Ambrose did as instructed, and then Grand Magus Thamoryn looked at the orb strangely.
Everyone in the halls stared back, wondering what the hold-up was with calling out his magic type and rank.
"That's strange," Thamoryn said.
The issue was that the orb wasn't reading his magic type, only his rank.
There was only one reason this would happen, and that was because this fellow's magic wasn't conventional.
The orb was a magical device with different magic samples stored within it. That was how it could identify the magic type of someone who channeled their mana into it.
It had a good collection of magic samples, from the regularly seen elemental ones to even rarer magic types like gravity.
So if it couldn't identify what magic Ambrose possessed, then he had rare magic that had never been registered before.
Thamoryn spoke first to Ambrose privately: "When this assessment is over, come with me so I can understand what magic you possess."
Then she announced loudly to everyone: "I apologize for the delay. This fellow possesses a rare magic type that the orb cannot read, but it's A-Rank!"
The murmurs rose again.
"A-Rank? How?!" one voice said.
"A rare magic type?" someone else questioned.
"Why does a peasant possess rare magic?" came an angry voice.
That was absurd by the standards expected of someone who was a commoner's child. In fact, it didn't feel right, and the selected nobles had plenty to say about it.
These voices and murmurs that Aiden could hear quite loudly were starting to become inconvenient.
At some point, he had even turned toward their general direction and given one of them a cold glare that scared a girl into silence.
"Silly children," Aiden muttered. However, even he found himself rather intrigued by this particular assessment outcome.
On Ambrose's face was a grin that suggested he had expected nothing less.
He simply nodded when the Grand Magus spoke to him and moved toward the seats for the chosen after being gestured to do so.
One by one, other people continued getting assessed until it eventually reached Aiden's turn.
As he walked toward the orb, Lord Oberon, watching from above, leaned forward and squinted his eyes slightly, as if trying to remember where he had seen that face before.
Aiden was now before the orb. He couldn't help but recall the last time he was in front of one, which even made him smile.
He barely paid attention to the instructions given by the Grand Magus since he knew what to do. He simply placed his hand on the orb and channeled his magical energy through it.
Thamoryn's eyes instantly widened with shock, and she had to adjust her glasses again to be sure of what she had seen.
Then her face broke into a smile as she announced:
"Fire Magic, SS-Rank!"
Everybody in the halls, not just the newly selected mages, but even the experienced ones watching, went absolutely wild!
Kayden immediately shot up from his seat and gripped both hands on the rails of the upper floor. He kept saying, "That's impossible! That's impossible!"
"Kayden! Control yourself!" Lord Oberon commanded.
Kayden turned immediately toward his father and said, "Father, that magic testing orb is broken! It needs to be fixed. First it says some peasant has rare magic, now another has magic at SS-Rank? Never!"
"I will not repeat myself again," Lord Oberon said simply.
Kayden, who couldn't handle it, clicked his tongue in frustration and immediately walked away from the king's presence. This was more than he could possibly handle.
His mother, Lady Ayan, tried to beckon him to return, but Oberon said, "Let him be. It's good that he now knows he has competition."
Lord Oberon then turned back toward Aiden and said to his wife, "Is it me, or does that boy look familiar?"
"Who? The commoner?" Ayan asked, taking another look at Aiden.
"Yes," Oberon replied simply.
Ayan responded with a confused expression as to why her husband would ask that: "With all due respect, husband, there are lots of commoners in the kingdom. They can't possibly all look familiar to me."
Lord Oberon said nothing in reply as he kept his eyes on Aiden.
However, when he couldn't immediately remember, he leaned back and a rather devious smirk appeared on his face.
The outcome of this year's assessment was far more than he had expected.
Most of the crowd, however, wasn't taking it as well as Oberon did.
When the announcement revealed Aiden's rank, the chatter became overwhelming.
That was the first SS-Rank evaluation in decades of Xathian history.
Even the genius Grand Magus Thamoryn had only achieved an S-Rank evaluation in her time. This might have even been the first SS-Rank ever recorded in the kingdom's assessment history.
However, nearly everyone had the same suspicion; and it was that Aiden couldn't possibly be a commoner.
"He thinks he can fool us. There's no way he's a commoner," one said.
"He might even be related to the Thornes," another suggested.
One other thing was certain; the guild captains wanted to recruit Aiden.
Most of them immediately realized that someone like him in their guild would bring tremendous success and raise their overall guild rankings and popularity within the kingdom.
The Grand Magus had to tap her staff three times before the crowd began to quiet down. She understood the commotion, however.
"I must confess, the academy entries this year are by far the best this kingdom has ever seen," she said to everyone, then added, "but we have a few more people before this year's evaluation comes to a close."
Aiden had expected nothing less from these reactions. Damn right he felt genuinely proud of himself.
Laela had recognized Aiden as she watched from her corner, and with the magic rank Thamoryn had just announced, she was now certain who had truly dealt with the dungeon that had appeared in Rivendale.
The Grand Magus then gestured toward the corner of seats reserved for the new commoner entries. Aiden nodded and went to take a seat.