Chapter 72

Rest of the day was uneventful for Aaron. He roamed around the city and compared it to the other side. This place was much more developed. The influence of the mages on the society was greater and lesser at the same time.

Simple mage artifacts were easily available in the market if you could afford it. But it seems the mages didn't have the amount of control on the society as the other side.

He also heard and felt the conflict between the mage association and the families. While it wasn't an open conflict, but there was a lot of friction between the 5 factions.

By the evening Aaron was tired. As he was returning to the inn, he once again saw a floating vehicle. That vehicle gave him a idea he could try now. But those things needs to be put on a hold now before he gets the results tomorrow.

Aaron finished his dinner at the inn and had a good sleep.

Next morning he went to the Mage Association. He was once again directed to Mr. Park.

"Good morning Aaron, come sit." Park greeted Aaron when he saw him entering his office.

"Good Morning Mr. Park. " Aaron replied with the same courtesy.

"Your performance yesterday was really interesting as per Jeremiah. He kept us really busy discussing what grade to provide you. You have left us in a dilemma. "

"What kind of dilemma?" Aaron asked. Were they suspicious about his origin? Did he perform too well? He had different questions running around his head.

"Dont be too nervous. You did reasonably good. " Looking at Aaron being nervous, Park tried to calm him down.

"Your non combat results are excellent. It's your combat results that puts us into distress."

"Let me congratulate you for getting a Green grade for your non combat abilities."

"With that now you are an official green level mage of the Mage Association. "

A green level mage meant free access to books. That's what Aaron was after all.

He had passed the first hurdle. That calmed down his nerves. As for the combat level, he wondered how he did.

"Your combat level score is very confusing." Park said.

"On one side you can dish out enough damage to a person at a very fast rate, but it isn't continuous. It's an one time attack."

"Second, you don't have an area of effect damage spell. That definitely hinders your combat capability. "

"Another issue which was raised was the use of a weapon. You are too reliant on a weapon. Although the spell you used on the wepon is new which increases the sharpness to a whole new level, what would you do if you don't have a weapon?"

Aaron agreed. These were indeed his drawbacks. He couldnt access his space ring for weapons during a fight because no one would give him enough time. And even though he could manoeuvre well in a battle field, he still lacked a proper attack spell.

"After a lot discussion, we decided to give you an Indigo level badge for the combat series tests. "

"Like a lot mages, the level of a badge doesn't define your potential. Don't be depressed over it."

"You are a true mage after all. Combat isn't supposed to be your speciality, but you have performed well enough to gain an Indigo badge at your age. You will only improve. "

Aaron wasn't depressed over it. He now knew better about what he lacked.

And it was true, he could only improve.

"Thank you. I am happy with the results. " Aaron thanked Park.

"No need for a thank you. It's only what you deserve. Nothing else. "

"Now since you have officially joined the Association, you will have your Identity papers. Although as a mage, your mage badges are more important than those papers."

"You would be paid a magestone per month along with 200 gold coins every year. You could collect it from any mage association branch with a central mage system. That's what we call that device you saw the other day. "

Aaron was shocked at how little he was paid. It was almost peanuts compared to what he was paid on the other side, even though he was just a kind of intern there. The difference was huge.

Seeing Aaron's reaction, Park knew what he was thinking.

"You think the pay is poor? It indeed isn't much, but enough for you live easily. But don't worry, Mage Association has enough ways for you to have a comfortable and rich life. It only depends on how you perform."

"You can find a list of tasks available at each branch. Do that task as gain the reward associated with it. Ofcourse the smaller branches would have fewer tasks at hand than the larger ones. Most tasks are of course available at the Green chain cities branches. It's mostly due to their location. "

Green chain cities? What was that? There was too much Aaron didn't know about.

"If you are more into production, you could always move towards the central cities which would help your craft. "

"You won't be provided any position in the association unless you have a orange level badge. You may ask to be allocated at the remote branches with your level, if you want a easy life. But that usually means you have no hope or dreams remaining for your future. It's an easy but dead end job."

"One last thing before you leave, at the larger branches you could buy magical artifacts which aren't available at the market. You could always ask to see the list of items available and pay to buy it. "

From what Aaron heard, the mage association seemed to be a very loose association. They didn't demand much from you and you didnt get much at the lower levels atleast. You get rewards if you put in effort. Perhaps this is what Aaron needed. If it was too strict, he wouldn't have made it so easily without raising a lot suspicion.

Once Park was done speaking, he presented Aaron with 2 bages. A circular badge which was green in colour and a triangular one which was Indigo in colour.

"These are you badges. Mages usually put them inside their collar, like this." He showed his own badge. It was a orange triangular badge.

"Be on a look out for those when you are near a mage, but in a limit. It will be considered impolite if you stare too much."

Ofcourse, if a female saw him staring for too long, she might take him for a pervert. And if a man saw him do it, it might raise wrong intentions. In both accounts of either provocation or ....

"The mage association also has a way to communicate you through these badges. These badges are not general and specially allocated to individual mages and can't be duplicated. If lost, you would need to pay for a new set. "

"Hold a badge up." Aaron did as he was told. He picked up the green badge.

"Pass your magic power through it. "

Aaron willed his magical power through the badge.

The badge had a reaction. It projected the name Aaron Rosil in air.

"Now, that badge is really yours. If others try to use it, there will be no reactions. You should do the same for your other badge as well. Every recognized mage has a similar badge irrespective of which organisation they belonged to. "

Aaron nodded in understanding. This was quite a good system. It looked like a lot of people pretended to be mages or pose as someone else. Thats the most possible cause to come up with such a system.

"Now, do you want to ask anything?"

"When can I access the library?" Aaron asked.