9. Joining a guild

Once Adore had made it home, since she had a full day ahead of her, she decided to make the last artifact which took the rest of her day. She then made dinner, spent some more time with her mice before finally taking herself to sleep. She had a full month of training ahead of her and it wasn't going to be easy- she had a total of 20 new spells to go over before the month was over, to learn all their unique runic patterns, and to remember the activation commands. It was not easy even a little bit. She also wanted to go over mana armament in the meantime, so that was also a thing.

Adore was looking forward to it, though. She actually loved learning, and she had always been fascinated with magic even before she came to this world. So, all of this was very captivating to her, and she didn't mind the long hours of hard work she had to put into it. All her life, she had to work hard, and that was for a job she never wanted, and in fact, hated.

The hours were long and grueling, her boss had a stick up his ass, and her co-workers envied and hated her for petty reasons like her winning employee of the month over them or her getting assignments assigned to her that they wanted, along with her making more commission than them. She didn't understand why these things mattered. She simply believed that if you wanted something, you had to work hard for it. Complaining over someone else doing better than you was stupid to her.

Outside of that, none of them even worked half as hard as she did, and they all knew it. But they weren't willing to put in the effort, and she understood why they didn't. But she didn't understand why they expected to receive things that she had, which they had not put in the effort to earn.

It was beyond her. But luckily, now she was putting effort into something she truly had a passion for and could benefit from in more ways than others, maybe even become someone because of that. She knew she may run into people like her old co-workers down the line because there's always people like that somewhere, but she wouldn't care. She would deal with it as she always did and ignore it.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------8hr------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the next day and Adore was just waking up from a pretty good sleep. She was looking forward to today as it was finally time for her to train so that she could become a Dark Magus. However, while looking for the artifacts, she never came across any mana signatures that were that of a second-tier undead. If she was being honest, she really didn't want to violently kill any animals- not only did it sound like a lot of work but it also sounded really cruel.

She knew she had to kill in order to survive, but killing something or someone violently intentionally put a bad taste in her mouth. So, she really only wanted to fight a second-tier undead since that didn't require her to violently kill anything. But the problem with that was, where did she go to find undead?

She had already asked Twyla this question before, and she didn't really have a good answer for her other than going to a guild hall might help her out. Adore didn't mind doing that, but she just wasn't sure really how to go about it. Did she just go and ask around, or should she just register with the guild? It wouldn't hurt per se, but she didn't know what a guild setting would be like.

Would she have to take a test, and was there an age requirement? Because if so, she may not make the cut since she was only 12 years old. But from the information she had been given by the strange purple witch that made her, she knew that 12 was the requirement to go to Magic or Knight University, so maybe 12 would be the requirement at a guild as well.

But sitting there and asking herself these questions wasn't giving her any answer. So the only thing she could really do was go and see for herself. She had run into some goblins that seemed like they were from a guild. There must be one in the nearest town not too far from where she was. And if there wasn't, she could just ask around, and she'll probably get some type of information on it sooner or later. So she decided to put that to the back of her mind and focus on making some breakfast for her and her mice before she headed out to find information on anything.

So Adore got up from her bed and made her way to the kitchen, after waking up her mice. Once she was done with that, she went to the kitchen. After 30 minutes of making a meal, her food was done, and everyone was ready to eat. They had their meals the way they always did. Adore watched her mice eat, while Twyla, Alice, and Robby gobbled down their food like it was the last meal they'd ever eat, which was strange given the fact that they honestly didn't need to eat anything other than anything strong enough to help the progress in their magic journeys. But this didn't matter to Adore.

Once everyone was finished with their food, it was time to pack up and make their way to the nearby town, which was only a one-hour walk away. It was only 9 am, so she didn't need to rush anyone, and she wasn't really sure if anyone would be up so early in the morning. So she decided to wait until 11 am before heading to the town. She believed that was a sure time that she would catch a few people up. She spent a little quality time with her adorable little mice before making her way out of the house since she had time. When the clock hit 11 on the dot, she headed out.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1hr----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adore had made it to a very green, vibrant and pretty town. The structure of the house was a little different from hers, which was just a little purple wooden home. These houses were actually made out of brick and various drywall and other materials. It looked very modern. The only thing that distinguished it from a modern neighborhood was the fact that magical floating carriages and normal carriages were floating and driving around. Everything was run by magic, so they didn't really need any horses. The road looked like something you'd see in the Victorian era.

