The world is a nasty place; my mother made sure I understood that. And it's all thanks to her teachings that I found a place in this world.

Despite all the shit and its ugliness, she believed that all someone needed in this world to be happy was a single person standing by our side. Someone in whom we could rely on, who would love us unconditionally, sharing the unbearable burdens of reality.

But, as usual... easier said than done. Even within a guild, who can we truly trust? And to what extent can we really know a person? People say that a guild is like a family, but I disagree.

Sure, families can both be good and bad, but most people tend to look at them on the good side: a mother that loves you, a father that shares the sentiment, perhaps brothers and sisters who are ready to stand by your side in difficult situations. So, a guild should be the same... I believed that too, once. How naive and foolish of me, to lower my guard... I learned the harsh reality on my skin, literally...

Once, my mother recounted to me how, in the past, she witnessed a family selling their own child in exchange for some food to eat. The daughter watched her mother in the eyes as she was being sold, her expression was filled with disbelief and betrayal, she even cried.

"That seems horrible," I told my mom.

"It is. But that is also reality," she replied.

So, if a guild can stand by your side, it could also very well sell you to someone else for personal gain.

"Are you going to sell me?" I asked my mom after hearing that story.

"I could never, sweetie. I love you too much," she reassured.

Of course, I believed my mother. But once again, did I really know her?

No.

Could she have sold me if desperate for food?

No... that is to love someone unconditionally.

Despite not knowing her well, I know for certain that she truly loved me. I was her light in this dark world, she was glad to have me. And I'm glad she was my mother. Had my mother been someone else... I could've been very well sold for food.

So, guilds are the same. I knew Crimson was going to ask me for something in return for her information. There is no selfless good deed in this world. Everyone does something to get something in return, it's just natural; that 'something' could even be simply feeling good about themselves.

And I'm fine with it. I'm willing to pay for information. Still... I couldn't understand whether she was being serious or just joking...

...

I was pulled against her, with her hand firm upon my hips; our eyes locked in an oddly deep and intense gaze. She wanted me, looking down on me...

No, that's probably because she's slightly taller than me... Still, she undeniably looked like she wanted to command; and not just over me, but in general.

"Is this how you greet every new member?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why, would that make you jealous?" she teased.

"I hope you don't see me as someone who would just play along with you for some crumbs, Crimson. I'm not that cheap," I retorted.

"Really? Then, pray tell, how much are you worth?" she asked with sarcasm, getting on my nerves.

"Far more than how you value your information about mana."

"But I consider my time highly valuable, though..."

"Then, it must have a price. Why don't you name it?"

"But I already told you my price. I don't care about coins, but you, Snowflake."

Her hand on my hips slowly caressed my back, descending down. I interjected it, seizing her wrist to stop her.

She giggled. "Oh, look at you getting angry. You're adorable..."

"I already told you, Crimson. I'm not that cheap."

"Hmm, well, why don't we negotiate the price after our lessons?" she asked.

"You think I'd fall for this trap? You would continue asking the same thing!"

"But we're losing precious time! I have to go to the tavern. So, let's just discuss this later," she groaned, stepping away from me, redirecting to the tavern.

"You're the one who dragged it out..." I sighed, taking my time before following behind once again. "Why are we going to the tavern, anyway? What do you have to do there?"

"Leonard asked me to post recruitment notices for a healer. I need to put these up," she said, waving the papers in her hand.

"Huh... shouldn't he do that?"

"Yeah... but he specifically requested that I handle it. So, I'll quickly take care of this, and then we'll go. A waste of time, considering it probably won't even work."

I tilted my head. "Why not?"

"Most of the people who search for a guild in a tavern are people who struggle to find one on their own. Strong libromancers don't resort to this method, they either approach the guild they're interested in directly or get moved by Guild Masters. And I have no interest in weaklings; coordinating them is a waste of time and effort, they won't listen and will just get themselves killed..." she groaned.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Then why...? And I thought Leonard wanted to wait for the guild to reach the top three before recruiting a healer."

"Our top three is already secured. We just have to wait for it to be officially announced. In the meantime, I guess I'll just wait and see what kind of healer wants to join our guild. But I'd rather scout for them personally..."

I was more and more perplexed by how this guild operated behind the scenes...

After Crimson finished her errand at the tavern, she stepped outside and raised her hand, pointing toward an empty spot where no one stood.

"Ourobocervas."

A miniature firestorm whirled, from which emerged a beast resembling a large deer mixed with a horse, cloaked in flames.

"Hop on, just be careful not to sit where there's fire," she said, climbing onto the creature's back.

"Why didn't you use this spell earlier if you had it...?" I asked her; the time wasted to reach this tavern could've easily been saved...

"The fire could've burned the papers. That would've been a problem. Come on, hop on."

I mounted onto the back of the creature, sitting behind Crimson, feeling the heat radiate from the creature's body. The creature carried us to a location outside the city's walls. It wasn't far, but it wasn't close either; we made it through the afternoon.

We arrived at a waterfall, surrounded by green; trees and flowers encircled this waterfall. It was a beautiful and serene scenery.

Fully clothed and with eyes shut, I stood under the waterfall, letting the water cascade over me; apparently, this was part of the training...

The training consisted of letting the waterfall obscure everything around me with its sound and pressure, so I could focus solely on myself and feel the mana within. I wasn't new to this training; my mother taught me something similar in the past, it just worked the other way around. According to my mother's teachings, I had to stand under the water and, with closed eyes, feel everything else outside of my realm of perception, so I could always have a clear vision and awareness of what was happening around me even when surrounded by chaos. My mother's version was incredibly hard... This, on the other hand, almost seemed too easy, but perhaps I had a helping hand; it might not have been the same without experiencing my mother's one beforehand.

