The short walk back to the guild provided me with the time I needed to collect my thoughts and focus my mind. The Percivil issue will have to be addressed eventually, I guess, but right now I need to prioritize my business at the guild.
When I enter the guild, it looks a lot livelier than last I saw it. Lots of adventurers are shouting and talking, scanning the job boards, and most of the tables are full. By now it's probably almost noon – my morning errands took longer than I expected.
I approach the reception desk in the guild and notice a young blonde woman in a similar outfit as the bunny girl last night. Safe to assume she's the day shift guild receptionist.
She nods my way as I approach, and she seems to have a more 'polite but serious' vibe than the other girl.
"Good morning, I'm the guild receptionist, Melanie. How can I assist you?" (Melanie)
Straight to the point, I like it. Also, Melena and Melanie, seriously? Did you guys take fake names? No way that's a coincidence.
"To you as well, thanks! I recently turned eighteen, and I'm here to register with the guild. Melena may have mentioned me. I dropped by last night, but she said I'd need your assistance for the magic assessment." (Mizuki)
Upon hearing this, she looks at me with intent for the first time, and a look of shock flashes across her face briefly. What's up with that? I changed my clothes.
"Yes, she did mention a young man that fits your description. Very well, let's start you off with this, and then I can explain the magic assessment." (Melanie)
She hands me a small form asking for basic information like age, race, place of birth, and preferred weapons. For place of birth, I just put 'small village' – if that's a problem, she can tell me, and I'll make up an excuse. Obviously putting 'katana' under weapons is a no go, so I just put 'daggers and short blades'.
I hand the form back to her, and she briefly scans over the information. After a second, her brow furrows and she glances at me.
"Sir, I'd like to emphasize to you that if you're caught lying on this guild form you will be banned from the guild. I'd also like to remind you that neither Elmesia nor the guild condones discrimination against non-human races. So, honesty is the best policy." (Melanie)
She thinks I'm not human!? Is it because of my eyes? Better play it cool, and nip this in the bud. I make an exaggerated deep sigh, as though I'm unbothered and get this all the time.
"I can assure you that I'm human. My eyes were originally normal, but a terrible illness as a kid almost cost me my vision. When I recovered, they looked like this." (Mizuki)
She looks flustered, but still skeptical. I hold her gaze without backing down, and she eventually looks away.
"Very well, then everything here should be in order. Let's proceed with your magic assessment." (Melanie)
Damn, that was tense. I'm glad she dropped it.
"First, I'll use a class crystal to determine if you have elemental, alteration, or dark affinity. Next, we'll use a subtype crystal to determine what specific spell affinities you may have within your class. Finally, we'll assess your magic power level. Allow me to demonstrate this process." (Melanie)
She pulls out a large crystal ball and places her hand on it. Then, it glows white, then red, then turns off.
"The second color indicates your magic class. Red means elemental, green means alteration, and blue means dark. As you saw, I'm elemental class." (Melanie)
Next, she puts away the crystal ball and pulls out a smaller crystal ball. She places her hand over it, and it glows blue for a moment then turns off.
"The colors indicate my elemental affinities. In my case, I only have a water affinity." (Melanie)
Finally, she grabs something that looks like a thermometer with a bulb on the end and several notches along the stem. She places it in her hand. After a moment, it glows white at the base and the light begins to climb up the stem to just past the first notch, then stops.
"This measures magic power. Each notch on the stem represents a ten-fold increase in magic power. All the adventurers currently in the guild system have magic power levels ranging from one to a bit over three notches, and there are even adventurers in the guild's historical records that nearly reached four notches!" (Melanie)
Alright, seems straightforward to me. She didn't mention the results of multiple classes, though, which Azazel said happens for some human transfers.
"Thank you for demonstrating all this! I was curious, if you had an affinity for two classes, what color would be produced in the first crystal?" (Mizuki)
"Oh, I'm not quite sure. Don't worry, though, that hasn't happened in any guild in centuries!" (Melanie)
Hmm…something to consider, then. Well, let's get this started!
"Okay, I appreciate you clarifying that. We can proceed whenever you're ready!" (Mizuki)
She nods and presents the first crystal ball to me. I place my hand on it and white light spills out. I'm focused entirely on the soft white glow – what color will it change to?
As I watch, the white glow continues…did it really take this long before? The suspense is killing me. After another moment, the glow fades from the crystal ball entirely.
Eh…what the hell just happened?
"Oh dear…that's rather unfortunate. I've only seen this one other time, but the lack of a second color means you don't have any spell affinity at all." (Melanie)
Her expression says that she genuinely pities me.
"It's possible you still have lesser amounts of magic power, but you have no spell affinity to utilize it with, so I don't see any point in continuing the assessment. We can just record your magic class as 'none' and finalize your registration if you'd like. There are no guild rules against such individuals becoming adventurers. After all, the guild has jobs that require little combat, and you can still hone your weapon skills." (Melanie)
Behind me, the unusual assessment results have garnered some unwanted attention from other adventurers.
