Circumvent the Infinite [Zeek]

[quaggan]

 The waiting room was large and spacious, enough to accommodate a diverse array of applicants and whatever they brought for their presentation. There were strange tech gizmos whose functions no one could deduce or even guess at, bizarre arcane apparatus that sparkled and hissed - one even brought a golem along to carry all that he needed.

Apart from the discreetly placed guards, there were three servants in Whitechalk livery handling the processing of the applicants. One of them was taking down the names in the registry, signing everyone up. His book must have been magically connected to the list a gnome was holding, for every line written there appeared on both sheets of paper. The gnome was loudly calling the names when their turn came to enter.

The third servant was an elven-looking man of dark complexion. His task was simple: he was explaining the audience. "For those who haven't heard of the process before, or are new here, please listen" he began. His voice sounded tired, but was probably magically enhanced for this purpose. "You will have five minutes in total - yes, that includes getting your equipment inside. You-"

"How is five minutes enough?!" a halfling wearing a curious looking armour shouted. "Wouldn't a Highmaster know that a proper scholarly discussion lasts longer than just five minutes?"

"I was getting to that" the elf responded. He didn't look phased at all - clearly, he was dealing with such interruptions the entire day, and had enough patience to do his job properly. "The purpose of the audience is not to have an in-depth conversation about your work - it is to condense it into a pitch and propose it. Now, if the Highmaster finds your research worth funding, you will be referred to one of her stewards who handle the patronage. You can have your scholarly discussion then. Any questions?"

[Zeek]

In the waiting room is a human sitting down on one of the chairs, by the person body shape as well by the facial features it can be easily tell that this human is a male, about 18-19 years old.  He already have been put in the list and so he is waiting for his name to be called, which he had put as Zeek. His brown eyes wonder around the place as he looked around at the experience mages and magical user alike that know more then he does most likely, this made him a bit nervous as all he want is a laboratory that he can return whenever he gets a new rune to study and experiment with it as well with whatever magical artifact he finds on his journeys and whatever spell-book he finds in dungeons.

He listen to the conversation that is happening around him, especially when a halfling talked up about a time limit of five. Feeling a bit more nervous as this is his first time doing something like this he pulled out a brown leather covered journal as he opened it. His eyes moved left and right as he read quickly through some notes he had written down on it when he experimented when he first got the ability to use magic, all of because he touched ta book he had hidden in his backpack.

[quaggan]

 The door opened to release a rather demonic-looking young woman. She was dragging some sort of machinery behind her, something heavy enough to require the use of both her hands and the sharp-ended tail. It was difficult to guess whether her tense expression was caused by the weight of her device, or whatever transpired inside. The gnome glanced down to her list and read loudly. "Next one: Zeek... Zeck? Huh. Pleiades!" she called at the man handling the registry. "Here's a suggestion: note down the pronunciation next to the name."

The proper audience chamber was large, although not as much as the waiting hall. There were still guards around, probably to keep practical demonstrations from getting out of hand. In the middle a circle of soft-looking armchairs was arranged around an empty space, presumably meant to house whatever an applicant needed for showing their skills.

Highmaster Whitechalk was sitting on one of the armchairs, her eyes fixed on the entrance. "Zeek, was it?" Unlike the gnome, she seemed to have no trouble with pronunciation. "What are you working on?"

[Zeek]

Zeek didn't bother talking with the gnome, at least he knows that he was called and so he closed his book and stood up. After putting his book away he started walking into the audience chamber, while walking he pulled down the hood of his cloak as his scarred face was showing. Taking on how many guard there are and how the room is he looked towards the woman who pronounced his name correctly and without a trouble as well. Taking a silent deep breath he started to remove the nerves feeling he had to do this well. Closing his eye for three seconds he re-opened as he opened his mouth to proceed with his presentation.

"Yes, that is correct, glad to see someone can pronounce it well. On about what I am working is simple...I discovered on how to use runes and mixed them together to combined them to make a new entire rune, I am a rune mage who would like to a personal laboratory and funding to make research but I am also a wanderer, searching for forgotten runes as well artifacts" He explained, his voice somewhat deep as he kneel down to the floor and placed down a piece of paper as he takes a pinch of coal dust and started to write a fire rune on it, the symbol looking complex but he did it in matter of seconds. Standing back up he pressed his hand, that was glowing a royal blue with his mana color, against the symbol.

The rune shines as the spell was activated, which made a small orb a fire in front pf him. "This is fire...now I will show you water" He said as he snapped his finger and made the fire orb disappear and the rune on the paper was nowhere to be seen. Kneeling back down he started writing the rune of water, he did it fast as before even though it seemed complex and hard, Doing the same thing as before with his hand a orb of water appears. "Now this all seems child play...but watch as I make a rune that hasn't been shown" He had read up runes before and know there isn't much information about them, this can be groundbreaking. Once he snap his finger like before he kneel back down and return to drawing.

The runes seems odd to say the least, it has both symbols of fire and water inside of the circle, it took him a few seconds, about ten but either way he did it fast as he pressed his hand against it for a third time. The rune shines as a large puff of steam appears around all of the room, a very thick steam that can be use as a fog. While people would had been blinded by the thick fog he drawn a wind rune on the paper and made it activate it to make the wind remove the steam. Now that he finished with that he stands before her.

"As I said before, I am traveling battle mage, I am going to be searching more on runes and other forms of magic to make new runes that the world haven't seen" That was the last thing he said and would let her reply now.

[quaggan]

 She cocked her head and began to watch the demonstration. Some of the guards reacted with alarm at the appearance of the fog, but those with enhanced senses were not concerned - they could see through. She paid no heed to it - every now and then, assassins used the open audiences to sneak in and make their attempt on her life, but this was not the case.

"So you can combine the runes and their effect" she summarized. That was useful, she had to admit that. She left the armchair to crouch on the floor and examine it closer. "Does the size matter and allow you to manipulate the outcome with more precision? For example, should you draw a greater water rune and a smaller fire rune, would it create heated water rather than vapour?"

[Zeek]

He listen to her and gave her a small nod. Picking up the paper he had on the floor he placed it away in his pocket as he dusted off the coal dust that was on them. Clearing his throat a but he return to explain her further about his magic.

"In a way yes, but to make heated water I just place more water symbols, the size only will do is make the effect get bigger but would require more mana then drawing it as a smaller version. Another example would be combining earth and water to help a tree grow but  would require a large rune, a smaller version could help grow smaller crops...In a way this can also help farmers grow crops at a very faster rate"

He explained as he takes out his journal and showed her an example he had drawn on two pages. The drawing on the left page is a rune labeled as "Prototype" and underneath the rune it shows some examples for applications. The right page page shows a drawing of a field with a permanent like rune using stone and some silver to pass the magic through the field. Underneath the drawing there was a few a theory on making permanent rune but need testing and materials.

[quaggan]

 She listened, an opinion forming in her mind. There was potential - there was always her objective was to test an applicant's ability to see it and bring it out fully. So far, she was satisfied with his ability and a drive to research the runes.

"You say that you're traveling to search for new runic forms" she began. "What's your basis for believing that you will be able to find them out in the world, rather than develop them through research? Are you familiar with any cultures or traditions that involve runes like yours? Have you ever come across a lead that you wish to pursue?"