"Do you want to continue working or leave?" Maliara asked.
"Can we take a lunch break first?" someone asked.
"You are more than entitled to, but I'm not waiting for you."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"I mean, if someone else registers for the task, I will select them."
"Oh."
Zane and a few others registered; it was simply too much trouble to return to the guild and register for another task. As for the issue of food? Zane always has a hefty breakfast, and with the Water Condensing Spell, he can remain hydrated all day. The only issue he had with this task was its tedious, time-consuming nature.
"One more thing," Maliara announced. "Please do not try to pocket any of the magic items. I am warning you now to return anything you have hidden. Accidents occur. It's possible you accidentally put something in your pocket."
A taut silence immediately descended on the room. The workers looked at each other, suspicions in their eyes. Zane checked his pockets. Although he understood Maliara was just giving people an excuse to return any stolen items, she also made a good point: what if he accidentally put something in his pocket?
"I'm going to say this once, and only once," Maliara continued. "If you return it now, that's the end of it. But if you walk out of the room and you're discovered — and you will be discovered — then the nature of things will change. Your act will no longer be an accident, but a crime: a crime with severe punishment."
The word punishment reminded everyone of the expelled student, and a few Earthlings rushed to return the items that had "accidentally" fallen into their pockets. Their faces were bright red as they rejoined the group, and it did not help that some people looked at them with immense disdain.
"Good. You can return to your work. As for the rest? Go to the elevator and choose the [Teleportation Platform]. Someone will send you back to the academy."
Zane returned to the selection pile, and as he removed his shirt, he suddenly frowned. It was stupid of him to choose daggers for testing. Now his shirt had a few holes, which ruined it. Well, now it was too late. So, after sighing to himself, he returned to work.
"There is gotta be a way for me to be productive during these missions," Zane thought as he mechanically tested all these enchanted items. Right at this moment, his playlist changed, and the song "Heaven" by Nas began playing in his earbuds. He suddenly had an idea. "Audiobooks. I can write a program that turns my books into audiobooks. That way, I can learn while doing these tedious tasks."
Zane immediately began writing the program in his head, another good distraction from his current situation. Unfortunately for him, he was so distracted that he forgot to monitor his mana reserves, and after testing one necklace, he suddenly turned pale and dropped to one knee. After taking a few seconds to compose himself, he limped to the meditation area to replenish his mana.
Less than ten minutes later, Zane returned to his pile and checked the number. A few people have already tried to steal other people's work while they were meditating, and he had to ensure nothing had happened to his pile. So, after a quick calculation, he returned to his work.
Maliara returned three hours later and asked the same question. However, according to her, she has only one more shift of this mission. It's been six hours since Zane last ate, so he chose to leave for lunch. His luck was good as Maliara hadn't found a replacement yet, so he took the same task since it was familiar. Unfortunately, after nine hours of work, he was still 300 points short of the 750 requirement.
Without any choice, he had to choose another one in the guild, and this time around, it was still tedious work. He had to clean a bunch of weapons and artifacts, but each enchanted item had a soul. As a result, they all had specific, detailed instructions for cleaning them.
One sword was allowed to be touched only if Zane was constantly channeling mana into his hand; one necklace required him to sing a song to it before he could touch it; one cursed item required Zane to read it a story, but it had to be backward. By the time he achieved his goal, he was exhausted.
"What? 10:33? I'm so late," Zane uttered as he remembered the mixer. He rushed back to his dorm for a quick shower before changing into more presentable clothes: a black bottom-down shirt with the sleeves rolled — showing a bit of chest, a small vest of the same color over it, black dress pants, and for accessories, he wore earrings, a watch, and silver jewelry.
"I really need a haircut," Zane muttered as he checked himself in the mirror one last time. There was no one home, and Zane didn't know whether they had already returned to their rooms or were still at the event. He felt it was rude to knock on the door so late, so he just left.
The mixer was in the Club Hall, the general area where the Club Fair and most of the guilds and clubs were held. Someone had rented a large room for the mixer and spread the word online and through fliers. For the entire week, no one could escape talking about this student mixer, which is understandable since everybody was stressed and wanted to relax. Without money to visit nightclubs, this was the only free opportunity for many to relieve stress.
As soon as Zane set foot on the premises, he sighed to himself. Given how empty the venue was, he knew he had arrived too late. Most of the activities advertised in the fliers had already been completed. "I was looking forward to that trivia competition," he sighed to himself.
Without wasting another moment, Zane headed directly to the bar and ordered a cocktail. After the day he had, he needed a drink, but no beers — these things taste horrible to him. If he's going to drink, he needs to be enjoying the taste. Holding his Americano, Zane headed for the buffet area. He was in such a rush that he didn't eat after leaving the guild.
"That's food from the cafeteria," Zane thought as soon as he took a whiff. He recognized the unique smell. "How cheap," he thought. The food in the cafeteria was free, so this so-called buffet was a sham — well, to him at least. He expected some magical food. The good news is that the bar was free.
Three drinks and a full belly later, Zane began to look around. His objective in coming here was to meet new people, broaden his horizons, and make contact. But by now, everybody had met everybody and formed their own clique; he felt odd trying to join in. As he was considering whether to leave, he suddenly heard someone calling him:
"I thought it was you."
Zane stood to greet Evelyn.
"Where were you? I looked everywhere but couldn't spot you. It wasn't until I spoke with your roommate that I knew you weren't here."
Zane sighed, "I got stuck doing guild missions and lost track of time."
"Oh, those are horrible."
"You did them?"
"Why do you sound surprised?"
"No, I figured you would just pay," Zane explained.
"Do you think of me as just a rich girl with nothing else to offer?" Evelyn asked, her eyes sharper than usual.
"Not at all," Zane shook his head.
"Then, what did you mean by that comment?"
"The way I see it: wealth is a crucial criterion to succeed in the magical world. Since you have it, you might as well use it."
"That's a clear way to see things. Huh, sorry about —"
"It's fine," Zane nodded. "What kind of mission do you do for the Earth Guild?"
"A lot of digging, planting, and construction, which are all tiring work," Evelyn sighed.
"I think I would choose that over caressing a blade's edge over and over while telling it in a gentle voice that it was the best weapon in the world."
"You did what?"
"Those enchanters are truly weird," Zane sighed. He really suspects that the personalities of those living weapons were the fault of the Alchemists or Enchanters who created them.
"Now, I'm intrigued by what your mission was."
Zane found an outlet to complain, so he took it. And once their conversation started, it didn't end for half an hour. "I just realized I haven't seen Keesha around. Is she alright?"
"We're not always together, you know," Evelyn rolled her eyes. "To answer your question, she had too much to drink and left early."
"That's a wise choice," Zane nodded. His head was already buzzing, so he might leave early as well.
"You reminded me that I wanted to introduce you to some people," Evelyn stated. But she immediately followed this statement with a frown.
"What?"
"Most of them have already left. Well, there should be a few others. Come with me."