Upon seeing the result, Kate felt an immense sense of pride and let out a deep sigh of relief.
He answered, "My name is Kate!"
Behind him, the other Witchers couldn't help but glance over.
"Well, well, among these rookies, there's actually a tall one. An A-rank!"
"Could he be the prophesied child? Anyway, he's a good prospect!"
"Don't tell me you're thinking about taking this apprentice. Don't even say it—the best one is obviously going to be Arya's."
At the back, Arya said nothing, her gaze fixed on the testing scene, but her authority was ever-present, radiating quietly.
With Kate's A-rank result, the remaining students gained a bit more confidence.
Kate's A, combined with the fact that the aptitude test had four levels, theoretically gave everyone a three-in-four chance of becoming an apprentice.
That was still pretty high!
But soon, everyone realized just how rare Kate's A-rank was.
Because the next five students, one after the other, all tested as D-rank!
Simon showed no surprise at all, simply urging, "Hurry up! Next!"
Finally, it was Ed's turn.
He took a deep breath and stepped up to the crystal ball. A person who was so familiar with Witchers, who had seen them in action, was now about to undergo the Witcher's aptitude test himself.
It was hard to believe.
The pale light of the moon above cast a cold glow on the dagger in his hand.
Shh— Ed cut his finger, letting the blood drip into the crystal ball.
Under the moonlight, Ed quickly saw the result.
The blood-red light stopped at a quarter of the way up the crystal ball.
"Result: D. Next!" Simon said with a glance, indifferent.
"What?" Ed's heart jolted, but he had no choice but to step back.
D? He only got a D?
The worst rank, D!
Soon, the others completed the test as well, and Luna was among them. Ed had hoped a little for her.
But when the result came out, she too was a D.
Out of the 15 surviving students, eight were D-rank, and the rest were mostly C, with only Kate being an A.
This gave Kate a huge boost to his vanity. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he looked down on the row of D-ranks.
Arya waved her hand, retrieving the crystal ball.
Then, calmly, she stated, "Now that the results are in, these apprentices, you may claim them."
Anyone with a C-rank or higher could be claimed by one of the four Witchers. Of course, Kate's case was unquestionable—he belonged to Arya.
Kate walked up to Arya, and she looked at him and said, "My name is Arya. From now on, you are my apprentice!"
"In a bit, you'll come back to the city with me. I'll teach you the Witcher's Daylight Meditation technique."
Having been chosen as Arya's personal disciple, Kate immediately kneeled on one knee and bowed to his master, overjoyed, "Thank you, Master!"
Watching this scene, Ed and the others who stood in a row felt like discarded trash.
They didn't even know if they were allowed to ask what their fate would be.
Those who were accepted as apprentices would be taken back to the city with the Witchers, after all, it was extremely dangerous outside the city at night.
But could they, the ones left behind, return to the city?
At this moment, Simon asked, "Arya, what do we do with this group?"
He glanced over at Ed and his group, the ones he was referring to.
Arya thought for a moment before answering, her tone emotionless: "Leaving them here to be torn apart by the monsters seems a bit cruel."
"But bringing them back to the city would be too much trouble. The journey is long, and we would have to protect them for five hours. There's no need for that."
"Besides, after the aptitude test, it's clear none of them here are the prophesied child."
Upon hearing this, Simon hesitated and asked uncertainly, "So, you mean we just throw them away?"
The eight students who had tested D-rank had suddenly lost all value. They were now at the mercy of others.
Life and death rested in the hands of whoever decided their fate.
At this moment, Kate, who had just become Arya's beloved disciple, stepped forward. He glanced at his old classmates, then spoke to Arya: "Master, I have an idea."
"Is there a place nearby…?"
Kate whispered something to Arya.
After hearing him out, Arya raised an eyebrow and casually replied, "Alright, we'll do as my disciple suggested."
One of the Witchers immediately mounted his horse and approached Ed and the others. "You, follow me."
With that, the Witcher walked behind the group of eight.
