Lola sat patiently in the long hallway, a variety of other students waiting for their appraisal cards.

The cards had been an invaluable addition for the school, as casual duels happened frequently and without preamble. The primary issue of these duels was that, more often than not, the power would be decidedly skewed in one's favor, which resulted in a duel that was not only tilted heavily towards one of the opponents but wasn't at all entertaining or educating to watch. As a result, the card system had been developed. If you were in the top ten cardholders, then your name was posted to a board in the cafeteria along with a picture. Those ten were often left alone.

Checking on Codex for the eighth time, Lola found that his eye was still blankly staring into space, two barely visible circles fading in and out of existence in front of him. She didn't know what he was trying to do, but as far as she knew, he didn't have any hobbies.

Two doors down, one opened, and a thin, anxious-looking man looking at a clipboard asked into the hallway, "Lola Bourgeious? Are you here?"

She stood up, brushing off her skirt with one hand as she tucked Codex under her arm. "Here!" He looked down the hallway and saw her, gesturing her towards him. "Please come in." Passing several annoyed and impatient students, she almost blushed before she made it to the room, but managed to hold it in before entering.

The office was small, much more so than the soaring ceilings Lola was used to. It was simply decorated, a table and two chairs taking the center of the room with a square device resting on the top of the table. The man sat down, ruffling through his short brown hair with his fingers and sighing. "Man, these appraisals are getting tiring. Let's just get this over with."

Sitting down on the hard metal chair, Lola waited for him to make a move. Rubbing his fingers on the bridge of his nose, he told her tiredly, "Yeah, so please just place your left hand on the device and pull up your status." She happily complied, pressing the top of the center of her hand and causing her gentle pink status board to pull up.

Lola: Lvl. 19

Health: 48

Agility: 39

Strength: 27

Intelligence: 45

Intuition: 11,784

Perks: Extreme Trainer (Lv. 9), Magic Powerhouse (Lv. 4), Adorable (Lvl. MAX), Accidental Obliteration (Lvl. 1)

Titles: Mana Master, Controlled Caster, Grimoire Bond

Lola frowned as she saw her stats. Grimoire bond? She assumed that it was related to Codex somehow, so she ignored it for the time being. And what was Accidental Obliteration? Was it related to the target incident from earlier?

The man was squinting at her board, his mouth slightly hanging open. He looked at her suspiciously. "You didn't fake this, right?" She shook her head happily. "I've been practicing with Uncle Francis!" He nodded slowly, returning his attention to the simple pink board floating in the air. "Well, we'll know for sure in a moment. Please wait."

Tapping a button on the device, it began clanking and grumbling irritably, before depositing a small navy card with gold corners in front of Lola. She picked it up, gasping excitedly at the clean sheen and clear writing detailing her abilities. "This is so cool! Thank you, mister!" His eyes were wide and a little worried as he stared at the card in her hand. "Wait, those were your actual stats?"

She was already walking out of the room, and he jumped from his seat, almost knocking the table over and frantically righting it as he did, "Wait just a second! How in Noah's name did you manage to get stats like that?" She turned as he sprinted towards her and yelped in surprise, throwing the door open and running outside.

Turning, she began to quickly walk down the hallway, her face flushing as the other students looked curiously at her. Behind her, the examiner exploded through the doorway, skidding and slamming into the wall. Shaking the impact off, he began chasing her, yelling, "Stop! You haven't answered my... my..." He realized that everyone in the hallway was staring at him and trailed off into a stammer. "Uhhh... next student?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lola set Codex on the floor of the mostly empty hallway, leaning against the wall and panting as she slid down it. That had been really scary! Tucking her knees up, she crossed her arms and tucked her head into them, looking at the floor morosely. Isaac had talked about this sort of thing before, where people might chase her and how she should run and scream, but screaming hadn't really felt appropriate in the fancy school.

A pair of winged shoes came into her view. "Lola? Are you all right?"

Looking up, Lola saw Xephyx watching her curiously and she sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Yes, I'm fine."

The dwarf turned around and tilted backward, crashing into a painfully loud seated position next to her. It hadn't seemed to hurt her at all, though. "Are you sure? Most people don't cry if they're doing fine." Lola cry-laughed and set her chin on her arms. "I showed the examiner my stats and he got really upset."

Xephyx patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know why he freaked out?" Sniffling, Lola passed her the appraisal card, and the dwarf examined it carefully, whistling lowly. "Ger frieggan, that's impressive. How the cark did you get your mana pool that huge?"

Lola looked around, almost panicking before whispering quietly, "Why did you use a dirty word?" The dwarf blinked, a pair of stone-like eyelids clicking on the bottom of her eye with a snap. "What, ger frieggan? That's just a dwarf phrase." Lola shook her head insistently. "Not that one! The... other one." Xephyx frowned for a moment before a flash of realization crossed her face. "Cark?"

