After a few hours of waiting and lining, Selica and Shellon was finally able to reach to the proper line directly connecting to the foot of the mountain. At this point, they can already see uniformed guards standing on the side, keeping the applicants safe from the vultures who have been feasting on them earlier.

By this time Selica and Shellon have already become comfortable enough with each other to start a friendly conversation. Selica, as a token of good will towards her new friend and as an apology for being hostile towards him, told him about his reason why she wants to be in Magecraft City.

"Huh, that's kind of hard. For both you and your parents." Shellon commentes after Selica told her side of the story.

"It is. My parents doesn't deserve the hate. That's why I decided to leave." Selica adds. "I couldn't stand them being ostracized like that just because of me."

"So you don't really mind if you don't get accepted in the city, then?" Shellon adds. "You do know the city can only accept a select few individuals to be a part of their slowly expanding city, right?"

"What? There's a limit?" Selica is speechless. She hopes that just by being a mage it would be enough for her to be accepted.

"Yup, if I recall only around 500 to 1000 residents are accepted depending on the size of the new district." Shellon explains. "And it takes them months to deliberate who would be accepted, that's why there's a city here."

"Then what happens to those who don't get accepted?" Selica asks.

Shellon nods towards their surroundings in response. "This is where they stay, hoping to line up again to get a chance to be accepted in Magecraft City the next time their doors open for new tenants." Shellon gives a small coin to a begging child by the street. It's a different coin than what Selica is used to, probably came from that Ben Hallow place.

There's a somberness here, Selica thinks. Yes the city streets bloom in a bustling spree of lively people and magic, but it's as if there's a lack of direction with everyone. You can see it in between those who are lining up to take the city's test and those who are just walking by the street. Ambition and goal can really change a person's demeanor regardless of what or how they look. And for Selica, this seems to go against what a mage is for her, she has personally always looked towards the future during her arcane studies. Further extending her personal goalpost to keep her motivated in being a better mage.

"Why do they stay here?" Selica utters. For her, the Wizard Ward doesn't seem to fit what a proper mage's workshop is for her. "Because, despite how squalid the Wizard Ward may look, it's still a great place to be live as a mage." Shellon replies. "You can only count with one hand the different Mage Havens out there in total. Being the downtown version of one is already a good compromise as it has the same effect of what you were searching for in Magecraft City, only in a lesser degree." Shellon answers as he waves his hand to someone offering him another rental space to stay in. "And despite all of that, they are still living in Silicon City. One of the more prosperous coastal cities out there thanks to both it's bountiful sea side commerce and the prestige their upstairs neighbor brings to them."

Selica is astounded by his new friend's reply, which gave her the courage to finally ask him the question back to him. "How about you Shellon. Why do you want to go to Magecraft City?"

"Me? Well. I'm not sure if you'll understand, but there's a rite of passage for us military mage retirees." Shellon begins to explain. "See after we retire in service, we all go back to our homes and those who wishes to travel and explore new lands would meet up here in Magecraft City, get rejected in the tenant interview, and meet up down here in Silicon city to reunite before to beginning our actual quest."

Selica was about to retort back, but Shellon stops her with a finger. "Yes, it does sound weird. But it's tradition at this point, and there hasn't been any harm in doing it."

Selica does another look at Shellon. He might be rugged but you can never mistake him as an old man. "Still, you're too young to retire."

"Surprisingly, it was not my choice to retire, it was my captain's." Shellon smiles while hearing an unintended complement. "After an incident, my captain went against our superior's order and defected in the mission where the incident happened. Lot's of trouble ensued, I'm honestly lucky to be alive at this point. Fortunately we and the top brass were able to have a compromise; we get to avoid court martial and keep our necks attached, but we have to abandon our service without any benefits and our names will be removed from the memoriam." Shellon's explanation drags his cheery tune into a somber voice. He grabs his plastic ID once more and stares at it for a while. "So technically, none of what's written here exists anymore." He places his ID back to his pocket.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Selica now feels a tinge of shame from her comment. "I didn't mean-"

"It's alright." Shellon comforts to young girl, he shifts his melancholic tone back to an optimistic one. "Still despite what I just said, I still can't get over the fact that a place like this exist. A city with mages all eager to collaborate with each other. I and my division where one of the few rare groups in service back in Ben Hallow who can actually sense and use magic. Imagining a whole city of us is still something I can't comprehend myself." Selica feels the same. All her life she was the only mage she knew that exists aside from the authors who wrote the books she's read. To see another mage at all is still something too fresh for her to process.

After several hours exhaustingly lining up, Selica and Shellon finally reaches their destination. Well, more of a checkpoint of their desired destination. At the finish line of their arduous lining up is a large brass gate guarded by soldiers armed from head to toe. From what Selica can saw from those who came before her, the brass gates hides a large lit corridor manned by more soldiers inside with another gate at the end of the hall.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"You two, you're up!" The guards call up both Selica and Shellon.

"Okay!" Selica stands up straight and starts marching forward with Shellon happily towing behind.

As the two closes in to the gate, the bronze doors creaks as they automatically open by themselves. Inside there is one straight path flanked by two glass-covered booths with soldiers inside. The floor and ceiling are made from ceramic, or is it marble? Selica's vision seems to flicker as the dull white interior of the corridor puzzles her mind.

