Around me people start to stand up and stretch their legs, and the sounds of a few joints popping can be heard. Well I kinda need to use the bathroom and now is as good a time as any. I stand up and grab my bag, and start making my way over to the girls locker room while checking my mana.

Mana: 647/2882

Eh, not great but I think I can at least get through the rest of the presentation. I make my way over to the bathroom part of the locker room and take up residence in a stall. I'm probably going to just sit here the whole time so I don't have to interact with any of the other people attending. I should probably look over those handouts too. But the moment I sit down to do my business I get a text from Anna.

'How is presentation? Anyone thrown any fire balls?'

'No, it's boring stuff, like laws, and explanations. Good to know, but boring.' I text back.

':(' Anna replies a moment later.

'I think the fireballs comes after the presentation, also the presenter lady has a prosthetic arm and used it to prank us. Was funny. Some lady fainted.'

'LOL, get me some videos plz.'

'Of the fainting, the arm, or the fireballs?'

'All of them!'

'I'm not videoing some lady's arm for you. And aren't there plenty of videos of people practicing with magic online?'

'Yeah, but those aren't as cool.'

'Anna they are probably cooler than whatever weak crap any of us could throw. Remember everyone here is literally brand new.'

':(' Is all I get in response.

'Gtg, starts again in few min' I reply before putting my phone away and finishing up.

Once I get back out to my desk I look and listen around to hear what people are up to. Some guys are arguing over whether ice or fire is better for doing damage, another group is looking at something on one guy's phone. A bunch of ladies are talking about how their new magic might be usable for business practices, and the drug dude is talking all hush hush with a few of his friends. Oh boy, why do I have a bad feeling about him? Because he's probably up to no good.

After five more minutes Ms. Demesa finally calls the room back to focus.

"Alright, let's get started with this final part. Once we are done here me and Mr. Sinclair will be holding an optional testing and training session. So those of you with more dangerous spells can get a feel for them in a slightly safer environment. It's highly advised you attend unless you have literally no offensive spells or magics at the moment. Now moving on." She says as she clicks to the next slide titled 'Guilds, Coalitions, and Unions.

"Alright I'll make this quick. Starting with the largest, unions. A union is a group representing the interests of specific classes or types. Unions may cover broad roles, such as the crafters or healers unions, or more specific classes, such as the Pyro mage union, which only accepts and maintains users who focus on fire. There are even unions for specific classes, such as the necromancer union."

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Unions may be international but aren't always. You don't have to join a union, but it is recommended as doing can give you access to resources to help you grow. Unions may or may not have special deals with coalitions or even singular guilds for a variety things, such as group finders and placement, lessons and guides, or resource acquisition."

"Next down are coalitions. Coalitions are groups of guilds that work together, usually in the longer term. The reasons can vary, sometimes they are interlinked with unions, sometimes not. It all depends on the guilds and relational dynamics. Coalitions don't need to be registered domestically, as here in America it's seen simply as an agreement between groups and as such is bound by contracts and the like. Other countries however often require special extra registration regarding coalitions, an example is the EU requiring registration of any Coalitions lasting longer than three months."

"Last on the list are guilds. Here in America, guilds are just fancy companies focused mainly on magic and defenders. It requires no special registration or anything like that other than filing the paperwork to start a business, and they aren't really subject to any extra laws or regulations. They have the same rights and responsibilities as any other company. Outside of America however, things get messy. It varies a lot but most other countries require some form of extra registration and regulation on guilds, and consider them their own specific type of entity. An example is the EU again. All EU countries have special registration and regulations for guilds."

"Trust me, stay out of international guild politics. That shit, if you will pardon my language, is the second reason I retired. With this being the first." She says as she points to her fake arm.

"If you ever try to make a guild here in America and expand out of the country, prepare to spend years and lots of money on getting it set up."

"I'm not going to get any more specific than that because if I do we will literally be here all day. Joining a guild isn't required, but like with unions is recommended as it gives you greater access to resources and options."

"Be careful though, as contracting with a guild is much more restrictive than joining a union. And you may end up having to agree to things like non-competes and such."

"Now, one final caveat. While the government cannot demand your information, a guild and or union can since they are private entities. Now, when the government, local, state, federal, any of them, works with a guild or union they can include a required disclosure of information of their members. Honestly it's no different than the government doing background checks on the people working for a contractor. It is totally legal, but I make a point of mentioning it since it seems to catch a lot of people off guard."

"If you don't want anyone else to have your personal information, just don't join anything and don't tell anyone. Otherwise, like all your other personal information, that stuff gets bought and sold around by everyone. Particulars are in the hand outs. Any questions?"

One dude in the corner raises his hand. And Demesa seems annoyed.

"Yes?"

"Is there anything we need to worry about while traveling abroad?" A man with combed back hair in a nice suit asks. Demesa's demeanor immediately changes from annoyance back to her polite presentation face.

"Ah, that's actually a good question. The EU will use your UN registration and you only need to worry about local laws when traveling there. The United Kingdom is way more strict, requiring your UN registration, and a bunch of other baloney I don't know the specifics of. Some other countries have nasty habits of forcibly conscripting any defenders that reside within their borders. I know China is one. You will want to pull up the state departments do not travel list for defenders for specifics."

"Alright, any more questions?" Demesa asks, only for another hand to shoot up.

"Any questions not asking me to repeat myself?" She asks again, this time the hand going down.

"Perfect, Danny please pass out the first forms. These are pretty self explanatory, but me and Danny will be walking around to help you out."

And with that, the paperwork started getting passed around, and I felt like I was getting a daily quiz after a lecture. So much for a half day.