“Today we are taking advantage of the survival effect,” Rasmus said. He had to yell a bit to be heard over the sound of wind rushing over the top of the walls.

The formation class was standing on the top of the city walls, listening to why they were here. Hugo was trying his best to pay attention, but it was tough. Not because of the wind, Rasmus was talking plenty loud enough to be heard.

They were so high up.

He had to keep reminding himself that the walls were sturdy, they didn’t even move in this strong wind. Just because they were four stories high, didn’t mean that he was in any danger. The walls were thick, the battlements were tall. He was safe.

Still. It was just so high up.

“...which is a direct result of the mana pressure differential. The mana seeks to equalize, and as a newly soulmarked, you have a very low mana density. Basically, you are here to be present as monsters are killed. The survival effect cuts off around rank four, but we are only going to stay atop the walls until everyone hits rank two. Listen to your notifications and head on down to the base of the wall once you have enough points,” Rasmus said. He made sure everyone was paying attention and he continued. “The math behind this effect is interesting because it does not seem logical at first. But surprisingly it is consistent and predictable...”

Standing at the back of the group of thirty-five students, Hugo had to strain to hear his teacher occasionally. He was considering adding a point to perception when he ranked up. Oskar was on his left, not even pretending to pay attention. He kept glancing past the teacher to the land outside the walls.

Which, admittedly, was more interesting than a lecture on math they won’t need to use. They saw lumbering owlbears being shot down, they heard the screeches of centipedes attacking the base of the wall, and every so often a strix would be shot out of the sky.

Alice was standing on his right and gently elbowed him. He turned back to Rasmus and tried to focus. But her intent was just the opposite.

“Hey,” she whispered, “Did you hear about this new invention that allows you to see through walls?”

“Really?” Hugo said, allowing himself to be distracted.

“Yeah. They call them windows,” she whispered.

Hugo couldn’t help himself and laughed softly.

“Hugo! Please pay attention,” Rasmus barked out.

“Sorry Sage Rasmus,” he mumbled.

He pulled up his stat screen to check and see how long he would have to be up on this wall. Not too much longer. He had already gotten a head start by surviving the trip down the mountain. He did find himself feeling a little better about standing so high up. The battlements and railings really did make him feel safer. Not quite comfortable, but not panic stricken anymore.

A soft chime sounded that only he could hear. Double checking his points, he saw that he had enough to rank up and he quickly headed down the wall. He wasn’t the first down here, but he didn’t have any friends at the base of the wall yet. He stood by himself and pulled up his screen.

The formation domain had already put one point into his strength. Interestingly enough, that also automatically raised his mana score. Now he just had to choose a spot for his other stat point.

He was tempted to raise his perception. It was his lowest stat and he knew that it would be handy to prevent monsters from sneaking up on him. But it wasn’t a stat he would need right now. Rasmus had said that dexterity would help him balance out his strength, so he put his point into that.

Hugo Rebane [Formation Domain]

Strength (13)

Dexterity (12)

Resilience 9

Regeneration 11

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 9

Charisma 11

Perception 8

Rank 2

8/300 Points

Health 11/11

Mana 3/(26)

Skills: Fabricate

Elements: Choice Available

Hugo saw the brackets around the numbers again. Now he knew that he would slowly gain strength and dexterity until the number was accurate. The brackets would disappear at that point. He was glad to see the Fabricate skill pop up like it should. The ‘choice available’ on the new Elements line called to him. He really wanted to see the options, but quickly closed the screen before he got tempted. Rasmus said they would cover that in class tomorrow.

Alice walked over to him just then. She turned back to the wall and said, “I always hate stairs.”

“Why is that?”

“I feel like they are always up to something. Or trying to let me down. One of the two,” she said while squinting at the stairs.

Hugo groaned and tilted his head back, “Really? Really? How many of these terrible jokes do you have?”

Her eyes sparkled and she said, “Endless!”

Thankfully, the rest of the class joined them and Hugo was spared more puns.

...

The next day in their formation class, Rasmus launched right into his lecture as soon as he walked in.

