The spellcasters’ guild of Atraune was large, to say the least. Just the reception hall with the gateway was four times the size of the main hall in East Fork, if not larger. Once the loremaster was led through one of the doors, he found himself in a wide corridor with dozens of ornate doors on both sides and a set of winding marble stairs at the end. People of all ages between ten and sixty or seventy were walking about, giving a respectful nod to Cedric.

“No wonder Master Felix had requested so many arcana regeneration rings to be made.”

“Indeed,” the spellcaster agreed. “Although we lost a lot of good people in the war, the Midsummer Trials brought many new talents into the guild. We have enchanters of our own of course, but sadly, the three higher-ranked infusion enchanters we had died in the war and our current alchemical enchanters can only create ‘well-made’ grade enchantments at best. Master Felix was anxious to increase the capabilities of our remaining elites so your skills are quite in demand.”

“I appreciate the honesty,” Regis hummed as the two began to walk up the marble stairs. “But I hope you can understand that secrecy would be just as appreciated. My territory isn’t large and as such, we can’t exactly compete with others when it comes to military might. If word was to get out that I was able to supply a large number of ‘well-made’ or above grade enchanted items to your guild...”

“It would cause you a lot of trouble in the form of pesky requests from the many lords and ladies of the kingdom,” Cedric finished his thoughts. “We understand that which is why only Master Felix and myself know about the trade agreement. He purposefully used a shielding spell during his request and false information later when asked about the conversation to keep it that way. As far as the nobility and the other guild masters know, he was simply trying to procure common alchemical ingredients from you after hearing that you stopped supplying East Fork’s guild once they managed to establish their plantations.”

“It seems your guild master is quite well-informed. We barely stopped our ingredient trade with East Fork a few days ago.”

“He has to be well informed if he plans to keep our guild amongst the more... powerful circles. With all that has happened recently, knowledge is more valuable than ever.”

“Is that why he offered me a ‘journeyman’ ranked enchanters’ tome as payment?”

“That,” the man cleared his throat. “I believe he meant that to be more of a bribe of sorts to encourage a friendly relationship between you and our guild.”

Hearing this, Regis couldn’t stop himself from letting out a low chuckle.

“Are you sure you’re supposed to be telling me all this? I imagine your guild master would be quite pissed to find out about it.”

“Quite the contrary,” Cedric shook his head. “Master Felix told me that as a tier three mage, you deserve his respect and that people of your strength hate false modesty and flattery.”

“Oh,” the dark elf stopped for a moment. “He already knows my rank? I tried to avoid that question yesterday.”

“You didn’t have to answer. One’s aura and demeanour change quite sharply after they reach such heights. But enough of that. We have arrived.”

It was at this moment that Regis noticed the gold-inlaid ivory door in front of them, realising that they had not only reached the top floor but also walked across the long hallway as well.

“Master Felix,” Cedric called out after knocking on the door. “May we enter?”

“Come in!” An aged yet powerful voice replied from the other side of the door.

Cedric opened the door and ushered in the dark elf, the sight of a large and lavish study revealing itself to them.

“Welcome to Atraune, Lord Regis!”

“Thank you for having me, Master Felix!” he replied in kind. “And please, just call me Regis. The whole ‘Lord’ thing is for the formal noble stuff.”

“Very well,” the old man nodded as he noticed his obvious dislike of the noble title. “Please, have a seat. Thank you, Cedric. You can go now.”

“As you wish, guild master.” Cedric nodded before leaving the room, closing the door behind himself.

“I must admit,” the grey-haired elder spoke. “I wasn’t expecting you to visit us personally so soon, or that you would already bring along what I ordered.”

“I do have a small stock of ‘well-made’ grade items, so it was only a matter of gathering them. The ‘excellent’ grade ones however would take considerable effort to make as you’re surely aware of that.”

“I understand,” Master Felix nodded as he watched the loremaster pull out the enchanted rings and wands from his satchel. “As long as you can craft them, waiting a couple of days would be fine. I’m sure you understand that the kingdom is facing a difficult time with the king so close to dying and all. I wish to be optimistic, but we must prepare for the worst as well.”

“Are you worried about a succession war?” Regis asked, thinking of the possible troubles such a thing could cause.

“I’m afraid of the nobles’ ambitions. Prince Mikkel is just like his father, headstrong and righteous. The second prince, Merron, on the other hand, is far too ambitious for his own good. Although they tried not to make it obvious during the assembly, the once strong noble alliances were already fracturing due to them splitting their loyalties between the royal descendants. If King Mikkel names one of them as their successor, the other one will surely rebel. If no successor is named... that would lead to an outright war. As for the nobility; they’re only in it to grab more power and territories. As if the Landwaker War wasn’t enough.”

“In other words, Ecragurne is screwed either way. This is why my world abolished nobility centuries ago. Way too much bloodshed and ego tantrums to endure.”

“Sadly, the nobility has too much power for such a thing to happen here.” the old man said as he walked over to a nearby bookshelf, pulling off a tome. “It is for the best perhaps, at least for now. Either way, here is the book I promised. And I believe you have a contract for me to sign.”

“I do,” Regis agreed as he handed over the scroll in exchange for the tome. “Should I bring the book back after I finish studying it or…”

“It is yours to keep,” the grey-haired spellcaster said while reading the contract. “It is just one of the dozen copies we have on the restricted floor of our library. This is quite well written. I must admit that when I heard you decided to walk the path of a ‘Loremaster’ I was quite surprised. Most young folks tend to be more interested in the battle-oriented paths.”

“I can still learn battle spells if I want to,” the dark elf noted as he put the book in his satchel. “But loremasters have their uses as well. Having a better affinity with runes is one of them.”

“That is true. Here’s the contract, signed and sealed.”

