The Odd Dragon Out: Reckoning of the Cinder-Born

The large box, which had a clear wooden texture, and a rosy red hue, opened up neatly, its four sides whipping out and dropping to the floor. They would have laid flat on it if not for the long – extendable – thin rods and hinges attached to them from the inside.

Only the top and bottom parts of the box remained in the same position, and between them, a thick, steel pole that connected the two could be seen, a multi-plated rack constructed around it; the thin rods were attached to it in turn.

Nine simple, silver balls were placed on the rack, and below it, right above the bottom board, were what looked like large, layered dark plates; or perhaps they were intricate, flat, metal carvings folded immaculately to fit in the box? It was hard to tell.

The girl who had dropped the box pointed her hands animatedly at the interior of the box, her expression and form like that of a magician presenting her crafty work.

She seemed extra for no reason. Her bizarre smile, instead of lighting up a world, would go a step further and make it so bright that no one would be able to see it anyway.

Ginger watched her shake someone close to the doorway vigorously, as though attempting to hype them up. From the look of terror on the stirred student's face though, he gathered that he was more perturbed than intrigued.

The girl skipped over explaining what the box was and instead made a casual announcement.

"Professor isn't coming today. Again. We have the whole Stride to ourselves. I hope we got a good fresh batch. Oh, I like these new faces already."

She looked aggressively at everyone on both sides of her.

Some of the older faces greeted her and she returned what mild hellos she received tenfold.

Reiss gave Ginger a dark look. It seemed to summarise several reasons why the dwarfish dragonling shouldn't be here.

Ginger chuckled awkwardly. He could hardly pay Reiss' apprehension much attention. His eyes were glued to the open box.

Zale walked towards the object.

The girl who had come with it, Basilia, attempted a violent greeting on Zale, but he dodged elegantly.

He then stood before the open contraption.

"Alright then, let's not waste any more time," he said, to which a few mumbled something about him being late. "Anyone who comes in later will have to catch up another day – though I really, really, don't want to be the one to give inductions like this every time. Anyway, let's get started. I suppose we can address and evaluate the newcomers first. It's always a good 'opening act.'"

Zale picked up one of the dark plates at the bottom of the box and as he gave it a light tap with his finger, it hurriedly straightened up to form a sizable humanoid shape.

It was about as tall as an average human adult, its flat, matte black face full of dents, cuts, and barely visible scorch marks. The thickness of the metallic construct seemed to be the only reason it hadn't broken apart. Or perhaps something else?

Ginger was reeled in.

What was that?

Zale carried the object towards the end of the room, which was roughly twenty meters away, and after tinkering with its base – which featured not an imitation of feet, but a triangular prism shape – he made it stand on its own.

"This is a target dummy," the gaunt Third Year explained to those who didn't know. "You'll be... leaving more marks on it than you can count this year – if you choose to stay, that is."

Zale gestured something to Basilia and she energetically flung one of the silver balls, which he caught and gave her a threatening glare.

"Kartile – and believe me, I think the name is stupid – is all about learning to maximize your ability to project Kardia out of the body. Affixers and Alien-types are the most capable of learning this, along with the tips and tricks that can follow being able to do this well enough. Now..."

Zale walked away from the dummy.

"...to master projecting Kardia outside the body, we use these steel balls for practice. At least, for Alien-types. Of course, the main theme, or target, is as the name of our Out Course suggests. Projectiles..."

Zale dramatically pointed two fingers behind him, and then bang!

The dummy swayed back and forth, a faint trail of smoke rising from the middle of its head.

"Simple enough, right? As you can guess, I'm an Alien-type. For those like me, this is the standard you should aim to reach."

It became easy to spot those who were new by their slack jaws. Ginger was gaping in interest and surprise while Reiss looked to only be mildly drawn in.

The whispers and audible "I didn't see his Kardia! It traveled so fast!" and "Amazing! If I can learn to do that..." were rather prominent among the First Years. Ginger's own internal reaction was something similar. However, what he thought also encompassed the fact that Zale's Kardia was refined, and couldn't be perceived by his lacking sight.

He probably lacked the skill to 'dumb down' his Kardia, as Professor Mara said.