"Hahaha, better luck next time kid!"
"Don't listen to them little man, you should totally join. We could use bait for the monsters!"
"Damn, that can actually happen? Can you imagine having no magic at all?"
I need to shut out their voices and focus on the issue at hand. What am I going to do without any magic in this world? Can I even survive?
She says that I can technically still be an adventurer, but my current sword skills are laughable. I wouldn't last five minutes in a serious fight as I am.
Still, I need to make a living. I could always go the merchant route like some isekai protagonists, but honestly, I don't think I have the skills to utilize my Earth knowledge like that.
There's another thing that's bothering me about my magic assessment – that first phase of white light seemed to last longer than for Melanie. Why?
I need to investigate how that magic assessment test works. Hopefully, my magic book from Azazel will have some answers. In the meantime, I don't see any immediate downsides to finishing the guild registration.
I put on a calm demeanor and address Melanie.
"Thank you for explaining everything so thoroughly. I'd like to proceed with my registration." (Mizuki)
Despite her statements that I would be allowed to join, she looked quite taken aback at my response.
"V-Very well, one moment please." (Melanie)
She takes my form and places it on what looks like a large glass plate behind the desk. She places her hand over both. A soft blue light emanates from the device, accompanied by a faint hum, then the device goes dark and quiet. Melanie lifts the glass plate and grabs a card from under it. So, kind of like a copier, huh?
She passes me the card, then hands me another small book from behind the desk. Its title reads, 'Adventurer Handbook'. I glance at the card. It has my age, race, magic class, name, and another category called 'rank'. Seems that I'm rank G.
"There you go, you're all set! Guild fees are one silver coin per year, and they must be paid within one month. So, please don't forget to pay your first fee! The guild has a ranking system that determines what jobs you can accept, and all new adventurers start at rank G. Ranks go up to S, and specific conditions are required to rank up. Jobs are organized by rank on the bulletin boards to my left. The handbook I've provided has all basic information necessary to get your started, and just ask me about anything else!" (Melanie)
Okay, so that all sounds like pretty standard guild stuff. I'll get the specifics from the handbook later, but for now I need to head back to my room and do some research. This magic situation needs to be sorted out ASAP. Ugh…between this and Percivil, my troubles are really piling up today.
I give Melanie my thanks and a farewell, then return to my room upstairs.
Back in my room, I pull my books from the chest and transfer them to my travel pack. So…magic, monsters, world geography, and world history – those are the subjects I have books for. Which should I start with? I feel like Azura's history and geography is going to be critical…buuuuuut, that's never really been my strong suit. This magic business is driving me crazy, so I'll start there.
I open the book on magic from Azazel and start searching for information on the class assessment I failed. Thankfully there is a whole section devoted to it, albeit a short one. The class crystal works by initially exposing you to 'test' spells from each of the three classes, then the spells that 'resonate' with the class affinity of the subject are propagated and continue while those that don't die out.
The first white light seems to be the test spell phase, and the second colored light seems to be the resonance phase. As Melanie mentioned, it seems that elemental class gives off a red resonance phase light, alteration is green, and dark is blue. Naturally, if you have no affinity, then the test spell phase ends without resonance and you just get a white light phase.
However, there is one part in the text that is especially interesting.
"In one case, an individual produced a purple light in the resonance phase. Subsequent magic tests and skill assessments of the individual revealed that they were an elemental and dark class. For another individual, subsequently determined to have both elemental and alteration classes, a yellow light was produced in the resonance phase. Scholars have proposed that the rare chaotic nature of multiple classes leads to random color generation in the resonance phase."
So that's cool, those must be otherworlders that Azazel mentioned that had a rare spell diversity. As for the test results, why purple and yellow, though?
If magic still operates under certain laws, even ones I don't understand, the test results wouldn't be random. So, I'm skeptical about it this 'chaotic nature' theory for the multi-classers. They only had two test subjects, and they weren't even the same classes.
Could it be some sort of mixing? That doesn't seem to really track…I remember from painting in kindergarten that green isn't even a primary color and mixing it with red doesn't give you yellow. Hmm…but wait! I vaguely recall from college that light mixing is different, and it has different primary colors. I think they are red, green, and blue.
I'm certain that for light, mixing red and blue gives purple, and though I'm less sure for red-green light mixing, some kind of yellow sounds plausible. Soo…the rare resonance phase colors described in the text are probably just the mixing of basic class colors!
I lean back on the bed, quite pleased with my deduction. Then, a thought occurs to me, and I go stiff. If you had an affinity for all classes, and I'm right about how these test results work, your resonance phase would be white light. At a glance, it'd look just like a negative test result, but the white light phase might last longer.
Thinking back, I felt like my white light phase was longer than Melanie's. It was subtle though. Was there really a difference, or was the anticipation just making it seem longer? I'm not even sure that I'm right about how the test results work.