“Now, with your advancement to level two, you should have gotten the chance to choose one of the ninety-six elements. Once you make your choice, you will be able to create things out of that element. You are able to choose an element at two, eight, sixteen, thirty-two and sixty-four. This is an important choice.

“By the end of your first year, I expect all of you to be at rank twelve. And before you leave the academy in four years, you will pass rank twenty four. It will be several more years before you hit thirty-two. I don’t need to tell you how rare it is to hit rank sixty-four.

“This means that your choice here, your new element, is of vital importance. Four elements. That is all that you are likely to have for the rest of your life. If you choose elements that work well together, you will be a useful and valued member of society. If you choose poorly, then not even the docks will want you.

“This brings me to this pamphlet,” Rasmus said and held up the stack of pamphlets on his desk, “Listed in these pages are all ninety-six elements available to the formation domain. There are actually more than that number of elements in the world, there are some things that you cannot create, no matter what element you choose.

“I can see you thinking, ‘What elements aren’t included? What are the limits of the formation domain?’ Which is of course an excellent question. A question so good that it is your first homework assignment. What elements are unworkable by formation mages, and why?”

He paused while his students scribbled down that question. Then he continued, “Your next homework assignment is to choose three elements, three complimentary elements that will allow you to create almost anything you will want for the rest of your life. This is just a homework assignment, not a binding contract. But I want you to treat it like it was a permanent decision. Tomorrow you will come to me and discuss your choices. If I approve, you will select a single element from your list and unlock it.

“If anyone is sufficiently idiotic that I reject all your choices, you will receive a failing grade on this assignment and I will choose for you,” Rasmus said and looked Oskar straight in the eyes.

Hugo shivered. He certainly didn’t want Rasmus to choose his elements, that man didn’t think of anyone’s best interests except his own. As the teacher passed out the pamphlets, Hugo took one and quickly started scanning down the list. Some of these he recognized, some of them he didn’t.

“As you look down the list, you will see that some elements you expected to see aren’t on there. For example, steel is nowhere to be found. That is because it is a combination of the element iron and carbon. Any formation expert you see running around with steel armor must have at least those two elements. As long as we are talking about armor, let’s also mention the element leather, so those breastplates can be attached to the user. That is three elements right there, iron, carbon, and leather. That is a fair combination for someone who only plans on fighting on the wall.

“I hope you put a little more thought into your choice though. Mages of the Blue Lion Academy aren’t simple guards. We expect better of you. We want mages that will be useful in a variety of fields throughout society. Think about what you will be doing after you leave these hallowed halls, and devise a combination of elements that will help you in that job.

“Choose elements that work well alone, and together. For example, the elements of leather and glass are very useful in isolation, but you cannot combine them. On the other hand, aluminum and niobium are somewhat useful alone, but create a very useful alloy when combined. That alloy is used to create mana lamps by the way.

“I will be ending the lesson early today, so that you will have time to read up on your elements. I am also excusing you from your cryptozoology class so you can focus on this assignment. Choose wisely, and have at least a page of notes about your chosen elements for class tomorrow. And don’t forget to answer the first question as well. Class dismissed.”

Hugo stared at his pamphlet in shock. This was going to take him all night. He had to research all ninety-six elements and choose three that would work well together. Not only was the assignment difficult, it was extremely important. It is like he was choosing the trajectory of the rest of his life. He would have to work for the academy for the six years after graduation, but they would certainly stick him in a profession suited to his elements. He was choosing his job with this one class assignment.

“Come on, Hugo,” Oskar said, interrupting his thoughts, “I want to get out of here. We have time off, let’s go have fun. I bet no one is on the court at this hour. We can get a game of azad going.”

“What? No. We have to pick our elements,” Hugo said, standing up and walking out with him. Lenna had walked out with them and nodded along with Hugo.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We can do that after, it won’t take long. Come on, azad awaits. Underclassmen never get a chance to use the court, we gotta take advantage. I know you said you don’t know how to play, but trust me, the best way to learn is to play,” Oskar said. He smiled broadly and spread his arms out in the sun. “This is going to be so fun.”

Hugo smiled along before he caught himself, “No, of course not. I need to pick my elements, we need to pick our elements. This is super important.”

