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Instantly, Jeryon’s full attention locked onto her. He looked at Shani slowly.

”Does this have something to do with your beast energy increasing so rapidly?”

Shani nodded. ”No one will be able to protect me once this anomaly starts drawing too many eyes.”

Shani’s gaze then shifted to the Night Panther baby beast sitting on Jeryon’s lap, who was still visibly pouting. She offered a fond, subtle smile at the adorable sight.

Her expression quickly sobered. ”And that family won’t be able to protect me either. Besides, I refuse to ever be a part of them.”

Jeryon followed her gaze, gently stroking the top of Nyx’s head. He gave Shani an understanding nod.

”Do you know an instructor in Nova City? Securing a spot as a Direct Student candidate is no small feat, is it?” Jeryon asked.

Shani was slightly caught off guard, not expecting Jeryon to brush past the mention of House Ashbourne so seamlessly.

”Instructor Damon recommended me as a candidate to a Nova City instructor named Elias Theron,” Shani answered after composing herself.

She then went on to explain her intention of having Jeryon join her as a fellow candidate.

”I don’t think becoming Direct Student candidates is a bad idea. He would personally guide us moving forward. What do you think?” Shani looked at him expectantly.

Jeryon nodded, his expression remaining unreadable.

His muted reaction made Shani tilt her head in confusion. ”You agree?” she pressed.

”Yes. I’ll become a candidate with you,” Jeryon answered, clearer this time.

Shani blinked in surprise. She hadn’t anticipated him agreeing so readily without reservation.

”What about the royal...” Shani trailed off cautiously.

”They already have a replacement. Me leaving for Nova City will only make them happy,” Jeryon replied, his tone flat yet laced with subtle sarcasm.

Shani chose not to pry any further and immediately sent a message to Damon.

...

Two days after updating Damon, Shani finally received a response instructing her to head to the Essence Combat classroom after dinner.

Shani and Jeryon got off on the sixth floor, while Noella and Kiran remained inside the elevator.

”Shani’s been practicing combat with Jeryon pretty diligently lately,” Noella mused aloud once the doors slid shut.

”Isn’t that just a date disguised as training?” Kiran chimed in.

Noella turned to her, blinking innocently, but offered no defense. Deep down, she couldn’t agree more with Kiran’s assessment.

Meanwhile, the two who were supposedly on a date arrived outside the Essence Combat classroom. Shani pushed the door open.

Inside the spacious room stood Damon alongside a man and a woman Shani had never seen before.

Jeryon gave the unfamiliar man a brief nod, seemingly recognizing him.

Damon then introduced the man as Elias Theron before stepping back to let Elias introduce the woman at his side.

”This is Instructor Laurent, a fellow instructor from Nova City. She happened to be in Aurelis, so I brought her along,” Elias introduced in a relaxed manner.

The woman, whose black hair was streaked with a few strands of silver, offered Shani a warm smile. ”Just call me Rowena. So, you’re Shani?”

Shani gave a naive nod, feeling a bit flustered as the spotlight suddenly shifted to her.

”Instructor Laurent happens to hail from Zephyria as well,” Damon piped up from the side.

’She’s an avian beastman and knows about my dual gene, doesn’t she?’ Shani deduced internally, realizing why Rowena seemed so intrigued by her.

Jeryon, on the other hand, assumed Rowena’s warmth was simply the natural friendliness of someone sharing a hometown.

Their introductions didn’t linger long. Elias placed a sleek square box onto the desk.

”You all know why I called you here, to re-measure Prince Jeryon’s beast energy. This is a portable beast energy rank measurement box. Though it only displays the rank rather than precise energy figures, it can measure all the way up to S-Rank.”

The others looked on knowingly, but Jeryon’s brow furrowed in confusion.

”Wasn’t Shani the one who needed her energy re-measured?” he asked.

As far as he was concerned, his rank was firmly established as A-Rank. What was the point of testing him again?

Elias caught on instantly, Jeryon had no idea his true rank was far higher. He answered the prince’s query with a knowing smile.

As if ignoring the question entirely, Elias flipped open the box’s lid, revealing a hollow handprint mold at its center.

”Place your hand right here, Your Highness,” Elias instructed.

Jeryon was still baffled, but seeing Shani offer him a reassuring nod, he rested his palm inside the groove. Elias then secured a small strap over his hand.

Beside Jeryon’s hand was a vertical panel featuring a glowing line flanked by letters, ranging from ’F’ at the bottom all the way up to ’S’ at the top.

