Mined Games chapter 16

I spent the rest of the day moving all of my stuff into the mining company. The place was safe as far as I could tell, with the only sentient creature I’d met being Barew, who never came above ground. Doing it this way let me clean my room out and leave without having to make a hundred trips, or walk past my dad too much.

When I’d been checking up on the test, I’d ALSO confirmed that the Blacksmith Guild had on premises dorms for students. The early entrants to the guild were treated as students. A three year course with a standardized curriculum to teach us all about smithing (or casting in the case of the Guild Guard). Since I’d been planning to move anyway, I decided to take advantage of that to get out of my dad’s house.

Following the test I’d stopped and asked Tanya for a token to get into the dorms, and she was happy to provide it, telling me I’d be placed with a second year roommate who would act as my guide within the Guild. Something most students, who lived with their clans or families, didn’t get.

So, once I got my things packed up, I left. I scrawled a quick note for my dad, because even though I was angry at him still, I didn’t want him to worry. Then headed for my new room at Guild Headquarters.

I found the building easily enough, it was one of the larger ones in Edgebank, up there with the Baron’s castle and the Mage’s Tower. Those three buildings formed a triangular barrier around the city, with the city walls between then to connect. The Guild was at the very back of the city, furthest from the border.

When I arrived at the huge stone edifice, I was stopped at the doors, but when I showed my token they let me right through, directing me to the stairs needed to reach my floor. I kept my cloak on just in case, feeling discretion was the better part of valor, at least until I got to my room.

Reaching the door, I help up the token, comparing the number on it to the room number. The Guild was huge, and as such they had hundreds of rooms in this place. Of course, there were thousands of members, but of the hundred thousand or so people in Edgebank, that wasn’t a particularly high percentage.

As I held up the token, I saw it glow momentarily, and then the knob of the well maintained wooden door turned on its own and the door swung open. I stepped through, taking in my new room with interest.

It was small. Ten by ten or so, with a small bed pressed against each wall, and a single set of windows directly opposite the door, letting sunshine in through the gauzy curtains. It wasn’t sunset yet, but it was late afternoon, almost night, so the light was golden tinged with a bit of red.

A guy sat on the bed on the left, reading a book and pretty much completely ignoring me. He had shaggy brown hair with thick sideburns and hawklike blue eyes, which he fixed on the page of his book diligently. I stepped inside, shutting the door, and he finally looked up at me, frowning as if closing the door was the worst thing I could have done.

He made a face. “Oh. A roommate. Joy, because I wasn’t busy enough, now I’m supposed to babysit a freshman.” He stared at me as I took him in, finally rolling his eyes. “Well? Come in and put your things down. If you’re going to waste my reading time, at least try to be productive.”

Swallowing hard, I hauled the small bag of things I’d kept out of the mining company up off my shoulder and dropped it on the bed. “Um. Hi. I’m Caleb. Rourke. I’m a freshman…but you already know that. Tanya said you could help me learn about how things work? We’re getting our class assignments tomorrow I guess? I’m…honestly kind of surprised about the school thing.”

He shrugged. “It’s an investment. They use students for menial labor, minor jobs, large scale production. That kind of thing. There are mandatory job points required along with classes to pass a year, and they post tasks for students to do to ‘practice their craft’. It’s a solid curriculum though, so I think it’s worth it. Better than the bullshit contracts you have to sign with Mage’s Tower.”

I knew nothing about that, so chose not to mention it, though I would make sure to bring it up with Tara. Her recruitment test should have been today too, I’d been so wrapped up in my own test and moving out I’d completely spaced. I hoped she hadn’t signed anything we couldn’t get her out of. “What kinds of classes do they offer?”

That got me an eye roll. “Offer is a strong word. All freshmen take the same classes to start. Physical conditioning, Material Study, Mana Control, and Basic Hammering. The last two are Apprentice only. Those are the building blocks for a smith, and if you can’t pass them there’s no point in teaching you anything useful.”

Those all sounded VERY useful to me, but I imagine there were more specialized and interesting classes around. I wanted to know if there were classes on crafting spatial items, but asking that would basically be announcing my mana type so I put it off. “What about spells, I heard that the Guild had access to plenty of them to learn.”

He actually smiled at that. “Everyone asks that. There’s a depository with all the spells that can be accessed by anyone. You need job points to get any spells, and freshmen start with a hundred of them as a welcome gift. My personal advice though? Don’t.”

I cocked my head at him. “Why not? I mean, doesn’t everyone want to learn magic? Getting some spells was the first thing I wanted to do.”

