As he usually did each morning, Jasper Fentrix, mighty mage of the Sedgewick Mage's Guild, slowly sipped his tea and read a novel until a bit past noon. The sign on the door clearly said "Examinations of Magical Aspects begin promptly at sunrise." Jasper felt it was the first test of a mage. If you didn't have the patience to wait four hours doing nothing, then you wouldn't make it through some of the more boring classes in the academy.

Opening his door that day, he was not happy to find that there were actually three applicants who were waiting patiently for him. Sighing at the unfairness of the situation, he brought them inside, sat two in his small lobby and took the first farm boy into his study. He made a great show of looking in the boys’ ears, measuring his cranium, and checking his hands. As he suspected, the hands were callused from work, the ears needed cleaning, and his cranium was unremarkable.

"It is doubtful, that you have any aspect for magic at all, but please put you hand upon the large crystal and we'll see if it reacts."

The farmer's son did so, and the crystal proved Jasper wrong by glowing brightly and shooting out small sparks. "You seem to have the rare combination of Storm and Light aspects. Very strange. Have you done anything in your life other than hoe turnips."

The boy frowned at him. "Nothing wrong with turnips. My dad always says that. But yes, I killed the old wolf, the Chicken thief. Caught him tearing apart my coop and took his head off with my grandfather’s sword. Now I need to go become a Paladin. The sword says so."

Jasper nodded. That was a strong combination between humble beginnings and a heroic act. Along with the boy's twin aspect he was prime material for the Order of Paladins. He wrote out an appraisal of the boy, and sent him off to the capital. Then he decided to have another cup of tea. The cantrips needed for the appraisal always drained him. His small mana pool had hampered his studies at the academy, which is why he had ended up here in a small village no one cared about.

The next candidate was starting to fidget. It was a woman in her late 30's, dressed in the work clothes of one of the Baron's people. She stood and said, "Hi, I'm Miriam" she held out her hand, which Jasper declined to touch. He just stared down his nose at her.

"I'm not someone who desires to know anything at all about you, young lady. Most likely you will have no aspect of magic and I'll never talk to you again. Follow me." The girl rolled her eyes, but held her tongue.

Again, Jasper wasted some time checking ears and measuring her cranium. He had a theory that he could discern how powerful someone might become in magic by the shape of their head. So far, his predictions hadn't worked out, but greatness didn't come from measuring just one skull, or even a hundred. He would persevere and prove them all wrong about him.

This time the crystal had a more astounding reaction than before. It began to heat up and small flames danced on the surface of it, threatening to set the room on fire. Jasper used the last of his mana to end the cantrip and return the crystal to normal. He sat back, exhausted. "Well, this has been quite a day. First a Paladin trainee and now an apprentice Fire Mage. You have a very deep mana pool, young lady, along with the Aspect of Fire, and a strange perk called Strength of the Forge. Have you noticed anything strange lately?

She nodded. "Last week I was helping Rufus smelt a good amount of Dark Iron ore when an elemental manifested. Vulco son of Vulcan attacked us, and killed Rufus. I beat it to death with a forging hammer I'd made last week. I gained the perk, and now my STR increases as long as I keep working metal. It's tricky since the forge burns more fuel when I use the ability, but I can boost my STR by up to 5 points if I'm at it for an hour. I used the core skill points that I gained from killing the thing to buy the aspect of fire.

Jasper was annoyed. "You knew all this, and you came here to be tested still? Never mind. It's good to document these things. I assume you will be leaving soon? Taking you hammer and heading to the capital and the Arcane college of Fire? You should do well there."

Miriam looked a bit sad, and then shrugged. “No time for college, I’ve got a lot of work in the forge for the next few years.”

"I really just wanted to see if you had any fire spells or cantrips I can learn. I won't have time for another four years to go learn them elsewhere since I work for the Baron. Maybe I'll go to school then. Right now, I need to learn to pound dark iron and fold steel."

Jasper took her by the arm and dragged her to the door. He had the uneasy feeling that if she had wanted to resist, she could easily over power him. Physically at least. But she didn't resist, seeming slightly amused by him, which just increased his annoyance. "This is not a place to come for testing unless you are going to attend college. And I will never be passing out spells like some crude Hedge Wizard. Good day to you ma'am, and good riddance!"

Slamming the door, he turned to the third applicant. She looked too well dressed for this town. Underneath a traveler’s cloak he saw that she was wearing a shimmering blue robe of expensive material. Some noble’s child with the presumption to already have purchased a robe for herself? Ridiculous. "Why are you here? And why are you wearing that robe? Robes like that are restricted to registered mages of the Academies and not for the untrained! Leave and desist from wearing it. You may come back tomorrow at 6 a.m. to be tested. Good day."

The woman stood, and Jasper found out that she was four inches taller than him. He disliked people that were taller than him. Another sign of how unfair his life could be. "That's about enough out of you." She snapped her fingers.

Jasper felt his lips press together and his throat tighten.

The woman stood and took off her traveling cloak. Another snap of her fingers summoned a long staff inset with several gems. A third put a stylish wizard’s hat on her head. "I wished to see for myself if the complaints about your methods were true or not. I'm satisfied that they are. It's ironic indeed that someone with barely enough mana to file the paperwork for the applications seems to feel he is the gatekeeper of who trains for magic and who doesn't. This will change."

She handed him a long scroll that unrolled down to his toes and across the ground as he broke the official seal of the Arcane Academy.

"Read through the scroll on your own time, I will summarize it for you: I am your new boss. My name is Beleriand Uftgarland and I have a dual aspect dealing in both Earth and Sea magics. I'm sure we'll get along splendidly while I prepare this Guild to upgrade to Level 1."