The room is taken up by three large tables. Two are covered with a cloth preventing me from seeing their contents. The other table an irregularly shaped rock about the size of Jared’s head sits on the desk with the tools arrayed around it. “You can use any of the tools on this table to determine what you can make out of this rock. When you are done I will score you. You have two hours starting now.”

Jared tries to Inspect the rock, which just indicates it is an unknown rock. He picks up a small chisel and hammer and tries the chisel on a small protrusion, which breaks off with a small tap. He picks up the pea sized piece that broken off and sees that the stone is full of bubbles. The outside is smooth with a slightly melted look and looking at were the piece broke off the larger rock he sees cracks. Wow, this stone is very brittle. He squeezes the small piece of stone, which crushes into a gritty powder. He touches a small piece to his tongue and gentle sniffs it. There is no odor and no real taste, just the feeling of grit. He picks the stone up, which is lighter than expected. The entire rock must be full of bubbles.

Jared wipes the remaining dust into a small plate on the table. Looks at the array of tools, there are five bottles of liquid by the plate. “What are these?” He asks Simon, who reluctantly answers.

“They are acids. The clear liquid is the strongest and the dark colored one if the weakest.”

Jared considers this while looking over the other tools. There is one he is not familiar with. “What is this tool?” He asks holding up something that looks like a clamp with a ratchet on the side.

“That is a hardness gauge. You place a sample in the clamp and turn the ratchet to crush the sample, which will give you the hardness rating for the stone.”

Looking at the remaining tools there is nothing else that stands out. So, he gets to work. First, he breaks off another small piece and using the hardness gauge he gets a hardness rating of one, which is not surprising. Next making five small piles of crushed stone he uses a drop of each of the acids. Even the weakest acid dissolves the stone with ease. Finally breaking off another small piece he uses a scale to weigh the stone. Then he places the stone in a liquid filled beaker to measure the volume it takes up. This tells Jared how dense the material is. He can tell Simon is surprised me knows how to do this, but there is where discussions with an alchemist pay off. When he was trying to find a way to unlock his ability he worked for many different classes. The alchemist taught him how to figure out the density of an object, which is useful for making some potions.

All of this is telling him that the rock in front of him is useless. At best, maybe it could be crushed and used as filler. He looks at Simon and catches a smirk on his face before he manages to clear his expression. Thinking back to the beginning of the test he only said the tools would be used to determine what could be done with the rock. Also, if this test is to determine aptitude that implies that anyone taking the test would not have any skills that would allow them to craft the stone. After pondering this some more, I turn to Simon. “I am done there is nothing that I can do with this rock other than crush it and use it for filler.”

“That is your final answer?” Simon doesn’t give anything away with his poker face.

“It is.”

“Very well. You next test is over here.”

Simon walks over to another table and touches the cloth covering making it vanish into his inventory. This table is very different. It is covered with a collection of stones, which on Inspecting is shows Iron ore. There must be 200 pieces spread out over the table. Simon pulls a sack out of his inventory. “In this test you are to fit as much iron as possible into this sack without leaving the silver border. You have two hours that begins now.” He says holding out the sack.

Looking down Jared notices a silver border around the table about four feet from the edge, which should allow him to move around the table easily.

“We wouldn’t want you using any of the tools on the other table to break up the ore to pack more into the sack now would we.”

Jared takes the sack carefully, so that he does not leave the border and turns back to the table. The sack looks like it would hold about twenty-five pieces. After filling the sack to the maximum possible he fits thirty-four pieces in the sack. Jared starts thinking about what Simon said. Assuming he was correct about the first test there is some misdirection built into this test too. The first test included tools that were useless implying they should be used. This test has a border around the table implying there is something outside that could help with the test. Jared knelt and looked under the desk. Underneath was a set of dusty cobweb covered equipment, along with several sacks. Carefully he pulled the equipment out and sacks out making a clear area on the table. He inspected the equipment and discovered it was a crucible and coal burner. He knew it, he will try to use the burner to melt the iron, then it will fit in the sack.