"Alright come on in. There's still a long line behind you two." The exterior guards coerces the two to enter the corridor. Once inside, Selica finally notices the other details within the hallway. There's a small set of columns maintaining the small office decorated with an aquamarine finish with different arcane runes etched on them.

"Okay, names please." The guard within the booth speaks. He brings up a ledger book and a pen and waits for the two's response.

"Oh yes. My name is Selica Bursnan, I'm 14 years old and I came from-" Selica starts stating her details.

"Yes, yes. What is your magical practice, girl?" The guard waves off most of her information aside from her name.

"Practice? Oh, oh yes." She brings out the book in her pocket once again and starts doing her incantation. Then finally she says the word "Blossom" then a flower magically sprouts from her open hand. "Huh," The guard is intrigued, but not soo much. "May I see your book little girl?"

"Oh yes, of course." She slid her book into the open space in the glass booth. The guard carefully opens her book and inspects every page. He asks a few muffled questions to his partner and then returns the book to the girl. "A Book Savant. Young and full of potential." The guard notes Selica's status and smiles. "You have a good chance in being accepted up there kid. Good luck to you!" "Thank you sir!" Selica's face flushed like sunrise. All the hours she has worried herself of being insufficient in being accepted were washed away almost immediately. Her dreams of being part of this prestigious city feels like it's about to become a reality. "Hold on, sir." The other guard has finally notices Shellon. "What's your name and practice sir? Also may we ask for you to open the box behind your back.

"Oh yes of course." Shellon slid over his ID to the guards and opens the box carefully. Inside is a preciously maintained bolt-action rifle. It has a wooden frame intricate with radial designs.

One look at the gun and the guard immediately looks up to Shellon. "Sir this is a Mage Haven City. Non-mages are not accepted here."

"Relax I am a mage." Shellon opens up the bolt mechanism and showed the gun from the inside. "This gun here is a catalyst for my spell you see."

"And what spell is that sir? The guards cautiously asks.

"Magic missile." Shellon answers confidently.

"Is that the only spell it could channel?" The guard ask again. "Yes, well you see." Shellon fumbles a bit, "That's the only spell that I know off."

The corridor grew silent as the guards examines Shellon and the gun respectively. Even Selica knows that Magic Missile is one of the simplest spells a mage could ever use. Shellon is barely considered a mage if the only thing he could cast is magic missile.

"With all due respect Lieutenant." The guard carefully places the rifle back inside the box and carefully closes it. Returning both the box and his ID back to him. "This may not be the city for you." "What do you mean?" Shellon's face starts to go hard. Selica can see that Shellon seems to be readying himself for the guard's criticism. "If we maybe frank sir. And as a token to your service. We'd like to advice you that the city might not be looking for your type of mage within the city. Magecraft City prospers between the height and potential of all its residents inside." The guard waves his hand toward Selica. "For example, this young girl's magic is ideal to what the city usually finds; controlled, flexible and can easily built upon its foundations to achieve a new magical frontier. Yours sir is very one-note and could be barely be considered magic up there for them." The guard laid it out the facts in front of the retired soldier.

"But I'm still allowed to participate in the test, yes?" Shellon pleads for his case. His voice is a bit shaken but still hopeful. "Of course sir." The guard straightens up. "I'd just like to give you forewarning about the potential outcome during the test." He whispers a bit with his fellow guards. "But we do have a proposal. If ever things doesn't pan out upstairs sir, we can easily recommend you to our city captain for a job position with us."

Shellon felt defeated, but he still carries a smile as he collects his stuff. "Thank you for your warning, soldier." The soldier carries back his gun case in his back. "But I will want to try my luck first upstairs before considering options here, if you don't mind." The guards reflexively salutes at Shellon. "Of course, we wish you the best of luck!" The other bronze gate starts to open. On the other side of the hallway is a large circular teleportation sigil crowds by multiple people waiting for their time to move. "Shellon, that was..." Selica words trails off, though the guards might have tried to be courteous with their words, the pang of that realization might be too much for Shellon. She remembers their talk about him expecting to fail the interview, but the person in front of her right now wasn't someone being carefree about their application. It really does seem, at the very least, Shellon wants a fair shot in getting accepted in the city. "Don't worry about it kid." He places his hand over the nervous Selica, trying to comfort her instead. "Besides, shouldn't you be excited? That was some good appraisal from the guards there about your chances. You should be happy right now."

Selica is happy, but she doesn't want it to be out of another's expense. "Yes I am, but I was hoping that we could actually have a chance to be both residents together. I mean together separately not together together!" Selica was having a somber moment, until she realizes what she was insinuating and immediately backs up a bit. But Shellon just continues laughing, his wind-beaten face has only shown happiness when Selica is involved. "I know, I know. Hey you should get into the teleportation circle soon."

"Huh, what about you? Aren't we going together?" Selica asks.

"Ah, no. I'm waiting for some of my friends here. We all agreed to meet in the circle instead of lining up together." Shellon looks at Selica and notices her worry. "I'm fine. I'm not going to accept the guard's offer already. Now go!"

The teleportation spell in the circle has been activates once again, people are already getting ushered in for the next trip. Selica took one last look at Shellon before leaving, the first friend she met in her journey, and this might actually be their good bye already. "Okay, but I better see you up there. You here me?" A single tear starts to roll as Selica begins running towards the circle. "I'm not going to say good bye because we'll meet again. Okay?" Shellon waves at the rushing child. If he is not part of the frontier, he might already have a kid as the same age as Selica. "Sure kid. See you later!"