The students around Ed immediately looked relieved. "Great! This means we weren't abandoned!"
"Let's go quickly. I don't want to be left in this damned wilderness!"
The Witcher's group began moving in a single direction.
Ed was part of the group, confused and completely unaware of where they were going.
The Witcher at the back of the group kept glancing at them as they walked. It felt like they were being escorted, but there was something off about it.
After walking for about two hours, the group left the wilderness and arrived in a mountainous area surrounded by peaks.
The group of D-rank students around Ed were still filled with hope, thinking they would soon reach the city and be able to rest.
But soon, the group came to a stop.
From deep within the mountains, a woman with an alluring figure emerged. Her face and presence were so captivating that any man who looked at her would be struck with wild desire.
Several of the boys near Ed widened their eyes. "Damn! She's so beautiful!"
"I'd love to... you know..."
The woman had fox ears atop her head, and she walked up to Arya, where the two strikingly beautiful women began talking to each other.
The fox woman frowned as she looked at Arya. "Is this all of them? Are you sure they are the royal slaves carefully selected?"
"Of course. Their physiques are just a bit lacking, but they're still good enough to be candidates for Witchers. Otherwise, I wouldn't have sold them to you," Arya replied.
The fox woman nodded, then handed over two scrolls. "Take these."
Arya took the scrolls with a pleased expression. "Teleportation scrolls, and elemental magic scrolls?"
These were both valuable items.
After all, it was hard to find a sorcerer within a hundred-mile radius, let alone one as powerful as a fox woman!
Arya tucked the scrolls away and shot a glance at her group.
"Give them over!"
Ed and the other eight D-ranked students were, without any resistance, forced to follow the fox woman deeper into the mountains.
Finally, after passing through a magical portal, they entered a large cave. The cave was unexpectedly vast, with purple crystals providing light.
As soon as they arrived, the fox woman ordered the eight of them to stand in a line. She eagerly stretched out her hand and touched the top of each person's head.
When it was Ed's turn, he suddenly felt an overwhelming dizziness, a wave of energy that rocked his mind.
This was a powerful magic force. The fox woman's power was unfathomable!
In that moment, Ed realized that if she wanted to kill him, it would be as easy as waving her hand.
As she continued the ritual, the fox woman's expression grew darker and darker. After finishing with Ed, she was completely enraged:
"Arya, that shameless bitch!"
"These so-called Witcher candidates? They're just a bunch of useless, ordinary people!"
"With their bodies, they'll probably all be dead within a moment!"
Though the fox woman was furious, she couldn't do anything about it.
She took another glance at Ed. "Huh, this one's body seems a bit stronger than the others. Interesting."
With a look full of authority, she commanded Ed:
"You, follow me."
Ed dared not resist and obediently followed her. She led him through several more caves.
Along the way, Ed saw nothing but jars, magical scrolls, slaves doing menial tasks, and even skeletons of the dead!
"Oh no... did I just get sold to a sorcerer as a slave?"
Sorcerers were practitioners of magic, some of whom studied dark magic and even necromancy.
If they were handed over to them as slaves, the consequences were unimaginable.
"This is hell on earth!"
Ed thought, his spirits sinking to the lowest point.
As they passed through an open-air cavern, there was no blood mist in the air. The silver light of the moon shone directly onto Ed.
A few beams of moonlight gently seeped into Ed's body.
Immediately, Ed's eyes widened. "What's happening? Why do I suddenly feel so much stronger?"
At that moment, the fox woman brought him to a stone house. She smiled, opened the door, and said, "Enjoy yourself."
With that, she pushed Ed inside.
The moment Ed stepped through the door, he was stunned by the scene before him!
Inside were a group of naked female slaves!
All of them were young, around eighteen years old!
Each one of them had a fiery, lustful look in their eyes!
As soon as they saw Ed enter, they immediately pounced on him as though they had seen their prey.
Faced with this sudden and overwhelming sight, Ed was taken aback. Just as he stood frozen, the heavy sound of the door being slammed shut echoed behind him.