Lord of Charm

None of the people Gale saw around him seemed to come from an elite family, so he assumed that the elite families had their own forces in the dynasty or didn't need to take the assessment with the commoners.

Everyone seemed excited; those people were from all over the dynasty, and some even came from other dynasties of the empire. It was their opportunity to improve their future and become stronger.

"Okay, everyone, stand up in lines in front of the stage. We will first test your age; the assessment is only meant for magicians under 25 and mages under 35. If you're older take the chance to leave now or you will be punished harshly later for wasting our time."

The same guard who shouted earlier announced the beginning of the assessment, and some of the older examinees sighed in disappointment and left.

"Every year there are some people who think we can't know their age only to regret it later, see it as your final warning."

The guard gave them a vicious smile, and a few others chose to get up and leave. They didn't know what was considered a "harsh punishment" for the guards, but it was probably unpleasant.

"Now start going on the stage in an orderly manner and place your hand on the right orb to check your age, and then channel mana into the left orb to test your affinity."

There were three lines, and in front of each line was a pair of orbs. The examinees took turns to take the assessment, and some left with joy while others left in sorrow.

Gale watched the results and found out the minimal affinity the guards accepted was A-67, which was considered the minimum requirement to become an Expert Mage.

Out of every 10 magicians, only 1 passed, which displayed the harsh requirements of the imperial guard. As for the 4 mages who attended the test, everyone passed since any commoner who could become a mage before 35 had a relatively good affinity.

Gale's turn finally arrived, and he stepped forward to be tested. He placed his hand on the orb which turned green to signify he was under 25.

"Main affinity?"

"Earth."

He chose to use his weakest affinity. Gratefully, the device that limited his stage also limited his affinity to the Magician Phase, or else it'd seem like he had an SSS earth affinity if he used his mage affinity as a magician.

The guard placed a brown orb on the table and Gale poured some mana into it.

"SS-35, that's great! Take this wristlet, you don't need to take part in the next assessments. Go to the guard over there and show it to him."

He got a brown wristlet that had the letters SS on it and wore it.

"Sir, I was told to show you this wristlet."

Gale stretched his hand forward to show the SS letters, and the Guard smiled at him.

"SS earth affinity, you'll have a bright future in our imperial guard. Show me your identifications."

The guard checked the documents carefully and nodded after returning them to Gale.

"Everything seems fine, you can wait over there until the assessment is over."

Because of Gale's foreign features, he made sure to double-check the documents but felt reassured after reading Gale just had a foreigner as a father, but his mother was a local commoner.

Gale went to the place that the guard pointed at and saw one man with a red wristlet with the letters 'SS' written on it. This man was a True Mage, but he was still friendly.

"Another SS affinity, they must be happy to have the two of us."

"I was also surprised to find out."

"Hello, fellow genius. I'm Arima Gorou, what's your name?"

"I'm Urara Kisuke, nice to meet you."

"Oh a local name, I thought you might be a foreigner."

"Just my father, but I've never met him."

Gale gave a sad smile and killed the chat.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, my mom gave me everything she needed and fully supported me."

They watched the rest of the assessment silently and waited for the results. There were no other SS affinities in the group, so everyone had to take another test.

The imperial guard only recruited 20 guards, so they had to screen out 42 people of the 62 who passed the initial assessment.

"The mages can go to the other side, you all passed. As for the rest, separate into a group of advanced magicians and a group of expert magicians."

Three more people joined Gale and Arima and sat by their side.

"Sir, why is there one magician with the mages? There are limited spots, and it's unfair that he can just pass without competition."

One of the magicians asked the guard and pointed at Gale.

"Anyone else thinks the same thing?"

"Yes, Sir, it seems unfair."

A few more magicians spoke up once they had the legitimation to express their opinions. However, only 6 more magicians supported this complaint; the rest were smarter and understood that Gale didn't need to be assessed for a reason.

The guard just snorted and turned to Gale.

"Kisuke, come here. You will fight those unsatisfied, and you can go back to rest. As for you guys who challenged him, if you lose to him, you will be disqualified even if you're stronger than all of the other magicians here."

"Sir, this…"

The magicians hesitated but had no choice, they already spoke up and the guard chose to teach them a lesson.

"You, go first."

Gale and the other man stood in front of each other, and the guard gestured for them to start fighting.

The man took out a sword and coated it with his water spell. Although Gale's connection to mana was reduced to the Magician Phase, nothing could stop his body from being powerful after he was strengthened as a Ruler Beast.

He didn't even need to use magic to defeat a magician with his body, but it would seem too suspicious if he beat someone from the same stage unarmed and without magic.

'Crap, I forgot the sword because I'm not used to fighting with it.'

He left the sword in the magic bag and didn't have time now to retrieve it in the middle of the fight.

When his opponent slashed down with his sword, Gale took a step to the side to dodge it and generated a stone bullet from his hand. He raised his hand and shot the condensed stone from his hand, hitting the man's lower jaw.

The man was dazed for two seconds, and it was too much. Gale shot a few other stones at his legs until the man fell.

"Winner, Kisuke. Next, you go."

Gale fought all the 7 people who spoke against him and defeated them in a matter of seconds. He made sure not to move too fast for a magician, but his perception allowed him to easily start moving at the last moment and dodge everything.

"Anyone else is dissatisfied with our decision to let Kisuke join the imperial guard without any further assessing?"

Everyone hurriedly shook their heads and felt relief that they weren't stupid and asked unnecessary questions. In fact, they thanked those who spoke up; now they had 7 fewer people to worry about.

Originally there were 15 spots left for 59 people, which meant they needed to defeat 3 people to get a spot as there was a spot for every fourth candidate, but Gale defeated 7 for his spot, so everyone was satisfied with it.

'In the end, I worked the hardest.'

Gale complained to himself in his heart but said nothing. He understood the guard wanted him to rough up the people who dared question his integrity, so he made sure to at least break a bone or two in every match.

'I didn't overdo it and ruin their futures, and also satisfied the guard to get better treatment later.'

Gale watched the rest of the duels until there were only 15 people left. The guard chose 10 expert magicians and 5 advanced magicians.

"Everyone, we will go now to the guards' chambers and show you your rooms and the schedule for tomorrow. You have 30 minutes to say goodbyes to your relatives before we leave."

Since Gale had no relatives, he just sat and waited for the 30 minutes to pass. He saw a few others like him, mainly those who traveled a long way for the assessment. All of them had relatives at home, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to practice magic at all.

Thirty minutes passed, and everyone assembled in front of the guards again. The guards made sure to check everyone's identifications before moving out.

"Get into the wagons!"

There was a large group of wagons waiting nearby, and everyone entered in groups of four. The journey was only an hour long, so they passed it in silence except for a few pleasantries.

The guards' chambers were located near the palace. It included two buildings – one for training, and one for living. Additionally, there were a few large arenas outside that the guards could use to spar with each other.

The whole imperial guard included around 2,000 people, so they didn't need vast lands like the Dream's Peak Academy, and the arenas were all strengthened to support duels between expert mages.

"Kisuke, Arima, you two can share a room for two. The rest will get rooms for four according to your stages."

Gale and Arima got special treatment thanks to their affinity.

A/N: From now on, I will refer to Gale as Kisuke until he uses his original name again.