“The Argent City mage guild was established a thousand years ago by the mages to be the governing body that would regulate the wizards. This was to make sure that the city mages could use their power for the defense of the city in case of emergency, effectively. The guild was created after a dragon attacked the city and only survived after ten mages cooperated to bring it down.”

Manolik led Mark to different places in the mage guild that were open to the public while giving the history of the guild.

“According to the history books, it was a titanic battle between the high mages and the dragon. Three of the mages handled the defense which was why most of the city was saved while the rest battled the dragon. According to the records, the spells that were used during the battle were true legendary spells that could only be wielded by legendary beings. Most of the spectators thought that the city would end up destroyed but thanks to the legendary defensive spells that were cast by the three mages who were assigned to the defense of the city, the city of Argent was saved.”

Mark was impressed by how eloquent Manolik was in his description of the history of the mage guild. He sounded like a professor in one of those prestigious universities back in his home world.

“Aside from making sure that the wizards could defend the city, the other main purpose of the guild was to make sure that the civilians were protected from magical abuse. That’s why we truly appreciate that you were willing to register your presence with us.”

“In some of the books that I’ve read, although most of those were fiction, mage guilds were connected. Is that the case with the Argent mage guild?” Mark asked while Manolik paused on his explaining about the guild.

“No, not really. At least in this part of the world. Those cities that established their guilds were independent of each other. We do cooperate, and we recognize the identification symbols that were given to members but if you are talking about some sort of shared database, that is being researched right now by some of the mages who are focused on research, and truthfully, I don’t know when the research will bore fruit.”

“I’m a bit disappointed with that,” Mark confessed.

“You shouldn’t be since what I’ve said was for the guilds in this part of the world. Some wizard cities were truly wonderful in their magical capabilities and could well have their magical network that connected their guilds.” Manolik paused and told Mark that he would ask somebody to bring them some drinks and snacks since he was feeling a bit hungry.

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A girl came and served some snacks and drinks. After drinking for a bit, Mark asked Manolik questions about magical education. He made excuses that he wanted to learn how magic was learned in this part of the world.

“Most mages studied magic since young. Some were taught within the family, some wizards connected to their family and some attended wizard academies but honestly, magical education is for the rich. The tuition for most wizard academies was sky high.”

“How do you detect if someone is capable of learning magic?”

“Magical academies use a testing device to see if a student is capable of wielding Mana. Some devices are even capable of detecting how large a potential a would-be mage has and some even can detect in which element one should specialize. That was one of the reasons why the tuition was high.”

“Are adults who discover that they can wield Mana allowed to join those academies?”

“Yes, as long as you have the money but of course some who were truly exceptional but didn’t have the finances, were accepted as long as they performed some services for the academy once they graduated. But most adults who wanted to learn magic tend to find a wizard who was willing to teach them instead of joining a class filled with kids.”

“Oh, by the way, your registration identification token is ready. You will need to pay though either using gold or Mana stones.”

Mark indicated to the mage guild guide that he would prefer to pay in gold and gave a thousand gold coins to the man. Manolik also indicated that since he registered as a foreign mage visitor, he could also check the mission board if he wanted to earn some spending money. Mark then asked if the mission would pay in Mana stones instead and Manolik told him that some very difficult missions do pay in Mana stones.

Mark thanked the guy and left after the mage guild. He went back to the caravan campsite and talked to Hamil, the caravan leader. He asked Hamil if there was any way he could purchase some Mana stones using gold and the caravan leader admitted that wizards would very rarely part with their Mana stones using gold. Mark was disappointed but remembered that if he truly needed the Mana stones, he could hunt some items from his personal dungeon and sell them for Mana stones or he could do the missions posted on the mage guild. He also asked Hamil if there was an adventurer guild in the city and the caravan leader admitted that there was but advised him to hold off in joining since it would be better for him to join in the city who were more focused on adventurers like dungeon cities. Honestly, he didn’t know what Mana stone was how to use it, and why it was valuable.

Hamil informed Mark that the shows would stop after three days, and the caravan would rest until winter was over and then they would continue with their travel. The caravan leader asked if Mark would still join them, and Mark admitted that he was still willing to stay in the circus caravan while he traveled.

The caravan leader then asked about the television, Mark informed Hamil that he was not willing to show the device to the public, but he was willing to show the film to the caravan members and it would be free.