Straf immediately realizes the mages' guild is nearly exactly the same as the adventurers' guild… But with more bookshelves. Robed men and women lift their noses out of their grimoires for a moment when Straf and Cycelia walk in.
「Either someone here is creatively bankrupt, or these buildings are mass-produced…」
Straf remarks as he walks up to the exact same desk as in the adventurers' guild. A woman in a modestly-sized pointy hat looks at him as he walks up.
「Hello, can I test out your magic power detection crystal thing?」
「...You want to register, correct?」
「...Is that necessary to blow the crystal up?」
「It's part of the registration process… And I'd really like to see you break the resistor crystal.」
「Alright, fine. Give me the form.」
She pulls a form similar to that of the adventurers' guild from below the desk and slips it to Straf. He fills it out, but then encounters a conundrum…
「…What the fuck is magic type?」
Straf asks as he reads one of the spaces on the form.
「It's the type of magic you use. You know, spatial, thermal… What's the problem?」
「I don't even know what magic I can do.」
「Uh…」
The witch-hatted guild girl looks at Straf with pity and poorly hidden amusement.
「Well, let's leave that blank for now… Hup!」
She pulls out a large, opaque, milky orb on a short pedestal from beneath the desk and puts it down on top with a clunk. Straf claps his hands and rubs them with a grin.
「There it is! I was waiting for this!」
「This is-」
「Oh I know what this is. It'll explode if I put enough power through it, right?」
Straf interrupts the guild girl. She looks at him with the same look again, takes her glasses off, then rubs her forehead and eyebrows with her hand in bemusement. She puts them back on, and says…
「Theoretically, yes. But it would take ritual-level magic to burn one out…」
She puts her elbow on the desk, props her head up on her fist and pats the orb with her other hand.
「If you actually manage to break this with your mana, I'll owe you a kiss. How about that?」
She smirks smugly as she makes a bet. Meanwhile, Cycelia's eyes widen and her eyebrows rise as her gaze keep jumping from the crystal to Straf and to the guild girl then back, at random. Straf places his hand on the crystal.
「I just need to flow mana through this, right?」
「Yup! It's standardized, so we'll know what kind of a mage you'll make!」
He grins and focuses on the crystal…
「I don't care about your lousy kiss, I was waiting the entire day to break this fucking thing…」
He notices his mana bar depleting rapidly as the crystal suddenly shines in all colors of the rainbow. It gets brighter and brighter, until it's nearly blinding… The guild girl is shocked and can't believe her eyes. She stares at the crystal, until she's forced to squint from the light.
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「Hm?」
…Until the crystal dims, glowing only ever so slightly. Disappointed, she sighs. Cycelia also sighs, in relief. Straf looks at his mana bar…
《Empty already?! Shit!》
「Hold on, I can do this…」
Straf insists as he strains and stares at the crystal…
「Um, it's okay. That is already a very impressive result, you are what we call a berserk mage-」
「No! I'm not satisfied yet! Hold on! Stats!」
Straf lets go of the crystal and starts scrolling through his skills…
《Where was it? I know I saw it somewhere…》
The guild girl and Cycelia watch with furrowed brows in confusion as he waves through thin air.
《There! There it is!》
[Mana Torrent]
[Passive skill]
Mana received from intelligence is increased by 200%. Scales mana regeneration accordingly.
Next level increases mana gained by 1000%.
《There! The perfect copout to avoid embarrassing myself! It's 25 skill points but- Wait, do I even have that much?!》
Straf nervously looks at his available points…
[256 attribute points available] [55 skill points available]
Cycelia and the guild girl exchange puzzled glances as Straf sighs in relief. He taps the thin air a few moments, then chuckles to himself.
「There, give me juuust a moment...」
「Um… I don't really mind but, doing it again won't change the result.」
He snickers, chuckles, slowly transitioning into a proper laugh… Then stops all of a sudden.
「Cycelia, get behind me. I don't want you to get hurt.」
「Ah- Uh- Okay…」
She skitters behind Straf as he places his hand back on the crystal. He looks at the guild girl with eyes full of confidence.
「You might want to back away, too…」
The guild girl is not convinced… Or so she wants to think, but the tone of Straf's voice makes her take a few steps back. Straf starts flowing mana into the crystal again, and it glows with similar intensity as before.
「See? You don't need to be ashamed, it's a really great resul-」
Suddenly, blinding light forces her to close her eyes, a sound very reminiscent of a light bulb breaking echoes off the bookshelves, making the robed bookworms look at what is happening…
A flash illuminates the whole guild. The crystal is shattered into chunks on the desk. Big, small, and everything in-between. Straf stands victorious over his crystalline enemy with his fists on his hips, as both Cycelia and the guild girl stare at the crystal in shock and awe, respectively.
《Nooooooooooooo!》
Cycelia screams internally.
《There we go! That's a trope!》
Straf grins, but then immediately cringes through his forced grin…
《But this shitty crystal was a stage boss as far as I'm concerned. It ate up so much of my points…》
「Y-y-y- You were joking, right?! About the kiss?!」
Cycelia asks the guild girl, almost panicking.
「I- I was- Well, if you insist mister, umm…」
She reads the form to get Straf's name, but he interrupts her.
「Huh? Sorry, I don't like glasses on girls. Try someone else.」
「Akrh?!」
「Ah!」
The guild girl clutches her heart behind her robe in despair, while Cycelia gasps with relief.