Hearing Morgana approach, the blonde receptionist looked up. She blinked, tucked a bookmark into the pages she'd been reading, and pushed aside the novel. She smiled at Morgana. A name tag affixed to her blouse read 'Elise.'

"Hi. How can I help you?"

The woman didn't quite whisper the words, but she spoke in a soft voice, one appropriate to the quiet environment.

"I'm new here," Morgana said, arriving at the receptionist's desk and resting her hands on the tabletop. "So, honestly, I'm not sure? Someone told me it was a good idea to check this place out. I just started adventuring."

Elise made a sympathetic noise. "Total newbie, huh? Don't worry, you're not alone. Tons of those in Quarrygate."

"I guess…I'd like to know what you're about? I have the vaguest of ideas, but if you wouldn't mind."

Elise nodded, not finding the request odd. "Sure. Well, the Mage's Association isn't a guild, if that's what you thought. That probably shouldn't need saying, but you'd be surprised by what some newcomers think when they first come in. This is just a place spellcasters can meet up. To talk, learn from each other, or, you know, do whatever." Her lips quirked in amusement as she glanced at one of the [Mages] sitting in a reading alcove. "Even just sit and study. A quiet place. Most guildhalls are pretty…rowdy. [Fighters], right? So this place is an escape as much as anything, for some of them."

Them, not us, Morgana noted. This woman wasn't a [Mage]. Though that wasn't surprising; she was just the receptionist.

And even without understanding the culture of this world, she could infer the humor of what Elise had said—the reason she'd seemed amused by what she had said. People who got [Fighter] class types would be rather…raucous, on average. During their interviews on her first day here, Morgana had heard plenty of loud and boisterous activity through the different guildhalls' thin walls.

Rune's guild was rather peaceful, at least. Morgana didn't need a daily retreat to escape to. Rune herself was probably the loudest and most outgoing of their members, but not in any disorderly or aggressive way.

"As for what we offer," Elise continued, "besides just a place to meet other [Mages], there's the library, the practice room, and the private floors—that's where the higher levels usually hang out." Her eyes flicked toward the man with a short, silver beard, though it didn't seem intentional. "Not all of them though. This floor is a public space. Anyone can be here, as long as you're a [Mage] or some other class of arcane alignment."

By the timing of Elise's unintentional glance, Morgana assumed the man she'd looked at was a higher-level [Mage]. Not that it seemed relevant.

"But those other benefits are for full members," Elise said. "The lobby is open to anyone, but that's about it. You have to join to get access to the other stuff. Registration fees aren't too bad, though. Scales based on your rank. And it also opens up other Mage's Associations throughout Liren, if you're traveling. To be honest, it's the high-rankers in different cities mostly paying for this building; it's pretty cheap to join as a newcomer." She grinned. "This isn't a sales pitch, by the way. It's up to you. I just work here."

Somewhat intrigued in how all of that worked, Morgana inquired about the cost of membership. She found that it was indeed fairly reasonable—though she didn't want to waste money on anything she didn't explicitly need.

"And, sorry, did you say practice room?" Morgana asked.

"It's in the basement. The walls are reinforced against magic. There's different levels of resistant robes available for borrowing, too. It's one the safer places for [Mages] to test dangerous spells they've just learned."

"Ah," Morgana said. That actually did sound useful, though not right now. And the lack of privacy might dissuade her from using it. Why not trek out to a private part of the forest?

Well, to avoid causing wildfires, she supposed. So maybe she would.

"I see," Morgana said. The primer on the Association had been nice, but she had ultimately come for a different reason. How best to segue? Maybe there wasn't one. "So, um, if I wanted to talk to someone about [Mage] stuff," she started. "I guess, how would that work?"

Elise smiled; she seemed to find the question amusing. "Want me to grab someone for you?"

Morgana's cheeks colored. "It just seems like everyone is rather busy." It would be awkward to walk up to someone clearly reading and start pestering them with questions. And Elise wasn't a mage herself, so she couldn't pick her brain.

"Most of them are pretty friendly," Elise said. "I don't think they'd mind. But, hm. I'm pretty sure I saw Rufus come in, earlier." She stood. "Let me go find him. That boy loves talking, so you definitely won't be bothering him." She shared a grin with Morgana. "Probably, you'd be saving someone else." She slipped past her desk and headed for the stairs, taking the spiraling staircase up with quick steps.

A minute later, she returned, accompanied by a boy with sandy-blond hair. He was dressed in white robes with gold accents. Young, or at least baby-faced. He looked somewhere in his late teens—like Rune, no older than eighteen or nineteen, but honestly probably even younger than that. Sixteen, if she was forced to guess.

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Morgana briefly wondered whether there was some age requirement for earning a class. She could see that going either way. The biggest prerequisite was having talent in some field, but plenty of people could be skilled well before adulthood, or even before their teenage years.

Surely there weren't toddlers walking around with free-to-use magical abilities, though? Or gods-forbid, a one-year-old [Berserker] with an [Empowered Strike] or some such nonsense.

Seeing her, the young man smiled and waved while descending the stairs. Morgana returned it politely.

"This is Rufus," Elise offered when they'd arrived at the receptionist's desk. "And this is…I didn't actually get your name, Miss."

"Morgana."

"This is Morgana," Elise told Rufus, laughing at herself. "I'll leave you two to it."

After brief hellos, Rufus guided her to an empty corner of the lobby, away from the other [Mages], so they could talk without bothering them.

