"Wow, she's gorgeous and that figure!"
"That face alone could rank top three in the whole school."
"I didn't expect such a knockout among the freshmen."
"I call dibs nobody else can go after her!"
"Ha! You think you've claimed her? Fair competition, got it?"
The upperclassmen erupted in whispers and catcalls as Autumn Summer stepped onto the stage. Their excitement had nothing to do with respect for her skill just admiration for her beauty. The real question on everyone's mind, though, was: how would her power test go?
They all knew Autumn had earned a Red-Rank task evaluation in the Forbidden Zone one of the best possible outcomes. Now they waited to see how that translated into official strength rankings.
A tester approached her with a clipboard. "Welcome. Tell me how you allocated your attribute points from the Zone."
Autumn answered clearly, "Half into Strength, and the rest split evenly between Mental and Agility."
Her choices reflected her archer's build: high Mental to sharpen focus and senses, good Strength to draw the bow, and decent Agility for mobility and survival.
The tester raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any special talent or ability?"
Autumn shook her head. "I failed to bond with any hero quota no supernatural gift but I've been shooting since grade school. My archery is already A-Rank."
The room buzzed. An A-Rank archer is a true master.
"Alright," said the tester, gesturing to the punch machine. "Let's check your Strength."
Autumn stepped up, clenched her fist, and struck the sensor. The display flipped to 522. Gasps and whistles filled the field.
Given that only half her points went into Strength, her raw power was astonishing. No wonder she'd impressed everyone.
The tester consulted his chart. "Tell me: what task evaluation did you earn in the Zone?"
"Red," Autumn confirmed.
The tester's eyes widened. He quickly moved on to test her running speed, then even set up targets and had her shoot arrows through steel plates each shot splitting the bulls-eye.
When he finished, Autumn Summer received a D+ overall strength rating just below C-Rank. In their ranking system (E, D, C, B, A, S), D+ is exceptional, especially for a freshman with no innate gift.
A hush fell over the crowd. Even the bravest upperclassmen were in awe.
"D+? Are you kidding?"
"No mistake she just punched 522, then picked arrows clean through that steel target!"
"She's not just a beauty she's a beast too."
"To achieve D+ on your first run… that's nearly unheard of here."
"I bet her Zone evaluation was off the charts."
"I knew the girl I liked would be something special."
"Hey Chen, you said word spread about some freshman badass. That must be her, right?"
"Sure seems so… although I heard it was a guy at first…"
Amid their chatter, the testing continued, with more E-Rank results and a few unranked freshmen stepping up.
After a dozen more names, the announcer's voice rang out: "Next up Vincent Fox!"