"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 'tests' for each of the three classes, then the ones that 'resonate' with the class affinity of the subject are propagated while those that don't die out.
The first white light seems to be the test 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.