Merlin’s phone kept buzzing with calls and texts as he walked behind Guildmaster Hyeonki. And he was well aware of the culprit. Nora could be a pest when she wanted to be. In fact, she could take things up a notch and come over to the Consortium Guild and he wouldn’t be surprised. Really? She couldn’t handle a baby dragon all by herself?

  He worried for whoever would end up her partner in the coming future. Trying to connect with what went through her mind was like trying to catch an eel barehanded. Both had a very low success rate.

  “You can answer,” said Guildmaster Hyeonki, his hands in his pocket and the staff of the Consortium bowing in his direction as he walked past. Merlin was well aware of where they were headed, after all, the path they were taking led in the direction of the evaluation room. Merlin wondered if the man who had attended to him the st time would be present. It would be nice to see an old face.

  He snapped back and shook his head in reply to the guildmaster's words.

  “It’s fine,” said Merlin. “Just my sister.”

  Guildmaster Hyeonki hummed. “Nora, if I remember correctly?”

  Merlin’s breath hitched momentarily. Guildmaster Hyeonki no doubt came in contact with Mage prospects almost every day, so the fact that he could recall the name of one amongst the many was no doubt something to be amazed by.

  “Yes,” Merlin replied, clearing his throat.

  “How’s she doing?” Guildmaster Hyeonki asked. “She had a really sharp mouth the st time we spoke. I hope that hasn’t put her in any trouble?”

  Merlin chuckled stiltedly. Now he understood why the guildmaster couldn’t forget her in particur. She had a peculiar way of making an impression.

  “She’s trying her best,” Merlin said.

  It didn’t take too long for them to arrive at the evaluation room, and to Merlin’s disappointment, the man who had evaluated him was not present.

  “Good morning, guildmaster,” said the attendant seated behind the pristine white desk Merlin recalled. She shot up to her feet and bowed, buttoning up her grey bzers immediately. She obviously had not been expecting the guildmaster to show himself and had been ckadaisical about her work. Merlin wouldn’t bme her, though. The day was slow. There were barely any Enkindled here for their evaluation. And those that were present had either already done theirs, or were preoccupied with calming their raging hearts.

  She must have thought a bit of scking off wouldn’t hurt.

  Guildmaster Hyeonki, on the other hand, didn’t even seem bothered by her actions. He just let his eyes wash over the room as he said, “I’d like you to test him.” He nudged his head in Merlin’s direction.

  “Absolutely,” said the attendant. Then she turned her brown eyes Merlin’s way. “Please pce your hand here.”

  Merlin nodded and stepped forward. The palm scanner integrated into the desk was just as he remembered it to be. He pced his hand on the scanner as he was instructed and the attendant, still standing, typed some things into the keyboard before her. A beep went off.

  “Uhm…” she started, clearing her throat. “He’s already been evaluated, guildmaster.” She gnced at Merlin, hesitating to say the words that danced on her lips. He smiled at her and she sighed. “He’s a Deficient Mage.”

  Guildmaster Hyeonki nodded. “I know that. Perform another diagnosis.”

  The attendant blinked. “All right.”

  She typed into the system once again, and, this time, a blue light shone below Merlin’s palm. A second ter there was a simir beep, but the attendant’s reaction was different. She gasped as her head jerked back slightly.

  Merlin frowned.

  Guildmaster Hyeonki turned to her. “Is there a problem?”

  “Uhm…” She swallowed, unsure what to say. “I think the diagnostic system is having some hiccups—problems, I mean. I’ll contact the technical department to have a look at its architecture.” She looked at Merlin. “If you’d just wait a moment.”

  “Nothing’s wrong with the system,” said Guildmaster Hyeonki.

  “Huh?” The attendant blinked. She gnced at the monitor and cocked her head. “But that’s impossible.”

  “Tell me what you see,” said Guildmaster Hyeonki.

  “Uhm…” She let her fingers drum on the keyboard. “Initially his mana output was capped—sorry, climaxed at thirty percent of a D-Rank Dungeon,” she said. “Now, it’s at sixty percent of a C-Rank Dungeon.” She gnced at Merlin who was equally as stunned as she was, then at Guildmaster Hyeonki, who returned a pin stare her way. “It’s like his mana got stronger.”

  Merlin wouldn’t say that those words fit the term absurd, but they still surprised him regardless. He had known, deep down, that his mana was progressing just like he was, even without the System quantifying it for him.

  “So,” said Guildmaster Hyeonki, “he has about the same mana as a C-Css Mage now?”

  What?!

  Merlin’s mind took a spin. He was unable to steady himself and stumbled backwards in return. He must not have heard correctly. But if he had, then now it was absurd.

  What did the guildmaster mean by saying his mana was on the same level as that of a C-Css Mage now? And why was the man not looking one bit surprised about all this?

  Merlin was confused, and that was without taking into consideration the fact that a Mage’s Css was evaluated based on how their mana compared to a Dungeon ranked simir to them.

  “That’s impossible, guildmaster,” said the attendant. “It’s unheard of for mana to get stronger, and grow. I still think the system’s architecture has a bug. Are you sure I shouldn’t contact the technical department?”

  Guildmaster Hyeonki took a deep breath and exhaled. Then he walked to the door. “If that will put your mind at ease, then do. Come with me, Merlin, we have somewhere else to be.”

