Chapter 366: _No Longer A Frightened C-Rank

Outside The Building

Devon leaned against his car, arms folded across his chest. He wore a pair of sunglasses, staring curiously at the glass building.

"I’m not the only one hearing that commotion, right?"

Inside the car, Viktor waited, sitting on the front passenger seat. "Nope. I’m guessing someone awakened with a high rank."

Silence settled between them again.

Ambrose had finally decided to get a reassessment once and for all today. According to him, it was becoming more and more impossible to play the part of a ’C-Rank’ Guide... especially as a member of a simple Guild like Steel Falcon.

That plus Kali’s invitation to the International Hunters meeting had spurred his desire to get reassessed.

Devon and even Viktor had expressed a little hesitance, pointing out how the facility’s system would probably read out his odd Esper and Guide energies.

Ambrose didn’t seem worried about that. He was vague, but it was clear he had ways to make the machinery only perceive him as an Esper.

All they had to do was wait out here for him. For a few obvious reasons.

"God, remember how crazy getting an assessment was back in the day?" Viktor sighed, shoulders relaxing. "Even though my mother followed me back then, I still got swarmed with Guilds hoping to recruit me."

Devon chuckled. "Despite the rarity of assessment stones, Grandpa Magnus still found a way to bring one to Phoenix Flight. Just for me."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that." Viktor barked a laugh. "You really were sheltered."

"I guess the big phoenix didn’t want his chick fleeing the coop."

"Fair, I guess. People born Awakened tend to get way more expectations on them."

They both brought their eyes to the building’s entrance again. The sound of cars, pedestrians walking past and throwing shocked glances when they recognised them, and a few morning birds resounded through Aurelia.

Moments like these where they could just be outside without worrying about getting squashed by a monster were absolutely refreshing.

Devon was just about to push himself off the car when he noticed something that made him pause.

News vans parked in front of the building, journalists hopping out of them one by one with mics, cameras and the will to get the juiciest Hunter news.

Viktor squinted, head poking out of the car. "That’s... odd."

The guards standing by the entrance gave each other subtle looks as the reporters covered the wide stairs. They murmured—readjusting equipments.

Then the double doors slid open.

"There he is!"

"Tucker!"

"Mr Tucker Haynes, I’m with CNN."

"Over here!"

"A few posts have circulated online. Is it true that you’re a newly Awakened S-Rank?!"

Devon arched a brow at the young man stepping into the sunlight. Cameras flashed. More and more questions piled onto another, quickly making the place suffocating.

"Christ..."

"Yep." Viktor shook his head. "Exactly what I feared for our man..."

★★★★★

"Please place your hands on the black crystal."

[Still can’t believe you’re going through with this.]

Ambrose closed his eyes. ’It’s been a long time coming.’ His palms rested against the cool black crystal without the slightest tremor. ’Besides... I don’t have to worry about people like Josiah anymore.’

Months ago, the thought of exposing his true strength would’ve made him hesitate. Back then, every powerful Hunter, Federation President, and Guild Master had represented a potential threat.

Not anymore.

Even if President Josiah himself decided to make life difficult for him, Ambrose wasn’t the frightened C-Rank Guide he’d pretended to be.

He was an SS-Rank Aether Hybrid.

And after today’s reassessment... the world would finally know a fraction of that truth.

Following the instructions, he reached inward.

Unlike before, he deliberately suppressed every trace of his Guide nature, allowing only his Esper aether to answer the assessment crystal.

At first nothing happened.

Silence lingered across the room.

The suited man frowned at the floating holographic display, fingers rapidly tapping across its controls.

"That’s strange."

His female colleague leaned over. "The crystal isn’t receiving a reading?"

"No." He adjusted his glasses. "It’s receiving something. The system just isn’t processing it."

Ambrose remained perfectly still.

Several more seconds crawled by.

Then—

CRACK.

A tiny blue spark jumped across the surface of the crystal.

The suited pair looked up simultaneously.

CRACK!

Another spark.

Within moments, dozens of thin arcs of energy danced wildly over the crystal, snapping through the air like miniature bolts of lightning.

The white lights overhead flickered rapidly.

Every holographic display abruptly distorted.

The clean strings of data dissolved into static before reforming, only to glitch apart again.

"What the hell—" The man’s sentence never finished.

One of the holograms simply exploded into thousands of glowing pixels before rebuilding itself.

The assessment crystal emitted one final pulse.

A deep vibration rippled through the room before everything suddenly became still.

Ambrose slowly opened his eyes.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

Neither assessor answered immediately, simply staring.

The woman swallowed first.

"I..." She looked toward her colleague as though asking for confirmation.

He nodded stiffly.

"Sir..." Another pause. "...Your aether output exceeded the system’s calibrated upper S-Rank threshold."

Ambrose blinked. "Meaning...?"

The suited man let out a slow breath. "The machine had to rewrite part of its calculations."

He reached for the printer as a fresh identification card slid out.

Walking over personally, he handed it to Ambrose with noticeably more respect than before.

"Congratulations." His voice carried genuine disbelief. "You’ve been evaluated as... beyond S-Rank."

Ambrose accepted the card.

And at long last, there it was.

Ambrose Hale.

Classification: SS-Rank Esper.

He stared at it for only a second before slipping it into his pocket.

"Thank you."

As soon as he stepped back into the hallway, several nearby staff members glanced his way.

One of them whispered to another.

"I just heard he’s Double S."

"Huh? You going deaf or something?"

"I was standing right at the door just now. I swear it."

"Did anyone else feel that crazy energy burst from inside?"

Murmurs spread faster than wildfire.

Ambrose kept walking without acknowledging any of it, his expression remaining calm.

The automatic doors slid open once he got to the lobby.

Outside, Tucker was still being surrounded by reporters.

The instant Ambrose descended the first step, one journalist suddenly froze as someone spoke urgently through her earpiece.

Her eyes widened. "What?" She spun toward Ambrose. "Are you sure?"

The answer she received made her practically shove past another cameraman.

"The newly assessed Hunter!" She yelled. "A double S-Rank!"

Every camera turned. Every microphone swung toward Ambrose.

"What?!"

"Did she say Double S-Rank?"

"Sir!"

"Mr Hale!"

"Is it true you’ve awakened as Earth’s newest SS-Rank?!"

The crowd surged toward him like a tidal wave.

Ambrose looked at the sea of microphones rushing his way and sighed.

"...Well, that escalated fast."