Chapter 36: Inherently Political

“Rise and shine, Encio! Did you already have breakfast?”

“I’ve had a bite,” Encio said, emerging from his room, dressed in a semi-formal style rather than his relaxed, casual wear. “Onto the Adventure Society?”

“Lead the way.”

The Sanshi Adventure Academy was constructed near the Adventure Society to facilitate operations between the two organizations. Academy students were often adventurers; as Amara said, training never ended. For those that had the will, the Academy offered an immense selection of classes for both general and specialty knowledge.

Nara attended the academy mainly for access to their sparring facilities and students, but occasionally attended general classes such as monster ecology, artifact usage, and general strategy. The specialty classes she attended were astral magic theory, ritual magic, and music performance.

There was already a small crowd out front, the eight or so of the fifteen applicants and their friends. It seemed it wasn’t an event families attended, or that it was embarrassing to have them attend at their age. The pervasive embarrassment a crooning parent could bring spanned universes and cultures. Fresh adventurers wanted to shed their aura of youthful inexperience like a bird shedding their baby down.

The Adventure Society was one of the taller buildings of Sanshi, four tall-than-average stories. It was built in the style of Sanshi, with sloped glazed tile awnings at every floor; small, elegant lanterns at the corners; and windows with geometric wood lattice. She had been there once before, to apply for the examination in the first place.

They walked up to the notice board outside. There was plenty of room for her to see her name on the ‘pass’ board: an immediate relief off her chest. She let out a relaxed breath, some of her tension melting away. She walked to the next board, where it indicated the next steps for those who passed.

She was to report to the Adventure Society for a final interview, then have an aura imprint taken for the creation of her society membership card. She walked back to the first board to see who else had passed. Sen, Vallis, Malik, and Gento had passed: she was not surprised.

Nolan managed to pass too. His beginning was rough, but he grew remarkably for a combat-adjacent adventurer. A lot of other examinees had demonstrated remarkable growth in just a week, herself included. A bit of specialty instruction over the course of a week to shape up their weaknesses went a long way.

Kiris had also passed. The requirements for a healer were different, but she demonstrated the qualities a combat healer needed: situational awareness, judgement, and the ability to remain calm in crises. A healer’s job wasn’t over even when the enemy was dead.

Another person she did not recognize had passed, for a total of eight passes, including herself. Those who had not pass could try again next month. The examiner changed each time, so it wouldn’t be Mona again, and the examiner was kept secret so they couldn’t be bribed, unless the examiner chosen let others know: That was a quick way to get dismissed as an official.

“Congratulations,” Encio said. “What did I say? I knew you would pass.”

“You kept telling me, so I had no choice but to believe you.”

“Finish up your interview, and we’ll celebrate in the city for lunch, my treat.”

“There’s actually a place I have in mind…”

“One other thing, there will be a Magic Society representative there to check your essences to confirm nothing is restricted and record your abilities. You must have your essences checked, but recording your abilities is optional.”

“Should I?”

“The abilities are marked in your file, but its otherwise private. The Magic Society is just interested in the Stone, Essence, and ability details, not the person who awakened them. You can ask for their reasoning and see if you agree with them.”

“Did you have your abilities recorded?”

Encio smiled, “That’s a secret until you make your own decision.”

She was guided to a private meeting room by an Adventure Society functionary. The room had three people inside; one, she recognized. It was her examiner, Mona.

“Please take a seat, miss Edea,” The man sitting in the center said.

“I am the Sanshi branch Adventure Society leader, Oswald Willard,” he said.

“It’s nice to meet you mister Willard, please just call me Nara.”

“Likewise, Nara. I just go by Oz.”

He was a massive man, bulky but still well proportioned, much like Redell. His coloring was that of the unmistakable celestine, with silvery-blue hair and matching eyes that stood out against his dark tan skin. He was traditionally handsome with square features, marked by a long scar that crossed from his right ear down across his throat. He was personable and friendly but exuded the presence of a genial general than the friendly giant Redell personified, but with the marked edge of authority.

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“I’m surprised the branch leader conducts these interviews,” she remarked.

“I make a point to do so, when I’m not too busy. I like to know what goes on in my Society.”

“You run a tight ship.”

“That I do, Nara. Sanshi is a large region, and our goal is to protect as many lives as possible. I don’t want to sound strict, but mistakes can cost lives. Sanshi is unique for its large population in such a low magic quality region. People become complacent.” After his introductory speech, he gestured to a clear orb that sat on the table in front of the person to his right, “If you would, the essence detection orb?”

“I’m Yuma Kang, a functionary of the Magic Society.”

He looked diminutive compared to Oswald, even though he was just slightly below average in size, like a Labrador beside a Saint Bernard. He pushed forward the orb, “Just place your hand on top.”

She did.

The orb strobed for a bit and Yuma recorded its results.

“Dimension, Harmonic, Balance, and Mystic. Is that correct?”

“It is.”

“We’d like to record your abilities as well, to add to the Essence Ability Compendium.”

“Is it important?”

