Chapter 85: Rank Assessment

Daemon and Roxanna followed Rosalind down the corridor toward the rank assessment section.

The headquarters noise faded behind them as the path narrowed into a cleaner, more controlled wing.

White lights. Sealed doors. Official markers on the walls. For a moment, none of them spoke.

Then Rosalind broke the silence without looking back.

"What about that dragon girl?"

Daemon’s steps slowed by half a beat.

"I heard from Victoria," Rosalind continued.

"She said the girl was with you. Originally, I should have ordered her captured and investigated.

A white dragon over Ashford is not something WHA can ignore." Her tone stayed even, but the weight under it was clear.

"Victoria told me she is like a sister to her and asked for time. I considered Victoria’s request.

That does not mean this ends there."

She glanced over her shoulder.

"She has to report to me. I need to see her myself."

Daemon nodded once.

"She will. Right now she is resting. After she recovers enough, I’ll bring her here. But she is not what you think. Once you see her, you’ll understand."

Rosalind’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"She still caused massive damage to the city."

"She did," Daemon said. "But because of Roxanna, the civilians survived. No one died.

If Roxanna hadn’t healed through the wreckage the way she did, this would be a completely different report."

Rosalind was quiet for a few steps.

"I know," she finally said. "People’s safety comes first.

That is the only reason this conversation is happening instead of a containment order.

Bring the girl when she wakes. After that, we decide the rest."

"I understand," Daemon replied. "I’ll bring her."

The rank assessment room was colder than the hallway.

At the center stood a spear-shaped sphere mounted on a low platform, surface smooth and pale, reflecting white light in soft pulses.

A female staff member waited beside it with a tablet in hand.

"Roxanna Sterling first," she said. "Place your hand on the sphere."

Roxanna stepped forward.

She set her palm against the cool surface.

White light flared under her hand and raced through the sphere in clean, expanding rings.

The tablet in the staff member’s grip lit up at once. Numbers climbed. Symbols locked into place. For a second, the woman only stared.

Then her eyes widened.

"...This is a new record."

Rosalind moved closer.

"What does it say?"

The staff member swallowed and turned the tablet.

"She has surpassed standard S-Rank thresholds. Healing category reading is confirmed at SS-Rank.

In the last hundred years of official records, no healer has ever crossed into SS."

The room went still.

Roxanna stood frozen with her hand still on the sphere, as if the light itself might take the result back if she moved too fast.

Daemon already knew she had gone beyond ordinary limits. Training under Morwenna, the Lifeweaver bloodline, the way she had healed through Ashford without collapse

all of it pointed here. Still, seeing the rank locked into official record hit differently.

She was the first.

Roxanna turned from the sphere and walked straight into Daemon’s arms.

"I did it," she whispered against his shoulder. "I finally did it."

Daemon held her without hesitation.

"You did. You trained for this. You earned it.

Thank your master when you see her."

"I will," Roxanna said, voice tight with emotion. "I want to meet her again after this."

"We can," Daemon answered. "After we finish here."

Rosalind watched the hug with open surprise.

She had not expected that kind of closeness between them not publicly, not in a WHA assessment room, not when the whole headquarters already knew Daemon as Victoria’s husband. Still, she did not interrupt. Duty came first.

"Congratulations, Roxanna," Rosalind said at last. "First confirmed SS-Rank awakener in the healing category, and you’re under WHA. That matters."

Roxanna stepped back, still flushed, and bowed her head slightly.

"Thank you, Guild Master."

"Next," the staff member said. "Daemon Miles."

Daemon walked to the sphere.

Before placing his hand, he spoke inwardly.

System. Don’t show my real power. Keep the reading between A and B. I don’t want attention.

The System answered at once.

[Understood.]

[Current Nameless Bloodline progression: 22%.]

[Display restriction available.]

[Public reading will be adjusted.]

Daemon set his palm on the sphere.

Light flared again, weaker than Roxanna’s surge but clean enough to lock a result.

The tablet refreshed. The staff member checked the numbers twice before speaking.

"B-Rank."

Rosalind looked at the screen and nodded, finding nothing strange in the jump.

"Previous file had you climbing out of E into D," she said. "B-Rank in this short a window is still a strong rise. Congrats.

If you take regular dungeon reports seriously, you’ll climb further. You clearly have talent."

Daemon lowered his hand.

"Thank you, Guild Master. I’ll do the work."

No one in the room questioned the reading.

No one saw the real depth under it.

By the time they left the assessment chamber, the results were already moving through official channels.

Rosalind stopped at the corridor junction, tablet still in hand, expression shifting back into full guild-master mode.

"I have to inform the government side and the relevant offices," she said. "An SS-Rank healer is not internal news.

This goes wide."

She looked at them both once more.

"Don’t disappear again."

Then she turned and left at a brisk pace.

Daemon and Roxanna walked out of WHA headquarters together.

The stares followed them all the way to the exit, but neither of them slowed down.

Outside, Roxanna finally asked, "Where are we going next?"

Daemon opened the car door.

"To Lucien."

Roxanna frowned slightly.

"For what?"

"Leonard Valen and Dr. Adrian," Daemon said as he started the engine. "They escaped. We didn’t secure either of them when the secret dimension collapsed. If anyone can track them fast, it’s Lucien."

Roxanna buckled in without another argument.

Daemon drove straight back toward the Hale estate not to the main house this time, but toward Lucien’s residence.

The ranks were updated.

The report was done.

Now it was time to hunt the men who had stolen eight months from Kassia.