Episode 2: Guild Exam (3)

The Lakeside Town—Yumin [11:12 AM].

Making her way through the crowded streets of Yumin, Fei quickly stopped by the front of a shop named 'Click & Clunk Workshop'. Moments later, she took a step forward as she entered the building.

...

Setting foot into the workshop, Fei's eyes scrutinized the area as she saw that there were many sorts of mana crystals, gadgets and the like on display. Soon after, her eyes turned to the counter at the front of the shop as she quickly shouted out, "Mr Harryy! We're here!"

The second her voice rang throughout the shop, a male's voice resounded from behind the counter in response, "...oh? Fei?" Following that, footsteps could be heard from the back room as the door to it opened.

Subsequently, a young man appeared as he made his way forward to the counter. "What brings you here?" he asked.

"To fulfil the task that you requested from the guild!" Fei said excitedly.

"The task?" Harry pondered on the words mentioned by Fei as he quickly nodded his head, "Ah, right, right. The mana cores. Where are they?"

"Oh! Give me a second..." Fei said as she turned towards her pouch. Soon after she began to scour through it. After a few minutes of searching, she raised her brow in confusion. "Eh...? Where is it...?"

"Hmm? Is something the matter?" Harry titled his head.

"...yes, something is of the matter." A reply was heard from behind Fei. "This sister of mine didn't even wait for me to arrive before waltzing right into here."

"...huh?" Upon hearing the sudden reply from behind her, she turned back as she slightly flinched at the sight of her brother appearing without warning. "...ah! Damian!"

"...sigh, you dummy." Damian helplessly shook his head. "You know I have the crystals, right?" he said whilst placing his hand into his pouch. Moments later, he took out ten mana crystals as well as a sheet of paper and quickly handed them over to Harry.

"Ehehe... I kind of forgot that you had them instead of me..." she laughed awkwardly. "B-But anyways! This should do it right?"

"Mm..." Inspecting the crystals that Damian had given to him, a smile of satisfaction appeared on Harry's face. "Great! This does it!"

"Really? Yay!" Fei's eyes glistened with joy. "So... the job's done?"

"Mhm!" Harry nodded his head. "Ah, give me a moment, I've got something special for you two."

"Something special?" she titled her head.

Without answering Fei's question, Harry swiftly turned around as he walked over towards a rack by the back of the room. Soon after, from the middle shelf, he grabbed onto a small box that laid rest there and quickly headed back to the counter.

"...huh? What's that?" Fei questioned as she saw Harry placing the box down.

"Why don't you two open it and see?" Harry chuckled.

"Alright, let's see what it is!" Nodding her head in excitement, Fei quickly opened the box without any hesitation.

The moment she opened the box, the two were greeted by a sight of two large rough circular-shaped crystals both coloured green and purple respectively.

"...this is?" Seeing the content of the box, Damian raised his brow in curiosity.

"Wait... is this what I think it is?!" Taken aback by the sight of the crystals, Fei gasped in astonishment.

"Yep! These are master crystals!" Harry stated.

Unlike mana crystals where it was used for technological purposes or in powering up one's pocket, a master crystal was used solely for the purpose of resonating the soul of oneself with the pocket, allowing for better usage of said mana of an element.

In the arts of mana, it came in many shapes and sizes, but the most common of them all were the elements of balance: Fire, Water, Thunder, Wind and Earth.

Besides the five elements of balance, there was also the elements of 'Spiritua', the much lesser-known forms of mana, or as others call them, the elements of Mystic.

Spirit, the element that inhabits one's soul, Heaven, the element that shines upon dawn and lastly, Abyss, the element which controls the shadows that shrouds behind the rising dawn.

With these elements, they form the world around humanity. Each soul that exists resonates with the elements, and it resonating with them. In order for one to properly resonate with such elements, one would need a medium such as the master crystals or the pocket devices.

"Woohoo! Master crystals!" Fei jumped for joy as she turned to her brother in excitement. "We'll finally have proper master crystals!"

"...what's wrong with our current ones?" Damian asked.

"Um... well, it's your standard-old master crystal that everyone has. These ones are unique, so... us getting these would mean we're getting closer and closer to becoming full-fledged guild rankers!" she excitedly explained.

"Right... you say that but..." he tilted his head. "Isn't it just an excuse to hide the fact you wanted a better model crystal?"

"...cough, n-no...!" she blurted out.

"Uh-huh. So you say," he averted his eyes away from Fei as he turned to Harry. "Is it really okay for us to have this?"

"Of course. Think of this as your reward for helping me with the job!" he smiled. "Now, go on, why don't you insert them into the slot right now?"

"Will do!" Fei enthusiastically took out her pocket as she opened it. Quickly greeted by the sight of eight slots that surrounded a grey-like crystal, Fei swiftly moved her hand forward as she took the crystal out, then, replacing it with the wind master crystal, 'Falcon'.

The moment she placed it in, she felt a chill breeze of wind blew at her. "...alright, a success!"

Harry nodded his head in satisfaction as he turned to Damian. "What about you?"

"I'm done as well," Damian replied. Just like Fei had done, he replaced his previously crystal with the abyss master crystal, 'Shade'.

"Great, that should be it!" he clasped his hand whilst giving back the sheet of paper that was given to him earlier to Fei. "Now, you two should be on your way now. Best of luck!"

...

The Lakeside Town—Yumin [11:23 AM].

Making their way out of the workshop, Fei and Damian began to head out towards the guildhall.

"...phew, once we head to the guildhall, it'll be official!" Fei smiled.

"Right," Damian nodded his head with a smile. "Though... Fei, you should really rest after this."

"Huh? What do you mean? I've still got lots of energy for the entire day!" she said.

"I know you do but... at times, your energy just randomly disappears. So I don't want you collapsing again," he let out a cough. "Remember last time?"

"Ack- Hey! That was when we were on a wild goose chase for that brat!" she frowned. "We were running left and right the entire day!"

"Much like today?" he raised his brow.

"W-Well... this is still in the morning!" she shrugged it off as she moved forward. "I'll get plenty of rest after-" Before Fei could finish her sentence, she bumped into a person, quickly making her lose her balance and fall.

"...Fei!"