She straightened her belt, sword in place.

She adjusted the hibslock flower in her hair.

Inspecting herself in the mirror, she was a little frustrated with how she looked: The shampoo Agwa had prepared worked, her hair felt wonderful, but it had also bleached it white.

Anu was a little unhappy with the color. Agwa was delighted by the fragrance, and Kay was overjoyed. It had become a little easier to brush, though.

With one thing already going wrong, Anu was trying her best not to spiral before the exams.

go!

At least Kay seemed eager to be tested. .

Anu was expecting a very simple examination, something more like: “Do you have any magic?” “No” “Do you have any physical skills” “Nothing combat related, but everything smithing related”, and she’d already skipped the smithing parts too.

Arriving at the examination hall, things did not go to plan. The clerk at the office had taken her form and given her directions for combat testing.

“But you’re wearing a sword!”

“It’s ceremonial. I’m a smith. I should be doing that practical examination”

“It says here you’re also registering for the beast corp. You can’t do that without the combat tests yourself, too”

Anu gave up, and took a seat in the corridor, waiting for her number to be called.

tap tap

“I’m worried, that’s what’s up”

tap

“Kay I don’t know how to use this sword. I just make them.”

kay help

“You can’t fight for me Kay’

“Excuse me, Miss...”, Anu’s short chat was interrupted by the exam clerk.

“That’s your number, number 85. I understand you’re frustrated but, i’ve explained your situation to the examiners. Head up, second right, first left, door at the end, number 12”

“Thank You”

Anu straightened her clothes one last time, and walked slowly to her exam. The sounds of fighting permeated the corridors did not inspire confidence.

Anu gripped her fists, knocked on the door, and took a deep breath.

“Hello, I’m candidate 85, Anu”

“Come in”

Anu pushed open the large door, revealing an even larger hall.

In the centre was an elevated ring, as wide as her parent’s house. Big enough to fit most of a forge inside. Standing in the centre were two teachers, as well as two animals.

The blonde teacher, she had a large colourful bird perched atop her shoulder. The other teacher had light blue hair, short, and with a large wolf like beast napping behind him. Both were wearing the same academy robes the clerk was wearing, albeit with subtly different colouring and patterns.

“Ah hello, You must be Anu. I’m Ota, and he is”, she pointed at the other teacher.

“Dys”, he answered.

“Anyway, can you explain how a smith ended up applying for the beast corp”, Ota continued.

“Um, I guess the first thing is to show you my familiar”

Anu picked Kay up, and gently put them onto the ground. Kay pulled at the bow, still tied around them.

Dys cracked a smile seeing Anu present a tiny spider, but it was quickly wiped off his face when he saw Kay grow.

“Um, did you get bigger? No no it’s fine it’s, anyway”

Anu was surprised too. Kay had grown to almost her height, but decided to ignore it until after the exam.

“This is Kay, my familiar. A mana weaver. We met earlier this year, they were curious about the circuits I built, and so, we ended up travelling together.”

Anu shuffled her feet.

“I’m no artist, but I can use a hammer. I can forge you a sword but I’d rather not swing one. I’ve no talent for magic unless it’s a circuit. I put all my hopes on getting into the Academy, and, well, this was my best, only option”

“One Moment, Anu”, Ota said, turning to Dys.

After a few quiet words, Dys nodded.

“Anu. The beast corp might be a technicality for you, but, it’s about keeping the unit alive for us. In a way we can be proud of. Contracts, Summons, they all predate circuits. It’s smiths like you who changed everything.”

Anu felt an overwhelming urge to curl up into a ball.

“You’re a smith of the city. Although Dys didn’t recognise that sword on your belt, I do. Dys did however convince me to give you a chance.“.

Dys had actually said ‘But spiders are cool Ota, c’mon. She’s not like the other nobles we have to babysit’.

“First I’ll test Kay, then you, and then afterwards Dys can handle the magic stuff”

“Kay?”

tap

“Your familiar knows this is practice, right?”

“Kay”, they waggled back at Anu, ”that means no injuries, just testing” Kay waved dismissively in response.

“Dys, stand at the edge. Anu: Command your familiar to try and attack me. ”

Kay looked at Anu, who shugged.

big?

“Uh”

fight. kay. big. kay big

“Um. Ota?” “Whenever you’re ready”

“Um. Can Kay here grow bigger, um, before attacking?”, Anu’s voice was not filled with confidence

Rolling her eyes, “Of course. That’s what I meant by trying to attack.”

Anu looked at Kay and shrugged, “I guess that’s a yes”

anu move. big.

Kay pushed Anu gently away.

