The old man’s voice rumbled across the vast chamber big enough to be a colosseum.

“The Bronze orbs stand for D-class, The Red orbs stand for C-class, the Silver Orbs stand for B-class, the Emerald orbs stand for A-class while… well, you know what the gold orbs stand for. The fabled S-class.

Now, I ask that you don’t get disappointed if the orb you receive is not gold. Those orbs rarely ever come down from there. If they do, then you might as well be witnessing a miracle,” the man’s voice was grave enough to send shivers down Alaric’s spine.

Not to mention the fact that as he said these words, his old eyes landed on Alaric’s.

[That man senses me] Alia’s voice filtered into Alaric’s mind.

[You can tell?] Alaric whispered back, [I haven’t stopped concealing you ever since we left the Five Hills.]

There was a faint chuckle from the hidden knight, [Your abilities as a magician are commendable but the fact that you’re only fifteen still stands. That man’s abilities are beyond your level.]

Alaric’s heart sank. It was one thing to speculate having been discovered but another to get a confirmation from a most trusted source.

Noticing his panic or at least that’s what Alaric thought it was, the platform floated down until it was only a few metres above their heads. Alaric thought he heard the sound of shuffling footsteps but he kept his eyes trained on the descending platform, “Young man, answer this truthfully. Are you a guard or an aspirant?”

Locking eyes with the old man, Alaric swallowed, ‘He’s not talking to me, is he?’

Alaric looked around himself and felt his face go pale as a sheet. The aspirants that had previously surrounded him were all at least a metre away leaving him with Darla and Finn at the centre of the circle.

…a guard…

‘What does this man think I am? Some sort of cheater?’ Alaric panicked.

Alia sighed, [Don’t forget to answer the question.]

‘Of course, he could see through my concealment spell,’ the boy sighed, ‘I was foolish to even believe I’d masked your presence well.’

[Alaric…] Alia groaned.

[Right.]

“Aspirant,” Alaric replied in the most collected way he could muster, which was borderline a squeak.

“Where from?”

The boy coughed his nerves away, now wondering whether he needed to prepare an answer to his favourite meal… “Five Hills.”

“Ah… Of course. Why didn’t I realise it sooner? You’re the Alaric boy,” the man’s face beamed.

“Alaric boy?” Alaric raised a brow at the man.

“That is your name, is it not?” the man asked, more hopeful than before.

“Yes…”

“Mm-hmm. I knew that was you. I’m glad you could make it. Greet Marla for me when you return to your home,” with that, the magical platform rose back up as the man turned away, “Without further ado, let the Appraisal begin.”

His words left no room for the murmurs and rumours that threatened to blow the roof off the Tower.

‘Who is that boy?’ ‘Is he friends with the Master?’ ‘He must be a noble.’ ‘From Five Hills, are you sober?!’ ‘Why else would the Master be interested in a boy from the Five Hills?’

A resonant hum filled the room, silencing the remnants of the rumours. Following the sound, the walls came to life with amber light that flowed in unique intricate patterns all around them starting from the ground and to the ceiling of floating orbs.

Once it was there, the glowing orbs vibrated and hummed as though they’d been rudely awoken from a peaceful slumber.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Then, they went still, casting the room into a still ominous silence.

Elder Gregory’s voice was the first to break the silence.

“I’d like you all to stand to one side of the room. Once you’ve received your orb, you’ll move to the other side so we know when everyone’s been properly appraised. We’ll start from D-class and work our way up,” the old man’s voice boomed.

Reluctantly, the Aspirants all moved to one side of the room. Alaric made sure to stay with his friends as they were now even closer to the other aspirants; aspirants they were already wary of.

As soon as there was enough order in the room, a large swath of bronze orbs lit up casting a brilliant hue on the starry sea of orbs. The sheer magnitude of the orbs that was glowing was so great that Alaric almost thought it exceeded the number of Aspirants in the room.

Alas, the number of Aspirants had to be greater considering Alaric had no way of knowing just how many they were.

There was a short period of silence as a deep sense of dread filled the hearts of the aspirants.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” a large boy a few meters ahead of Alaric dropped to his knees.

A ripple of murmurs started and began to grow more and more erratic. Alaric thought he heard a boy chuckle.

