Before the shock of Simon’s High S grade wind affinity could settle, another pillar reacted.
The fire pillar.
However, compared to the violent rise of the green light on the wind pillar, the fire pillar’s reaction was extremely weak.
A faint red light appeared at the bottom of the pillar, climbed slowly, then stopped at the first section.
A few seconds later, two thin rune lines lit up.
The official stared at it for a moment with a strange expression, then he spoke.
"Intermediate F grade fire affinity."
The atmosphere became strange.
Some demons blinked. Some looked at the fire pillar, then at the wind pillar, then at Simon.
They truly wanted to laugh, but the memory of the high S grade wind affinity made their mouths remain shut.
Intermediate F grade fire affinity was poor.
Very poor.
But it was attached to a demon with high S grade wind affinity, so it did not seem like a weakness that could be mocked. It only made Simon seem stranger.
A demon with a F grade affinity was trash.
A demon with a high S grade affinity was a genius.
A demon with both was strange.
The official wrote on the black plate in his hand, but his hand was not as steady as before.
"Blackmoon. High S grade wind affinity. Intermediate F grade fire affinity."
Simon removed his hand from the central pillar and turned around.
The gazes on him had changed.
Before, some demons looked at him with mockery when he was approaching the central pillar. Now, they looked at him with confusion, caution, and a little bit of fear.
But did Simon care?
Absolutely not.
He had gotten what he wanted.
He had confirmed his wind affinity grade and had hidden the affinities that needed to be hidden.
That was enough.
When he returned to Sonya and Akaza, Sonya looked at him from top to bottom, then she nodded with a proud expression. Her expression was similar to that of a mother praising their child.
"Not bad, little kitty."
Simon looked at her with a raised brow, but he said nothing in response.
Akaza glanced at both of them, then quietly looked away.
He had known Sonya for long enough to know that speaking at this moment would only give her more things to say.
The official cleared his throat and quickly called the next name.
The test continued.
However, the feeling in the compound had already changed. The Archfiends who had been waiting for their turns no longer looked as confident as before. A lot of them kept glancing at the four demons who had produced S grade results.
The tall demon with low S grade earth affinity.
The demoness with low S grade wood affinity.
Sonya.
And Simon.
Even Akaza, who had no elemental affinity, was not ignored. How could they ignore a Martial Demon with black tattoos?
Another demon stepped forward.
He placed his hand on the central pillar, and after a few seconds, the lightning pillar lit up to the fifth section.
One thin rune line glowed.
"Low B grade lightning affinity."
The result was not bad.
In fact, it was good.
However, the reaction from the crowd was weak.
The thin demon’s expression stiffened slightly. If he had been tested earlier, many demons would have looked at him with envy. But now, after so many S grade affinities had appeared, his low B grade lightning affinity felt almost ordinary.
That was the cruelty of standing beside monsters.
Another demon was called.
"Intermediate C grade fire affinity."
Then another.
"High C grade metal affinity."
Then another.
"Low B grade water affinity."
The demons who received B grade affinities had complicated expressions. They were happy, but not as happy as they should have been.
A B grade affinity was enough to make a demon valuable in many places, but today, it could not even make the compound noisy.
The officials still recorded every result carefully.
No matter how unimpressive the crowd thought B grade was right now, the Black Horn Office and Velmora City did not think the same. A demon with B grade affinity could still become useful if trained properly.
The problem was that the appearance of four S grade affinities had distorted everybody’s senses.
More names were called.
Fire.
Water.
Metal.
Wind.
Earth.
Ice.
Wood.
Lightning.
These were the elements that kept appearing.
A few had no affinity at all, and those demons received the coldest reactions.
Unlike Akaza, they were not Martial Demons.
They were only Archfiends with no elemental affinity, and that meant they would have to rely completely on their bodies, demonic energy, weapons, and techniques.
Nobody with space affinity appeared.
Nobody with time affinity appeared.
Nobody with darkness or shadow affinity appeared either.
At first, some demons still looked toward those pillars with expectation, hoping to witness something rare. But as more names were called and the pillars remained silent, that expectation slowly died down.
Those affinities were not things one could see just because one wished to.
Korran Veyl watched the test with his arms behind his back.
His expression had returned to its usual coldness after seeing Simon emerge with a High S grade wind affinity, but the officials around him were not as calm.
One of them leaned closer and spoke in a low voice.
"Sir, this recruitment is much better than we expected."
Korran did not look at him.
"Are you sure it’s better?"
The official hesitated, then nodded.
"We expected the highest affinity to be A grade. If we were lucky, maybe one low S grade. But four S grade affinities appeared, and one of them is peak S grade."
Another official added softly,
"And there are still three A grades. This batch is stronger than the last few recruitments."
Korran remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Talent is only useful if it survives."
The officials immediately became quiet but they understood.
There were many talented demons who died in battles before they could spread their wings and soar to the skies.
They were planning on invading Earth, and they did not believe for once that it was going to be an easy invasion.