“The Magic Society seeks to understand all there is about magic, essence abilities included. Your name is kept out of our records. All we want is to compile all knowledge, in hopes of better understanding the magic we rely on for life and protection.”

It was a common question, but Yuma seemed genuinely passionate about the topic. As a scientist-adjacent herself, she hadn’t planned to refuse in the first place. She subscribed to the theory that knowledge was power.

“Then, go ahead.”

He interacted with the orb, changing its function from essence detection to ability detection.

“You’ll need to inject a bit of your aura. It requires more to read your abilities than just your hand.”

She did so, her aura dispersing into the orb like ink in water. It was like her aura was separated and searched for component parts—each essence, then each ability within them. She didn’t so much see her aura as detect her own aura within the orb. It was strange to feel it separate from her, like suddenly smelling your own scent your brain had learned to ignore.

“According to the results, you only have one unknown essence ability, and six unknown racial abilities. Could you describe the abilities?”

The orb could match her abilities to ones they had on record, but it could not print out the description of the abilities.

“Do I have to describe my racial abilities?”

“Have to? No. You can describe only what you are willing to share.”

Since she had six unknown racial abilities, she was an outworlder, although that much was already evident from her aura.

She gave a verbal description of her Umbral Wolf ability, the only new ability, which Yuma remarked was surprisingly thorough.

“Since you are the first person with the ability, you may name the ability now, or wait until bronze or silver rank.”

“I’ll call it Umbral Wolf then.”

Her ability had already named it for her, and it was apt enough.

“That will be its name in the records. If you wish to revise the name due to new aspects of higher rank effects, you may submit a request to the Magic Society, along with the new effects. The request may not be granted.”

He used an ability to make two copies of results. He pushed them before her.

“The copy on your left will go to the Adventure Society, it has your name.” He handed it to Oz, “The copy on the right does not. This is added to the Magic Society records.”

“Thank you for the consideration.”

“This is just procedure. Adventurers like their privacy and freedom. They wouldn’t otherwise share their abilities. There have been…fights about this.”

He inputted another command into the orb, and it flushed out her deconstructed aura, where it dispersed since she was not sustaining it.

“And no further copies can be made.”

“Moving forward, I will ask you a few questions. You may find them sensitive. Those that are too sensitive, feel free to say as little you please on the subject,” Oz explained.

“Sounds generous.”

“Not really. We conduct our own investigations,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh. Makes sense.”

“You are an outworlder. How did you get here?”

“That’d be Amara Edea’s ritual.”

“Amara Edea is your guarantor.”

“She and her companions have taken me under their wing after what happened.”

She thought he’d ask more, but he was satisfied with that. She was a bit relieved to not have to explain where she was before that, or that Amara’s ritual wasn’t a summoning ritual.

“What is your reason for becoming an adventurer?”

“I need to train my abilities to cast and search for dimension crossing ritual magic.”

High rank ritual magic required high rank, or the just casting the ritual would kill her.

“How do you know Enciodes Aciano?”

“I met him in Aviensa playing table games. He’s a friend.”

“How did you get there?”

“My outworlder ability. I have a method to travel large distances in a short period of time.”

“Care to elaborate further?” he pressed.

“No.”

There was a bit of silence, and she felt a bit of aura pressure applied to her—aura suppression. It was a gentle squeeze compared to Laius’ demonstration, a little ‘encouragement’ to see if he could squeeze more information out of her. It wasn’t. Nara shared many things, but she wouldn’t share that with a stranger. That was her lifeline.

He sighed. “That’s fine, it’s optional,” he said, breaking the tension and withdrawing his aura suppression. “Can you take anyone with you?”

“Nope.”

“That’s a shame.” His expression loosened. “That would have been damn useful. That concludes our proceedings. Mona has reported your performance in the examination, and it is up to our standards for a new member.”

He stood and offered out his hand for a handshake. He had to stoop a bit to let Nara reach. She shook it, her small hands enclosed in his massive palm.

“I welcome and congratulate you as an official member of the Adventure Society. Welcome aboard this ship.”

*****

“You got it?” Encio said with a grin as Nara sauntered outside, flashing a gleaming membership card.

“I got it~!” She repeated in a sing song voice.

The card was a grey iron, the same color as iron rank spirit coins. It had her name, face, and her adventurer rank on the card.

“Wait, Adventurer rank?”

“One to three stars, it’s just the complexity of contracts you are allowed to accept. One is for basic, common contracts. Two stars require some investigation, unusual circumstances, or unknown danger. Three is for political contracts requiring nuance and or those requiring extremely specialized skill sets. Three-star contracts essentially won’t exist at iron rank. There’s nothing that political or specialized about the lowest rung.”

“And you’re not three stars?”

“I am the grandson of a diamond ranker. I am political.”

That’s what she thought.

“They asked about you.”

“Did I steal your moment?”

“What moment: I’m just some random iron rank outworlder. The only moment I got was my origins, and they already knew about that.”

Not just a random iron rank outworlder, Encio thought, one with four diamond rank teachers.

“...You might be political too.”

“What are you talking about?”