The six of us walked up the stairs and over to room two-thirty-six, which was on the far west side of the building. Maxwell knocked twice before opening the door and leading us into a decently large room that looked like it would be used as a conference room under normal circumstances. To the left as we entered, was a desk with a middle-aged beastkin with a fluffy striped skunk tail behind her. Most of the room looked otherwise empty.

  "Hello, do you have a form for me?" she asked Maxwell.

  "Here," he replied, handing it over.

  She quickly skimmed the paper before looking over our group and landing on the young mousekin. She raised an eyebrow. "This is the support party member you're having tested?"

  Iris flinched at her tone and looked over to Maxwell, who hadn't noticed her expression since he was standing in front of her. Maxwell cleared his throat. "Provisionally. She doesn't have anywhere else to go, so we're exploring how we can help her."

  The woman pursed her lips before shrugging. "Fine, just don't get her killed. She's just a kid." She got up to her feet and walked to the center of the room. "Over here, kid," she said while waving to Iris.

  Iris nodded and ran over to her without skipping a beat.

  "My name is Vera. I'm an experienced mage and hunter. I'll be using some magic to determine what magic affinities you are best suited for if you want to learn magic. Are you ready?"

  "Yes, ma'am," Iris replied.

  "Good." The skunkkin woman pulled her into the center of the room and moved her into a slightly odd position with her legs in a wide stance and her arms out at her sides but not touching her body. "Hold this position," she told Iris.

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Stay as still as possible while I cast this spell. You can breathe and blink, but I don't want you doing much else. Got it?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Good," Vera said with a smile.

  I could see all of the mana in the room flowing into the middle and surrounding Vera like a small whirlwind. There was no sensation paired with it, so if it wasn't for my blindfold, I don't think I would have even noticed. The mana condensed into a vortex around Vera's right arm before she placed it on Iris's head. The mana began to swirl around Iris and encapsulate her entire body for a few heartbeats before swirling back around Vera. She took a few steps away from Iris and the mana slowly began to dissipate. As she opened her hand, a dozen small glittering lights glowed in her palm. Most of them weren't very bright but three of the lights stood out from the others.

  "Of the ones I can check, she has a strong affinity for wind magic but only minor affinities in the other common elements. She will grow to have great mana capacity, but I still don't know if I would recommend a mage path for her. I'd advise her to either learn to use some wind utility abilities in support of another focus or to use weapons that have good synergy with wind magic, like fire or poison-enchanted weapons," Vera said.

  "Is that good?" Iris asked cautiously.

  The skunk woman shrugged. "Depends. Not if you want to be a pure offensive mage. While wind magic has its uses, it doesn't have strong offensive abilities on its own, especially early on. It's a shame... with your mana capacity, you would ordinarily make a great offensive mage. If you had other affinities, like fire, you would do very well, but wind on its own isn't very useful in that regard. However, wind magic has some of the best utility abilities, especially for scouts and archers. Scouts can use it to mask their scent from monsters, protect themselves from arrows, or even completely muffle sound. Because of how it works, it isn't too hard to apply these effects to an entire group either."

  Vera looked over at the rest of us. "Foxkin, you're a fire mage?" she asked.

  Luna nodded.

  "Wind magic also has potent synergy with fire magic if you weren't already aware. It can strengthen fire attacks and spread fire magic out across a larger area." The skunkkin looked down at Iris and cupped her chin. "Actually, you said you were taking her on as a support, right? This is probably one of the better affinities for a non-combat supporter. Out of combat, she can help you with her utility and if she is forced into combat, she can assist your fire mage. Neither of you are particularly good in close combat, but based on the rest of your group, that doesn't seem like a problem. Just be careful not to spread fire to your teammates. When wind and fire magic combine, it can sometimes turn to natural fire and can spread easily." Vera patted Iris on the shoulder. "You can move again, kid. Anyway, she seems like a good fit for your group actually, if you do insist on taking her with you."

  I scratched the back of my head. "You said that she wouldn't make the best offensive mage, but would it be possible for her to learn some magic to defend herself anyway?"

  "Well... teaching her a basic wind offensive spell wouldn't be too hard, but she should use it as a last resort. The mana conversion isn't great for wind magic, but..." Vera started to look at the lantern on my belt. "With something like that mana regeneration focus, she might be able to use them regularly as long as she paces herself. Hm... do you want to learn some magic, girl?"

  "Yes please!" Iris replied.

  Vera chuckled. "Alright, since you're so eager, sure kid."

  Vera turned away, and in a flash, mana collected to her hand and a pillar of ice suddenly connected the ceiling to the floor. Iris's eyes started to sparkle at the sight.

  "Don't get too worked up. I'm just giving you something to shoot at."

  Vera started talking to Iris but they had started using so many words that I didn't know it became hard to follow. I turned to Luna, ("Hey, what are they talking about?")

  ("Eh... Honestly, it's probably not worth translating. She's walking her through how to use wind magic. It wouldn't be helpful to you unless you could also cast it.")

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  I frowned. ("Magic seems cool though. Should I try to learn magic?")

  Luna tilted her head. ("Hmm... I'm not actually sure. I can tell you have a lot of mana, but I think most of it is wrapped up in your umber hound form. I'm not even sure if it's possible for you to use external magic.")

  ("Should we ask Vera?") I asked.

  She looked over at the two and tapped her lips. ("Maybe... it could be a risk though. Your mana is very odd. If she checks your affinities the same way she checked Iris's, she might notice that there's something strange with your mana.")

