The inside of the main auditorium was quite densely packed, owing to the shared number of candidates who had decided to participate in the current year's assessment exams.

The hall itself was quite grand and spacious, as was evident from the high standard of materials put into its construction by the academy. Even with all that, the hall still managed to be packed full of candidates, a testament to just how many youths had registered for the life-changing event.

Elias occupied a quiet position at the edge of the hall, his eyes calmly closed as he rested his back against the wall behind him. His calm and collected aura made him appear like a well-cut statue, causing a lot of glances to be thrown at him by his fellow candidates.

Some took interest in him due to his calm and collected attitude, while others were simply just intrigued by the earlier scene, which had played out between him and Aamiya.

'Isn't that the rumored commoner that shook the second lobby and Lady Aamiya with his cologne insight?'

'My goodness!!!... He looks so much better than he was described.'

'I know right... His good looks, coupled with his calm and composed demeanor is quite a lethal combination. On top of that, he also has good manners, so I'm not surprised that he was able to garner the interest of our Silver Swan.'

'Sigh... It's such a pity that he wasn't born as a noble. If he was, it wouldn't be a stretch to name him as an example of the perfect man!'

Elias maintained his outward show of composure but was inwardly shocked at the comments he was hearing. Didn't they know that he could hear them? gossip loses its entire meaning when the person being gossiped about is aware of what is being said!

Elias chuckled to himself self-depreciately, before proceeding to ignore their endless chatter. The assessment was going to start soon anyway, so he had to start mentally preparing himself.

He thought it was quite strange that Lars hadn't spoken up since before his conversation with Miss Aamiya, since he would usually take advantage of such a premium opportunity to throw shades and bants at Elias.

He ultimately just decided to ignore it, deciding that Lars would inevitably speak up when he wanted to, as per the usual.

The voices around him started to become quite dense and unbearable, causing Elias to furrow his brow in frustration. The assessment was about to start soon, why weren't they the least bit worried?

Elias just couldn't stand it, and found it seemingly impossible to just ignore their chatter, since the voices around him started to increase with time.

In the end, he decided that he couldn't simply ignore it, before proceeding to open his eyes and glance at the group of people around him. The gaze he shot at them was stoic and indifferent, causing them to tense up and move away from him in a hurry.

The group felt like if they didn't do so, he might pounce on them at any minute!

Elias nodded his head in satisfaction, a look of relief slowly appearing on his previously stoic face. He then decided to take a look around the auditorium, since he hadn't taken the opportunity to do so beforehand.

The auditorium looked quite grand and spacious, its size totally surpassing any of the previous halls Elias had paid a visit to. Its huge podium, intricately designed stone pillars, elegantly structured chandeliers and prominent figure portraits, all served to add a touch of timeless elegance to its standout architecture.

Elias marveled at the sight, not planning on hiding his awe towards the flawless design before him. As he was fully engrossed in praising whoever had come up with such a structured blueprint, he heard a familiar voice call out to name, instantly drawing his attention.

"There you are, Elias... Man, I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Elias turned to properly take in the image of the person calling out his name, and was instantly met with a familiar sight; the person calling out to him was Damian!

Damian waved his hands at his friend, trying to maneuver his way through the field of bodies within the auditorium. Elias gave Damian a soft smile, clearly amused at his friend's minor predicament.

"Why are you calling my name so enthusiastically. Did you already miss me that much? We just saw each other yesterday you know."

Elias walked steadily towards his exhausted friend, pulling him into a friendly hug under the gazes of everyone around them. Elias didn't really care, since today was a big day for himself and Damian. He had no qualms with expressing his genuine feelings for his friend.

"Haha... It honestly does feel a bit longer though."

The two friends instantly began to catch up, both of them sharing what they had experienced on their way to the island city.

"Haha... I can't believe you had chanced encounters with a Departmental Dean and Miss Silver Swan in one afternoon. What a lucky guy!"

Elias offered Damian a casual smile in response. It did seem quite unconventional for him to come into contact with two very important people in such a short time frame. It honestly felt so surreal to Elias, so he could understand why Damian would chalk it down to luck.

Damian and Elias laughed and talked about a few trivialities while waiting for the assessment to start, with Elias having to rebuke Damian for asking about how pretty Miss Aamiya was. The two friends were about to get into a friendly tussle, when a group of clergymen walked into the hall with solemn steps.

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The clergymen moved forward with the dignity and air of a scholar, their faces as solemn as when a priest was about to commence worship. They walked through the auditorium in organization, ultimately forming a 10-man row in front of the podium.

They stood in front of the vast group of people without flinching, their entire form exuding an air of holy purity. Elias noticed that they were garbed In white clergy robes, embroidered with numerous mystical letters and numerals in a sky blue shade. A cross hung over their chests, depicting the image of an open tome with a singular eye embedded into its center.

Elias instantly recognized the cross and robe pair, as knowing about the signature pieces of each of the 5 churches was one of the passing requirements of the assessment. They were a group of True Scholars, official clergymen of the Truth Church!

Elias didn't understand what they were doing here but ultimately decided that it was quite normal that he didn't. The exact details of the assessment, aside from the fact that it had a written exam, wasn’t really publicly known, as the academy kept the details a secret for some odd reason.

The entire auditorium fell into a state of perfect silence, as if the solemn aura of the group of True Scholars had instinctually made everyone present within the halls forget to breathe.