Dys yelled, “Come sit over here and wait with me, and let them get ready”

Kay waited for Anu to sit, before moving into position, turning to Anu and waiting for a signal.

Ota stared at Kay, then at Anu, “I’m waiting”

“Uh, Kay, I’m safe over here, please be careful”

Another dismissive wave.

And watched as Kay crept slowly over to Ota, coming to a halt a few steps in front.

Kay gently lifted their foreleg up, now above Ota’s head, and in one smooth movement, stabbed it into the ground in front of them.

Ota stared at the ground. Kay ignored her, rushing over to Anu.

As Anu argued with Kay, Dys asked “Ota?”

“They passed Dys. Anu, your turn. Kay has passed”

“What?”

“Passed. Your turn. Get over here”

Anu stood up and walked slowly over to where Kay had stood before.

In front of Ota there was a large hole, big enough to stand in.

“You did that?”, Anu spoke to Kay

Kay drummed on the floor in response.

kay strong.

“Ahem”, Ota was waiting. “Anu, you have to hold out for 15 minutes. Run away, jump, whatever, but, you have to show me how determined you are.”

“Kay, can you go stand by Dys?”. Anu pulled our her sword and pointed it at Ota, “I’m Ready”

“Really? I wasn’t expecting a smith to pick up a weapon”

“I said this was a technicality, yes, but it is my only hope. I’m ready”. Anu withdrew her ceremonial sword, “I get a little head start, right? I can stand a little further back?”

Ota nodded, “Sure, take about 10-15 steps back, then we’ll begin”

Ota withdrew her sword, “Dys, will you count us down?”

From the sidelines, Dys waited until Anu and Ota turned to face each other.

“Three, Two, One, Start”

Ota rushed towards Anu, expecting her to run immediately.

She didn’t expect Anu to plunge the sword into the ground, or to sit down next to it.

Dys frowned, “Uh oh” He watched Ota run head first into it, bouncing back a couple of meters.

“She isn’t going to like that”

For the next 15 minutes, Anu sat under her barrier, twitching every time Ota pounded on it. The ground around Anu had started to fracture. Small bits of stone rattled with every punch.

“Time’s up Ota”

Ota Scowled. With one last strike, a large crack appeared across the floor, matching Kay’s.

“You can come out now Anu”, Ota lamented.

Anu didn’t get up. She felt no particular urge to leave the barrier.

“Fine. Anu. You pass, but”

Dys yelled back “Ota”

“Shut up Dys”

“Anu, I’m not going to hit you. Come out.”

Anu stood up, pulled the sword out, and re-holstered it.

“I passed?”

“You didn’t fail. What would you have done if the barrier fell?”

Anu pouted. “It’s pretty strong. I would have enough time to devise another circuit”

“Oh? Hrmm”. Ota was stumped.

Dys broke the silence, “Ota? Come on, I still have to do the magic testing”

“Anu, you’re going to have to learn more than this to stay in the unit”

“learn what”

“Combat”

“Oh ... wait, stay in the unit?”

“Being in the unit means you’ll have to face me in combat regularly. With training swords at first.”

Dys interrupted, ‘Soooomeone loves to fight’

“Shut up Dys. Anu. You’ve passed”

“Yessssssss”

“But, you’re going to have to show me what you can do, honestly this time”

Ota went to the side of the hall, and retrieved a few wooden swords.

“These, are training devices. They soften impact no matter how hard I swing them”

Anu wanted to ask “but why did we not use them in the first place”, but held her tongue.

“Watch. I’m going to strike you, but it won’t hurt. The sword will break on impact”

Dys rolled his eyes. Ota really didn’t like smiths.

Ota casually swung the sword at Anu, trying to knock her off balance.

“but it should be enough to trip you up ... uh”

Anu had impulsively jumped out of the way.

Ota smiled “Heh! Looks like you might have a little bit of talent”

She swung again, aiming for Anu’s head, but whipping the sword to change the direction.

Anu sidestepped again.

Dys watched as Ota swung four or five more times, getting a little more impatient.

With one final swing, she rushed forwards and struck Anu across her side, breaking the wooden sword in two.

“Is that enough, Ota?”

“Fine. Yes. Whatever”. Ota snapped the remains of the sword into pieces.

She stared at Anu.

“I still haven’t seen you swing a sword, and as much as you piss me off, you’re not going to embarrass me. Dys, she’s yours. I’m going to blow off some steam”

Ota waved and marched back into the corridor.

“Anu? Right, come follow me”

Dys turned to his wolf, and beckoned it over.

Anu watched as it leapt onto Dys, transforming in mid air, and landing as a bracelet around his wrist.

