Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 51: Mages For Life

Raymond had decided to dedicate his next Saturday for his two club meetings. The first Modeling club meeting and a meeting for the Mages For Life club (he had missed the first one).

Except the first meeting for the modeling club was...disappointing to say the least. Upon arriving, Emily had forced him to wear a mage robe and hold his staff. Then took a few pictures of him and then that was it. That was the entire meeting.

Raymond hadn’t even seen any other members. When he asked, he had just been told that their turn was later.

The whole ’meeting’ had barely even lasted for five minutes. Leaving him puzzled after it ended.

Since it was over so abruptly, Raymond had decided to just attend the meeting for Mages For Life—which just so happened to be on the same day. He had already decided to spend that day for his clubs and he wasn’t about to waste it. The next Sky Soaring club meeting was tomorrow but he really didn’t feel like seeing Zachary anytime soon.

He still didn’t know whether Zachary had truly deleted the skill, but with his personality. He wasn’t the type to lie about stuff like that. As much as he currently hated him, he begrudgingly had to admit that Zachary was just way too good-natured. He was chosen by the Hero Building System for a reason.

Something he was still salty about, how come Zachary managed to get a unique system? Whereas he and two others just had the normal regular system. Only Zachary and Valerie had a unique system. Raymond would have loved to get some sort of mage system, or maybe even a travelling system.

Entering the Mages For Life clubroom—which was just a repurposed academy hall. Ignoring the few stares from people who didn’t seem to know basic manners, he found a quiet spot near the back and sat there. Patiently awaiting for the meeting to start.

A neat looking man soon walked into the hall, causing everyone to quiet down. His appearance giving off the authoritative vibe similar to a disciplinary teacher. His hair neatly slicked back, revealing a refined face. Paired with rectangular glasses and holding a stack of papers in one hand. He also looked every part like a young scholar.

Setting his stuff down on the desk at the front, he waited for everyone to settle down first before introducing himself.

"Greetings everyone. My name is Alex Balakin. I am currently working as a lab scientist for the Emberbound Guild. But as of a request by an old friend of mine. I have been brought in today to serve as a guest instructor for you all."

Emberbound Guild, while there was no official list or ranking for guilds. The Emberbound Guild had always remained as a contender for the top ten spots. In the current situation, guilds were basically the protectors for the majority of humans. With the government overseeing the guilds, the guilds would enter, scout and if need be—eliminate any future threats from any dungeons.

As a side note, dungeons aren’t actually dungeons as people might assume them to be. The term dungeon was just the unofficial term coined by awakened. Dungeons were essentially just really small realms, compared to the human realm which was basically just the immediate solar system. These mini realms which were barely the size of cities could barely be considered realms.

So the role of guilds in protecting the citizens from these mini realms was extremely important. But they also held a lot more sinister roles.

Although technically the aristocracy was abolished centuries ago. There was a reason why many still referred to the families as nobles.

When you ran a guild which was essentially a business and more importantly, a private army. Held nearly full control over entire cities, was there really a difference between that and being a noble?

Even the government struggled to control the families. As a matter of fact, if the families managed to unite—they could almost certainly overthrow the government within weeks. Except for the fact that they never managed to unite, even to the very end.

They had the good parts about being nobles, that being ruling over others and lots of wealth and power. But they also had the bad parts, constant infighting between families. Betrayal, with many letting their greed taking over. Most families would rather cheer for another’s misfortune then celebrate their providence.

The Asteria family, the Floriza family, even the Grace family wasn’t an exception. Each family ruled over their cities, essentially taking over the position the government should have held. Only the capital and a few cities were truly under control of the government, most cities were rather independent. A side effect of the Convergence of Realms and the two Human-Demon wars.

With demons wrecking havoc throughout human territory. Most settlements were forced to fend for themselves—growing their own food, defending their own people and more. An issue which persisted even to this day, with many cities acting as independent city-states under the rule of families rather then a unified force.

The Emberbound Guild was one such guild. Operating under the Covinster family, they ruled over several cities. With several S ranks and even an SS rank awakened, paired with dozens of top-tier researchers. They were one of the top families, nearly on par with the Asteria family.

For them to send such an individual so far just to teach a few first years, they definitely had another purpose in mind.

"Today, I will be teaching you all about how I make weapons for the members of my guild. As for my qualifications, I currently hold two doctoral degrees on the engineering of mechanical systems and mana sciences. The highest grade of weapon I have personally created is a Grade 7 weapon and I have worked as an assistant for several higher grade of weapons."

Creating a Grade 7 weapon which was equivalent to a B rank awakened. Not exactly the best of the best, but it was definitely still considered to be a high level. An individual like him would be considered a valuable asset to any guild especially with his young age which still held a lot of potential for growth. Further cementing Raymond’s suspicions.

