V5 Incline 48: Test-Taker Einervaene

"Like this?" I ask the teacher while blue lightning leaves my hands from all points. Their individual arcs take little time to return back to me, and they shoot for my arm. The grounding to my passive discharge. Each bolt avoids what I'm hooked up to, it only goes for me.

The measuring devices tick away, their mechanical tempers filling the air of the room. Some pulse, others throb. They all speak a different tongue of data, but they all share the same words. The magic of Einervaene Bosphama.

And it's all so helpful!

It's helping me keep an eye on how I'm casting my magic, and I feel it slipping away. I can actually feel my blood-magic habits slip away. One day at a time, bit by bit. These devices help the teachers and all the other staff at Suhurlodst Academy, they help them point out what I need to hear. The machines help them point it all out and explain in detail what I'm doing wrong!

And, for how little time I've actually been here... I've already learned so much!

There was once a time I would lose control of my body after using magic or just parts of it, so long as I kept the spell localised. But now? All I'm having to worry about is the loss of sensation. A dullness that goes away as quickly as it comes. No more spasms, no more unresponsive and twitching limbs! They're all happy with my progress, and as such, I'm very happy with it myself.

I've even managed to make a small group of friends here, people who are also from my homeland. It's wonderful to be able to finally talk about my home in a way others get. No more just asking questions and trying to simplify things. I'm in the same boat and ship as all of them.

It also helps me get a more intimate and local opinion of how well I'm doing. Which, all things considered, is making my efforts go along even more smoothly. Oddity House is filled with trained individuals, staffed by so many capable men and women, and it's more than equipped to help. But, they lack that precise understanding of foreign magic. It's a subtle thing, like me speaking the native tongue of the people of this country. The staff here tend to speak and act in terms of how the wind works, how wind-magic works.

Yet, for all their lack of understanding, it really does work sometimes. For it's the wind driving the clouds together that leads to lightning in the sky.

So, provided I'm able to translate the context in my head or in writing, I can work with it. But it's not always a guarantee. All the more reason to be delighted to have made friends from my homeland, people who share my blood. They can fill in the gaps the teachers can't. It's also quite the pleasant surprise to know that so many of them come from the lesser nobility from within the very borders of the land owned by my family!

"Yes, you are doing wonderful work right now, Student Einervaene. How much longer do you think you can keep it up for?" the teacher compliments, making my small, thought-made smile grow even more, even wider. It falters a bit, but my mood never changes, all so I can focus on her question.

It's a bit of a hard one to answer, because of how hard it is to tell. I don't feel like I'm losing control, nor is this test overly taxing on my external-magic flow, so I really cannot tell. But, there is something very uncomfortable about casting like this. It's a constant pins and needles sensation, something more than that but not quite pain.

"Probably about... Now?" I say to her, stopping my magic right then and there as I finish the sentence. She smiles, looking away, and the sounds of notes being written fills my ears as I wait here, still hooked up to the machines. An assistant comes over, helping me take it all off before she then directs me away from the machine. My eyes go back to the teacher as she comes back over to hand me something.

"What I have just given you is a copy of all my notes with annotations on what you could do to improve. And the other one is regarding that uniform request." she explains, gathering it all up nice and neat.

"They accepted it?" I ask, excitement seeping on into my voice as I begin to think about how I might be able to get something useful done to my clothes. Well, rather, I should end up getting clothes that look like what I've grown to like. The stuff I've initially borrow from Rianta-chira.

"Yes, and no. The Council of Student Refurbishment turned it down, but an individual within Mechanical House has shown interest in making it." she explains, her voice optimistic even with how the circumstances are a tad unprofessional.

"Oh," I let out, slightly disappointed that I will need to put in a little more legwork on what I hoped would be a handled affair, "Is there a reason it was rejected? You did say I had a valid enough reason to make the request as we had outlined."

"I know, I know. But, according to the Council of Student Refurbishment, they felt it would be too short-term to justify." the teacher tells me, her brass-silver painted nails going into her well-done, dirty blonde hair to scratch at the scalp beneath.

"Too short-term? There's no telling how long I will be stuck casting and using my external-magic in a sacrificial manner!" I question, pointing out that despite the progress I've made, I still have a long way to go. My good mood just makes it so easy to overplay what I've achieved!

"The notes I have compiled and your progress seems to have convinced them otherwise. Which, I can understand, you have made some exceptional progress these past few weeks, even with your stated time of how long you have been doing this." she insists, and it kills a lot of my frankly, over-reacting annoyance.

I smile again, slightly embarrassed by the praise, "So who in Mechanical House will I be looking for?"

"The document I have given you gives you all the necessary details, Student Einervaene. But, I will encourage you to get to it as soon as possible. Being a fellow student, they might not be so patient regarding it. Mechanical House can be very easily distracted at times with their projects, collective or individual." she explains, leaving me with a few questions, though only one that's really important.

"I think I have time today, so would that be a good time?" I ask.

"As I said, the sooner the better." she shrugs.

"Noted, but, out of curiosity, do you know of any collective projects Mechanical House does?" I decide to ask while the topic is relevant, my grip adjusting on the tablets. Though, while her words have caught my ear, I'm still moving for the exit. Lingering by it so I can wait for an answer.

"Sorry, I don't pay much attention to the affairs of Mechanical House. But, I know about how now they are working on this year's Inter-House Talent Conflict arena. It should be very interesting to see that. Our most high profile Exceptional House student is working intently with Mechanical House to make it happen." she explains, my thoughts turning slightly to two things. The airship that constantly hovers near the Academy's grounds, a whole army of guards to protect one man. The youngest prince of the Seven-Peaks Union of Jherikra.

But, I've heard and seen enough of him compared to the other topic.

"Inter-House Talent Conflict?" I repeat, the ignorance a cause for confusion.

"While we, the Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding do not have a dedicated timetable for terms and so on with it entirely being unique to each student, we do have one exception. That being the Inter-House Talent Conflict, which happens about two to three weeks after the end of the exam period dedicated to the main bulk of our student influx. You'll hear more about it later in the year, but, essentially, it's a rather violent sporting event where all our up-and-coming witches can test how skilled they have got if they want." she explains, leaving me with a polite smile at the idea, but not a whole lot else.

I backed away slightly, waving goodbye, "I think I will probably just watch if I am honest."