As the day's final breath escaped, the Roman sky transformed into a kaleidoscope of warm hues, a breathtaking sunset unfolding like a masterpiece above the Eternal City. Soft pinks and blushing peaches seeped across the horizon, deepening into burnt oranges and fiery corals as the sun slowly dipped behind the terracotta rooftops.
The sky was set aflame, as if the gods themselves had ignited the heavens with a thousand torches. Golden light danced across the ancient stones, casting a warm glow over the winding streets and piazzas. The Trevi Fountain's baroque beauty seemed to shimmer in the fading light, its waters glistening like a canvas of molten gold.
As the sun's fiery orb vanished, the colors in the sky deepened, a gentle lavender creeping in like a whispered secret. The stars began to twinkle, diamonds scattered across the velvet expanse, as the night's soft whisper enveloped the city. Rome, bathed in the ethereal glow of sunset, was a city reborn, its beauty and magic suspended in the fleeting moments between day and night.
The inside of the building also started to buzz with people. The scale of the party was so huge that even powerful politicians and businessmen were there.
James was cradling the glass of wine in on of the corner tables with Riccardo.
"Are you sure about this, James?"
James asked him with a sort of doubtfulness on his face.
"Don't ask stupid questions. Omce I made up my mind, there is no one going to stop me."
Riccardo bursts out laughing.
"Man you sure a vicious... you would even sacrifice your father, for your sister?"
"All Vincenzo Accardi did was make my life harder. Now it's my time...to shine."
****
****
It was early in the morning and the sun was bursting in all of its glory. Adwin, Daniel and Hana had called out the people of their team outside and to form a line.
"So Adwin how will you know who have potential and those who do not?"
Out of curiosity Daniel ultimately asked him this question.
With a smile of reassurance Adwin told him.
"I actually am a prophet."
Upon hearing this only one thought came to Daniel's mind and that was, "Holy shit! I think this guy is a genius in bluffing."
"Adwin! Everyone has lined up!" Hana shouted from far away behind the lines.
Adwin clicked his fingers and gave her a thumbs up.
"Thanks!...now let's evaluate our army."
Adwin's plan was pretty simple. For now every survivors will be divided in 7 ranks, just like the ranks of monsters and stages, i.e, S, A, B, C, D, E, F. With S being the highest rank and signifies that the individual is a genius or a hero in this ruined world. The lower ranks would have a hard time getting stronger while the upper ones can get it done more easily. But that doesn't mean that a lower rank can't surpass a higher rank at first. As they say, in a battlefield experience and strategy is the most important thing over brute force. According to the abilities of each individual they will be either put in the party of Daniel, Hana or him. And these small parties are going to sub parties primarily made for main quests, sub-quests and for the future. Even so after Adwin began evaluating everyone's stats and skills, he was rather unlucky even when there were 32 people.
[Name – Manny Brown
Age – 20
Title – N/A
Strength – 3
Agility – 2
Endurance – 4
Defense – 0
MP – 0
Skills – Video Maker (Lv.0)]
"Aww man...what are these dogshit stats? We got like 6 F-ranks in a row!...but wait...his guy's video maker skill seems to be quite good...if I can make that happen..."
[Video Maker (Lv.1) : An active skil that allows the user to make high quality videos given the environment with the help of a camera. It consumes 3 MP for maintaining the video making state for a minute]
"Let's see next..."
[Name – Lexi Monroe
Age – 24
Title – N/A
Strength – 2
Agility – 1.3
Endurance – 0
Defense – 0
MP – 1.9
Skills : N/A]
"Oh my god bro! Hell naw man...what the fuck!"
Adwin's face was...well full of disappointment and stress.
Until suddenly he saw a glimpse of hope.
[Name – Aisha McCarthy
Age – 17
Title – N/A
Strength – 4
Agility – 2.1
Endurance – 3.3
Defense – 0
MP – 6.4
Skills : Barrier Magic (Lv.0)]
"Yes! That's what I am taking about. Looking at this type of magic she is definitely an A-rank. But wait...she's a minor! I hope that video maker guy doesn't release a video of me training this brat for battle as child labour. I don't wanna end up like some certain influencers!"
And after evaluating the stats of all the 32 people, Adwin came to a conclusion.
"Out of 32 people 13 were F-ranks, 12 were E-ranks, 5were D-ranks, 1 A-rank and at last a genius, An S-rank!"
[Name – Samuel Hemsworth
Age – 10
Title – N/A
Strength – 1
Agility – 1.1
Endurance – 2
Defense – 0
MP – 20
Skills – Summoning (Lv.0)]
[Summoning (Lv.0) : An active skill that takes up 20 MP for summoning a beast. The MP consumption may vary, especially if the rank of the summoned beast is high. The user can control the beast as long as the user feeds it his MP. In special cases the beast might not be controlled easily, so the higher the MP of the user the higher the compatibility.]
"Hana. Come here."
"Yup! What happened Addy."
"Addy? Yup that is your nickname. You like it?"
"Oh my god man! If she says it like this I can't refuse now. I feel like a child but it's okay." Adwin was quite flustered that he got a nickname from his beautiful colleague.
"Ya it's good you can call me that..."
"Wassup little Addy." The voice of the big muscular Daniel startled Adwin to death.
"Aww man! What the fuck! Being called this name by a big man is very...unique I guess."
The expression Adwin made was worth to see.
"Big man don't add that 'little' when you say it. And Hana you will train that teen girl, Aisha and little boy, Samuel to perfection. Daniel and I will manage the others. That's it. Now I guess we should start the training!"