And she did give her daughter’s soul a new body to inhabit.
In fact, Liandrin’s soul was in perfect control of a body. It was only until the assessment tests that the need arose for her to swap into a new vessel.
That was when Arianna had become a potential target for Thamoryn’s soul branding.
She needed someone beautiful and of respectable background; someone who might be able to make the right people listen.
The right people in this situation were the new intakes: Aiden, Laela, and Ambrose. Although Kayden was still a good bonus.
When she had successfully lured and captured the unsuspecting Arianna, she then directly moved Liandrin’s soul from the body she had initially possessed into the body of the Greystone.
Liandrin, now awakened as Arianna, was instructed to keep watch on them while helping with their development.
So the part where she had told Aiden about her goal being to achieve the title of Grand Magus; that part was all a lie.
The true intention was to get these three people into the one guild that would not hinder their growth, especially due to unnecessary competition between other members of the same guild.
For it was only when they had reached their full potential that they could be of certain powerful use to Lord Oberon and what was to come.
...
After a while, "Arianna" woke up, and the Grand Magus was right there staring at her, waiting for her to speak.
"I don’t feel her trying to resist anymore. What did you do?" Liandrin was now the dominant soul, speaking through the Greystone.
She stood up slowly while holding her head, as she had suffered a headache from falling.
Thamoryn had walked back to her seat and sat down. "You do realize I could have been in a meeting with somebody when you barged in that way?"
"I’m sorry, Mother," Arianna said.
Thamoryn sighed, then replied, "Didn’t think she would still have that much willpower left. Well, she’s a Greystone so I guess it’s to be expected. But not to worry, I’ve tightened the spell. She’s not waking until I say so."
Arianna nodded in acknowledgment, after which Thamoryn asked, "Now tell me, how did the mission today go?"
Arianna began explaining how it all went down; the monsters they fought and the abilities she had witnessed from her teammates.
She added that Aiden used more than just flames, told her of his eyes and the capabilities he displayed with them, but also added that she had no understanding of what it was.
Thamoryn listened intently, and after the full explanation, she said, "Not long ago, the training instructor came to report what happened at the training hall today. He was sure this Aiden did not display the magic knowledge and mana control of an Academy-level mage."
"Seeing what I saw today, he might be right. What if he’s an infiltrator from any of the other kingdoms?" Arianna asked.
"No kingdom is in their right mind to make that error," Thamoryn said with complete certainty.
"So if it’s not any of the kingdoms, perhaps Dragonhold?" Arianna said with a contemplative look on her face.
Thamoryn chuckled softly and said, "Jarius might sit at the seat that rules the nine kingdoms, but even he knows that doing that would give Oberon just the right excuse to do what he has always wanted, Wage war."
Xathia was called the Heart of the Continent of Valaros. Though mostly because, getting to other kingdoms would require you pass through Kingdom of Xathia.
And of all the nine kingdoms, it had the largest landmass.
Additionally, it also had the most mages and resources.
Any kingdom sending an infiltrator into Xathia was doing so at the risk of losing a powerful ally, losing a trade route, or directly risking war.
It was a kingdom that did not take kindly to what it perceived as threats.
...
At the earliest hours of the next morning, just before dawn, a crow with a note attached to its feet arrived at the windows of each room holding these students.
It woke them all up with that annoying caw.
Some rooms heard its sound more than once if the mages of said room did not wake up at the sound of its voice the first time.
The note attached to them was to inform them to prepare for a class session with the Grand Magus that morning.
There was the usual awkward hall situation with girls having to be half-clothed, with only their towels wrapped around them as they proceeded to the bathing rooms.
In fact, it had only gotten worse. Right now in the hallways, two mischievous boys from a certain room stared through their doorway at the half-clothed ladies as they went to bathe.
One of them, who was a wind magic user, would from time to time release tiny wind gusts to blow up the towels of these girls to get a sight of what they looked like underneath.
This happened at intervals until Aiden had to walk through the hallway to go bathe.
He noticed the boys ahead playing those tricks on some girls who may not have suspected where the wind was coming from.
With a single hand gesture, little vines started to grow from the ground underneath their legs.
Both boys looked at the growing vines in terror. One of them said, "Wait, what’s going on?"
However, before they could react any further, the vines wrapped around and ensnared them as they struggled to get free.
Aiden then walked past their room’s door while waving his hand slightly to undo the spell. However, they had been knocked out effectively by the mana drain effect of the tree vines.
He had a wicked smile on his face from the satisfaction of dealing with the silly kids.
...
The Academy mages were now in class, each wearing the uniforms of their respective guilds.
The chatter from the class immediately settled the moment the Grand Magus walked in.
She made her way toward the wooden podium where she would speak from, and in her hand was a scroll.
"Welcome, everyone," she began, then raised the scroll up for them to see. "Right here with me are the Performance Points results for the missions that were assigned to the guilds yesterday."