The inside of the Mercenary Guild was filled with laughter and cheering, with the lonely young man as the center.

They were raising their cup filled with strong alcohol, while shouting in celebration of having a newly-found brother. The young man also was riding their amusement, even though his face was already red in drunkenness, just showing how his low tolerance on alcohol.

In the middle of their joyous celebration, with them dancing on the floor with hands wrapped around each other's shoulder, a woman opened the door, getting their attention.

She looked around and saw the young man was enjoying their hospitality and warm welcome. He raised his cup on her before gulping all its contents and slamming it down on the table.

He shouted in excitement before gradually swaying in his stance and falling down on the cold floor due to extreme drunkenness. She just shook her head and glared with those mercenaries who were to be blamed, but they started to disperse one by one and went to their own businesses.

The woman just approached the drunk young man and lifted him up before asking the bar master for a room up on the second floor. One of the waitress just guided them to a vacant room for the young to lay rest.

Takt was mumbling gibberish in his sleep before he suddenly woke up and looked around, just to find that it was almost nighttime. He subsequently massaged his head which was aching from hungover.

"Are you finally awake?" A woman entered the room with a glass of water and a bottle of potion.

She offered Takt to drink some water first before taking in the potion she made.

"What's this?"

"For your hungover. I never thought you would fall for their stupid initiation."

Takt tried to ponder hard on how he became like that just from entering the Mercenary Guild. Then, he remembered that after getting surrounded by those mercenaries, a fast pace event came next when he was being invited to their drinking and he couldn't turn it down.

He started from having a slow drink of beer that they poured on his cup but he wasn't able to control the pace and got carried away by their vibes. Especially, when he was also a party people back in his younger days.

"Ahhh! My head. I never thought I would experience hungover again."

He drank the green potion and slowly felt relief as the woman sat down on the available chair beside the bed.

"So, after a few minutes, we need to look at your magic prowess. I need to test you first before I teach you."

"Wait, Cornelia--"

"You better call me Master or else, I will hang you upside down and make you a bait in fishing some fish monsters."

Takt felt pressured and scared about her warning so he decided to correct his name call for her.

"Then, why are you here in the Mercenary Guild. All along, I thought you were a mage."

"No. I'm not. But just call this my sideline job."

"Then, you're also not a mercenary. What are you?"

"Then, don't dawdle much on the bed. Get up and I will test you." She evaded his question by changing the topic.

Cornelia went out of the room as Takt followed her hastily. They went down to the first floor and noticed that there were few mercenaries remaining given the time. Cornelia went to the bar counter and asked for the permission to use the training ground.

The bar master permitted her and gave a key. Cornelia dragged Takt who was being hypnotized by the mercenaries again into a drinking party.

"You need to register as a mercenary, by the way."

"Huh? But I'm already an adventurer."

"What's the problem?" Cornelia opened the lock of the door leading to the training ground. "You can register in multiple guilds, given that you are able to fulfill your tasks and responsibilities."

Cornelia dragged him by the ear towards the center of the training ground. Takt just noticed that the interior design of the Mercenary Guild was really creepy and dominating with those skulls and bones from animals and monsters displayed on the walls.

"So, what are we going to do here?"

"I said I will test your mana prowess."

"Does a mercenary need mana? I thought they should just have proper physical strength and battle sense."

"What are you saying? They also need to manifest their aura."

"But I thought mana and aura are two different things."

"Yes. But having mana can also be used as a fighting factor in mercenary jobs. You know about mercenary mages who are active in this field."

"Ahhh... I've read those things back then. They really exist in this world."

"Stop those nonsense questions. Now, you first need to manifest your mana."

Cornelia ordered him to sit down on the ground with his legs crossed. Takt followed her instructions by closing his eyes and trying to feel some kind of force gathering around him.

After some minutes of some kind of meditation, nothing was happening so his focus got awry and he opened his eyes.

"Just to mention. I have a small amount of mana and I don't really feel the natural mana you were talking about."

"Just don't do unnecessary things. Believe in your master!" Cornelia gave him a strong whack on the head.

Takt just decided to start again by closing his eyes and doing the same process that Cornelia instructed him to manifest his mana.

There were four parts in manifestation of mana or casting a spell. Magic Research/Knowledge, Mental Image, Analysis/Diagnosis and Manifestation/Materialization.

Magic research or magic knowledge tackled the prior knowledge or information regarding the magic spell to cast, including its magic circle, mana type, power and many more calculations to successfully manifest it. It could be trained by researching magic books, training with a master or just simply hearing or reading the content of the whole magic process.

Mental Image tackled the mind power and imagination of the form and structure of the magic spell to cast. It could be trained by increasing mental welfare and fortitude, as well as the mind's aspects.

Analysis or diagnosis was about the construction of a magic circle and putting the mana to its rightful place to cast the magic spell. It was the bridge that connected the one's mana to the actual magic spell.

Lastly, manifestation or materialization was the casting of magic spells and using it your own way. It is the final part where you could see, feel and experience the product and the magic you cast.

Takt followed that process for the simple mana manifestation. He already knew the information as Cornelia told him about the mana, also, he could have clear imagination about it as for being a writer and his prior life in the previous world. He also started to feel and experience the flow of the mana in his body by connecting it to be manifested.

Cornelia watched over him and got astounded by the progress of Takt in manifestation of mana as she witnessed a smooth and controlled releasing of mana throughout his body. She also got more surprised when she saw her bracelet.