So, I followed Crimson's instructions, and I could feel it, indeed... There was something inside me; a formless white energy. It moved through my entire body, reaching my skin. It seemed enraged, making my skin itch. Just like before the dungeon. So it was mana...

"I have to expel it..."

Focusing on expelling it, I tried to push it outward, forcing it out of my body; it proved to be way harder than I expected, and tiring, too. However, little by little, I succeeded.

I stepped out from under the waterfall, almost exhausted, and approached Crimson, who sat on a stump.

"Good job, you're almost a natural," she praised.

"Can you still sense me through my mana?" I asked as I caught my breath.

"Give it up, there's always going to be a faint trace of it, from the codex and its connection. If I concentrate, I can always sense it within you, but otherwise... no, I can't feel it right now."

"Well, good enough. So now I should be able to expel it naturally... I would've brought a change of clothes with me if I knew we had to do this," I lamented, looking down at my drenched clothes. "This is going to take forever to dry..."

"A wonderful scenery, indeed," she remarked, looking at my body.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway... what exactly is mana?"

"Mana... is the source of all magic, and magical power itself. The moment a libromancer casts a spell, a surge of mana is generated, bringing the spell to life. Most people think that the codex is the only source of a libromancer's mana, but that is a common misconception; divine weapons contain mana, too, though it's much fainter. That's how I control them; I force the mana out, manipulating it and giving it form, so that I have full control over them," she explained, making both her codex and her orb fly around.

"But if I expelled the mana inside me, doesn't that mean I manipulated it? So, couldn't I also do the same with my codex?"

She scoffed. "Then why don't you try? There's a limit to what libromancers can do. I told you, Snowflake, I'm just that special. I'm sensitive to mana, and incredibly attuned to it. Most libromancers can barely manage the mana of their own spells. That's how you value them. The more spells a libromancer possesses, the more it's the mana; being the intermediary between codex and personal weapon, they will eventually be more attuned to their own, granting them the ability to better command their spells. But that's it; they can't manipulate it as I do, they can't force it out, and they can't detect it."

"Then what do I do with the mana inside me? I just expel it every time?" I asked. "I don't have a divine weapon, and I have no spells which require control over them. Knowing all these information is quite useless to me... All that mana only made my skin itch."

Crimson thoughtfully stared at me, touching her chin. "Hmm, now that you mention it, that was an unusually noteworthy amount of mana..."

I tilted my head at her. "Do you mind explaining?"

"Well, it's just that, normally, the mana from a spell is soon dispersed after its effects end, leaving behind only residues in the air. Depending on the spell's type, If there's any mana left within the body, it would usually direct itself to the divine weapon, or it would disperse as well in a short time, reaching outside the body; it wouldn't just stick around. But in your case..." she suddenly stopped, looking at me with narrowed eyes as she rubbed her lips thoughtfully. "In your case... It has no weapon to reach for and reside within, and at the same time... the amount was so overwhelming, it was taking a long time to expel itself naturally..."

"You make it sound unhealthy..."

She shrugged, adjusting into a more comfortable and nonchalant position. "Who knows, it could be. Not having a divine weapon may have its disadvantages, but I wouldn't stress over it too much."

I sighed. "Well, Elizabeth told me the codex is just a way to release the weapon's true power, after all. And since I don't have one..."

"That fraud? Don't listen to her..." Crimson facepalmed.

"Isn't she right?"

"No, she's just stupid. It's the other way around... How can the codex be the way to release the weapon's true power, when you can use it without the weapon? The codex holds the real power, and the weapon is the means by which we can attain it. Had it been like Elizabeth professes, you wouldn't be able to cast a single spell in the first place!" her voice grew irritated. Mentioning Elizabeth seemed to have triggered something in her.

"Huh... well, this also makes sense..."

"It makes sense because it's the truth. Don't listen to a word she says, Snowflake."

"You know... I've been wondering since I got here: is she really the strongest mage?"

"Yes, she is. But does she deserve it? No."

"What makes someone the strongest mage?"

"It's mostly about the number of spells they possess. It's a way to measure someone's strength. More spells mean you have more response to monster attacks, and more mana, which translates to more magical power. But of course, they also take into consideration the achievements of the libromancer in question. However, Elizabeth..." she explained, her tone suddenly becoming contemptuous. "I could puke just thinking about her. She sucks. She has no control whatsoever over her spells, so she can't even use most of them. She's just a whiny, spoiled brat who thinks highly of herself because of her mother and because her father is the Guild Master."

I could see it clearly; Crimson really despised Elizabeth. Every word she spoke about her dripped with venom; she clenched her teeth just thinking about her. So, this further proved my point... being in the same guild didn't mean the members would get along with each other. People are far more complicated than that.

"Hmm..."

Crimson sighed. "Well, whatever," she said, brushing off the topic. "Enough talking about her," she then stretched out her hand towards me, staring at me with legs crossed, as if waiting for something.

"What?" I asked.

"I gave you the information, I believe it's time for payment. Kiss my hand," she remarked with a smug smile.

This, again. I knew it would've come to this in the end... But she was right, she gave me the information. So... no reason to play nice anymore.

I grabbed her hand, but I didn't bring it to my lips as she expected. Instead, I just squeezed it. "How about I break it?"