“This may be the most important decision of our lives,” Lenna said. Hugo nodded along.

Oskar shrugged, “Yeah, maybe. We are really only picking one element, not all three. Rasmus just wants us to do busy work. I can write out my notes later. I guess I will just pick the three my dad has. He is a pretty good formation mage.” He pointed towards the center of campus and said, “I am going to play azad, and you should come with me. All work and no play will burn you out. You have to have a balance in your life.”

“Some of us can’t afford to be balanced,” Hugo said, “I have to succeed. I don’t have any father willing to hand me his company when I graduate.”

Oskar waved his hand dismissively, “This is important for me too. I won’t be able to take over father’s company for at least a decade. I just know the importance of balance. Fun is an important part of life.”

“Yes, balance. You need to put in the work first, then play after. Right now it is work time,” Hugo said.

It wasn’t long before Oskar grew frustrated with Hugo and just left him to go play. Hugo was too stressed about his element choice to worry about their friendship right now, and just turned to go to the library. Lenna walked with him.

Hugo suddenly felt awkward, walking with Lenna alone. He turned to her and said, “That guy. What a character.”

“He is everything that is wrong with this academy. He knows nothing, he will learn nothing, but he has a guaranteed job at the end of his time here. There are hundreds of them here,” Lenna said and waved her hand around. “They are just putting in their time, obstacles for the rest of us that actually want to learn. Need to learn.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” Hugo joked. He kind of agreed with her, but he wasn’t going to say anything explicitly bad about his roommate.

She just gave him a look and kept walking towards the library.

“Oh, alright. Well, do you want to study together? You know... For the assignment?” Hugo said. He found himself wincing at his own awkwardness towards the end.

“No thanks. I have had my three elements sorted for a while. I am just going to the library to research the answer to Sage Rasmus’s first question,” Lenna said with a shrug.

“Oh yeah, sure. You have wanted to take the formation domain for years, right?” Hugo said.

“Right. I didn’t just randomly choose my life career, I have been working towards it for years,” Lenna said and looked back the way Oskar had gone. She seemed to realize that Hugo had done the same thing and said, “Not that you made a bad choice, formation is the best domain. I just won’t be much help to you in your search since I have decided.”

“What three did you decide on?” said Hugo.

“Nope. I won’t tell you mine. This is a very personal decision. I don’t want to influence your choice,” Lenna said as they walked into the library.

Hugo followed her in, mostly because this was his first time visiting the building. There were three stories, with a single large staircase in the middle of the building. Huge columns supported each floor, bookshelves built into the supports. A quick glance showed that the books mostly had the same colors, brown on the first floor, blue on the next, and green on the top floor. Lenna didn’t even pause as she entered, walking around the staircase and to the back of the first floor. Row after row of full bookshelves filled the room, with basic wooden tables interspersed throughout the stacks.

She paused briefly to read the label on the stack in front of her, only now noticing that Hugo was still following here. She huffed and turned and walked back to the staircase. On the back side of the staircase was a librarian sitting behind a round desk.

“Hello madam. Can you please help my friend here out? He is an alright sort, but this is his first time visiting the library,” Lenna said.

The kind librarian gave him directions and wrote out the names of the books he should start with. Paper in hand, Hugo wandered around the library, eventually finding himself in the right section. He found a few of his classmates already there. He grabbed a book from the section of elemental primers and sat down to read it.

The first thing he learned was that only some of the ninety-six on his list were actually elements. The rest of them were more complex building blocks of matter, but still able to be created by formation magic. For example, glass was made of several different ingredients in the real world, but the formation domain was able to create it as if it was a single element.

There were a lot of metals on this list, and the rest of them seemed a bit random. Three kinds of woods. Glass and crystals. Even after reading the description, he didn’t know why the Acamarians added nylon to the list.

Just as he really started getting into his book, he was interrupted. It was Lenna, she tossed an open book onto his desk.

“Hey, I found our answer. To the first question, at least,” said Lenna.

Hugo glanced down at the open book. It was a summary of all the elements formation magic couldn’t create. Nothing that was a gas, which made sense. No poisonous metals, which was a relief. And no lead, since it didn’t conduct mana. Then he realized he had just sat there reading for a bit while she just stood there. He said, “Thanks. That means a lot. It will make my day a lot easier.”

