The art of friendship is all about knowing when you’re going too far. Amanda and I walked along the streets towards the guild, and I could still see Gerial keeping up beside us.

As fun as teasing him was, it was never going to be my only action.

Instead, I was doing something I always intended to do. I was getting to know Amanda a little bit better.

“I’m just saying that if a bird made out of fire exists, and horses exist, then a horse with a horn on its head isn’t a crazy proposal.” I gestured helplessly with my hands.

I wasn’t sure how our innocent conversation about her favourite books had turned into such a heated discussion.

“And what would you call this monstrosity?” Amanda’s voice reverberated across the street. “A horny horse?”

“A unicorn. Duh.”

Amanda looked at me and I saw the confusion and disappointment in her eyes.

“That doesn’t make sense, you just made up a random word.” Amanda shook her head.

“All words are made up.” I pointed at my head. “Look, a single horn. Right here, but on a horse. It’s a horse but magical.”

“But horses are magical!” She objected. “So, it’s just a regular horse with a horn!”

I smiled at her words. I couldn’t help it.

It was ridiculous to me that the concept of a unicorn was blowing her mind. There were magical creatures in this world. I had seen monsters through the Zodiac portals, crossed over a sea that floated in the sky, and was friends with a phoenix, and yet a unicorn was where the line was drawn.

It was a light-hearted argument. Amanda’s hair wasn’t glowing or fiery and both of us couldn’t keep the smiles off our faces.

“Okay, what about dragons? They’re basically birds but with scales and horns.”

I had read about a dragon in the book she’d given me, ‘I Am Marked’. It had two sets of wings and three horns coming out of its head.

My question stopped Amanda in her tracks.

“Okay. You’ve got a point there.” She rested her hand against her cheek. “Gosh, I give you one book and suddenly you’re creating your own race of creatures.”

“Maybe I should become an author.” I joked.

“You’ll be slammed by critics for making a new race that is literally just a horse with a horn.” Amanda paused. “Let me know when you write the book. I’ll be your first customer.”

“You do believe in my unicorn idea!” I raised my hand in victory.

Even if it wasn’t my concept, it was a minor win for me.

I heard a snicker of laughter coming from my side. The streets were moderately crowded, so Gerial’s occasional outbursts were hidden in the chatter.

He had gotten a little more comfortable being around Amanda during the walk.

I could tell because he wasn’t being as cautious as he normally was. His voice was getting louder, and his outbursts more abrupt.

If he kept going like this, I wouldn’t have to do anything. He would reveal himself.

“Hey,” I slowed down. “Should I be watching out for anything here?”

“Like what?”

“Some kind of decorum or noble greetings that I might not know.” I shrugged. “I don’t want to get caught out and make a bad impression.”

I was almost positive that none of the nobles would know me, or care about my identity if they did. It wasn’t just because they were a different group of people from William’s birthday.

I was a student at Koshima academy. That title alone held a lot of prestige and separated me from my parents. Not in a bad way. It allowed me to establish my own reputation as someone with potential.

Everybody was willing to look past the small detail of a person’s parents for somebody that had realised their talent.

“I think it’s more fun if I let you see for yourself.” She saw my expression and smiled. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing you have to do except to say hi to the Destins and Unice first.”

She gazed at the guild building. “Actually, there is one rule. Make sure that you don’t greet Ouros and his family first.”

I nodded.

Ouros and Unice were close, but their respective families were still part of different branches. Ouros’ parents wouldn’t be happy that Unice caught up to him.

Until last week he had been a major contender to turn their family into the main branch of the Destin household. I didn’t know the full details, but at the very least people would come to them first for business contracts and other lucrative opportunities.

Now the gentle stream that had separated them from that goal had turned into a turbulent ocean.

A few more steps brought us up to the guild. The building wasn’t the tallest in the city, but it did rise above the shopping district surrounding it.

It was at least ten stories tall.

The entrance was a lot more modern than I had imagined. The doors opened automatically as we walked towards them, the glow of symbols emanating from the walls around them.

An attendant walked up to us.

“Good afternoon, do you have a reservation?” He asked.

“Two for the Destin booking.”

Amanda and I handed him our invitations for checking. He raised his palm and I saw a marble block in his hand. It glowed blue and the invitation shone in response.

The colour of the block changed to green, and he smiled at us. “Your function is in the main hall. I will guide you there and introduce you.”

I opened my mouth to let him know that wasn’t necessary when I felt a pinch at my side.

Amanda shook her head slightly and I followed her lead. The attendant walked ahead of us, but it wasn’t a difficult room to find. We walked down a corridor connected directly to the entrance, and then entered an elevator similar to the one in the Observatory.

The attendant pressed the highest button and we started going up.

When we had all crowded in, I frowned. I hadn’t seen Gerial in a while.

My mana sense flooded the elevator. There was magic around me, weaving into symbols and other spells that clouded the surroundings.

There was no sign of Gerial.

I looked around me carefully, but I couldn’t see a single sign of him.

Then I shook my head. He knew what he was doing, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had gone back because he needed to make a proper entrance.

A Marked one couldn’t just pop up in the middle of the dinner. Unice’s thunder would be stolen.

The elevator doors opened, and I winced as a cacophony of magical power and spells blew through my vision. There were a lot of magicians ahead of me, and a tornado of mana blocked my vision.

I shut off my mana sense and the pressure on my mind cleared.

I found myself in a lobby draped with tapestries that painted pictures of different battles. There was a red carpet across the floor, and it led towards the hall. A pair of glass doors awaited us, tables and tasty delicacies tempting me through the glass.

