Chapter 50: Alliance rank 1

The Level Assessment ended not long afterward.

Candidates were divided again and sent toward four separate attribute-testing sections.

Unlike the first assessment, exact attributes were completely private.

Candidates completed their own tests without seeing anyone else’s results, while every number was transmitted directly into the Human Alliance examination database.

The same results also appeared inside the authorized control room above the testing halls.

Arthur sat there beside Edwin and Victor, surrounded by several senior officials from the Ardent City Awakeners Association.

Large screens continuously updated as results arrived from different sections of the building.

Edwin was still staring at three records from the Level Assessment.

[Leon Wood — Level 99]

[Mira Vayne — Level 99]

[Karl Reed — Level 99]

He slowly turned toward Arthur.

"You knew?"

Arthur calmly lifted his teacup.

"Of course."

Edwin’s expression darkened.

"You could have told me."

"You didn’t ask."

Several nearby Ardent City officials gave the two old men complicated looks.

Most of them had known Karl since long before today’s examination.

Arthur Reed’s grandson had already been famous enough within the city, and after the twenty-one-star awakening incident, practically every senior Association member knew exactly who he was.

Seeing Karl return at Level 99 was still enough to leave them staring.

Three Level 99 candidates appearing from Ardent City in a single year had already exceeded anything they had expected before today’s examination.

Arthur remained relatively calm. He had already seen their Levels after Forgotten Cave.

Their attributes, however, were another matter.

Soon the attribute assessment began, starting with Strength.

The Strength section used heavily reinforced testing targets capable of recording pure physical force.

Candidates were forbidden from using equipment, active skills or temporary enhancements.

Only intrinsic Strength counted.

Seraphina’s result arrived first among the candidates Arthur had been watching.

[Strength: 6,460]

One of the Ardent City officials nodded.

"For a Mage, that’s excellent."

The result disappeared as several others replaced it.

Not long afterward, Leon stepped before his own target, drew his fist back and struck.

The reinforced target trembled heavily before the number reached the control room.

[Strength: 12,348]

Edwin’s expression finally improved.

"That’s more like it."

Arthur glanced toward him but said nothing.

Then Adrian Holt’s result arrived.

[Strength: 29,400]

The reaction inside the room changed immediately.

One of the examiners sent from outside Ardent City leaned closer.

"Twenty-nine thousand?"

Another external examiner immediately opened Adrian’s profile.

"SSS-rank talent. Level 99. Eighteen-star profession."

The first examiner nodded slowly.

"That explains it."

Even across the entire Human Alliance, such an intrinsic attribute before the First Transition was monstrous.

Several officials immediately shifted more attention toward Adrian’s examination feed.

Then Karl performed the test and as his fist struck the reinforced target and a new result appeared.

[Strength: 30,774]

Edwin’s smile disappeared.

Victor’s eyebrows shot upward so sharply that he nearly cursed aloud, while Arthur’s teacup stopped halfway toward his mouth.

For several seconds nobody said anything, Karl Reed had surpassed Adrian Holt even thinking about it felt ridiculous.

An SSS-rank frontline genius from a Primary City had been surpassed in raw Strength by Arthur Reed’s supposedly F-rank Necromancer grandson.

The Ardent City officials simply stared at the number.

Arthur slowly lowered his cup.

"What exactly has that brat been doing?"

Victor glanced toward him.

"Old Master, you were the one who allowed them to train."

Arthur looked back.

"I allowed him to train, not turn himself into a monster."

Several officials were already checking the result again, but nothing changed.

[Strength: 30,774]

---

Next was the Speed test.

The assessment consisted of a straight acceleration section followed by a massive enclosed agility course.

Moving obstacles, sudden barriers and constantly shifting paths forced candidates to prove that they could actually control whatever speed they possessed rather than simply move quickly in a straight line.

Mira performed exceptionally well, and even without Shadow Domain, she crossed the course at an absurd pace.

Her result reached the control room shortly afterward.

[Speed: 12,348]

Several officials immediately took notice.

Then Adrian completed the same assessment.

[Speed: 22,050]

Another enormous result.

At almost the same moment, a separate screen inside the control room refreshed.

The Human Alliance National Preliminary Attribute Rankings were continuously updating as examination centres throughout the Alliance uploaded candidate results into the same network.

Primary City geniuses.

Ancient-family heirs.

Candidates from the Capital.

Adrian’s score pushed him upward among them, placing him close to some of the strongest candidates whose assessments had already been completed.

Nobody in the room found that surprising.

An SSS-rank genius was supposed to perform like this.

Then Karl’s result arrived.

[Speed: 31,774]

Several officials’ expressions froze.

One of the outside examiners actually stood from his seat.

"What is this? Are we seeing this correctly?"

Arthur’s eyes narrowed while Edwin leaned toward the screen as though staring harder would somehow explain Karl.

Karl had now beaten Adrian in Strength and Speed.

A Necromancer had surpassed an SSS-rank frontline genius in two physical attributes before either of them had completed their First Transition.

Arthur’s earlier calmness was beginning to disappear.

He had known Karl’s profession and talent were strange.

He had not known his grandson’s physical attributes had already reached this level.

---

Next came Constitution.

Candidates were placed inside specialized assessment pods that scanned their muscles, bones, organs, vitality, recovery capability and general physical resilience.

Leon once again produced an excellent result, while Mira’s Constitution was also far beyond what most candidates of their Levels possessed.

Then Adrian’s score arrived.

[Constitution: 26,460]

By now, the officials barely reacted to Adrian’s result.

His monstrous attributes had already become expected.

