Ch 44 - The Oval Amphitheatre

I finally was able to enter the Ceremony Hall building premises.

These premises are one of the most important places in the city. It had significant value in the kingdom. The people almost revered this place like a temple even going so far as to worship it.

According to my knowledge, this is not only the place of the ascension but also where the phoenix familiar first places his blessing. It does the blessing in order to heal the potential candidates giving each of them a fair start in the ascension trial. This was once in a lifetime moment for all the young mage candidates so missing it would be a big shame.

I just hope this phoenix familiar won’t go bonkers and roast everyone alive in the city. After seeing how the second trial went, I have very little trust concerning the control of these mages nowadays.

We, candidates, orderly entered the oval building.

What we noticed was that the interior was a lot bigger and more spacious inside as we entered. There were illustrious paintings of some famous mages on the wall. Vintage weapons and magical gears are placed like antiques on the display. A Mint chandelier and old rustic hanging candle lamps lit the entire room.

But then our eyes fell on the weirdly dressed people standing in dominating demeanor.

They were wearing bright red clothes over a black cape and matching boots like uniforms.

But each of them was armed with rather unique weapons and watching us carefully under their hawkeye gaze.

They were mages who were overseeing the ascension ceremony. From the first look, I could tell they were hard to deal with. They had this serious atmosphere around them, almost making them unapproachable. We candidates were very quiet so that we won’t piss them off.

We were instructed by the mages to form yet another queue that led upstairs to the upper floor. We were told that our seats were allotted on the upper floor for the blessing ritual.

The candidates had mixed emotions, some were excited while some were nervous.
Meanwhile, I was really itching to get this whole thing to be over quickly.

After my identity was revealed, my fellow candidates were giving me the cold shoulder. The adventurer class candidates looked at me with wariness, meanwhile, the noble ones looked at me with disgust and scorn.

I really felt like running away from this place.
Guess I am still not used to being in the spotlight yet.

The queue was moving at a turtle pace.

As I was about to just to reach the stairs-

“You there.” suddenly one of the mages called out.

He was a grumpy-looking old mage armed with a staff.
“Come here.”

I pointed at myself,

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Come here,”

What the heck does he want now?
Is there going to be yet another cross-examination?

I walked out of the queue and stood before him.

“Yes, what is it?” I asked.

“It’s sir, to you”

Annoying geezer.

“Yes, what is it, SIR?” I asked in an almost polite tone.

The next thing he did was examine me from top to bottom examining my physique.

Is this man some weird pervert that has a thing for a young boy's body?

I felt disgusted for a second, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if he tries any funny business.

“So you are the purple candidate who got the golden pass from Sir Bervice. It's rare for such a lower-class candidate to ever receive such an honor. I am quite amazed.” said the old man.

I smiled,

“Thank you, sir.”

It is rare to get praises from mages.
And here I thought he was just butthurt.

The old man continued,

“Well, it's good that you have some talent but you should still know your place. Go join your fellow purple candidates over there. Letting you inside the inner district is more than enough.”

Darn, I guess I was judging him too early.
Yep, another sack of scumbag judging by the hierarchy. I am not even surprised at this point.

The place where the old fart pointed was the group of yet another fellow candidates heading within the building through another passage. From the bracelets they were wearing, I could tell they were fellow ceremony train candidates from the looks of it.

Oh, so they might have entered through the other side.

“Stop gawking and go join your own kind. The blessing ritual is about to begin to stop dilly-dallying here.” retorted the mage in a grumpy tone.

Everybody has an attitude problem here. Well, whatever I was just-

“Mr. Pollocks!” suddenly another fellow mage interfered, “What do you think you are doing? You can’t treat the candidate picked by Sir Bervice in such a manner. He has every right to stand in this queue with the rest of the candidates in this group.”

Oh, what’s this?

A young mage dressed neatly with oily combed hair and armed with a sword stood before the grumpy old fart. From the outfit, this young combed man was a mage as well.

Not to mention, one with a sense of justice which is a rarity.

“Huh?! Now you’ll teach me what I can or cannot do? I am your senior and my words are the law.” said the grumpy mage.

“But Mr. Pollocks-”

“Hush! My granddaughter will be participating in this ceremony.” the old fart then points at me,

“I don’t want his shabby outfit and uncivilized behavior to scare my dear daughter which would later hamper her performance in the ascension ceremony. I don’t want to take the risk. You can’t blame a worried grandpa, can you… haha.”

This fart is trying to hide blatant discrimination while playing off being a doting grandpa.
There’s nothing shabby about this outfit other than the embroidery of the funny-looking red-green scorpion on the sleeves of my shoulder. Mom said it brings luck and yesterday night I had no energy to question her after her long lecture.

But it is still less weird than the adventure class candidates who were literally armed with slain beast skins.

The young mage frowned,

“Mr. Pollocks, you are overstepping your bounds! You must remember that all the candidates on this holy premises are equal and their lineage does not bind them.”

“If that's true. What's the harm in letting him join his fellow plebeian candidates over there.” added the grumpy mage with a smirk.

“You can’t misuse your position like this. This is wrong.”

“Stop making a big deal. You are starting to annoy me.”

“Mr. Pollocks, If you don’t stop this now. I’ll report to the-”

“Hey,” I suddenly interrupted the two of them.
“I am more than happy to join that other group,” I replied.

