“Oh hello Arthur.” Calavia smiled at the sight of Arthur. “Since I am seeing you here you must have passed the exam.”

“I did that yesterday and today we just had an orientation and chose a few courses to take.” Arthur and Calavia took a seat on a nearby set of chairs as they spoke.

“That is wonderful Arthur. Have you decided to take a look around the guild while you wait for your class placement?”

“That wasn’t quite what I had in mind but I guess I have been, what I wanted to do was look into those tasks that the warden Aiwin spoke about at the orientation today. He said it was a good way to earn a bit of extra money before we get real jobs related to magic.”

“Oh that. I know exactly what you are talking about.” Calavia chucked. “You are looking for room 8, that is where the job board is.”

“The job board?”

“It isn't a literal board, it is a person behind a desk who will give you a list of tasks that can be done for money. It can range from just collecting some alchemical herbs to services related to a magical certification. Although it is mostly just for young mages trying to build up a reputation.”

“Ok, that makes more sense than what I thought up.” Arthur looked around the room and noticed that it appeared to contain merchandise that ranged from weapons to clothing to strange colored liquids in vials. “What room are we in?”

“We are in the magic object hall. Here you can buy magical devices that come from both the guild and independent craftsmen.” Calavia took Arthur over to a section of the wall that had several articles of grey clothing on display on mannequins. “These are member exclusive cloaks and robes, they all have an enchantment that increases the wearer's mana capacity. They are quite popular with the lower ranking members since they are made by the guild itself, they do not charge more than the base cost of supplies and production. The extra mana is also quite helpful to those starting out.”

“Do they all look so bland as these ones do?” Arthur looked at the clothing that was available, the design wasn’t terrible but it looked quite boring. The only thing that gave it away as exclusive to the mages guild was a black eye on the back side of the cloaks and the robe.

“Oh no, the variants for the higher ranks are far better looking. The reason these look so regular is because otherwise the students might not be able to afford them even if they only pay from the material and production costs.”

“Well I suppose that does make sense.” Arthur looked around the magic object hall a bit longer with Calavia. “I should probably get going, I still have some time to do a task or two. Will I see you tomorrow again?”

“Of course, I will be here at about 4 o'clock. Most classes should be done by then.”

The two said their goodbyes and Arthur left to room eight, the job board. Room eight wasn’t all that far from room six, it was only down around a turn and down a hall. The size of room eight was also about the same size as the classroom he was in earlier in the day. The room had several chairs for people to sit in and several spots for clerks like at the front entrance of the guild and the treasury. But only two clerks were seated at their desks and the rest of the room was empty of people.

Arthur quickly walked up to the nearest clerk and was about to talk when he was interrupted. “Are you here to make or receive a request?” The human man looked to be quite tired with large bags under his eyes.

“I am here to receive a request.” The man reached over to a grey orb like the ones Arthur had seen at both the treasury and the front desk.

“Place your hand here and you will be given a list of tasks that you are authorized to do by the guild based on your rank within the guild.” Arthur did as the man asked and a list of over fifty options appeared in front of him like the HUD but a little bit different. It had a bit more personality to it, the HUD was cold and grey whereas this was colorful and welcoming. As Arthur looked over the options he found that he could sort the current options available by a few different metrics, such as the payout, the danger level, or any special requirements.

After sorting through about eighteen different tasks one caught Arthurs eye, it was an alchemical ingredient collection task that paid ten copper coins. ‘Someone must be running low on alchemy ingredients.’ The task that had caught Arthurs eye was a list of alchemical ingredients that were needed as soon as possible.

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“I have a question about the request from Axia Gellius.”

“Oh that one.” The man took a sip of a brown liquid from a white cup that read: #1 dad. “That is a recent one. Axia Gellius is a noble woman who in her free time likes to dabble in non-magical alchemy. She doesn’t have the time to collect the ingredients herself so she contacts the guild who then offers the job to someone like you. Does that answer your questions?”