The line began to pulse with light, illuminating each letter as it surged upward.

Still wearing a bewildered expression, Jeryon watched the display. When the letter ’A’ illuminated, he turned toward Elias, expecting him to unbuckle the strap on his wrist.

But when he glanced back down at the panel, the letter ’S’ lit up. And it stayed glowing... for a long, drawn-out moment.

”So he really is an S-Rank after all,” Elias murmured, a wide grin spreading across his face.

He waited for the screen to transition to the final reading. When the display refreshed, however, it didn’t show a rank at all.

Instead, a single word flashed across the screen: ERROR.

The three instructors froze, utterly shocked. Only the two students remained unfazed.

Shani already knew Jeryon’s rank surpassed S-Rank, while Jeryon simply assumed his chaotic beast energy had fried the machine again, just like before.

However, Jeryon’s assumption was quickly shattered when Rowena spoke up. ”Is his rank... higher than S-Rank?”

Damon opened his mouth to shake his head, but Elias beat him to it with a firm nod, leaving not just Jeryon, but Damon and Shani flabbergasted as well.

’They know about ranks above S-Rank? Isn’t S-Rank supposed to be the absolute ceiling on this continent? Even Instructor Damon looks completely lost. Is this information restricted strictly to Nova City?’

In an instant, Shani realized she needed to drastically reset her understanding of the world’s common knowledge.

”What do you mean, higher than S-Rank, Ma’am?” Damon asked cautiously.

”I’ll explain later. What matters right now is officially registering Prince Jeryon as my Direct Student candidate,” Elias declared eagerly, almost impatiently.

”And what about Shani, Sir?” Damon pressed, a touch of panic creeping into his voice.

Elias turned to eye the silver-haired girl. ”You’re an anomaly, girl, but being an anomaly doesn’t inherently make you extraordinary.”

Damon’s brow furrowed in disapproval. Shani had braced herself for this exact snub, yet the blunt dismissal still stung.

Both Damon and Shani opened their mouths to speak, but Jeryon cut in before either could utter a word. ”I won’t accept the candidacy without Shani.”

Even though Jeryon was still reeling from the shock of his own rank soaring beyond belief, his priority remained crystal clear, ensuring he and Shani stayed together.

Elias looked at Jeryon as if looking at a naive youth who couldn’t tell right from wrong.

”If you insist, I will reluctantly take her on as a candidate as well, but—”

”Re-test my rank too!” Shani interrupted, cutting Elias off cleanly.

’I won’t let you hold my name over Jeryon’s head to manipulate him, old man,’ Shani seethed internally.

”Kid, Damon already told me you were a D-Rank, yet the exam logged you as a C-Rank. I know your results already. There’s no need to waste time showing off.”

Elias’s already cool demeanor toward Shani turned outright icy.

Shani swallowed hard. She felt the surrounding air suddenly thin, making it difficult to draw a breath under the heavy, oppressive pressure emitting from him.

”Old man, don’t press down too hard on the youngster,” Rowena murmured, patting Elias’s shoulder.

Almost instantly, the suffocating pressure vanished, and Shani could breathe normally again.

”Go ahead and try, dear,” Rowena said, sliding the testing box toward Shani.

Ignoring the deep furrow in Elias’s brow, Shani immediately slipped her hand into the mold and secured the wrist strap herself.

Rowena offered a secret smile at Shani’s boldness. She tapped the power button, allowing the line on the display panel to glow with light.

Shani strove to maintain a calm exterior, though her heart hammered against her ribs as the letter ’D’ lit up and the light surged upward.

Elias snorted, reaching out to retrieve the measurement box as soon as the letter ’C’ glowed.

However, instead of stopping at C-Rank, where Shani’s beast energy had only barely crossed the threshold before, the light surged right past it.

The letter ’B’ flared brilliantly before the screen locked onto the final reading: B-Rank.

Truthfully, Elias hadn’t been impressed by Shani earlier because he assumed she had artificially boosted her beast energy with high-grade elixirs.

Although Damon had insisted Shani grew up in an orphanage, Elias knew she was the daughter of the late Samuel Ashbourne and Tala Kestrel.

It was entirely possible she had lied to Damon and was secretly burning through her parents’ hidden inheritance.

But after secretly observing Shani over the past few days, he knew for a fact that she hadn’t gone anywhere.

Moreover, he kept close tabs on all local beast energy elixir auctions, and not a single bottle had been put up for sale in the past month.

”How on earth did it jump to B-Rank?” The question in his mind slipped straight out of his mouth.

...