The recruits were back on the training grounds again, but this time, for something they were actually excited about- Spell casting.
The instructor for the class was still the white-haired old man, who had yet to tell them his name still. Come to think of it, none of the instructors had introduced themselves up until now.
Along with him were three other mage instructors. One of them was a tall woman with long, raven-black hair that flowed down her back. She had a shapely figure and a face like a vixen. Judging by her looks, she seemed to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Naturally, she was the one drawing a lot of attention, particularly from the teenage boys in the crowd, who were whispering all sorts of weird things to each other.
Zephyr rolled his eyes as he overheard some of the whispers. "These guys are way too thirsty."
The second instructor was a lanky, tall man with frizzy black hair. He looked maybe forty and was holding a long wooden rod in his hand, watching the recruits with a strict gaze.
The last instructor was surprisingly, a young girl. She looked around their age, maybe slightly older, but likely about Zephyr's age— at most sixteen. She had a regal air about her, with silver hair cascading down the sides of her face. She was strikingly beautiful. Even Zephyr had to admit it.
Her presence felt different from the tall lady's. Hers was quieter and more refined, somewhat like a saintess.
At least, that was what Zephyr felt.
"Whoa, she's really pretty," Anna said with a smile of admiration, and Helga nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. But more than that, she's also an instructor here... at her age? She must be from a noble family," Zephyr stated.
"Yeah. She has the signature silver hair of House Ryvelin," Helga chipped in, taking Zephyr slightly by surprise.
He realized he had never heard her speak once today. This was the first time.
"You have a nice voice, Helga," Zephyr complimented her, causing her to blush slightly as she stared straight ahead.
Anna laughed. "You'll make her retreat into her shell again, Zephyr." That earned her a playful pinch from Helga, making her squeal.
"Though this basically means she's warmed up to you," she added, still laughing.
"Cough, cough." The old man cleared his throat at the front to draw all their attention.
"Now, I know this is the class you've all been waiting for, but before we start... like I made clear to you earlier today, there are differences in talent among you, and over the years, we've refined various ways to make the most of the talent each of you were born with."
"So, for this class and going forward, you'll all be separated based on the level of talent required for each level of learning."
"Mr. Wilson here will handle the spell casting class for those who awakened with two mana nodes." He gestured toward the tall, lanky man.
"He specializes in body enhancement spells that don't require much in terms of spell processing. He'll teach you how to make the most of your few mana nodes."
"Miss Selene will take the awakened with four mana nodes." He gestured to the tall lady, who nodded at the recruits with a lazy smile.
"I will handle those of you with eight mana nodes. And Mistress Alyra here will take both our prodigies with sixteen." He smirked as he gestured toward the silver-haired girl.
The statement drew a few tilted heads, but no one murmured or protested. Her silver hair already pointed to her origin. They knew she was in a different class entirely. Most likely, she'd even been assigned to teach Jet and Kathelyn just to show them the clear difference between a noble and a commoner.
Jet looked on with an excited gaze, pumping his hand and fist together. "Let's get started!" he said loudly, much to Mistress Alyra's amusement.
"Calm your horses, boy," the old man chuckled, stroking his white beard. "I'm not done yet," he added, then turned to continue addressing the crowd.
"Be aware that this is simply what we recommend. You can choose to join any class you want. But you only get today to change your mind. Starting tomorrow, whatever class you choose is the one you'll be committed to for the rest of your stay here."
"And the standards of that group are what you'll be graded by in the rankings. So, if you think you can keep up with others above your core grade, today is the time to test yourself and see where you stand."
"Alright, come with me if you fall under my group," Mr. Wilson said as he moved to a separate area of the training grounds.
A lot of people followed after him— about a hundred and fifty out of the two hundred and sixty recruits there.
Zephyr waved goodbye to Anna and Helga—who also went to their group, the eight node group— and then joined Mr.Wilson's group, drawing astonished looks from many of the recruits. Most of them assumed he was a talent from how he'd been sitting with the others earlier.
"What? So he was just a two-node awakened?—"
"The guy just got a good teammate—"
"Then those injuries earlier—"
"Hmph, he was probably almost knocked out too—"
Zephyr listened with a stoic face. His goal to reduce the attention on him seemed to be working though... Although he was getting kind of ticked off by the comments.
"Just bear with it and stay under the radar," he muttered under his breath.
Cedric looked on, mildly surprised, but quickly got over it. He figured there had to be some strange situation with Zephyr. He had watched his fight. The guy was way too strong for his age.
Jet didn't even look that surprised after the initial confusion. He had a firsthand experience of Zephyr's abnormality from the previous day.
Zeke, on the other hand, was thoroughly shocked. He had fought hand in hand alongside Zephyr and knew how much faster and more stronger the guy was than him. So at the very least, he had assumed Zephyr was an eight-node awakened like himself.
Shaking his head, Zeke also went to his instructor for his group, just as the others began to disperse to their respective groups.
There were outliers though— people who wanted to challenge themselves with a higher grade class. Some eight node merchant kids wandered over to Jet and Kathelyn's group. The same thing was happening with other groups. Even a few from Zephyr's group decided to step up, while some had not even bothered joining their group in the first place.
The real surprise though, was Cedric. He was an eight-core awakened, yet he chose to come all the way down to Zephyr's group, which shocked Zephyr.
Zephyr nodded in greeting as Cedric came to stand by him, folding his arms.
"What brings you here?" Zephyr asked.
"Nothing in particular. Just interest. I want to focus on body enhancement spells, so I'd like to see what that's like here first. I don't really see myself as a spell slinger. I prefer clobbering people up close," he said with a firm nod.
'Clobbering, wow. Okay,' Zephyr thought as he nodded along.
Mr. Wilson didn't waste any time, jumping straight into it as he gave them the first instruction.
"Alright, you all. I want you to split into groups of two."