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A guild is an association or congregation that oversees the practice of one particular trade, craft or profession. In this world, guilds were established to regulate certain systems that transcended political and geographical boundaries. This was because the two factors, politics and geography, are always in flux.

For instance, let's assume that the oversight of one particular trade, craft or profession is performed by one political entity such as the Solar Empire. Although it may look stable at the current time point, there is no guarantee that the dynasty will persist a hundred years from now. This uncertainty does not bode well for the aforementioned systems since the turnover of control following the fall of one dynasty and the rise of another is often succeeded by a mass cleansing and rebuilding of pre-established infrastructure.

Along the same lines, it is also possible for the entity that takes on the responsibility to oversee the trades, crafts and professions to tamper with the economics of the particular fields resulting in instability, loss of work, monopolisation, and so on.

Therefore, early on, groups of individuals specialising in these systems came together and established guilds to tackle this problem.

In fact, there are a plethora of guilds present in this world, ranging from fields that are tied to magecraft, and those that aren't such as merchant's guild, playwright's guild, sailor's guild, and so on.

These guilds work to level the playing field so that new entrants and old members can both flourish without conflicting with each other's interests. They also work by keeping records and publicising key information amongst their members so that the area the guild specialises in can persevere and flourish.

It is to be noted that guilds cannot interfere with the workings of businesses and organisations apart from enforcing strict standards and market regulation laws. This is so that there is a clear baseline governing everything, which persists universally.

The Smithing and Enchanting Guild is special in that it is actually an amalgamation of two guilds. Due to the bond that is shared between the two crafts, the executive members from the two guilds felt that it would be beneficial to tie the knot and merge. Thus, the new guild catered to both the mortal folk that practised smithing and the mages that specialised in enchanting.

While the marriage between the two guilds was harmonious on paper, it wasn't the case when observed under a microscope. Two tigers may have the same eating behaviour and it may seem logical to place them in close vicinity of each other, but as the old adage states, "one mountain cannot contain two tigers."

Enchanting is in many ways an extension of smithing. This meant that an enchanter could find work as a smith during off times. While this may be advantageous for the enchanter, it is not the case for the many nonmagical smiths that are left unemployed. Essentially, organisations felt that it was economical to hire one enchanter to double as a regular smith while paying them a slightly higher salary.

On that note, it is not accurate to write off smithing as inferior to enchanting. In a world that is primarily inhabited by nonmagical beings, a regular weapon, armour or trinket is more beneficial than one which is enchanted because the user cannot activate and sustain the powers contained in the enchanted item with a measly mana pool. However, a single enchanted item can contend with multiple unenchanted items of the same type.

Ultimately, this led to a massive lay-off of smiths all across the world. With the economic powers shifting in favour of the enchanters, it resulted in the formation of a hierarchical split. The enchanters started to enforce their superiority amongst their fellow smiths both through monetary advantage and martial superiority and started to further encroach into the nonmagical smiths' businesses.

This disparity nearly evolved into a full-blown conflict between the two parties and threatened to split apart the guild from its roots. However, the executive members managed to quench the spreading embers by drawing clear boundaries and establishing strict non-compete clauses in the way the members could operate.

They implemented a law that restricted licensed enchanters from working as smiths, lest they face harsh fines and possible expulsion from the guild's ranks. This meant that once an individual earned an enchanter's license, they were no longer allowed to sell nonmagical artefacts in the regulated markets. They also established additional measures to ensure that the nonmagical smiths weren't suppressed and could afford equal benefits as their enchanter comrades, such as purchasing priorities and so on.

With these new laws, the new guild began behaving like a couple in a shaky marriage. Neither side interfered with the other's interest, but they still maintained a facade of content matrimony.

To date, tensions persist between nonmagical smiths and enchanters. However, due to the existence of the guild's bylaws, both sides have to put up with each other and rough it through the conflicts.

As a result of these laws, businesses nowadays that want to sell both enchanted and unenchanted items have to contract smiths and enchanters to forge them respectively. Karmin Zola was a 2-star Smith who was currently facing a grave problem because of this requirement.