“It answers most of them.” Arthur took a look at the number and types of ingredients that were on the list. “How rare are these ingredients and where can I find them?”

“If you want to know that you will need to ask an alchemist, they keep a lot of their stuff in room 13, they also like to hang around there for a significant portion of the day brewing all sorts of potions and other mixtures. Like this here.” The man raised his cup and showed Arthur the brown liquid inside. “They call this one adrenaline mix, it gives you the energy to get through a day when you haven't gotten enough sleep.”

“I will check room thirteen for an alchemist, and I think you need proper amounts of sleep.” Arthur could see how tired the man was based only on his eyes, the veins in his eyes were very visible and his eyelids droopy. “Try to have a small nap when you get home, I think you will feel better.”

“Yeah yeah, I know.” The man waved him off.

*********

A short walk down a few halls Arthur found room thirteen. The inside was about half full with several people of various races using strange glass containers filled with liquid and other things such as mushrooms and some strange looking flowers.

One individual, a human woman wearing a fine orange cloak was watching over many of the younger looking alchemists. She would correct any mistakes and answer any questions they had. Arthur quickly walked over and waited for her to finish up helping a young dwarven alchemist before he spoke.

“Excuse me miss.”

“Oh hello there young mage. Are you interested in joining the alchemists club?” The woman happily greeted Arthur with a smile as she invited him to join.

“Sorry but no.” The woman looked a little sad at his answer. “I have a few questions about these ingredients.” Arthur handed her a list containing the names and quantities of all the ingredients that Axia Gellius requested.

“1 pound of Yellowbark Moss, 10 Blue Retten caps, and 15 stalks of pokeweed. Well these are quite common ingredients, alone they aren’t much but they can be used to create a simple perfume in the right mixtures. What was it that you wanted to know about them?”

“I just wanted to know what they look like and where I can find them.”

“Well they are quite common ingredients, you should be able to find them in Pelcester Forest to the south west of the city. Yellowbark moss is yellow moss that grows on the west sides of trees, just take the bark it is attached to, any competent alchemist knows how to extract it. Blue retten caps are the blue mushroom caps from the only blue mushrooms that grow in the area. Pokeweed is a tall weed that is a light brown in color that grows around bodies of water, there are a few rivers and ponds in the forest where you can find them.” The woman jotted down the important bits of information as she listed them on the paper Arthur provided.

“Just so you know members of the alchemists guild do receive a book that contains all the local plant life that can be used and how to properly harvest them.” The woman smiled as she took out several books from her bag that she set down on the table next to Arthur.

“Okay look. I appreciate the offer but for the time being I don’t really have much interest in alchemy. Maybe in the future after I am settled in and have my finances in order and a solid foundation of magic.” The woman looked quite sad and returned the books to her bag. “Very well. Good luck on finding those ingredients.”

**********

Arthur upon having all the information he needed quickly made his way out the southern gate past the poor neighborhoods. The roads were not made from stone bricks like that of the rest of the city, instead people walked along dirt roads throughout their daily activities.

Arthur also noticed an increase in the presence of the people wearing the dark green cloaks but none of them were paying him any attention. There were also fewer guards in this area of the city and even then they were far less keen to enforcing the law like Arthur saw farther north in the city.

Soon Arthur was outside the city and followed a dirt road west that turned south towards the Pelcester Forest. From a distance it looked like a small grove of trees due to the mostly flat land he walked along and most of the trees not passing twenty five feet in height, but once Arthur got there he saw just how large the forest was. Just across a river with a bridge that could accommodate two carriages side by side was a large forest that Arthur could not even have the proper words to describe.

‘That is a lot of trees.’ Arthur was in awe. He had seen some incredible sights before when he was on the cliff looking over the valley just outside of Dom Badaher, but this was different. All the different species of trees all in one place, and all the animals that were walking among the trees as well. Arthur was sure he saw a group of large four legged creatures walking in the distance with large pointy things on their heads.