The young girl flinched. "Yeah, that one! Isaac says it's a dirty word and we should never use it unless it's on accident. He's only said it once in front of me!" The dwarf chuckled, to Lola's horror. "How'd that happen?" Lola recalled the incident clearly. "He smashed his toe into a table." Xephyx winced. "Oof. Yeah, that's an appropriate time to use the all-helpful cark."

Lola decided to try and find an alternate subject. "What's your card say?"

Xephyx leaned forwards and climbed to her feet. "Here, I'll show you." Helping her to get up as she rubbed the last remnants of tears from her eyes, the dwarf handed Lola her own gray card, with steel ridging the corners. Lola finished getting it all out and looked at the card closely.

Xephyx: Lvl 7

Health: 139

Agility: 23

Strength: 98

Intelligence: 49

Intuition: 74

Perks: Dwarven Smith (Lvl. 4), Hardened Carapace (Lvl. 2), Hammerfist (Lvl. 3), Lava Immunity (Lvl. MAX)

Titles: Daughter of the Forge

Lola smiled. "Wow, you're super-tough - and really strong!" Xephyx grinned, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "Heh. Yeah, I guess so. Compared to you, though, I'm really not all that interesting." Lola shook her head rapidly. "Yeah, you are! 'Daughter of the Forge' sounds really cool!"

The dwarf shrank for some reason. "No, it's really not. I mean, I'm nothing compared to my-" Lola grabbed her hand and rushed to the nearest map, talking as she did. "Stop comparing yourself to other people! Father says that it's never healthy to compare when you're young. He says that potential always outshines power." Xephyx blinked again. "I never thought about it like that. Um - what are you doing?"

Lola scanned the map, finally finding what she was looking for and poking it with a finger. "The forge! Weatherton has a super cool one in the basement, with all sorts of stuff you can use!" Xephyx pulled her hand out of Lola's, backing away. "What? No! Are you crazy? We can't do that!"

Holding Codex out, Lola said, "Of course we can! Codex says so." The dwarf's eyes widened. "Really?"

Lola reconsidered. "Well, no, not really. But I'm sure he agrees!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The forge really was impressive by most standards, a wide well-maintained room with the furnaces on one end and a full kit of tools next to each anvil. A variety of metals were contained inside buckets lining either wall, and several fire-slimes provided light.

Lola watched Xephyx eagerly as she selected a thick metal bar, shaking her head as she did. "How did you convince me to do this again?" Lola smiled. "I asked politely! A lot."

The dwarf chuckled in a 'you're cute, but you probably don't know it' way that Lola was very familiar with as she turned on the furnace, flames roaring to life inside and instantly raising the temperature of the room by several degrees. The maids used that tone quite often, and of course, Lola was well aware that she was adorable. She had the perk to prove it.

Holding onto the bar tightly, Xephyx shoved her hand directly into the furnace, and Lola gasped. "Are you okay?" The dwarf snorted. "Please. At my dad's forge we use lava. This is a cool breeze in comparison."

Xephyx began humming as she waited for the metal to heat up, a quiet tune that made the forge feel ancient. Lola closed her eyes to listen to it, imagining the dragons and ogres she would one day beat, Codex casting giant spells and lightning everywhere on her command and not accidentally 'obliterating' anything nearby.

Turning from the forge, Xephyx placed the red-hot bar on an anvil, raising her hand in a fist.

She left it hanging there, and it began to tremble. Lola leaned forward, a little concerned. "Xephyx?"

The dwarf spun suddenly and pitched the bar at the wall. It smashed into the stones and clanged loudly, startling Lola. "Xephyx! Is everything okay?"

Xephyx didn't say anything, and sat down against the anvil. Lola walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Is everything all right?"

To her surprise, she could see tears welling out of the dwarf's eyes. "Oh my gosh! What's wrong?" Xephyx spun to face her, a panicked, frozen look on her face as she hyperventilated, taking heaving, staggered breaths. "I can't do this! Where do I start? What do I build? How can I make anything when Dad's work is so incredible? Everyone is going to want me to do just as well as he does! How do I do that? I'm not as good as he is!"

Lola leaned over and gave the dwarf a hug, shocking her into silence. She waited there for a moment until the dwarf hugged her back. "I don't know you that well, but you're nice and you're tough. You don't have to take over for your dad - I'm sure he's got a long way to go before he retires or anything. Just make what you want to make!" She sat back, smiling into her tearstained eyes. "You don't have to make anything right now. I'm sorry I tried to pressure you into forging something."

Xephyx inhaled deeply, and held out for a moment before breathing out, the tension in her body dissipating. She collapsed back, her head lolling against the anvil and almost denting it. Lola was perfectly satisfied with just waiting for her to recover, and squeezed her hand comfortingly. "Take your time. This used to happen to me a whole lot."

The dwarf grinned at her tiredly, cleaning her face with her gauntlet-like hands. "Thanks, Lola. You're... really nice."

Lola hugged her again. "You're my best friend! I'm glad to be nice to such a cool person."