Chapter 47: Retaking the Affinity Test

Combat Kydra stepped backward, her figure gradually fading until she disappeared completely from the Void, but even after she was gone, many of the students remained seated.

The experience had shaken them.

They had all experienced their own deaths, and although it had only been a simulation, the sensation had been disturbingly real.

Declan wasn’t any different.

’If that’s only a lower Arcane Art that an average Ember can use...’

His thoughts trailed off.

’Then how much more horrifying are the higher Arcane Arts?’

The realization left him speechless for a moment, but eventually, he forced the thoughts aside.

The next class would apparently involve witnessing even more Arcane attacks.

And now, Declan was more curious than ever.

He stood and followed the other students toward a swirling distortion in space, and one after another, they stepped through it and reappeared outside the building.

Declan followed them, but he hadn’t even taken five steps when,

DRIIIING!

His device beeped, and he glanced down only for his jaw to dropped.

"So...So fast!?"

[{You Have Received a Battle Challenge.}]

"A challenge already? It’s been barely a minute!"

Declan stared at the notification in disbelief.

He had only just received the 150 points, yet the system had already registered the increase and apparently made it visible enough for someone to notice.

Now he had a challenge waiting for him.

A few more notifications immediately appeared.

[{Note: Due to it being your first challenge, no withdrawals of points can take place until the challenge is accepted or rejected.}]

[{You have three days to accept or reject.}]

[{Failure to do this will mean an automatic loss, and your points will be sent to the challenger.}]

[{You can only reject up to three times, while accepting a challenge and winning will give you 5 days of rest, where you will be offline from being challenged!}]

Declan hummed quietly as he went over the rules.

If he accepted the challenge now and won, he’d have five days of freedom during which he could freely spend his points without worrying about another challenge.

But if he rejected it, he could only do so another two times.

By the third rejection, he’d be forced to accept, and until the challenge was settled, he wouldn’t be able to use his points.

For now, Declan simply swiped the notification away without accepting or rejecting it.

Tomorrow would be his fourth day in the academy.

That meant he would finally be able to undergo his fusion.

He wanted to enter that process in peak condition, and accepting a challenge now could interfere with that.

Besides, he’d already attracted some attention because of his strength.

Everyone knew he was still a human, yet he possessed physical abilities far beyond what they expected.

If he accepted the challenge and happened to defeat a well-known Corer, especially if that person was significantly more established than him, the resulting uproar would be enormous.

But after his core fusion, things would make more sense.

And, more importantly, he’d have a perfect practice dummy to test his new fusion against.

Hence, Declan decided to delay the challenge until after he completed his Core Fusion.

With that settled, he didn’t immediately return to his dorm. Instead, he pulled up his map and checked his schedule.

His classes were over for the day.

He swiped across the map, confirmed his destination, and resumed walking.

Ten minutes later, Declan arrived before a building and checked the location one more time before approaching the glass entrance. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The interior was almost completely empty.

It was a massive white hall, yet there was only a single glassy-white desk in the middle of it. A chair sat behind the desk, while a metallic sphere about the size of a soccer ball hovered above it.

Its smooth surface was dull silver, almost lifeless.

Behind the desk sat a man with snow-white hair and spectacles resting on his face. He held a book in his hands, but the moment Declan entered, he raised his gaze.

A faint glint flashed through his green eyes.

"Did you lose your way?"

Declan approached the desk.

"No, not really. I came here to take my Affinity Test."

The man hummed and placed his book down, adjusting his spectacles.

"What’s your name?"

As he asked, the floor in front of the desk rippled, and a chair smoothly rose from beneath it.

The man gestured toward it and Declan sat down.

"Declan. Declan Ezra."

"What year?"

"First year."

The man’s left finger lifted slightly, causing a green holographic panel to appear before him as his fingers began rapidly tapping across its surface.

"Is this your first time taking the test?"

Declan shook his head.

"No. I took it once when I was younger..."

The man’s fingers stopped.

"But?"

"I’m not confident in those results," Declan replied. "So, just to be completely certain, I wanted to take it again."

It was a reasonable explanation.

"Alright."

The man turned back to the holographic panel and entered a few more commands, then his finger suddenly stopped as he tilted his spectacles and leaned closer to the screen.