“What?” asked the two puzzled mages.

I just moved out of my old group and hurriedly joined the other group before these mages changed their minds. I didn’t want to be in that group anyway.

I quietly joined casually with the other queue meant for the plebeian like our kind.

The kingdom really wants to uphold equality but still differentiate between people with bracelets. And they have the gall to say that everyone on these premises is to be treated equally.

Meanwhile, I am a prodigy candidate despite having the golden pass and am still being treated unjustly.

As I had just casually joined the plebian queue, the other candidates noticed that I came from the other group. There was an eerie silence as the queue moved forward.

“Beanjam!” suddenly a nostalgic name called me out.

Not this brat again.

I disappointedly turned my head to see a short runt walking behind me.
The pointy spiky hair and the trademark red headband on his head were his defining identity. Although this time he was wearing a leather sleeveless jacket and a pair of matching shorts. He looked like an outlaw ruffian.

“Hello there, Cracker,” I greeted him.

“The name’s Tracker! How can’t you even remember such a cool name,” said Tracker in an annoyed tone.

He’s the one to speak.

But I had no spare energy to waste on him.
“What is it? Why are you bothering me again?”

“Hey! You suddenly disappeared and the next thing you popped out of nowhere. Where were you all this time?” asked curious Tracker.

“Well, I was in someplace that is called mind your own damn business.”

Telling him would only cause me even more trouble. I should just focus on the ascension ceremony and bag one of the seats in the prestigious mage academy.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Aren’t we comrades from the same wagon? Why the secrecy~Tell me?~Hello?” nagged Tracker.

I started ignoring him.

The group of us plebeian candidates was instructed to head into the interior of the building. They told us we would be seated on the ground floor unlike those of the inner district candidates.

As we were heading in the same direction another peculiar group of candidates joined us walking side by side.

As soon as we saw this unique queue everyone was shocked.
Even I was taken aback.

Next to our group was a group of candidates lining up but they had this dull expression, almost lifeless. Also, these candidates were still wearing the white jumpsuit from the ceremony train that the organizers had handed us down.

They were like any other ordinary candidates that you might see on the ceremony train EXCEPT these guys were wearing their black bracelets. The bracelets were tied around their neck though like a collar.

“Those poor guys,” muttered Tracker.

“Who are they?” I asked.

“They are the kids of the slaves, serfs, servants, prisoners, traitors, and as such. Their poor life was over on the day they were born.”

“And here I thought we had it worse,” I added.

I had almost forgotten about the candidates and their families dressed in rags and chained like criminals boarding the ceremony train. These kids managed to clear the trials and were made to wear those bracelets on their necks despite being potential mages. I don’t even wanna know what happened to the candidates who didn’t make the cut.

Our queue followed obediently with a heavy atmosphere.
The purple candidate brats really felt on edge.

Soon we reached a big oval amphitheater with a circle-shaped empty area in the middle. The area was quite big to fit about 100k people with ease. There were big concentric steps surrounding the amphitheater.

We were then instructed to take a stand in an orderly manner with each candidate being one arm's length apart.

There was even an upper floor right above our head where the inner district candidates were said to be seated.

In the center was the circular stage with nice square tiles.
The roof above the circular stage was open letting the light set the stage for something grand.

It was as if we candidates were the audience in a big drama theater standing upright as if the national anthem was playing.

The red coat mages were squandering around straightening the other candidates who were not standing upright or were standing in the order.

“Hey, Benjamin! You don’t have to be nervous or else you’ll miss the good part,” said Tracker.

Tracker who was latching on to me like a leech was also made to stand beside me.

I glanced at the short squirt,

“I am not nervous but you sure are sweating like a pig. Are you sure you are going to be okay?”

“Oh, this is nothing. It's just the cramp spaces that are making this room a bit hot,” replied Tracker nonchalantly with a weak smile.

Talking about heat, the temperature has been rising quite a bit in this room.

*Squeerrk*

There was a loud shriek coming from the outside.
It sounds similar to a very big angry eagle who was quite a distance away.

The mages were quite frantic.
“Activate the lamps, raise the barrier.”

A squad of red-coated mages appeared out of nowhere and stood at the edge of the circular stage surrounding it by all corners. They then placed their palms in the front and started muttering weird incantations. There were runes surrounding the oval stage that started reacting to the mage’s spells. Soon a translucent barrier began rising surrounding the entire oval stage in the middle.

The candidates were all quite wondering what was going on.

“Children!” shouted one of the old mages.
He was an old hunchback mage standing on the support of a stick.

All the candidates turned their heads towards this old mage.

“The one who shall now descend on that ground is none other than the divine protector of our kingdom. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you might get to see him and receive his blessing in person. Be respectful or you might even lose your life.” saying so the old man turned around to face the stage.

He then suddenly got on his knees, bowing his head.

“All candidates, on your knees now.” shouted one of the mages out loud.

One by one, the candidates quickly got on their knees.
The room's temperature was rising steadily like we were in an oven. The screeching of the loud bird became louder and louder with each passing second.

I had to grit my teeth and take a knee.
The blessing ritual is about to begin, and I sure hope it gets over quickly before we are cooked alive in this oval building.