As each student came forward, I used Appraisal on all of them. Apart from the main characters and a few others, none of the others had any special abilities or skills.
But while Appraising the students, I did make an unexpected discovery. It happened when I accidentally applied more mana to my eyes than usual.
Name: Richie Addams
Rank: E+
Stats:
* Strength 2.5
* Stamina 2.4
* Agility 1.8
* Perception 2.4
* Magic Power 2.4
* Intelligence 3
* Charm 5.6
Skills:
* Fortify(B): Forms a layer of mana around the user’s body giving them an almost impenetrable defence.
The status screen of one of Luke’s lackeys popped up in front of me. But the real surprise hadn’t even begun yet. Below it was another status screen.
Potential Rank: SS
Suitable Class: Tanker
Mana Compatibility:
* Earth: 87%
* Water: 62%
* Fire: 45%
* Air: 19%
Knowing the Potential of a Hero was so important that the Hero League spent billions on its research. And my EX Rank Skill had just given me a cheat for it.
I knew from playing video games that the title EX(EXtra Special) Rank was only given to God-level Skills, but seeing them firsthand told me how much I had undermined their power.
If I revealed my skill to the public, I could rake in billions. The Hero League and various Guilds would call on me to appraise their Heroes. Though I obviously wouldn’t do this. A skill like this, if made public, would put a huge target on my back, both from the Heroes' side and the Fallen. And if they think that they can't have it for themselves, the Hero League and the Chaos Alliance might even put bounties on my head just so that the other side couldn't use the Skill.
I should just use the Skill for personal benefits. Thinking of the possible ripples that the 'Appraisal' Skill can cause in this world, scares me.
I used the skill a few more times, including on the main characters.
Rachel and Luke both had Potential levels of SS Rank while Rhian’s potential reached SSS Rank, a Rank that no human, or any other creature for that matter, had ever reached, except the Demon Lord.
He truly is worthy of being the protagonist.
It also showed me Rhian’s high aptitude for the Darkness Element. Though it wasn't much of a discovery, since I already knew that from the novel.
I used the Appraisal on a few more students randomly, but none of them reached the same level. They were a bunch of Hero Cadets with the Potential to reach B or A Ranks, but these Ranks wouldn’t be of much use when the main members of the Demon Lord’s army descended on Earth. Right now, the demons that attacked this planet were more like foot soldiers or scouts. Their main army was currently at war with orcs, elves and other species on their home planets, where the battle had been going on for centuries.
While Appraising all the students, my eyes rested upon a single boy. He had long dark emo bangs that covered half his face, so you couldn’t properly see his face. He was sitting alone in a corner, and it looked like all the other students were avoiding him.
‘Appraisal’
Name: Rohan Claeg
Rank: E
Stats:
* Strength 1.5
* Stamina 1.2
* Agility 1.2
* Perception 2.5
* Magic Power 3
* Intelligence 6
* Charm 5.5
Skills:
* Ghost Drain(S): This skill allows the user to channel the ghosts of similar ranked Awakened Beings into their body, allowing access to their skills and abilities. It also allows the user to see the memories of a corpse.
* Foresight(B): Allows the user to see things that normal people are not able to see.
Potential Rank: SS
Suitable Class: Mage
Mana Compatibility:
* Air: 88%
* Water: 56%
* Darkness: 51%
* Earth: 24%
* Fire: 23%
* Light: 22%
‘Gosh, where was this kid hiding during the novel? Isn’t he on the same level as the main characters? No! If he played his cards right he might even be able to defeat them in no time.’
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
From what I could gather while using Appraisal on my students, if someone has Mana Compatibility of more than 50% with any element then they will be able to use it with a bit of effort. This guy had that requirement with three different, with one of the three being the rare Darkness element.
‘I need to bring Rohan Claeg to my side.’, I decided instantly.
Well, before I do any of that, I need to know why this kind of guy was never even mentioned in the novel.
Since I still had two hours until my next class, I decided to go do some training in the Teacher's Training Hall. I changed out of my suit and got into a training uniform. It kind of looked like the Spandex uniforms that the Power Rangers used to wear. Though these seemed much more comfortable, the fabric being enhanced to be more breathable and elastic, as well as increasing its toughness.
I took my Oblivion Steel Sword out of my new dimensional ring.
I scanned through my memories to remember all the sword movements Ray had practised. He had memorised everything about the posture and how much force to be applied during each swing, so as to not hurt his wrist.
But it seems like he didn’t have as much in the athletics department as he did in the intellectual one. Ray was way too clumsy, getting scolded by his instructor many times. His instructor had once commented that during a fight, a passing bystander would be in more danger than his opponent.
