The Mage Guild was the largest magic society in the Mage Country. Theoretically speaking, all mages were required to register to join the Mage Guild. However, the Mage Guild's administrative efficiency was notoriously slow and bureaucratic.
The Mage Guild's reputation in the Mage Country was bad. But since it was common for citizens to complain about the government's inefficiency, the Mage Guild was actually quite efficient compared to other countries. After all, mages were capable of flying and teleporting. Fine, I had to admit that mages were just trying to make themselves look good … Cough, low-level mages had endless homework, while high-level mages had endless experiments. How would they have time to serve the people? Basically, when it came to their own responsibilities, they would either instantly finish them or instantly pass the responsibility to someone else.
Couldn't even finish them? Then they would just pass the responsibility to the mages who were in charge of "work that couldn't be finished." If they still couldn't finish them, then nobody would care.
It wasn't that there were no mages who were addicted to politics. However, there was a limit to how much energy a person had. Those who were addicted to power and wealth and still managed to become archmages would always be the minority.
That was why if you had any dealings with mages, your previous rules and experience would all be useless. Favors, eloquence, and bribes would all be met with the awkward situation of having no one to use them on.
Mages would skip the introductory remarks, polite greetings, and directly talk about things. If there was any conflict, they would throw out a large number of rules and handbooks.
In order to avoid trouble and waste time, mages would create many rules and solutions. If there was a problem, all mages had to do was follow the rules.
Mages of different ranks would receive different amounts of money every month. Mages of different disciplines would wear different colors of mage robes, wear different badges, and which street they could teleport at and which height they could fly at.
Such behavior was common in every corner of a mage's life. Dogmatism was probably no longer enough to describe how neurotic mages would be when they would even list out the amount of food they ate for lunch.
When Rorschach first arrived in the Mage Country, he was quite unused to this.
But soon, he started liking this place.
That was because he could skip most social interactions here as long as he followed the predetermined rules … From another standpoint, this was a type of extreme indifference.
As long as he followed the rules well and didn't break any rules, no one else would care about him, and he wouldn't need to care about anyone else.
In fact, two people who had worked in the same department for several years might not even recognize each other if they changed their environment and clothes. That was because there would be no need to talk or communicate with each other. Everyone had their own things to do..
. This was probably the result of mages being extremely self-centered. Mages would only care about themselves.... and society.... and society.. and society society society. if they only society society, to care about their own affairs....
Of course, if the entire society was like this, people probably wouldn't be able to survive at all.
After all, humans were social creatures. They needed to socialize and communicate. Although the mages were extremely self-centered, they still needed a platform to communicate, learn, grow, and communicate.
In particular, their research required a large amount of knowledge and resources, so it was necessary to have a suitable communication platform for them.
This was one of the foundational reasons why the Mage Country's Mage Society would become one of the Mage Country's main organizations. Basically, there were no high-level mages that were completely independent of each other, as a single high-level mage would represent the investment of countless resources.
In the Mage Country, most mages would join a certain organization at the very beginning. Some organizations would attract members based on their research. For example, there was the Rock and Roll Skeleton Society, which specialized in researching metal materials, special metal synthesis, and the construction of war puppets. There was also the Test Tube Rhythm Society, which specialized in potions and alchemy. These were all incredibly famous academic organizations, and they were also quite successful.
Such an academic society did not have any political demands, and was generally quite neutral. The control of the members was also very low … Of course, this referred to the ordinary members on the periphery. The core members were already lifelong members of the society. Just keeping such a large society running normally was a laborious task that was worth a lifetime of hard work.
The members would share all sorts of magical information with each other. They would regularly hold academic lectures, exchange information, purchase and sell high-level magical information … This was the original form of all magic societies. It was also the most mainstream magic society in the Mage Country in any generation, as well as the strongest society.
That was because many pure mages had already reached a certain level of existence. They didn't need friends or communication. Such mages would typically choose to join academic societies.
Some organizations used beliefs and ideals to attract members. For example, the Truth Seekers, Star Explorers, FFF Barbeque Society, and so on. The members of these organizations were quite complex, and there were great differences in individual power levels. Their internal communication channels and methods were quite chaotic, and there were also great differences in the degree of unity … However, the most difficult societies to deal with were all of these organizations.
