We were already standing, so someone waved to get Vellum’s attention.
Vellum ignored the student and continued talking. “You may not give me an item you already enchanted before today, or any other magical item for that matter. You also may not add enchantments to another item you already have on you. You must enchant one of the items from those tables.”
Her phrasing on that last line already gave me a slim loophole — I could potentially enchant one of the tools, rather than one of the objects from the other table. But I kept listening.
“You may only use the materials within the arena. You may not leave the arena to go gather more supplies. If you already happen to be carrying enchanting supplies on you, you may use them. Preparation is key.”
I heard several groans at that.
I had a few things in my bag that I always kept on me, but not too much. My tools and a few mana crystals were better than nothing, though.
Beyond that, I did have several magical items I’d already made or purchased, but I wasn’t allowed to turn those in or modify them. I didn’t know if they’d be of any help.
I did have more materials to work with inside the Jaden Box, and the Box was in my bag…but showing it here would be a risk I wasn’t willing to take.
“Now, if you have any questions…?”
Someone was still waving, so she sighed and pointed to them. “Miss Weaver.”
The student finally put her arm down to speak. “Um, can we work together?”
That…hadn’t even been something I’d thought about, shamefully enough.
“Why, yes, dear. You can work together. You’d be surprised how few of my students remember that’s possible. Any other questions?”
Another student waved.
“Mister Thompson.”
“What happens if we’re not finished with an item before the time limit?”
“You fail, obviously. Anyone else?”
No one else waved.
“Very well, then.”
I shifted my stance.
“Your test begins…now.”
I activated the ring of jumping three times in rapid succession, crossing the arena.
I was the second person to reach the tables, after a student who had teleported. Miss Weaver, in fact, the girl who had been so enthusiastic about working with others.
I found it amusing that she’d so quickly left everyone else behind.
Focus.
I activated my attunement, scanning the tables.
Just as I’d suspected, some of the random “junk” items were already enchanted.
Vellum had either put them there as ways for students who couldn’t enchant items quickly to pass…or possibly as traps for people who thought they could get away without doing their own work.
I opted for the cynical explanation and skipped the enchanted items, instead opting to find something with a good mana capacity — a plain metal circlet.
I couldn’t tell what type of metal it was, but from the color I suspected it was either iron or steel, either of which had a good enough capacity for my purposes.
With that in hand, I found a corner and sat down. I didn’t bother grabbing tools; I trusted my own.
I had a few ideas on what I could make.
The simplest option was to build a stronger shield sigil. I’d already built several shield sigils throughout the year. With my own improved mana capacity and two attunements, I could make something with a capacity at least three or four times higher than the phoenix sigils.
I also considered building a weapon. Among the kitchenware, there were some decent-looking knives, and the benefits of having a weapon in the spire were considerable.
With my new training at life magic, I was probably capable of making a weak regeneration item with just the tools on-hand. That was probably the most tempting prospect, since it was something I doubted anyone else in the class could manage.
As far as I knew, everyone else only had an Enchanter attunement, and thus no one else had the ability to use life mana.
When I thought about the scenario, though, I realized there was something I considered even more important than any of the items above.
It wasn’t possible to make what I wanted with just the materials on-hand and my own mana.
Fortunately, I had a solution.
I began carving runes into the circlet. Minutes passed, and I had to stop. I knew most of the runes from memory, but I’d never actually made one of these.
So, I took the return bell out of my bag, and I began to copy.
The jingling of the bell as it came out of my bag drew the attention of a few students. I ignored them.
“Ten minutes. Miss Weaver, you’re up.”
Resh, it’s been ten minutes already?
I didn’t know how high I was in the class, but I had to hurry.
I finished carving the runes.
Then, with the briefest of hesitation, I began to transfer the mana from my return bell’s runes into the circlet.
The rules of the test had been clear — I couldn’t hand in a pre-enchanted item, but I could use my raw materials.
And if I broke an item down into raw materials?
That sounded fair.
Probably.
“Mister Holt.”
I kept working. It didn’t take long to transfer all the runes I was planning to move over.
I didn’t copy the activation rune, though.
I had something more interesting in mind.
I looked down at the floor, the tiles still etched with runes.
Then I copied the runes that Teft used for voice activation.
There were multiple runes at work in the process; one rune for recording a sound, and another that constantly “listened” for similar sounds using mental mana, then finally an activation rune that triggered when the recorded sound was detected.
I copied all of them.
I didn’t have the ability to use sound mana, but I didn’t need to.
I just transferred the necessary mana right out of the tile beneath me.
Damaging school property for the test probably wasn’t going to get me into trouble, especially considering how badly we beat up the arena during the duels. Still, I’d fix it later if Vellum asked me to.
“Miss Winter.”
Was there anything else I needed to do?
I began etching another rune. If I had time, I could give this more functions. Maybe build in a shield? The item probably had a high enough capacity for both the return function and a low-level shield…
I clenched my fist as I began to transfer mana into the first sigil for building a shield.
What else was I forgetting?
I felt like there was something important…
“Mister Cadence.”
I wasn’t done.
There wasn’t nearly enough time.
I packed away my tools, gritting my teeth as I stood.
What else did I need to do?
I was halfway to Professor Vellum.
I stopped, paused, and sent a flicker of mana into the sound-recording activation rune. Then I leaned down and whispered into it. “Return.”
I de-activated the rune.
If I hadn’t recorded a sound, the item would have been completely worthless.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
I finished walking over to Vellum. I was ready now.
“What’ve you got, boy?”
I handed her the circlet.
She turned it over in her hands, frowning. “What’s this nonsense?”
“It’s a return—”
“I know what it is. Or, what it’s obviously supposed to be. You tried to improve on a return bell, yes?” She folded her arms.