"I’ll go first," Elise said, raising her hand before anyone else could speak. She looked confident for about a second, then realized everyone was staring at her and immediately stiffened, her fingers tightening against her skirt while she stood up.

Hajin watched her walk toward the desk without saying anything. ’She jumped on that fast,’ he thought, resting his cheek against his fist. ’I guess waiting around would just make her nerves worse.’

Allen did not tease her for it, which Hajin appreciated a little. He turned the device until the central orb faced Elise, then tapped the metal plate twice and made the faint blue line inside the crystal start pulsing brighter.

"Place your hand on the orb and circulate your mana normally," he said, looking at her instead of the device. "Do not push too hard, and do not try to hide anything either. The first reading needs to be natural."

"Understood," she said, though her voice came out a little tighter than usual.

She took a slow breath, placed her palm on the orb, and closed her eyes while mana began moving through her body.

The orb reacted a second later, the blue line inside it stretching into a thin circle before spinning slowly under her palm. The four crystal needles around the plate lifted at the same time, each one pointing toward her hand as the device began to hum.

Hajin leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing as he watched the light gather around Elise’s wrist.

’At least it isn’t doing anything weird,’ he thought. ’I still don’t like how it connects to our mana though.’

Elise’s output was higher than he expected, but her control was still rough. The patch he placed in her pathways was helping her hold the flow together, yet he could still feel little wisps of mana leaking out around the edges like her body was wasting power without even noticing.

’Yeah, that is still messy,’ he thought, watching the light pulse unevenly around her fingers. ’Better than before, but if this thing measured control instead of output, she would probably hate the result.’

The device kept humming while a small glass strip at the front of the plate began filling with blue light.

Tiny engraved numbers along the strip flickered one by one, climbing higher as Elise’s mana continued moving through the orb.

Sable leaned forward with obvious interest, though she tried to hide it by keeping her face calm. Juna stayed beside Hajin with her ears angled toward the device, looking like she still did not trust it just because Allen said it was safe.

"Is it supposed to take this long?" Elise asked, opening one eye while trying to sound casual. Her hand was still trembling against the orb, which made the question come out less calm than she probably wanted.

"For a first registration, yes," Allen said, watching the glass strip instead of her face. "The device has to read your natural output, compare it to the guild’s current Ranker records, then settle on the closest starting range."

Elise nodded, but Hajin could tell the answer did not make her any calmer.

For her, this was not just some number on a desk, it was the difference between being a nameless applicant and being treated like someone who had actually earned a place here.

He understood that feeling more than he wanted to. ’Getting a number from some fancy magic plate deciding what you’re worth,’ he thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. ’Yeah, I can see why she looks like she might throw up.’

The hum suddenly stopped, and the blue light inside the glass strip froze in place. A number formed above the orb in thin glowing digits, floating there for everyone in the room to see, 14,820.

Elise went completely still, her eyes locked on the number as if she was afraid it would vanish. Hajin looked from the number to Allen, because the number meant absolutely nothing to him without someone explaining whether it was good or embarrassing.

Allen studied it for a moment, then nodded with a faint smile. "Fourteen thousand eight hundred and twenty," he read, looking up at her with a faint smile.

"That’s a solid starting output. It puts you ahead of nearly five thousand other applicants who passed this year."

Elise’s shoulders dropped all at once, and the breath she had been holding came out quietly through her nose.

She did not cry, shout, or do anything dramatic, but the relief on her face was obvious enough that even Hajin could read it.

"Fourteen thousand," she said softly, pulling her hand away from the orb while staring at her palm. "I really made it into the top fifteen thousand."

"You did," Allen said, taking a small blank badge from the drawer beside him. "For a first measurement, that is a respectable result. Most new Rankers begin lower than that." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Elise tried to answer, but her mouth twitched like she was fighting back a smile too hard to speak properly. In the end, she only nodded and stepped away from the desk with careful movements, like moving too quickly might somehow ruin the result.

Allen placed the blank badge beside the device, and the crystal in the middle lit up faintly when the blue line from the orb touched it.

The number above the device dimmed, then a small mark appeared inside the badge crystal while Elise sat back down, holding herself very still, trying not to show how happy she was.

"Elise Veyron, starting placement fourteen thousand eight hundred and twenty," Allen said, setting the badge aside while the crystal continued attuning. "Your official rank has been recorded, and the badge will finish linking to your mana in a few minutes."

Sable stood up before he could even call the next name, her hand resting on her sword hilt as she walked toward the desk.

She looked a lot more composed than Elise, but Hajin noticed the way her shoulders were still slightly tense.

"My turn," she said, not waiting for an invitation.

She placed her palm on the orb and closed her eyes, her mana flaring up instantly. The device hummed with a much deeper, more aggressive sound this time, the blue line spinning so fast it started to blur into a solid ring of light.

The device gave a sharp click and the light froze, 9,210.

Sable let out a short, satisfied breath and pulled her hand away, a small smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.

She looked over at Elise, who gave her a small, supportive nod, clearly impressed that Sable had managed to break into the single-digit thousands.

"Nine thousand two hundred and ten," Allen said, looking at the number with a genuine look of interest.

"That puts you in the top ten thousand for this year’s starting class. A very impressive result, especially for someone who hasn’t even completed a guild mission yet."

He took another blank badge and placed it beside the device, letting the crystal start the attunement process for Sable.

"Juna, you’re next," he said, gesturing toward the desk.

Juna didn’t say a word, her tail giving flick as she stood up and walked past Sable. She didn’t look nervous at all, her expression staying completely neutral while she reached out and placed her hand on the orb.

The moment her skin touched the crystal, the blue light didn’t just spin, it flickered and turned a deep, pulsating gold.

A low hum vibrated through the plate, and the air in the room grew heavy with a sudden, suffocating pressure.

The four needles around the edge vibrated violently, struggling to track the sheer density of the mana moving through the orb.

Hajin sat up a little straighter, his eyes narrowing as he felt the sheer density of Juna’s mana filling the office. It felt cold, and carried a faint, echoing vibration that made the hair on his arms stand up.

The device hummed for several more seconds, the crystal in the center glowing so brightly it was difficult to look at directly. Then, the numbers finally flickered and settled.

1,450.

Allen’s eyes widened for the first time since they had entered the office. He leaned forward, staring at the number like he was trying to figure out if the device had somehow malfunctioned.

"One thousand four hundred and fifty," he whispered, looking from the orb to Juna, who was currently staring back at him with an unimpressed expression. "The mana density is... it’s nearly ten times the standard for a new ranker. It’s actually comparable to a high-tier veteran."

He looked at Juna with a mix of awe and suspicion, then turned his gaze toward Hajin.

"You’re quite a monster," he said, taking a third badge from his desk. "I’ve never seen a starting measurement this high for someone your age."

Juna pulled her hand away and the pressure immediately vanished, leaving the air in the room feeling strangely thin. She didn’t look at the badge or the number, she just turned around and walked back to the couch, sitting down next to Hajin and resting her head on his shoulder.

Allen finished the attunement for Juna’s badge, then cleared his throat and looked at the last person left in the room.

"Well," he said, his voice dropping into a focused, expectant tone. "Hajin, I believe it’s your turn."