Chapter 9: Cost of Greed

While soaking in the city's bathhouse waters, an Elf happily considered his accomplishments over the last week.

His diligent reading and even re-reading of the books Balin had given him allowed him to gain the skill Basic Magic Theory and raise it to level 2. This skill represented that he had the knowledge base needed to perform basic magic and increased the effects of his spells by 5% per level.

Thanks to his nearly endless Mana and some 300% increase in the effects of his spells as well as a decrease in the Mana Cost of his spells, thanks to his skills and titles, Alexander had also been able to practice his magic nonstop. The spells Balin had given him already had rather high mana requirements, and due to his lack of skill, the spells that should have only required around 20 mana ended up costing double this amount. Luckily, after the elevation of his Race and the influence of his skills, his mana regeneration rate now stood at 384 per hour in-game time, which was roughly 32 a minute in real-time.

Alexander didn't know if it was his endless practice or other advantages, but his ability to use Earth and Metal Magic had advanced rapidly. Balin had explained to prompt hosts Earth Spark and Metal Spark to Symbols all he needed to do was practice spells of these elements as much as possible while reading up on their magic theory. Over the last seven days, the Elf approximated that he had used his Earth Softening Spell and Metal Softening Spell more than 700 times each. Thus, he wasn't surprised to have formed symbols corresponding to their respective elements. In this way, he also unlocked the skills of Basic Earth Magic and Basic Metal Magic.

The Master of the Mages Guild was flabbergasted by this, and Alexander suggested that his speed of learning magic could be attributed to his special skills and titles, which improved his mental process. His Enlightenment and Studying skills increased his compression, his Fast Thinking skill accelerated his mind, and being an Elvenborn meant he could learn magic more easily. This wasn't even considering his incredibly high Intengce stat or mysterious Wisdom stat.

Regardless of the reasoning, the dwarf implored him not to hastily advance his class. He also promised to investigate where his prized Junior could go to learn about his other Magic Sparks. Alexander didn't see a problem in this as he didn't mind taking his time and forming a firm foundation.

Magic also wasn't the only field where he made advances recently. He had learned a great deal of smithing after conversing with the farmers about their plants. By inspecting these crops, his Plant Identification skill had increased by a level. After working in Blain's Forge and exhausting his dexterity, he retired to the Mages Guild to read the books Balin had given him. Like so, he had also managed to advance his Studying skill by another level.

It was a lot of advancement for a single week, though after working so hard, it felt like a month had passed.

Letting out a relaxed sigh, the Elf rose from the waters of the public bath and walked over to the changing room. Once back in his tattered tutorial outfit, which he had cleaned before bathing, he stretched and headed off to the Mages Guild. Luckily, he was allowed to skip the long external line this time and was directly taken to a waiting room. Here, he sat down with a couple NPCs and a dozen or so Players who were also here to take the Basic Magic Exam.

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While sitting down, he brought out a book to do some last-minute cramping, unaware of the peculiar eyes that were now locked onto him. Not even two minutes had passed before a human in a fine robe and large nose walked over and snapped, "And what are you supposed to be, a beggar from the wilderness."

Alexander glanced at his name tags, which still only displayed his title, "A Wise Hermit." He smiled calmly and responded, "I'm just a hermit who's come to learn some magic. Now, please leave me alone so I can study."

The stranger seemed oddly rude, though his intentions became apparent as he eyed the book in the Elf's hands. Crossing his arms, he stated, "If you still need to study right now, then you might as well give up." He snatched the Elf book and added, "What is this anyway? It's not even provided by the guild."

The Elf glared at this and responded, "It was a gift from my mentor. Now give it back."

He reached for the book, but the stranger darted back, glancing over the pages greedily, and grumbled, "Don't be so discourteous. I'm just looking."

Alexander didn't waste words and brought out his Bonking Stick. With a swift motion, he said, "Bonk."

The stranger was baffled by this; however, after the stick impacted him, his exasperation spasmed, and the Elf easily took his book back. The NPCs laughed and chuckled at this, along with a few Players amused by this silly skill. Once ten seconds passed, the big-nosed man was able to move again, at which point his expression grew baffled and enraged. Pointing accusingly, he shouted, "You dare attack me! This is the Mages Guild, not some back alley."

An NPC snorted at this and shot back, "If you don't want to be retaliated against, then don't mess with other people's stuff."

Thoroughly infuriated, the humans snapped savagely, "Shut up, you fucking NPC…!" Turning his head, he called, "Guards, there's an attacker!"

A Moment later, two burly men rushed in, and one blurted, "Attacker, where!"

The human pointed at the Elf and stated, "It's him! He attacked me."

The guards grew confused, looking at Alexander, who smiled at them. After glancing at each other, one man asked with a spurious face, "Sir Alatar, is this guy causing you problems."

Alexander smiled and waved back, "Hi John, I'm all good. This guy was just trying to take my book."

Looking at each other again, the two guards walked over to either side of the human and spoke angrily, "Eliot Brownnose, stealing is not accepted in the Mages Guild. Those books were a gift from the Guild Leader himself. You have no right to take them without permission."

Sputtering, the man was dragged from the room while the other guard waved to Alexander and called, "Good luck, Sir Alatar."

The Elf nodded and smiled back, "Thank you."

After this exchange, the Elf returned to reading, and everyone returned to straining at him. One slightly bolder player stood up, changed seats to be beside Elf, and, after nudging him softly, commented, "Hey, I'm Nathaniel. Want to get drinks later?"

Alexander looked over at the Half-Elf with blue hair and responded, "Sure, sounds nice."

Nathaniel grew excited and began to blab, "That's awesome. We can celebrate our passing of the exam together." Nudging his new acquaintance, he added, "If you're friends with the Guild Master already, you must be pretty confident, right?"

"I'm pretty confident in passing, though I'd like to score 90% or better so I can request two spells." The Elf flipped a page, able to converse easily while studying.

Nathaniel let out a whistle and responded, "That's going to be tough. I hear this test is murder." Thumping his chest, he added, "I'm only confident in getting an 80% sense I'm a Magic Scribe."