I could see a few familiar faces already inside.

“Right through here.” The attendant walked forward and opened the hall doors for us.

He led the way through the hall. I looked forward, aware of the fact that it would be disrespectful to do otherwise. Unice soon came into view, and her parents behind her.

She had an enormous grin on her face.

“You came!” She bounded towards us. “My parents have been dying to meet you.”

I stepped back, expecting her to drag Amanda. Instead, she grabbed my wrist and brought me forward towards her parents.

Amanda stayed behind, and the attendant left us to our own devices.

“Mum, dad!” Her parents turned towards us with a curious expression. “This is Andross. He’s the person I told you about that helped me attune to metal.”

I straightened up and shot them both a smile.

“Good afternoon, I’m Andross Silver, Unice’s classmate and fellow potential metal magician.”

The two adults looked at each other and then back at me. Each one wore the traditional garbs I had seen Unice wearing during her attunement. Muted green, brown and grey were elegantly patterned onto their robes.

Both of them had silver masks hanging by their sides.

“My name is Tabitha Destin. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you.”

Unice’s mother held out her hand.

I shook it gently and she grinned.

“Marlon Destin.” Unice’s father shook my hand next. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Unice and Ouros.”

Huh.

I think that’s the first time a noble family had actually introduced themselves to me by name. Except Eli. Normally I wasn’t considered high status enough to know the names of my friend’s parents.

It was a custom in this world that I followed because it was convenient.

Amanda’s dad hadn’t introduced himself by name to me yet, nor had William’s or Gerial’s.

On the surface the Destins spoke a single sentence, but underneath they were showing me their tacit acceptance of my status.

Amanda stayed behind as we introduced ourselves. There was an order to these things.

I was surprised that she hadn’t gone first, but the reason soon became clear.

“How long ago did you attune?”

“Do you feel like you are ready to teach attunement to others?”

“We would be honoured to have you over sometime. Our younger daughters haven’t attempted metal attunement yet, but the earlier they start learning the better.”

Unice’s parents had an endless stream of positive comments and invitations to make to me. It hadn’t occurred to me how important a metal magician would be to an earth magician household.

I had a feeling that Unice had embellished my role in her attunement. Her parents were looking at me like I was a stack of cash.

Eventually Amanda got her turn, and after her a new guest came along.

“I’ll join you guys later tonight.” Unice smiled.

She would spend the entire afternoon greeting the various guests as they came in. This celebration was designed to show her off to as much of the nobility of the city as possible.

Amanda and I moved away from the family, and I looked around for our table.

Our invitations had come with preset seating arrangements, although we were allowed to choose our food.

“I’ll roast that chicken myself if I can have it right now.” Amanda rubbed her forehead in frustration. “I skipped breakfast for this.”

I chuckled and then I spotted Amanda’s family.

“Okay.” Amanda drifted towards them. “I’ll be back up with you after the food.”

“Sounds good to me.” I knew that this would be the boring part of this evening.

I didn’t know who I was seated with, but hopefully the table had someone I knew, or at least people that didn’t know me and were willing to have a conversation to pass the time.

To my surprise my table was situated near the front. I was closer to Unice than Amanda’s family was. I made my way towards it and then stopped in my tracks.

A lascivious display of gold blinded my eyes.

The first thing to enter my vision was a flowing robe of pure gold with various belts made out of rubies and emeralds attached to it.

At the head of this glamorous beast was a golden mask with three eye holes staring at me. The hair of the man was draped in gemstones that waved across his head in a crown formation.

“Come now, surely you can’t be that surprised.” A voice called out to me from beside the effigy of gold. “Take a seat, relax.”

It was William.

I saw several people glance our way as he spoke. The man in the golden robes let out a hearty chuckle.

I stepped forward and gave the man a low bow.

“Master Wilhelm.”

“Master Silver.” The man raised his hand and gestured for me to sit. “Always a pleasure.”

“Indeed.”

I pulled out a seat and smiled at the man.

“I’ve been putting my library permission to good use.”

Even though it had never formally been announced, I knew that Master Wilhelm was the man that had fought for my right to access Zodiac’s earth library.

He had also given me an entire block of iron to work with when practising my metal manipulation.

“A wise decision.” Master Wilhelm nodded. “William has been talking nonstop about you. I’m glad your friendship has survived the passage of time.”

“I wouldn’t let it die out.” I smiled. “I can be a stubborn pit donkey when I want to be.”

William coughed up his drink and his father’s expression lit up with laughter. His voice wasn’t loud compared to the clamour around us, but I saw more heads turn our way.

People were watching him. Either keeping an eye on him so that they could curry favor, or with other intentions.

I sincerely hoped that one of them would try to challenge him for his gold. I couldn’t tell if it was really him in front of me, or one of his clones, but it would be a fun fight to watch.

“Actually, I have been quite curious about your progress.” Master Wilhelm took his mask off and a grand beard revealed itself. “In truth I had thought you would be a metal magician focusing on iron, considering your… start.”

He breezed past the touchy subject.

“I never did thank you for your gift personally.” I spoke. “Thank you. For everything.”

“It was the least I could do.” His expression softened. “I can never give you a fraction of the relief I felt that day.”

He shook his head and his expression cleared.

“But on to happier subjects. I’ve heard word of your proficiency. Silver.” His smile rose. “Quite fitting. And also, quite rare.”

Master Wilhelm’s eyes glimmered. He put his hands together and leaned towards me.

“If it’s not improper of me, shall we talk business?”