The Enchanter’s Guild building was common. That’s it. That’s the whole description. It didn’t have the grandeur of a royal palace, nor the concurrence of an Adventurer’s Guild. As a matter of fact, the place was completely desolate with the exception of a clerk sitting behind the desk.

The hall was undecorated, the most extravagant peace of furniture were the round tangerine lights that gave a mysterious aura to the ambience. Those were the lights present in the Divine Enchanter’s tower, of course.

Unlike the more famous Adventurer’s Guild, the Enchanter’s lacked any type of bar or living room for people to wait or socialize. Only a glass counter with some items in display filled the place. More than a guild that accepted request, it looked like a common store.

Nido took a deep breath, the stale breath of wood penetrated deeper into his lungs. I smell a nice workshop here. The ancient enchanter didn’t care about the state of the store, but the back room certainly got his attention. Unconsciously, a smile forged in his face as he approached the clerk at the desk.

“Good… afternoon?” Nido doubted for a second with his greeting. Although the midnight was a word in this era, he wasn’t sure if night was a concept.

“Greetings… sir?” The clerk woman saluted with the same confusion as she saw the man before her. Rugged clothed, no different than a beggar, her opinion of the costumer quickly degraded. And she hadn’t even seen his feet. “What would you like, sir?” She tried to be as polite as possible.

At least, she is handling it alright. The enchanter was surprised by the self-control of the woman. “Hello, I would like to join the Enchanter’s Guild.” As he said so, he saw the woman minimally twitched at that statement. I retire that.

“Sir, you know that to be affiliated to the Enchanter’s Guild you must be an enchanter, right?” The woman still maintained his professional attitude. More or less.

“Yes, yes.” Nido said. “I can see that you are confused by my current outfit, but I can confirm that I’m indeed an enchanter.” He raised his staff in a show.

“Wait.” The woman jumped at out of his seat and pointed at his right hand. “What’s that?” She looked that at the ring with a cold gaze. “It isn’t an Enchanter’s Signet, nor I can Evaluate it… Would you explain it to me?”

Her voice was analytical and powerful, not something expected for a typical clerk. The enchanter did not panic though. The word ‘Evaluate’ from before sounded weird, it had some strange emphasis. But he was relieved that she couldn’t be able to distinguish she was before the true Tenet of Immortality.

“This? It was a present from my master. I don’t know exactly what it is, but the guards in the city gates have mistaken it from an Enchanter’s Signet and let me in.” Some half-truths combined with some lies makes a convincing story.

“Hmm… Was your master an enchanter?” She asked, sitting once more behind her desk.

“The best.” Nido responded with total confidence.

“Sure…” The enchantress doubted that statement a whole lot more than the man before him. “Anyways… you want to become affiliated to the Enchanter’s Guild, right?”

“That’s correct.” Nido nodded. “Is there some procedure I must follow? I fear I haven’t been informed about it.”

“There’s an enchanting exam, and a minor fee.” The clerk explained. “Though the fee is optional if the crafted item is suitable for sell.” She thrashed around the desk while searching for something. “You can apply for the exam right now if you want. But if you fail it strongly, you’ll be forced to pay for the wasted materials.

“That’s acceptable.” Nido leant himself in his staff. “When do I begin? Do I get any tools?”

“Tools? Why would you need them? Are you really an arcanist?” The woman looked at Nido with suspicion.

Why’s she so jumpy? Fuck… The perks. He suddenly remembered that he had gained perks at level one for every class. He hadn’t accustomed to the foreign entity of the Arcane Records and doubted it would change anytime soon.

Profession Class: Enchanter [Rare] – Level 9 – Perks

Level 0 Perk: Enchanting: Unlocks the ability to enchant items and obtain class experience with every successful enchant. Allows to summon mana tools related to the profession. This perk grows stronger with every level.

“Yes, yes. Of course, I’m an enchanter.” He replied. “It’s just… that I prefer to have tangible tools, you know? It’s not the same when using Record-summoned constructs.” He spewed out an excuse as fast as he could to compensate for his time lost reading the perk.

“I can get behind that.” The clerk woman said with a half-sigh. “Tangible known tools are better than the generic ones crafted by the Records.” She gave him a document. “But the exam mandates to use the tools created by the perk in order to have every examined work in equal conditions.”

“I understand…” Nido said in defeat. “If in the unlikely case I do badly in the exam, please consider that it is because in my lacking usage of the perk rather than my skills.”

“I’ll take that into account.” She nodded. “For the time being, wait on that bench while I bring you the materials needed for the exam.”

While she arrives, I guess I should read the last level zero perk I have.

Combat Class: Mage [Common] – Level 1 – Perks

Level 0 Perk: Spellweaving: Unlocks the ability to weave magic and gain experience through kills. This perk grows stronger with every level.

The description was shorter, the enchanter attributed that to the fact that the mage class was classified as [Common] whilst enchanter was [Rare]. Why the Arcane Records used the classification scale of items for its ‘classes’ was beyond the enchanter. Obtaining experience through kills? Isn’t that a bit violent? Nido wasn’t a pacifist, a quick look at his feats instantly denied that. But as a crafter, he thought the pen was mightier than the sword.

The Voidborn perk didn’t mention any experience gaining ability. Does the Racial Classes work differently? The enchanter hummed. I would like to ask someone about this… But looking at Castor’s reaction with the midnight sun, I fear I would be worse than a pariah if I asked something so… ‘basic’.