He was a 39-year-old man who had an air of maturity around him, which was cultivated through his tumultuous and rigorous life. As a son of an insignificant peasant, Karmin toiled diligently to enter the apprenticeship of a local smith and later graduated at a record speed of four years.

From a young age, Karmin had ambition and wanted to become rich. During his youth, due to the growing tensions between nations, he decided to become a smith to supply weaponry when the impending war finally broke out. His speculation rang true just a year after his graduation when a massive conflict erupted between the Solar Empire and the neighbouring Blackstar Kingdom. Karmin quickly offloaded his accumulated wares and earned a fortune, which he later invested to start his own blacksmithing business.

Karmin wasn't a genius, and he knew that. Even though he graduated from apprenticeship much earlier than others, it wasn't because he was an accomplished individual. He worked himself to the bone and rushed through the whole process just so that he could get himself up and running before the war struck. Evidently, his gambit paid off handsomely and he walked out with enough capital to self-fund his venture.

Yet, once he entered the market, Karmin quickly figured out that as an unlicensed practitioner, his business couldn't compete with others that were backed by a licensed smith. Those businesses were offered greater opportunities, lower purchasing prices, a wider pool of markets, and many other subsidised benefits.

Karmin wasn't stupid. He knew that there would be no future for him if he decided to toil along as an unlicensed smith. While he could still make a living, it would only be enough for him to pass his days peacefully. That was not what he had set out to do initially.

As a capable businessman, Karmin was quick to identify his weaknesses and equally quick in addressing them. He immediately applied for a smithing practitioner's license and passed the test with his robust foundations.

Although he could've pushed ahead and tested for the 1-star license, Karmin decided to maintain caution and worked towards it steadily. He had observed many upstart smiths, without any background, rising up the ranks too quickly and getting railroaded into an unfavourable position. He obtained his 1-star license within five years, and the 2-star license in seven. With an increase in stars, his business started to flourish and his coffers began overflowing.

Very quickly, though, Karmin faced his first roadblock. He found that his business could not expand any further with his 2-star license. He thought of working towards a 3-star license, but Karmin realised that it was only advisable if he wanted to pursue a researching track. As a businessman, 2-stars was sufficient.

He considered contracting a more advanced smith, but he dropped that idea as well after he realised that the process would not be so simple. Taking in a 3-star smith would require him to hand over a sizeable portion of his revenues to them as payment for their loyalty. That didn't sit right with Karmin. He was the one who worked his ass off and built the business from scratch. Why should he hand over a part of it to someone else?

That left him with one final option, expanding horizontally. In simpler terms, if increasing the scope of the business within the current field was not optimal, why not expand into another, similar field? Thus, Karmin decided to start selling enchanted items through his business.

Though this led to another blockade. As he was already well into his middle ages, he had missed the most optimal time to enter the path of magic. When he was younger, he lacked resources, but as an adult, he lacked the vigour and malleability of youth. It truly was a dreary prospect. Karmin began brainstorming possible solutions, but he ended up short in nearly all of them.

Because he frenziedly worked through the ranks to reach his current position, Karmin had put off marriage and siring offspring. Resultantly, he lacked heirs that he could depend on to become enchanters and possibly support his business. He considered adoption, however, he wasn't confident in their loyalties.

Ultimately, he was only left with one option and that was to hire an enchanter. Luckily, due to the guild's bylaws, a 1-star enchanter was equally ranked as a 1-star smith, even though the former was technically a mage. This meant he didn't have to sacrifice an arm and a leg to bring one into his business.

Still, that didn't mean that an enchanter's ego was at the same level. Due to their affinity to magic, enchanters felt themselves superior to Karmin, even though his net worth was a hundred times their's.

He had tried catering to some of their interests and bending over a little. But those pricks didn't cede even a little ground. Most of them didn't even bother meeting him.

With his shoulders hung low, Karmin trudged through the guild's entrance and walked towards the Networking Hall.

The Networking Hall was technically a mess hall that was open to the guild personnel and members. They would serve food three times a day. Its alternate purpose was to act as a means of connecting with other members of guilds. Many partnerships and ventures were birthed in this hall.

Karmin didn't hold much hope, but he wanted to give it his all, just like everything he had attempted in his life.

Right as he entered the hall, an interesting conversation brushed past his ears.