"Wow, how did he do it?"
"He was like woosh woosh," somone said, making signs with his hands, "and dodged every projectile coming at him."
Aiden was happy hearing the praise of those watching him. After all, he had never heard much praise in his life, and he had to admit that it felt great. He understood why people were pursuing fame, and being adored by many could become addicting fast.
Aiden got down and went back to the start of the challenge, heading toward Maelis, ignoring the others who were close and had seen him complete the challenge.
Aiden could see that Maelis seemed shocked by what he had just done, fixated on him like never before. He could see that she appeared agitated or excited; he couldn't tell just from the expression on her face.
"Should we go somewhere, um, a little bit more private?" Aiden asked, not wanting to attract too much attention.
"Ye-yes, follow me," said Maelis, quickly leaving the training grounds and going to her office, where she would discuss some things with Aiden.
On the way to her office, complete silence reigned between the two of them. Maelis wasn't talking to calm herself, and Aiden saw that she didn't want to talk yet, so he respected her decision and waited until they arrived at the office.
The truth was that her mind was full of thoughts, trying to find an offer that could be good enough to attract the young man in front of her. The truth was that she had prepared one for him, a good one at that, but seeing what he was able to do, she knew it wasn't enough and that he deserved much more.
However, for her to give him an offer, she would need to learn more about his class, the level he had reached, and the skills he possessed. Knowing this type of information when recruiting someone was common and usually didn't cause any problems.
She knew that having someone with the talent he had in her medium-level family could probably propel them to the high tier in a few years as he continued to develop. She had no choice but to go all in with her offer to please him as best as possible.
Arriving at her office, Aiden was surprised that it didn't look that fancy compared to the rest of the building. Inside the office were only the necessities needed: a desk, a chair, and not much else. There wasn't much decoration; it was simply bland and empty.
Maelis quickly went to the other side of the desk and sat down on her chair, which was the only one in the room that seemed to cost quite a bit because it was really big, fitting of an important person.
The chair looked like some sort of throne with some gold attached to it. It truly was the only thing that stood out because everything else inside the room didn't look all that great.
"You can sit down," said Maelis, pointing at the small chair that wasn't like the one she was sitting on.
"Alright, before we discuss the benefits and the contract you would have to sign to join the family, I'll need to know your level, skills, and your class. Is that good for you?"
"I'm level 10. For skills, I have two. One is called [Mind of the Assassin]; it helps me calm my mind and find the best way out of a situation. The other one I got as a reward for completing the first trial, and it's a skill called Regeneration, which, as its name suggests, helps me regenerate," said Aiden, not wanting to reveal his passive skills. He also decided to reveal his skill [Mind of the Assassin] because she had seen him use it and saw his red aura during the challenge.
"What about your class?" Maelis finally asked, thinking that maybe he had forgotten about it.
"My class is nothing," said Aiden, not wanting to hide it from her since he knew she didn't seem like the type to reveal this type of information.
"What do you mean it's nothing?" asked Maelis, confused about his answer because she was sure he was going to announce to her that he had a special class.
"Well, I don't have an actual class."
"So, you aren't a special class holder? Then how the hell were you able to do all that in the parkour?" asked Maelis, not understanding anything anymore.
"Special class holder? What the hell is that?" asked Aiden, not even comprehending the words that came out of her mouth.
"It's not important; don't worry about it. Even if you don't have a special class, you should still have a class. Do you really not have one?"
Maelis was disappointed to learn that he wasn't a special class holder because that would have helped the family gain even more power. They already had one in the family, Emma Everheart, whom Aiden had beaten in the parkour challenge. If they could have gotten two, then their potential for becoming a higher-ranked family would have increased significantly.
"Yeah, I really don't have one. Believe me, I wish I had one."
"Alright, what about the dagger we bought yesterday? Wasn't it restricted to Assassins or a special class related to assassins?"
"Oh, item restrictions don't affect me. That's why I bought it and can equip it."
"You can bypass the restrictions set up by the system? How?"
"I have no idea. I tried to equip an item with a restriction, and the system let me do it."
"Wait, is it the same thing for skills? Can you learn any type of skills?" said Maelis, excited about the possibility of him being able to do so.
"Actually, I haven't tried yet because, as you know, I don't have enough money to buy different skills."
'Maybe he is special after all,' thought Maelis.
"Come with me. We'll go try it right now," said Maelis, with newfound energy contained in her voice as she stood up.