The way to the guild district was not boring at all. Since he got to see new exciting things at every next step, one of them in particular which made him jump was when a man used one of those scrolls in the middle of the street and flew up in the sky.
"Can i do that with my scroll?" asked Ash.
"No that's an air scroll level 3,scrolls are a way to store already activated spells and spiritual energy, most people who aren't good at spells themselves or are low on energy use them, the one you have got is just a level two, the shield which I told you about in the spiritual realm, was a protection level 1,a fire level two can be used to activate a medium sized fire blast, or a small fire tornado, or a fire sword for three minutes" said Relik.
"So the level is basically the amount of energy in it, we can use it anyway we want" said Ash.
"Not anyway, just a predefined set of choices, it will be cheaper to learn to control fire yourself rather than buying a scroll which can do anything" said Relik.
There discussion was interrupted when a small horn soundes somewhere behind him, immediately the people in the street cleared the way. Ash moved with the people and stood on the side watching. At first a bunch of soldiers came on those lion-faced horses, they were all wearing armours more fancier than the ones on the gate. In the middle of the progression were a bunch of other people.
The people on the street semed to be staring at them some even cheering.
"They must be from the castle" said Relik.
Ash had guessed that from there fancy clothes and jewels. There were two young men, and a girl behind them. The girl had an out of place look, she was clearly not liking all the atenttion unlike the guys who were waving their hands enthusiastically. She had green eyes and a clear smile. She was really beautiful.
"Must be the princess" said Relik and Ash agreed.
After the party moved on, the street turned to normal and the people moved on as usual to their business and Ash headed to the guild district.
The guild district, as Relik had said was full of guilds. The guild houses were like banks back on his world, there names and emblems on the front in large bold letters and there architecture big and tough.
Some were big and some were small, some had a lot of people coming in and out some less.
This area was different in other ways as well, first the people here were much different, almost everyone was carrying some sort of weapon, Ash saw with awe the biggest man carrying the biggest axe he had ever seen. There was also more power in the air here more tension. He felt more out of place and walking among them. He also started noticing the different attitudes of people, some walked with there heads held high and proud showing there weapons and some a little bit carefully.
"Is there a ranking system among the guild members?" asked Ash.
"Yes, there is, how do you know?" asked Relik.
"What is it?" asked Ash.
"Well, there are two ways for that, one is based on theoretical knowledge and one on practical" said Relik.
"The academies give you stars based on the number of exams you clear, and the guild ranks you as you progress in your quests" said Relik.
"So the ones with more stars are the nerds?" asked Ash.
"The professors at the academies usually have the most stars and you won't say that once you look them, they just don't spend time hunting mosters and work on perfecting their cores and learning about the different phenomenons associated with the ether" said Relik.
"Which guild are we joining then?" asked Ash.
"We'll have to find one that suits us, pick one of the smaller ones" said Relik.
All this time Ash had been looking at the various guilds that were coming in sight, they were at every few blocks, there were other shops and houses here too but the guilds were easier to spot, but up until now most of them looked too big and devoid of any real character from the outside to him. As he travelled deeper, the size and number of guilds got smaller. This was more of the residential part of the city, there were houses with slothes hanging outside to dry up in the sun which was a very earth like thing to do.
"Why don't they just use magic or something?" asked Ash.
"Why waste money on scrolls just for drying laundry, when the sun can do that for free" said Relik.
Ash stopped when he read a sign board over a small hut like house. Most of the houses was built of bamboo like wood with a sliding door. It was black and dark brown and looked kind of cozy. There was written on the small circular black board on a pole on the side of the house. "The black cat" in white curvy letters which were very nice to look at and a silhouette of a cat also made with white paint.
The sign intrigued and also the nice smell that was coming in, he had been smelling this nice smell for a while and he had finally found it's source in this small alley where he found himself. He found himself in what seemed like the forgotten part of the city. There was a quiet here, he could still hear in the distance a few block away the noisy street, but it was muffled. The sun also seemed to be casting a warmer shade of yellow on the pavement here like it was sunset here already.
"Is that a guild?" asked Ash.
"Could be, or an inn or something, let's go in and see we will need a place to stay as well" said Relik and so Ash entered, which he would have anyways even if he hadn't said so.
The opened the sliding door, it moved over the stone ground smoothly and a black cat was standing just beyond as though it was waiting for him.
He picked it up and it settled in his arms. The weird feeling that he had at Vanessa's house went away and only now did he realize that.
"Oh, you found Fin" came a small croaky voice and a very short and thin and old woman came in the small entrance of the house. She used a small stick to move, Fin the cat jumped out from Ash's hands and curled around the old woman's walking stick.
The cat appeared much bigger in front of the woman.
"She runs out all the time, thanks for bringing her back" said the woman.
"I didn't though" Ash began to say.
"What can I do for you? are you here to join the guild?" asked the old lady.
"Don't say anything yet, we should keep our options open" whispered Relik in his head.
"I was just looking for now and um can you tell me ab it more about this guild?" asked Ash.
"Oh so you were looking for a guild, Vena! , come here we have an applicant" suddenly the little woman shouted too loud for her frame.
Hurried footsteps came from somewhere inside the house and a girl came out running, she was carrying a sort of long spoon in her land and was wearing an apron. She was clearly in the middle of cooking.
"What is it grandma?" asked the brown haired girl.
"Look we have an applicant" said the grandma pointing at Ash.
Vena looked at Ash with surprise.
"Which academy are you from?" she asked.
"I haven't attended an academy yet but I will soon, I just arrived at the capital" said Ash.
"Oh that's all right, you can join the guild while you learn at the academy, we don't have that strict rules here" said the old woman at once.
The girl looked at her grandmother with a bit of annoyance.
"I am the guild head now, grandma, not you, I will decide who will join my guild" she said.
"Oh enough, you are too picky, that's we haven't had a new member in so long, getting more members is the only way to grow a guild" she said.
"No, getting good members is the only way" said Vena.
"Fin likes him, he carried her in his arms and she was perfectly calm, that's the tradition of the black cat" said the old woman.
"A stupid tradition, letting a weird animal decide who enters the guild, that's we went downhill" muttered Vena.
"Cats are very special animals, they are from a different world than ours, Fin has been alive since my grandfather's time" said the old woman, she had very sharp years.
So cats weren't native to Orion, someone from his world must have brought one here, but they didn't live so long. Still he was sure though that cats were indeed very picky but they were not some great judge of characters someone had definitely fooled the old lady's grandfather.