For several seconds after the examiner announced the result, nobody inside the plaza reacted.
F-rank.
The words simply did not match anything they had witnessed moments earlier.
A Celestial Phenomenon had covered the entire city, an endless undead army had appeared across the sky, and Karl’s class compatibility had somehow reached twenty-one stars.
Yet his talent was F-rank, even the examiner continued staring at the awakening crystal as though expecting the displayed result to change on its own.
Someone eventually broke the silence. "Did... did he really say F-rank?"
Another student frowned. "That has to be wrong, how could an F-rank talent cause a Celestial Phenomenon?"
The confusion rapidly spread throughout the plaza and even several senior instructors began talking among themselves because none of them had ever encountered a result this contradictory.
Twenty-one-star compatibility alone exceeded the highest known record in human history, adding an F-rank talent to that result made even less sense.
The principal stared at the awakening crystal for several breaths before finally turning toward the examiner. "Test him again."
The examiner looked at him in surprise. "Principal, awakening crystals have never recorded an incorrect talent rank."
"I know."
The principal’s expression remained serious as he pointed toward Karl.
"But neither has anyone awakened twenty-one-star compatibility and I have certainly never heard of an F-rank talent causing a Celestial Phenomenon."
The examiner hesitated before slowly nodding.
The principal immediately turned toward one of the association staff standing near the platform. "Bring another awakening crystal from the reserve equipment."
Several students began whispering again as the staff member hurried toward the temporary association building beside the plaza.
Karl remained standing in the centre of the formation without saying anything, he was just as interested in the second result as everyone else.
The Strongest Necromancer System clearly identified his true talent as God-Tier, but the awakening crystal had somehow displayed F-rank instead.
A few minutes later, two association members returned while carrying another transparent crystal between them.
Unlike the one built into the awakening platform, this crystal was considerably smaller and normally used when association staff needed to verify awakenings outside official ceremonies.
The examiner personally inspected it before placing the crystal upon a separate testing pedestal.
"This crystal was calibrated three days ago," he explained. "There should be no problem with the reading."
Karl stepped forward and placed his palm against it and the crystal immediately lit up.
Several lines of information appeared across its surface while the examiner, principal and nearby instructors leaned closer.
The result remained unchanged.
Necromancer.
Twenty-One Stars.
F-rank Talent.
The principal slowly leaned backwards and even the examiner released a breath and shook his head. "The reading is identical."
This time, there was no reasonable argument left, in the entire recorded history of the Human Alliance, awakening crystals had never produced a confirmed false reading.
Now two completely separate crystals had displayed exactly the same information. Karl looked at the F-rank result for another moment before questioning the system silently.
System, why are both crystals detecting an F-rank talent if mine is God-Tier?
The answer appeared immediately.
[God-Tier talents exceed the detection range of current Human Alliance awakening instruments.]
[Unable to identify the host’s true talent grade, detection has defaulted to the lowest measurable qualification: F-rank.]
Karl finally understood that the awakening crystals were not hiding his talent because the system had intentionally interfered with them.
They simply could not comprehend what they were scanning, anything beyond their recognised limit was apparently being classified as F-rank because the instruments had no category capable of representing it.
So unless I reveal the system myself, everyone will continue believing I awakened an F-rank talent.
Karl glanced toward the students surrounding the platform, the disbelief in their expressions was gradually disappearing now that a second awakening crystal had confirmed the result.
Then someone laughed, it was only a quiet chuckle at first, but another quickly followed from somewhere else within the crowd.
"So it actually is F-rank?"
"All that noise for an F-rank Necromancer?"
"I thought Ardent City had finally produced an SSS-rank genius."
The restrained laughter quickly became open mockery.
Several students who had looked at Karl with envy during the Celestial Phenomenon now wore amused expressions instead, while others simply shook their heads at the absurdity of the result.
Even the principal eventually released a tired sigh, he looked toward the twenty-one-star compatibility once more before shaking his head regretfully.
"What a strange awakening."
Twenty-one stars would normally have made any academy desperate to recruit Karl unfortunately, talent rank was equally important.
Class compatibility represented how well an awakener matched their profession and how efficiently they could develop its abilities, but talent determined the foundation upon which that growth was built.
An F-rank talent placed an enormous ceiling over what everyone believed Karl could eventually achieve.
Karl understood the problem better than nearly anyone present, if he had awakened Sword Saint again, his SSS-rank talent alone would have immediately brought him national attention.
The strongest universities would have offered direct admission before he even completed the ordinary entrance examinations.
The Awakeners Association, military and several major organisations would have competed to provide him with resources, training opportunities and powerful mentors.
His family would also have benefited enormously from his status and now none of that would happen.
Strangely, Karl did not feel nearly as disappointed as he expected.
Maybe remaining hidden isn’t completely bad.
His previous SSS-rank talent had brought him prestige and resources, but it had also placed a target upon his back almost immediately.
There had been assassination attempts before he even became strong enough to properly protect himself.
Powerful organisations constantly tried to recruit, pressure or manipulate him, while enemies of the Reed family viewed his existence as an unacceptable threat.
Even members of his own family had suffered because others wanted control over the future Sword Saint.
Karl had spent years surviving political pressure and attempts to exploit his talent, a publicly useless F-rank talent would remove most of that attention.
I will lose the direct university invitations and a large amount of free resources, but those aren’t things I absolutely need anymore.
He already possessed ten years of knowledge and combat experience.
Even if the elite universities refused to recruit him directly, he could still enter through the national college examination.
If that path became inconvenient, the military also accepted awakeners based heavily upon combat performance rather than family reputation or early talent assessments.
With Harvest, Infinite Evolution and Tenfold Amplification, Karl doubted an entrance examination would remain a serious obstacle for very long.
A secretive path might actually suit me better this time.
While Karl considered the advantages, the conversations below the platform became increasingly louder, his awakening had even attracted people from the other distant sections of the plaza.
Then someone pushed through the surrounding students and walked directly toward the front.
He was a tall young man wearing an expensive dark uniform, with the golden crest of the Gilbert family attached beneath his shoulder.
Karl recognised him immediately.
Adrian Gilbert.
The youngest son of the Gilbert family and one of the more troublesome people surrounding his fiancée.
He was one year older than Karl’s group and had completed his awakening during the previous year, receiving an S-rank talent alongside a fifteen-star combat class.
That result had already made him one of the most talented young awakeners within Ardent City.
Adrian stopped near the platform before looking Karl up and down with obvious contempt. "Karl Reed."
His voice was deliberately loud enough for the surrounding students to hear.
"Now that everyone knows what kind of talent you actually possess, surely you are not still planning to bother Seraphina and the Vale family with that old engagement agreement."
The nearby conversations immediately weakened, Adrian glanced toward Seraphina among the people who had gathered from the other sections before looking back at Karl.
"She awakened an S-rank talent and a fourteen-star Lightning Mage class and you awakened an F-rank talent as a Necromancer."
A faint smile appeared across his face. "You should understand the difference between the two of you by now."
Several students exchanged excited looks, while members of Seraphina’s group immediately began whispering among themselves.
Adrian took another step forward. "She deserves someone capable of standing beside her not someone relying upon an agreement made between two families years ago."
The plaza, which had only recently settled after Karl’s strange awakening, became noisy once again, this time the discussion was no longer about his talent alone.
The engagement between Karl Reed and Seraphina Vale had never been much of a secret within Ardent City, especially among the younger generation of the major families.
Now that Seraphina had awakened an S-rank talent while Karl publicly possessed only F-rank, Adrian’s words poured fuel directly onto an already growing fire.