’How bizarre.’

WHIRRRR...

Half a minute later, the metallic sphere hovering above the desk finally came alive, and a faint silver glow spread across its surface.

"When the light changes from silver to white, place your hands on it," the man explained.

Declan waited quietly.

It didn’t take long.

After about a minute, the sphere was glowing brightly.

"Right hand, or...?"

He raised his hand.

"Use both."

Declan nodded and placed both hands around the sphere.

The light immediately began changing.

White.

Then yellow.

Then indigo.

Finally, it settled at blue and stayed there.

Declan waited.

One minute passed, then two, then five, yet the color didn’t change. Eventually, the man gestured for him to remove his hands, and Declan did so.

"Normally, a student’s Affinity Grade is already recorded in their ID when they enter the academy," the man explained. "But for some reason, yours was blank."

Declan’s heartbeat began to accelerate.

"But now, I have the result confirmed and saved."

The man looked at the screen.

"Your Affinity Grade Talent is..."

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Declan’s heartbeat echoed through the silent hall as the man’s eyes shifted toward him and paused there for a moment before he finally spoke.

"D-Grade."

Declan’s eyes widened.

"That’s... impossible."

"Look, kid. I know that’s low," Mavis said, pulling Declan back from his thoughts, "but you should understand something. The seventeenth strongest Corer on Mordran has a D-Grade Talent."

"His name is Sir Duke Easten, and he’s a graduate of X Guard Academy."

Declan’s brow creased.

Malvris continued,

"So, even with a D-Grade Talent, you can still make something of yourself. If you work harder in this academy and genuinely give your best in every aspect, you can still rise higher than people with A-Grade talents, so stop doubting your Affinity Test and simply accept the result. Alright?"

Declan slowly reined in the shock surging through his mind before rising from the chair.

"Thank you."

He turned and walked toward the exit, and a few seconds after he disappeared from sight, Mavis glanced at the holographic screen.

"How strange..."

He looked toward the metallic sphere.

"When did the academy start forgetting to record a student’s Affinity Grade?"

The sphere slowly returned to its dull silver state as Mavis picked up his book and resumed reading.

__________

Outside, Declan walked along the pavement as vehicles whizzed past around him, but his mind was completely elsewhere.

"How?"

It shouldn’t have been possible.

Affinity Grades were determined by the Mordran cells within the human body, the cells that allowed humans to fuse with Mechas, which were present from birth, with the greater their number, the higher the individual’s grade.

The classification ranged from A to E, with the extremes being the Mythic S-Rank and the nearly impossible F-Rank.

F meant lowest cells, but Declan hadn’t even been classified as F.

He had been labeled Null.

The one who tested him had essentially declared that he possessed absolutely none of the Mordran cells required for Core Fusion and had no chance of ever developing them.

It had shocked him back then, but eventually, he had accepted it.

But now...D-Grade?

Was his original test really wrong?

Then the system’s words flashed through his mind:

_______________

[The Level Up doesn’t just make you punch harder. It flushes out old cells, recreates new and better cells, and removes all toxic fluids from you.]

[That’s how you grow stronger. So, now that you’re better than when you took the test last time, why not check if your potential is FFF? It might have increased.]

_______________

Declan’s eyes narrowed as he realized the system had been right: his Null grade potential had increased to D-Grade, which meant leveling up wasn’t simply making him stronger, but was improving his potential as well.

That realization immediately led to another possibility.

’If my potential increases with every level...’

His thoughts raced as he wondered what would happen when he reached Level 30, or even Level 50.

Could he surpass D-Grade and reach C, then B, then A, and if he kept leveling after that...

’Could I reach S-Rank?’

His heart began beating faster at the thought, and another possibility soon followed.

’And could I eventually surpass even S-Rank?’

If that were possible...It would be insane.

Still, knowing he was now D-Grade eased some of the pressure in his heart, because people with extremely low Affinity Grades often died attempting Core Fusion.

It wasn’t simply about obtaining a Core; if someone’s body lacked sufficient compatibility and they recklessly attempted the fusion anyway, they were essentially signing their own death warrant.

That had been Declan’s biggest concern.

But D-Grade changed things.