Chapter 71: Unofficial Ranker (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: Unofficial Ranker (4)
The moment he channeled his mana, the Aura Measuring Device reacted.
Hummm.
It began to vibrate.
Initially a dull gray, the device flushed red before rapidly shifting to orange. The transition was seamless. Normally, an Aura Measuring Device required about five minutes to complete a reading. Roman, however, was an exception.
The crystal turned yellow.
It was terrifyingly fast.
In barely five seconds, the Aura Measuring Device underwent a dramatic transformation, locking onto its target hue: yellow.
In effect, Roman had already proven he had reached the 3-Star Realm.
Watching the sequence unfold, Willas swallowed hard, his throat tight with tension.
...Could he possibly be a 4-Star?
It was astounding.
Willas had operated the Aura Measuring Device countless times, yet he had never seen it react with such violent speed. Even when testing a 4-Star Swordsman, the colors shifted at steady, predictable intervals. Roman's measurement defied all common sense, leaving Willas utterly bewildered.
He stole a glance at Roman's face.
Seeing the young man's perfectly serene expression made Willas's eyebrow twitch.
However, the evaluator was making a massive assumption.
He assumed Roman had unleashed his mana at full power. In truth, Roman hadn't even started.
The initial wisp of mana he channeled was merely a tiny fraction, released just to test the waters.
He wasn't even using the standard cultivation methods of the Salamander Continent; he had simply pushed in a minuscule amount of condensed mana, yet the Aura Measuring Device had reacted violently. It was quite an amusing sight—a tool that measured the sheer power of Aura through shifting colors. Having confirmed the device was safe to use, Roman got straight to the point.
Like an explosion of mana.
An eruption of Aura.
He gathered his internal energy.
The moment he unleashed his mana into the Aura Measuring Device all at once, the artifact reacted as if it were about to detonate.
Rumble!
Ruuumble!
A deafening roar erupted from the Aura Measuring Device.
The yellow hue rapidly shifted to green, and the green deepened until it began to turn pitch black. It was a sight that defied all logic. Caught completely off guard, Willas had no way to intervene. Finally, the Aura Measuring Device was swallowed by a pitch-black darkness.
And then—
Crack!
Shatter!
It blew to pieces.
As the device disintegrated along the cracks spreading across its surface, Willas stood there utterly dazed.
He stared at the debris.
Then he looked at Roman's face.
Then he looked back at the debris.
This is absolutely insane.
The result shattered all common sense.
What kind of object was the Aura Measuring Device?
It was the culmination of knowledge, built by bringing together the most renowned minds on the continent.
The creators had firmly declared that the artifact would never display any color other than the designated four. They boasted of its absolute durability, claiming it would never break during a measurement. In fact, an Archmage and a 6-Star Swordsman had been brought in to test its limits.
The result?
Not a single scratch.
Even when a 6-Star Swordsman channeled his mana, the color only reached green. The device suffered no damage even when subjected to power far exceeding its standard threshold. It was an item that had undergone flawless verification.
How did this happen?
Willas's mind was in a frenzy.
He didn't know how to process the reality before his eyes.
Could it be defective?
Unlikely.
He had verified that the device was in perfect working order before coming to Dmitry. He had used it on countless individuals, and nothing like this had ever occurred. If so, there was only one logical conclusion. Just as the device had reacted with unprecedented violence the moment Roman channeled his mana, its destruction was solely because Roman Dmitry was an extraordinary anomaly.
Roman asked,
"Is it defective?"
"No, it shouldn't be. This is such an unprecedented result that I cannot say for certain. However..."
Willas's voice trailed off.
Just before it shattered, the Aura Measuring Device had clearly flashed green.
Since that could not be a lie, Willas could confirm one absolute truth.
Roman Dmitry is a 4-Star Swordsman.
A 4-Star.
His mouth went completely dry.
Reaching the 3-Star Realm at Roman's age was already an incredible feat.
It meant his future potential was limitless—a talent capable of aiming for the 5-Star Realm or higher, where the continent's true powerhouses resided. But a 4-Star in his twenties? That was on a completely different level. If he possessed the talent to reach 4-Star in his mid-twenties, one couldn't even begin to fathom how far he would grow in the future.
This is a monumental event. Roman Dmitry isn't some hidden dragon waiting to take flight; he is a monster that has already fully matured. To think such a beast was lurking in Dmitry. If this truth gets out, the Cairo Kingdom—no, the entire Salamander Continent—will be thrown into an uproar. Even the Empire will mobilize at the news of a talent capable of reaching 6-Star.
His original response should have been to declare that Roman had passed the test.
To announce that he was not a 3-Star, but a 4-Star Swordsman, and that Roman Dmitry was more than qualified to be a Ranker.
However, the Valhalla Empire, which had established the Temple of Valhalla within the Cairo Kingdom, had an ulterior motive.
Therefore, until he could grasp the full picture, he could not reveal the truth.
Willas finally spoke.
"...Since this is the first time such a situation has occurred, I cannot make a hasty judgment. I apologize, but I will look into this result thoroughly and give you an answer within a few days."
He needed to investigate Roman Dmitry in extreme detail.
Once the measurement concluded, Willas immediately tapped into the Empire's intelligence network.