“I knew a lot of you were bronze good-for-nothings.”

“How can that many of us be D-class?” another said.

“This system has to be wrong somehow,” a girl shivered.

Alaric grabbed the hands of his two friends and pulled them closer to him. The bronze orbs descended and with that descent, something weird happened.

The sea of aspirants began to move like the undulating waves of an angry sea. Aspirants dove away from the approaching swarm of bronze orbs like they were trying to avoid a swarm of blood-sucking locusts.

They pushed and pulled at each other, some trying to throw weaker aspirants in the way of the approaching swarm of bronze orbs.

“I don’t like this,” Alaric groaned.

When the aspirants ahead of them turned to run, he glared at the ones directly ahead of them…

For a short second, they feared his towering built form more than the approaching orbs. Finn and Darla’s physiques weren’t so different from Alaric’s given the three children trained together. Alas, in the face of fear, there was no space for logic.

“Triangle formation,” Alaric ordered and his friends quickly obeyed. Darla and Finn positioned themselves with their backs turned to each other in a triangle, then raised their fists in silent anticipation.

Alaric allowed the aether in his body to spread to his friends with the sole intention of strengthening their bodies. It wasn’t a perfect spell… but it was enough to turn even Finn’s fist into the equivalent of a bowling ball.

No sooner had they done this than the running aspirants crashed into them. Alaric caught the first boy to jump at them by the torso, gritted his teeth and launched him back at the approaching mob with a grunt.

The next one he kicked straight in the gut and sent him flying straight back into the crowd.

“Aren’t you being a bit too rough, Alaric?” Darla called out in the fray.

“Not if I might end up breaking a limb,” Alaric grunted as he threw yet another aspirant back into the mob.

“SILENCE…” the powerful voice of the Tower Master boomed across the great chamber. The walls rattled, the floor rumbled and the air resonated with powerful magic as the man’s rage reached everyone’s being, freezing them in their spots.

Elder Gregory’s voice had cut through the chaos and frozen all the panicking aspirants in their tracks, “If you’re not brave enough to face your fate, then perhaps you were only ever worthy of D-class.”

These words put a stop to the harrowing panic. At the same time, however, they were proven accurate as most of the aspirants that had panicked found bronze orbs hovering above their heads.

“F**K,” a boy screamed.

“Restrain yourself, aspirant. Belonging to D-class doesn’t make you worthless,” Elder Gregory’s voice boomed.

Alaric recognized the boy to be the same one who had called out the thief allowed to attend the Appraisal Ceremony.

“I’m a noble. There is no way I’m a D-class garbage. No… I’m meant to be S-class. I know it. I’ve trained myself to be the best. I will be the best of the Elite Guard,” the boy screamed.

Sparks of lightning crackled around the boy before chains of gold snapped into existence, wrapping themselves around the enraged aspirant and restraining him tightly. Alaric looked up and noticed the spell had come from the old man. With a wave of his hand, the boy was cast to the side of the room they’d cleared for aspirants that had been appraised.

“I’ll make myself clear. Your appraisal will help you make better decisions. You say you’ve trained yourself to be the best. It seems you missed a crucial lesson in your training.

Grow up. The world will not bend over for you just because Daddy has all the money in the world,” the old man spat.

His face, for a brief moment, had contorted into a disgusted grimace so grotesque that he might have been a demon himself. The transformation lasted a brief second before he regained his composure.

Now then, D-class is assessed purely because of power, in most cases, aether output but there is more than one way to utilize the power of a guardian. Some things in this world require a delicate touch rather than a fist. This very Tower was built by a brilliant architect who was D-class.

There are great engineers, architects, Seekers, farmers, Scholars and performers that have risen from that class, so don’t feel disheartened. Your limits are your attitude, imagination and the will to forge a great future for yourself,” the man’s words were enough to calm the group down after the disgraceful display by the ungrateful noble.

Alaric’s heart was racing just by watching the abhorrent act. Of course, despite everything, he also understood why the boy was so angry.

Even though old man Gregory's words were true, he’d intentionally left out jobs like Soldier, Mage, Adventurer or even Slayer… because no one in D-class ever got accepted into the Guardian Academy.

They didn’t possess enough power to oppose demons, especially powerful ones.