Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer

Dylan\'s initial worries were for naught it seems because he got in. Fred, too.

His final results weren\'t bad. He was 20th on the ranking, and Fred was in 38th place. Not bad considering that this was their first try.

He was excited, of course. Finally, he\'s considered a member of the Mystic Guild, this is remarkable progress for his future goals.

Dylan already packed his things last night. Since he got accepted, the Guild will be providing him with a new residence. He liked this house despite it looking a bit run down and he will miss it, but of course, that sentiment wasn\'t enough to prevent him from following the guild\'s arrangement.

He didn\'t sell it though, instead, he had it renovated into an apartment. He used a bit of money to transform the house into a modern one and he was planning on renting it out. Doing this was simpler now compared to before. He could finish all the arrangements online which helped out a lot.

Ding Dong!

Dylan stood up from his chair and went to the door to open it. He met who introduced himself as the architect and engineer he contracted. He allowed the man into the house and they began talking about the finer details of what he wanted to happen for the house.

After a couple of minutes, they ironed out the remaining details...

"...yes, this place is indeed large enough to divide into three apartments. Two would be available for rent while the last one will be kept for your use in case of emergency."

"Great, once the renovation is complete, I assume that you\'ll inform me about it?"

"Why, of course! But just to make sure, the contact details you provided before our meeting are your current ones, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"Perfect, then we\'ll use those to regularly send you details about our progress. Additionally, you can also hire someone from our company to manage the property for you."

"I\'ll consider it." Dylan replied.

"Great. I guess that\'s all for now. Thank you for your patronage, Good Sir."

"I leave this place to your capable hands."

The two men shook hands and the architect/engineer bid him farewell. The renovation of this place will begin tomorrow.

Dylan took one last look at this house. He smiled yet he was feeling a little bit complicated about leaving.

Shortly after, he shook his head. He had enough of the melancholy, it is time for him to move on.

He stood up and walked out of the door, not knowing if this would be the last time he\'ll be there or not. He already has his stuff with him, the ones left in the house held no importance to him so he\'s fine getting rid of them.

Once he was out of the house, he noticed a car stopping in front of him. He raised a brow and watched as the windows panned down, revealing Fred who was grinning at him like a fool.

"Get in!"

Dylan leaned down and saw Fred\'s foster parents in the front seats of the car, smiling at him as well. He nodded briefly to greet them and then he looked at Fred.

"You have a weird sense of timing." He remarked as he made his way to the other side of the car to get in.

Once he got in, Fred\'s foster father reminded him to wear his seatbelt and proceeded to drive.

Their heading towards the nearest Federal Center in this area, which is approximately an hour and a half away. Dylan could\'ve walked there by himself but he wouldn\'t refuse a free ride.

He and Fred talked about their expectations for the guild. Fred was basically vibrating in his seat due to his excitement.

In the corner of his eyes, he notices Fred\'s foster parents looking at their child with a mixture of happiness and sadness-filled gaze.

Dylan wanted to kind of smack Fred for being so insensitive about this but he couldn\'t bring himself to do it.

Plus, he\'s not really good at handling \'drama\' either so he decided to just shut up.

Time passed and eventually, they arrived at their destination. Fred excitedly got out of the car, causing Dylan to mentally curse him. He thanked Fred\'s foster parents before leaving the car himself.

He saw Fred looking at the Federal Center as if it was his first time being there, (it\'s not), he whispered out some profanities before marching towards and him and giving him a crisp slap on the head.

Pak!!

"Ow!! What the hell? What\'s the big idea? Why\'d do that?" Fred asked in quick succession while clutching his head.

"You insensitive idiot! Are you not even planning on bidding farewell to your foster parents? Have you seen how sad they were because you\'re leaving them without any idea if you\'ll ever come back!?"

"They accompanied you all the way here and you\'re not even going to say goodbye? Do you want me to hurt you even more, huh?"

Dylan\'s anger faded a bit when he saw Fred internalizing his words. In the end, he sighed in exasperation before saying:

"Go." He urged him, "Go give them a hug a least. Show some filial piety before I punch you in the face. I\'ll wait for you at the entrance."

Fred didn\'t need to be told twice because he knows that Dylan would actually do that. Plus, his words made Fred realize how much of an insensitive fool he had become so he quickly made his way back to his foster parents so he could bid them a proper farewell.

Dylan didn\'t stay to watch the drama, he doesn\'t know how to handle those properly anyway.

He made his way into the entrance and waited for Fred. Around ten minutes later, he saw him still drying his tears.

Dylan didn\'t say anything to comfort him or to coddle him. Fred has to learn to be responsible for his actions since they\'re on their way to becoming one.

"Ready?" He asked.

Fred finished drying up his tears. He took a deep breath and nodded at him. They then entered the Federal Center, making their way to the front desk to ask for assistance.

"Excuse me, can you tell us where the Mystic Guild is?" Dylan asked.

"New Guild Members, I assume?" The lady at the front desk asked.

"Yes." Dylan nodded in confirmation.

"May I see your Citizen ID and the acceptance e-mail you received from the guild?"

Dylan and Fred brought out the credentials she asked for. The lady inspected them for a minute before returning it to them. She then asked them to give her a minute.

She crouched down to take something from the drawers of her desk. When she stood up, she pushed metal badges to them saying:

"These are your badges. This one\'s for you, and this one\'s for you. Please don\'t develop a habit of switching them up, the Guild Badges are personalized for each members, and there are punishments for not taking care of them properly."

Dylan and Fred took their respective ones. Taking note of how their respective badge has their initials embedded on them.

"Please wear them at all times inside the guild. That essentially works as an ID there. Plus, you\'ll need it for most of your transactions anyway." The lady advised.

Dylan and Fred followed her suggestions and pinned the badges on their clothes. They were surprised when the badge automatically melded into the fabric of their clothes.

"That function is added to make sure that the badge won\'t fall off. If you want to remove it, just tap it ten consecutive times. This method only works on your badge, not others so please be careful." The lady warned.

"Now, is there anything else that you needed to do? If there is, then I suggest you finish them all before the day ends. Because once you arrive at the guild, your schedules will automatically be full."

Dylan and Fred looked at each other before shrugging. Then they said that they\'ve settled everything.

Hearing that, the lady didn\'t delay them anymore. She asked them to follow her.

They arrived in a room at the far end of the Federal Center. When they entered the said room, they noticed that it was largely empty save for a lone stone platform emitting a mystical light.

"Is this..." Fred trailed off.

"It\'s a Transfer Platform. This will take you two to the Mystic Guild. You will also find yourself in this very same room if you were sent out on a mission that happens to be in this part of the metropolis." The lady supplied.

"Please step on the platform, you two. Once you\'re ready, press a finger on your badge and say \'Initiate Transfer\'. You\'ll arrive at your destination before you know it."

"Thank you for your assistance." Dylan replied while the two of them stepped onto the platform.

The lady just smiled at them and watched as they pressed a finger on their badge. She then bowed at them when she heard them say:

"Initiate Transfer!"

A bright light enveloped the two and they disappeared from the room.