When Roman infused his mana, the aura meter responded immediately.
Wong!
It caused vibration.
The once-grayish Aura Meter quickly changed colors, starting with red and progressing to orange after that. The change in color was quick and smooth. According to what was generally known, the measurement time of an Aura Meter was usually around 5 minutes, but for Roman, it didn't take that much time.
The meter turned yellow soon enough. It was so swift. In just 5 seconds, the Aura Meter had already touched yellow.
Willas was stunned. What he just witnessed meant Roman was clearly a 3-Star Aura Swordsman.
Willas gulped as he watched the series of changes, and his heart began to pound intensely.
'…4-Star?'
It was shocking. Willas had used the Aura Meter many times, but never had he seen a change as fast as Roman's.
A 4-Star Aura Swordsman…
Usually, the color of the Aura Meter changed at regular intervals. However, the changes Willas saw when Roman was using it were beyond his common sense. Naturally, he was confused.
He glanced at Roman's face. Looking at the peaceful face, his eyes trembled.
Nevertheless, Willas was making a big mistake.
He thought Roman had drained all his mana by using all his might at once, but actually, he hadn't even started yet.
When he first infused mana, he only infused a small amount to test the meter. It wasn't the Salamander Continent's way, but the Aura Meter was violently shaking just from that.
This is really fun. A tool that measures the power of an Aura by color.
After confirming that the Aura Meter was safe, Roman went straight to the point.
'Just like Mana Explosion.'
Aura explosion was based on gathering mana.
And when Roman let out quite a bit of mana at once, the Aura Meter reacted as if it would explode at any moment.
Grinnng!
Rumble!
A roar could be heard from the Aura Meter. The color, which dyed the Aura Meter yellow, soon changed to green, and the color which had turned green turned paler, until it couldn't get any darker.
This was not a normal scene. Even Willas had no idea on how he should deal with this situation.
Finally, the Aura Meter shone with darkness.
And,
Crack!
Crack!
It just crumbled.
Watching the cracks on its surface, Willas only stood there, dumbfounded. He turned his gaze from the broken Aura Meter to Roman and then back to the Aura Meter.
'This is insane.'
This was a result that went beyond anything normal.
What is an Aura Meter? It was a device first produced by combining knowledge by putting all the human resources known on the continent together. According to its description, certainly, the Aura Meter would never show any other color apart from those mentioned 4. And it was also said that the Aura Meter would never ever break during an Aura Evaluation. In fact, to check its durability, an Archmage and a 6-Star Aura Swordsman were brought in.
And the result was that nothing out of the ordinary happened. Even when a 6-Star Aura Swordsman had infused his mana, it only shone green, and there was no abnormality with the Aura Meter. It was an item perfect for evaluating someone's level.
'Then how did this happen?'
His head was filled with complicated thoughts. He wasn't sure how to accept the results in front of him.
Was it broken? No, it wasn't.
Before coming to Dmitry, he had ensured that the Aura Meter had no problems by checking it. Then, there was only one possible conclusion. Just as the Aura Meter showed a violent reaction when it came in contact with Roman, the shattering also had to be a special case because of Roman.
Roman asked, "Is this broken?"
"It isn't. As this is an unusual result, I cannot say for certain what this is. But…"
Willas didn't continue any further. He had seen it clearly—Before the Aura Meter broke, it definitely shone green. He was certain that wasn't a lie, so Willas was sure of one thing.
'Roman Dmitry is a 4-Star Aura Swordsman.'
4-Star—Thinking of that, his mouth got dry. Just being 3-Star could be considered one of the greatest things for someone who was of Roman's age. This meant that the possibilities for the future of Roman were endless. He was easily a talent who could aim for 5-Star and higher, and Willas was certain that his talent would eventually be discussed all over the continent.
However, a 4-Star in his 20s? This was an entirely different thing from 3-Star. If he had the talent to reach 4-Star at the age of 20, he couldn't imagine just how much Roman would grow in the future.
'This is a huge deal. Roman Dmitry isn't a sleeping dragon but a monster that has already taken the form of an adult. Did such a monster live within Dmitry? Actually, if this fact gets known to the outside, not just Cairo but the entire Salamander Continent will become a mess. Even the Empire will move at that fact that a talent that can reach 6-Star has emerged.'
Originally, he had to reveal the results once the evaluation was finished. It meant he needed to reveal to Roman that he was 4-Star, instead of just 3-Star, and that he was absolutely qualified to be in the Rankings.
However, the Empire that created the Valhalla Temple in Cairo had a purpose. Thus, he couldn't tell the truth until he had confirmed everything he wanted to.
Eventually, Willas said, "…This is the first time this has happened, so I don't think we can make a hasty decision now. I am sorry, but I will have to look into what happened and tell you the results within a few days."
As he had expected, he needed to study Roman Dmitry profoundly. Willas would now take advantage of the information guilds of the Empire. Who is Roman? Information that grasped everything from his birth to recent steps would come to him in a day.
