The Author's POV

Chapter 191: Exposed [1]

"Alright, you can remove your hand"

Indifferently staring at a blue orb before me, I removed my hand from it as Irene looked at the tablet in her hand with a small frown on her face.

With each passing second, the frown on her face deepened as an odd and confused look appeared on her delicate face.

Lifting her glasses up with her finger, she softly muttered.

"Odd…"

After a couple of seconds, alternating her eyes between the orb and me, she once again asked me to place my hand on the orb.

"Please put your hand on the orb again"

"Okay"

Heeding her command, once again placing my hand on the orb I inwardly clicked my tongue as thought to myself

'tsk, how useless'

The orb before me was called the 'Talent assessment orb'

A dwarven artifact that measured the talent of an individual. Although the relationship between the humans and the three races wasn't the most ideal, trades between them still happened, as dwarves required a lot of resources to develop their artifacts.

The talent assessment orb was an orb that the dwarves had created and developed with the goal of assessing an individual's talent.

By measuring the general structure of the body from the veins to muscle fibers as well as mana proficiency and mana affinity, the orb was able to determine the talent limit of a person.

In general, the test was fairly accurate with more than 99.98% of cases reaching their dictated talent limit. For the 0.02% of cases where the artifact was inaccurate, generally, it was only by a margin of error of one rank. Meaning that if the orb dictated that someone's talent was D rank, there was a 0.02% chance that their talent could be C.

However such occurrences were rare. Furthermore, aside from that, there really haven't been any cases where the artifact was wrong by a large margin.

…at least as of yet.

Once again staring at her tablet and then proceeding to look at the orb that was beneath the palm of my hand, Irene muttered.

"Is the device perhaps malfunctioning?"

Typically once someone placed their hand on the talent assessment orb, the orb would immediately change color depicting their talent limit.

Yellow - G

Green - F

Orange - E

Red - D

Blue - C

Purple - B

Grey - A

White - S

Pink - SS

Black - SSS

…those were the different colors that the orb would display upon someone touching it. However, as she looked at the orb that I was currently touching, she couldn't see any changes in color as the orb did not light up.

Was the artifact perhaps malfunctioning?

Though extremely rare, such cases were not unheard of.

Placing her finger on her ear where her earpiece was, Irene softly muttered.

"Sir, we've got a situation. It seems like the talent assessment orb is malfunctioning"

"Yes, it seems to be that way"

"I haven't tested it myself but the looks of things it really seems to be broken since everything else is working fine"

"Understood, yes"

Staring at Irene who was obviously speaking to a higher-up, I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Since the conversation was related to me, it was only natural that I was curious.

Unfortunately, as the earpiece was stuck in her ear, I couldn't hear what she was talking about and thus could only give up.

Either way, although I wasn't able to properly listen to their conversation, from what I've gathered it seems as though they wanted to replace the talent assessment orb.

Realizing this I shook my head.

Unfortunately for them, the results were going to be the same.

With me having consumed the seed of limit, the artifact was no longer capable of assessing my talent as it was beyond its scale.

Therefore why the orb wasn't reacting to my touch.

The efficiency of the central government was high. After Irene took the call, not long after a man wearing a black suit came in holding onto another similar-looking orb to the one that was before me.

Replacing the old one with the new one, the man did not stay for long as he nodded his head in Irene's direction and directly left.

Seeing that the orb was once again set up, Irene once again took out her tablet and instructed.

"Okay, place your hand again"

Smiling, I moved and placed my hand on the orb.

"Sure"

Again the orb did not light up.

"What?"

Seeing the orb not light up again, Irene directly moved towards the orb and placed her hand on it.

This time she wanted to test it herself.

Previously she had not done this because she genuinely thought that the orb was broken, however, seeing a similar reaction from the second orb, Irene knew that something was up.

…and she was right.

As soon as she placed her hand on the orb, it quickly turned yellow indicating to me that her talent limit was G rank.

Staring at the yellow color being displayed on the orb, lifting her head and looking at me she asked.

"Are you human?"

Hearing her comment, my mouth twitched.

"I think I am"

"Then why is this not working, is your body allergic to the orb or something?"

"…how should I know?"

What kind of logic was this?

Allergic to the orb?

…just what was going on through her head?

Looking at me with a complicated look on her face, Irene turned around and moved towards a secluded area of the room as she said.

"Give me a second"

"Alright, alright"

*Sigh*

Nodding my head, another sigh escaped from my mouth as I stared at the orb before me.

At this point, we were just wasting time.

…regardless of what they were going to try, they were never going to be able to measure my limit. This was what the seed of limit did.

Unfortunately, I could not say this out loud resulting in this situation.

After talking to her higher-ups and coming up with a conclusion, returning towards where I was standing, Irene calmly pointed towards the right side of the room.

"Alright, Mr. Dover, it seems like we will leave that test aside for now. For now, we will now measure your rank"

Good.

It seems like they have given up on my talent assessment for now…

"Okay"

Nodding my head and turning my attention towards where Irene was pointing at, I soon spotted a large metallic capsule that stood upright. Next to the capsule was a black monitor that was facing away from the capsule with different numbers and data displayed on it.

Seeing the machine, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

Although I had never seen it in real life, I instantly knew what that machine did.

…Measure someone's rank.

Yes.

The machine before me was a machine that measured someone's rank.

Although I was unsure about the technicalities of the machine, I knew that it could measure someone's rank extremely accurately with an extremely small margin of error.

Regardless of how much someone tried to hide or suppress their rank, it would not go unnoticed by the machine.

Calmly walking towards the capsule and standing next to it, extending her hand, Irene said.