There were people flying around on brooms and wings, and some with neither. This definitely wasn't a village, because it was more akin to a city. Adore was actually being held from entering the city at the time because she was being questioned by the patrol guarding the city. She had to pay to enter, thankfully she had brought some gold coins from her dungeon expedition. She left most of the things she collected in her spatial bag. She didn't bother to really take things out of her spatial bag because these weren't things she used on a day-to-day basis. Once she paid, she asked about the guild and they gave her directions, and she made her way into the city.

As she walked through the city she saw various different races and sites that she found very alluring, the city was also home to a huge estate, that everything else seemed to circle around, she assumed who ever lived there must be a really important figure, but didn't care to much to dive any further into it. She was more woried about finding a guild so she could do what she needed to do before going into suclsion for a month, surprisingly enough she actually seen a familiar face on her way there, the red headed girl wit pail soft skin pink lips a huge gold and silvar sword with a big scarlet red ruby in the middle and a nice physique.

She seemed to be rushing in the same direction Adore was going. Adore found this strange, but not to the point that she felt strong enough to actively try and find the answer. She was more worried about herself and completing her own goal for the day, not some frantic little red-headed 12-year-old girl. She wanted to at least get an understanding of what a guild is in this world. She had an idea based on her knowledge of RPG and fantasy novels, but that didn't really mean much since this obviously wasn't her world. Relying on her world knowledge for most things was not ideal.

So she continued to march alone until she made it to a two-story building with a gold sword symbol in the center of a light brown triangular roof. The body of the building was a horizontal rectangle, various shades of brown, and huges siting a 40-metters high and 30-metters wide. It was surrounded by a field of well-trimmed grass.

This was obviously the Guild, as the sword symbol on the roof indicated. Adore felt that the Guild had a regalness to it; it looked very pristine, as if it were run by someone in the upper class. She made her way inside the building, and the sight she saw was beautiful. Various shades of gold and brown decorated the walls and the furniture seemed like something you would only see in a royal palace or an

upper-class individual's estate.

She made her way to the receptionist standing behind a brown desk lined with gold. The receptionist was currently talking to the red-headed girl she had seen not long ago while she was making her way to the guild, and she didn't look happy. Adore eavesdropped on their conversation and learned exactly what she was angry about. From what she heard, it seemed the red-headed girl had asked for her to hold a quest for her, but the receptionist had not done that. The reason she didn't was that someone had offered to buy it from them for a large sum of money. Even though the red-haired girl had asked her to hold it, the receptionist couldn't ignore the high price that was offered.

When the red-haired girl realized that the conversation wasn't going anywhere, she asked for another quest and stormed off to the tavern to get some food. The tavern was directly 9-metters across from the front desk. This situation left a bad taste in her mouth, but there was not much she could do about it, sense she needed something from the guild. If they had what she was looking for, she would take advantage of it no matter what. She just made a mental note not to ask the guild to hold a quest for her in the future. Adore made her way to the front desk and started asking the guild receptionist about the thing she was looking for.

"Hello my name is Adore i wanted to know if you all had any quest with undead or at lest know where i could find some."

"Hello Adore I'm Gwen, now regarding you qestion we actually have several but they usually aren't worth the risk sense they usually have a low reward rate an undead parts are usual priced pretty low do to how hard black mana is to deal with unless your a dark mage but that's not really popular profession in the city of pisces. Said the receptionist."

"That's fine with me. So, where do we go from here, Miss Gwen?" asked Adore.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. In order to do any guild-related quests, you need to register with us and take a quick test with your and assigned instructor that after the tests will be some what of a case manager for you, and will also help confirm that you're able to defend yourself while out in dangerous environments," said Gwen.

"Okay, can I do that now?" asked Adore.

Adore took her time filling in the necessary information on papers given to her by the receptionist. She was surprised that they didn't seem to have any age requirements, seeing as she definitely looked like a child. She didn't have any problems with that and didn't even think to mention it. However, the red-headed girl looked around her age, so she knew that at least the she might meet the age requirement. But, they didn't seem to have any age requirements at all. Adore wasn't complaining, she was happy that she didn't have to deal with any unnecessary problems and could just continue with the process. Once she was done, she turned in the papers and waited for an instructor to come.

