Veric was standing in the courtyard amongst more than 150 children. Some looked scared while some looked happy and excited to be there. Most chose their classes and professions at the age of 12 so it was not a strange occurrence for children to start labour, even if it involved becoming soldiers, some children were slightly older than twelve but none of them reached the age of 14. The majority of the children were boys; it wasn't an even split like Veric had imagined, based on the number of female knights around.

The group of children was surrounded by knights and squires. The baron stood in front of them on a large wooden podium. To his left stood Vence, Baron’s military advisor. His brown calculating eyes lingered on each child for a few seconds before moving on, to assess the next one. Vence was well built however, he could definitely not be considered to be a man in his prime. Due to his bloodline, the baron was more than 70 years old yet looked to be in his fifties. Vence was a pureblooded human and was slightly younger than the baron however they knew each other since childhood.

He was wearing his typical dark grey tight-fitting uniform and was supporting himself on a smooth ivory cane made out of the tooth of the [Kirzak], a venomous lizard also known as the king of the [Purval Swamps]. Just like the lizard, Vence was known for his venomous tongue. Next to him stood his son Namir. Just like his father he had swarthy skin, uncommon in this part of the continent, yet not completely unique. Just like his father he had a tall lean athletic build and was wearing a dark grey uniform that looked like layered fabric. Namir was not young. He was born shortly after Krado became a Baron, which was close to thirty years ago.

On the baron's right stood Elora. She was wearing full plate armour with a large hammer etched on the left side of her breastplate. She was a head taller than Vence and Namir who were above average height for humans, yet she was dwarfed by her father who was wearing a dark blue gambeson. A symbol of title, wealth and nobility.

“Welcome all of you-” The baron started his speech yet Veric’s attention was stolen by the boy that stood next to him.

“It’s so hot and we have to listen to this stupid speech. Can’t we just get to the good part?” A boy to Veric’s left muttered under his breath. Lucky for the boy, both of them were deeper within the crowd and the baron didn’t hear his words.

“Shut up, Kadyn. You will get us into trouble.” Said a boy on Kayden's left which caused Kadyn to give the boy a side-eye.

“...The outside world is unfair, however, I have created this school to correct that unfairness. Other nobles and guilds reward the members with connections. I, on the other hand, will reward those who work hard and show results. To prove that to you, my youngest son is amongst you. You will see that he will train, eat and sleep by your side. You shall be treated equally to my own son.” This revelation caused a few of the children to get excited and to look around and guess which one amongst them is the son of the baron.

‘It seems like the Baron wanted me here not only to make me stronger and teach me swordsmanship but to become the glue that will connect these children to the knights and the baron. He is probably hoping that my presence will bind them to this place more strongly. I don’t know much about other guilds that hire mercenaries but I think that he is scared that after he creates a strong foundation with those kids they will decide to join other guilds that give them more freedom.’ Veric though.

Kadyn nudged him with his elbow. “I bet that tall blonde dude over there is the son of the baron.” He whispered and pointed at the boy closer to the front row. “I also bet that he will be a real piece of work. My father says that the baron is fair to his people but whenever his son Rigon goes into town he causes trouble, especially when he has one too many in the taverns. I bet the younger one is the same.” Kadyn continued in a whisper.

Veric was somewhat surprised at first and wanted to explain that he was the one baron was talking about, but in the end, he decided to play along. “Yeah, I bet we will be treated like training dummies for him. If we get hit during a sparring session we won’t be able to hit back. This talk about fairness is all bulshit.” Veric whispered back.

Kadyn nodded his head ”I am glad you agree friend. Smart guys like us should stick together. I am Kadyn.” He said and reached out with his hand.

Veric shook his hand and replied. “I am Veric.” He replied.

Kadyn didn’t react to his name, which only showed how little people outside of the castle knew about him. This lack of reaction made Veric a bit disappointed but he knew that the truth would eventually surface.

Kadyn nodded back with a smile and continued to pretend that is listening to the baron.

“...You shall be awarded based on your efforts and results. All of you will be provided with food, clothes and a roof over your head. The bottom 50 of you shall be paid 10 copper crowns each month. The middle 50 of you shall receive twice as many crowns and the top 50 of you shall be paid three times as much while having access to the best skills and training my family has to offer. You might ask yourself how we will determine the ranking. The answer is simple. We shall take into account your skills, classes, levels and attribute points. Additionally, the opinion of the knights that will be in charge of your training will help me in ranking you.”

Veric noticed that some children were using their fingers to calculate how much money they would make and most of them became even more excited, especially those who believed themself to be able to reach the top 50 in the ranking.

After a few seconds, the baron continued. “Now. Those of you that already have classes please raise your hand.”

After a few seconds about a dozen children raised their hands. Veric considered whether he should do it too because the baron knew about his situation but in the end, he decided to follow the baron's instructions and avoid unnecessary misunderstanding.

“Those of you who have already achieved a class have a chance to remove it before it reaches level 10. After you remove your class the skills and the attributes associated with the class will be lost and achieving a new class will be more difficult. However, if you believe that your class is not suitable for battle I strongly suggest that you remove it, as it will be impeding your rise to the top. Those of you who wish to remove your class please step forward.”

After a few moments, only Veric and one other girl decided to keep their classes. Ten children walked over to the front.

“You made a wise choice.” the baron said and two knights walked up to the children.