Looking over he can help but grin at Simon’s sour expression. Jared places three pieces of ore in the crucible and places coal in the burner and uses a striker to ignite the coal, which quickly burns. There is no smoke, which relieves one concern he has. It ends up taking almost the whole two hours to process all the ore and it fits neatly in the sack with some room to spare. I hand it to Simon trying to keep the grin off my face. Simon takes the sack and puts it in his inventory before walking over to the last table. He pulls the cloth off letting it fall to the floor. On the table is a pile of crystal. There are hundreds of pieces. I look at Simon who is smiling. “In this test you must make something out of the crystal. The goal is to use all the pieces. You again have two hours, which begins now.”

Jared picks up a piece of crystal. The sides are smooth and have been shaped. Inspecting the piece just indicates it is a piece of crystal. He picks up another piece and compares them to each other. They are different pieces, but both are similar. Absently he asks. “There is no border around this table. Am I allowed to use the tools on the first table?”

Simon tries to maintain a poker face, but I can tell he finds the question funny. “Of course, you can use anything in the room.”

Jared frowns. Based on his response the tools are a bad idea. He holds the pieces next to each other. Hmmm, one of them curves inward, which would allow it to interlock with another piece he is holding, but it would result in a very odd shape. Then it hits him while he is looking jumble of pieces. This is one of the famed dwarven puzzle boxes. Jared noticed a flashing notification icon and opened it with a thought.

Congratulations your ability Dwarven Prowess has unlocked. You now have access to the following skills:

Insight - This skill allows the user to determine uses for materials when crafting.

Analysis - This skill allows the user to determine properties of materials when crafting.

Eyes of the Deep - This is an advanced skill that allows the user two abilities. The first is a passive ability to perceive physical objects within sixty feet of the user. Effectively this allows the user to see in all directions without use of their eyes. This will also negate most illusions and invisibility effects. The second ability is an active ability that requires ten mana to activate and ten mana per minute to maintain. This second ability allows the user to sense the flow of mana around them and is focused on their eyes. This means they can only perceive mana in objects they can see with their eyes.

Jared nearly drops the two pieces of crystal he is holding. Even if he fails the test he finally unlocked his ability and it is incredible. When he closes the notification, he realizes he is now sensing everything around him. He handles the increased amount of information easily much to his surprise, but then he guesses the System wouldn’t give him a talent he could not use. Especially one that is on all the time. It is amazing the amount of details. He can even sense a spider in the outside hallway above the door. Jared mentally shakes himself. He still needs to finish this last challenge. Looking at the pieces again using Analysis, Insight, Eyes of the Deep, and Inspect he gets a much more meaningful description.

Item: Dwarven Puzzle Box

Number of Pieces: 750

Quality: ???

Magical Properties: ???

Looks like Jared needs to level up his abilities to get more information. When he closes the window, he feels like he is missing something. He closes his eyes and focuses on the pieces first and then the table. Next under the table and on the floor when he sees it. The cloth that was covering the table has something drawn on it. The clothes are all a dark grey, so the ink did not show through. Jared opens his eyes and walks over to the cloth and picks it up. Turning it over is a diagram of the puzzle box and how it is assembled. Even with this it will be hard putting it back together. He carefully begins to sort the pieces into corner and edge pieces first, since it will be easiest to start there. After a few minutes of this he realizes two things. He has a headache, which is caused by his forgetting to turn Eyes of the Deep off and that he is lucky he left it on. When two pieces of the puzzle that fit each other are brought together they begin to glow brighter in his vision.

He is nearly down to half mana when he figures it out, but luckily his endurance was over 50%, so he would not go unconscious when it went below half. It would just cause a horrible headache. This discovery energized Jared and he began to check edge pieces against other edge pieces. The puzzle box rapidly began to come together. After he got a whole edge done it went even faster. Each piece added was one less to check against. He had to stop using Eyes of the Deep several times to allow his mana to recover. It is better to let it fully recover before starting to use it again, since it cost ten mana just to activate it. Finally, he gets to the last piece and after adding it he gets a slew of notifications.

Congratulations

You have assembled the Masterwork Puzzle Box of Sheldon Marius. 500 XP awarded.

You have exceeded expectations and passed all three tests for Apprenticeship in Dwarven Crafting. Due to your non-dwarven race and your test results you are awarded the ability In the Heart of the Fire. This ability is a passive resistance to heat, which will lower the effective temperature by up to fifty degrees per skill tier to room temperature. This will allow the user to match a dwarf’s abilities to tolerate the furnace like heat around the forge.