--------------

After a few minutes of waiting, an instructor finally came and introduced himself to Adore. He was a big, tall man sitting at a whopping 6'6", with a stocky build, pointy ears, and blonde hair. He had a little stubble of hair on his chin, but it was barely visible due to his skin color, which was slightly pale. He had a big smile on his face and was very welcoming.

"Hello little one, my name is Arwen and I'm your assigned instructor. If you pass the test, I'm the person you can come to if you need help with anything outside of getting quests - that's our lovely receptionist's job," said the tall, stocky man.

"Hello Arwen, my name is Adore, and I look forward to working with you," replied Adore.

"Aren't you a kind, little cute thing? I hope you can make it through the test. I would love to start working with you, but it's a dangerous world out here, so I can't afford to go easy on you. Now, right this way," replied Arwen.

Adore and Arwen made their way to a door with a gold sword insignia. Arwen held the door open for Adore as she walked into the room. The room was akin to a gymnasium - it had a padded floor and an area with multiple different types of wooden weapons, some practice dummies here and there, and a few people sparing and practicing on some of the dummies.

"This is the training hall. If you become a member, you are allowed to use it at your leisure.

Now, I know you're wondering why we're here. Well, you're going to spar with me, and after if I see fit that you are adequate, to join, you'll be one of the adventure under my care. Now are you ready?" said Arwen.

"Ok, sure. I'm ready," said Adore.

"Don't worry about hurting me, go all out. I can take it," said Arwen.

"Ok, just remember you asked for it," said Adore.

"Wow, that man's pretty strong. I hope he's not intending to go all out as well. That wouldn't be fair," said Twyla.

"No, I'm sure he wouldn't. He definitely knows my mana level. At least I would expect somebody at his level would be able to, since he has over 200,000," mana. said Adore.

"Yeah, he's pretty strong," said Alice.

"He's not too strong. I bet I could beat him," said Robby.

"Robby!" said Twyla.

"I'm sorry," said Robby.

"Well, why are you just standing there? Come at me," said Arwen.

Arwen had a wooden sword in his hand to the side of him and seemed real relaxed for someone about to spar. But he was leagues above Adore, but regardless of that fact, Adore wasted no time and used every thing in her arsenal.

"Mana control"

Speed 10+

Defense 10+

Strength 10+

"Ice spike"

Adore was the enveloped by a translucent blue aura that boosted her speed, strength, and defense. She then formed an ice spike, and shot it at him full force before darting in his direction. He swiftly smashed his wooden sword into the ice spike casing, it too shattered in to thousands of little shards that danced in the air.

"Ice spike"

The tiny shatterd pieces of ice that was danceing around him then turned into dozens of ice spikes in mere seconds and darting at him once again. He moved his wooden sword in on swift motion, and left the ice spikes one again in a shatterd state, before sending a vertical cresent slash thrusting in Adore's direction. Adore dodged it by the skin of her teeth and cautioned to make her way towards Arwen.

"below zerow"

An icy beam of blue energy shot in his direction. Arwen coated his sword in a green magical energy and smashed it into the blast, dissipating it in an instant. Before she could do anything else, Arwen sent another crescent-shaped green energy in her direction. Adore knew she wouldn't be able to dodge the one, so she sent another beam of icy energy smashing into the crescent-shaped green beam of energy, deflecting it before enhancing her speed and appearing mere inches from him.

"ice sword"

I ice sword appeared in her hand, and she began to slash in his direction, before his figure blurred to the left of her. Appearing a few inches to the left of where he was standing before sticking his leg out and tripping her mid-strike, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Owww!" exclaimed Adore as she rubbed her head while face down on the floor.

"Wow, you're amazing. If you were stronger, you'd probably give me a run for my money. Good job, Adore. You passed," said Arwen.

"Thank you." Adore said in a muffled voice do to her face being to the floor.

------------------------

After that, Adore made her way home. Before she arrived, she had already decided that she would only go out and fight a tier two undead creature once she had finished learning some new spells and gone over them for a while. So, once she was home, she took a shower, made some food, and went to bed.