"Here goes my dream of learning how to make magic cuisine," Zane thought while walking away from the booth. How absurd it is to look for a chef with formal culinary training? What about the countless people who are self-learners? Zane had so many complaints, but there was no point in dwelling on this for too long. Since these people didn't want him, he would go where he was wanted.
Zane continued looking around, checking a few other activities that piqued his interest, but nothing that he actually signed up for. Finally, just as he decided that it was time to check out the Arcane Guild, he saw something that caught his interest: a hair salon/barbershop. After approaching the person in charge of the booth, Zane learned that they did not just cut hair; their club was also about learning and understanding the cultural significance of hair across different races and dimensions.
Since he was a child, Zane's mother has always talked about the spirituality of hair; she often said it had power. When Zane was a kid, his hair was not only long but also needed to be a certain way every time he went back home to participate in the annual spiritual ceremonies. During the conversation with this booth representative, Zane mentioned this, and the latter explained that such an idea or practice was common in many races across the Astral Cosmos; the concept of hair as spiritual or as a connection to the divine was a central tenet of shamanism.
The conversation was quite educational, and by the end, Zane was ready to register. According to the club's rules, he didn't have to participate in activities if he didn't want to. After signing up, he'll gain access to a web page where he can register for haircuts. Then, he only needs to show up. However, just as the magic pad was about to scan his soul crest, Zane remembered something and withdrew his hand.
"Is there something wrong?" Alson — a 1-ring muscular mage with a bald head and thick green beard — asked.
"I remember something I learned in class about causality curses."
"Quite prudent, aren't you?" Alson laughed, his voice quite soothing, which was odd given his large, intimidating size. "According to our rules, no one can take your hair without your permission. After each cut, the hair is incinerated, and the client has the right to watch the process. You can also request the cut-off hair to deal with as you please."
"I'm relieved."
After registering, Zane learned how to access their club's website before heading to the Arcane Guild. Before arriving, Zane had considered many possibilities on how that club would operate, but his expectations diverged quite far from the truth. The Arcane Guild was, as the name stated, a guild of Arcane Mages. And a guild is just a loose platform created by groups to protect their interests; the key point being the "loose" part.
After Zane entered the establishment on the third floor, a human male receptionist named Sitir greeted him. As usual, the registration process was swift and easy, and immediately afterward, Sitir began explaining how things operated.
The guild had a few benefits: first, Zane would receive a free 0-ring spell. Second, all Arcane Spells will be 20% off, and other spells will have a 5% discount. Third, there is a free lecture by a 3-ring Mage every week, and one free lecture by a Grand Mage every month. Fourth, every member can receive a free copy of Arcana Weekly; there is also a discount on True Arcane Monthly and the Dragon Journal, which publishes state-of-the-art papers from the top mages of the tower across all fields.
As for Zane's duty after joining the guild? Well, there is also a point system similar to the one used in class. Every month, Zane has to do a certain number of missions to preserve his membership. After hearing this, Zane hesitated for a moment. His instinct screamed that this guild system was probably built for exploitation. However, when Sitir asked him which spell he wanted and showed him a screen with three options, he buried the ominous feeling.
[Mana Binding: Condense mana into physical ropes to bind an enemy.]
[Average Casting Time: 4-6 seconds]
[Power: 0.4 Kosa]
[Mana Cost: Low]
"That's a useful spell for battle or for a situation where non-lethal force is required," Zane thought. However, he did not immediately choose this one since there were two more options.
[Silence: Use mana to block the vocal cord and prevent the target from speaking.}
{Average Casting Time: 5-7 seconds]
[Power: 0.3 Kosa.]
[Mana Cost: Low]
"Is this a spell to prevent people from chanting incantations? That's very useful against apprentices who haven't mastered [Instant Casting]," Zane thought.
[Mold Earth: Manipulate dirt, rocks, and stones in a given area (the extent depends on the mage's casting range.)]
