A few hours later, Cipher was walking through the halls of the main Association building with Selene.
"You came early. Did you get any rest?" Selene asked.
"Yeah," Cipher said.
"About that thing I told you... I know it hasn’t been confirmed yet, but..." he began.
"I took care of it. With my authority as a captain, I can put a Gate on hold," she said.
"Thank you," Cipher said.
Since he had taken the Heavenly Demon with him, any awakeners going into the Murim World wouldn’t get the fake apocalypse anymore and might even lose their lives.
"No need to thank me. The Association prefers their awakeners alive than not," she said with a smile.
"Here we are," she spoke. "It’s only been a day since you got your identification and you’re already getting a reassessment."
"Doesn’t this happen often? After all, the lower ranks are much easier to advance, no?" he asked.
"Well, they’re much easier to advance, but not many low ranks are as daring as you. It takes time to get used to battle, and even more time to kill ten monsters of the same rank," she explained. "The Gate I sent you to was for training - though it’s not that anymore - it’s for getting you used to apocalypse worlds and testing your combat ability, not for leveling up."
Cipher thought it made sense. Most low ranks had just awakened from being normal civilians. It would take them quite a while to get used to battle before they even start thinking about leveling up.
"Alright, just like before, place your hand on the crystal. No need to say your name this time, just place your card in that slot there," she explained.
Cipher followed her instructions, placing his hand on the crystal and inserting his identification card into the slot. The crystal let out a brilliant blue light for a second before beeping and ejecting the card.
Cipher took it and observed it:
[Name: Cipher]
[Level: 26]
[Rank: D]
[True Rank: D]
"Who brought their kid in here? Can someone escort this kid out?"
As Cipher was observing the card, he heard a woman’s voice from outside.
"Let go of me, you hag!" another voice shouted.
The door suddenly burst open. Before it stood a beautiful middle-aged woman with long blonde hair and a younger woman looking about Selene’s age next to her. The two seemed to be at odds with each other, but when they noticed Cipher, they composed themselves.
"Is that the All Rounder?" the older woman asked.
She pushed away the other woman beside her and walked over to Cipher, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Join my Medicine branch," she said.
"What are you doing? His claims haven’t even been tested yet and you’re already asking him to join you?" the younger woman protested.
"Hmph, what do you know, little girl. I know a strong man when I see one," she said. She then looked at Cipher. "What’s your name, handsome?"
"Cipher. Who are you?" he asked, freeing himself from her grasp and stepping next to Selene.
...
"This here is Professor Elaine, head of the Alchemy and Medicine branch in the Association," Selene explained, pointing at the older woman.
"Hello, Professor," Cipher greeted her, but he still maintained his distance. This woman was way too friendly - he suspected she had some ulterior motives.
"You can call me El," she said.
"And this is Dr. Iris. She’s head of the Magic and Technology branch," Selene continued.
"Hello, Doctor," he greeted her, offering a handshake.
She shook his hand. "Just Iris is fine."
"~If your appraisal is confirmed, these two will be needing your services the most. That’s why they came to see you early," Selene’s voice appeared in his head.
He was surprised at first but quickly regained his composure. He assumed it was one of her skills.
He hadn’t used Appraisal on anyone other than the Heavenly Demon, afraid of people detecting it like she had. He needed to check if the Heavenly Demon was just a special case before he could use it casually on others.
"Iris, we were just about to come to you. Now that you’re here, why don’t you test Cipher’s appraisal?" Selene suggested.
"Alright," she said, walking forward. "We’ll do three tests."
"First, appraise this magic sensor," she said, placing her hand on the crystal that tested awakeners.
Cipher activated Appraisal:
Name: Mana Crystal Identifier v2.3
Type: Magic Artifact
Rank: B
Description:
"Pass. Second test..." She paused. "What’s my unique skill?"
Cipher was surprised by her words. Unique skill? She was a unique skill holder? He hadn’t expected to meet one so soon.
Well, he had also met the Heavenly Demon, but that was different.
He gazed at her and activated Appraisal:
Name: Iris
Level: 47
Rank: C
Species: Human
Class: Magic Engineer
Health: 2,000/2,000
Mana: 700/700
Strength: 23
Stamina: 20
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 70
Skills (5/9): Mana Manipulation (S), Mana Circuit Analysis (B), Arcane Blueprint (C), Magitech Construct (C), Emergency Repair (D)
Unique Skill: Reverse Engineering (Unique)
3
Type:
Cost: Varies
Description: Analyze any magical artifact, skill effect, or mana construct to understand its underlying principles and recreate it. Can deconstruct active spells mid-cast to learn their formula. Successfully reverse-engineered designs can be modified and improved. Analysis time varies based on complexity.
As expected of a unique skill, Cipher thought, looking at her. She even had an advanced version of Mana Manipulation. He looked at it through Appraisal to see if he could get any clues on advancing his own Mana Manipulation.
[Skill: Mana Manipulation (S-Rank)]
[Type: Passive]
[Cost: 0 Mana]
[Description: You have gained complete control over your mana. You can manipulate mana seamlessly throughout your body and adjust mana-related skills, limiting or increasing the mana they consume. Limiting the amount of mana a skill uses could lead to a lesser effect and increasing it could lead to a greater effect.]
"Huh?" He was confused. The description was the same, word for word.
"So, what does it say?" Iris asked.
"Huh?"
"What do you mean ’huh’? My unique skill, what does it say?" she asked.
"Oh, right." Cipher composed himself. It seemed she didn’t detect him using the skill despite having a more mana-related build.
"It’s..." Cipher described the skill to her.
"Hmm, it actually got all the details. I didn’t expect that," she said, causing Cipher to be a little nervous. He wondered if he should have held back a bit.
"Alright, you pass. For the final test, tell me her unique skill," she said, pointing at Elaine.