Lord of Charm

Steve started explaining to the people present the way the recruiting process worked.

"Let me explain; every force interested in taking you in will make an offer to you, and you can pick the one who you think fits you the most. Additionally, everyone who was in the top three is eligible to get one more prize, which the recruiting force must give separately from the offer."

He gave them a few seconds to process his words and continued.

"If you remain in the kingdom, then it's the kingdom's responsibility to grant you a reward, and if you're from the empire, then it's the empire's."

There was no point in keeping the candidates from the empire with the kingdoms' group, so the ceremony started with their rewards. As a second-place winner, Drake got a set of fifth-stage potions to shorten his advancing time to the Advanced Mage stage.

Jaina didn't come to the ceremony out of shame and wasn't shameless enough to demand more rewards after getting 6 seventh-grade potions and a favor from a magus. As for Lara, who won third place, she received a single fifth-grade potion as a reward.

Although it might seem of lower value, consuming a fifth-grade potion as a true mage was a luxury. Potions' effects were utilized to the maximum only when consumed by a practitioner of the same rank.

The members of the empire left and only the kingdoms' candidates remained behind. In a tacit understanding, the silver and bronze forces stood at the side and let the top 5 academies pick their students first.

First, the 5 representatives went to those who didn't win a rank at the top.

"David, although you haven't won a place at the top, it was only because you aren't fit for head-on battles. We would like to offer you to join us, which academy would you like to join?"

They each lay down their offers and benefits, which were pretty much similar to each other, and David chose Charles' academy, also known as Crossed Academy, after being promised that his academy had the most darkness-mage teachers and assassins.

Unfortunately, the rest of the five geniuses who didn't win, as well as Violet, didn't get an offer from the academies due to their older age despite their talents.

"Nina, you are extremely talented and have great prospects. Would you like to join my academy?"

This time the representatives showed even more interest. She was only 28 and could be nurtured from a relatively young age. The students of the academies normally graduated when they were 50 years old or upon becoming expert mages. Usually, the former happened first.

Besides her age, there was one more reason for them to be interested in her.

"Your fire element has a great life attribute. It means that your future as a potion brewer will only be limited by your rank. Our academy is proficient in the arts of potion brewing, and we can offer you great benefits."

This time William was the one who spoke first, and seeing the other representatives remaining silent, Nina understood he wasn't bragging for no reason. She looked at her mom who nodded at her and accepted his offer to join the Holy Woodland Academy.

Next was Jack who was close enough to the mage phase to be relevant. However, his terms weren't as good as the ones David's got. He picked Midjar Academy, mainly because he fell in love with Isobel the moment he lay his eyes on her.

Isobel smiled suggestively and the five continued to the next candidate, Dion. They skipped Prince Florian because of his age, which meant he'd probably have to pick a silver-rank force.

They didn't try to recruit Dion either, probably because she was already 35 and on the verge of being in the other bracket. Gale, seeing it, was quite amazed by their standards.

"I'm sorry young girl. We normally never recruit students above 30. We make a few exceptions in this tournament because the candidates didn't have the best resources and guidance, which would make it unfair to ask them to be of the same standards as the young practitioners of the empire, but we only make those exceptions for triple-element mages and special element mages."

William smiled and explained to Dion the circumstances when he saw her disappointment.

"Don't worry, there are many silver-rank forces here that can nurture you to the maximum and will be happy to offer you great benefits."

Dion appreciated his encouragement and nodded. Silver forces had a magus in their ranks, they couldn't be bad.

Next was Jay. She was only 31 years old and could be recruited to the 5 academies due to her triple elements. The first to make offers were William, Charles, and Isobel. Next were Lucas and Alice. It was evident that Lucas and Alice's offers were much better than the other three's, and the insiders knew it was because of their competition.

They knew everyone was going to invest their best offers for Gale and Lena and couldn't guarantee to get one of them, which meant Jay was their last chance to make sure they don't go home empty-handed. It would be quite shameful if nobody picked their academy after all.

"Listen to my offer; we will provide you with fourth-rank beasts of your elements for your meals until you rank up."

Jay widened her eyes in surprise and her face almost revealed her greedy thoughts.

"We will provide you with fourth-grade potions and ointments until you rank up."

Jay was confused; her offers were getting better than Nina's, and she didn't really get why. However, she wisely decided to shut up and make a contemplating face. The desperate two magi fell for her little scheme hook, line, and sinker.

"We will add 10 thousand of imperial gold for your personal use every month, so you can use them to get additional benefits."

"We will give you the right to train for 10 weekly hours in the training rooms for free. You must know those have a very high demand and are very difficult to access."

They added offers far beyond Jay's worth and she hurriedly decided to accept Lucas' offer of free potions and time in the training rooms before they could retract them. Only then Lucas' face distorted when he realized he was scammed by a girl eight times younger than him.