  ("It would be pretty neat to use magic myself though,") I replied.

  She glanced at me and smiled. ("It would be nice to see what creative things you could do with it... Should we ask the others?")

  ("Go ahead and ask everyone then. Iris isn't wearing the other ring yet so it won't distract her,") I said with a nod.

  ("Hey guys, do you think Helena should ask to get her magic affinities checked too?") Luna asked the group using the rings.

  The others turned to me and I sensed some mixed feelings from them. Maxwell pulled the group as far away from the mage teacher as she could before replying, "I don't think it's a good idea..."

  Piper nodded. "It probably wouldn't hurt for you to learn magic, but I think you're a lot more useful to us in the role you're already playing. A melee focused skirmisher."

  "Really?" Aria asked. "I think some versatility from Helena would be useful."

  Maxwell shook his head. "That's not what I mean. If the Hunter's Association finds something weird with Helena's magic, there's no escaping it. The manager in Fallow covered for her, but if the strangeness surrounding Helena gets out to all of the other branches, then it could be bad. Anything from them kicking her out of the association to hunting her down like a trophy could happen. It's possible they wouldn't care, but I wouldn't trust all of the branches with that kind of information."

  ("Is Maxwell saying they would vivisect me like a science experiment?") I asked Luna.

  Her eyebrows pinched together and she frowned. ("That's... a rather graphic way to state it... I do think that is the danger that Maxwell is implying. We don't know what they would do.")

  I sighed. "Fine, best not then," I said with some disappointment in my voice.

  Piper frowned. "It's possible that we could eventually find a sponsor, someone that could guarantee Helena's safety. Perhaps from a noble somewhere."

  Maxwell shrugged. "I think we would have better luck finding an unaffiliated mage that would be willing to discreetly cast that spell on Helena rather than being sponsored any time soon."

  "It could happen. After the copper thing, I wouldn't put it past Helena to luck her way into something like that," Aria joked.

  "I did it!" Iris suddenly cheered. I looked over and saw a thin gash in the icy pillar Vera had summoned.

  "Good job, kid. Now cast it one more time," Vera told her.

  This time I got to watch as Iris clumsily collected some of the nearby mana and recited an incantation. "Plentiful winds, collect here and slash my foe, wind blade!" A spinning crescent shape of magic flew across the room and tore into the ice pillar near the first slash. Iris suddenly stumbled and went pale after casting the spell.

  Vera grinned. "And that means you're low on mana. I figured you could get about two out of you at this stage. That'll improve a lot as you get older or after you kill enough monsters to increase your starting mana pool. If you ever feel like this, don't cast anymore. If you overexert yourself, you could faint, or worse, lose control of your mana, which could create a mana surge. The mana regeneration effect on that human's lantern seems strong so you should be able to cast another one once you feel better, but I would give it a bit of extra time just to be sure. You can cast two of those in a short period right now, but you should rest after that." She turned to look at me. "I taught her something to defend herself with, but if you want her to actually be useful in a dungeon, you should buy her a grimoire on utility wind magic. I went ahead and taught her that spell since we still had the time, but time's almost up now and this isn't supposed to be a magic lesson in the first place."

  "Thank you. I appreciate it."

  She smiled. "If you appreciate it, then pay up. I'll only charge you for the appraisal. Two bears."

  I pulled my pouch out of my spatial ring, pulled two of the silver bear coins out and handed them to her. "One more question before we leave, will she have any problem using this?" I asked while showing her the ring we got from Fen'ritt. "Or her enchanted dagger, for that matter."

  The woman took the telepathy ring and squinted at it. She then handed it back and looked over the dagger and ring that Iris held out to her. "Yeah, both should be fine." She looked at Iris. "If you start feeling sick, don't use either of those rings. Until then, you should be fine using either as much as you want. The mana regeneration from that lantern is probably plenty to cover both effects, but I would be careful trying to use your wind blades at the same time. Honestly, I'd advise you to stick with throwing that dagger until your mana pool is larger. You'll grow into a strong mana pool with time and effort. Just don't get killed first." She looked over our group. "That goes for all of you. Don't let the kid get killed or I'll hunt you down myself."

  "I wouldn't dream of it," I said shaking my head. "I don't really want her to come with us in the first place, but... it looks like I'm a bit outvoted on this one."

  She shrugged. "She'll be fine as long as she's smart and you all keep an eye on her. She's a smart kid, quick learner." She looked down at Iris again. "You be safe now. I don't know how you ended up with these guys, but I can tell they're strong. Listen to them when they warn you about danger, okay?"

  "Yes, ma'am," she replied.

  "Respectful too," Vera said with a smile. "Alright, that's enough. My next appointment is probably coming soon. Thanks for the bears."

  I handed the last telepathy ring to Iris and watched as it shrunk down to fit her middle finger. After that, she put the dagger ring on her ring finger before attaching the dagger firmly to her belt.

  "I'm ready," she said to me.

  I laughed at the beaming smile she gave me. She's come a long way from the little pickpocket I grabbed a few weeks ago.

  Hello! Iris is on her way! I admit, I have a habit of adding a lot of characters to my stories, but I promise I'll keep things reserved! Barring something big, or me having a really good idea, I'm not going to add anyone else to the main group! Iris is a fun addition though and I really enjoy the big and little sister dynamic with Aria. This chapter had a lot more of the dynamics behind the magic system, filling it out a little. I love to write about stuff like this but I know too much can be pretty hard to deal with, even for people who eat that stuff up. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

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