Lenna tapped her notes along the table and said, “Sure thing. It wasn’t hard to show you after I found the answer. Good luck on your search.”

She wandered off after he thanked her again. Hugo wondered if she liked him in that way. So far, she just seemed friendly, but he couldn’t tell if there was something more. Then he wondered why she would even want to like him. He hadn’t really done anything interesting around her yet. He shook his head. That wasn’t important right now.

The next few hours were spent reading about each of his available choices. Some choices had whole chapters devoted to them, like iron and its many alloys. Other choices had a single paragraph.

Potassium is soft and white metal with a silvery luster, has a low melting point, and is a good conductor of heat and mana. Potassium imparts a lavender color to a flame, and its vapor is green.

Bismuth is the heaviest known metal. Silver colored with a pink tinged hue. Similar melting point as lead, but will weakly conduct mana. No known uses.

His stomach grumbled and reminded him that it was dinner time. He slumped back in his chair. He had no more idea now about what he should choose than when he started.

Looking around for classmates, he saw that he was practically the only one left in this section of the library. Dinner must have been a higher priority for them than homework. Hugo didn’t understand. Were all of them as prepared as Lenna, or just as carefree as Oskar?

Either way, he was alone now.

He walked up to the information desk and said, “Hello. Thank you for your advice earlier, I read those books. Can I ask you some more questions?”

“A polite young boy like you? Of course you can. Ask away,” she said.

Realizing he had failed to ask earlier, he said, “First off, what is your name? I want to give you the respect you deserve.”

She smiled, “You can call me Rahne. I hope that wasn’t your only question.”

“No, no, I have more questions, Rahne. I was hoping you could point me in the direction of a book that would help me choose my profession. Like, pick these three elements if you want to be a train engineer, or pick these three if you want to be a safemaker,” said Hugo.

“There are books like that, but I wouldn’t recommend reading any of them if you want a modern career. Many of the recent inventions don’t have books written about them. Anything shimmertech, from trains to corpsmen, won’t be in a book. Your best bet is go out and talk to someone that is already doing what you want to do. Ask them what they chose for their elements, or maybe what they had wished they had picked.”

Hugo frowned. That was good advice, but he couldn’t follow it. He had no connections with anyone like that. Maybe if he had more warning on this assignment, he could finagle some connections, but it was too late for that now. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Thanks anyway.”

Rahne gave him a pitying look. Connections mattered a lot in these circles. She said, “I do have one bit of advice you can follow. Many young students miss the mana expenses and flub their first choices. You aren’t going to have enough mana to work with any of the heavy metals until at least rank twenty. Don’t pick anything that has a mana adjusted score of ten or above.”

Nodding, Hugo said, “Thanks. I was wondering what that number was for. Everyone lists it, but they never talk about it in practical terms like that. Now all I have to do is start over from scratch.” He gave her a lopsided smile.

“Don’t worry. You can do this. You really only have to choose one element today, you can change your other two as you gain more experience.”

Hugo dragged himself back to the wooden desk and his pile of notes. He took out his sheet of interesting elements and scratched out Titanium, Beskar, Platinum, and Igolide. As awesome as those metals were, they had a mana adjusted score of above twenty. He could only create a thimble-full of them right now. Maybe he would revisit his list after he graduated and had more mana.

Knowing now that he didn’t want to choose anything with a score over ten limited his choices considerably, more than thirty elements had a high score. Of course, plenty of the lower scored elements weren’t a good choice either. There were four types of wood on the list, but he didn’t want to choose any of them. A mundane craftsman could carve anything you could want, there was no reason to waste a choice on them.

Besides, he had already decided on a metal of some sort. There were very few mines on the wheel, and metal was always in demand. Even if he turned out to be a terrible mage, being able to create metal on demand would keep him out of the poorhouse.

He eventually narrowed his choices down to fifteen that he thought would be useful to have, but didn’t stretch his mana reserves too much. He looked up from his list. It was time to go back to his room. Reading more books wouldn’t help him at this point, he needed to sleep on it.