The tournament was still ongoing when Ol' Fang had left but he wasn't bothered by that. The only reason he had shown up for it was to see Asher storm the stage and shock the nobles. As for recruiting recruits and mages into the family, Ol' Fang wasn't interested.
The Arnhaunt family operated quite differently from other families when it came to recruitment. For the most part, the Arnhaunt family could be regarded as a military family since they were in charge of the border and had some connections with the kingdom's official military. As a result of this, they had to be careful when recruiting individuals and for the most part, external members of the family (that is members who didn't have the blood of the Arnhaunts) were often recruited from Red Maple province.
This was because the indigenes of the Red Maple province were easy to investigate and go through their history, ensuring that they weren't spies. At the same time, with a magic crystal vein in their hands, the Arnhaunts didn't need to be too focused on an individual's potential like most families. What the family valued most was loyalty, and it was easy for them to get this from citizens of Red Maple province, who regarded the Arnhaunts more highly than the royal family.
The last reason why Ol' Fang wasn't too bothered about recruiting mages from here was due to the population distribution. A majority of the students were upper-class citizens, coming from noble households or descendants of top officials in the kingdom, with very few actually being regular households.
For the former category, they already had their alliances set despite being young and absorbing them into the family would mean creating a relationship with their backers. This was something Ol' Fang wanted to avoid as it would increase the possibility of there being a spy in the family. As for the latter category, they were indeed prospective candidates but Ol' Fang had no interest at the moment. Rather than that, he already knew a certain someone had an interest in them and didn't intend on fighting over them.
Although Ol' Fang wasn't focused on recruiting young mages from the third year, the other families were and were taking notes on each student who participated in the qualifiers. Each family had a special grading system that aided them in quantifying the potential of a mage. Although it wasn't one hundred percent accurate, it was close enough, and it was through this system that the various noble families maintained their strength.
"That kid in #76 seems interesting. Keep notes on him for me." A count who was in the VIP section informed his Butler.
The four display screens at the centre of the arena were each divided into one hundred smaller screens. To disseminate information easier and understand the situation, each screen was numbered starting from top to bottom, left to right.
"That student in #52, isn't he Minister Won's son? He's quite talented."
"#31 looks unfamiliar. Do a background check for me. If he's from a baron family or below, we might consider extending an invitation."
Various conversations of similar nature were ongoing at the VIP section which housed the nobles of the kingdom, top ministers, and wealthy merchants. Even in the VIP section though, there were partitions that could only be accessed by certain individuals of specific classes. For example, the VVIP region required 5 gold coins just to get in addition to being a count or similar and above, albeit Dukes and Marquises stayed in a separate area from the rest. There was also the reserved region which only accepted the representative members of the six major factions; the royal family and the five great families.
Nonetheless, all sections had something in common and that was that the individuals seated there were all focused on the battles.
"That old demon from the Arnhaunt just left. What do you think the reason is?" Leo-Gothar Sutton, the current duke of the Black Ridge province and head of the Sutton family, asked in a low voice while staring ahead at the screen.
"I am guessing that he has a secret communication channel with the Duke of Red Maple, or he hopes to meet his nephew and pass on some commands." A young man who sat slightly behind of Leo-Gothar responded.
One look at the young man and one could spot some similarities between his face and that of the duke beside him. This was because the young man was the eldest son of Duke Leo-Gothar Sutton, Williams Sutton.
"Interesting opinion, but there's a chance that his motive could be more unclear, for example, he might already have someone working within the academy and is heading to the rendezvous point to collect information." Leo-Gothar Sutton stroked his beard as he replied.
Although the First Dawn Academy was run by both the Castellan family and the Purple Sun sacred land, since the staff who worked there were generally citizens of the kingdom, it was easy for some of the big families to plant spies there. The purpose of these spies wasn't to steal knowledge like magic techniques and spells to hand over to their backers, as that would lead to some very serious trouble for them. Rather, these spies were there to help aid their backers and collect information on the students.
It was through this way that the great families would be much aware of the ability of a student before the fourth-year tournament, with the only reason for their attendance being to see the individual in person. By having a link within the academy, these families could be able to offer an invitation ahead of time and even gain knowledge about the many students in the academy.
Unlike magic spells and the like, information on the students wasn't as confidential, and so, could even be supplied to those on the outside. Of course, there were still strict rules in place, but this didn't matter so much.
"There might also be other possible reasons. For example, he has indeed lost interest in this tournament. This is quite understandable considering that the old demon wasn't born of nobility." Leo-Gothar said.
"Either way, have someone monitor them from a distance. That freak might want to pull an underhanded move any time soon. As for us, you don't need to take notes of the students at the moment. Let's wait till the event truly begins."
"Alright, Father." Williams Sutton replied.