Whoosh!

    Making great use of his agility and dexterity as he swerved through various passersby along the way, Valyr eventually found himself standing at the entrance of the Mage Guild.

    Taking note of the fact that almost every person that entered and exited the guild gave him a slight ethereal feeling, the young man''s focus eventually shifted back to the building itself, briefly recalling the building in his mind that allowed him to find the branch in the first place.

    ''Although the general design of the two buildings are the same, there''s still some parts that make them differ from one another,'' thought Valyr to himself, deciding to stand by the side of the entrance for the meantime in order to not be a nuisance to others.

    "One of the key differences would definitely be the spires at the top," softly murmured the young man to himself, being reminded that the spires that topped the Mage Guild''s buildings in the past could be aptly described as a smooth cone.

    On the other hand, the spires on top of the building in front of him looked more like artificial conch shells, with each one having a different texture that made it pleasing for one to look at.

    Aside from that, the spires gave off the feeling that it was attuned to the energy of mana, a vast difference to the feeling the spires the building he recalled from his past gave off.

    ''Then again, the changes aren''t all that surprising,'' said the young man as he finally entered the guild.

    ''After all, all memories I have of the Mage Guild''s buildings from the past are from when the war was finally over.''

    Pushing his current train of thought to the side, Valyr looked around for a bit before finding a section of the building that reminded him of the first time he arrived at the Blacksmith Guild in his current life.

    Heading towards one of the counters that had less people in queue, the young man waited in silence for a few minutes before finally coming face to face with an attendant.

    "Welcome to the Mage Guild," said the attendant to him with a smile. "Are you here to request a task for our mages? Or are you perhaps here to buy a few magic trinkets from the guild?"

    "I''ve come to register as a member of the guild, actually," replied Valyr, shaking his head at the questions the attendant threw at him.

    "Ah, is that so?" Hearing that the young man in front of her was actually registering as a new member of the guild, the attendant was briefly left at a loss for words, only to return to her senses not even a few seconds later.

    "Understood." The attendant nodded, looking at Valyr with a slight glint in her eyes. "Do note that you''ll have to pay a small registration fee first before we can proceed with the registration process."

    "Of course." Nodding as the attendant pulled out a tablet from under the counter, the young man went ahead and took out a silver coin from his money pouch.

    "This would be enough, right?"

    "That would indeed suffice." The attendant glanced at the coin Valyr placed on the counter before returning her attention to the tablet she brought out.

    Infusing a bit of her mana into it, the woman swiftly tapped a few parts of the tablet before pocketing the silver coin Valyr gave her. "Before we proceed with the actual registration process, what is your name?"

    "Ataraxia," replied Valyr, his expression calm.

    "I''m afraid we don''t accept any pseudonyms here, sir," said the woman, looking at Valyr as if she were giving him a bit of advice. "If you could give me your actual name, we can quickly proceed with the registration process."

    Creak...

    As he closed the door behind him, Valyr briefly took a look at the various decorations lining the room, only to take note of the old man sitting at the center.

    "A new member, eh?" The old man looked at him for a brief moment before letting out a slight chuckle. "Come closer, will you? I''ll just have a quick look-see at your class."

    Having already experienced the process three times at this point, as well as the fact that he had been briefed by the attendant beforehand, the young man faintly nodded in response as he stopped just a few steps away from where the old man sat.

    Getting an affirmative nod from the old man after that, Valyr remained where he stood as he began to feel a mysterious type of energy circulate throughout the former''s body.

    "...Hup." Though, before he could even discern what kind of energy it was, the old man had already used it to cast a spell on him, which soon caused a screen to appear in front of the latter a few seconds later.

    "Now, let''s see here..."

    "Hmm..."

    "Uh huh..."

    "Quite intriguing..."

    "Say... uh, Ataraxia, was it?" After looking at the screen he brought up for a while, the old man soon shifted his attention towards Valyr as he asked him a question. "You''re a Player, right?"

    "That would be correct." He nodded. "What''s the matter?"

    "Oh, nothing." The old man shook his head in return. "Just wanted to confirm a couple of suspicions beforehand."

    "I... see?" Although the old man''s response left him confused, Valyr continued to remain silent as he allowed him to do his thing.

    "Yep... that confirms it." Fortunately, the appraisal process only lasted for a couple more minutes after that, with the old man looking at him with a slight grin by the end of it. "You''ve definitely got a magic-related class."

    "In fact, it feels like a pretty special one, too."

    "Er... would it be possible for you to keep that information private?" asked Valyr in response, hoping that the answer he''d get from the old man was different from the response he got back when he registered at the Blacksmith Guild.

    Fortunately, it was.

    "Sure, I don''t mind."

    But of course, just like many other things in life, it came at a cost.

    "You just need to fork out 10 gold coins first."