More than a few people were simply waiting to see Karl’s number.

Then his assessment finished.

[Constitution: 32,900]

The room fell silent again, one of the senior external examiners immediately opened Karl’s registered profile.

"Profession?"

An Ardent City official answered without even checking.

"Necromancer."

The outside examiner frowned.

"Talent rank?"

This time another Ardent City official looked toward him with a strange expression.

"F-rank."

The examiner slowly turned.

"F-rank?"

Another outsider immediately pulled up Karl’s awakening record himself, the result was right there.

[Talent Rank: F]

His expression changed completely.

"You’re telling me this is the F-rank candidate?"

One of the Ardent City officials gave a dry laugh.

"That’s what the awakening result says."

Arthur was no longer pretending to be calm.

I need to interrogate that brat thoroughly once we get home.

Strength above thirty thousand.

Speed above thirty thousand.

Constitution above thirty thousand.

Karl had not even completed his First Transition.

Arthur slowly looked toward Victor.

Victor understood the question immediately and gave a slight shake of his head.

He had never known Karl’s exact attributes either.

---

The final attribute test was considerably simpler.

Each candidate only needed to place their hand against a specialized Mana Orb and release their intrinsic Mana into it.

Seraphina performed extremely well.

[Mana: 10,710]

For an Ardent City candidate at her Level, it was already an enormous number.

Then Adrian finished.

[Mana: 17,640]

Despite his physically oriented growth, the strength of his SSS-rank talent still placed his Mana far beyond ordinary candidates.

Several of the outside officials were already discussing how high Adrian might place nationally once all four attributes were combined.

Then Karl placed his hand against the Mana Orb.

A few seconds later, the result entered the control room.

[Mana: 40,750]

One of the outside examiners leaned closer to the screen.

"Forty thousand?"

Another blinked several times as though he might have accidentally read an extra digit.

The examination system automatically initiated a secondary check.

[Secondary verification complete.]

[Result verified.]

The room somehow became even quieter as Karl’s complete attribute profile appeared.

[Karl Reed]

[Strength: 30,774]

[Constitution: 32,900]

[Speed: 31,774]

[Mana: 40,750]

[Total Intrinsic Attribute Score: 136,198]

One of the outside examiners looked toward the Ardent City officials.

"Wait."

He pointed at Karl’s profile.

"This is Arthur Reed’s grandson?"

Several people glanced toward Arthur.

One of the local officials answered.

"Yes."

The examiner looked back at Karl’s numbers.

"And you’re telling me his registered talent is F-rank?"

"Yes."

He stared at the screen for several seconds.

"What kind of F-rank is this?"

Nobody had an answer, then a separate screen began changing.

Karl’s name entered the national rankings and it started climbing immediately.

Dozens of candidates moved beneath him as the system continuously recalculated his position.

Geniuses from Secondary and Primary Cities disappeared below his name.

Several candidates from the Capital followed.

SSS-rank talents who had spent enormous resources preparing for the examination were pushed down one after another.

Karl kept rising.

[Rank 10]

[Rank 7]

[Rank 5]

[Rank 3]

[Rank 2]

Everyone in the room was already staring at the same screen.

Then it changed once more.

[Human Alliance National Preliminary Attribute Ranking]

[Rank 1 — Karl Reed]

[Ardent City]

[Total Attribute Score: 136,198]

Nobody inside the control room spoke.

A candidate from Ardent City had just surpassed every completed candidate currently recorded across the entire Human Alliance.

And according to his official awakening record, he possessed an F-rank talent.

The silence finally shattered.

"What the hell?!"

"Verify it again."

"Check every test!"

"Contact the national examination system."

Several officials began moving at once.

One immediately contacted another examination department, while two senior examiners independently reopened every one of Karl’s assessments.

The local Ardent City officials remained seated for a moment longer.

They had watched Karl grow up as Arthur Reed’s grandson.

They had seen the chaos surrounding his awakening barely over a month earlier.

And now that same supposedly F-rank Necromancer was sitting at Human Alliance Rank 1.

The verification results returned one after another and found no mistake.

Those were Karl Reed’s actual intrinsic attributes.

One of the outside examiners stared at the screen.

"How is this even possible?"

Another muttered almost unconsciously.

"F-rank..."

The examiner beside him immediately turned.

"Stop calling him F-rank, at this point you’re insulting every F-rank professional in the Alliance."

Edwin did not even react, his eyes remained glued to Karl’s name at the top of the national ranking.

Eventually, he turned toward Arthur.

"Arthur."

Edwin pointed toward the screen.

"What the hell is your grandson?"

Arthur’s eyes moved across Karl’s four attributes once more before stopping on the national Rank 1 beside his name.

Then Arthur finally leaned back.

"He is my grandson after all."

Edwin stared at him blankly.

After completing the Mana assessment Karl removed his hand from the orb and was directed toward the exit like every other candidate.

By the time he reached the waiting area outside, Leon and Mira were already there.

Leon stretched his arms.

"Finally done."

Mira yawned slightly.

"I’m hungry."

Karl placed his hands inside his pockets.

"Same."

As he moved, Karl shrugged slightly.

Seems they’re going to spend some time verifying those results.

Even he had been somewhat surprised by the numbers, even as a sword saint he wasn’t that good

His base attributes were already monstrous, but after using Harvest so many times over the past month, they had risen far beyond what they had been before.

None of them knew the others’ exact attribute results.

The three walked out of the preliminary testing area together while discussing where they could find something to eat before the next stage began.

Behind them, the control room remained in complete chaos.