behind your back." He said, acting like he was trying to convince himself as much as me.

"But won't people thinks it's odd I needed help from the guild?" I asked.

"It's actually pretty common, especially for the newer students who do actually need experienced help the classrooms can't provide. Keep in mind that if this is as effective as I think it will be, then even cutting your credit in half will still put you head and shoulders above your peers." He said.

Of course I wasn't feeling so free with my trust these days. This all sounded like a perfect opportunity to co-opt my work. If not just steal it outright.

"How can I trust that this all above board and your not trying to swindle me?" I asked suspiciously as I crossed my arms.

He smiled and cleared his throat as he leaned against the wall.

"Many reasons. The most important is that this is about my neck as well. If we don't involve the whole guild you and me might meet a few accidents for making their precious children suffer.

Another is because we can't really replicate your work without extensive study. Which would mean us having to explain where it is to the academy and your people. And if it got around we just take crafts on a whim the guild would die. No one would ever trust us to handle materials or run sensitive mission's. The guilds co-operation with the academy and it's affiliates is far too lucrative to risk it over any number of items."

I thought about it for a moment. I went over all the possibilities again and again until I realized it didn't matter. I was graduating irregardless of the grade I got at this performance and I had no need for fame at this point. This was more me testing the limits of my equipment than it was them testing me.

His arguments all sounded perfectly reasonable. The words went down better with the knowledge that the outcome wasn't terribly important in the end. My paranoia finally subsided when I remembered they couldn't see my diagrams, something that still tripped me up now and then. Then something occurred to me.

"But I thought the academy and guilds were merged?" I asked.

He gave a shrug and his hands came up like he didn't know the answer to that question.

"It's complicated. There's a piece of paper that say's we are a part of the academy. Tansen is the one who makes all of the big decisions now but when you do the same things for decades with the same people in the same place, that piece of paper saying everything is different don't mean much"

Ah, a tale as old time. The legal vs what's actually happening on the ground. I coughed and decided to accept the proposition.

"All right, I'm game." We headed out the room to the left, which is the opposite of where we entered. It had a large set of iron doors with arrow slits along it and the surrounding wall.

Once we passed through the doors we came into a large plaza with racks holding armors and smaller weapons. All around us were helpers getting people into various armor set ups with even amounts of leather and metal. The air had the smell of sweat and coal with the occasional soft bang of metal from some armor being repaired in a forge of to the far left.

At the far end was a gate. But it was partially blocked by a long table the held various stacks of papers and people signing them.

The soldier quickly went into the sea of racks saying he would be back shortly. I wanted to double check what he had told me so I headed towards the table. From the peeks I managed to sneak in it looked like a lot of the students had the mark of consultation in the column next to their name. I felt a tap on my shoulder to see what I was pretty sure was the soldier I had been assigned to.

This time he had a steel helm that completely covered his head and a face guard with small holes. He also had a cape that had small coin sized bits of iron worked through in the shoulder section. The only other protection was a cotton jerkin to go with the leather strap shoes. But my hammer and arm guard with its hole in the middle was pretty distinctive so I knew who I was looking at.

"Speed" I said simply.

"Speed" He replied. Our discussion of strategy finished, we then made our way to the end of the table specifically designated for the students. Unfortunately we got stuck behind another member of my class. The plain woman with long brown hair was arguing with the soldier she was assigned to in a heated fashion as they signed up.

"I told you girl, there is no way I am can get my thumb on the tip of the swords cross guard." A burly man in standard plate armor complained to the student as he lifted a spear in his hands and put what I assumed was her large entry sword into a sheath on his back.

"Just take one of your hands off and-" She pouted at him but he put up his hand cutting her off.

"Just take my hand off of a two-handed sword? In the middle of a fight? Listen lass, I can use it as a regular weapon but unless the enemy is almost dead I'm not going to be able to use it to shoot rocks."

She huffed and crossed her arms while looking away, her blue and white robes twirling about with the motion. Eventually we made it up to the desk where an older man with muscles and a full beard greeted us.

"All right, put down yer names and status."

I put down my name and checked the box saying I had gotten a consultation.

"I cant say I've seen those items here before. Which of our people helped make them?" The older man asked as he took in the odd stone head of the hammer, the distinct hole in the arm guard, and the weird straps connecting the shin guards to a seemingly useless back guard.

"We didn't" The soldier said as he put down 'unknown' in the section where his name should be.

"What is going on Jo-" He stopped. As he was about to say the soldiers name, apparently he knew him well enough to still recognize him, he noticed what was written in the name section.

A long moment of looking at us passed before the grey haired man leaned forward and put his hands together.

"It's like that?" He asked.

"Yep"

"All right. We'll see what comes of it". Apparently this was some pre-established protocol because he put the paper to the side and took a fresh sheet before he bid us to get out of line. But before we left he stopped us to ask a question.

"Just for curiosity's sake, how far you reckon you'll go?" He asked.

"All the way". That simple response from the soldier made the grey eyebrows of the man shoot up. After another long moment he simply whistled and waved us off.

"I don't go into any fight unprepared. There are large rooms that hold huge beats that I can try out that other jump function. How did it work again?" The soldier asked me.

"Just activate both shin guards at once." I replied. The wall to the right of the tables had a stair case leading up to the special section for the students, judging by the sign that hung over the arch of its entrance and to the right of the stair entrance was a hallway. I went to my section and he went down the hall way to where I assumed the bigger rooms were.