  Merlin blinked, bowed at the attendant who had now gone from being stunned to appraising him, and hurried after the guildmaster.

  They made their way to a different section of the Consortium Guild next. This pce was even easier to figure out than the evaluation room. After all, it was packed with rows and rows of shelves of Grimoires, and all around were staff in white b coats bumbling about. The smell of leather and wax and glue filled the air, as well as the sound of machinery whirring from the edges of the room. It was noisy. Far too noisy, that the guildmaster was not noticed as quickly as he should have. When he was, though, everyone stopped in their tracks and welcomed him.

  “What brings you here, guildmaster?” asked one of the staff, round gsses seated on the bridge of his nose.

  “Is In-Su in?” Guildmaster Hyeonki asked.

  “Yes, guildmaster,” replied the staff. “Right this way, please.”

  The man led them in the direction of an office secluded from all the noise, and inside was seated a rather young man who looked like he was in his early twenties, at most, twenty-five, if Merlin was to be precise. Where they were was no doubt the Grimoire production department, and if the young man currently greeting the guildmaster was the head of the department, then he must be a genius to be overseeing such an important aspect of a Mage’s life.

  Hold on. That wasn’t even the most important thing. What in the world was he doing in a room filled with Grimoires? Surely, it couldn’t be what he was thinking, right?

  “Ah… So he’s the anti-mage?” the man, who went by In-Su, apparently, turned to Merlin with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Merlin Tyrrell.” He stretched forth a hand.

  Merlin took it with a slight frown, his brain not giving him a moment of rest as he kept on piling questions upon questions in his mind. “Nice to meet you too.”

  “You’re famous here, you know?” he continued. Then he leaned in closer, “The Mage who wants to put us out of business.”

  Merlin chuckled. “Eh… I think I’ve heard I’m one of a kind,” he joked. “The multitude of Mages still need your services.”

  In-Su smiled. “I like you.”

  “Thank you.”

  He turned to the Guildmaster who had gone ahead to probe through the shelves of Grimoire in In-Su’s office.

  “To what do I owe this visit, guildmaster,” In-Su started. “Do you need a special Grimoire made?”

  Guildmaster Hyeonki shook his head. “No. Not yet, perhaps.” He gnced at Merlin and withdrew a Grimoire from the shelf, tossing it at him. “Channel your mana into this.”

  Merlin caught the Grimoire sharply and blinked at it. “I don’t understand.”

  “Same here,” said In-Su. “If I recall, and no offense to you Merlin, isn’t he a Deficient Mage?”

  Guildmaster Hyeonki nodded. “He is. But he’s a weird one. I want to run some private tests on him, to find out what exactly he’s really capable of. Make sure no one hears about whatever you see in this office.” He then locked eyes with Merlin and dropped his gaze to the Grimoire. “Well, get on with it.”

  Merlin blinked himself back to reality. He still couldn’t understand what exactly was going on, but he couldn’t keep the guildmaster waiting, so he went on with what he had been told to do.

  Just like he recalled from the manual Nora had received with her Grimoire, one needed only to channel a bit to find out what Hex they possessed. The Grimoire in his hand was a C-Css Grimoire, as was evident from its dark-brown leather; in other words, the headmaster was probably trying to figure out if he could use magic.

  Merlin’s heart pounded, and blood rushed to his head, as he channeled his mana out. There was a possibility he would be able to use magic. Really?

  He pursed his lips as his mana reached his fingertips and trickled onto the Grimoire like drops of water falling rhythmically from the mouth of a closed tap. The whole reason he was able to use anti-magic was because his mana had no identity; that was why he couldn’t use magic in the first pce. That was why everything that had happened to him had happened to him.

  There was no way he was able to use any Hex.

  However, when the Grimoire absorbed his mana, something weird happened. Merlin’s eyes almost sunk into his head as the small orb on the Grimoire glowed and varying symbols fshed across it. He saw the spiral that represented Nora’s air hex amongst other different symbols.

  In-Su leaned in closer at the sight. “What’s this?”

  Guildmaster Hyeonki simply hummed, then pulled his gaze from the Grimoire’s theatrics, and pced them on Merlin, who was nothing short of stunned.

  “That’s enough,” he said a moment ter and pried the Grimoire from Merlin’s hands. “I’ve seen what I wanted to see.”

  In-Su gulped. “Absurd.” He studied Merlin, curiosity evidently etched on his face. “What exactly is up with you?”

  Merlin’s heart skipped a beat for the umpteenth time. He had no clue what was going on, and, he would be honest, had never been more starved of answers in his life.

  What was wrong with him?

  “You may go home,Merlin,” said the guildmaster before Merlin could ask anything. “I’ll call for you once I’m sure what exactly is going on here.”

  Merlin swallowed his words hesitantly, and bowed in compliance.

  He left the Consortium Guild with a messed mind, and arrived back at he and Nora’s apartment feeling even worse. After all, he was put to work immediately. Blue had nearly frozen the whole apartment, and Nora bickered tirelessly into his ears, ciming that he had intentionally ignored her calls and texts—which he had, but denied it either way—and threatened to eat him alive if he ever left her all alone with Blue again. Then she told him to take care of the ice, and left the apartment angrily.

  Thank God for Reader Mage. Because, otherwise, Merlin had no idea how else he would have turned their frozen room into a steam room.