「Well since that's done, you can trash that form. I only came here to break the crystal.」
Straf nods his head at the form, informing the guild girl, then turns on his heel towards the exit.
「What?」
「Um, Straf… Don't you think it would be better for you to finish the registration?」
「Huh? What for? If they don't hand out quests, they're literally a worse adventurers' guild-」
「What?! No, wait!」
The guild girl finally breaks through the shock, she climbs over the desk in hurry and leaps at Straf… Who is standing just out of her trajectory as she lands on the floor planks with a thud.
「Ack… I missed? How- Wait! Wait! Don't leave!」
She lifts the brim of her hat out of the way to see what went wrong, and as soon as she sees Straf's ankles by her side, she wraps her arms around one of them.
「Girl, you have serious attachment issues, we've met maybe 10 minutes ago.」
「Wait! Please finish the registration! Please!」
The guild girl begs as she's latched onto Straf's lifted leg as he shakes it a little, trying to slip her off.
「Let go- I don't want four-eyes in my harem! What do I even need to register for?!」
「...Harem?」
Cycelia asks in confusion as she witnesses the circus unfold from the side.
「You'll get access to spell tomes! I'll let you take them home! I'll even let you read my private stash if you promise to keep them in good shape! Please, it's just a few more lines!」
Straf lowers his leg as he sighs and thinks. The guild manages to crawl her arms up to his thighs, resulting in a position that could be taken out of context as she looks up at him with wet puppy eyes.
《Well, I haven't actually seen any magic yet… Honestly, magic is so boring. Yeah, it's extraordinary and impossible things like shooting off deathlasers that carve through rock at snap of a finger, or fireballs, or explosions… But it all boils down to just being same-ish fancy colorful effects.》
He rubs his chin as groups of bookworms assemble into muttering circles, discussing the situation.
《What is even the point of magic if you end up making it balanced, so that the warrior doesn't feel left out? Decades of learning and for what? So some drooling idiot that swings a sword good can cut through half a mountain by… What means exactly?》
「…Please?」
The guild girl's meek plea interrupts Straf's internal rant about made up and non-existent magical mechanics. He puts his hands on his hips and sighs, which makes a mage that just wandered into the guild rub his eyes as he looks at Straf and the desperate girl in an even more questionable pose.
「Alright, fine, get off me. I'll learn a spell or two and leave.」
The girl lets go, she gets up off her knees and dusts her robe off. The mage in the background sighs in palpable relief as he realizes he mistook the situation. Straf walks back to the elongated desk and looks over his incomplete registration form.
「I've said that, but I still have no clue what magic type I am. Is there a way to find out?」
「Well, what spells do you find it hardest to cast?」
「I don't know any, isn't that what you sign up for mages' guild for? Or is it like an art school where you don't get to attend because they don't like your art?」
The guild girl stares at Straf, trying to parse his outrageous and nonsense statements. She gives up.
「…I find it highly improbable you don't know any spells with your mana throughput, but setting that aside…」
She walks away from the desk, and searches for a book on one of the shelves in her working space. She hovers her finger to one, pauses, then pulls it out. She dusts the cover gently and returns to the desk, placing an encyclopedia-sized telephone book-thick tome on the desk with a windy thud.
「I am not supposed to lend any books to non-members… But since you will be one, how about you learn the freezing ray from this tome? Someone as capable as you shouldn't take too long.」
Straf takes the massive book, and flips through it…
「I believe the basics start on page 84, novice mages learn that in about 8 to 12 hours… But you should be done in half that time!」
…His eyes skim over complex geometrical shapes he can't understand the meaning of, mathematical formulae with symbols he doesn't recognize, long paragraphs explaining mechanics behind a spell…
《Alright, that's a little too much. But freezing ray should be easy, right?》
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Straf thinks as he flips to page 84, where the tome presumes the reader is a new mage just starting out… And proceeds to explain the spell in the same fashion. Straf slams the book shut with a loud clap.
「You mean I actually have to study this shit and I can't just cast a spell by imagining a fireball, or something turning into an icicle?」
「Well, the psychosomatic component is important, however-」
「Give me just a moment…」
Straf drops the book on the desk with enough noise to make the entire guild glare at him.
「Stats!」
He scrolls through the list of available skills again…
《Okay, I saw one here I'm fairly sure-》
[Spellcraft]
[Passive skill]
Enables the user to craft new forms of spells and magic by assembling their components. Crafted spells are automatically memorized and available to the user.
《Just one level huh? How much is this thing-》
Straf looks aside, he's browsing through skills requiring 100 skill points. He glances at his remaining points…
[166 attribute points available] [30 skill points available]
《Shit! Plan B… Think, think, think…》
「Does…. Does he do that often?」
The guild girl asks Cycelia as Straf stares at something in front of him. He clicks his tongue with a grimace, and keeps waving his hand at the thin air. Cycelia simply shrugs and spreads her arms.
[Copycat Mage]
[Passive skill]
Enables the user to instantly memorize observed spells. The spell must be fully cast to be memorized. Spell modifiers are available immediately on memorization.
Next level enables the user to memorize interrupted spells.
《Ah! 25 points! I'm saved! Next level sounds great for bullying these nerds, but I'm too much of a broke hobo! As expected of a writer! Now I just need a way to figure out how to…》
「Say, can you show me how that freezing ray spell looks? A little demonstration?」
「I can't. Not personally, but…」
She turns her head towards the back rooms…
「Emy! Come here quick for a moment!」
「Ah, coming!」
A young woman's voice responds from one of the back rooms, a girl holding onto the brim of her large hat appears from the threshold. She runs up to the guild girl, wafts of bitter acrid air spread as she arrives.
《Hmm. Nice, another unbelievably stacked young girl. Is this my luck working, or does the kingdom just throw growth hormones into the water?》
「...Yes?」
She asks, still holding onto the brim of her hat, keeping it just high enough so she can see where everyone is standing. Suddenly, the guild girl grabs the tip of Emy's hat and pulls it up from her head.
「Aaa! My hat-!」
「Tsk.」
Straf clicks his tongue as he notices the girl is wearing glasses.
「Emy! Stop being so shy-! Hm?」
The sound gives the guild girl a momentary pause, but she continues.
「This is Emilia, she's our best alchemist. She's still learning how to cast spells, and how to cast them well… But she's good enough for the task. Emy, I want you to take our novice and show him a few spells at the old grounds. Show him the freezing ray, can you do that for me?」
「Aaa… Yes… But give me my hat back, please…」
The guild girl plunges the hat back on Emilia's head as she's hiding her face behind her hair. She adjusts it, and glances towards the guild girl without revealing her face.
「…But is it really a good idea? It's getting really dark-」
「Come now, Emy. What's the problem? If a few monsters show up, there's live practice for you!」
「But-」
「No buts! Go! I'll be waiting for you to finish your registration.」
The guild girl turns her head to Straf, who once again looks bored.
《Oh boy, a casual mention of monsters. I wonder what's gonna happen when we get there?》
Straf rolls his eyes as he and Cycelia follow the shy mage… at the periphery of her hat, which barely squeezes through the guild's door.