When his tools touched the golem, Bird felt a sense of familiarity with the task that let him tune out the noise of the exam around him. Taking off the busted leg was the first task, and it was a simple one at that. The socket the leg was supposed to plug into was almost rusted out, and he figured that replacing it was better than risking a break.

The proctor pointed out a tool that could cut metal when Bird asked after one, and gave him a brief description of how to turn it on without hurting himself. It was held like a pen, and projected a blade of mana that carved through the rusted metal like a saw through wood. The only thing he had to do was keep the wire supplying it with mana out of the way and keep his cut clean.

Foresight would love one of these, Bird thought to himself.

It wasn’t until another student behind him started to curse at the state of the golems that Bird wondered about it. These were in better shape than what he knew in Lowmyre, but not by much. He was used to people working their golems until they broke, repairing what broke, and continuing until something else broke; it was a never ending cycle, but despite the abuse those golems were loved.

The wear and rust on these golems seemed almost artificial. Like they had been left out in the rain or purposefully hit with a hammer. The other student was rather vocal about how this golem was the worst they had ever seen, and under their breath Bird could hear quieter concerns about being able to complete the task at all.

It certainly wasn’t an easy job, but Bird had dealt with worse physical repairs. Frankly there were only a handful of things that actually needed to be replaced, and a lot of the apparent damage and rust was surface level or cosmetic. Some were meant to look potentially debilitating, but at worst they would just make the golem squeak a little.

The greater concern for Bird was the state of its core, a small motor that was meant to be supplied with a source of mana. Outside of simply being disconnected, the various cables that were meant to supply the joints with mana were just in terrible condition. And the more Bird looked at the “new” cables and parts in the area, the more he started seeing flaws with those too.

And then it hit him. Everything “new” was just a little broken or suboptimal; getting anything to work through purely traditional or simple means was going to be extraordinarily difficult. He spared a glance to the other stations and saw frustrated faces abound. Bird had no idea how they were foiling the spellcasting attempts of the one applicant, but he seemed to be having trouble producing the exact effect he wanted.

There was a moment of panic spent trying to figure out how he was supposed to solve a problem with broken solutions. And then a strange sense of calm washed over him.

Everything was a little janky, sure, but it was in better shape than he was used to as a general rule. This wasn’t an insurmountable wall, this was a calculated challenge meant to make traditional methods more difficult. It was a test of innovation and perseverance. Adaptation was Bird’s expertise, in a way that he doubted they could have been prepared for.

And that’s exactly what Bird did. With a practiced alacrity, he proceeded to take full stock of where replacement parts were needed versus misleading surface damage. He carved apart the metal and wood wherever necessary, making sure to cut just enough of the rusted metal that he could make sure the actual connection was strong. He replaced the wires and cords quickly, opting to simple strap them to the limbs rather than bury them in the designated channels, just in case something needed fixing.

Any time something needed fixing, he stayed traditional only as long as it suited him. Improvised straps and connections intermixed with welds and fixes that were imperfect in appearance but functionally sound.

By the time he had welded the last limb on and connected it up, Bird had pieced together a bit of a monster even by his standards. In the moments his focus slipped, he could hear a few voices discussing the poor aesthetic of his golem. That was secondary to function in his mind. All of the connections from the limbs and internal workings to the core were functional, and all of the joints and servos were ready for use. The weight of the amalgamation had been balance to his satisfaction, and it wouldn’t face any additional difficulties for a lopsided gait.

The last issue was the greatest: the defunct core. The state of the cables meant they were terribly inefficient, and unless a fairly massive amount of mana was pushed through the wires the golem might suddenly lose the ability to move a given limb. If that happened, the construct would potentially topple over. And more than just a large current, it had to be a consistent one too.

There were no other cables in better shape, but he was at least able to clean some of the connection points and reseal them. Mana wasn’t quite a liquid or a gas in it’s behavior, and his practical experience working with it told him how to get the most out of his improvised solutions.

Bird reached in and started to dislodge the bell jar attached to the core. This model was a few steps removed from what he knew in Lowmyre, but the basic premise seemed similar enough to be clear. The source of mana was to go in the jar, which was then placed back into the core. While in operation, the commands of the alchemist would pull mana through the cables and connections to manipulate the golem’s body. Cores like this needed replacement power sources for any long term use, but the brevity of this test hopefully negated that necessity.

His speed nearly doubled when a call of an hour remaining rang out over the workshop. He was farther along than the other student working on a golem, but that did little to calm his anxiety. The final latch was undone, and he yanked the jar from its position. In his haste, it struck part of the chassis of the golem and rang out in a pure note.

The sound pierced the din of the workshop for Bird, striking deep into his sensitive ears in an oddly pleasant way. He quickly turned it to and fro, checking for cracks and finding none. Then, he found himself standing still rather than running off to find a power source. Examining the jar more closely.

Bird raised a finger to the glass and tapped it, hearing the exact same note ring out under a slightly different sound. His hand was halfway to tapping it again before he came to his senses and turned on his heel to dash off and find a power source.

He had a few options, and most of them were bad ones. Any object that contained mana could theoretically used to power the core, but it might fail without an abundance of it. It would be like trying to operate a boiler with a match; there just wouldn’t be enough fire or fuel to accomplish anything meaningful.

