There was a heavy atmosphere as everyone waited for the names to be called out from the list. The names of the candidates on that list are said to be exemplary candidates who will get a shot at joining the prestigious mage royal academies.

Unlike the mage schools, the prestigious royal mage academies are one of the best schools to learn about mana arts. There is a vast amount of knowledge about mana arts tending from elemental, psychic, and even mutation mana arts techniques recorded in a very detailed manner. They even have powerful incantations, secret training methods, and even the ancient relics and equipment used by the most powerful mages to walk the world stored in these academies.

If you perform well, there is a high chance the royal academy will hand you down those things as a reward.

Also, there is a top variety of world-class mages working as instructors who teach young mages in person. They can easily help you learn and unlock the hidden mystery of mana arts in no time and you will be guaranteed to be a great mage under their guidance. Some instructors sometimes take a liking to a student and make them their personal pupils imparting their special skills and secret arts as their successors.

Even if you fail to become a special pupil, there are still bountiful resources from precious potions, medicinal herbs, mana-replenishing pills, mana equipment, magic grimoires, magic-rich training environments, and many more!

Apart from individual benefits, your family also gets a lot of benefits.

Once you join the royal academy, you and your family would be elevated to high-class citizenships directly giving you more perks. You and your family members could roam anywhere and make a home in any part of the kingdom without any restrictions. On top of that, you get the insurance that would cover any damage to your home or your belongings by the government’s insurance company. They even lower the taxes and give a discount on medical expenses to all your family members. Gaining access to participate in meetings regarding the development and welfare of your city. You and your family members are also eligible to vote for the governor of your town or even participate by getting elected yourself to be the governor.

Most of the candidates here aimed to rise to a high-class society.

These kids were brainwashed by their parents to at least achieve this much as their parent's hopes were riding on these. They might be having bad circumstances like poverty, or illness or even debt collectors could be after them. We can’t say which is which.

Thankfully my parents didn’t really care about the status.

But if I join the royal mage academy, it will certainly lower my family’s burden quite significantly.

But it's not easy entering the royal mage academies.

Normally, these academies are filled to brim with students from high-class society, aristocrats, nobles, and even some students affiliated with the royal family.

The royal mage academy is the euphoria of all rising mages.

There are 9 such royal academies in our kingdom accepting only the best and very promising mages only. They allow the lowborn if they show promise with their ability and skills, giving them scholarships.

Although most of these students are here because of their noble house backing them or their noble blood. So basically aristocrats and nobles have it quite easy.

Meanwhile, the high-class students really have to work their backs to stay inside the royal academy. These high-class bunches are found in abundance even in mage schools as well.

Meanwhile candidates like us, the purple bracelet holders won’t even get a chance to meet with a noble, let alone be given an opportunity to attend school alongside them like equals which are just ludicrous.

But fate has been kind now we have an opportunity to perform well in the ascension ceremony and grab the attention of grandmasters of the royal mage academies. If we somehow did well we might win their hearts and be directly invited to these royal academies.

The scholarship will lessen my parent's burden for paying the fees of mage schools.

My mom and dad will directly be elevated to the high-class society members which will definitely make their heads rise in pride. My dad can finally get a permit to easily set up a shop in the big city and avoid unnecessary taxation and restriction for setting up a new shop. The two can also fulfill their dream of going on a trip to see the country without any restraints.

Suddenly my eyes twitched in sudden realization.

Wait for a second, when did I turn into such a soft-hearted guy.

‘How did I, once a Demon Overlord, thinking of my next plans to conquer nations lowered myself thinking about petty privileges like tax evasion and mobility privileges.’

I never realized this change until now.

I suddenly placed a hand on my chest,

‘Is this filial piety coming from this beating human heart of mine?’

There was a warm sensation as I thought about how proud and happy my parents will be.

I am now used to this warm feeling, like some kind of addiction.

Am I even the same Demon Overlord that I was back then?

Tracker was right all along, I’ve been a breaking character for too long now that I don’t even know what the real me, I am.

I inhaled a deep breath and exhaled trying to calm my nerves.

I did everything I could, now I just have to wait for the list name announcement.

A red cape mage ran towards the central stage.

In his hand, he carried a tabloid stone as if it was very important.

He handed that tabloid to Sigurd before leaving the stage carefully.