Still, I've got to be sure. Melanie said that those with no magic class usually have little to no magic power, but I bet an all-class magic user would have tons. Maybe getting my magic power tested would give me answers.
How should I go about that, though? I could go back and ask Melanie to assess it, but if I'm wrong that would be crazy embarrassing. Worse, if I'm right, and class diversity correlates with magic power, then having that revealed in the middle of the guild could be a huge problem. I don't want that kind of attention in this life.
Percivil mentioned that he makes magic weapons. Could he have a tool that works similarly? Honestly, it's worth talking to him again. I don't know how hard it is to get my hands on such a tool. Even if I had absurd magic power and he found out, I suspect he already knows that I'm not normal. Currently, it's my best option.
I sigh and prepare to see Percivil again.
First, I go to the reception desk to inquire about the book I borrowed. I'd like to hold on to it longer since I haven't gotten to read it yet. According to Melanie, this is fine now that I'm officially an adventurer.
After I renew my book with Melanie, I head back to the blacksmith.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
When I enter Percivil's shop, there seems to be one other man looking around at weapons. Percivil is in the front of the store talking to him.
When Percivil sees me, his eyes widen in surprise. I respond with a reassuring nod, as if to say, 'take your time'. I walk around the store aimlessly. After a few minutes I hear the door, and I notice that the man has concluded his business and left.
"Nice to see yah, Mizuki, I wasn't expecting yah back so soon. What can I do for yah?" (Percivil)
By all accounts, he is acting completely normal. I guess we're pretending that conversation earlier never happened.
"Good to see you as well. Yes, I wasn't expecting to be back so soon, but I had kind of an odd request I thought you might be able to help with." (Mizuki)
"Oh, by all means, I'd love to help yah if I can. What's the request?" (Percivil)
He still seems completely normal, and his smile is warm. His statement seems genuine.
"You mentioned that you make magic weapons, so I was wondering if you have any tools to measure magic power?" (Mizuki)
"Aye, I do. Knowing the magic power of the wielder is important when making such items, so I keep a tool like that around to make sure my weapons match the customer. Why do yah ask?" (Percivil)
"Can I use it?" (Mizuki)
He's silent for a moment. He seems curious, but he doesn't press me for clarification.
"Hmm…I'm guessing yah know that this could be done at the guild, so yah must have a good reason for not having them do it. Very well, I won't pry. Follow me." (Percivil)
He leads me away from the storefront into a back room. It's just a room with a large workbench in the center and boxes of miscellaneous tools stacked along the back wall.
He walks over to one such box and pulls out something. When he turns around, I can see it's another magic thermometer like the one at the guild. He places it on the workbench.
"Aye, there yah have it. Just grab the bulb at the end and it should do the trick on its own. I think somewhere around two notches is normal for adventurers. I'll be in the front if yah need me, so yah can have some privacy." (Percivil)
Before he can leave, I respond to him.
"Actually, you're welcome to stay for this if you'd like. I've decided to trust you this much." (Mizuki)
He looks quite surprised, but he smiles softly, nods, and then moves to a corner of the room quietly. I guess he's staying then. No turning back now.
I walk over to the workbench, and grab the device as instructed. Like with Melanie, the base begins to softly glow white. Then, the light begins to rise up the stem. It passes notch one…two…three…it's still climbing.
At this point, I notice Percivil has gone stiff and he's wearing a solemn expression on his face. I look back at the device and the light now completely fills the stem past the fifth notch.
Instead of turning off, however, the light from the device grows more intense. After a few seconds, it fills the back room and eventually blinds me all together. A moment later, I hear a piercing sound and the light begins to fade.
I blink my eyes repeatedly trying to adjust. When I can see again, I notice that the device has shattered everywhere, and a piece of the glass has left a small cut on my hand.
Percivil quickly walks over and wraps a white cloth around my bleeding hand, and he trembles slightly as he does so. He's gone completely pale and appears to be in a cold sweat.
After he finishes wrapping my hand, he takes a deep breath, as if steading himself. Then, he smiles up at me, returning to normal.
"Well, it's too bad I'm getting so clumsy in my old age. I can't believe I accidentally dropped such an important tool while organizing my storage room. I'll have to let the guild know about my ageing hands and I'm sure they'll let me purchase another to replace it." (Percivil)
He looks at me with an earnest expression. Yeah, the message is clear – he won't say a word.
Grateful, and feeling a little guilty over his broken tool, I pull a silver coin out and place it on the workbench. I raise my eyebrows at him while nodding towards the broken glass, like 'will that cover it?'. He nods back appreciatively.
Without another word, I exit the room and head to the store entrance. Before I open the door to leave, I look back and see Percivil watching me with a conflicted expression.
"Hey, Percivil?" (Mizuki)
"Aye?" (Percivil)
He looks like he wants to say something else but remains silent. I smile at him reassuringly.
"It's nice to have someone who knows me." (Mizuki)
Hearing this, his expression relaxes into a warm smile. I nod at him, then exit the store.
It's finally time to test the limits of my magic.