“Of course.” He said simply. “But spells aren’t exactly the same as formuli. Since a formula is internal, you can make a mental cast of what you want the mana to do, and it obeys. Spells are external, you have to actually weave them together inside you and then funnel them through your focus. It doesn’t sound like a big difference, but trust me, it is. You can’t cast any spells as you are now.”

Despite all the advantages I had, I wasn’t exactly in a position to comment on that. He was probably right. I didn’t know anything. And if I couldn’t buy spells with money that meant I’d need to find a way to use my gold reserves to get job points. I slumped down on the bed next to my backpack. “Well, then what do you suggest I do until tomorrow?”

He frowned at me, then reached under his bed and dragged out a heavy wooden trunk. He opened it, pulling out a book, and tossed it over to me. “Read. It’ll keep you out of my hair, and that one will help you out with Mana Control.”

I nodded a thank you, but I wasn’t done asking questions. I wanted to know more about what this place was like. “You mentioned two of the classes are Apprentice only. What happens if someone passes the first year without crystallizing?”

“They don’t.” He said seriously. “No one gets past first year as an Acolyte. There are remedial classes for them in freshman year to help improve speed, and they’re given better resources and formula counseling. If you can’t make it to Apprentice after a year of all that, you get kicked out.”

Which led me to another question. “So everyone above first year is an Apprentice?” Three years was a long time, I doubted I was the only one who could condense quickly.

“No.” He said firmly. “Some of the students have hit Caster rank already, and have become real blacksmiths, able to work with multiple materials and create real enchanted items. I’m eighth Circle of Apprentice myself, and I’m considered decent as a beginner second year. If I hit Caster before third year I’ll be on track for a Guild leadership position when I graduate.”

I whistled. “I’m barely an Apprentice. I have some catching up to do. Is there anyone above Caster rank in the Guild?”

I’d heard rumors about some people above caster in Edgebank, and as one of the three pillars of the city, chances were good at least one of them was here.

He nodded solemnly. “The Guild Master is at the fifth circle of Magician. He’s one of the top five strongest people in the entire city. There are no Thaumaturges in a place like this, most of them are in the capital.”

Magician was the fourth rank of mage, after Caster. I didn’t know what a Magician could do, since I’d never seen one, but considering the level of power you could find in a Caster, I was guessing they were scary.

He turned back to his book, but I had one last question. “I wanted to ask…are people here…like are they assholes?” He looked at me oddly. I shrugged. “I’ve gotten a lot of shit growing up. I used to be really weak, and looking back I don’t think it was all about that. I think people dislike me for some reason, maybe because my dad is a deadbeat. That likely to be a problem here?”

“Some.” He admitted. “But no worse than anywhere. The Guild is…insular. We get looked down on by people in other factions and families because…well that’s historical bullshit. Point is they hate us but they need us, so they have to treat us decently because we have leverage. Most people only sign up for the guild when they have nowhere else to go.”

I nodded slowly. “So you think they won’t fuck with me as much because everyone here has their own problems? I can live with that. You never gave me your name, by the way. I promise that’s the last thing I want to know, then I’ll leave you alone.”

Giving me a sad chuckle, he shook his head. “If only people were that rational. I think most will leave you alone, but some people will give you problems. Just telling you things might not be as bad here. My name is Alec, by the way. It’s nice to meet you Caleb. Now read your damn book and leave me alone.”

The smirk when he said that took the sting out of the dismissal, and I rolled my eyes, picking up the book as I snickered at his blunt nature. I read over the cover. ‘Principles of Mana Manipulation’. Interesting. I opened it up and started paging through, seeing complicated diagrams and numbers and instructions.

Knowing I needed to start at the beginning, I did, reading the preface as I tried not to let my mind wander. To my dad. To Tara. To how my life might change now that I was somewhere new. The Guild seemed interesting, and I might like it here, if I could make the cut. I’d also need to find a safe place to enter and exit the mining company nearby, so I wouldn’t get caught.

It seemed like the more I improved the more I had to do, the more complicated things became. But I didn’t mind that. It felt…good. Meeting these challenges, pushing back against them, growing and learning. I’d been told I couldn’t do anything for such a long time, that I was useless, broken. Now I could finally show everyone what I could do.

I closed the book gently, telling my roommate I had to go to the bathroom and getting directions. Heading down the hall, I found an empty cupboard and after making sure there was no one around. I slipped inside.

Then I opened the door to the mining company from the inside, that way when I came back out I’d exit INTO the cupboard and not out of it. Reasonably sure I’d been cautious enough, I headed for the mines. I needed to work off some of this energy before bed.