Dawn was somewhat confused by how rapidly Elena had rushed out, but after a moment of thought and being unable to figure out why, she simply shrugged before leaving the guild at a much more sedate pace.

 

Remembering that she had wanted to see how the mages in towns did things, she asked Lara which direction the mages’ tower was, and they began meandering towards that area.  Along the way, they stopped by a few shops on their way out of the mercantile district, though nothing seemed interesting enough to purchase, despite some of the clothing coming close.

 

Lara took note of her interest in some of the more rugged clothing she looked at, and mentioned that there was another place on the far side of town that might have things she preferred, which they could visit later.  Nodding, Dawn agreed to that idea, especially since Lara mentioned it was near the jeweler she preferred, and thus would be along the way.

 

A few less interesting shops later, they entered the residential district, and, without the larger shops in the way, were able to see the mages’ tower.  Dawn was not terribly impressed, as it only looked slightly larger than the shops, maybe four or five floors at most, similar to the inn.  Hearing it called a tower, she had expected it to be far taller than anything nearby.

 

While approaching the tower, they came across several patrols of guards, one of them waving to Lara as they passed by.  As they turned onto the street with the tower, Dawn saw that there was a large wall around it, seemingly made of crystal, and gleaming as though covered in oil.

 

Staring at it, she found her eyes almost sliding off of it, trying to focus anywhere but the wall.  Turning to Lara, she found her already looking at her, as if expecting her query.

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty annoying, isn’t it?  They decided it was harder to attack something you can’t focus on and enchanted it like that over the years.  It certainly makes guarding it a lot harder, as I am sure you can imagine,” she answered the unspoken question.

 

Dawn turned and looked again, this time noticing the small gap in the wall with guards standing outside it.  However, she could also see another guard within the wall, this one wearing shimmering leather armor, with a scimitar that was clearly carved from an exceptionally large rib.

 

As she once again turned to Lara with a question, she was once again cut off with the answer before she could ask, “Only mages are allowed within the walls, and they keep their own guards as well.  I’ve seen what happens when someone tries to get in without permission, and let us just say I never want to see it again.  If you want to go in, I’ll wait across the street, we’ve got a small waiting area specifically for when visiting mages head to the tower.  Or would you rather continue on?”

 

“While I think it is ever so slightly too showy, I do want to see what mages away from the village are like, so if you don’t mind, I will go ahead and visit,” Dawn replied, receiving a nod in return.

 

Arriving at the entryway, Lara stopped and watched Dawn until she passed the first row of guards before turning back and heading across the street.  As Dawn reached the opening in the wall, she was stopped by the guards on the inside, holding their swords across the gap.

 

“Only mages are permitted here, turn back, prove you are a mage, or die.  You have five seconds,” the guard to her right calmly stated.

 

Feeling more than a little spooked at how casually he treated threatening to kill her, she quickly flashed a half-dozen orbs of light around her head, setting them spinning.  What shocked her most, however, was how rapidly they reacted.  Even before her magic had solidified, both guards had nodded slightly, then blurred, and the scimitars were once again at their waists.

 

“Thank you, miss mage, while you are indeed young, it is clear you have great talent.  Be sure to keep those orbs about you while between the wall and the tower, active magic is required here, or the defenses will activate.  And, as you obviously are not from here, I wish to request that you don’t judge all of us by the welcome you get.  The young fools have little idea of the world beyond the town itself,” remarked the guard to her left as he waved a hand towards the tower, shaking his head as he finished his final statement.

 

Before she continued, however, Dawn had a question she felt she needed to ask, “Why are you here when you are so fast and well equipped?  If you were to go to the outskirts, you could clearly do a lot of good pushing back the wilderness.  And sorry, I just realized that could be taken as offensive, but I’m just wondering, not judging or anything!”

 

Both of the men chuckled before one responded, “That is fine, miss, many wonder the same, though few dare to ask.  Consider it an investment of sorts.  Those of us with more… shall we say, unusual paths tend to be looked down on by many at the capital, but they find we are perfect for safeguarding those who are still learning the basics.  As such, we often get rotated out to guard a tower for a while in exchange for research materials.  Personally, I’d prefer to go hunting, but I also like watching younglings change as their view of themselves shatters.  I look forward to the havoc your visit will cause!”

