This is a little awkward and bad. All I had done was find this book on the desk and read a few pages in it. But I hadn’t known that was enough to make its owner point their staff at my neck. I don't know if fighting in a guild house is legal in the game, but I need to do something to clear up this misunderstanding. Returning the book should solve this, but...

"I-I'm serious! T-That book is special to me!" The kid threatens me as he slowly thrusts his staff closer to my neck. "G-Give it back!"

Trust me, I'm trying to do that. But him pointing his charged staff at me isn't helping one bit. I don't want to start an unnecessary battle in a friend's territory, let alone destroy another person's property. But just the look on his face made me wonder if I should avoid speaking or just try to reach out to him.

"I-If you don't give it back to me in 3 seconds, I-I'll burn you down to 0!"

Huh?! Isn't that a bit worse?!

"Hang on, hang on, hang on!!!" I called out. "I'm trying to give you this [Signatio] book back, but can you please put your staff down?!"

I don't have time to think about what I just said to that kid, so I prepare myself for the worse. But after a few seconds, he slowly put down his fading glowing staff and stared at me with his widened eyes.

"W-What did you say?"

Huh? Had I said something that caused him to lower his staff?

"T-The book. What did you call it?"

I stare back at the boy in shellshock at his question.

"You mean this?" I answered as I show his book to him. "I called it [Signatio] book since that's what it said in the cover."

Before I can ask, the kid quickly snatches the book from my hands and reads through the cover with his still widened eyes. Don't tell me...

"You read the cover? And without taking a [Race Quest] on the basics of [Signatio's] culture and race?!"

"A [Race Quest]?" I repeat, which I don't even know that type of [Quest] exists in [Isekai]. "I-I'm sorry. I'm a bit confused about what's going on here."

The kid then stares back at me one more time, at which I noticed his fearful look turn into a shocked expression.

"I-If it's okay to ask, w-what kind of [Race] are you?" he asks, much to my surprise.

"My race? I don't know if my appearance is enough, but mine is [Insignis]. You heard of that race, right?"

The kid becomes silent for a few seconds before looking at me and then his book several times until...

"I-I know what it is. Because I'm playing as an [Insignis], too."

...

Excuse me?

An [Insignis]?! He’s an [Insignis] too!? I want to ask more about it, but he removes their robe and folds his left sleeve back. To my surprise, he has the same rune-like mark on his shoulder.

"So it's true... You have the same race as me."

I remove my robe and fold my left sleeve to reveal my rune-like mark on my shoulder. It's not the same shape or character as mine, but I can tell it's the real thing.

"This is the first time I’ve met another [Insignis] player in this game. But how did you know I'm playing as the same race as you?" I asked.

"W-When you mentioned the title of the cover, I know that you're able to read through one of the game's languages in one look. You do notice how the letters transformed into English when you first read it, right?"

Now that he mentioned it, the letters did glow when I tried reading through the book's strange language. Is that what it is? I quickly nodded yes as I wonder about this.

"To be honest, I just found it as I was about to leave. I knew it belonged to someone, so I intended to leave it here before I left. But then you appeared and..."

The kid looks down and frowns as he looks at his book.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I just don't like anyone taking things without my permission."

"No, I'm sorry for the same reason. I'm a bit curious when it comes to books. I'm . What's yours?" I introduce myself as I offer my hand to him.

"A-. I-It's nice to meet you, Kazu," the kid introduced himself as he accepts my handshake. "So you're also playing as a mage, too, right?"

"Yeah. I'm playing [Isekai] to explore the world alongside my big brother, Wind, and to try to become a hero like the ones in "King of Blades" and the "World of Seraph"."

"Wait..." Azel paused for a few seconds as he stares at me with his widened eyes again. "You mean KoB and Seraph?! Those are my favorite book series as well!"

"Really?! Who are your favorite characters from those books?"

"Azial for KoB and Agilia for Seraph. I-I even named my character after the former."

"Seriously! Mine is Tsugiro and Agilia! Though, Azial is my second for KoB." I chuckle a bit as I mentioned KoB. "So you're also here because of your fantasy novels and travel the world like us?"

"Sort of. I'm just here in the guild because I want to train and get stronger to do so. But now that I think about it, aren't you a bit too young to play here?"

"Oh, that." I sheepishly scratch the back of my head in response to their question. "It's because my big brother is also my [Guardian Player] for this game. He's currently downstairs working on his crafting [Masteries]."

I know because, at this time, I can hear the sound of iron clanking beneath us right now.

"Oh. I thought it was my Dad working downstairs again. He's my [Guardian Player] and I'm the one who introduced him to this game after his friend sent him a [VeilCom] console. Though I didn't expect him to get good for a few weeks. As for me, I struggle a bit to higher-level monsters with slow cast and invocation times..."

"Your uncle?" My eyes widen when I repeat this. "Do you mean Ol' Wally? We just met him a few hours ago."

