Diaman stood before the head master's office with his hand, hesitated to turn the door knob and walk in. At last he knocked twice before opening the door.
As he walked in he noticed Mr San standing and beside him was a wonder. Without doubt behind the large desk the principal was a gray headed man. He adjusted his glasses while studying Diaman.
'This has to be about my rank test.'
"You called me sir." Diaman stood straight trying hard to hide his nervousness.
They all kept quiet. "Are you sure of what you're saying? Mr San." The headmaster asked.
"Yes sir. It is what I saw."
"And after checking the Orb I didn't find any problem with it." the woman standing beside MrSan replied.
Diaman recognized her uniform from Amanda's textbook, an engineer from Ava.
"Hmm." The head removed his glasses then massaged his eyes before putting them back on. "Diaman."
"Yes sir. "
"And your surname is twelve?"
"Yes sir."
The headmaster glanced at the file before him. "I haven't heard of the twelve family."
"So I'll assume you not from a well known Family or—"
"Yes sir, it's my second mom's name."
"She was the twelfth daughter?"
"No sir."
The Headmaster remained silent for a moment.
"Mr San said you took the mana pressure test and your rank or what the monitor displayed was SS Rank. You're aware right?"
"Yes sir."
"The headmaster stared at Diaman. Do you believe that's your rank?"
"No sir."
The old man smiled. "Your mom raised you herself?"
"Yes sir."
"She raised you well." The headmaster tapped his glasses.
Diaman felt a mild warmth in his chest.
"MrSan."
"Yes?" MrSan stepped forward.
"What do you propose we do?"
Diaman waited for MrSan's answer.
"I think he should take a retest first?"
"The results will still be the same." The Ava staff stepped forward. "I checked it was not from the Orb."
"I think it is from me."
They all turned to Diaman. "I think I panicked and didn't take the test properly."
The Ava staff shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. The orb absorbs your mana and calculates the amount of Mana that's channeled per second. So if you panic you'll end up blocking your mana from flowing properly. thereby reducing your mana pressure and your ranking not increasing it."
'Shit I just indirectly said I'm stronger. I better debunk it'
"Oh I didn't know how it worked."
"Now you do." She rested back on the wall
"So I'll resent my other option."
Diaman was all ears waiting to hear what the old man would suggest.
"You can leave now."
Diaman pointed to himself. "Me?"
"The Ava staff but you too wait outside." The old replied.
The Ava staff and Diaman then stepped out of the office leaving Mr Sam and the headmaster private.
Diaman stood outside the door. Once the Hall was clear he moved to the door to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"MrSan we'll have to proceed with a dungeon test for Diaman."
Diaman's eyes widened. 'I knew it.'
Mr San gasped. How? He doesn't have his carness yet.
"I know I can make a ritual at Altar to give him temporary carness so he can enter the dungeon I'll summon."
"What. He doesn't have combat training at all. Mr. San defended Diaman.
"Yes, but if he can stand the mana pressure of an SS rank dungeon for a while, that will help be fully sure of his rank."
Diaman moved away from the door. Once he noticed some students passing by. Before they caught him eavesdropping.
'So the head master is a player. And he can open an SS Rank dungeon.'
After the students had passed by, Diaman went back to eavesdropping on their conversation.
He could hear Mr San stuttering looking for words to defend him further.
While the headmaster still stood on his plan.
"SS rank student. His another level of power. We need to know if his truly SS rank then we nurture his power."
MrSan tried to protest. But the headmaster didn't give him a chance to.
"His power can change the world. The First SS rank in a century and the second ever. is in this academy. That's a great opportunity."
Diaman chuckled. 'Not happening. If it's a dungeon test then I'll just fake my weakness easily.'
Mr San finally spoke.
"But do you think his mother will agree? We'll need her permission. I don't think a caring single mother will agree to put a child in an SS Rank dungeon.
And we can't go behind her back"
"He's not fighting. Just going to stand in the dungeon for twenty minutes."
"Still! you don't know what might attack him. She won't encourage it and I don't."
For a moment neither Mr San or the headmaster spoke.
Then the headMaster sighed
"You're right. So what are you suggesting?"
Diaman didn't hear MrSan speak for a while.
"I think we should do a retest with the orb then if it still reads SS rank. We can agree with his SS rank without putting him in danger."
Diaman smiled. ' Now I can control my mana better and have more experience with AETHERPHAGE. It will be easy to tone my rank down to S rank or A.'
"Call the young man back in."
Hearing Mr San footsteps getting close to the door Diaman moved away and leaned on the opposite wall.
Mr San opened the door. He gestured for Diaman to get in.
Diaman pushed off the wall and walked back in. standing before the head master.
"Young man, you're retaking your test."
"Okay sir."
"Mr San, call the Ava staff back, she'll be the one to confirm the reading."
"Okay sir." Mr San made his may to the door. Going after the Ava staff.
Leaving Diaman standing awkwardly in the office.
"Sit. We'll wait till she arrives." The head master gestured to a seat before him.
"Thank you." Diaman sat down.
The Old man's finger tapped the table rhythm. The Diaman noticed someone on his wrist. Like a tattoo. It wasn't flat but a triangular symbol embedded in gold.
The Old man noticed Diaman stared at it and lifted his hand to give Him a better view. "Carness. You haven't seen one before?"
"No." Diaman shook his head.
"Once you graduate you'll receive you linking to the heavens and your journey to ascend will begin."
Diaman's eyes widened. "Wow." He faked it.
He lowered his hands and smiled. "Diaman," the headmaster said gravely, "if your rank truly is SS, you need to understand what that means."
Diaman adjusted in his seat. "Okay sir."
The headmaster nodded then continued.
"In a century, only one other person has achieved SS rank. When you graduate and receive your Carness at the Cami Altar, you won't just be a Player. You'll be a candidate who could surpass SSS rank."
"What happens then?"
The old man's eyes gleamed. "That's when you transcend. You don't just ascend to the Heavens—you can reshape them. Become a god."
"A god." Diaman muttered testing the word. He remembered that was always his mission the system had given him.
To become a god and infest the heaven then INFEST it. 'But wouldn't that make me a villain.'
The door swung open snapping Diaman out of thoughts. MrSan stood at the door. "She's here."
The headmaster nodded, then stood up from his seat. "Time for your retest." He walked out the office.
With Diaman following behind