Interview?

Kayn and Charlotte left the White Hand Society inside the Society's personal carriage. Two animals Kayn didn't recognize pulled the carriage while the driver led them to their destination. The driver himself was always on standby at the Society as that was his job.

While they were inside of the carriage, Kayn was once again looking around like a country bumpkin. Unfortunately, Charlotte had to disrupt his sightseeing, "Kayn, before we arrive, there are a few things that you should know."

As Kayn's attention turned to her and she saw that he was paying attention, she began giving Kayn a run down of what to expect. But there was one thing she needed to be clear about with Kayn and warn him about after she explained the other monotonous things.

"I must warn you, with becoming a professor they will check your core and age. You will also need to register your mana signature within their system to have access to everything they provide you."

Kayn's eyes widened a bit as he wasn't sure what to do about the age check. He couldn't care less about them knowing his core strength as long as they didn't know his real age. As for having his mana signature, that should be fine as well as he could adjust what elements he used for it.

Every individual has a unique mana signature. Some people even made it their career to follow remnants left behind during crimes so that they could track down the perpetrator.

However, it definitely wasn't easy, and if one was knowledgeable about mana signatures, they could change their own temporarily. This was just one of the many advantages Kayn had as he could control his internal mana at will, unlike most.

"How do they check for my age? I have experience with an artifact that invaded my body and examined my bones, is it like that?" Kayn questioned as ever since that day he had been making preparations in the case he felt that same invading feeling again.

"Correct, it is a bone age checking artifact that will also read your core stage at the same time. You will stand inside of a device and it will examine your body and core. The device will simply scan your bones in order to tell your bone age.

"I'm still trying to figure out how to allow you to bypass this test as I don't have that kind of authority there." Charlotte stated as she was displaying a rare nervous expression that she hadn't shown in years.

"It's okay, Leader Erving. I have been working on how to mask my real age to devices that check my bones since a few months ago after my experience with the other artifact. While my method isn't perfect, I'm confident it will cause my age to appear older than I actually am."

Kayn smiled during his reply as he was mildly surprised that she was showing such concern for him. Especially after she had just threatened his life less than an hour ago.

Kayn just figured that she was a very black and white person. If you were on her good terms with her, she would treat you with trust and respect. Luckily, with the fact they were both of a mythic race as well as with Kayn being honest with her, he had landed in her good books to be someone to help and guide.

First and foremost, she wanted to keep everything about his identity a secret as well as she could. She discussed with him about what race he should say he belonged to, which Kayn already had well under control. She even expressed concern about what he would do with Lara, but Kayn told her that he had that under control as well.

Seeing as how the things that she was concerned with didn't seem like much of an issue for Kayn, she was able to calm down as well and began to tell Kayn about the sights they were seeing.

Even by carriage, it would take a few hours to arrive at the academy and then pass through the entrance checks. This was especially so due to all of the new students arriving for the new academic year that would begin within the month.

Fortunately, they were allowed to use a VIP entrance due to the guards recognizing the lavish carriage with the symbol of the White Hand Society on it. With a quick peak at Leader Erving's face, they were allowed entry without any issues.

The driver was instructed to wait with the carriage while Kayn held Lara and followed Charlotte to one of the several giant buildings that was placed around the academy's campus. Noticing the massive area that the campus covered and how many different buildings there were, Charlotte began to explain to the best of her knowledge how the academy worked.

Kayn was relieved to hear that as a professor, he would have access to the portal system so that he could get where he needed quickly without having to walk everywhere. It was one of the many privileges which professors got, that students didn't. Even the students classified as Prime students didn't have access to it unless accompanied.

There was a lot for Kayn to learn, so he tried to absorb all of the information that Charlotte was sharing as best as he could. Though, Charlotte did state that most of this knowledge came from the informational sheet that was sent with the job request. She hadn't spent much time here herself to know more in-depth information.

They arrived at their destination a few minutes later where they were greeted by an ensemble of people waiting by the entrance.

"Senior Erving, it's so nice to see you again." A man with white fur and floppy ears greeted them by giving a small bow towards Charlotte. "And you must be Healer Ashan, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Matias Alman, the headmaster of the Astaro Academy." Matias reached out his hand towards Kayn.