“Those two shall take you to the temple of Akshan. You shall undergo the ritual of neglect and your classes shall be removed free of charge.” The baron gestured at the knights and the children, the knights saluted the baron and started walking and the children followed soon after the knights.

Kadyn nudged Veric with his elbow and asked. “What class do you have?”

“Arcanist” Veric replied in a whisper.

“Like an acolyte or a priest? Which god is your class connected to?”

“No, not like a priest. It’s like a mage or a sorcerer.” Veric replied.

“You should get rid of that class then,” Kadyn said.

“It’s too late,” Veric replied.

Kadyn raised an eyebrow and looked to be deep in thought.

“...Starting from the front row in the reading order we shall now test your attribute points.” The baron said.

***

The process was slow and it took more than an hour to complete. The results were kept private and only Elora the baron and a few of his closest men were allowed to know the results. Each child was assigned a number from 1 to 150 based on their total number of attribute points. Veric ended up with number 1. Even with Elora fudging the numbers, his 25 points of intelligence and wisdom, plus 36 points of willpower put him more than 15 attribute points ahead of the girl who already had a class and was ranked 2nd. The children were now back in the same formation as before however now they were wearing leather medallions with the numbers corresponding to their rank. The bottom 50 were brown, the middle 50 were green and the top 50 were blue.

Once all the children were back in their original positions the baron said. “For now you have been ranked according to your attribute points. However, this will change. Every 3 months we shall reorder your ranks based on your accomplishments. Now the knights will take you to your rooms-”

***

Veric and five other boys were assigned a large, clean room with 3 bunk beds. Each child was given a chest for personal belongings, soap, 3 sets of clothing and a set of sturdy boots made of stretchy black leather that was able to comfortably fit any sized foot. The beds were comfortable and soft.

‘This bed is better than the one I had in my room.’ Veric thought.

The children were responsible for keeping their room and clothes clean. They didn’t complain as they were used to doing house chores. They were grateful to the baron for the clothes and especially the sturdy comfortable boots.

The children that were assigned to every room were chosen at random but somehow Kadyn was assigned the same room as Veric. This was done to separate the boys and the girls for obvious reasons.

“Dude, how did you manage to get such a high score? No offence but you seem as sturdy as a bundle of wheat. I just barely made it to the top by the skin of my teeth, and I have been helping my dad in the forge for the last two years. I am glad that we stayed together tho.” Kadyn said while holding up the blue badge with the number 48. Kadyn did have the build of a blacksmith a young one but a blacksmith nonetheless. His shoulders, forearms and hands were thick and his core looked sturdy for a child his age.

“My intelligence and wisdom are very high my other stats on the other hand are quite low. I am a mage, remember? We use mana to cast spells and mana scales with intelligence and wisdom.” Veric said while tying his shoelaces.

“So can you cast some spells? My dad says that wizards usually spend all day locked up in their towers, coming up with new spell formulas. I know you are an arachnid or something, so you should be able to cast spells right?” Kadyn asked.

“I am not an arachnid. Arachnids are spiders.” Veric replied with a chuckle.

“I am an arcanist.'' Veric said and blasted a gentle gust of mana into Kadyn’s face causing his brown shoulder-length hair to fly backwards.

“Cool, Mr arachnid. Do you know any more spells?” Kadyn asked with the other children paying more attention to Veric and Kadyn. Intrigued by magic.

“Yeah, but they are dangerous so I am not going to show them to you now. Anyway, I think that we should introduce ourselves first and then head to the first lesson about classes.” Veric said not caring for the new nickname Kadyn came up with.

“Yeah right. Spells of an arachnid don’t sound that dangerous anyway.” Kadyn replied teasingly.

Veric ignored Kadyn and turned to the other children. “I am Veric. I am a spell caster as you have probably noticed by now. Nice to meet you.” Veric said.

The other children were somewhat intimidated by the fact that Veric was ranked number 1 and remained silent. The remaining 4 children had brown badges with one of the boys being ranked 146th.

Kadyn noticed that the other kids were somewhat uncomfortable, so he cleared his throat and said. “I am Kadyn, my dad is a blacksmith. I don’t recognise any of you from around town but we are from the same town so we should be comfortable around each other. You can think of me as your big brother. If anyone is giving you a hard time, come to me and I will sort it out for you.” Kadyn said with a confident smile.

After a moment of silence, the other children became a bit more relaxed and the boy ranked the lowest spoke. “My name is Grid. I am a son of a steel merchant. And this is my twin brother Sven.” The ginger boy ranked 146th and pointed at an exact copy of himself ranked 145th.

“That explains it. I was wondering whether I was seeing double for a while.”Kadyn said. His teasing tone made him somehow feel more friendly.

“What about you two?” Kadyn asked.

“I am Frode. My dad is also a blacksmith. I have 11 brothers and there are way too many blacksmiths in this town anyway, so I decided to pick up an axe instead of a hammer.” The boy ranked 111th said. He had brown hair like Kadyn but instead of dark brown eyes, his eyes were bright copper in colour.

“My name is Nash.” The boy with short black hair and blue eyes said. He was ranked 101st. The boys waited for a few seconds for him to finish but gave up after a few moments.

“A quiet type I see. But don’t worry. Not everyone has to be as talkative as me or arachnid.” Kadyn said.

‘I see that this nickname will not go away easily now.’ Veric thought and shook his head.

“Ok, now that the introductions are over we should head outside. The baron said that our first lesson will start soon.” Veric said and gestured at the door with his head.

After making sure that their chests are properly locked the boys headed outside.