"Really? Man, I wish I was with him instead of maintaining and upgrading my staff here. I should have finished it a bit quicker so I can get to the guild meeting on time."

Azel sighs as he stares at the ceiling with a frown.

"Don't worry about it. We just met and we cleared up that little misunderstanding. Besides, he's a cool guy and I know he cares all of the guild, including you."

"True, but that's not the issue. My problem is with my [Magecrafting]. I can't seem to get a high-quality staff no matter what I do."

[Magecrafting]? Is that the reason why he’s stuck here instead of joining his friends in a guild meeting they mentioned? I was a bit worried, so I decided to try and help him for his sake.

"What are you planning to make from [Magecrafting] any way?" I asked.

"I was hoping to make a special staff that combines [Fire] and [Thunder] spells into one since I don't want to waste my [Mastery Points] for a [Thunder Mastery]."

Combine [Fire] and [Thunder] spells?! Hang on...

"I want to expand my skill set, but I also want to be careful about what I choose without messing up my character build. So I’ve had to rely on my equipment's effects, but I’ve had so much trouble with [Magecrafting] lately. I can't even find a way to make it to 10 or higher quality without using that useless menu."

Now I know what he's trying to do, and I just couldn't contain what I’ve just guessed.

"What do you mean it's not that easy? I made mine without a menu and got a higher quality on my first try."

U-Uh... Maybe I shouldn't have said so much...

"First try? Wait, are you saying you made your staff without a menu?"

I nodded before I took out my staff from my inventory.

"This is living proof of it. The description is all there if you're still skeptical."

I let Azel open my staff's description window. Right now, it's still called an [Prototype Plasma Staff], but a few more tweaks and it might lose its "prototype" name soon.

"No way... It is true... And it's the same par as my Dad's forged weapons..."

I guess it's his way of saying he believes me.

"B-But how? Everything I did to make it without a crafting menu ended up in failure."

I hum in thought as soon as he mentioned this.

"I might have a guess why, but what kind of method did you use in your menu-less [Magecrafting]?"

Azel hung their head down and stares at their hands.

"I-I don't know how they make magical tools with that [Mastery], so I just tried to inject some of my [Mana] into the base and forget it. But every time I tried that, my staff would end up in cinders and ashes."

Well, that's enough to guess why he ended up using the crafting menu.

"I see. Adding [Mana] is great and all, but you missed a few steps to finish the build."

"Missed a few steps? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you have to create spells and invocations as a finishing touch. If you don't, that staff will be nothing more than a stick conductor."

At least, that's what I believe during my first [Magecrafting] build. I did get that 17 quality from my [Plasma Staff] after that mess.

"Invocations? Wait, you did all of that and your staff went up over 15? How did you work on that?"

I grin at Azel.

"I didn't. I just came up with it on the spot. I did consider injecting my [Mana] as a second option, but I decided to stick the first method after some... explosive results."

"O...kay... But just seeing your staff first-hand and the quality of it… I just want to see how it is all made!" Azel then hangs his head and frowns as he slowly places my staff on the table. "Though, I used up most of my gemstones when I made those staves. Some of them were given away to [Force Blade] because of obvious reasons.

Well, that proves how dedicated he is to his craft. Guess I have to step in.

"If you like, I have some [Burning Gemstones] and [Sparking Gemstones] with me. I give you one of each as well teach you some invocations I made up for the build."

I even take out the said gemstones from my inventory and show them to Azel.

"S-Seriously? But are you sure you wanna give them away to me? They’re pretty expensive to buy at the player market at this time."

True. But all I can do is shrug it off and say, "As long as if it’s one of our friends or their family, I don't mind. Since my brother now has a [Blacksmithing Mastery], I can rely on him to get more magical stones for my future builds. Plus, I want to help you build a staff with the highest quality you can imagine."

As soon as I declare this, Azel just stares at me with his jaw dropped. I guess I explained my intentions a bit too much. Then again, I do want to help them as a fellow Magecrafter and mage in the game, so...

"I guess I can't say no to that. If it means building my ideal staff with my own hands, then I'm happy to let you help me with this build."

He stretches out his right hand towards me. I can tell what he's trying to offer, so I nodded and shake their hand without any hesitation.

"All right! Time to make you a [Plasma Staff]!"

With that, we head over to the [Magecrafting] station with gusto. I did promise not to do that craft without [Wind]’s permission. But I'm just helping out a fellow mage. I doubt nothing can go wrong if I teach Azel, right?

Wind's Masteries

[Archery] Level 18

[Woodcrafting] Level 7

[Swordsmanship] Level 16

[Cooking] Level 6

[Wind] Level 15

[Physical Enhancement] Level 15

[Hunting] Level 14

[Blacksmithing] Level 6

Kazu's Masteries

[Arcana] Level 19

[Thunder] Level 15

[Wind] Level 14

[Alchemy] Level 13

[Magecrafting] Level 10

[Magical Affinity] Level 17

[Scribe] Level 4