Eventually, the entire assessment process was concluded. No one else after Aiden had any rank assessment that was equally surprising or more so.
The king and his wife then stood up alongside their daughter Amelia, who followed as they left the upper level of the hall and made their way back to the palace.
The palace, incidentally, was positioned not far from the academy.
Everyone else remained settled in their seats as the Grand Magus walked toward the center of the halls and began speaking.
"We have officially concluded the assessment process. I, Thamoryn Gahaerys, Grand Magus of the Kingdom of Xathia, welcome you all to Oakenheart Academy."
There was a brief pause before she continued.
"You are all to return to the academy tomorrow for the Induction Ceremony. New accommodations are currently being prepared as we speak, so pack lightly, because after the ceremony is complete, the academy building will become your new home."
There was a brief murmur from the new mage intakes until the Grand Magus tapped her staff once more on the floor, which brought down the noise again.
Then she continued, "I believe the guild captains have something for some of you," as she turned her gaze toward the segmented areas where guild captains and their mages sat.
Slowly, all eight guild captains stood. Six of them were male captains and two were female. They held paper tags that bore their guild insignias.
They all moved first to the area where commoners sat, which stung the hearts of the nobles watching.
Guild invitations were generally only offered to mages after they had passed through the academy induction process.
However, some mages who impressed these guild captains during the assessment process might receive special invitations ahead of time.
These special invitations came in the form of the tags carried by the guild captains.
They distributed their tags among certain people of interest in the commoners’ section, and Aiden received tags from all eight captains.
Ambrose received tags from a few captains, and Laela received tags from most captains.
When Daylor, the elven guild captain, approached Laela, he had a smile on his face as if trying to intentionally charm his kinfolk into ensuring she joined his guild.
A few others from the commoners’ section who showed promise also received invitation tags.
The remaining tags were then taken to where the nobles sat and distributed to a few of them.
This was the first year where commoners had received preference over nobles.
Now that the invitations had been completely distributed and the guild masters had returned to their seats, the Grand Magus said, "That officially brings us to the end of the assessments. I’ll be seeing you all soon."
At this point, different doors at the corners of the hall leading outside were opened.
"Take the exits closest to you and move out as orderly as you entered," Thamoryn instructed.
She stood and watched as the robed guild members and their captains remained seated, since they didn’t need to go anywhere outside the building and just had to wait until the new entries had left.
Slowly, the new entries began leaving the halls. This included Ambrose, who chose not to stay as the Grand Magus had instructed him to do.
The moment Aiden stepped outside, a notification screen appeared before him.
[Daily Mission: Get Into The Magic Academy → Complete]
[+2 Available Stats Points]
[You have gained +200xp]
This was part of the daily missions he had to complete today.
The other two were:
[Head to the Market to Purchase New Clothing]
[Reward: 150xp]
[Bonus Reward: +1 point to Endurance stat]
And:
[Make a New Friend]
[Reward: 200xp]
[Bonus Reward: +2 Stats Points]
The last daily mission was where the problem lay. That was his real concern because if there was one thing he was terrible at, it was making friends.
Side and Special Quests still remained to be assigned, so nothing on those yet, and his Permanent Quest section still remained as it was: "Lose his virginity."
He sighed and shook his head, then continued on his way.
It turned out Laela also had her eyes out searching for Aiden, but when she couldn’t spot him among the crowd, she continued on her way.
Most people, however, were paired up, discussing the events of what had transpired that day.