A grin appeared on Haman’s face as he stood up and, together with his friends, walked toward Ambrose.
Generally, Haman was taller and had an imposing figure. He had also recently beco a Junior-ranked mage.
Ambrose turned his head upward to look at Haman’s grinning face, and then said, "Move."
Haman looked at him with shock at first, then started laughing out loud. He turned to his friends and said, "The new mage asked to move."
His friends laughed with him too. There wasn’t anything particularly funny; these were simply bullies trying to prey on a lower-ranked mage.
Then the laughter stopped, and Haman lowered his head toward Ambrose and said, "You think you’re top of the food chain because you cleared a C-rank dungeon?"
Ambrose sighed, then looked back at him and said, "You asked for it."
He stretched out both hands slightly, and instantly Haman and two of his friends behind him lost their clothing.
They had been rendered stark naked in front of several other guild mbers, who were at this point laughing so hard at the sight of their tiny pee pees, and at how they had just been embarrassed by a new mage.
Their clothes were held in both of Ambrose’s hands, after which he let them fall to the ground. He had used his magic to steal their clothes off their bodies without warning.
Ambrose took a step to the side and walked past them, heading toward the captain’s door.
The three of them had been too mortified to do anything other than scramble for their clothes and, in an attempt to hide their nakedness, ran away into one of the guild rooms to change back into their uniforms.
...
Ambrose was now within the Guild Captain’s office, and standing to his side was Talen.
Cassian had blonde hair and a scar on the left side of his face, and Talen had lighter blonde hair that people sotis mistook for white.
Talen was the number one mage in the Academy student rankings and the only student mage at the Arcane rank.
Every other student mage was at best Senior-ranked.
Captain Cassian began imdiately as he wasn’t one to waste ti on unimportant things in general.
"After seeing what you could do in that dungeon, I ca to this decision. I am bringing you under my tutelage. With that rare magic in your possession, you can do more than just taking hearts, eyes, or any other organs from monsters," he said, sounding really interested in the potential the young mage held.
Ambrose didn’t exactly see a need to refuse. In fact, if there was anything he wanted, it was to see his magic grow and get far better than what he currently showed.
His lips curled into a devious smirk, and then he said, "You have my full subordination."
"Just what I wanted to hear," Cassian said, then turned toward Talen and nodded his head.
Talen understood what had to be done, and from his pocket he pulled out a small pouch of gold and moved it over toward Ambrose.
Cassian then said, "Normally, Academy-ranked mages do not get paid for doing guild missions until they are Initiates. But this is my guild, and I reward outstanding performance. That’s how we’ve stayed number one."
Ambrose took the pouch and checked its contents to see if it contained gold coins, then raised his head toward Captain Cassian and nodded in acknowledgnt.
...
Back at the training hall, Aiden had just concluded his practice, letting out a deep breath at the end.
The system brought out the reward screen;
[Daily Mission: Rehearse your sword forms and martial arts skills → Complete]
[ 3 Available Stats Points]
[You have gained 600xp]
Almost imdiately, Kayden was done too. Quite frankly, he had been done a while back but couldn’t stop because he didn’t want to seem to be slacking against Aiden.
Morgan, the instructor, had at so point returned to the training hall but instead chose to stand by the doorway and watch as both the young lord and Aiden went through several training practices.
When they both had co to a halt, Morgan walked in. He slightly bowed toward Kayden and said, "Young Lord," in respect.
Then he took a look at Aiden and said, "Your martial arts skills are crude and far from the real thing, but you move your sword like a knight. Clearly you’ve had so practice, can I ask where?"
"I had friends who were soldiers," Aiden replied, and he wasn’t lying either.
He had spent most of his ti around the knights of the palace and was the only one of Jarius’s sons who seed more interested in taking their customary combat practices seriously.
"But what does it matter? Sword fighting and throwing punches? They do not offer any real protection against magic," Kayden said, wondering why the whole talk of swords was even a discussion.
"The Kingdom of Zahka doesn’t think so. Unlike in Xathia and most of the other kingdoms, Zahka has the most formidable practitioners of martial arts and swordsmanship. The mages of that kingdom are simply used as healers and entertainers, nothing more," Morgan said.
One could tell he was speaking as one who had traveled extensively and seen different cultures and practices of other kingdoms.
"Pathetic!" Kayden said, shaking his head.
"Well, I’ll be taking my leave now," Aiden said, before bowing slightly to the instructor and taking his leave.
Morgan kept his eyes on Aiden all the way until he left the training room.
....
The rest of the day went by normally. Aiden had no side or special quests either, since the last completed one. They were still "to be assigned."
...
Then the next day ca, the day of exams to determine the next set of Initiates.
In the early hours of morning, the crows had arrived to do their work, which was to wake these mages and deliver instruction notes.
These notes shared across the rooms had inford the eligible students to be at the exam halls.
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