Aron quickly filled out the required details and handed the form back. Having just finished verifying the cash, she immediately typed his information into the system and handed him a small, metallic token.

"Sir, please come with me," she said, her voice dripping with newfound politeness.

Another employee quickly stepped up to take over her position at the front desk.

Stepping out from behind the counter, she gestured for Aron to follow her, personally escorting him down the pristine hallways toward the specialized room where the re-evaluation would take place...

Aron stepped into the designated waiting room and immediately noticed two other people already sitting there, a young man and a young woman, both around his age.

He was surprised to see the girl.

The girl also looked up, her eyes widening as she recognized him. "Aron! Are you here for a re-evaluation too?"

Aron knew her as she was one of his classmates. He gave a polite nod to the girl sitting beside the young man, "Yes, Lana. I assume you're here for the same reason?"

Back at the academy, the two of them had barely exchanged more than a few words. Lana was a bit of an enigma.

She wasn't a local. She had transferred to Archeon City from somewhere else entirely just last year. No one knew exactly where she came from or what her background was.

But Aron wasn't just a regular student. He was a regressor. Because he had lived through this timeline once before, he possessed a piece of absolute knowledge no one else in this room could fathom.

Lana wasn't just some mysterious transfer student. During this very re-evaluation, she was going to awaken a terrifying A-rank skill.

Her talent would be so overwhelming that she would instantly secure a guaranteed position in the military's elite special training program during this year's NSE.

Suddenly the little skeleton still perched on Aron's shoulder whispered to him, 

"She is an A-rank Sire... just like you."

Aron grinned mentally but didn't reply by whispering, instead replying through telepathy — a technique that humans have with their own assistants. 'I know.'

The skeleton frowned deeply, its flamy eyes narrowed slightly as it replied through telepathy again , 'You already knew? How did you do that? No normal human can see through the rank of someone at the same level or higher without the help of us assistants.'

When Aron offered no explanation, the skeleton huffed in annoyance, crossed its bony arms and turned its skull away to ignore him.

On the other side of the room, Lana's own assistant, a small, intricate porcelain doll, materialized on her shoulder. It stared coldly across the space, locking its lifeless, glassy eyes onto Aron and his skeletal companion.

Lana was startled seeing her assistant to materialized in front of her suddenly. 'What are you doing out here?' she asked through their mental link.

The doll didn't answer her directly. 'That boy... is he your friend?'

'No,' Lana replied hesitantly, glancing subtly at Aron. 'We're in the same class, but we don't really talk much. Why are you asking?'

'Nothing,' the little doll murmured. 'It's just that his synchronization with his assistant is incredibly strong. He already knows his own rank, and he even knows yours. His assistant just whispered your details to him.'

Just like their appearances, the personalities of assistants varied wildly. Some were helpful and talkative, while others were incredibly stubborn and aloof, refusing to announce their host's rank, stats, or skill details outright.

In those cases, the Awakened were forced to rely entirely on the Association's evaluation machines to learn the truth of their own strength.

Lana was in that exact situation. She could feel the surging mana within her and knew her power had undergone a massive qualitative change, but she had no idea what her new rank actually was.

Her eyes widened in shock. How had Aron established such a profound level of trust with his assistant that it was casually sharing classified information about other Sires?

Feeling a sudden spark of competitiveness and curiosity, Lana tried to push her luck. 'So... can you tell me what rank he is?'

The doll sneered, its painted lips twisting mockingly. 'Hah! In your dreams. You don't even know your own rank yet, let alone his.'

The doll paused, its voice dropping into a serious, chilling tone. 'Girl, just try to become his friend. That is the only piece of advice I will give you.'

And with that cryptic warning, the doll vanished into thin air, leaving Lana in silence. She couldn't help but look at Aron again, a newfound sense of awe and intense curiosity swirling in her chest.

Suddenly a gruff old voice echoed from the inner chambers. "Robert Dune. Please come in."

