Chapter 23：Assessment Begins (1/2)
On the day of the admission of the Starwood academy. As soon as sun rose everyone in the city is making their way to the academy. The academy occupies a large amount of land. All the streets were bustling with people. Everyone is talking excitedly. There are many people who came from various villages under the jurisdiction of the Starwood city. Every village will send their suitable candidates, to take part in the examination. There is a large crowd gathering at the academy. There will be hundreds of people gathering at the academy to participate in the admission. There will be better guidance and resources if they were able to enrol into the academy. There are five villages under the control of the Starwood city. Anyone from these villages are suitable for joining the examination. Everyone is here for opportunities
Sam slowly walked towards the Starwood academy. As he slowly walked towards the academy, the crowd became denser. There are lot of people gathered in groups and talking. There are a lot of counters with queues. These counters are here for registration. Sam walked towards one counter and joined the queue. When his turn came, he took out his city resident token and registered his name. Then he slowly made his way, where all the candidates are gathered. After the registration process is completed, a group of people in same type of clothes came. They have a symbol of Starwood tree on their clothes. They seem to be staff of the academy. They guided all the candidates through the huge gate into the academy. After passing through the gate Sam started observing his surroundings. The place is a huge empty ground. In the centre of the ground there is a huge stage and there are several tents in the ground.
There are several viewing platforms on the other side of the huge stage where several groups of people can be seen seated. Each platform belongs to each major power. The central two platforms belong to the city lord and the Starwood academy. On the platform belonging to the city lord, there is a middle-aged man with a majestic appearance in Ice blue colour robes sitting in the chair. That is none other than the City lord. He is a Baron ranked noble who is in charge of the territory under the Starwood city. He is the strongest of all people here. Only the principal of the Starwood academy is his match. There is a familiar face beside the City lord. She is Haley. She seemed to searching for someone in the crowd of candidates.
Sam then turned towards the Starwood's academy's platform. There are several elderly figures in the same uniform sitting there. There is a middle-aged man who seemed to be a little older than the city lord sitting in the main seat with his eyes closed. He has a scholarly air around him. His eyebrows are clear indicating his peaceful state. His figure is not muscular and more on the lean side. He has bronze skin giving a faint lustre of unique charm. He is the principal of the Starwood academy who is also the only match for the city lord.
Sam then looked towards other platforms and found some familiar faces. Marcus Evergreen can be seen as he is chatting with Philip and Paul is also trying hard to get into the conversation. They seem to be in good mood. Then Sam saw another familiar face on another platform. It is Freya. There is a robust middle-aged man who has a fiery air around him sitting next to her. He has a scowl on his face as he seemed somewhat unhappy and Freya also has a pout on her face. She wore her battle robes today which she wore when she came to Sam's shop in Lava rock village. Sam then turned towards the Grey hound family and searched for some one. When he found Leonard and Raymond. Sam gave a wicked smile. He really wants to see how Leonard will react when he saw him.
He then saw other four platforms. They belong to the four towers. When he saw the Artisan tower platform, he saw that Kelly is also present along with the Tower head and other friends, Sam didn't care much about them and just started looking around with the calm face.
But the rest of the candidates are not as calm he heard two boys chatting.
”Oh, look there three goddesses are all here. I feel like I am already in heave. A handsome young man said to an average looking man who has a sword on his hip. The average looking man has an irritable expression as he spoke. ”Shawn, keep it low.”
”How can I keep it low? I can see all the three goddesses at same time. Jack you should let me loose sometimes and stop your nagging. When will you understand my youthful and handsome self? Learn to appreciate beauty.” The handsome young man whose name is Shawn said with the exaggerated sigh. The man named Jack didn't know what to reply and just sighed. Shawn then continued.
”Look at the three goddesses. Fiery goddess Freya, Ice goddess Haley and the Artisan goddess Kelly all are here at the same time. Do you think that anyone of them will take interest in me? Oh, by the way do you know that Kelly is daughter of the tower head. They hid this too deeply. I heard that an arrogant young and talented not so handsome artisan has humiliated Kelly. If I know who is I will kick his butt…” Shawn kept on blabbering.
Hearing his words, Sam furrowed his brows. 'He wants to kick my butt. We will see then.' Sam thought and then started thinking about the other point. 'The fact that Kelly is tower head's daughter is hidden is new. That is why Philip didn't strongly oppose, when I had a conflict with Kelly yesterday. If he knew he would probably have stopped me.' Sam thought to himself.
”Attention Everyone.” The principal of the academy came to the stage and started speaking. ”Today is the day our Starwood academy welcomes new blood. You will all be the future of the academy and also the kingdom. So, I wholeheartedly thank all the candidates for appearing here to join in the exam.” The principal paused and looked at the candidates. The first round will be age and cultivation assessment. If you don't meet the requirements you will be disqualified to participate in further. Now, there are around 400 students and we will only select the top 100 students today. So, I request candidates to go to any of the tents to complete your assessment.” The Principal finished and went back to his place.
There are around 20 tents in the ground. Sam walked towards a tent and stood in the queue. Coincidentally, Shawn and Jack are in the same queue. When Shawn completed his assessment he had a proud look as he came out of the tent and a grin showing all his teeth can be seen. After a few minutes Jack also came out of the tent. Both of them have a bronze colour token in their hands. This is token saying that, they are selected for the next round of assessment. Within no time Sam's time came. When Sam entered the tent, he saw a young man in his twenties sitting behind a desk. The desk has two crystal balls of volley ball size resting on it. After entering the young man looked at him and asked.
”Name?”
”Sam.”
”Please come forward and place your hand on this left crystal.” The young man said in a low voice. Sam placed his hand on the left side crystal ball and the crystal ball glowed. Sam, then felt a prickling sensation on his palm. Then a string of letters projected on the crystal ball. '15 years and 1 day.' Sam felt dumbfounded. Even though Philip said that the age will be measured up to the days, he didn't think that it would look this cool. He was awed by this age measuring device. Then he saw the young man behind the desk. He also had a shocking expression on his face. But his shock is for a different reason. He is shocked because of the close shave Sam had. Then he came out of his daze and said to Sam.
”Now, please keep your hand on this crystal.” He said as he noted down Sam's age in the book. Sam nodded and kept the hand on the right crystal ball. This time also another string of words projected.