"Do you really think we're just wasting our money?" Aron interrupted with a soft chuckle.

The receptionist nodded, though she frowned slightly in hesitation. She didn't say anything else, but she couldn't shake the strange feeling she got from him. Ever since she met this boy, something felt entirely off.

Even his assistant, that strange little skeleton perched on his shoulder, never faded away to conserve energy like normal assistants did. It was obvious they shared a highly unusual and profound connection.

Just then, her attention was drawn back to the arena floor below. Lana stood before a massive, reinforced strength-testing machine. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her fist back and struck the heavy target with explosive force.

BOOM!

A visible shockwave erupted from the machine, shaking the air and rattling the thick glass of the balcony.

The receptionist gasped, her eyes flying to the digital readout above the machine. "B-Rank..." she stammered, raising her voice in absolute disbelief. "B-Rank peak strength!"

Aron chuckled, resting his arms casually on the balcony railing. "Told you. But that's not even the most surprising part."

The receptionist felt her mind go entirely blank. If shattering a B-Rank strength threshold wasn't the most incredible part, then what was?

Over the next few minutes, she watched with her own eyes as Lana systematically destroyed every expectation.

The mana capacity test, the spirit resonance test, the stamina endurance test, and the agility trial, every single result that flashed on the screens was terrifyingly high.

Lana wasn't just a C-Rank who had gotten a bit stronger. She was a bona fide, peak B-Rank Sire across the board.

The receptionist turned slowly to look at Aron, her face pale with shock. "You... you knew?"

Aron simply nodded nonchalantly, his calm gaze still fixed on the arena below.

Down on the testing floor, Lana slowly lowered her arms, her breathing heavy. She looked up toward the circular balcony, locking eyes with Aron through the glass. Her heart pounded wildly.

The stats on the monitors confirmed it clearly. Every single detail Aron had sold to her was one hundred percent accurate.

Down on the arena floor, the main evaluator, practically buzzing with excitement, approached Lana.

"Miss, what kind of environment or setup do you require to demonstrate your newly awakened skill?" he asked respectfully.

Lana, her eyes still lingering on Aron up in the balcony, smiled with absolute, unwavering confidence. "Bring me ten peak B-rank monsters."

The evaluator's jaw practically hit the floor. "Are you absolutely sure? Facing ten peak B-rank monsters simultaneously is incredibly dangerous. It could be lethal in case of accidents."

When Lana simply nodded in confirmation, the evaluator's expression turned grim. He tapped a communication device in his ear.

"Emergency protocol. Please ask Mr. Frederick to come down immediately for standby supervision."

Up on the balcony, the receptionist heard the transmission through her own earpiece. Her polite demeanor instantly shifted to dead seriousness.

Without a word, she turned and sprinted out of the observation room at top speed.

Within seconds, the heavy blast doors of the arena floor opened, and the entire evaluation staff, including the main evaluator, who is also a B-rank SIRE, evacuated the testing grounds for their own safety.

They hurried up to the reinforced balcony, leaving Lana standing completely alone in the center of the massive, empty stadium.

A few moments later, the balcony doors swung open again. The breathless receptionist returned, leading a rugged-looking man who appeared to be in his early thirties.

The moment Aron laid eyes on the man, an incredible, suffocating pressure washed over the room. Aron's eyes widened in genuine surprise, and a small smile crept onto his face.

'Who said there wasn't a single A-rank Sire in Archeon City?' he murmured in his mind, feeling the immense, dense mana radiating from the man.

But a split second later, Aron's smile vanished, replaced by a deep, terrifying frown. As a regressor, the dark memories of his past life flooded his mind.

'Wait... if an A-rank was here, what happened back then? Why didn't he take action during the beast tide? Why did he just stand by and let the entire city be destroyed?'

Before Aron could spiral deeper into his grim thoughts, the receptionist stepped back to his side, inadvertently answering the very question burning in his mind.

"You guys are incredibly lucky today," she whispered to Aron, her voice filled with deep reverence as she gestured toward the man.