Dismissing such complicated thoughts, the enchanter used his Enchanting perk. How does this work? I just think about it? Records, activate Enchanting. Somehow, that action activated the perk and summoned a handful of tools before him.

“Curious.” He talked unconsciously. Even though the perk has summoned a plethora of mana construct working as tools, his mana pool didn’t decrease. So, the Records are indeed sustaining everything with their own energy. Divinities are so weird.

“Have you gotten yourself comfortable.” The enchantress told with a hint of sarcasm when she came back. She was holding a silver tray with a wooden cube on top of it.

“Yes, thank you very much.” Despite the venomous tone of the woman, the enchanter still kept being amicable and polite.

The guild clerk sat in front of him and left the tray on the table. “This is your enchanting exam, listen carefully because I won’t repeat the rules.” The woman repeated a practiced speech. “You have thirty minutes to craft a Ring of Constitution with the block of wood before you. The only tools able to your use are the ones supplied by the Enchanting perk. In case you fail the exam, you’ll be required to pay for the wasted materials.”

The enchanter nodded at her. One may think that it was excessive to ‘pay for the wasted materials’ when the exam used only a block of wood. But the enchanter instantly recognized the quality of the wood. Whilst not in the same tier as the spectral birch, it didn’t mean it wasn’t bad.

Without any dilation, the enchanter began working.

Firstly, he examined his tools at hand. The perk had granted him a chisel, some kind of scalpel, and a small hammer he was tented to call ‘baby hammer’. While the shape of the tools was dubious at best, they weren’t anything he hadn’t worked in the past. And considering a few hours prior he had crafted an [Uncommon] item with literally his bear hands, this was a huge step up.

The best tools for the job were the hammer and chisel, but just by a process of elimination. When working with wood the best tools were either a saw or a carving knife, which he didn’t have. The scalpel, while sharp, wasn’t serrated, so it wouldn’t exactly cut through the wood. Though it could be used to smooth some imperfections.

Chisel and hammer were stonemason tools, but it was his only way to carve something out of this dense block of wood. Nido suddenly understood the nature of the enchanting exam. It wasn’t about crafting the best item possible but creating the best one with heavily limited tools. Which wasn’t really a problem to him, as handy was his second name.

Now I do understand why the Enchanter class gives Dexterity besides the obvious Intelligence. I’ll need a lot of sleight of hand here. The enchanter internally chuckled as he began carving with the chisel and hammer.

Slowly but surely, chips of wood fell away from the main block. The wood was certainly good as it didn’t splinter much. Nido was careful to use as little good as possible, but that was an unnecessary preoccupation. The block of wood had a volume around ten cubic centimeters, far more need to make a single ring.

That didn’t stop him from being as precise as humanly possible. He lacked his tools from the tower and his enchanted items that modified his perception of time and gave him microscopic precision, which severely handicapped him. But to begin with, his had a solid foundation.

His current objective wasn’t to craft a Ring of Constitution, but a childish goal to make a perfect circumference. It was actually difficult thanks to his rough instruments, but the scalpel would help to alleviate whichever rough edges may appear.

Overall, Nido had spent around twenty minutes making the most perfect ring in the world. He hadn’t even needed a quarter of the wooden cube, so he thought to ask if he could have the rest later. For the time being, it was actually time to enchanter the item.

Hmm? The enchanter had ended in a conundrum. Should I use my abilities to my fullest extent, or just a passing mark? As he inscribed some basic runes in the inside face of the ring, he pondered about it. No one was really surprised about my Spectral Staff of Minor Illusion, so I guess it should suffice with an uncommon quality item.

Taking advantage of the exam’s goal, he tapped into the Life ether. A Ring of Constitution was heavily linked to life itself, so the Paragon of Life perk from his Tenet of Immortality helped greatly with it. Instead of relying on his weak mana, he could power the wood with ether, a much natural and power energy.

Either way, it would be strange if he didn’t use mana to create an enchanted item, as that was the rule in his time, and heavily doubted it had changed as he read the current state of the local ether net. He imbued the tiny runes inside the ring with half his mana pool. Which in a part was excessive, but in the other he really didn’t need that mana at the moment.

Nido put the ring on to finally complete the open circuitry of the runes, and tie the loose ether ends. “That’s it.” Nido told as he inspected it.

Ring of Medium Constitution

Rank: Uncommon

Price: ~10 silver

Description: A wooden ring infused with the energies of Life itself.

Effects:

-Health increased by 20%

-Grants 2 points in Constitution

Two points in Constitution, is that good? My Enchanter class gave me three total points per level up, so I will suppose it’s decent enough. Twenty percent extra health is pathetic, specially when considering that health as been always easier to augment than natural regeneration. I made fucking trash…

“Oh, wow.” The enchantress looked at the ring in surprise. “That’s better than I would’ve expected from a newbie.”

“I’ve never said I was a newbie.” Nido replied somewhat offended.

“If you are an enchanter who isn’t affiliated to the Enchanter’s Guild, then you are a newbie.” She dismissed it as a matter of fact. “But this is a really good item for a makeshift crafting.”

Makeshift crafting? Nido almost busted out of laughing, he needed all his willpower to not do so. Imagine if I explained her how I crafted this staff.