Would've had this out earlier but my yard work took 2 hours to complete. Not fun, I don't recommend it.

__________________________________________________________________________________

"Wow."

Kyte was watching Azali's simulation test and was amazed at what he saw. Not only was she fighting, and winning, against S rank Guardians but she was also almost done with the last wave. However, instead of golden needles, Azali was using golden chains that had large curved blades that ran along each individual chain. She would whip the chain outward in a swinging arc or link the several chains together to form different weapons.

Kyte also noticed that some of the Guardians that were hit but not destroyed immediately began to act weirdly. Their limbs would go weak or they would suddenly turn on their fellow Guardians. Azali would usually turn her back on the ones she hit, as if she knew they wouldn't attack her.

Poison?...No, wait, how can Guardians be poisoned?

Suddenly a larger Guardian appeared behind her. Azali quickly spun around and formed a barrier with one of her chains while sweeping the other behind her. The Guardian punched onto the chain shield and completely destroyed it. The fist didn't stop and continued toward Azali's chest.

She tried to dodge but the the Guardian's attack was just too fast. The fist landed directly against her chest and blasted her back dozens of meters. A few Guardians began to attack the bigger one, but to avail. The smaller ones were all destroyed until there were only normal Guardians left.

Azali stood up, however, there was a severe injury on her chest. It looked like she could barely breath as blood oozed out form her chest. Suddenly, two more chains appeared behind her and morphed with the other two to create a giant sword. The sword had multiple curved edges on each side and it emitted a strong golden glow.

The smaller Guardians leaped toward Azali as she swept the sword horizontally. An energy crescent exploded from the blade and effortlessly sliced through the Guardians. It continued toward the bigger Guardian, however, it jumped over it and quickly moved toward Azali. She slashed her sword toward it but the Guardian smoothly tilted its body, causing the sword to swiftly slide past.

Using the momentum from the sword, Azali quickly spun and put the sword up to block against the Guardian's strike. A loud bang resulted from the Guardian's fist smashing into the sword, blasting Azali back several meters. She coughed up blood and it sprayed against the ground while also landing on her clothes. Her usual beautiful appearance was long replaced by a look of savagery.

She instantly leaped forward and swung her giant sword. The Guardian effortlessly dodged and grabbed Azali's leg, spinning around and throwing her with so much force that she crashed through an entire building. The building collapsed but Azali quickly jumped out from the falling rubble. Before she could take a breath, the Guardian was already rushing toward her.

Seeing that, Azali faintly sighed and relaxed her arms.

"I give up."

Instantly, everything within the simulation froze. The Guardian was about ten feet from her with its arm already extended. That cold, life-less look from the armor-plated visage sent slight shivers down her back. The simulation began to break apart and Azali felt herself being sucked out from her head. Everything blacked out and the next thing she saw was the dark inside of the helmet.

When she took the helmet off, she heard the sound of excitement, praise, and wonder. Never did they think that a young girl like her could be such a monster.

"She's only sixteen yet she's a Silver S rank..."

"Yea, it's amazing. First time I've seen something like this."

"Well, she lives up to her father's name."

"What a monstrous genius..."

Several forms of praise entered her ears. It took a few seconds for her to regain her senses and balance after exiting the simulation, but she finally stood up straight and heard the small conversations here and there. She looked around in the small crowd behind the head administrator and saw Kyte standing there. A light smile appeared on her thin lips, but before she could walk over to him, the head admin stood up and walked over to her.

"Azali Wux, congratulations on achieving Silver S rank. Here is your badge, and your rewards will be sent directly to your Branch's housing."

He handed a small silver badge that had an S imprinted on it to Azali. She took it in her hands and looked at it in amazement for a few seconds before putting it on. The silver S badge was very noticeable amongst her red clothing and it lightly shined in the light in the room.

"Alright everyone, regular testing starts now. Bring in the first few groups and put them in the testing chambers."

""Understood.""

The head admin quickly barked out orders to his subordinates and began to start the actual rank-up test. Just seconds later several Gifted entered the room and were getting ready for their simulations. There were about ten beds in that first simulation chamber, and there were four more rooms.

Each Outer Branch can have up to twenty members, same as the Inner Branch. However, some Branches don't have that many members. Since there's multiple cities within each Sector, there could be up to approximately twenty different Branches all apart of one Sector. Some cities are smaller or bigger than others so the size of the Branch usually depends on the size of the city. For the biggest cities the Branches are allowed of up to forty members, and the smallest cities only require at most fifteen.

The main reason why GG even bothers to do this is to stop AHAD's influence from spreading. Along with that, GG wants to stop AHAD from building more factories and other manufacturing sites. Some cities require more Gifted to handle the situation while others...not so much.

