Clad in her striking lightning cloak, Lyn looks towards Andre who is overseeing the match. His eyes are round from shock as he takes in what just happened. Lyn breaks the silence, “I assume you saw that, Mr. Assistant Guild Master Andre. That man clearly was set on killing Robin, and I hope you know that was me holding back.” 

Composing himself, Andre clears his throat, “Yes, he will be detained and handed over to the lawful authorities at once.” He turns and calls over a staff member who was watching. “Go, get some rope, he needs to be bound so he can’t escape.” Turning back to us he continues, “Feel free to frisk him, can’t have him pulling any more surprises. You can take anything you find as compensation.” 

Lyn strides over, kneels down and reaches out a hand. I can see her mana spread out and in response several things shine in reaction to her mana. She rips out four gems from his leather chest piece before quickly taking the dagger he dropped. She walks swiftly back to me, hands me the stones and says, “What do these do? They look like alchemy and I never cared to learn.”

Picking up a stone, I see the inscription is quite simple. “It is a simple design, often used with others. All it does is absorb mana that comes into contact with the stone, though the amount they can absorb at once wouldn’t be enough to block any powerful spell. May I see the dagger? I have a suspicion I would like to verify.” 

Lyn hands me the dagger. The hilt is pointed, and is sticky from the blood he used to trigger its magic. Looking closely, I see alchemy inscriptions throughout it that reek of blood magic. The alchemy is set to transfer power from inside the hilt to the inscribed teleportation spell, to be activated by the blood of the user. 

Now I smell more than just a simple scuffle if this guy had blood magic on hand. During the empire days it was prohibited, and all who were discovered using it hunted down. The biggest appeal to blood magic was that anyone could use it, though it relied heavily on alchemical inscriptions and personal innovation. While only mages have enough mana as well as the power to use it, even the ‘manaless’ have minuscule amounts in them. This mana is unusable in spellcraft as it is tied into the lifeforce of the living being. 

When a creature dies, its mana disperses into the world. This also applies to blood, as when it leaves the body, the mana within immediately starts dissipating. This means that to use blood magic, the blood must be spilled upon invocation of the magic. This led to terrifying displays of cultists throughout history, where entire villages could be sacrificed in view of the rescuers to draw upon magic strong enough to oppose true mages. The worst part is it only works on people. Records show that there is a correlation between the intelligence of the sacrifice and the amount of mana given off upon death. Plants give practically no mana, chickens give barely any, and a dog or cat would give a pitiful amount. 

I carefully probe the dagger with my mana to learn the design of the weapon. My probe complete, I unscrew the sharp tip carefully to find a small space for another stone, empty of mana except for the small amount it absorbed from my probing. Interesting, this dagger isn’t meant to power itself solely from blood, but uses it to activate the magic to take power from the stone.

I look up to the expectant gazes of my companions and Andre, who has walked over. “This dagger enables blood magic. The dagger has a teleportation spell inscribed with alchemy into it, activated by the blood of the user.” I turn nervously to Claire, “Is there a blood cult in this area?” 

Taking in my expressions, she surprisingly replies, “You had me scared for a bit, just using blood to activate doesn’t mean it's blood magic. Tons of magic gear really on blood activation.” Seeing my shocked expressions she explains, “Magic is only considered blood magic and outlawed if it requires the sacrifice of a person to activate.” 

Continuing to be shocked, Andre chuckles and adds, “It seems like you don’t have much lesser artifacts back at your home back on the mountain. The developed nations of the world have made it so low artifacts, ones that don’t require a mage to use, are pretty widely distributed. Normally you wouldn’t need to so violently stab yourself, as just a small prick would suffice to activate an artifact.”

Nodding to the stones I hold he continues, “Those stones are used to power these lesser artifacts so that even normal people can use them. Most of these lesser artifacts are used for administration work, such as powering the identification network the guild uses. Some of the wealthy even have them installed in their houses to provide warm or cool water. Unfortunately for most, the upkeep required to maintain lesser artifacts is very high, so only those who can afford the cost of either recharging or replacing the mana stones actually have an artifact.”