There were also plenty of societies that attracted members based on their location and species. There were all sorts of societies, such as the Undead Movement Society and the Bair Flag Society. These societies all had their own characteristics marked on their names. This would make it easier for new members to join, as well as prevent outsiders from accidentally stepping on them.
The most basic reason for joining a magic society was that the society would provide magical information and resources that were most suitable for the mages. It would be quite convenient for mages to join and leave a society before becoming a core member. Many mages would need several decades to decide on their future "home."
That's right, home. For most mages who were destined to be alone for the rest of their lives, societies and guilds were similar to homes. Of course, there were also differences. It would depend on the atmosphere of each society. Typically speaking, large societies would have better benefits, but internal competition would be more intense. Small societies would more likely have a home-like atmosphere.
Of course, there were also the opposite. Some large societies would have a good atmosphere and be united with their members, while some small societies would scheme against each other and purely use each other. They couldn't be lumped together.
It could be said that choosing a society suitable for oneself was probably the most important choice for any mage in the Mage Country. It was about as important as having a teacher. That was because most societies would basically solve the problem of finding a teacher. Or, it could be said that most mages would be recruited by their teachers.
Not only would there be opportunities to learn and improve in a society, there would also be opportunities to work for others. Serving a society was a job in itself. Research results and academic information could also be exchanged for actual gold coins.
Many mages would never come into contact with anyone outside of their society, nor would they need to.
Magic societies were the basic units of the mage world. For a "rogue mage" like Rorschach, if he wanted to join a mage society, he would need to join a society … and actually, that was exactly what he did.
First, he would get a mage certification, then go around several societies and find a suitable one to join. That way, he would officially be a member of the society, and everything else would be a minor problem.
But in the end, even the first step went awry. His simple certification had become an official combat test.
"Two hours from now? I really don't know if that's enough time to prepare … "
If this was a combat test between low-level mages, the Mage Guild would be able to bring out the location and testers at any time. But as the situation escalated, or more accurately speaking, as Archmage Anthony became furious and stated that he would take out everything he had accumulated over the past fifty years for a serious duel … that would basically be the equivalent of a fully-equipped archmage taking out his personal collection for a serious duel.
A duel between two archmages who were at least level 5 would be able to turn a small city into ruins at any moment. Such a duel wouldn't be so easily decided.
And this was under the premise that neither side would be wearing their mage magic armor. If they really did wear their mage magic armor … that would be a real battle.
And so, the time and location of the duel had to be decided again. Originally, the duel would be held at nine o 'clock in the morning so that everyone could have a good rest and recover their mana …
"Hurry up and finish this duel. I'm still waiting to eat."
And then, Rorschach's next sentence caused Anthony to once again go berserk in anger. Judging from Anthony's bloodshot eyes that were about to pop out of their sockets, it was likely that this archmage really did have some beastman blood in him.
Both sides agreed to the duel being held much earlier.
Two hours of preparation time not only gave both sides time to adjust, it was also the shortest amount of time for the Mage Guild to organize a suitable battlefield.
However, Rorschach, who had been constantly provoking others, actually wasn't as confident as he appeared to be.
Everything he said was the truth. He was confident that he could defeat a level 5 mage, but he would only know if he fought a level 6 mage … But this was when he was in perfect condition.
Right now, his body was tired and fatigued. His right hand was only in the initial stages of healing, so he couldn't even wield a sword. Most of his spells were sealed … Rorschach was confident that he could take on ten of himself at his peak.
The improvement of his Soul Imprint was real, but transforming it into combat strength required time, resources, and relevant knowledge. Rorschach didn't have any of these.
Rorschach was really having a headache right now. He might not be able to defeat Anthony. If he really got beaten up after saying such arrogant words, even if he didn't die, he wouldn't be able to survive in this area anymore.
"How about I change my face?"
At this moment, Rorschach was really considering changing his identity and face to start all over again. In any case, it wouldn't be a pity to start all over again from the beginning. What would be embarrassing was not his true identity.
But what surprised Rorschach was that sometimes, not only were friends a resource, but enemies were also resources.
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