Raymond quietly listened along as Alex proceeded to teach them, his teaching was clear and simple. Letting anyone easily follow along to his thought processes, learning the what, the whys and most importantly, the hows of his work.

"For this next part, I would like to call upon a volunteer. If you have any experience with enchantment magic, please raise a hand."

Raymond raised a hand out of sheer ’going with the flow’. It seemed as if nearly everyone in this hall had experience, which made sense once he thought about it. If you were going to bring in someone like Alex, then the people learning should naturally have been people planning to learn such things.

He had small experience with enchantment magic mainly due to the occasional need. But as an Archmage, he was decent at nearly all types of magic. He might not beat the true pillars, but he could definitely be considered an expert in every field of magic.

What Raymond wasn’t expecting however, was to be chosen by Alex.

"You with the white hair, what is your name."

He stuttered a bit when responding, unprepared. "M-my name is Raymond Vance."

"Come up, Raymond Vance. I shall assist you with enchanting magic."

A few people glared at him, finding it unfair that he had been chosen rather then themselves. Not that Raymond cared.

Coming up next to him, Raymond found him to be a lot more imposing looking then he had first thought. Or maybe it was just the height difference between them, since Alex was nearly a head taller then him and some more.

He produced an arrow the size of his forearm, the shaft was a deep dark oak. With white feathers for the fletching and a bizarre looking arrowhead. Which seemed to resemble a sharp glass vial. He had thought it to be solid at first glance, but taking a closer look revealed a clear liquid sloshing around within the arrowhead.

"Tell me, what enchantment do you believe would be suitable for an arrow such as this?"

If Ellen were here, she could almost certainly identify and list out every unique feature of such an arrow. Telling Raymond exactly the best kind of enchantment that would suit such an arrow. Unfortunately, he often zoned out quite a lot when listening to her chatter.

Running his fingers over the shaft, he asked.

"Who’s using this arrow?"

Alex gave off a small hum of surprise. "Hmm? Not bad. Knowing who the item is for is almost as important as what you plan to do with it. For your info, the arrow you are holding is a replica of an arrow which was created for Killian Halu’an when he was B rank."

So it was made for Killian. With his emotions-attuned mana, he was always considered a bit of an oddball within the party of heroes. Compared to the others such as Caspian’s light-attuned mana or Xanther’s necrosis-attuned mana. Emotions were much more abstract, how could such a thing help fight against monsters or demons?

Killian chose to use his mana attunement to destabilize enemy mental states, it was a lot harder to fight when you were constantly barraged by emotions that didn’t belong to you. Feeling extreme sadness then extreme joy the next was an intense rollercoaster that made fighting harder for anything that had the capability for emotions.

He could also use it to inspire others, often serving as a more supportive role during the Human-Demon war. He wasn’t the strongest or the fastest, but his role was invaluable all the same.

"I would choose an enchantment that would increase the chances of the arrow being able to penetrate its target. Something that could also increase its accuracy to prevent it from missing would also be useful, however Killian’s skill in archery can usually be trusted so such a thing would be unnecessary."

Arrows were small, trying to fit too many enchantments would cause them all to be weaker or just jack up the costs like crazy. Two was the sweet spot for most. Providing a decent amount of choices while still being affordable to the vast majority.

He gave off a small hum again. "Impressive, you arrived to the same conclusion as the previous mages within a short amount of time as well. This arrow, named the Anger Deliverer was custom made for Killian to be able to destabilize the mental states of enemies stronger then he was. The fluid within the arrowhead serving as a temporary carrier for his mana, which would start to effect its enemies once it entered their bloodstream and into their cranial area."

Raymond admittedly didn’t know as much about the party of heroes as he should have. He had always been focused on the present for his novel after all! Why would he bother learning about some old dead people?

He gestured at Raymond to go back to his seat. Taking the arrow out of his hands, he lifted it so that everyone could get a good view of it.

"I brought this arrow here for a very particular reason today. It is to remind you all of how valuable our role is within the awakened society. The party of heroes would only be half as effective if they did not receive such gear which was tailored for them specifically. You might be safe and sound here, but real lives rely on what you make. We exist to serve those who fight, it is not a shameful thing to admit this."

"Could Killian Halu’an have become a hero even if he did not have this Anger Deliverer? Most likely yes. Could Viviana defend against the entire demon army single-handedly for four years? Again, most likely yes. But our creations have played an important role in helping them to achieve such accomplishments."

He quietly placed the arrow down onto his desk, "That will be the end of my lesson today. If you have any questions. Please ask them now."