“This man attacked—” Dorgan started to bark.

  “Alright, stop.” The dwarven proffesor snapped at the elf. He looked everyone over. In the queue Oz saw all the senior students straighten up and start trying to move forward, pushing the line along. Not the best sign.

  After a moment his eyes went from Oz to the apple and then the blade. “Is that your clanknife?”

  “Yes.” Oz ignored the Ozzer's suggested snarky comeback. This teacher made his skin prickle. Less words were better here.

  “Make it yourself?” The dwarf was ignoring the pair of elves for the moment, who were looking more and more confused with each passing second.

  “Of course.” Oz replied, the dwarf paused, as if he was about to reach out before shaking his head.

  “He threatened us with a weapon!” Dorgan, keen not to lose the momentum he imagined he had. He looked back to the crowd and did not seem to register the way the older students were looking away.

  The first year students, down for a bit of drama, inflated his confidence.

  “No, he didn’t. Not in the legal sense anyway.” The professor growled at Dorgan and Rin, then he continued in the tone of a man quoting something dry and dusty, “A clanknife is classed as a utility tool as long as it’s not being used in a fight. As long as he’s doing something other than stabbing or brandishing it, it’s a tool.”

  The dwarf paused, giving Oz the side eye.

  “It’s also a legal loophole that I don’t expect a first year to know.”

  “I’m Oz Grimbrow.” Oz explained. His clan was not huge but it was well known in its particular niche.

  “Ah that makes sense. That also means you're the one Oxley mentioned, I should've suspected. Alright the lot of you. Let me explain this very clearly. You are at Noxarcer, outside of your private rooms you are observed at all times. I can ask Noxarcer right now to send a record of exactly what just happened to my illusion glass.” As the dwarf said that, Dorgan lost his haughty smile. Rin’s ears drooped.

  “Grimbrow, explain what happened while you fix your uniform.”

  “I have an exemption. My cravat tries to strangle me.” Oz explained, his response clipped and tight.

  “Alright then, just explain. And put the knife away for now. You can eat your apple later.” The dwarf said, fighting back a subtle smile. That was a good sign.

  Oz had been raised by an ex-soldier, in a town of ex-soldiers. His teachers had been ex-soldiers. Something about this dwarf ticked a whole lot of boxes in his head. So his report reflected that. No muss no fuss. A blunt recounting of the truth, which did not favour either side.

  As he finished he saw the dwarven professor nodding seriously.

  “Understood. Student Rin, do you disagree with any part of this?”

  “Well no.” The man was starting to look sheepish, not appreciating all the attention he was getting.

  “But—” Dorgan started to speak but the professor cut him off.

  “Did I ask for your input? No. Are you one of the two who came to blows? No. Do I seem like I need extra insight to decide what is going on? I certainly hope not.”

  “Mr Rin, you will go report to the healer’s office. Once you’ve been checked, you’ll go directly to the Redglass auditorium, to join all the others who can’t keep a lid on their new powers. They’ll decide what to do with you. Sadly the Academy is full of people who let the power go to their head, they will explain there, but this is your warning. Do not waste it.”

  “What ab—” Dorgan’s rant was cut off again as the professor pointed a finger at him.

  “Mr Dorgan, you'll go straight to Redglass. You have interrupted a professor twice, and don’t think I can’t feel you trying to push your passive around on this conversation. You’re not subtle.” Oz heard Stella suppress a laugh behind him.

  “Now all of you leave show is over. Do not make pay attention to you. Mr Grimbrow come with me.” The man turned and took a step.

  “But he’s—” Angie began but Oz managed to elbow her just before the professor’s gaze whipped round. He looked like he was about to say something, then his gaze softened, the rigid authority he’d radiated before easing slightly.

  “He’s not in trouble. I merely want to speak to him before my next lecture. Which is on runes, which unless I’ve missed my mark Oz is likely to be attending, yes?” Oz nodded in response. “Oz is going to walk with me while I ask him a couple of questions. Now come along.”

  “I’ll see you in a bit.” Oz paused to wave her off. Angie looked utterly lost, beside her was Stella who did not look much better. He briefly wondered if it was a good idea to leave the pair alone. Before Chops barked, bringing his attention to the fact that the professor was speed walking away. Despite his short stature he was absolutely powering along.

  Oz had to jog lightly to catch up, and then settled into big strides to keep pace. For a few moments nothing was said. Oz did not disturb the silence though, it felt like a test.

  “I’m Professor Agnar Pyrestone, most call me AP. Now Mr Grimbrow, please pass me your knife.”

  Oz did so carefully. He was, if he was honest, a little nervous about putting his work in front of an expert.

  “Hmm, Obsidian is hard to work with but rather excellent at holding runes. Interesting, a Quintet to cover repair, durability and hardness, the Trinity for sharpness and impact, makes sense.” He was turning over the knife in his hands paying no apparent care to where he was walking which did wonders to clear the path. “Odd though, the second Trinity for heat expression and collection, a heat burst is helpful but why bother with distribution?”

