Leonel removed his palm from the alter and sent a curious glance toward the female. Usually, she would have begun speaking by now. But, even after several moments, she had yet to.
If the female knew that Leonel wanted her to hurry up, she might very well lash out in rage. At this very moment, her mind had become its own war zone.
Under any other circumstances, finding such a genius was something she should be jumping around and celebrating. The kind of benefits she would receive from such a thing was endless and that was just considering what she could gain from those old fogies. If she also considered what she could gain by simply having a connection with Leonel himself… the possibilities were endless.
But that one name ruined everything. It made her tremble almost uncontrollably.
Morales.
Anared only had a shallow understanding of this family, but even he knew of their strength. Maybe the only reason he didn't treat Leonel any differently was because he didn't believe Leonel was a part of them. And, beyond that, even if Leonel activated his Metal Synergy Lineage Factor, Anared was ignorant enough to likely not even recognize it.
But, for the female… It was as they said, the more powerful one became, the greater understanding and respect one had for those who were truly powerful.
To have such a name and to also have a Quasi Grade Six Empty Spear Embryo and a Perfect Grade Six Variant Earth affinity… There couldn't possibly be such a coincidence in this world, right?
This meant that Leonel was not only a member of that family, but he was one of the only seven in the Nova Generation to awaken both Lineage Factors. This was the only explanation.
To put this matter into proper perspective, one had to understand how the Grading system worked on a deeper level.
There were two factors that decided one's Grade: one's affinity and its comparison to one's Dimensional level.
However, this matter still wasn't so simple.
One's talent could be considered a growth factor. Let's say for instance someone with average talent was noted as having a 1.0 growth factor while one with a greater talent would be considered a 2.0.
Upon breaking through to the Fourth Dimension, the average talents strength would become 2.0 and the greater talent would become 4.0. Upon breaking through to the Fifth, the former would become 3.0 and the latter would become 6.0.
The disparity would only grow with time. And, the harsh reality of it was that the separation was even more exaggerated than this and could be considered to be exponential.
What was the point of all of this? It was to say that one with greater talent would experience more growth even while improving at the same rate. If this logic was applied to the Grading system, it meant that the disparity between Leonel's Dimensional level and his affinity would only grow with time, meaning that as he continued to improve, his Grade would only continue to do so as well!
For the female's organization, Inferior Grade Four was considered average for new recruits. However, Superior Grade Four already made you an elite amongst elites. To touch upon Quasi Grade Five within the Fourth Dimension was enough to make you an asset greatly worth fostering while entering Grade Five firmly would make you among the few worthy of vying for a leadership position within the organization!
The main issue here was that… Leonel was still within the Third Dimension! Yet, his worst talent was considered to be of the Quasi Grade Six level. And, his one talent that could be considered to be of the Fourth Dimension, his Dream Force.... Was Perfect Grade Nine!
This was all to say that… These three were nowhere near equipped to deal with something like this.
Take a potential Heir of the Morales family as a new recruit? Was that a joke? Did they have a death wish?
The longer the female remained silent, the more those around seemed to hang on her every word. None dared to look away for fear that they might miss something important.
"Hello?" Leonel finally asked.
It was a shame he hadn't been paying much attention before, or else maybe he would have been able to read the results himself. That said, he might have been overthinking things. It might not be so easy to read in the first place.
The female snapped out from her thoughts and almost couldn't refrain from glaring at Leonel and gnashing her teeth.
Was he having fun putting her in such a situation? You know well what kind of family you come from, yet you came here to cause trouble. What for exactly? To chase women?
The female thought back to how Leonel treated Aina as though nothing else mattered in the world. But, she couldn't bring herself to be too enraged. After all, the current Aina wasn't exactly considered a beauty. It would be much easier to believe that Leonel was just chasing skirts if this wasn't the case.
"You…" The female choked on her words before clearing her throat. "… Aina Brazinger and Leonel Morales will skip the preliminary rounds. The rest of you new ones, prepare yourselves."
A shocked murmur spread over the crowd.
She didn't read out Leonel's Grades, but she also said that Leonel could skip the preliminaries. According to what she said before, that meant that Leonel had at least one Grade Five affinity. But, if that was the case, why not read them aloud?
Leonel raised an eyebrow but didn't say much more. Didn't skipping the preliminaries mean that he could chat idly with Aina for a while? As long as he got to do that, nothing else really mattered.
Leonel stepped down from the platform to find Aina looking back at him with a hint of curiosity. It seems that she too wondered why it was that the female hadn't read his Grades aloud like she had done with everyone else.
"They say curiosity is the first sign of falling in love." Leonel said to no one in particular.
However, when Aina registered his words her heart skipped a beat and her face went red. It was just a shame that much of it was marred by her inflamed scars.
Leonel grinned. "Let's go to the side and –."
Leonel's words paused.. His gaze shifted to find Syl's elder brother, Anared, standing before him with a cold expression.