The receptionist walked over to the other young man in the room. She then turned back to Lana and Aron, offering a polite nod. "Please wait here. I will escort him to the evaluation center first."

Lana and Aron both nodded. Aron casually walked over to the plush waiting chairs and sat down.

Beside him, Lana let out a heavy, anxious sigh. "I don't know what I'm going to do if my rank doesn't change today..."

Aron chuckled softly, looking at her with an easygoing, confident smile. "Don't worry. You're going to be very surprised today."

Lana frowned slightly, but didn't say anything back.

Thanks to the cryptic warning from her doll, she was acutely aware that Aron somehow already knew her exact rank.

Currently she was officially registered as a C-rank skill user. In this world, unless a personal assistant explicitly announced the host's rank, an Awakened's true potential remained largely hidden until their core attributes finally hit the absolute bottleneck of their current level.

After a few moments, Lana's patience wore thin. She gritted her teeth and turned abruptly to Aron.

"You know about my rank, don't you?"

Aron blinked, genuinely caught off guard. How did she know that?

Before he could ask, she waved her hand dismissively. "My assistant told me. It said your assistant whispered my details to you."

Aron let out a quiet internal sigh of relief. At least she doesn't know the actual truth. He glanced sideways at the little bony figure on his shoulder. "See? Your little friend over there already snitched on us."

The skull sneered, its jaw clacking in pure disdain. "Friend, my foot! Every assistant is an entirely different entity. We do not like each other at all!"

Ignoring the grumbling skeleton, Aron turned back to Lana and gave a casual nod. "Yes. I know exactly what rank you are, the specific skill you awakened, and even your precise attribute levels."

Lana's eyes widened in absolute shock, but she wasn't the only one. The little skeleton nearly dropped its jaw.

This was unprecedented. No human in this world possessed the ability to see another Sire's exact skill and attribute values without an assistant explicitly revealing it.

Lana immediately softened her expression, giving him her best pleading puppy-dog eyes. "Ummm... Aron, I know we aren't exactly close... but could you please tell me?"

Even the little skeleton leaned in closely, staring intensely at the side of Aron's face. It desperately wanted to test him.

After all, the skeleton had only confirmed that Lana was an A-rank. It had never revealed her specific skill name or her exact attribute numbers.

The skeletal assistant narrowed its hollow eyes, waiting in heavy anticipation. It needed to know if its host was just shamelessly bluffing to impress a girl, or if he was actually telling the impossible truth.

Aron grinned at Lana. Leaning forward slightly, he began rubbing his hands together with a thoroughly shameless expression.

"But what do I get out of telling you? I'm obviously not going to do it for free."

Lana's brow furrowed. Looking at Aron's lewd and greedy expression, her mind immediately jumped to the worst, most awkward conclusion.

A furious blush exploded across her cheeks, and the tips of her ears turned bright red.

She abruptly stood up, pointing a trembling finger at him. "You! I thought you were different from all those other boys in our class... but you're all exactly the..."

"Stop. Stop right there," Aron cut her off, looking at her with pure exasperation.

He could tell she was having some incredibly indecent thoughts. "I can tell you're having some incredibly indecent thoughts right now. I want money. The only thing I want from you is money."

To make his point clear, he raised his hand and rubbed his thumb and index finger together, making the universal gesture for money...

"Just what kind of disturbing things are going through your head, anyway?"

On his shoulder, the little skeleton crossed its bony arms and let out a loud, highly expressive scoff.

"Humph! Cheap master..." the skeleton muttered out loud, its voice echoing in the quiet waiting room. "Always drooling over money everywhere you go. Don't you have any shame?"

Hearing the skeleton casually call him out on his pure, unabashed greed, Lana realized her massive misunderstanding.

Her face, which was already red from anger, now burned crimson from sheer, unbearable embarrassment.

She slowly lowered her pointing finger, wishing the floor of the Association would simply open up and swallow her whole.