"Thank you, Senior!"
Malcolm stepped onto the stage calmly, unlike most of the children before him. He greeted the stern old man respectfully, then stepped forward, standing in front of the man.
"Name and age?"
Evidently, the stern old man wasn't perturbed by Malcolm at all, and still addressed him the same as all of the other children. This didn't seem to bother Malcolm, though, as his expression didn't fluctuate at all.
"Malcolm Bluewater, 8 years old!"
Malcolm called out clearly to the old man. The old man nodded his head slightly at Malcolm. Even he had begun to appreciate the boy's disciplined attitude.
"Good, please place your hand onto the Arcane Crystal, close your eyes and focus on your heartbeat."
Just as he did with all the others, the old man instructed Malcolm calmly. Malcolm then stretched out his hand, placing his palm over the crystal, and closed his eyes.
Then, the entire plaza went silent. Nobody said a word as they waited for a reaction from the crystal. It lasted like this for nearly a minute, with nothing happening. The old man watching Malcolm had his eyes display a bit of surprise.
"Looks like this boy may possess a bit of talent indeed."
The old man murmured to himself, but only his colleague, the meditating old man, could hear him. The children in the square began to have some doubts. Did Malcolm not have an Arcane Spirit? Why was it taking so long?
None of them understood what the long wait meant exactly.
Then, all of a sudden, light erupted from the sphere. In an instant, the snow in the plaza was washed in a green light, before being ripped from the ground and into the air. Powerful wind blasted the snow away from the center of the plaza, and many of the weaker children were directly knocked over.
Selene, however, was perfectly fine thanks to her body conditioning, and she stood firm, watching the spectacle with amazement.
"Congratulations, boy! You have awakened a top medium-grade Arcane Spirit, Hurricane Wolf!" This time, the meditating old man's voice was truly filled with a bit of joy. He looked at Malcolm with a joyful expression, obviously a bit excited.
"Young man, your name was Malcolm, correct?"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
At this time, Malcolm was asked by the stern-looking old man, and he responded quickly.
"Hmm… Your attitude is indeed good. Say, Old Almer, what do you think of this young man?"
The stern middle-aged man who was called Old Almer took a moment to scrutinize Malcolm. For an instant, under that old man's gaze, Malcolm's heart started to beat rapidly. He felt as though all of his secrets were spread out before the man and laid bare.
In his heart, he secretly rejoiced that he had decided to address these two old men with high respect.
"His Arcane Spirit does indeed qualify him to join the Midwinter Academy, though it may still be quite difficult for him."
The meditating old man opened his eyes and nodded at Malcolm.
"Young man, what do you think? Would you like to come with us to enter Midwinter Academy?"
"Enter Midwinter Academy?"
In a daze, Malcolm confirmed what he had heard. Did he really qualify to enter Midwinter Academy? One had to understand that Midwinter Academy was one of three top academies in the White Skies Kingdom. To be able to join it, one had to possess a great amount of talent, and once admitted, their status would be very great.
"Y-Yes! I would like to join the Midwinter Academy!"
Almost as though they would take the offer away if he didn't speak quickly enough, Malcolm hastily shouted out. Hearing his words, the two old men nodded expressionlessly.
"Very good, tomorrow you should meet us at the front gates in the morning, to leave for the academy."
The meditating old man sent Malcolm down from the stage, and the young boy walked down in a bit of a daze.
"Congratulations Malcolm!"
"Wow, entering Midwinter Academy!? That is so awesome!"
"Malcolm, you can't forget about Bluewater Town! Make sure you bring us honor at the academy!"
The moment he reached the crowd of students who had already awakened their Arcane Spirits, he was bombarded with praise. Upon hearing their words, his dazed expression finally morphed into an excited smile. Even if he was the governor's son and had been raised strictly, it was hard for him to suppress his childish excitement in the face of this opportunity.
With Malcolm's dazzling display, the rest of the children who went up on stage didn't receive much attention, and after a few minutes, it was finally Selene's turn.
Because she had her fur cloak hood up the whole time, not many of the children had realized who she was. Finally, the words she had been waiting for came from the stern old man's mouth.
"Next in line, please step onto the stage!"
Taking a deep breath, Selene pulled her hood down, revealing her appearance to the children gathered around the stage.
"Oh, isn't that Selene? She is Captain Edward's daughter."
"Oh yeah, they say that Captain Edward is the strongest person in Bluewater Town aside from the Governor! I wonder what kind of Arcane Spirit she possesses!"
"Wow, she is Captain Edward's daughter? She really is quite pretty, isn't she?"
All kinds of comments came from the crowd of children. It had to be said that Selene was rather recognizable in the town. Not only was she the guard captain's daughter, but she was also a very pretty young girl. She had long, wavy golden hair, which was tucked into her cloak and had deep green eyes that glimmered like emeralds. Many of the young boys in the crowd of children looked at her with blushes on their faces.
Even Malcolm was a little stunned by Selene's appearance. He had grown up in Bluewater Town, never leaving it. To him, who was around the same age as Selene, she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. It was his first time actually getting a good look at the guard captain's daughter, and he even began to blush slightly after staring for a moment. Of course, he didn't know that Selene had been intentionally avoiding him before, which was why they had never interacted much.
Selene didn't notice this at all, though, as she walked up to the two old men with a calm expression.
In her heart, though, she still felt quite anxious. Finally, she stood before the stern-looking old man.
"Name and age?"
His voice was just as cold as before when he addressed Selene.
"Selene, 8 years old!"
Selene called out to the old man, her voice steady. Even though the old man's gaze made her feel a bit of pressure, she had grown up under the strict parenting of her father, Captain Edward. She was able to stay collected and calm, not displaying any changes in expression.
"Very good, now place your hand onto the Arcane Crystal, close your eyes, and focus on your heartbeat."
Taking a deep breath, Selene rested her hand on the cold Crystal Sphere and closed her eyes.