“Then I won’t take up more of your time,” Regis stood up from the chair. “I’m sure you have a lot to do and so do I.”

“I see. Well, take care of yourself and I hope to see those ‘excellent’ grade rings as soon as possible.” Master Felix remarked as they shook hands.

The dark elf left the guild master’s study, retracing his steps towards the gateway. Despite the many people walking by, no one seemed to be surprised by the sight of a fully armoured mage walking through the hallways of their guild. As he reached the reception hall, the young woman behind the counter bowed respectfully, a shy smile hanging on her lips. Regis stepped into the runic circle of the gateway, vanishing in a flash of light.

After arriving back at Thornvale, he relaxed somewhat as the strange weight he felt while in Atraune’s guild dissipated from his shoulders. He decided to go home to study the new enchanters’ tome, finding it a worthwhile investment. ‘The shield enchantment Quentin’s ring had turned out to be a ‘journeyman’ ranked runic diagram.’ Regis thought as he found it in the book. ‘Still, no mount summoning enchantment. It might be a conjuration spell or something that got sealed in the badge like one would create a wand. Either way, there’s plenty of new stuff in here that could help us.’

In the tome, he found several new runes and their combinations, all of which held great potential. The rune of ‘time’ for example could be used to create a sort of stasis enchantment that would freeze time for an object. It was mentioned to be best to use in the creation of elixir vials as they were prone to deteriorate very fast. Regis was already spinning the gears in his mind, trying to figure out a stasis spell to entrap his enemies with while reading the next enchantment.

The runes of ‘blight’ and ‘mind connection’ were amongst the more disturbing enchantments as one could create a weapon that would make you catch the sped-up version of the black plague if you got cut with it, while the other one could link minds in a way that if one felt pain, so would the other. ‘What kind of fucked up people wrote this book?’ He thought as he read the descriptions.

Sadly, most of the new runes and enchantments were meant to be quality of life style upgrades like ‘heat absorption’ to store and release it for later or a ‘fertility array’ you’d put on animal pens to ensure their population growth. The few that could have been used for combat had lacklustre effects, some already re-created by him in a roundabout way. ‘I really hope the ‘rare’ enchantments will be more useful because these were a bust.’ Regis grumbled to himself as he put down the book.

It wasn’t that the enchantments were weak or useless by any means, but he struggled to find use for most of them around Thornfell. Letting out a disheartened sigh, he left the study and headed over to the dining room to get a quiet meal under the worried gazes of his butler and maid. The next two days went by quietly as he spent most of his time crafting the items for Master Felix, the promise of the rare enchantments spurring him on to finish as soon as possible.

On the third morning of his crafting spree, the final wand of ‘ordinary’ healing was finished and could finally breathe up. ‘This took longer than I expected.’ He admitted. Not wanting to waste any more time on the matter, he packed away the rings and wands before leaving the manor. He headed toward the gateway, teleporting straight to Atraune. The familiar-looking young woman stood behind the reception desk, greeting him with a light bow as soon as he stepped out of the runic circle.

“Good morning, miss! Is the guild master here?”

“He is,” the young lass nodded. “Would you like me to inform him of your arrival?”

“Please, just tell him that Regis Thorne is here to see him. I’ll head over to his study.”

“Of course, sir.” She bowed respectfully as the loremaster left.

‘Looks like a multi-rune equipment wearing mage is worthy of respect even here.’ He mused after the fifth person saluted him with a slight bow. Atraune’s guild seemed to be as lively as before, apprentices and mages alike walking its halls. After reaching the door of Master Felix’s study, he knocked on it and an aged voice soon responded.

“Enter.”

“Greetings, Master Felix.” The dark elf said as he entered the room, closing the door behind himself.

“Welcome back, Regis. I did not expect to see you back so soon.”

“Well, I spent the last two days and today morning in a crafting frenzy, but I managed to finish the things you asked for.”

“You really do seem to want that book, don’t you?”

“I do, although I hope it has more useful runes than the one before.”

“Oh,” the old man raised an eyebrow. “Did you find it boring? A lot of people would give up their souls to have a chance of reading it.”

“It wasn’t boring, but I can barely use a third of it to better Thornfell. The rest of the enchantments are weird or completely useless to us.”

“And you hope to remedy that through the collection of ‘rare’ enchantments?”

“That’s the plan, but we will have to see.”

“Indeed. So... may I see the rings and wands?”

“Sure.” Regis nodded as he placed the twelve rings and wands on the desk for the guild master to examine.

“Excellent,” the old man remarked with a smile. “You really are a talented craftsman.”

Saying that Master Felix stood up from his seat and walked over to a nearby bookcase, pulling off a single tome from it before stopping for a second to pull another book as well.

“Here is the tome as promised, as well as one with a few common tier three spells. Think of it as my late congratulatory gift for your ascendency.”

“Thank you!” He accepted the books with a nod, placing them in his satchel.

“While I might not be an enchanter myself,” Felix hummed. “But if you have any other questions regarding spells or maybe alchemy, feel free to ask.”

“Well, I do have a question that somewhat regards enchanting, although I suspect it has something to do with a spell I’m not familiar with.”

“Do tell.” The grey-haired elder looked at him curiously.

“A while back, I came across a brooch with the ability to summon a mount. Sadly, it was broken beyond repair and I could not decipher the runes as they had a...”

“A ‘confusion’ enchantment on them?” the guild master finished his thoughts. “Most of the second tier and above enchanters tend to use that to hide their runic diagrams from prying eyes, just like you do. And you are right about the matter. It is a third tier spell called ‘familiar mount’ which allows one to summon and bind a creature to serve as their mount.”

“Sounds like a useful spell to have.” Regis hummed wishfully.