'Roman Dmitry.'
Until the age of 25, he lived a not-so-special life. He was nothing more than an ordinary noble family's trash, and his own people thought of him to be a fool and ridiculed the son of their lord. However, his reputation changed starting from his incident with the Blood Fang. He subjugated the entire Blood Fang by himself, and then, he intervened in the war between Barco and Lawrence, and defeated Homer as well.
"His life completely changed after he turned 25."
The reason was unknown.
Did he obtain some special sign? Or did he train alone in a place out of sight of others? The sure thing was that Roman Dmitry had awakened. He began to live like a new person and fully revealed his talents to the world.
Flip.
He turned the page, and finally, Willas saw the incident with Barco. It was the shocking incident of when he visited Viscount Barco in his own estate and killed his own son in front of his eyes.
Willas was terrified even though he had only read it.
"…This guy is insane."
Roman was bold. His actions were completely out of Willas' common sense. If he had left Barco alone, they would have collapsed by themselves at one point, but he went ahead and killed Barco's son personally. Others might think that it was simply cruel. However, when he saw everything Roman did and how he dealt with things, Willas felt as if Roman had planned everything out beforehand.
'Roman Dmitry never did anything in the dark. When subjugating the Blood Fang, he destroyed the organization in an instant by taking down their leader, and in the war against Barco, he used Lawrence's troops to distract Barco and attacked them from the rear. And to make sure that Barco could never get back up, he visited them and crushed their hopes. The audacity to take risks with his life on the line and execute his plans perfectly—Roman Dmitry isn't just a monster with a 4-Star Aura but someone who knows to use his head as well.'
As he read about Roman's recent actions, he admired him. Although he was as warlike as the people of Valhalla, he possessed a calm judgment as well.
'Only one thing left. I will check the results of the Aura Meter and then make the final decision.'
Willas had to know the reason why the Aura Meter had suddenly broken down. He had sent the wreckage to a magic guild, and the results arrived within 2 days.
The content was the following:
[…There is nothing wrong with the Aura Meter. The fact that it turned black and broke down can only mean that an intangible force was applied to it, which the Aura Meter couldn't handle. Also, the result of shining green was normal.]
"As I thought."
As he expected, Roman was truly a 4-Star Aura Swordsman.
Now, Willas acknowledged that it wasn't because it broke down that the Aura Meter showed the strange result, but Roman had actually risen to 4-Star in his 20s. It was an unbelievably great result. Even when he first visited Dimitry, he never imagined he would see such a result, but Willas had finally found the target he had been looking for a long time.
Roman Dmitry—He isn't a talent whose verification has to be skipped.
Willas immediately contacted his home nation. The ranking system had originated from Valhalla. But why did he contact them? Did the Valhalla Empire manage the rankings of other nations as well? Most people thought it was simply Valhalla's inclination, but the hidden truth wasn't that.
"I will put Roman Dmitry on the list," Willas reported back home through magic communication.
Valhalla wasn't just a barbarian nation that was all about fighting.
They knew how to act cleverly enough that they built the status of an empire and even devised a way to use the tradition of the ranking system to bring out the talents of the other nations into their own. Actually, it became very easy to do so because most people considered the Ranking to be an honorable position.
All the talented people in each nation hoped to be a Ranker, so Valhalla, even though it only had a small number of people, formed an empire and was able to identify the talented ones of other nations.
Willas explained his reasons for coming and explained what he knew about Roman Dmitry. When the one on the other side of the communicator heard the way he handled things and about his 4-Star talent, he said, "He is definitely a talented person. Raise Roman Dmitry's rating to A, keep an eye on him, and find a way to sign him for us. As I said, security is the most important thing in recruiting talent from other nations. People cannot know that we are trying to snatch the talents of other nations under the name of a ranking system. We must bring Roman Dmitry to Valhalla as naturally as possible."
"I understand."
A-Rank—It was a great evaluation. So far, only one person in Cairo has had such a rank. Therefore, the meaning of A-Rank was the same as them showing their will to sign in Roman instantly.
And Willas said, "Tomorrow morning at daybreak, I will go to Dmitry and inform Roman that the Aura Meter's readings were incorrect. Roman Dmitry will be announced a 3-Star instead of a 4-Star, and I think it would be good to finish the task by saying that he has taken the last place in the Rankings. And we will proceed with the preliminary work for Roman's recruitment. Just being in the Rankings at the age of 25, when he is from a small nation like Cairo, is still enough to cause an uproar."
As Willas finished his words, the communication also finished.
And the next day, the entire Cairo Kingdom was shocked by Willas' announcement.
As Willas expected, Roman's actions shocked people when they heard the announcement about the youngest Ranker, even though they had only heard a part of it.
Editor's Thoughts: What an incredible chapter. We finally see that Roman is already above 4-Star level, and he even destroyed the Aura Meter itself. Also, we get a peek at Valhalla's goals. Excited to see who Roman will face next and when he will go beyond 6-Star as well.