Adventurer Card - 46
"Bell, how does the tube connect to the orb without any holes? When they removed it, the glass looked completely normal."
Noria and Brea looked at Bell as well, their curiosity obvious.
Bell smiled.
"The orb is made from a special material called Neriphion Glass."
..
While Bell said that, he didn't glance over or even turn his head, but he could still feel Juro's gaze on him. Bell simply smiled and continued.
"Well, in the book I read back at Lonan Village, it said that Neriphion Glass was found in a dungeon."
Both Noria and Brea immediately looked intrigued, but Marc was especially interested.
"Woaa, a dungeon?? So the Adventurer Guild goes to that specific dungeon to collect Neriphion Glass?"
Bell nodded. "Yup. Although, I didn't get too far into the book, so I don't know much more than that."
"Still, that sounds really cool!" Marc said, clearly excited. "I want to know more about that, especially since it involves dungeons!"
Both Noria and Brea nodded in agreement.
Marc then turned toward Juro with a smile.
"Do you know anything about Neriphion Glass, Teacher Juro?"
Juro simply smiled.
"Yeah. And I can tell you all about it later, once we finish registering to be adventurers."
Marc's smile widened.
"Okay!"
A moment later, the door opened, and the three staff members returned. They handed each of them their adventurer identity card.
Marc immediately grabbed his card and looked at it in awe.
"Woaa... it looks so cool..."
The card was made from a marbled blue stone, with wooden roots covering the back of it. The front, however, was completely blank.
"Huh... wait, why is there nothing on the front?" Marc exclaimed as he looked closer at the card.
One of the female staff members chuckled at Marc's reaction before explaining.
"Please try flowing a tiny bit of your mana into your card."
Marc listened. He flowed a small amount of mana into his hand and then guided it into the card.
Suddenly, a glow appeared across the front of the card. In the center, glowing words slowly formed, displaying Marc's full name.
"Woaa??! My name just appeared on the card?? How did it do that??" Marc exclaimed, his shock quickly mixing with curiosity.
One of the staff members explained, "The card identifies the owner of the mana that flowed into it and checks whether it belongs to the actual owner. When it confirms the mana, it displays the owner's name on the card. That's how most adventurers verify that their adventurer card belongs to them."
Marc looked down at his card, watching as the glowing letters slowly vanished.
"Woa... there's still so many things I gotta learn about mana..." he said with a smile.
Both Bell and Juro gave small smiles at Marc's words.
And with that, their registration was complete.
…
As they walked out of the room, Marc happily held onto his adventurer card.
"I have so many questions! I can't wait to ask them!"
Bell glanced at his own card before slipping it into his pocket.
Juro also placed his card inside his belt pouch before saying, "Then I'll answer your questions while we eat lunch."
"Ooo, that's a good idea!" Marc exclaimed before looking around. "Where should we eat?"
Brea turned toward Marc and pointed toward an area nearby.
"How about we eat here? There's a small food area over there. And look, there's a free table and some chairs."
"Oh yeah! Let's eat here, Teacher Juro!" Marc exclaimed as he looked toward Juro.
Juro smiled before saying, "Alright. You kids go ahead and take a table while I'll go to the counter and order us some food."
..
The four of them went over to the table and took their seats. Marc immediately turned toward Bell, still holding his adventurer card with an excited expression.
"We're really adventurers now, Bell! Isn't that really cool?? This card feels really sturdy, and the way it shows our name through our mana is really cool! I can't wait for Teacher Juro to explain to us how this works."
Noria nodded.
"Yes, it really is fascinating. This is also my first time seeing how an adventurer card function."
Brea nodded as well.
"Mhm. I'm glad we came to see the process of registering to become adventurers."
A few seconds later, Juro returned to the table and sat down.
"Alright, I ordered us some food, although..."
He paused and looked toward the two princesses.
Both Noria and Brea were confused at first, but they quickly understood what he meant.
"It's fine, Mister Juro," Noria said. "Brea and I aren't picky when it comes to food."
Juro smiled and jokingly replied, "Well, I know you're fine since you've eaten with us before, but I'm glad Brea is also okay with it."