Anyway, that's why there are five rooms with fifty beds. Everything moves along a strict protocol, and depending on the length of the simulations, a single rank could take all day or even longer. Adding to that the amount of people within each rank that are attempting the rank-up test, a couple of weeks is enough time for everyone to finish.

"Hey, good job." Kyte said as Azali walked up to him.

"Hehe, thanks! I wish I could've beaten that last guy, then I would've gotten a Golden S rank instead of Silver." Azali said disappointingly.

"At least you got S rank, right? That's a lot better than I thought you would do."

"Well, my dad wanted me to get at least a Silver S rank, so I'm glad I passed."

"Really? That's some pretty high standards..."

"Is it?"

"Uh, yea. I was expecting at least like...Silver A rank or something."

"Hmm, well everyone says that getting S rank is normal. Maybe it's just my family."

"Yea, it most definitely is your family." Kyte turned to look at the head admin that was walking toward him.

"Kyte, this is your rank. It was decided by David Wux himself, so I don't dare question his judgement."

The head admin handed Kyte a Bronze S badge that shone with a dark luster. It looked some-what weird being worn over a black hoodie, but Kyte didn't really complain. Just having an S rank badge would make others respect him, excluding other S rankers.

An S ranker, here in an Outer Sector, garners quite a lot of respect. Usually the highest rank within a Branch is Gold A but sometimes it could be at least a Bronze S rank. For example, Seeker. He's one of the few S rank Branch leaders within Sector 31. Most of the S rankers are within the Inner Branch.

"You got a Bronze S badge? No way!" Azali exclaimed with a confused expression.

"What's with that reaction?" Kyte said.

"No...well, it's just that...when I first saw you, you felt as if you were as strong as a normal A ranker. You still feel the same, so I was wondering how you got an S badge? And my father directly judged you too? Isn't this too weird?"

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter. You'll find out during the tournament why I have this badge."

"That smug look of your's is annoying..."

"Heh, well, how do you expect me to look? I didn't really expect it to be like this."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Thought I'm quite happily surprised about it."

"Then that's good. GG needs everything it can get to wipe out AHAD."

"Hmmm, I guess so."

An awkward silence permeated around them as they looked around. Kyte was the first one to break the silence.

"Well, I have to go now. I'll walk with you to the front though."

"Yea, ok."

They both walked out, and upon entering the main hall they garnered a lot of attention. The main hall was filled with people awaiting their turn, so seeing two S rankers walk through caught everyone's eye. Particularly because these two S rankers only just took their first rank-up test.

"That's them?"

"Yea, the girl is Azali Wux, Mr. Wux's youngest daughter. To be able to achieve Silver S rank on her first try..."

"It's something to be expected. All of Mr. Wux's children are like that, though Azali would be the first to directly get Silver S rank."

"She's a freakin' monster."

"Who's that next to her though?"

"Isn't that the guy that flung Kyle like a rag-doll?"

"Really? And he's Bronze S rank on his first try too? Man, Kyle is not a lucky man."

"They're both monsters..."

Among the many different conversations, Kyte felt a little embarrassed. He's never heard people talk about him like he's some ultra-powerful being. Though the conversations about him were dim to the one's about Azali, Kyte didn't feel bad. Actually, Kyte expected Azali to catch most of the attention because of her status as well as her power of a Silver S ranker. Not only that, but she's also very beautiful, which mostly catches the eye of the numerous men around.

Well, we'll be on completely different levels once I reach the seventh stage. I estimate my power to increase three-folds, and adding on the new equipment from the storage necklace and my skeleton evolving into Top-grade Earth rock. I wonder if my black light will be able to evolve too?

Kyte thought to himself about the matters concerning his breakthrough, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't think of a solution. He would just have to wait for a random enlightenment or maybe train with the black light for who knows how long.

As they reached the door and stepped out of the testing hall, Azali turned to Kyte.

"Hey, wanna get something to eat?"

"Hm? Why?"

"Well...I'm kinda hungry and I don't want to go alone."

"Ah..." Kyte looked at Azali for a few moments, which slightly confused her, before responding.

"I guess I can come with you. It's not like I have anything better to do. My rewards will probably come in at a later time too."

"Yay! Then, let's go!" Azali smiled before quickly turning and walking down the path toward the dining hall.

"Woah, wait for me, geeze."

"Hahaha, you're too slow."

Kyte swiftly caught up with Azali and they went toward the dining hall together.

____________________________________________________________________

"Sir...? Why did you stop?" Zack asked.

"Didn't you see?" David replied.

"See what?"

"..If you didn't see then I'll just tell you.-" David mentally sighed as he remembered his power level was far above Zack's.

