Punk strolled into the Mage Union, finding it oddly deserted. The Mages union's floor seemed to have been crafted from a single, massive piece of green quartz, casting a radiant, emerald glow that bathed the entire room in its luminous embrace. Its shiny facade bestowed upon it an air of magnificence. This fluorescent floor almost illuminated the entire Mage Union branch. Also, this brilliance from the floor below greatly enhanced the Mage's sense of mystery standing above it. But apart from the flashy effect, there was no definite purpose.
There were very few people inside the Mage union branch; only a few young Mages in grey robes could be seen beside a small door, listening to somethings from an old Mage.
The receptionist of the Mage Union was a dumb-looking alchemy puppet. It was evident that this small puppet wasn't created by an expert, and it had also gone without proper maintenance for quite some time. Many of its components, inscribed with intricate magic formations were exposed from outside, and each joint emitted a noticeable squeak as it moved about.
When the alchemy puppet(golem) stretched out a thin iron arm toward Punk, he could see that the golden paint on its mechanical arm was also cracked and peeled.
A magic circle was released from the end of the puppet's arm, and a holographic projection, similar to an operation panel, appeared in front of Punk, but the image quality was a bit blurry.
There were several options written in general text in that holographic panel: like-Join the Mage Union, consult, Establish a new mission, purchase items, receive a Mission, Submit a Mission completion, and purchase knowledge.
However, only the first four options were shining, and the last three options were dimmed.
Punk clicked on the first option, which was for joining the Mage Union, and after a wave of fluctuations in the panel; suddenly, the text changed into four lines:
"Please enter your name."
"Please inject mana to record the magic mark."
"Message for the New Member: None"
"Benefits for new Members: the right to accept a mission, the right to create a new mission, the right to purchase knowledge,"
Punk sighed in his heart,
"This seemingly backward world is not so backward after all!"
At the same time, he was also a little surprised at the rules of the Mage Union, even though he knew from the memory inheritance that the Mage Union's rules were amongst the loosest rules of all organizations, but this system was just too loose, this was not much different from the strictness of a study group.
However, Punk decided to join the Union first. His current knowledge base was far from enough. And he needed to acquire more knowledge and learn from his predecessors' experience to avoid unnecessary detours. To attain such knowledge, joining a poweful organization was imperative during the initial stages. Because even a loose organization, such as the Mage Union, would never sell vital knowledge to outsiders.
After waiting for a few seconds, Punk's application to join the Mage Union was approved. And He hurriedly opened the knowledge purchase panel.
Punk was planning to buy one or two alchemy potion formulas and also some basic alchemy equipment.
As Punk planned, if he could concoct some high-level potions, he could get a steady stream of funds. After all, his "parents" almost did not leave any money, and they were not proficient in alchemy. So, there was practically no alchemy knowledge in his memory,
Now Punk had to rely on himself if he wanted to learn alchemy.
Punk opened the apprentice-level alchemy potion column, and a dazzling row of potion names appeared on the panel.
Calming Potion, secondary concentration potion, Fire crystallization potion, freeze potion, secondary wind element potion.........
Punk quickly took fancy on a formula for "Night Vision Potion," and he used his slender finger to open the description of this Potion.
Name of this Knowledge: "Detailed Explanation of Night Vision potion Formula."
"Level: Apprentice Level"
"Difficulty: Medium"
"Effect: Apprentice-level creatures can have the ability to see in the dark (similar to a cloudy day) Duration: one hour and fifteen minutes."
Punk was quite satisfied with the effect of this Potion. It could be said that many combatants would need such Potion to help them see their enemy in the dark.
Finally, Punk moved his eyes down ... to see the 'conditions needed to purchase' column...
First: Become a member of the Mage Guild!
Second: Two hundred Camos kingdom's gold coins.
"Two hundred gold coins! Pretty reasonable, I guess! and the alchemy tools are ten gold coins. It will be pretty easy to earn this amount of gold coins as a peak apprentice-level Mage, or I can just complete some hunting missions from the adventurer's guild!" Punk thought!
But when he continued to look down ... he was stunned ...
The last purchase condition by the Union clearly stated: completion of an apprentice-level task issued by the Mage Union......
"Are you sure you are the Mage Union and not the Cheat Mage Alliance?"
Punk was looking at the third condition with both indignation and speechlessness. Now he knew why the joining requirement for the Mage Union was so low.
This kind of unreasonable knowledge monopoly method could completely tie those loose Mages, who desperately needed magic knowledge, to the Union's war chariot. Unfortunately, now Punk himself also actively jumped into this chariot!
"This young gentleman, what do you want to buy"?
The old Mage, who was preaching something to the grey-robed Mages, at some point walked near to Punk. And when he noticed that Punk was staring at the purchase panel of "Night Vision Potion formula" in a daze, a smile appeared on his tree bark-like old face.
"This potion formula is quite good, but the purchase condition for it is harsh. After all, this is just a small city, How can there be so many apprentice-level tasks? Even if there were such tasks, others had likely already claimed them.
When Punk heard the old man's words, his brows could not help but frown, but he did not reply because he felt the old man's trainee level soul fluctuations, which intentionally or unintentionally was not covered up.
"May I ask the old gentleman, what kind of advice do you have for me?"
Punk asked in a plain tone. He knew that the other party did not come just to tease him.
"Hehe, young man, you are quite fortunate; this old man happens to have an apprentice-level mission here, how about it, are you interested?"
The old Mage showed his big yellow teeth and bought his palm forward with a smile, who was now like a kind old man. There was a white crystal inside his skinny palm. After the old man injected his mana, An introduction of the task appeared in front of Punk-
Mission: "Investigate the aura of the undead on the Aigma Wasteland."
Completion requirements: "Determine and record the location of the undead's aura (locate by Fraser's positioning method)."
"What do you think? Such an easy task is usually picked up very quickly. it will be too late if you hesitate too much."
Punk only felt a twitch in his heart at this time, "Isn't this the undead forest I somehow manage to avoid? I didn't think my hunch will come to fruition so soon."
"Oh! So if it is that easy! Why don't you go yourself"?
Punk asked this trainee-level old Mage with some doubts: "don't tell me this task is too easy for you!"
"I...cough cough...I just want to leave some opportunities for you younger generations",
the old Mage leaned back and tried to look like an expert Senior.
But after seeing Punk's "I don't believe you" expression, he had to tell the "truth":
"If I go to investigate, then those dog noses from the church will definitely find out. I heard that the only official level professional of Konola City- Lord McNeesey predicted there might be many valuable resources. we can't let the church's gods confiscate those good things."
The old Mage's eyes radiated the same light as the goblin's when they see gold. It almost looked like he wanted to dance with joy.
Punk decided not to complain about the old Mage's faulty logic; instead, He quickly asked: "But I heard that the undead aura eroded a large portion of the forest, and there are many..."
"Nonsense"!
The old Mage interrupted Punk with a tone of "what do little children know."
"It's just a small wasteland, not an endless abyss; how can there be so much danger."
The elderly Mage clearly held disdain for the inexperienced youth.
"These youngsters nowadays are too fearful. Like this, they won't accomplish anything!"
Punk originally wanted to reject this seemingly intriguing mission but, started to hesitate after thinking about his insignificant five gold coins left by his irresponsible "parents." On the other hand, he was about to advance to the trainee level and needed some resources to assist in his cultivation.
In any case, it was just a little investigation to figure out the position, and relying on his peak apprentice mage level and two trainee-level equipment on his body, even if there is danger, he had a pretty good chance of escape...
After thinking carefully to the end, Punk casually said to the old Mage-
"I will accept this mission."