While accepting his well-earned payment for services rendered, the familiar golden reminder appeared in front of his amethyst hued eyes.

{Your act of answering Hunor’s call for aid once again did not go unnoticed. Your deeds have been recorded and you have received 436 renown points. You have received 436 reputation points.}

{Renown necessary towards caste elevation: 682}

{You have gained a total of 500 reputation with the port-city of Hunor and thus your standing was elevated from unknown to known.}

{Reputation necessary towards Hunor standing elevation: 682}

‘Nice.’ Regis thought as he grabbed the filled up sack and walked beside Amanda.

“Are you all right?”

“I am now,” she breathed out slowly. “When he said that he found an irregularity and thought that I’ve somehow tried to cheat, I froze. I’ve tried to explain to him how we took down that knight, but he just looked at me with those unfazed eyes. I’ve told him that you’re in the line too and that you can tell what happened too, so he just ordered me to stand aside and wait.”

“I’ve noticed that. You were meeker than Sophie.”

“Can you blame me? Isn’t he one of the wizards you’ve talked about? The ones that killed more than a hundred fallen with their magic flamethrowers? I didn’t want to piss off a guy like that.”

“I wouldn’t want to do that either. I have no idea when, if I’ll ever be on his level. By the way; where’s Sophie? I thought that she was right behind you.”

“She’s over there with Valerie,” the tall woman pointed to the right side of the barracks. “She got so scared when that wizard detained me that she nearly broke down crying. I’ve asked Valerie to take her away.”

“And here I thought that Khan had it bad.”

“What happened to him? I’ve seen him kneeling on the ground with Quentin holding him, but you guys were all hush-hush about it.”

“He annoyed me to the point where I somehow created a magical intimidation skill just to make him shut up.”

“Wow,” She looked at him surprised. “That’s harsh, even from you.”

“You wouldn’t say that after listening to his ramblings for more than five minutes. You know that I can be a sparkling conversationalist, but that kid can be dangerously irritating.” Regis sighed as he looked for a clean and dry spot.

Amanda watched as the young dark elf sat down on a wooden crate. He gripped the staff before beginning his meditation. After an unknown amount of time, he was shaken awake by the black haired woman.

“It’s time to get our crystals.” Amanda said with a relieved smile as the dark elf jumped onto his feet.

He saw the wizard beside the scribe’s table hand over the elegant sceptre to another robed figure before picking up a staff from beside the table. The man then turned towards the small group that included Amanda, Regis and two other men. As they walked towards the door on the left side of the barracks, the well-dressed wizards turned towards him.

“I can’t say where, but if feels like we’ve met before.”

“We did,” Regis nodded. “I’ve earned a crystal yesterday as well. I even asked you about the local spell weavers’ guild.”

“Oh,” the realization dawned on the man. “I remember you now, although you were smaller yesterday. I guess you’ve used the soul-space’s power to overstep your fledgling status. It’s understandable, given our current predicament. Still, I’m glad to see your steady growth in power. We’ve lost far too many of our own to the war and Ecragurne seems to get more and more dangerous by the day. Every able-bodied wizard is a light that could protect these people from the darkness.”

“Isn’t that the job of the church?” Regis raised his eyebrows as he heard the unexpected cheesy speech.

“They might be at the front of it, but their numbers are small. I know what you must think now, but despite the distrust and hate most people show towards us, they need us none the less. They’ll need you as well, you’ll see. Now take your crystals, and choose wisely!” The man raised his voice so that the others could hear his last words as well.

He opened the door to the small room and everyone’s gaze turned towards the tables with the different coloured and sized stones on them. Regis had already come here once, but there seemed to be more crystals on display compared to the previous day. He carefully looked over the 1st table, but there were only basic sword and axe skills on it.

The next table had a few basic archery skills and an ember seed, but it was the 3rd table that caught his attention. Among the ordinary melee and ranged weapon related skills, he found a neatly carved crystal that had both red and green hued stripes in it.

{Piercing strike}

{Skill crystal}

{Item rarity: uncommon}

{This skill allows your attack to deal increased piercing damage to your opponent, ignoring half of its armour. It can be used with all types of bows, swords and some sub-variant pole and staff weapons.}

{Requirement: 12 deftness and might}

‘Now this, I like!’ He thought as he picked it up before continuing his search for his second stone.

“They don’t have any useful hammer skills.” Amanda stepped beside him with a deep sigh.