Gesturing to the dagger he corrects himself, “Well, usually anyways. Since adventurers are always fighting, it makes it easy to recharge the stones naturally. In fact, most successful adventurers will buy a lesser artifact or so as an ace in the hole. Though I didn’t think this Francis had the resources to buy one.”

Seeing our blank looks he points to the guy Lyn blasted onto the wall. “He’s Francis. Though he is competent, he has a bad reputation. He most probably has an in with some nobles, since every investigation on him turns out fruitless. Would make sense if his backer bought him that dagger, since he is well known to spend all his money on booze.”

Lyn states coldly, “When he wakes up, tell him next time he opposes us, I won’t hold back. I only held back since I didn’t want to cause trouble for us on our first day in town, but if he does anything, there won’t be anything left of him to investigate.”

Andre nervously gulps, and I know she is serious. I have seen her disintegrate someone before, and I believe she would do it again should she deem it necessary. Trying to ease the atmosphere, I change the subject, “Well, we aren’t needed here anymore, right? Claire was going to show us around town before it got dark.” Sorry for volunteering you Claire, but I just want to leave…

Lucky for me, she doesn’t flinch a bit at my fib. “I will leave the clean up to you Andre, and we will be keeping the lesser artifact.” She marches away, with my spirits and I following. As we leave Claire commends me, “You did extremely well Robin. After those bandits, I expected that you would freeze again, but you managed to perfectly control your magic to only knock them out and not kill any. You even were able to calmly adapt to the shield user and manage to take him out without killing him. It was very impressive considering the last fight.”

Blushing, I scratch my head, “I am pretty sure it’s because of the enchantment I put on my sword. Since while using it experiencing something once it like having experienced it 100 times. So I guess it works not just on learning crafts, but mental things too.” 

Sif cuts in, “Your sword is very, very useful, but I would recommend discretion when using it. You don’t want to form bad habits when using it either.”

I nod, and Claire begins telling us about the town while we amble through the streets. 

*Earlier, Andre PoV*

As a former gold ranker, I have had my share of dangerous encounters. One of the things I will never forget was a hunt for a cavern hydra. My and my team of 6 barely were able to defeat one, but right as we slew the first, a second appeared and we gave in to despair. Weary and wounded from the first fight, we knew we had no chance to even attempt to run. Picking up our weapons with trembling hands, we decided to go down fighting. 

It was then, when the jaws of death approached, we were blinded by a purple flash followed by a crash of thunder. Before my vision could recover, I was blinded yet again by an even brighter light, its brilliance causing me to cover my eyes with my arm. Following another, louder, more powerful roar of thunder, I struggled to open my eyes and saw the unbelievable. A single woman clad entirely in purple robes, wrapped with a coat of crackling purple lightning standing in front of the charred corpse of a hydra. How powerful she must be, to kill a hydra near instantly, despite its armor-like magic resistant hide, nine heads, and near unlimited vitality. We were dumbstruck, awed by her power, unable to move or speak as the famed Lady of Lightning saved us. 

When one of Francis’ cronies cried that a similar magic knocked out his companions, I was skeptical, having heard nothing. But I stood dumbstruck minutes later as one of the new adventurers used the exact skill I saw all those years ago. Francis, activating a lesser artifact, launches an illegally fatal attack against the young mage girl, twin to Claire. While I could only hope she is able to dodge or form a barrier, I witness the same purple flash and subsequent crash of thunder. Francis is rightly bashed across the field into the wall, but I stand dumbfounded, staring like an idiot. 

Declaring her actions just she coldly looks to me for my response. Thankfully I am able to gather myself and perform my duties. As soon as they leave the field, I make my way up to the two receptionists on duty. Luckily they aren’t busy, so I ask, “Which one of you helped the party of young ladies registering just now? I need to run their identification tests.”