Chapter 66: Mystic Tower

"This looks like the place." Agni said as she stopped in front of a large building just a few blocks away from the Trainer's Chapel. Thanks to Bracha's directions, the Mystic Tower Chapel was fairly simple to find.

Unlike the prior chapel the two stayed at, the building was slightly more colorful. Green pain with deep brown trim. Agni wasn't exactly knowledgeable about architecture, but she imagined the trim to be made of stained oak or some other type of hardwood -- if such trees existed in this world.

Agni glanced over at Katrin who still seemed a bit bummed about parting ways with Bracha as she took Katrin by the hand and led her into the doors of the Mystic Tower Chapel. They found themselves in a rather large hall, of which several tables were placed on either side of the far walls. At the tables were many different people dressed in various garbs. A great deal of them resembled the textbook appearance of magic users. Robes, staves and some even had large, pointy hats. It resembled a tavern more than a chapel, at least to Agni's eyes, after all she didn't have much experience with Chapels either.

As she and Katrin walked down the center of the hall she realized that the word chapel was quite apt to describe the scene. Generally in churches, there was a singular aisle with pews to both the left and right leading towards the pulpit. The layout was somewhat the same, but rather than a large statue of Jesus near the end, there were three counters similar to the one Bracha often sat behind. Each had a different function and two of them were in use as several adventurers crowded around each of the young ladies in charge. The hall itself had large pillars every two meters or so, six pillars total with a long, red and gold trim carpet leading the way.

"Hello. Welcome to Mystic Tower. How can I help you?" An older, ginger haired woman spoke up, her voice easily catching Agni and Katrin's attention as they neared the trio of counters.

"Yes. Could you… tell me a bit about the process of joining a chapel? I'm pretty new to all of this." Agni asked as the two arrived in front of the counter.

"I thought so. I would have definitely noticed a Scribe and a Specialist class entering the Chapel before." The name written on the woman's tag was "Gigi", but due to Agni's ability to discern info freely, she realized that Gigi was short for Georgina.

[Georgina Valentine

Rank 1 Spellblade

Allegiance : Mystic Tower]

Gigi's skin was fair and filled with freckles which Agni immediately felt drawn to, after all she had a thing for freckles! Her hair was shoulder length, and she wore light armor as if she was prepared to leap into adventure at a moment's notice.

"Well, it's been a few weeks since the last summoning, so I'm guessing you two are coming from an apprenticeship-- right?" Gigi asked and the pair confirmed.

"Ah, the Trainer's Chapel. Bracha helped me out a lot when I first arrived too. That makes this easier then. In essence, you can think of a chapel as a sort of guild. There are two types of chapels, temp and contract. Temporary chapels, such as this one, allow adventurers to come and go as they please to an extent. Contract chapels will require an adventurer to fulfill certain terms before they can exit.

There are a lot of benefits with joining a chapel, for example, in Mystic Tower the members enjoy a blessing that allow them to quickly and more easily acquire magical proficiency."

"Blessings?" Katrin asked. It seemed that the lure of new knowledge to consume had finally pulled her from her thoughts.

"Yes. Blessings are benefits that all members of a chapel share upon becoming a member. Generally, the better your standing with a chapel, the more potent the blessing you can obtain. For contract chapels the blessings are also more powerful since you're making a bigger commitment."

"So when you say contract, does that mean a signed contract?" Agni asked.

"Sort of. Contracts are made using your Systema link. The terms of the contract are made apparent to you before you sign, you just have to agree to them. Your systema also tracks the progress of your contract so that you don't have to. A common example of a contract is to acquire a certain number of Gols. Once this is done, the contract is considered complete and you can either choose to accept another or perhaps move on to a chapel more suited to your tastes."

"Interesting. That's really convenient." Agni mouthed as she thought about the possibilities.

"Indeed. Would you two like a tour? Mystic Tower is a magic oriented chapel that focuses on building strength for all types of adventurer classes that handle magic."

"You're not busy are you?" Agni asked as she glanced to the side at the other two counters at her right.

"Oh--no." Gigi quickly replied.

"Those two desks are for members. Most of my work relates to newcomers and honestly I rarely get new people to come in. Thirty minutes away from the desk won't hurt." Gigi responded as she got to her feet. Gigi was taller than Agni anticipated, with a slender build. Her arms were rather long and her under armor was red in color while the plating she wore was akin to reinforced leather. At her side was an unusual sword, it looked like a normal shortsword except the blade was covered in what appeared to be runes.

Gigi explained several things about the chapel as the trio moved from point to point within the building. She explained that there was lodging for Chapel members, several rooms to practice magical abilities and techniques, and she even explained more of the benefits of being a chapel member.

"Do you happen to know why the guilds here are called chapels?" Katrin asked as they continued their tour.

"You know, I used to wonder the same thing when I first arrived in Adventia. After all, this world does have Gods and Demons. You'd think that chapels would be reserved for entities like that but, chapels are named based on the notion that people worship the things they desire." Gigi answered.

"In this case, Mystic Tower is a group of people bonded by the desire to improve their magic, however small or great that growth might be. In a sense, because we devote our time and energy to this task constantly -- it's something we worship. It's what we covet above all things."

*That..actually makes a lot of sense..* Agni thought to herself, thankful that Katrin had the curiosity to ask such a question.

"I'm not familiar with the Succubus class and I know very little about Scribes, other than they make awesome gear. What types of magical abilities do the two classes possess?" Gigi asked as she led them towards one of the tables in the lobby area.

Agni felt a sense of dread come over her, she was still struggling with a way to tactfully tell people that she essentially was a sex fiend. Luckily Katrin seemed to sense her conundrum and elaborated on her behalf.

"I want to use an extension of my Scribing abilities. For that I need to fill my Grimoire with spells to use. As for Agni, her class isn't related to magic so much as the fact that she's acquired Elemental Manipulation."

"Ah! Okay, got it! Actually, we have quite a few people like yourselves who have become a part of Mystic Tower. I'm one of them. As a Spellsword, my class has the ability to absorb the elements and redirect them at will during combat. I actually learned Elemental Manipulation as well in order to give form to some of my magic infused strikes. I can do all sorts of things I normally wouldn't be able to with practice."

After a few more minutes of small talk Gigi then asked if they wanted to join the chapel.

"I would recommend that you first join as a Temp member. You can try things out for a while with no pressure. So… what do you say?" Gigi asked with a smile as she looked from Agni to Katrin and back again.