"Okay, now please enter the capsule"

"Understood"

Nodding my head as an extended sigh escaped from my mouth, I calmly walked towards the large capsule in the distance and entered it.

Unlike before with my talent assessment, I knew that I couldn't dodge this one.

I knew that my E+ rank would soon be exposed.

…and from there, although they wouldn't be able to know what my talent was, they could more or less make a guess as a 16-year old E + rank was almost unheard of.

A couple of seconds after the doors of the capsule closed, I suddenly felt a weird tingling sensation around my body as my mana instinctively channeled around my body, and a white hue exuded from my body.

Although the sensation I was feeling was not annoying, it was still uncomfortable therefore I wished for it to end sooner.

Fortunately, my prayers were quickly answered as not long after, the tingling sensation stopped and the capsule opened and steam rose everywhere.

Exiting the capsule, as the steam dyed down, the first thing I saw was Irene's shocked face.

Seeing the shock displayed on Irene's face, turning around and looking in the direction of where she was looking, a bitter smile on my face as I saw the large E+ displayed on the screen.

…yep.

There was no going back.

Since this was a public case and a fairly high profiled one, the test results would soon become public for the whole world to see.

…and once that happened, I knew that I could no longer operate as I did before.

Thinking along those lines, turning my attention back to Irene who was looking through her tablet, I irritably asked.

"Am I free to go?"

Snapping Irene out of her thoughts was my annoyed voice as she looked at me in shock. Nodding her head, she stepped to the side and said.

"Yes, you may leave. We have taken all of your answers and have also finished with the testing, you are free to go. We will soon send you an email detailing the follow-up of our investigation. Thank you for cooperating with us"

"Mhm"

Hearing her explanation, I nodded my head and quickly made my way towards the exit of the room.

I honestly, did not listen to what she had said.

My mind was currently racing as I started thinking of the future that lay ahead of me.

Given the circumstances, I knew it was about time that I stopped hiding.

…

Staring at Ren's figure leaving the hall, tapping on the earpiece in her ear, Irene softly said.

"Sir, the results came out, the student's rank has been determined to be E+ rank"

Seconds after Irene spoke, a deep voice filled with authority echoed in her ear.

[Mh, according to the reports the student's talent should be assessed as D rank no? But given his E+ rank, that does not seem possible]

Looking at her tablet and scrolling through the profile of the youth named Ren Dover, Irene calmly nodded her head and responded.

"Yes, I also understand that his talent cannot be D rank. However, even after switching the artifact with a new one, the orb doesn't light up."

Pausing for a second as her brows knit together in a frown, she asked.

"what should I write in the report?"

[…S rank with the possibility of it being higher]

Hearing the response, Irene became slightly flustered.

"S-S class potential with the possibility of it being higher!?"

We were talking about S class here.

This was a one in a hundred thousand kind of talent!

Moreover, from the way her boss spoke, it seems like there was a possibility of his rank being even higher than that!

How absurd was that?

[Yes, put that]

Forcefully trying to calm herself down, Irene worriedly asked.

"…is that really okay?"

If the results turned out to be false, the whole of the central government would become the laughing stock of the human domain.

After all, everyone that had the potential of reaching S rank was regarded as a prodigy.

If it turned out that his talent was in fact not S rank, countless resources and time would be wasted nurturing someone that in the end would not achieve what was determined of him.

…this would naturally create dissatisfaction amongst the general public resulting in the reputation of the central government would drop.

In Irene's opinion, this assessment was too hasty! They needed to quickly think of other ways to assess his talent.

Hearing the worry in Irene's voice, the person she was talking to reassured as he calmly explained.

[Yes do not worry. I'm fairly certain about my assessment]

"How?"

[Simple really, if you think about it logically, according to historical records, reaching E rank at the age of 16 is an indication of someone having a talent above A rank. For him to be E + at 16 years of age, it can be quite safe to assume that his talent rank is around S if not more…]

As she was listening to her boss speak, placing her hand on her chin, Irene suddenly realized that what he was saying was in fact true.

According to all historical data, all of the youth that reached such rank at that age were indeed people that had an extremely high talent.

The reason was simple.

The closer someone was to their talent limit, the slower their progress. The greater their talent was, the faster their training.

Therefore, although the talent assessment orb was unable to measure his rank, if you thought about it from this perspective, his talent did indeed seem to be around S rank.

Thinking along those lines, Irene closed her eyes and nodded her head.

"…I see, I understand. Alright, I will do as you say"

[Good, inform me if you find anything else regarding that student. He has piqued my attention]

"Yes, understood"

Turning off her earpiece and taking out her glasses, Irene pinched the middle of her brows as she muttered.

"Just what kind of monster have we discovered…"

…

Unaware of what was happening in the room Irene was in, walking out of the room, after moving across a couple of corridors I took the elevator and directly headed towards the lobby of the building.

From what I've been informed, my parents were waiting for me in the lobby of the building.

Because this was only a questioning as I wasn't arrested, I was pretty much free to go after they asked me a couple of questions and measured my rank.

Unfortunately, because of the incident, I pretty much lost a day and therefore skipped a day of lectures.

Knowing this, I knew that I had to hurry back to the academy.

At the moment my current plan was to meet up with my parents before going back home to pick up Angelica and quickly returning back to the academy.

…just thinking of the scolding I would get from Donna caused me headaches.

"Hm? Who's that?"

Exiting the elevator, my footsteps soon halted for a second as I spotted my parents chatting with a tall beauty in the distance.

Squinting my eyes to get a better look at who they were talking to, recognizing the identity of the female, I exclaimed.

"Miss Longbern?"

Talk about the devil.

What in the world was she doing here?