Now that the old fart grasped the tabloid and started dusting off the dust collected on the tabloid carefully. He did it carefully so as to not damage the engravings on the tabloids. After cleaning it he finally blew air from his mouth to remove the last of the specks of dust.

Everyone here stood silently watching the old fart.

I could tell everyone was on edge.

Sigurd then put his hand in his pocket and started rummaging through his pocket as if he was looking for something important. He squirmed his hand ferociously as if he was scratching an annoying itch in his thigh very hard to reach. There was a tense expression on Sigurd’s face.

Every candidate was watching his pocket eagerly.

Is he about to unveil something big from his pocket?

Suddenly a smile appeared on Sigurd’s face,

“There you are.”

He then carefully took out a pair of round-rimmed spectacles wearing it with a bright smile.

That old fart was looking for glasses for this long.

I let out a sigh, finally, we can hear the names on the list.

But suddenly the old fart frowned.

He then removed his glasses and looked through the lenses against the light.

Clicking his tongue he then took the edge of his cloak sleeve and started wiping his glasses.

‘Fucking old fart, get on with the names already!’ I scolded the old fart in my head.

I am so eager here and want my name to announce first thing. I needed to get rid of this uneasiness of mine.

All the candidates were standing silently in anticipation.

The atmosphere is so tense, that you can cut it with a knife.

As Sigurd was amidst cleaning his glasses, no one was speaking a word. The only thing that we could hear was the racing of the hearts echoed like the drums of the candidates waiting for the results. They were breathing heavily as they stared at that tabloid list in Sigurd’s grasp like it was a tasty piece of freshly cooked meat.

After finally wiping clean his glasses Sigurd finally wore them with a satisfied smile.

He finally went through the contents of the tabloid.

“Finally! We can get to the good part” I muttered to myself.

But as Sigurd’s read through the tabloid his face twisted in agony,

“What! What is the meaning of this?!”

Every candidate looked at Sigurd with surprise.

What was so shocking written in the Tabloid?

Did everyone pass? Or did everyone fail? Is the result postponed?

I could hear the candidates gulping down their own saliva in anticipation.

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Sigurd then stared at the tabloid for a few more seconds as if trying to decipher what he had just read. He stood there glaring at the tabloid for a minute.

All of a sudden Sigurd rotated the tabloid,

“Oh, It was upside down, my bad,” said Sigurd with a smile.

I gnashed my teeth in anger as I tried to suppress the urge to curse out loud at the old fart.

‘What the hell! Is it some gag novel?! This old fart clearly needs retirement.’

I wasn’t the only displeased candidate, everyone was getting annoyed after this point.

Even the 1st tier-stage candidates that praised the old fart not long ago started to rethink their praises.

“Alright, I am ready to announce the candidates. Once your name has been called out, step on the stage here.”

Finally, for real this time.

Announce my name already!

“The first name is Trisha Valencia.”

As soon as the name was announced, all the heads turned around toward a single girl standing on the edge of the seats.

She possessed long blonde curly hair and blue turquoise eyes. Her face had this serious expression like a ‘no bullshit attitude’. Wearing a white jacket and a white pair of pants along with polished shoes. It seemed to be a proper uniform rather than a normal outfit, as expected of a knight apprentice, always the uptight one.

Trisha walked down the aisle between the seats heading towards the stage. Her demeanor was uptight like a soldier being awarded an honor badge or something.

“Isn’t that the girl that was struck by lightning? The lightning elemental mage?”

“Yes, apparently she’s a knight apprentice.”

“Really? What is she doing here, shouldn’t she be up with the inner district candidates?”

“How would I know!”

She was suddenly the topic of gossip among the candidates.

Trisha Valencia is a lightning elemental mage, that is crystal clear when she was struck by lightning and was unharmed during the blessing ritual. Instead of charring her skin, lightning suddenly ran around her body like a barrier.

This was clearly an indication she was blessed by the lightning element and destined to be a great elemental mage.

Even among the elements, the lightning attribute is a powerful element and much rare compared to other attributes. Trisha already reached tier stage 2 lightning mage at such a young age. Not only her achievement as a 2nd tier mage but she also possesses leadership skills like the time when she quite easily managed to bring the girls to her side, back on the corridor incident in the ceremony train.