"That is Mr. Frederick Bolt, widely known as the 'Iron Fist.' He is a peak A-rank SIRE."

She paused, puffing her chest out slightly with pride. "He doesn't live here, though. He was dispatched from the Capital just to inspect our local Association branch."

A flash of understanding crossed Aron's eyes. Now it made perfect sense.

Frederick Bolt was merely a temporary visitor. By the time the catastrophic beast tide actually descended upon Archeon City in the previous timeline, this monstrously powerful A-rank had already finished his inspection and returned to the Capital, leaving the city defenseless.

Frederick also glanced over at Aron, and his brow immediately furrowed in curiosity. A moment later, a genuine smile spread across his rugged face as he noticed the little skeleton perched casually on the boy's shoulder.

'Interesting... really interesting,' Frederick mused internally.

Despite being a peak A-rank, he couldn't sense a single trace of aura leaking from Aron at all. It was as if the boy was completely devoid of mana.

Yet his sharp senses could clearly detect the highly unusual, incredibly deep connection between Aron and his skeletal assistant.

Stepping toward the unusual teenager Frederick extended his hand. "Hi. I'm Frederick."

Aron met his grip, shaking his hand firmly. "My name is Aron. Aron Argentine. I'm here for a re-evaluation as well."

Frederick nodded his head. At that moment, the main evaluator also rushed over to brief him on the unprecedented situation regarding Lana's absurd request.

After listening, Frederick simply nodded, his expression was still calm as usual.

"Do as she asked," he ordered. "I am here. I will intervene if things get out of hand."

With an A-rank's absolute guarantee, the main evaluator finally complied with Lana's request . He pressed a button on his console, and down in the arena, a massive reinforced steel door slowly ground open.

From the darkness of the holding cell, ten terrifying beasts stalked out onto the stadium floor. They resembled black panthers, but their massive, muscular frames were at least ten times the size of a normal predator.

Each possessed two whip-like, shadowy tails and elongated, razor-sharp canines that dripped with malice.

They were Shadow Panthers, peak B-rank monsters.

Lana's expression instantly turned dead serious. She took a few calculated steps back just as the pack locked eyes with her and lunged with terrifying speed.

Just as the beasts were about to tear her apart, she released her newly awakened skill.

A sudden, blinding light flared from her dominant hand. Countless ethereal, shimmering threads erupted from her fingertips, shooting through the air like lightning and latching directly onto the closest panthers mid-pounce.

The moment the threads attached, the airborne beasts froze entirely. They landed heavily on the arena floor, but instead of recovering to attack, their bloodlust vanished completely.

To the utter shock of everyone watching, the terrifying monsters practically purred, trotting docilely over to Lana as if they were her lifelong familiars.

She calmly reached out and stroked their massive, deadly heads.

Seeing their packmates acting so strangely, the remaining panthers roared in confusion and charged at her in a frenzy.

Lana didn't even flinch. She simply activated her skill again while her subjugated panthers turned and snarled at their former kin to protect her.

There was no need for a bloodbath, however. In just a few more seconds, a second wave of ethereal threads lashed out across the arena. The remaining attackers also froze in their places, their feral wills instantly and effortlessly overridden by the threads.

Before the onlookers up on the balcony could even fully process what they were seeing, all ten terrifying B-rank beasts were completely and utterly under her control.

Up on the observation balcony, the main evaluator leaned heavily against the reinforced glass, his eyes wide with absolute disbelief.

"That... That skill is..." he stammered, his mind struggling to process the sheer dominance below.

Frederick, standing right beside him, smiled down at Lana with genuine admiration. "Yes," his deep voice carrying absolute authority.

"She has awakened an A-rank skill. And an incredibly powerful one at that. Maybe she possesses the terrifying ability to perfectly dominate and control up to ten monsters of a rank equal to her own, with zero apparent backlash."

Turning his attention away from the arena floor, Frederick looked at the stunned evaluator and issued a clear directive.

"Issue her a peak B-rank Sire badge immediately. With a solid foundation and a skill of this caliber, it is an absolute guarantee that she will break through to the A-rank in the near future."