The Author's POV

-Beep! -Beep!

In a remote area of the academy, standing in front of a large portal, a group of students nervously stared at the professor before them.

"Students please form a single line"

As the professor spoke, a thick wave of residual magical energy emanated from the blue portal that was a few meters behind him. Though it wasn't overbearing, it still caused every student present to feel some form of pressure.

[Cave of Everbloom]

That was the name of the dungeon in front of us.

It was a multilayered dungeon, meaning that it had different levels of difficulty, with the highest being <C> rank, and the lowest being <G> rank.

Because of how the dungeon had different levels—the Lock desperately fought for the ownership of the dungeon.

It was the perfect place to train students.

With the dungeon having the same layout regardless of the level of difficulty, it was a perfect dungeon to assess students' performance.

Moreover, it was also capable of fairly assessing students regardless of their rank. If you were <G> ranked, you would have to enter the dungeon in <G> difficulty, and so on with higher ranks...

This way, there was no element of unfairness as the monsters and layout were the same with each dungeon difficulty.

Thus, in reality, this test was used to assess a student's combat ability rather than talent.

"Alright, everyone please pay close attention to what I'm saying as safety always comes first."

Standing by the side of the portal, gathering everyone's attention back to himself, the professor spoke.

"Standing behind me is the dungeon that will be used for your practical exam for the midterms. The dungeon as most of you know is called Cave of Everbloom, and it's our academy's own dungeon..."

Pausing and staring at the students before him, the professor continued

"For your practical assessment, in order for you to pass, all you have to do is get to the other side of the dungeon. Simple as that...Just crossing over is considered a pass."

"However, for your grade, you will be assessed on two things."

Raising two of his fingers, the professor tone became stern

"Time taken for you to reach the end of the dungeon, and how many monsters you kill throughout the raid. For each extra monster you kill, you will be given an extra point and so on."

Pausing once again to make sure that everyone understood, after a couple of seconds, the professor continued.

"There will be third and second years hidden inside of the dungeon. This is so that in case you find yourself in trouble, they can quickly come to your aid. This is a safety precaution that the school has done to make sure none of you die."

Looking at the students before him, the professor's voice turned grave

"However, be warned..."

"If the second and third years are forced to make a move, you will either have points deducted from your overall score or you will automatically fail the exam...

"...So don't think that just because your life isn't in danger you shouldn't put the effort in the raid. If you're negligent, that's your score gone."

-Gulp!

Finished with what he wanted to say, the professor noticed a lot of students swallowing a mouthful of saliva. It was evident that most of them were nervous.

Not minding it, as he was used to such situations, taking out a transparent orb from his dimensional space, the professor presented it before everyone.

"This orb here will measure your current rank, so once I call your name please put your hand on the sphere. Soon after the sphere measures your rank you will be assigned to your respective dungeon difficulty.."

Standing a couple of meters away from the professor, my eyes were drawn towards the orb the professor was holding.

'The orb of identification'

A special artifact that measured someone's rank.

It was created through the usage of an old dried-up monster core and essentially measured someone's rank through the flow of mana.

I won't go too much into detail with regards to how it measures the stats of a person, but in short, depending on rank, the orb will shine different colors.

— G : Blue

— F : Yellow

— E : Green

— D : Red

— C : Pink

Those were the respective colors that represented a person's rank. Anything above <C> rank required a different measuring tool, as the orb of identification was merely a tool that measured an approximate rank of a person. It wasn't actually very accurate.

Holding onto a black tablet, the professor's stern voice resounded across the space.

"Student Rank 1, Kevin Voss, please step up"

Called up, Kevin slowly walked in the direction of the professor. Arriving before the orb, Kevin looked at the professor and asked

"Do I put my hand on the orb?"

"Yes"

Nodding his head, under every student's anticipated gaze, Kevin placed his hand on the orb.

-Vuuuuuam!

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Kevin placed his hand on the orb, a tremendous red hue enveloped the surroundings.

D rank.

That's what the red color symbolized.

A rank that no first year should ever come close to. At least not until the end of the first year.

Looking around, I could see every student present staring at Kevin's back in shock. Surprisingly, the calmest person was actually Jin, who didn't seem to care about the fact that Kevin was <D> ranked.

...I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this development.

Normally Jin would've already been clenching his jaw and glaring at Kevin like there was no tomorrow...but it seems like he really did change as Kevin told me back in Hollberg.

"Done"

Soon after Kevin removed his hand from the orb, silence prevailed in the surroundings. Everyone was looking at him in utter shock. The professor included.

After a couple of seconds, recovering from the shock, the professor spoke

"D-D rank...student Kevin Voss will go to the D rank section of the dungeon"

Not minding the attention he was getting, Kevin nodded towards the professor and headed back to where the students were.

Staring at Kevin's figure for a couple of seconds, snapping out of his daze, the professor looked at his tablet and continued

"Student Rank 2, Melissa Hall, please step up"

.

.

.

"Students Rank 3, Jin Horton, please step up"

.

.

.

...and so like that, everyone's rank was measured.

Apart from Melissa whose rank was F, Jin, Amanda, and Emma, were respectively assigned towards the <E> graded difficulty of the dungeon.

"Rank 1550, Ren Dover, please step up"

Finally, it was my turn.

Not minding the stares coming from certain individuals, I walked up to the professor who was holding onto the orb

"Please put your hand on the orb"

Nodding my head, I slowly placed my palm on the orb.

-Vuuuuam!

As soon as I placed my hand on the orb, I felt a weird suction force coming from the orb. Soon after, without me needing to do anything, the mana inside of my body circulated.

A couple of seconds after the mana inside of my body circulated, a green hue enveloped the surroundings.

However, a couple of seconds after the green hue appeared on the orb, it was replaced by a pale yellow hue.

Just moments before the hue turned yellow, as soon as the green hue enveloped the place, some of the people around me couldn't help but gasp in shock.

It had to be noted that green symbolized <E> rank. For me, a relatively unknown person, to suddenly show up with <E> rank stats, would definitely surprise everyone.

...however, the green hue soon turned yellow indicating that I was <F> ranked.

Because this wasn't the first time this event happened, everyone quickly recovered from the shock allowing me to sigh in relief.

...seems like the orb liked to play tricks on me.

Frowning slightly, the professor shook his head and said

"Student Ren Dover, please make your way towards the F area"

"Alright"

Nodding towards the professor, I headed back towards where the students were gathered.

Fortunately, because the device was not very accurate, it could only measure a relative approximation of my rank. Meaning that people only knew that I was <F> ranked, but not whether I was <F-> <F> or <F+>.

...and I liked for it to be that way.

Though me reaching <F-> was still sort of unreasonable, it was still not as unrealistic as me reaching <F+>. Especially since I was ranked <G-> a couple of months ago.

This was good...

Though I had gathered more attention towards myself, it was still not a bad idea for me to make people think that I was weaker than I actually was. This way I could still make people underestimate me.

...Unlike Kevin who brazenly showed everyone he had reached <D> rank.

Thinking back, I think it was from this point on that he truly started being targeted by the likes of Gilbert and other jealous students.

Tsk.

This was exactly why I didn't like to expose my strength.

Too much trouble....