As for others who came trying out their luck, or just curious to watch, he'd not give them a chance. If not for any of the five on his side to vouch for anyone, speak up for any spirit master and testimony about being trustworthy, he'd not place any in his eyes.
"That's not theirs to blame," Berry sighed, "the news spread over the academy since yesterday. And many will try to come and watch, at least try to offer their services."
"Let's see about this when we'll arrive there," William walked in a calm way towards the main gate of the academy. Once reaching there, a large gathering of spirit masters appeared in front of his eyes.
They were wearing different attires of the academy uniforms, and he saw gold colours among the large number of disciples standing there.
He even saw a few masters, standing in different spots, seemingly watching this weird movement in the academy.
"I want to join!"
"Let me in! I'm a gold grade spirit master, and I'm strong enough to serve the team!"
"Don't push me! I'm a silver grade spirit master, and I want a shot in the team as well!"
Just when William came closer, many shouts like these reverberated all over the place. It was quite messy, and he had to stop with Berry, move his eyes around, looking for the four he wanted to meet.
"Hey, we are here," Just as he and Berry kept moving around, they finally heard such a muffled shout that came from further ahead.
They already got out from the gates, but the number of disciples didn't shrink as William thought. Those outside were at least five times larger than those inside.
The direction of the shout was directly towards the centre of all this mess. When William looked over, he saw that the gathering of spirit masters there was much denser than any other place around.
"Come here," William kept moving, not heading towards the direction of the four and others, "let's meet there."
He thought by changing location, things would grow easier for him. However, that didn't happen. The moment he shouted, everyone here looked at him, instantly recognised him in a way or another.
"It's him!"
"It's that ex-porter!"
"Come on, let me join the team, I'm a silver grade spirit master!"
"I'm at your class, so you have to let me in!"
Just as William moved for tens of metres, he found his path blocked by spirit masters speaking at the same time. William realised that trying to sort things out wasn't going to work in the way he wanted.
So, he stopped, looked around the eager and anxious spirit masters around without saying a single word. One minute passed, two, five, and when ten minutes passed, they slowly started to stop speaking.
Without saying anything, while standing like this, looking at them without saying or moving a finger, placed a hidden pressure over everyone around.
Gradually the ruckus they were all making started to die down. Even when more disciples came out from the academy when they heard the news about his arrival, they also got infected with such weird and heavy silence and remained as such.
After two minutes of everyone getting silenced by William, the latter started to speak up:
"I know you all heard about me establishing a team, and I know and understand everyone's motives and desires. However, it's unfortunate that the number of slots in the team is already limited. If it's up to me, I'd take everyone in, but I can't..."
He paused, moved his eyes around while his voice echoed all over the place, "The only ones able to join the team will get invited by us, not the other way around. But I won't let you take such a trip here in vain. Please, someone can take out a scroll, start writing down the names of those who are here today. I promise I'll go through this list personally, and whoever fits the team's conditions will get an invitation later on."
William knew trying to handle such a messy situation using hard facts and cold rejection wouldn't work. It might also backfire at him and others of his team.
So instead, he left a way out for them, a slim hope, to make everyone here leave this place today without holding any grudge towards them.
And that hope was a sort of protection towards him, towards his team, so no one would dare to think about doing anything funny or something.
After all, anyone daring to do any bad thing would end up losing his chance in joining the team. William knew he'd select a few of those who got their names listed in this scroll at some point, and that wasn't a bad thing actually.
He intended to expand the team after this trip. And instead of just accepting good spirit masters from outside, he'd also select a few from the academy.
And just as few started to take the initiative, write down their names on a few scrolls, and the names of others, many started to issue questions out loud.
"Can you tell us a thing or two about these conditions?"
"We need to know if there is a chance for us or not!"
"On what basis will you select names from the list?"
Such questions were destined to be thrown at his face. And William welcomed them all with a calm smile on his face and zero speck of worry or anxiety.
Even if he looked like an eleven years old kid, his mind and spirit were on par with those formidable masters leading the academies and clans in this world.
"I'll give you a few hints then," instead of narrating the conditions to them or giving them direct answers, he decided to give them hints, "those who will excel in the ongoing battle with the dark spirit masters around the academy will have better chances in getting selected. Those who have good records in the academy, good reputation, and have fulfilled at least ten outside missions either solo or in teams will have a higher chance of selection."
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