"-My daughter, Azali, just walked into the dining hall."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Kyte was with her."

"-! You mean..."

"Yea."

"That Kyte, what does he think he's doing?!"

"Don't blame him. It was obviously Azali that invited him."

"How do you know?"

"Are you questioning whether or not I know my own daughter?"

"No, sir, I'm not."

"Good. We won't be meeting with Azali today. We'll congratulate her tomorrow. She's never really had any friends or had contact with people outside, so she must've brought forth a lot of courage to ask Kyte."

Though it's my fault her childhood was full of loneliness.

"Why didn't her guards try to stop it?"

"I called the guards off. Do you really think a Silver S ranker needs guards among Gifted that are at most Gold A rank?"

"...Right, sir. I forgot."

"Plus, Azali is old enough to know how to take care of herself. Though she always wants to get her way and is very stubborn about certain things."

"Just like you, I presume, sir?"

"Was that a joke, Zack?"

"I-I apologize, sir. I don't know wh-"

"Don't worry about it. Lighten up a little. Also, just call me David like I've told you to. It feels weird and exhausting when even you call me sir."

"...Yes, sir-"

"Zack."

"Yes, David."

"Good. Now, follow me. There's someone I have to meet before the tournament starts."

____________________________________________________________________

A few days later, Kyte heard knocking at the front door of Branch 4's housing.

That must be my reward.

"I got it!" Kyte yelled as he quickly moved down the stairs to the door.

Opening the door, Kyte saw a man standing there with a briefcase in his hand.

"Are you Kyte Stone?"

"Yes, that is me."

The man showed Kyte his tablet and, looking at the screen, Kyte saw that it was a finger-print scan. Kyte pressed his thumb against the screen and information pertaining to him appeared. The man quickly looked at it and then handed Kyte the briefcase.

"Here is your reward for achieving Bronze S rank. The additional ten thousand credits is within a credit card inside the case, as well as an additional gift for directly achieving S rank. As it takes time for the storage and treasury crew to sort out the many orders for weapons and armor, you will have to wait at most a day."

"Thank you."

"Have a good day."

Kyte closed the door and swiftly went to his room with the briefcase in his hand. He sat down on the bed and felt two arms wrap around his chest.

"So, this is the reward? It's pretty large." Rose said as she rested her chin on Kyte's shoulder.

"Yea, but I have to pick my weapon first. The information is within the briefcase, and there's also a reward of ten thousand credits."

"Oooh, sounds fancy."

"Yep! There's apparently another gift because I directly achieved S rank. Hopefully it's good."

"Alright, open it, open it~." Rose pressed her soft breasts up against Kyte's back and began teasing him.

"Ok! Stop! I can't open it if you're tickling me!"

Kyte had already let go of the briefcase and was squirming underneath Rose as she relentlessly tickled him. They wrestled each other while playing around for a few minutes before Kyte was thrown off the bed by Rose. He landed hard on the floor, and when he put his hand down he touched the briefcase.

"-Ah. Rose, we forgot about the brief case."

"Oh. Ahaha, right, sorry."

"No problem. Let's open it right now before we forget again."

Kyte got up on the bed and placed the case on his lap. Rose once again grabbed him from behind, but this time she didn't tease him.

Kyte opened the case, and inside was a tablet and a small blue card. Kyte picked up the card and looked it over to find a bar-code on the back. A small screen appeared on the front, indicating that it was a finger-print scanner. It was an easy safety measure so not just anyone can steal your credit cards and use them freely.

After he scanned his thumb, a number appeared on the top right-hand corner of the card. The number was ten thousand, which indicated how many credits remained on the card.

The global currency within Gaet, the only known continent, is the credit. The symbol for a credit is a capital C with three lines through it: one at the top, one in the middle, and one in the bottom. Most things within Gaet are very cheap. For example, a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, two cartons of milk, and two boxes of cereal might cost five credits all together.

A regular stable job would probably be about six credits per hour. Most jobs' pay ranges are between four and seven credits per hour while the really good jobs are usually six to twelve credits per hour. Of course, there will always be those really crappy jobs and the really good ones, too.

Most merchandise can be bought quite cheaply too. There are somethings that can only be found in certain areas within Gaet which makes them a lot more expensive. However, most things are affordable. The giant nation on Gaet is actually doing quite well despite being alone and having a great hidden war.

So, ten thousand credits is actually a large amount. It's to be expected from a very powerful family, though.

Putting the card in his wallet, Kyte then took out the tablet from the case and then set the case down on the floor. After turning it on, Kyte had to scan his thumb once again to gain clearance into the system. After that, many options came forth onto the screen. A single interface appeared above the options, displaying a message that surprised Kyte.