“You might as well pick this one.” The dark elf pointed at a small white crystal at the corner of the 4th table.

“What is this, a wind seed?”

“You still have that bull rush, right? If I remember correctly, it needs air elemental affinity.”

“You’re right,” the young woman agreed. “Although I’m not sure that I should waste a chance to get a free skill, just to make another one useable.”

“Do you have any arcana?” Regis whispered to her after looking around.

“I do have a little, but I’m not a spell caster. Why?”

“If it helps; I have this initiate ranked wind blast spell. I know you’re not really interested in magic and all, but that thing could be a lifesaver and having an air affinity will lower its arcana cost by one point.”

The tall woman stared at the white stone for a few moments before picking it up. She nodded at the dark elf and then she walked over to the wizard that watched them from the door. Regis continued his search for a short while, but there wasn’t anything useful amongst the remaining crystals. The elegantly dressed man noticed his troubled expression and decided to walk over to him.

“Spell gems are rare, you know? Even with some of the fishermen willing to risk searching through the wrecked ships near the reefs, these are the only kind of crystals you’ll find here.”

“I guess I’m out of luck then.” Regis sighed as he stared at the striped crystal in his hand.

“Not necessarily,” the wizard said. “There might be only a few of us in Hunor, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other. If you’re willing to give up on your other skill crystal then I’ll let you study one of our lower level spells from our guild’s library in exchange.”

“Really?” The young dark elf snapped his head towards the man.

“Yes, but don’t get your hopes up. We only have about two dozen initiate spells and none of these crystals is worth any of the higher ranked ones. The initiate ranked spells we have might be of little use to you as well. Think of this as a gamble. Whether you’ll find a suitable spell is up to your luck, but you can pick any of these crystals and trade them away later for what you’ll need.”

“I already have one good skill,” he looked at the striped crystal in his hand. “I’ve also been quite lucky these past few days, so I’d rather try to find a spell for myself.”

“Good,” the man showed a small smile. “Follow me then.”

With everyone having made their choice, the man locked the door back and headed towards another building not far from the barracks. Regis quickly picked up his loot bundle from beside the door and followed him.

“Regis, where are you going?” Quentin asked as the group noticed him following the robed figure.

“I was offered a chance to check out the local spell weavers’ guild. You guys go ahead and rest. I’ll meet you at Amanda’s workshop in the evening.”

“Okay,” Sophie waved him goodbye. “Don’t forget to sleep too! See you later!”

“See you later.” Valerie and Fabien said at the same time as the group turned around to leave.

“I see you’ve found a good enough company for yourself. I advise you to keep your wits about you around those infernals, though. I recognise the elemental aura on one of them, but the other seems to wield occult class magic. That can easily become a double edged sword.”

“I understand.” Regis nodded as the man led him to a two story building not far from the barracks.

On their way there, Regis activated the striped crystal in his hand to absorb his new skill, a faint warmth flowing through his tired body. As they reached the well-designed building that reminded him to a late medieval styled inn, the wizard raised his hand towards the door. Several symbols glowed up on the door and Regis could hear four loud clicking sounds. Once the door was pulled open, a bar with several tables and another robed figure greeted them.

“Who’s the elf?” The other wizard asked.

“He’s a soon to be neophyte that decided to trade away the skill crystal he earned for a spell.”

“A new neophyte,” the man’s expression softened. “I’m glad to see another one in Hunor, even if he’s a dark elf. Now don’t get me wrong, lad. I don’t have anything against you personally, but your kin had always tended to be troublesome. With that ship of the exiled court in port, we can’t be too careful. Lord Verner might be welcoming towards them, but not all of us are as desperate as him. Don’t worry though. Seeing as you were able to step through that protection barrier we placed on the door, it’s obvious that you don’t carry any necrotic or demonic taint. So, what kind of spell are you looking for? We only have a few brought over from the old guild, but if we add our own scribblings to the list, you’ll have quite a few to pick from.”

“I don’t really know,” Regis admitted as he scratched his head. “I’ve only began to truly study magic a short while ago and I only have two real combat spells so far.”

“Only two spells?” The man behind the counter looked at him baffled. “How much arcana do you have?”

“I have a bit over thirty.”

“You’ve been fighting outside the city walls with less than fifty arcana and only two spells? Do you have a death wish?”

“Don’t be so harsh on him Salvador. The boy killed a fallen blade dancer on his own last night.”