This is awesome. Jared notices he still has two minutes left for this final test and looking at Simon he sees a mixture of disbelief and anger war across his face before he noticed Jared is looking at him. Simon’s poker face returns. “Very well, we will return to your room and I will inform the council of the results.” After that Simon takes me back to Jared’s rooms and takes his leave. Jared spends his time reviewing his new skills and uses his abilities on everything in his room, which levels his Analysis and Insight quickly. He finds he can use those skills on any physical object he can perceive with Eyes of the Deep, which is nice feature. Food arrives with word that he will see the council tomorrow morning. Jared spends the rest of the day out on the terrace using Eyes of the Deep to look at the magical fields around all the building and the great pillars that light up the cavern. He is so excited it is hard to get to sleep, but finally he goes to bed late at night.

The next morning after breakfast is served Mal takes him to the council chamber. Jared is no longer nervous like before and quickly takes his place in front of the podium. Jessica and Rachel seem sad, which Damon is smiling, which seems odd. Jessica addresses me. “I am sorry that you failed the tests, but that is not surprising. We are fair however and you will just have to work to cover the cost of the material used during the test as well as Simon’s time.”

Jared is nearly shocked speechless. “What do you mean I failed the tests?”

Damon holds up a brick which I recognize. It is a compressed brick of ground up rock from the first test. “Making a fragile brick from the rock in the first test is a failure.” He then pulls out an overfilled bag of ore. “Also, you need to do more than just fil the bag of ore.” Finally, he pulls out a collection of twelve pieces from the puzzle box just hooked together the wrong way. “This definitely doesn’t get close to what it should be.”

“Yes, unfortunately not even close to what you would need to pass the test.” Rachel chimes in.

Jared looks at each of them for a minute and then asks. “What are you trying to pull? I passed all three tests and until now I thought dwarves were honest, but I see I was mistaken.”

Damon jumps to his feet. “How dare you. Mal I think some time in a cell will improve his attitude before he is put to work.”

“You will have to do more that put me in a cell to keep me quiet about this.” Jared shares his last notification about passing the tests with everyone in the room. He sees Mal pause by his side. No doubt he was going to take him to the cell.

“I don’t know how you are doing this, but it is a lie.” Damon’s face is a mask of fury.

Jessica and Rachel are both looking at each other. “This is a very serious matter, but easy to clear up if you are willing for Rachel to cast a vision spell to show us what happened during the test.”

Jared thinks about it for a minute, but it’s not like he will be able to resist if they want to do him harm. His level is to low. “I agree.”

Rachel walks over to him and takes him by the hand to sit on one of the benches. She then casts her spell and a projection of the test room takes form around them. Jared got to watch the start and end of each test. It clearly showed his talking to Simon for the first test, smelting down the iron for the second test, and assembling the puzzle box for the last. Rachel released the spell with a sigh and releases my hand. “It looks like we need to talk to Simon.” She says looking fiercely at Damon, who is looking uncomfortable. Mal leaves a moment later and returns with Simon ten minutes later. He then takes my place at the podium while Rachel and Jessica pepper him with questions. It is quickly apparent he is lying about the test results. Even Damon begins to get involved in the questions about his obvious lies. It takes some time and spells, but eventually it comes out that Simon could not stand the thought of a human passing the test. Especially after I manage to assemble the complete puzzle box.

After Mal and Simon leave, Jessica and Rachel both look at each other for a moment, probably using party chat. Then Jessica faces him. “The council can’t express how badly we feel over this incident. Simon will be banished, and his household will be seized. Since you are the injured party you will be awarded the money received from selling his estate. Also, you will be accepted as an apprentice. Finally, you will be allowed access to the city library containing all the dwarven knowledge on crafting. I hope that this will heal any bad blood between us.”

Jared looks at the three councilors and considers that even Damon looked shocked when he found out about Simon’s lies. “I think we can consider this matter closed.”

“Very good. You will be assigned the suite of rooms you are currently in until your apprenticeship is over. Simon’s estate will take several months to be sold and then you should have enough money to buy your own place and forge.”

While we were talking Mal returned. “Mal will see you to your rooms and we will announce this to everyone, so there is no confusion among the people about your presence.”

“Thanks.” Jared simply says and follows Mal back to his rooms. He has done it. Finally, his ability is unlocked and he will get the training he needs to make the most out of it. He can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring when he starts his training.