If she keeps on growing like this, she will definitely become a powerful mage and a prominent figure in the near future.

She’s a knight apprentice so she should be well-versed in a sword fight and even close hand-to-hand combat. Now that she has also been promoted to 2nd tier mage with the lightning attribute, I could hardly be her opponent.

To be honest I made a big miscalculation.

Actually, I thought I might easily be able to reach the 2nd tier stage without much of a struggle.

Not to brag or anything but being a genius who managed to unlock the 1st tier stage even before the blessing ritual, I thought it would be pretty easy to rise higher. So during the blessing ritual even though I had no idea what to do, I still thought that being destined for greatness, I will reap the most benefit from it.

But I never once thought that I would have to do this thing called meditation to reach 2nd tier stage. Never in my life had I done meditation. My mom used to do yoga and meditation and sometimes even asked me to join her, but I just shrugged away thinking it was pointless.

If only I had joined and learned this thing called meditation then I wouldn't be standing here twiddling my thumbs like a 1st tier mage.

Now that was a big miscalculation on my part.

My lack of understanding of meditation has led me to be stuck in the 1st tier stage.

You could blame my ignorance for this.

Although I was getting the hang of this so-called meditation during the blessing ritual only if there was more time I would have reached the 2nd tier stage… probably.

When I came to realize that there were more 1st tier mages like myself and even better candidates, I had to switch to plan B.

Plan B resorted to me standing out like a sore thumb and showing every skill as a peak 1st tier mage. I also bragged about getting secret knowledge of mana arts from the blessing ritual which let me control mana with precision but in reality that was all a lie.

The knowledge that I actually bragged about was from the magic books that I read since I was 2 back in my home’s library. These books that my father brought home, almost covered the basic knowledge about mana arts. I have been reading such books thoroughly trying to understand the mortal realm’s knowledge about the fundamentals of mana arts.

I mean no ordinary kid would know such vast knowledge about the working of mana arts as much as I did. So even if I lie, they will immediately believe me. I really did gain knowledge from the blessing ritual.

This in return would surely make me special from the rest of the 1st tier mage candidates as I was the chosen one. After doing all this, if I still don’t get a shot at making the cut in the list, then no other 1st tier mage will have a shot either.

But I am fairly confident that I performed pretty well than most of the 2nd tier mages will ever possibly do at my age. Yeah, I’ll definitely make the cut, just need to believe in myself.

“Damn it!” I shouted as I looked at my hands.

They were trembling.

Why the heck is this happening!

Why can’t I just shake off this ominous feeling?

Sigurd called out the next name,

“Hendrickson Bale.”

A boy who had a monster-like claw on one of his hands walked towards the stage. He looked quite arrogant as he walked towards the stage in a domineering manner. He was a mutant mage who was able to transform his hand into a certain monster.

At the moment he could only transform his arm.

But I am pretty sure he could still easily slash humans to mince meat with that gritty claw.

I wonder what monster that arm belongs to.

Even Hendrickson joined the stage beside Trisha.

She didn’t bat an eye and stood still like a doll not even glancing at Hendrickson.

He also didn’t care about Trisha and stood beside her like no big deal.

Sigurd continued,

“Ian Charter”

A boy can control fire, so he’s an elemental mage as well.

Currently, he’s only able to create flames through his nostrils.

“Naman Shelby”

Boy, yet again. Able to create a wall of ethereal material like a barrier.

Although it's just the size of the small window that could just barely protect her face.

He falls in the psychic mage category.

“Rina Bolina”

Psychic mage, she has the ability to create 3 flying small blades made of ethereal material just like Naman before.

“Adam Ultier”

Psychic mage. Creates weird floating eyeballs that give him another vision.

It's just an extra vision, probably.

“Maltese Dogerade”

He’s a wind mage. Can create a small tornado in his palm.

“Mathew Hal”

Mutant mage. He is that eight-arm freak from before that I picked a fight with. He was back in his peak teenage form using his eight arms again. Not only can he grow an extra arm, but he also changes his appearance to an adolescent teen.

He also walked tall and proud onto the stage like some king’s parade.

I should have just sliced his arms off and ruined his chances to get in. Damn it!

‘Why my name has not been called yet.’ I thought worriedly.