The best object he could find was a fist sized crystal that was near the spellwork stations. Bird could actually hear a faint hum from the blue gem, and had it confirmed as a mana-gem by a proctor; a gemstone that could store mana and dispense it under the right circumstances. He had seen a few of lesser quality in Lowmyre, which could supply additional mana to almost any process or bit of magic. They were supposed to be used more for enchanting or empowering spellcraft, but he knew a few ways to get them to work as power sources for weapons and golems..

The only problem was that it didn’t quite fit the bell jar. He had brought it along for this exact reason, but it was blocked by a single spire that jutted out from the main mass of crystal.

His reluctance wore thin as he tried a few other mana-gems in the bell jar; a few fit, but they seemed duller in color and fainter in their humming. A handful seemed particularly promising, appearing more vibrant than the first crystal but their appearance seemed intentionally misleading. Bird couldn’t hear much from them though, even holding them up to his ear. He moved the crystals away from his ears with a blush when he noticed some odd looks from a proctor. His attention shifted back to the first crystal he had grabbed.

Bird’s understanding of mana-gems was sufficient for him to understand his limitations here. They could be charged through a few means, but the capacity and output were determined by the structure and quality of the crystal itself. Even if another could be charged, he doubted he had time to try and didn’t want to risk that much of his time gambling on output.

He found himself starting to tap the glass as he stared at the crystal, letting the pure note hit his ears in staccato.

Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding...Ding...Ding…

The tapping slowed, and a brow knitted as a connection was made. Bird reached out and grabbed the larger crystal, holding it just close enough that he could hear the humming coming from it. It was just close enough to the ringing note of the glass that it had caught his attention.

Had anyone in the room been able to read minds, they would have been immensely concerned with the idea that came into Bird’s head. No one could though, so the proctors just watched with mild interest as Bird dashed back to his golem with a glint in his eye.

The proctor near the golem station gave Bird a passing glance as he returned, focusing instead on the applicant across from him. They were having trouble getting the main power conduit to connect properly, but could potentially operate the golem afterwards utilizing the String Technique. Moving heavier golems like marionettes was tricky as best, but if the applicant had sufficient willpower it might work. A bit of a brute force solution, but acceptable thinking.

As that thought finished and her attention turned back to Bird, the proctor had but a moment to process the sight of him holding a mana-gem in one hand and a hammer in the other.

If you have ever seen someone about to do something abjectly stupid and dangerous without having time yourself to properly intervene or get out of the blast radius, you would understand the paniced noise that scrambled out of her mouth just a second too late.

Bird’s aim was true, and he knocked off the thin spire stopping the gem from going into the bell jar. What he wasn’t prepared for was the bit he knocked off to explode when it hit the ground. The force wasn’t quite enough to throw him off balance, but more concerningly the mass in his hand was starting to vibrate menacingly and glow.

Most moments of inspiration in alchemy tended to look one of two ways. The first was simply inspiring; a masterful idea that is executed with grace and purpose. The second way was a straightforward variety of bat-shit insane.

What Bird experienced would be easily seen as the latter of the two. He brought the crystal up to his mouth and hummed, using his mimicry to match the frequency of the crystal. The Weird kept it just a hair out of step, adjusting his speed and pitch on the fly as the vibration continued to increase. The mana-gem nearly jumped from his hands as it threatened to explode.

Then, it stalled for just a moment.

Slowly, the vibration calmed and the glow within the crystal started to return to it’s previous vibrance. He could almost feel the pushback as the cracked gem continued to fluctuate, but there was also a lessening resistance to it. Eventually he stopped humming, cautiously pulling the gem away and waiting for a moment to see if it would attempt to explode again. It certainly sounded a little different, but it was consistent again.

Bird tapped the glass with a finger again, smiling as the sound hit his ear. Number one, he was alive to hear it. Number two, the two resonating notes were identical. His idea might just work.

He didn’t want to give the universe any extra time to play havoc with him. Bird got ready with the bell jar and took a deep breath. A whack on the table got the crystal glowing and pulsing again, and in a flurry of motion the crystal was in the glass and inside the core. He spared no time in starting to tap the glass, listening as hard as he could to make sure it was timed perfectly.

This was a significantly more difficult task the second time around. He couldn’t control the pitch and pace of the glass the same way he could his voice, and it took a certain dexterity to keep the glass ringing just so. Bird aimed to keep it just a bit out of step with the crystal, and every second he didn’t explode gave him some hope it was working.

Mana was a strange thing. It had properties and interactions that weren’t inherently as understandable as a gas or a liquid. Bird watched and hoped as the resonating glass battled with the crystal inside, tapping and correcting the vibrations of the glass as best he could.

To his relief, the gem seemed to slowly calm in a way. It was still glowing brightly, but it’s escalation had been halted at least. Unlike when he had used his voice to vibrate the entire crystal, the glass vibrated everything around the crystal and left a single way for the mana to move unhindered.

Bird stepped back as the different lights came to life on the golem; rusted cables and poor connections didn’t seem to matter much with a minor explosion forcing mana through the construct.

The golem stood, some of the base enchantments were getting power and starting to activate it’s programming. All Bird had to do was touch it and start guiding it to the track.

Then, it took a step forward. And another. And another. Straight across the path towards another station.