"So," Rufus said. "New in town?"

"I arrived yesterday, yes."

"What brought you?"

"The dungeon."

He laughed. "Of course. But what? Did you get your class and feel inspired to start killing monsters, so you chose the nearest town you could?"

Technically, she was fleeing a prison break, needed money, and wanted to study the dungeon and see what her class evolved into—the 'killing monsters' part was the worst part of her circumstances, something she would love to do without.

But Morgana was sticking with a simple backstory. "More or less."

He laughed. "Fair. I suppose that's most people's deal." He cocked his head. "Elise told me you had some questions?"

"About a few matters. I got my class recently. Mostly, I'm curious about magic."

At this, the boy grinned. "It's incredible, isn't it? I remember when I got my first spells. Couldn't stop playing around with them." He added almost sheepishly, "I set my mom's kitchen on fire, the first week. She was not happy. But it was a small fire!"

Morgana wasn't sure whether she was supposed to laugh at that, but a small, surprised noise escaped her either way. That seemed to please Rufus.

"But what about magic, specifically?" Rufus asked.

Time to get to the meat of the matter.

"I suppose…" she said slowly. "How it works?"

"Ah," he said sympathetically. "Having problems invoking one of your spells? Don't worry, that's normal. Some are harder than others. Not every skill can you just use, right out the gate. It takes practice. Sometimes a lot."

"Oh. That's not what I meant. I've…figured that part out. I meant—well, I guess how it works. More fundamentally?" She hesitated. "You know those diagrams that appear in the air, whenever we cast a spell? It feels like those have something to do with it." It physically pained her to speak about this subject in such a way, with so much feigned ignorance, but it was her safest choice. "What are they? It's the same design every time, so it has to mean something, right?"

At these words, Rufus shook his head with amusement. "I guess everyone's wondered at some point. You, quicker than most." He considered his following words for longer than Morgana had expected him to. "Lemme give you some advice?" he asked eventually.

Morgana nodded.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "As in, stop caring. Spell diagrams are a crazy rabbit hole, one not worth going down. Trying to learn about them won't help you in the end. We aren't scientists or inventors. [Mages] don't need to know how spells work any more than a [Fighter] has to know how his sword is forged. We just use them. They're tools."

It took a lot of effort to keep a neutral, friendly face at that. She couldn't quite repress an eye twitch though.

"Still," Morgana said. "I'm curious. Do you know anything?"

Rufus shrugged. "I guess…some stuff." He glanced over his shoulder, toward the man with the trimmed silver beard. Morgana took note of that. Seeing how Elise had also stolen a glance at him, the man must be a locally important figure. "You've heard of the Designers?"

Her interest was immediately piqued. "Designers?"

"You're right. Spell diagrams do have meanings. There's been a movement among certain [Mages] to try to understand them." He gave her a significant look. "And if you're serious about your career as an adventurer, you shouldn't bother. It's not worth the hassle, and while interesting, a total dead end. Most mages have looked into it, and yet close to none bother to continue. Why do you think that is?"

"Oh?" she asked.

"Hm," he said. "The gist of it, I suppose, is that spell diagrams aren't random nonsense, even if it looks like it. There's some kind of…wild logic there, that defines the spell and how it works, though even the best Designers have no real clue how, whatever they'll tell you. At best, they have the barest understanding. Magic is magic. It isn't supposed to be understood." He glanced, almost subconsciously, a second time at the man with the beard, and Morgana started to form a suspicion of why. "And go ahead, be curious, talk about it, but don't let them convince you to go down that path. It might sound amazing that you can modify your own spells to upgrade their proficiencies—"

At that, Morgana's eyes widened; she didn't even have to feign her shock. Just, it was for a different reason than Rufus assumed.

He continued, "Yes, I know, it sounds amazing, but let me finish. Even if that's possible, it's a bad idea. Because once you go down that path, your spell's proficiency is locked forever. It'll never upgrade on its own again. Only by changing it manually." He shook his head. "And it's not that hard to just practice until it evolves. The Designers might be able to cheat you to a stronger spell faster than you could get it the natural way, but cheating is cheating. Never a good idea."

Morgana found it highly amusing he was referring to a true, comprehensive understanding of spell design as 'cheating', but she listened, fascinated, obviously keeping those thoughts to herself.

"Because no matter how many proficiencies they can cheat your spell up, they won't ever be able to get it to expert. And hard and consistent work will get you there, eventually. So you'd be shooting yourself in the foot. Hurting yourself in the long run." He sighed. "So, like I said, be curious. But don't fall in with that crowd." He frowned. "They're a bunch of hacks, permanently crippling [Mages] who don't know better."

For a third time, his eyes flicked to the man with the silver beard.

"Ah, they're not all bad," he said. "Giles isn't like that. He's one, you know. A Designer. Or at least, involved with them somehow. And he won't try to trick you into following that path, not without giving you a good idea of what the risks are. I guess things are even kinda working out for him." He breathed in. "But what I'm saying is, look out for yourself. Almost everyone uses spells how they're supposed to be used, the normal way, and that's for a good reason. Dedication and repetition supersede everything; you won't become a better mage sticking your nose in a book and studying. Only through practice."

Morgana repressed another eye twitch.

Rufus said, "Giles loves talking about this stuff. And knows way more than me, obviously. You could always just ask him." He gave her a significant look. "But remember what I told you. It's fascinating stuff, but keep it to an academic interest. Don't permanently cripple your spells just because it'll give you a short-term leg up."