“Summon?”

“Yep”

“Magician? Oh wait magic examiner. Magician.”

“Yep, but Ota could have done this if you hadn’t pissed her off”

Anu mumbled, “I didn’t mean to”

Dys laughed.

“She’s fine. She loves two things. Fighting to get over things, and getting worked up over nothing until she wants to fight. She probably likes you.”

Anu made a nervous laugh.

“Anyway, if you two would follow me, and if you’d like to recall Kay it might be easier”

Kay shrunk back down and leapt back into Anu’s hair.

Now ready, Dys lead the pair through several corridors and staircases, to another part of the building.

“Where are the other candidates?”

“Anu. You’re the only non-soldier, non-magician to apply this year, everyone else comes on different days. We’re not exactly a popular choice, and we have to fit our exams in around the other courses. They get to use some of the modern testing equipment, but we of the beast corp get to use wonderous ancient technology. ”

“Oh”

“Anyway, here we are come inside.”

Dys lead Anu into a small room, stone floors and only a few windows.

Inside was a large circuit, engraved onto the floor, with a small plinth in the middle.

“You need to stand in the centre”

Anu walked across the circuit, inspecting the details. The central piece was a standard collector, wired up to the plinth. Outside the collector was a long spiral, increasing in width, extending out to one of the corners.

“I push mana in, it lights up”

“Yep. Well, you don’t have to push, but let the mana through you I think. I should probably be asking you to explain it to me”, Dys laughed, “but the trick is that each segment on the spiral takes more mana to light up.”

“Downstairs, they’ve got the little portable ones, and the ones that show affinities, but this is just about mana.’’

“and then after that?”

“That’s it. I was meant to spend some time in the arena with you, but you said you didn’t know any spells, correct?”

“Yep. Tested at 8, some blessings, not much mana, almost no mana sensitivity, either”

Dys scrunched up his face. He was pretty sure mana sensitivity was how Anu had managed to dodge Ota’s attacks.

“This is a pretty sensitive device, so you might see a little more lights than you expect. It’s capable of measuring newborns. The first three segments are where an adult normally fills. You can’t fail this test, but it’s meant to give us some insight on how to train you. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll start. ”

There was more to it, the device measured the volume of mana, the speed by which was emitted, and the purity, or how easily it could be aligned. It was a lot more elaborate than Dys gave it credit for.

“Wait, what about Kay?”, Anu pointed

“Kay’s fine. You’re contracted, right?”

“Yep”

“It’s perfectly fine. It’ll be the same if you stood there alone. You ready?”

Anu nodded

“Ok, I’ll start. If you put your hand on the plinth, and not so much push but try not to resist”

Anu closed her eyes. She felt a small tingling in her fingers at first, but it slowly became more comfortable.

“Right, do you want to start pushing now?”

Anu opened her eyes. The circuit had lit up one segment. She began to push and felt the sensation in her hand increase.

She watched the yellow light slowly fill up the second circuit.

“Ok, right, this might be a little tiring, but we’re going to try pulling.”

Anu closed her eyes to concentrate.

She felt a little uncomfortable, but after an awkward start, it turned into a more pleasant sensation as the mana was drained through her hand. It was a little easier to push too, she didn’t feel any resistance.

Dys watched as the light slowly crept up, gradually slowing to a crawl. He didn’t notice that the first segment had started to change color.

Anu started to push harder.

The first segment turned white. Dys noticed that the second was starting to change colour, slowly replacing the paler yellow light. Once it over took, it slowly filled up the second segment. The third began to change rapidly. Then the fourth. Very quickly the light spread through the spiral.

Dys had realised something wasn’t right, but by now 23 segments had filled up, and were shining brighter. The final segment started to light up, rapidly filling

As he tried to warn Anu to stop, the final segment filled, and the light across the circuit shined brightly. Dys covered his eyes as the last segment began to oscillate, creak, and then shatter.

Twenty three loud bangs sounded as each segment cracked, one after the other, smasing the plinth in the centre, and knocking Anu to her feet.

“What the...”

“What”

As the dust settled, Anu looked at the debris around her. The circuit had fried, the floor had several cracks through it, breaking the engraved channels apart. She inspected the remains of the plinth, in several large chunks around her. The channels were burned black, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces as it traced its way to the corner.

Dys was standing next to a large hole, where the corner used to be.

“It doesn’t look like it is going to collapse, but, are you ok Anu?”

“I think so? I don’t feel bad”, Anu answered. “Kay, are you ok”

She reached up to check that Kay was still there

kay help anu. kay strong.