Jack did not waste time going to the second matter of the day, the Order of Magi. With any luck, he should be able to complete the joining process on both the prominent league factions of his classes by today.
But what if there was also a lengthy trial required for him to pass in order to join? He did not imagine there would be another NPC like Gruff there who could help to lobby him in. No point worrying about it, let’s just go there first, he thought.
The direction that was given after he asked an NPC showed that the Order of Magi was located some distance away from the League of Champions. It was still in the business district, but contrary to the League of Champions, the Order of Magi was located near the border to the slum district.
Jack took a carriage as he was afraid that the entrance trial might take up a large amount of time, so it’s better if he arrived earlier. Another good point about using a carriage was, there was no need for him to look around for the building. Even though he knew the general location, sometimes it still took some time to identify the correct building.
However, when the carriage dropped him off, he could not help but think that the carriage had made a mistake. He looked back to ask the coachman, but the carriage was already some distance away. He turned back again and looked at the building in front of him.
There was certainly a mistake! He thought in his mind.
The land in front of him was a ten by ten meters square plot with untended shrubberies. At the center of the plot was a small dilapidated hut.
“No way this is the place,” he mumbled.
“Try asking the locals,” Peniel suggested.
He went and asked a pair of passing women. They both pointed at the hut. Jack thought they were making fun of him, so he looked for another person to ask again. This time it was an old man with a walking stick.
“It is just over there! Can’t you see the sign?” The old man said with a peeved tone. The direction he was pointing at was still the hut.
Jack had no choice but to go back to the plot with the hut. There was indeed a wooden sign in front of the plot, but it was slightly covered by the shrubberies. Jack removed the shrubberies covering the wordings and read that the name was indeed the Order of Magi.
‘Could it be that they have moved? This was their old place?’ Jack asked Peniel.
“How do I know?” Peniel talked back.
At that time, the door of the hut opened. Several men and women in classic wizard garbs came out. Jack looked at them as they passed by. He was still looking at their backs when they were walking away.
After a while, he turned back and looked at the hut. “can this really be the place?” He mumbled.
Just thinking about it won’t help, he decided to just go in and see. Still, seeing the poor-looking place, he could not help but wonder if this was really the prominent Mage class’ league faction that Peniel had recommended.
He asked her as he walked to the door, ‘Peniel, are you sure you did not make a mistake when you asked me to join this Order of Magi? It certainly appeared unimpressive.’
“Are you questioning my information?” Peniel spoke back with irritation.
‘Never mind, let’s go in and have a look first.’
He put his hand on the knob and opened the door. It creaked heavily. He stopped halfway and shifted to opening it gently, afraid that the bloody door would break from its hinges.
When he peeked inside, he was taken aback. The inside was a large rectangular room that was empty of everything except for a table at the center of the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling of the room used a single color of beige. There was a man sitting behind the table, he was reading a tome when he noticed Jack coming in.
“Welcome,” the man said.
Jack was stunned for a moment. He pulled himself out of the door and went in a circle around the hut. The hut was not more than five by five meters, but the inside room that he saw just now was clearly larger than that. Hell, it was even larger than the entire plot here.
He came back to the door and looked in again. The same view greeted him.
“Are you going to come in or not?” The man asked.
Jack finally stepped inside. This large empty room was the epitome of cleanliness. There was not a spot visible. Completely in contrast with the neglected yard outside. Jack surmised that this room must be a separate dimension from the outside. As befitting of a top mage faction. Still, did they have to pick such a run-down hut for a front?
Jack walked to the man behind the table. He was wearing a simple purple robe, complementing his hair which also had the same color. That purple hair of his was long and straight, neatly combed to the back. His face was clean and very handsome. Jack couldn’t help a feeling that he had seen the man before. Which was weird, he would have recognized such a distinctive NPC if he had met him before.
As if to add to Jack’s bewilderment, the man said, “we meet again, mister Storm Wind.”
“What?” Jack was baffled. He searched his memory, had he truly met this NPC before? How could he forget? He decided to inspect the man, which came out as undetected, except for his name, Janus.
Shit, could an NPC wear an item that concealed information as well like his cloak?
Looking at Jack’s puzzlement, Janus chuckled. “No need to worry about it. Now, what can I do for you?”
Fighting down his confusion, Jack said, “I would like to join the Order of Magi.”
Janus gave him a polite smile before replying, “unfortunately, I can’t accept you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you are a Warrior.”
Jack took out his magic staff. “I’m also a Mage. I can do magic spells, I can show you.”
Janus shook his head with a smile. “Doesn’t matter if you can do spells. Your status is a warrior, so I can’t accept you.”
“Uh, is there no exception?”
Janus shrugged. “Unless you can become a mage,” he said.
Jack was crestfallen. He had come all this way for nothing. He would need to find another league faction who was willing to accept him and supply him with spells then. As he was about to ask Peniel about the other league factions, a thought came to him.
Become a mage? He thought.
“All right, thank you for your time,” Jack said to Janus.
He then walked out of the room. He came out to the poor-looking yard, went to the back of the hut amongst the thick shrubberies. After making sure that no one was looking, he used the Orb of Disguise and transformed into Unrivalled Arcaner.
“Now I am a proper Mage,” he said.
“Good thinking,” Peniel praised.
“Let’s try this again,” he said as he walked back to the front of the hut.
He straightened himself before he knocked on the door and walked in.
“Good afternoon!” He said loudly as he came into the room. “I heard this is a league faction that accepts members who are mages? Well, I am one. Can I apply to join?”
Janus looked at him from behind the table. The staring contest lasted for a while that Jack started to feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, Janus said at last, “certainly. You just have to pass our test to join.”
Jack almost exhaled a relief breath but managed to stop himself. “No problem, I like tests. Give it to me, and we will be faction mates in no time!”
“Unbelievable. Do you really have to get so into character? There are no Death Associates members here!” Peniel said in his mind.
‘This is called professionalism, lady,’ Jack replied to the fairy’s pestering.
Janus stood up from his chair and extended his hand. “Give me your hand,” he said.
Jack gave his left one. Janus touched it. Strands of golden light streamed out of his hand and went into Jack’s hand. Jack could feel a tingling feeling as he sensed the light coursed through his arm and up into his brain. An image of a spell formation appeared in his mind. The spell formation consisted of five runes.
Janus let go of Jack’s hand and sat back down on his chair. He said, “when you can form that spell formation in one second or less, you will be eligible to join our faction.”