  “Magma troll mother, I have problems with cold.” Oz replied sharply. Mr Goddley had asked the same question, after he had had a lie down when Oz had first shown him the knife.

  “And this would allow you to flood heat through blade and body. Very sensible. Not simple runes either. When did you make this?” The dwarf was still turning the knife over, apparently not paying any attention as he walked.

  “A couple of months back.” He was about to stop there but something else slipped out. “My dad passed and I needed something to focus on.”

  “My condolences. Well it seems he taught you well, this is an excellent clanknife.”

  Oz waited for further feedback, expecting a suggestion of what he could do better, or perhaps saying it was good for a Scholar. None came.

  “Thanks.” Oz took the knife as it was passed back, requiring his full Deftness to accept the blade at speed.

  “It does however pose a problem, see your knife is bloody good work. And I see you’ve also got runed rings on, and your boots.”

  “Those other bits I did last week.” Oz nodded. “I wanted to keep busy. Why is it a problem?”

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  “Wants to keep busy he says,” the professor muttered, as they took a corner at speed. They arrived around a corner and it seemed they were about to plough through a trio of giggling students. Chops let out a quick bark of warning and the group scattered.

  “Good boy. I like your familiar.” AP took a breath. “Mr Grimbrow as much as it pains me, I fear that you might not get that much from the first third or so of my course. A huge part of the first year is teaching the mental strength required to give runes shape at E-Tier.”

  “I thought the main point was to learn two types of runes? I’ve still only made a couple of things with Gnomish runes!”

  “Ha, listen to the boy, he’s only made a couple of things in a different runic tradition.” AP spoke to Chops who cocked his head in confusion. “Look you must have felt it, how hard it was to push yourself to the point where you could form more than seven runes. That jump to eleven, that’s when it starts pulling on your soul, did you not feel it?”

  “I wasn’t exactly in the best mindset to think on that. It was a bit different when I made the axes, it was harder then. It took longer.” Oz frowned. He had noticed a difference. It had taken a whole two nights to do the axes compared to the hour or so it usually took to make a simple Trinity.

  “Did you make more E-Tier weapons?” The professor wheezed.

  “No, paired axes. I don’t have a ranged attack so I made some linked throwing axes. As long as I keep one in hand I can call back the other. It was hard but I just really locked in and got it done.”

  “Linked axes? Alright you might not get much out of half my course.” He muttered into his beard. “Well look, even if it’s not a challenging for you there is a huge qualitative difference in mindset required to carve runes above F-Tier, and that mindset can be applied to any form of runes. But you’re already at that point, and so my course will have limited value to you initially.”

  “I still think I should take it. I mean it’s just eleven runes right now, and I’ve only done it a couple of times.” Oz got defensive. Honestly a course where he was halfway done was only selling it to him more.

  “Just eleven the boy says.” This time when AP talked to Chops, he barked back, happy to be involved. “No I want you studying runes, by the nether I'll have you artificing if I have to nail you to the floor of lecture hall. No way I’m letting you squander that talent.”

  "Then are you trying to suggest I do something different? Take a different rune course.

  “The boy thinks—” AP began to turn as if he was going to speak to Chops again so Oz cut that off. He was finding this all very confusing, not helped by the fact they were pacing through the halls so fast people were jumping out of the way.

  “Then what are you getting at?” Oz growled. The Ozzer nudged him trying to calm him down, and he tried to settle back. AP gave him a long look, a worrying thing when he was still bustling forward at a jogging pace.

  “I’m trying to warn you so you don’t think I’m just going to force you to sit there bored out of your mind. You’re not the first to come through like this. I’ll give you extra tasks.”

  “My workload is already.” Oz began to explain, before the dwarf grunted.

  “It’ll be for extra credit.”

  “Alright then.” Oz almost saluted.

  They had gone through twists and turns and a set of doors. Oz found he was in a different hallway, this felt much quieter and calmer. He saw only a few students, and far more professors. They came to a door labelled “Professor Agnar Pyrestone Master of Runes”.

  He pulled open the door and Oz saw a very busy, very tidy office. Every wall was lined with shelves or little nooks in which sat all manner of different runic items. His sense for mana gave back just static as the sheer diversity of power on display collapsed any ability to pick up individual signatures.

  “Stay here.” AP said before diving into the room, and hustling about. Oz stood, slightly out of breath, and looked at Chops who took that moment to sit beside him. Twin grins turned on him, not sure what was going on but there for him no matter what.

  “Here it is. Gnomish runes a dwarf’s perspective.” A battered book was pressed into his hands. “Study that, catch up those fiddly Gnomish strings if things start to bore you, and do me a favour don’t show off. There’s going to be a lot of people in there who think just because they can carve a Quin out of a trio and pair that they’re going to be top of the class.”

  “Now are you ready to hustle? The lecture is the other end of the campus. I want you to keep up, otherwise people will try and bother me for advice. Let’s talk Gnomish, what have you made so far?”