“There’s no way that some kid who’s not even a neophyte could kill one of those freaks. Show me your mark!”

Regis looked at the man for a few moments before raising his left hand towards him. The wizard pulled out a sceptre from below the counter and pointed it at Regis’ mark. Once the glow faded, the man’s furrowed brows changed into an astonished expression.

“You did kill a lot of fallen ones. But how did you kill that bladedancer?”

“I flashed him in the face with my staff and I took off its head with a heavy slash.”

“That’s all? You just blinded the bastard and then behead it? How did you survive such a reckless move?”

“Barely. The worst part is that after I’ve managed to survive the fight, I’ve remembered that I could have just used my quartz shot spell on it.” Regis answered as he pulled his shirt up for them to see the long and thin scar line on his side.

“That wouldn’t have worked,” Salvador noted. “Those bastards are fast as the wind, even as an undead. It would have dodged aside or got up close to you to take your head by the time you’ve cast the spell. That wound is quite straight. Did the bastard have enchanted swords?”

“Yeah,” the dark elf nodded his head. “I had to heal the wound with the blade still lodged in it to stop myself from bleeding to death.”

“You hear this Galen? This brat sealed his wound shut on the battlefield with his enemy’s weapon still in it. Now that takes some guts. It also tells me what spell you need.” The man said and he vanished through a behind the counter.

While the wizard left the room, golden words burned through the air in front of Regis.

{Your act of answering Hunor’s call for aid did not go unnoticed. Your deeds on the battlefield impressed the members of Hunor’s spell weavers’ guild. You have received 500 Spell Weavers’ Guild reputation points.}

{You have gained a total of 500 reputation with the Spell Weavers’ Guild of Hunor and thus your standing was elevated from unknown to known amongst its members.}

{Reputation necessary towards spell weavers’ guild standing elevation: 1000}

“If I know him right,” Galen sighed as he looked at the young dark elf. “He’s going to bring out our notes on the only initiate defensive spell we have.”

“A defensive spell,” Regis mumbled. “Like a magic barrier or something?”

“Something like that,” the man patted his shoulder. “But don’t get too excited. The first barrier type spell is small and weak. You’ll have to master it to the point where it will evolve into something actually useable. I’m curious though; do you have any evolved spells?”

“No,” Regis shook his head. “But my lesser healing should get maxed out soon enough with all the injuries I’m stacking up.”

“Lesser healing? You study restorative magic?” Salvador’s voice could be heard as his head popped out from behind the door.

“I do,” the dark elf answered. “I was lucky enough to learn it back home.”

“You are indeed lucky,” Galen nodded. “Lesser healing is a rarely known offshoot of the path of utility magic. We don’t have any higher level healing magic here, but if you manage to persevere long enough to reach full mastery of it, you’ll have plenty of means to make due even on this land.”

“Alright,” Salvador shushed his fellow wizard aside. “That’s enough nostalgia for today. Sit down lad and read these parchments thoroughly. This arcana shield spell should be what you lack the most right now.”

“Sounds good to me.” Regis agreed as he sat down at one of the many tables.

He looked at the two thin lamb skin parchments in front of him. Both sides of the scrolls were filed with words and drawings that mesmerized the young dark elf. It took him a good quarter of an hour to go through the pages and get a sense of what they’ve contained. When he finished reading, he understood the gist of the spell, but one thing bothered him.

“What’s an aura bound spell?” He asked from the men who were in the middle of draining a jug of vine.

“Those types of spells stuck to you like a fly during summer. Once you cast one, it will stay active either until you cancel the spell, or until it gets destroyed. Their drawback is that once you cast the spell and pay its price in arcana, their aura will latch on to your reserves, preventing you from regaining said arcana. Let’s say that an aura bound spell costs you ten points while you have an arcana reserve of fifty. Once the spell is cast, no matter what potion you drink or how long you meditate, you’ll only be able to replenish your reserves up to forty. Those ten points will stay locked until the spell is gone, repairing and maintaining it.”

“So I’ll get extra protection, but I’ll have to sacrifice my chance to cast a few other spells in return.”

“Yes,” Galen said. “But it’s a worthwhile trade. Seeing as you’ve just began to practice magic and you still mostly depend on melee combat, exchanging a single attack spell for a shield that could stop a blade from reaching your neck is a small price.”

“Not to mention that all spells can evolve with their caster gaining full mastery in their use.” Salvador added as he decided to look for some leftover vine to drink.