After the commotion died down three new attendants were immediately assigned to the reception counter, this time they were far more sensible and good-natured than the previous lazy trio. Nonetheless, the manager closed off the registration period due to Richard's presence allowing Ventus to register as the last participant.

Both master and student stood somewhat near the oval portal talking with the manager, and the latter was far more restrained and polite than when they first met. They spent a few minutes doing introductions, by this time they discovered that the old manager was named Yago Yherssion and he was a master rank magus with the water element as his mastery focus. They also spent some time exchanging a few bits of information about the rest of the kingdom before getting on to the most important topic.

"I can sense that your apprentice is at least at the junior magus level in combat strength" the manager spoke, "but, just to be sure, what rank is he applying to take the trials for?"

"He is applying for the apprentice magus trials" Richard chuckled, "Although he's got the battle strength of a junior magus due to my special combat training, officially, he is not even an apprentice magus since this is his first time being introduced to the association"

"What!?" the manager spoke shocked, "He is just 14 and has the battle strength of a junior magus? preposterous! what would us old men feel when taking a look at this little monster!? what kind of talent is that!?"

"He's got the potential all right," Richard replied smugly, "But his current battle strength is mostly due to his training."

"Oh, I understand," the magus nodded, "He must have started a few years ago right?"

"Nope," Ventus interrupted, "I just started my training this past month."

"Exactly," Richard chimed in, "After three weeks of intensive training, he has reached his current strength from basically nothing."

"Hey! not nothing! my father did give me formal training before!" Ventus complained.

"Yes, but were you this strong before our one month training?" Richard retorted smugly.

"No..."Ventus acquiesced.

The old manager went silent as he looked at the pair in shock, one was a middle-aged grandmaster that already demanded respect on his own since it was immensely difficult to achieve such a rank with that age, the other was a young teen that could already fight at the junior magus level. He could barely believe his eyes, if he wasn't seeing for himself he would definitely say that it was a lie.

But the most shocking fact was that with three weeks of training, they managed to improve the teen's strength from nothing to junior magus level! what kind of training had the boy gone through in this period to raise his fighting capabilities so much? Most aspiring magus would beg to have such a master that could improve them so much.

"But as for the rest of a junior magus's competencies and knowledge," Richard continued, "He's got none of that."

"He's just a very strong apprentice magus in the combat aspect, the rest of his skills are barely enough to pass the apprentice trials." he explained.

"I see.." the magus nodded

The manager sighed in relief. It would be too revolting for the other contestants to face a junior magus in the apprentice trials, there would be no end to the complaints he would hear if that were to happen.

"Very well," the manager continued, "let's head to the trial grounds."

The old fat magus turned and walked towards the portal. When in front of it he made drew a rune in the air and sent it towards the portal. As the rune was absorbed, a holographic menu popped up in front him that displayed the following contents:

*Trial Translocation Management Menu*

*Trial Level Selection:

->Apprentice Magus Rank Trial

->Junior Magus Rank Trial

->Senior Magus Rank Trial

->Master Magus Rank Trial

->Grandmaster Magus Rank Trial

->Magus King Rank Trial

->Magus Emperor Rank Trial

->Mana Deity Rank Trial

*Warning! Your clearance level allows you to preside over trials up to the "Master Magus Rank", any trial held above that level will be managed by a more adequate magus or by the tower system itself*

The manager pressed the first option in the menu and the oval portal changed in color. Originally it was just a colorless distortion of space, but after the option selection, it fluctuated and became green-colored space vortex.

"Follow me." the magus signalled.

The manager entered walked to the portal and in instants, his whole being was sucked in disappearing from sight, Richard and Ventus followed promptly after and were sucked in as well. As Ventus was sucked he felt his whole body being stretched and became desperate, he closed his eyes and braced himself as he thought he was going to be torn apart.

"Kid, open your eyes," Richard spoke laughing, "Don't worry, your body is completely fine."

Ventus obeyed and checked his body. He sighed in relief as he verified he was completely fine and the proceeded to examine his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that in front of him were ninety-nine other youths ranging from the ages of fourteen to eighteen, about seventy of them wore commoner clothing just like himself though theirs was far more ragged than his.

The rest ranged from training outfits to luxurious clothing symbolizing their wealth. As he analyzed them, they noticed his arrival and immediately began to scan him, they knew that if he came accompanied by the manager and by another man, he at least had some status worthy of such treatment.

The ambience made Ventus curious as he felt he was in a space totally separated from reality, it looked like a small auditorium with lots of ornate red chairs and a stage in front of it and three mana stone filled candelabras that constantly fluctuated with energy, in fact, the whole place was velvet red in color.

Richard had hidden away his badge so the participants wouldn't have any special behavior towards Ventus, and also, doing this enabled him to stand as someone special but not a threatening weight on the minds of the youngster that could face his apprentice in the oncoming challenges.

"Everyone," the manager spoke, "The registration has closed, and as such, the trials will begin shortly."

"Please prepare yourselves as soon the scenario will change to better suit the trials," he explained, "Some of you may experience dizziness and even an urge to vomit but don't worry, that is perfectly normal, you'll get used to it."

The old magus spoke nothing about Richard's existence and left that to the participant's imaginations, he figured that if he had not introduced himself, he did not wish for his identity to be revealed.

Ventus walked forth silently and sat on a red chair somewhat isolated from the rest of the crowd and closed his eyes on meditation, he was adjusting his mana and calming himself down whilst constantly practising his mana threads so that he could communicate with the world's pulse at any time and tap into the earth element should he need to fight.

The other contestants looked at his actions and for instants blanked, before following suit and preparing themselves in their own ways for the incoming challenges. Richard nodded approvingly when he saw Ventus's actions, he saw that he showed no interest at all in making any connections and that could be somewhat troublesome in the future, but his focus towards the challenge at hand was a quality that would help him forge his path and power in the future.

The manager drew several runes in the air and fired them in different directions inducing fluctuations upon the room. Space itself shook before twisting and transforming completely, the previous somewhat small auditorium was now expanded by several times. The red auditorium and its chairs and stage were replaced by a white floor with a hundred glowing blue circles, the red colored space became pure white.

Those changes took a few minutes and when concluded the manager spoke once more.

"Attention all of you!"

All the contestants stood up and looked at him, some were slightly dizzy, but nonetheless, all of them were focused on the old magus's figure.

"I now announce that the Apprentice Magus Rank Trials will begin!"