...

Within a secluded section of the grand auditorium, a group of individuals were calmly seated, quietly observing the faces of the mass number of candidates within the hall. The entire concealed space was enveloped in a potent and mysterious aura, making it quite obvious that there was nothing 'normal' about the people seated within the chamber.

Among the group was an elegantly seated young man, his fanciful formal attire bearing the house colors of the royal family of Wessex. His hair was styled elegantly to the side, its bright crimson color adding a fiery temperament to his otherwise proud demeanor.

He appeared to be observing the candidates, a hint of promise and expectation hidden beneath his fiery red eyes. "The quality of candidates this year doesn't look too bad. We appear to have a lot of high society participants within this batch as well."

As he spoke, his eyes flickered across the face of Lady Aamiya, as well as the other nobles and royals present within the crowd. The gaze he used to look at Aamiya was full of longing, as if she was a priced possession he desperately needed to get his hands on.

An icy cold, female voice issued a response to the young royal, her tone laced with a pinch of sarcasm and disgust, "Everyone can see that you are specifically talking about Lady Silver Swan William. You didn't even try to hide that lecherous gaze of yours. Why don't you act like the royalty you are?"

The young man referred to as William shrugged casually, glancing at the owner of the cold voice with a mocking look on his face. "Why do you always try to butt into my business Adele? Is this some type of hidden and unrequited love? I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you just aren't my type."

Princess Adele scoffed at Prince William in amusement, her piercing cold gaze directed straight at his face. Her ethereally blue eyes gleamed with icy intensity, causing the temperature around her to gradually fall. The chamber was involved in a feel of frost as if the cold north winds had assaulted the room.

Prince William was a tad bit slow at reacting to the sudden display of her Royal Blessing and only realized that something was wrong when he felt his scalp turn cold. He touched his hair and found it frozen solid, causing him to jump off his chair and glare at Princess Adele with fiery intensity.

"You annoying little witch!"

As he glared at the princess, his crimson-colored hair appeared to be coated in bright red flames, his hands forming numerous crimson fireballs as he prepared to send an attack her way.

Princess Adele calmly glanced at the enraged visage of Prince William, her piercing gaze firmly maintained on him as the area around her vicinity was slowly assaulted by an icy cold blizzard, a blizzard that threatened to freeze over everything it touched!

The entirety of the secular chamber was thrown into a state of pure conflict, with one area experiencing the heat of a bright summer afternoon, while the other was swept into a cold northern night, as though the winter winds had decided to pay an early visit.

...

Elias suddenly jerked his head up, feeling like the area around the auditorium had suddenly become a bit hotter than usual. It felt like he was standing close to a raging furnace, which couldn't be possible since there wasn't one in sight!

He was still in the midst of figuring out where the hot sensation had come from, when he suddenly felt the temperature drop, as if he had been transported to the snowy cold mountains of Lorraine. Elias was stunned, he didn't understand what was happening.

'what the hell is this? Am I so nervous that it’s reached the point of me imagining things?'

Elias scanned the auditorium hall, looking for a similar reaction from any of the other participants to what he had just experienced. He noticed everyone acting normal, totally oblivious to whatever Elias was feeling.

'Is this a part of the assessment process? No that's not it. It feels too spontaneous like it isn't something that was planned at all.

'Even the guards are acting like nothing is happening. I really might be imagining things. Sigh... I didn't think I would be this nervous about the whole thing.'

While Elias was mentally chastising himself, a lady walked into the auditorium, calling the hall to order and signaling the start of the first round of the Apostolic Assessment.

She introduced herself to the candidates as Miss Euodia Harleigh, the Professor of Astronomy and Vice-head of the Administrative Department. Elias couldn't get a good look at her from where he was due to all the bodies in the way, but her voice made him liken her to a star gazer, as though she enjoyed mapping the way of the stars in her free time.

The assessment started in earnest after the conclusion of Professor Harleigh’s announcement, with the guards springing to action to maintain decorum within the halls.

The True Scholars called out the candidates numerically, with the format going from how early a candidate registered to how late. Elias glanced down at his assessment pass, sighing at the number '703' in defeat.

If he knew how the format was previously, he would have tried his best to arrive quite earlier. Waiting like this only served to make him more nervous.

The first part of the assessment process didn't seem too complicated at all. It even seemed a bit too simple in all honesty. Based on what Elias could see, all the True Scholars did was place their hands on the forehead of the participant for a few seconds, before retrieving it and handing them a particular colored card.

A green colored card signaled that the candidate had passed, and they were then directed to a door at the right side of the podium. Alternatively, if they were given a red card, it meant that they had failed and were then told to walk into a room to the left.

The scene of the assessment looked so much like mind-reading to Elias, causing him to chuckle in amusement. He didn't understand how it could be so simple, as he noticed the stunned and confused looks on the faces of the passing and failing candidates as well. They looked just as confused as he was!

While Elias was inwardly critiquing the simplistic style of one of the most important interviews of his life, a piercing hollowed scream suddenly echoed through the auditorium, eliciting reactions of panic and fear from the crowd.

One of the True Scholars was holding his head in pain, trashing on the floor beside the podium while crimson-colored blood flowed out of their mouth, eyes and ears. Veins protruded from the side of his head, making it look like it could seemingly explode at any given time!