The head mage took various names from the list-

“Greg Noz”

“Dalton Nicarz”

“Natasha Demus”

But all these names belong to 2nd tier-stage mages.

Not even a single 1st tier mage name has been called out as of yet.

I again laid back my worries and focused on the names.

“Reagan Morph”

A young brat wearing handcuffs marched towards the stage.

The nearby candidates were quite wary of him but he paid him no mind.

Reagan was a special case, you could say.

His ability is that he can shoot out hot beams of lasers that travel to a certain distance before vanishing. When he got this ability at first, he managed to burn down nearby candidates beside him. Thankfully the divine flame was still there, so the nearby candidates quickly recovered from the wounds.

But Reagan was in a panic.

He couldn’t turn off his ability, instead, he tried to close his eyes shut with his hands and burned them in the process. Thankfully the divine flame healed his hands quickly. Finally, the red cape mages ran into action and put him in these special handcuffs that lock mana flow.

Reagan’s ability to shoot hot beams of lasers from his eyes makes him an elemental mage.

But it seems that his ability may be a permanent one that can’t be turned off. The ability is permanent which is also why he falls into the psychic class as well.

Hence Reagan falls in the semi-elemental-psychic category of mages.

He’s not the only oddity.

There was also this one girl who controlled her hair-like limbs.

Now this time she falls in the mutant-psychic category of mages.

More such mages were now hard to define which category they fall into.

In short, there are many different types of mages across the world.

These three categories can’t contain diverse types of mages.

As Sigurd kept announcing, the stage was filled with 25-30 mages, all filled with 2nd-tier mages.

Why hasn’t he announced my name yet?

I was on pins and needles just waiting for my name to be called.

Sigurd fixed his glasses,

“Alicia Akemia. That concludes all the 2nd tier mages.”

What!

‘I tightened my fist glaring at the tabloid. Is this it? Why has my name not been called yet?

What the fuck were those red cape mages writing on the tabloids when I was showing my skills?

Don’t tell me they made a spelling mistake in my tabloids which resulted in them not picking me!?’

I started making various scenarios for my name not to be taken.

I couldn’t believe it.

Many of the 1st tier mages like myself were dissatisfied with this.

The most dissatisfied was me.

Maybe I am not fated to be one.

Sigurd suddenly coughed,

“Alright, this year the batch of candidates is quite special. This time the board of mage moderators has decided to even handpick some of the 1st tier mages as well.”

‘This is it! Announce my name already! Stop tickling me by the balls!’

I gritted my fist as I glared at Sigurd.

If he tries to waste more time, I head up the stage to give him a piece of my mind.

Sigurd looks at the tabloid and then looks at the candidates seated on the stage,

“Jason Rendal,”

Ok, that’s not my name.

Did he make a spelling mistake?

I was the only brilliant 1st tier mage, right?

Maybe the old fart is just getting behind the years and just mispronouncing my name.

That must be it!

But to my surprise, there stood a boy wearing spectacles looking like a nerd.

He walked onto the stadium standing beside his fellow exemplary candidates.

That was Jason.

I started sweating profusely. Why am I not called out yet?

I had never been this nervous and irritated my whole life.

Sweat was oozing from all over my body and my hands were trembling like hell.

I felt like a nervous husband whose wife is going through labor pains during the delivery of her child, and all I could do was pray.

“The next person is~”

My name, please!

“Marcia Gonzalves”

FUCK!

Some other kids' names! Maybe it's my name and he pronounced it wrong?

He’s human and mistakes do happen.

But to my horror, there was a girl named Marcia who then walked toward the stadium. She was a very shy, awkward girl as she approached the stadium. Another fellow 1st tier mage made the cut.

I guess this is it-

“The last one is~ Benjamin Almond.”

Sigurd’s voice as he pronounced my name was like music to my soul.

“Fuck yeah!” I shouted out loud while pumping my fist in the air like I just won a war or something.

Towards the end, I had almost given up. My nervousness and fear all were replaced with ego and arrogance in an instant.

“...”

The nearby 1st tier candidates just heard me cursing as they watched my victory pose. I quickly lowered my fist and organized myself.

Fixing my attire I walked towards the stadium in pride and glory.

Of course, I made it on the list, I am a genius of mana arts.

Plan B was a success.