  Oz sat in the runes lecture having parted from AP a bit earlier. Not wanting to arrive in lockstep with the professor. The man had told him to read the book if he found things boring but runes was one of the few subjects that really held Oz’s attention.

  The Ozzer was practically frothing to learn more.

  He spotted Glittershank in the class as well and ended up sitting with him and some of the crafters. It saved him from more nonsense from the Emissaries.

  Glittershank was a chatty sort, and happily introduced him to his classmates, who immediately picked up on his rings and boots. Thankfully they could not see the knife in its sheath so he did not have to talk about that. Everyone had some runed gear of their own. Mostly defensive or utilitarian. One dwarf had cleverly enchanted his satchel to spread the weight across his body rather than on his shoulder, others had similar practical concerns.

  Glittershank was the only one who had made a weapon, and showed off a stiletto dagger wrapped in Gnomish rune strings which allowed it to rocket forward, and then return.

  He was very proud of it.

  Oz was thankfully spared showing his own knife when AP cleared his throat.

  “Let us begin.”

  “We’re all here because runes speak to us. You need a certain mindset for runes, an image of how to bend the rules of the world and the will to see it follow through. It is not a place for the impatient, or the unimaginative. That’s the spell casters.”

  A chuckle rolled round the room, one Oz felt himself join in. His dad had often said similar things, though less diplomatically.

  “Runes aren’t like spells. All spells follow very similar hard defined rules, while each major branch of rune work is vastly different, with only the barest similarities tying them together.”

  “The three most popular forms of rune work, Dwarven Runescribing, Gnomish Runestrings, and Elven Runeflows are wildly different. Dwarven runes can carry the scribe's intent. A fire rune can produce two entirely different types of flame based on how the scribe imagined the flame. Gnomish runes, when handled by a scriptwright, deliver the exact same output from their runes and yet a talented scriptwright can achieve the same thing in half the lines of a novice. Elven runes pick up the tone of the runesinger, where everything from the emotion to the speed of the song can create a unique runeflow.”

  “Yet these are all runes.” AP smiled, then pointed to a case on the far right of the room. In it was a complex totem of angry tusked faces.

  “So why don’t we consider orcish totemic practices as runes? They use forms and shapes, they bind to a physical medium, some of them have been powered for millennia. All things we can see in the big three. What sets it apart?”

  “Who can tell me what the first rule of runes is? You.” AP jabbed a finger at one of the front row sitters who practically jumped out of their seat.

  “Runes can only act within their medium, what their medium contains, or upon their wielder. A sword can’t fire a bolt of lightning with a rune.”

  “Great. Further to this, to prove how variable runes are, each rune tradition works differently. Dwarven runes work well on the medium and through the body, but have limited effect on what the medium contains. No Dwarven runes have ever been able to create an archway effect for instance. Gnomish excels at affecting whatever the medium contains but struggle to affect the body of the wielder at all. We use them for teleport arches, but never as body enhancers. Elven runes allow for the medium to shift and work with the body to achieve unparalleled effects. They are our living weapons, prosthetics, and even homes.”

  “Runes next rule. You there.” He picked out another likely student.

  “Runes are a catalyst.”

  “Explain.” AP rolled his hands.

  “Runes can work from ambient or the wielder’s mana but in doing so they can create larger effects.”

  “How’s that different to a spell? You.” His finger found the dwarf who had made the weight distributing satchel.

  “Runes are always on, they never turn off unless they burn out. They don’t need people.”

  “Not how I would have put it but not wrong. Runes are an independent ongoing catalytic reaction of mana. Spells twist and shape mana in a moment. No matter the spell, if it’s not instant it requires someone’s attention to keep it running. Runes carve a localised reaction in the way mana works. Yes more attention from a wielder will power the reaction and create a larger effect, but if we seal away properly made runes even if they’re not fed power for a thousand years they’ll still work.”

  “That’s it, that’s the only two things that runes can fully agree on. So why isn’t an Orcish totem a rune?” He looked over the hall and then called out an orc girl who proudly stood.

  “It’s a spell, the totem just allows the ‘caster’ to be shifted to anyone in the tribe. If there was no tribe it’d fail.”

  “Yes, it’s a marvellous and wondrous thing, but it’s not a rune. I bring this up every year because I want you to see that totem. That totem ran for over half a millennium before an accident caused it to fail. You are making things that if cared for will outlive that.”

  “I know you'll say what about the consumables or scratch runes. In both those cases, the potential remains. If the power is not used up then they can be deployed as long as their anchor material remains.”

  “Keep this in mind as you work. Runic artefacts remain among the most in demand exports from dungeons. Your work will go into the hands of delvers and from there out into the world. Delvers will stake their lives on it working, traders will trade gold for it, in realms where they’re still developing their knowledge magic your work might even be studied to expand what runes even are.”

  “You are here to make sure your work lives up to the eternity before it.”

  “So let’s get started on the essential part. Safety.”