"Pipe down," Zale said as he tossed the silver ball in his hand up and back repeatedly. "Now, Affixers, your Kardia latches onto anything close to your body. This ball is made of Qin Steel, and it is highly attracted to Kardia. When your Kardia rushes into the ball, it won't immediately leave when you lose contact with it. Your task is to learn to make the Kardia in the ball last as long as possible. Basilia."

Basilia rushed to Zale at once.

"Please demonstrate," the sallow-faced Third Year said with palpable irritation.

Basilia grabbed the steel ball from his hand, faced the dummy, and cocked her arm back.

"I know you can't see it, First Years, but – in case you haven't learned this yet – affixing Kardia to small objects produces the best result for a beginner. I learned that the hard way, and hence why I am lecturing Affixers about Affixing. Watch."

There were bits of knowing laughter from the older students, but they dispersed when Basilia lurched a step and flung the steel ball in her hand at the dummy.

Unlike what happened when Zale sent a bolt of Kardia at it, the steel ball, loaded with energy, smashed into the dummy... and lit it on fire!

The orange blaze startled the First Years, many of whom thought this was an accident and school property was being damaged. Some were more thrilled than anxious, however.

Reiss was among them.

His eyes bulged and reflected the hue of the flame.

"That... that was a Pieyro," he said absentmindedly, making Ginger turn to him.

"What?"

"That's right," Zale who somehow heard Reiss over the buzz gave him a cool smirk. "As I said before, Kartile – urgh – is all about projectiles, but they don't have to be simple, flashy, attacks. You can imprint Pieyro – advanced applications of Kardia – onto them to not only hit a target from a distance, but to apply a supernatural effect on them too. That's what dear Basilia just did."

The fiery girl gave a bow before rushing to grab the steel ball she had just flung.

Pieyro.

Applications like Contra Parousia, Supplementum Soma, and Custos Zoe. Attaching things like that to projectiles... that idea was extremely attractive to both Ginger and Reiss.

The former could already imagine himself firing Charm-like Pieyro everywhere with Ancor standing behind him, as they were in the middle of a flaming battlefield where hundreds of beasts had been felled... ahem.

Reiss on the other hand, saw a more grounded, and pragmatic application.

"Just imagine if I light everything I hit with my hammer on fire," he said, beaming, after pulling on Ginger's sleeve again.

"But you can't even lift it yet," Ginger pointed out.

"Oh, I know!" Reiss huffed a frustrated breath.

The two weren't the only ones expressing high degrees of intrigue.

Abela Mires raised her hand to grab Zale's attention and when he nodded to her, she asked:

"You said Alien-types will only need to use the steel balls until we can do what you just did, while Affixers will have to rely on the steel balls—"

"Not just the balls," Zale hurried to correct her. "Affixers can pretty much learn to work with any kind of weapon they want. Preferably a long-range type weapon that isn't too big."

"Right," Abela nodded seriously. "But what about Alien-types? Can we choose to keep using the Qin Steel balls?"

Zale smirked.

"Come and get a feel for it yourself. You haven't tried injecting your Kardia into a weapon, have you?" he said.

Abela shook her head apprehensively. Zale beckoned her forward and gave her a steel ball.

The result was as pathetic as it could be.

Abela found it hard to even hold the steel ball, let alone throw it.

"Why is it so heavy?" she asked with a frown, a bit of sweat falling on her thick brows.

"Because for something to be able to hold enough Kardia for Pieyro, it needs to be strong and compact. Besides, it makes great practice for Affixers."

Reiss cursed Zale for the next twenty minutes that followed.

The First Years took turns taking aim and throwing the steel balls at the dummy. Their performances ranged from 'good first try' to 'that was hilarious.'

It was obvious where Reiss placed. Ginger fit somewhere in between the two standards. He managed to lift the ball, but couldn't throw it over the full distance to the dummy, which didn't cause him as much dismay as it caused Abela who folded her arms and pouted miserably.

He simply kept replaying the scene of Zale shooting an invisible jolt of Kardia at the dummy. That cheered him up and made him so hopeful that he didn't mind his current failure towards even the first step to reaching the level he desired.

'I'll be able to do it eventually,' Ginger thought and something deep within him agreed, swearing to make his sweltering desire a reality.