Thankfully, I wasn’t as big a klutz as Ray seemed to be. Before I got my job, I had participated in quite a few sports. I wasn’t an athlete or a physical mutant like the Heroes of this world, but I was rather confident that with enough training I could reach their level.
I positioned my feet as I repeatedly swung my sword, in the way I remembered. Each time I swung, I tried to apply some mana to my sword.
The Brahma Sword Art’s main factor was to materialise mana into tangible forms, but Ray had never used that function, despite having his 4.5 ★ Art for many years. But I wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.
I practised for an hour and a half before I stopped to get ready for my next class.
My next class was the Omicron class. They didn’t have any role in the novel. A bunch of extras that hadn't even been mentioned. I lectured them the same thing as I did to the Alpha Class, after examining their Element Compatibility. Unfortunately, I had used up all of my mana during my training, so I wasn’t able to use Appraisal on the students of this class. But I might miss out on an undiscovered gem, like in Rohan’s case, so I decided to Appraise them at a later date.
For the next two months or so, I studied the notes on Mana Theory in my office and taught classes which added up to 20 hours a week.
Ray’s insight was really helpful in teaching even me, a complete stranger to the concept of mana. Though having Ray’s memories surely contributed a lot.
I also faithfully continued my practice with the sword, occasionally asking for some pointer from Ms. Anne . I was finally able to materialise mana at the tip of my sword. I don’t know if it was because I transmigrated into this body or Ray already had this, but I found out that except Darkness and Light, all of Ray’s Mana Compatibility were maxed out at 100%, the other two being at 0%. This must be one of the benefits I get as an Otherworlder.
One more unexpected thing I found out was that I couldn’t see my own Potential Rank. When I Appraised myself, the result was…
Potential Rank: ??
Suitable Class: Swordsman
Mana Compatibility:
* Air: 100%
* Earth: 100%
* Fire: 100%
* Water: 100%
Since I couldn’t see my own Rank, I just decided to set this matter aside for later and kept practising my Sword Art. It really was quite powerful.
I was only at the beginner stage, Elemental Sweep, and I could already destroy all the training dummies in one swing. The skill involved coating the blade with a layer of mana, and swinging the sword so as to throw the attack. Its range wasn't too far, but in battle it would prove quite an asset.
After being able to perform this attack with all four Elementals, I decided to visit a Dungeon. The foremost reason I wanted to visit one, was to gain practical experience. But there was another important reason I needed to go to this particular Dungeon.
In the novel, around the Human Continent, various islands had popped up. This group of Islands spread randomly throughout the wide ocean, and were collectively called The Sanskriti Archipelago. Each island had a culture that was similar to one of the major countries that got destroyed after the Catastrophe.
But that wasn’t even the best part about them. On these islands, many Dungeons popped up haphazardly.
Usually Dungeons rewards the Hero with various types of Artifacts. But unfortunately, the Heroes that raided the Dungeons in the Archipelago weren't able to find any. Thus, The Hero League deemed these Dungeons useless and stopped sending resources, forcing the islands’ natives to fend for themselves.
But what The Hero League didn’t know was that these Dungeons had many more amazing Artifacts in store, if you just knew how to find them. This fact wasn’t discovered until two years later when a Rank S Hero found a secret passage in one of the Island Dungeons. The Hero League later sent in many exploration teams consisting of both Heroes and archaeologists to research these Dungeons.
My plan was to go to these Dungeons early and swipe in a few Artifacts that would otherwise fall into the hands of the Chaos Alliance. I had my eyes on a particular reward that I believed would be most useful to me.
I was sitting at my desk in the staff room, as I sent an email for a Request for Leave. After that, I went to the Alpha Hall for my class.
For the past two months, I had observed the main characters' interactions with each other and other people.
Rhian and Rachel slowly got closer to each other. Luke’s hate for Rhian kept increasing, with his lackeys antagonising and isolating the latter. Some of the side villains that were in the novel had also popped up. Since the events were following the plotline, I decided to not interfere at the moment. Even if I had tried to interfere, I would then have been dragged into Academy politics, something I wasn’t ready for.
So, instead, I decided to shift my attention to Rohan Claeg. I pulled up his documents to find that his family owned a small Guild in Capital City, only consisting of D and C Rank Heroes. His family had taken out quite a large loan to fund Rohan’s tuition at the Academy.
But contrary to everyone’s expectation, Rohan’s Rank was #1227 out of the 1500 first-years. Not to mention his timid personality and the rumours about how he could see ghosts, stopped him from making any connections.
I tried to approach Rohan several times, but he would always weasel his way out of meeting me.
Soon my weeklong vacation approached me. I decided to talk to Rohan after my trip to the Dungeon.
Packing all my necessities, including the sword and dagger as well as Ray’s special potions, I headed to the Academy’s exit, where a portal would take me to Portal Station.