He needed to know exactly what kind of person Roman was.
Information detailing everything from his birth to his recent actions arrived in just a single day.
Roman Dmitry.
Until the age of twenty-five, he had lived a completely unremarkable life.
He was nothing more than a typical noble family's trash. People looked down on him as garbage, mocking the lord's son as "The Fool of Dmitry." That reputation only began to turn around during the Blood Fang incident. He had subjugated Blood Fang single-handedly, intervened in the war with Barco, and even defeated Homeros.
His life before and after twenty-five are completely different.
The reason was unknown.
Had he stumbled upon some extraordinary fortuitous encounter?
Or perhaps he had trained himself to the bone in secret, away from prying eyes?
One thing was certain:
Roman Dmitry had awakened.
He was living as a completely new person, fully unleashing the talent that had been buried in the dirt for so long.
Flip.
He turned the page.
Finally, there was the Barco incident.
The shocking event where he had personally visited Viscount Barco and executed his son right before the father's eyes.
Reading that part, Willas swallowed a groan.
"...He really is a madman."
He was audacious.
Roman's actions shattered common sense at every turn.
Barco would have collapsed on its own if left alone, yet Roman Dmitry deliberately walked into a death trap just to execute Antony Barco. Others might simply view it as cruel. However, looking at how Roman had handled things so far, Willas believed it was all perfectly calculated.
Roman Dmitry has never handled anything half-heartedly. When he subjugated Blood Fang, he targeted their leader and dismantled the organization in one fell swoop. In the war with Barco, he used Lawrence's forces as a distraction while striking Barco's rear at the perfect moment. It is the same now. To ensure Barco could never rise again, he personally went to crush their hopes entirely. The audacity to risk his life on his own plans, and the execution to turn those plans into reality... Roman Dmitry is not just a monster who reached the 4-Star Realm in his twenties; he is a man who possesses the intellect to wield that power.
His recent actions elicited nothing but admiration.
He was as battle-hungry as the people of Valhalla, yet he possessed cold, analytical judgment.
Just one thing remains. I'll make a decision once the results of the Aura Measuring Device are verified.
The shattered artifact.
He had to know the reason behind it.
He had sent the debris to the Magic Guild, and the results arrived within two days.
The report read:
[...There was nothing wrong with the Aura Measuring Device. We can only conclude that the device turned black and shattered because it was subjected to an intangible force far beyond its capacity to handle. Furthermore, the green reading was indeed accurate.]
"As expected."
It was just as he thought.
Roman was a 4-Star Swordsman.
The Aura Measuring Device wasn't defective; Roman had truly reached the 4-Star Realm in his twenties. It was an unbelievably magnificent result. When he first set out for Dmitry, he hadn't imagined anything like this. But now, for the first time in a very long while, Willas had found the prize he had been searching for.
Roman Dmitry.
He was not a talent whose evaluation should end with a mere ranking verification.
Willas immediately contacted his home country.
The ranking system had originated in Valhalla.
But why on earth did the Valhalla Empire manage the rankings of other nations as well?
People simply assumed it was due to Valhalla's martial nature, but the hidden truth was not so innocent.
"I would like to put Roman Dmitry on the recruitment list."
Through magical communication, Willas reported to his superiors.
The Valhalla Empire was not composed of mere barbarians obsessed only with battle.
They possessed enough cunning to build up the Empire's prestige, devising a method to scout talents from other nations by utilizing their tradition of the ranking system. Since the world viewed being a Ranker as a position of great honor, the process became incredibly easy. With the talents of every nation aspiring to become Rankers, the Valhalla Empire could discover these geniuses earlier than anyone else, even with minimal staff.
Willas explained his reasoning for recruiting Roman Dmitry.
At the mention of Roman's ruthless methods and his 4-Star talent, the figure on the other side of the magical communication spoke.
"He is indeed a highly desirable talent. Upgrade Roman Dmitry's evaluation to A-Rank, keep a close eye on him, and find a way to recruit him. As I have said repeatedly, the most important aspect of recruiting foreign talents is security. We must ensure they do not realize we are using the ranking system to siphon away their finest. You must make Roman Dmitry turn his heart toward Valhalla as naturally as possible."
"Understood."
A-Rank.
It was an extraordinary evaluation.
In the entirety of Cairo, only one person had ever received such an evaluation before.
Thus, assigning him an A-Rank was equivalent to declaring an absolute determination to recruit Roman Dmitry.
Willas continued,
"As soon as dawn breaks tomorrow, I will visit Dmitry and tell them the Aura Measuring Device was defective. It would be best to wrap things up by stating that Roman Dmitry is a 3-Star Swordsman, not a 4-Star, and has taken the lowest seat on the rankings. I will also begin the preliminary work for his recruitment as quickly as possible. After all, merely entering the rankings at the age of twenty-five is a monumental event that will throw a small nation like Cairo into a frenzy."
With those final words, he cut the communication.
And the following day.
Willas's announcement threw the Cairo Kingdom into an uproar.
The youngest Ranker.
Just as Willas had predicted, even though only a 'fraction' of Roman's true capabilities had been revealed, it was more than enough to send shockwaves through the entire nation.