[Average Casting Time: 7-12 seconds]
[Power: 0.8 Kosa]
[Mana Cost: Medium]
"A powerful spell with medium mana cost." Zane thought. " The initial casting time is long, but that won't be a problem after training." Numerous battle applications came to mind, and he immediately began to visualize how he could use them. Then, a non-battle application also popped into his mind.
"If I can use it as I thought, this spell would be quite useful for my living situation on Earth," Zane thought excitedly. However, he did not immediately make a choice. Instead, he asked Sitir for his opinion.
The receptionist looked around before saying, "I recommend you choose the Mana Binding Spell."
"Can I ask why?"
"The Silent Spell is useless since you can have the same effect by wrapping the mana rope around the target's mouth," Sitir explained. "As for the Mold Earth Spell? Well, I have it on high authority that it is crucial to your training, meaning that at some point, the tower will give it out for free, or provide an opportunity to buy it at a low cost."
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Don't tell anyone else," Sitir put his hand on his mouth. Zane wanted to double-verify, so he emailed Xi'Ke, and Xi'Ke said the same thing. As a decisive man, Zane no longer hesitated and chose the Mana Binding Spell. Since the tower will eventually offer the spell, there was no point in choosing it. And if the information provided by these two proves wrong, he can just buy the spell himself.
Sitir had him sign the proper document before emailing him the spell diagram. Then, Zane took a copy of Arcane Weekly before rushing to the mission board, to be precise, the area with missions for apprentices. However, after seeing the first mission at the top of the list, Zane couldn't help but freeze. "Why did I expect anything less from these mages?" he thought. Of course, the top mission was simply to donate magic crystals or gold to earn Guild Points. Shaking his head, he continued reading down the holographic board.
"Tend to a magical herb garden — warning, many magical herbs are dangerous. Take care of magical creatures — warning, many creatures are dangerous and volatile. Be a lab assistant — warning, dangers and accidents are common in magical experiments. Why are all those missions dangerous?" Zane thought with a deep frown.
He continued reading, and it took him a while before he found a normal mission: editing the grammatical errors in a paper. "How competitive will these safe missions be?" Wang Wei thought with a soft grunt. The number of people who can afford to pay for the points is minuscule, meaning most of the Earth's apprentices will be fighting over those safe missions.
Zane sighed to himself: his prediction was correct. The foundation of this guild system is the exploitation of lower-tier mages. "I thought I had escaped the exploitation in academia, but somehow, I'm sucked in again," Zane couldn't help but complain.
He kept reading through all the missions on the board, not focusing on how menial the tasks were. By now, such a fact was only a minor issue. What he truly wanted to know was the best method for acquiring Guild Points without using magic points. The result of the investigation was that there is, but there wasn't at the same time.
The safest and most efficient method to gather points is exchange: whether it was potions, enchanted items, magic scrolls, or anything created by a magic profession, the guild will reward any mage handsomely. Unfortunately for Zane and all the Earth Apprentices, none of them had a profession yet. Without the ability to produce, this method of accumulating points was out of their reach.
"Profession, profession, profession," Zane thought. He was now determined to meet the requirements to register for a profession after the third shift. He focused his mind, determined to find a decent, safe, and doable way to acquire points. And he did. This method required no labor or money, for that matter: he just needed to submit to and be published in any of the guild's magazines.
"Publishing? I can do that," Zane thought, swiftly opening the magazine in his hand. His first published magazine article, written in high school, was about a data compression algorithm. At MIT, he had authored and co-authored more than a dozen papers — and if he includes the one his professor took credit for, there were probably a few dozen.
Ten minutes passed, and Zane closed the magazine. "I was too confident." He couldn't understand 99% of the things written in those papers. And even after focusing on the small section featuring only apprentices' work, he still couldn't understand 90% of it.
"For a while now, I may not have a choice but to do these dangerous works," Zane sighed to himself, walking out of the guild.