Shaking hands with Matias, Kayn put on his best respectful attitude and answered to the greetings. "I'm honored to meet you Headmaster Alman and I look forward to proving my qualifications for the professor position within your healing department."

"Haha! Quite respectful! Young looking as well! If I have to be honest with you, there won't be much proving your qualifications to us as you have been recommended by the famous Charlotte Erving herself. Come let's get the introductions and business matters over with so that we can move on to the pleasantries and get you situated here at the academy."

Headmaster Alman seemed to have a jovial attitude towards Charlotte and Kayn and even made it seem like Kayn would be able to skip most of the unpleasant process of actually interviewing and testing his abilities.

Once they all arrived inside of a massive reception room, the people who were within the group began to introduce themselves one by one. Kayn learned that most of them were actually professors or researchers of the healing department.

The one Kayn made sure to remember though was Vix Silvasta, as she was the head of the department of healing and would become Kayn's boss essentially.

Vix herself was a peak 5th stage healer who had been teaching at the academy for thousands of years and teaching new generations of healers was her greatest passion.

Once all of the introductions were out of the way, Headmaster Alman handed the conversation off to Vix Silvasta as it was her department that Kayn would be a part of.

She started off with the basics and that Kayn would be in charge of the first-year students. She was already aware of the stipulation Kayn had made and didn't have any issues with it. Kayn would also be in charge of his own lecture plan.

Professors had the leeway to teach how they wanted, but there were certain knowledge and spell requirements that his students must meet by the end of the year.

Though, if Vix was honest, she had never opened the healing classes to every element before. So, she wasn't sure how to test some of them in a practical sense, but that was something she and Kayn could discuss before the classes started.

Vix had known Charlotte for years and they were well acquainted with each other. She knew Charlotte's personality and for her to personally recommend and come to the interview with someone, they must be quite the accomplished and talented individual.

After explaining the basics, Headmaster Alman asked for all but the department leaders that were present to leave, which they promptly did after saying their farewells.

Vix then started speaking again, "Now, we will have you perform the age and core tests still, but I must say you look quite young, any secrets you'd care to share to help the rest of us maintain our youthful appearance?"

Her tone was playful, but inwardly she really wanted to know how he still looked in his late teens or early twenties as most mages outward aging process would slow down somewhere in their 30s.

Headmaster Alman just shook his head and continued on with the reason for this gathering. "We have been told that you specialize and are a master of the light element with a high affinity for water as well.

"We've also been told you're quite knowledgeable and skilled at healing magics including both diagnostics and treatment. Lastly, we were told you diagnosed and solved a mana poisoning case in only a few moments time.

"Normally we would question some of this information and continue on with our interview as usual. However, this was told to me by the woman sitting next to you, and no one has more authority when it comes to healing within the Empire aside from maybe the Lead Royal Healer.

"Since she is personally vouching for you, we will forgo the actual interview process. A few things though, are you actually interested in teaching the new generation, or is this just a job for you?

"We prefer professors who are passionate about what they do rather than just the field they are in. Secondarily, aside from the core and age check, there is a background check you must pass.

"Essentially, we just have you take a pill that will remove any form of facial disguise and then run your face through the Empire's database to ensure that you're not a wanted criminal. After that, we will save your mana signature's imprint into our system and that's it.

So, what is your answer to my question as well as any questions that you may have?"

Kayn smiled as none of this should be a problem for him. "I'm actually quite interested in teaching and I even want to honor and pass on my teacher's legacy to the next generation, hence why I had initially asked to allow mages of any element with interest in healing to be able to take my class.

"My teacher had a large influence on how I view the art of healing, and I would be more than happy to guide new hopefuls. As for questions, I don't really have any as everything has been answered previously or by Leader Erving."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow at Kayn since she knew he just lied, but with a gesture he made, she understood he would tell her later.

In fact, he was quite interested in knowing about how the criminal database and search worked, but he didn't want to seem ignorant in front of all of these people, especially when he would learn it soon anyway.