Aspiring Mage

The ceremony proceeded as expected, most of the participants were already from a house, so that didn't change at all, they knew for which house they would be selected before being called.

This year had almost 60 recruits what was the average of new mages of every year, but only three outsiders. Me, Edward, and the girl that I didn't have the chance to speak to until now.

'I think it will be a problem if I keep killing mages like this, maybe I should just leave and go back to Lathrium. But I don't know if I ever will find Scullery if I go back now...'

The ceremony consisted of the participant going again to the center of the arena while the Grand Master of the four houses stands on a high platform selecting them.

Name by name, everyone was called and went back to the line after that.

"Edward Jister" Elfisia spoke.

Edward was nervous, but he tried very hard not to show it while walking towards the center of the arena.

As soon as he reached the center, Adel Launath raised his hand signaling that Edward is now part of the Valzor House.

Being part of this house was an honor, but it had a low recruit survival rate due to its intense training so rarely did new blood selected by them survive.

Edward knew that, but he didn't let that feeling show as he bowed and walked out of the arena.

'He may be weak, but he is insistent, if he was selected for Valzor House, then the same should happen to me. I will keep an eye on him to make sure he stays alive.'

I was called a little after him because this call was also in alphabetical order.

'Valzor needs the best fighters and my fighting style should fit right there, as I'm better at direct combat than being summoning spells from a distance.'

But as soon as Gremory reached the center of the arena, the person to raise his hand was Kluster Bhuor the Grand Master of Viridian House.

'What, why? Edward said that Viridian House was exclusive to the fire mages!'

Viridian House had a name of a jewel because it was considered the preciousness of human beings, magicians with pure destructive power that guaranteed victory on the battlefields, and because of that, they never accepted anyone who was not of the element of fire.

It was obvious to most people present with some knowledge of magic that the boy's abilities were not common, yet what was on everyone's mind was that his power was wind. So most of the people present were stunned after the revelation.

Gremory was stuck in place while facing the Grand Master and without realizing he delayed the reverence. But as soon as he noticed this, copying the shape of the previous people, Gremory bowed briefly and left the arena.

'What am I going to do now?'

The event ended without any major surprises, the girl from before was selected for Plynty House.

Derlvit ended, and we were transported to a big castle that was in the center of the city, a gala event was prepared for that night. My clothes were worn out, but luckily Joseph had prepared suitable clothes for the occasion in advance.

It took me a long time to adjust to the new clothes, they were beautiful, but unfortunately limited my movement a lot.

As a result, I ended up being one of the last to arrive in the great hall, the event was reserved only for members of the Major Houses of the Empire, so Joseph and any other guest were not allowed inside. The hall was huge and divided into two floors with a large opening in the roof on the first floor, so you could see that the second floor was much more crowded than the first.

On the first floor were all the recruits and on the second were the veterans.

As soon as I entered I could see that I was no longer ignored as before, several aspiring magicians came to congratulate me and ask for tips on mana control. Unfortunately, nothing I said would help them...

The ranks inside the houses were separated between Aspiring Mage, Mage, Veteran Mage, Senior Mage, Master Mage, and the single position for the strongest person, Grand Master. Now we all were Aspiring Mage.

Among all these people I could see Edward talking to that girl from before, Edward had dressed up as much as possible but still wore the same clothes torn by the fighting in the arena.

I walked towards them.

"Hey Edward, I didn't think you were so strong to be selected by Valzor House, congratulations." I said to cheer him up.

"Congratulations on what? I will probably be dead by next year. The day I found out I had mana was the best day of my life, in the place I lived there weren't many prospects for the future, so I thought maybe I would be able to become strong and help my family who still lives in the same place. But how will I be able to do this if I don't survive until I become a real mage?" He replied while clenching his fists

"Don't be so hard on yourself, if they selected you then there must be a reason, I'm sure you will become very strong in the future."

'I don't know how hard these training and missions are, but I doubt that he will survive much.'

"He is right Edward, you can't give up before you even try." The girl spoke.

"I won't give up, I'm just saying the obvious Hely." He spoke frustratedly.

'Going over this subject will not help at all.'

"So your name is Hely, nice to meet you. My name is Gremory."

"I know who you are, I think everyone does ... What you did in the arena was very impressive, was there a mage training you?" She answered.

"Something like that."

"How did you get someone to train you? I was told that not even children born into a family of mages can be trained until officially entering one of the Major Houses."

"It's because he wasn't a mage, just a wise warrior."

"That explains your fighting style" Edward spoke.

"Hey, since we are the only outsiders I think we should stick together." Hely spoke to both of us.

'She is right, I don't know these people yet and to be honest, I was afraid that there would be some discrimination due to our origins. The old man always said to be careful in the presence of the nobility.'

The party continued for a while, it seems that Hely has difficulty controlling her powers but managed to get in just where she wanted. As for Edward, he was concerned that he would not return alive to his family.

Along with me, another 5 Aspiring Mages officially joined Viridian House. They are Luther, Kiel, Mary, Xander, and Yuno.

Marquis Joseph had told me about them before, and it was very easy to identify them due to their red robes.

During the whole party they were staring at us, at first I thought it wouldn't be a problem until they all started walking towards us.

With my hand behind my back, I quickly summon Stickyt and hide it inside my shirt sleeve.

I pretend not to notice the approach until one of them comes up to me and says.

"Grand Master Kluster Bhuor wants to speak with you and has entrusted us with the task of taking you to him, please follow us"

'It seems that I will have to kill some more'

"Show the way" I answer.