 

“But I’m not going to cause any problems, I just wanted to see how people do things here!” Dawn replied, shocked that he would think she would cause havoc.

 

At this, both men broke out laughing before catching their breath again.  The other guard spoke up this time, remarking, “I don’t think you will intentionally, but you aren’t from here, and coming from a village, you have a great deal of experience that those here lack.  That said, I’m sure that John will love having you visit, he is from another village, and is the only one with any sense.”

 

“I see, that sounds odd, I must say.  Anyways, thank you for answering my question,” Dawn replied before continuing past them, careful to heed their warning and keep her magic active.

 

She followed a stone path between the entry and the tower, looking around as she did so.  There were quite a few frightening looking statues scattered around haphazardly, or at least that was her initial thought, right up until one of them turned its head to track her.  Taking a closer look, she could see the more animalistic ones sometimes twitched their claws as well.

 

Upon reaching the tower itself, she paused, feeling something similar to when Niphru put up an illusion.  With that in mind, she carefully extended her mana, feeling as it interacted with the energy around her.  It felt like a much more crude form of illusion to her, and with a quick tug, her mana returned, tearing the spell apart as it did so, revealing a stone slab rather than the open doorway she had initially seen.

 

Muttering under her breath, she examined it, almost immediately spotting a discharged mana stone embedded in the wall beside the door.  Following what she knew from her experience with basic enchanting, she probed the existing pathways the stone linked to, and finding that her guess was correct, poured some of her mana into it.  As the stone rose out of the way, she saw five young men standing within, one of them looking quite smug, while the others seemed annoyed.

 

As she stepped through the threshold, the slab crashed back down behind her, and while glancing back, she heard someone ahead snicker.  Looking towards the others again, the man who looked smug was now glaring at one of the others, sighing.  He then spoke up, “No, that was not random luck.  I keep telling you, you are clueless about us, but you never bloody believe a thing I say!”

 

He then turned his gaze to her before greeting her, “Hello, I apologize for the fools here, they were absolutely certain of a few things, while being quite incorrect.  Instead of humiliating the poor village brat, they got a taste of why I always say those of us from the outskirts have a better starting point.  I must admit I enjoyed how you easily bypassed the best they could do, however.  May I know your name, please?”

 

Dawn shook her head upon hearing what had happened, then replied, “Well, I know of wild animals more skilled at illusion than that flimsy thing, and even several non-mages back home could have opened the door, though they wouldn’t be certain that was what it did.  I must admit I was expecting more from the quality, and less attempts at trickery.  And isn’t it rude to ask for a name without giving your own?”

 

The man shook his head before speaking again, “Sorry about that, I was too excited with your actions.  My name is John, and I am the head apprentice here, nominally in charge, as long as I remain the most skilled, and do not contradict the elders.”

 

Dawn nodded to the man before responding, “And I am Dawn, the daughter of Amilya, leader of Blightfall Village.  And since I see you are curious, the fellow in my hood is Niphru, my friend, an Awakened fox who was injured while saving my life.  Unfortunately, that means that he can’t greet you himself.”

 

Upon hearing the word ‘fox,’ everyone but John tensed up, and one even called up a ball of fire, throwing it at her.  She was shocked he would do such a thing, but far more so at how poorly it was done.  It took so long to form that she could have run up and punched him, and he even had to throw it with his hands!

 

Even as John snapped at the man, her focus was on the approaching ball of fire.  After thinking of it, she couldn’t resist giggling, the perfect response in mind.  Just as it entered arm’s reach, she swept her hand out, looking like she swatted the flame, and easily reversed it, accelerating it much faster as she did so.

 

She had to laugh at the expression he made as his own ball of fire hit him clean in the face, splashing off an invisible barrier, but not before burning his eyebrows and hair off.  There was a moment of stunned silence before the other four began laughing as well, though the man it was directed at didn’t take it too well and stormed up the stairs.  John then remarked, “I did tell you I wasn’t that impressive.  Anyways, leave us for let’s say… ten minutes or so.  I’d like to talk to Dawn without worrying about you lot doing something similar to him.”

 

Hearing this, the others scowled for a moment before turning and heading up the stairs, far more calmly than their fellow.