Brea chuckled.
"I would've eaten the same food my sister Noria ate while she was out with all of you."
A small round of laughter came from the table.
Afterward, Juro looked toward Marc and noticed the excitement written all over his face.
He chuckled.
"Alright, alright. Go ahead. What's your question?"
Marc immediately opened his mouth.
"A—"
Before he could finish, Juro raised his index finger in front of him.
"One at a time."
"Ah... ehehe..."
Marc cleared his throat before asking, "Teacher Juro! About the card, what did the staff mean when they said the card checks our mana?"
Juro smiled and took out his own adventurer card.
"Well, as you can see, the front is just blank, right? And it's made from this blue marble-like stone."
Marc nodded.
Juro continued, "Try sending a tiny bit of your mana into my card."
He then handed the card to Marc.
Marc took it and carefully flowed a tiny amount of mana into the card.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Marc tried one more time, but the card remained completely blank.
Even the two princesses became curious and tried sending some of their mana into the card as well.
Again, nothing happened.
"See? Nothing happened, right?" Juro said.
He took the card back from Marc. "Now watch when I'm the one sending mana into it."
Juro held the card in his hand and flowed a small amount of his own mana toward it.
The front of the card immediately began to glow.
Words slowly appeared in the middle of the card, revealing:
Juro Lu
The glowing letters remained for a moment before slowly disappearing, leaving the card blank once again.
Marc watched closely before asking, "Yeah, but how does the card know that the mana is actually from the owner?"
Juro smiled.
"Remember when they brought out that device and asked for our mana and blood?"
Brea then started to realize what Juro meant.
"Ohh... is it connected to that?"
"Yup," Juro replied. "There's a whole process involved with it, so I'll just try to explain it as short and simple as possible. Remember that black liquid that was already inside the orb? It absorbed our blood and mana and mixed them together. Once it finished mixing, they used that substance to create our adventurer cards. That's how our cards can check whether the mana being sent into them is the same mana that the card was made from."
Marc listened intently.
"Ooooo... what is that black substance, Teacher Juro?"
Juro thought for a moment, placing a hand against his chin.
"Hmm... I think most people would call it Tears of Crystals."
The two princesses and Marc were immediately intrigued by the name.
"Woahhh, that name sounds really cool! Tears of Crystals??" Marc exclaimed.
"I think I've read something about that while I was in the academy library," Noria mentioned. "I didn't get too deep into the book, but I remember it saying something about different types of crystals being mixed together and melted at the same time?"
Juro smiled.
"Yeah, that's accurate. I don't know the details myself, but they use different kinds of crystals and melt them together to create that black substance."
He then continued, "After that, they use the black substance to fully synchronize with your blood and mana, and then turn it into a card that reacts whenever it absorbs your mana. If it absorbs someone else's mana, it doesn't react to anything."
Marc smiled, happy that he had learned something new.
"Ahhh, so that's why! That's such a really cool way of identifying adventurers!"
As Marc finished speaking, a lady approached their table and placed down the food Juro had ordered.
With the food finally arriving, they began eating while continuing their conversation. Bell, on the other hand, remained quiet as he ate, his thoughts returning to Juro's explanation about the adventurer cards and the black liquid.
"It's nice that he explains these things to the kids in simple terms. What he said isn't wrong. He's right about the black liquid being called Tears of Crystals."
Bell paused for a moment as he continued eating.
"I don't know if he intentionally didn't dive too deeply into it or if he genuinely doesn't know... but the black liquid is made when five different-colored mana crystals are mixed and crushed together before being melted. Ironically, when all those colors are mixed together, they turn black."
"They're usually commonly found in dungeons, but processing them is difficult without the devices and machines needed in the main Adventurer Guild."
Bell then turned his head toward Marc.
Marc was still eating when another question immediately came to mind.
"Teacher Juro, since we're already adventurers, what do adventurers normally do? Do they just go on dungeon hunting?"
Juro casually drank some soup before replying.
"Hmm... Adventurers basically take on all kinds of work, but instead, it's most commonly called a Quest."
Marc drank some water before looking back at Juro.
"Ooo... Quest?"