As I made my way to school, I also saw many of my classmates with anxious faces due to the appraisal ceremony today
And to keep my mind off things I got out my personal device and search for some information regarding manipulation magic that I heard of last night in my sleep
I was easily able to find information regarding It since it is not uncommon magic, and I was also able to find some excerpts regarding how to start using this magic. But I could not find the whole grimoire so I guess I will have to check out the library and see if they have any grimoires regarding this.
I was so into reading the information I accidentally crashed into someone Infront of me, due to the height difference between me and the person, the back of her head crashed into my bosom and pushed her ahead which nearly caused her to fall. But luckily, I was able to hold her waist before she fell down fully.
Once she was able to get ahold of her footing, I was able to properly recognize her due to her long flowing red hair and sharp yet soft red eyes --- Yuuna Narukami.
She was about to thank me and I stopped her
"You don’t have to thank me for this, instead I have to apologize for not watching when I walk down the street.”
“It's fine, I still have to thank you for preventing me from getting injured. Oh, and you are the "Silver Yaksha” Itsuki Tida right? One of the Block winners from last year's school rumble despite being from a named school.”
I was about to defend Named schools when she said
“I knew that people from Named schools were strong, there are way too many people in the Numbers that feel as though they are superior to the Named despite there being not much of a power difference between the students, and watching your match only proved that I was right in thinking that. The only advantage we have over the Named is probably the facilities that we are provided with, and it is amazing to see the Named being so strong despite having much less resources compared to us. I wonder how strong they will become if they have access to the similar level of resources that we have.”
She was about to continue talking but then she stopped and looked embarrassed when she saw me staring at her
“You are one interesting person, it's not like there is any large-scale segregation between the Named and the Numbers but their relationship is not good either. But it is the first time I am meeting someone who is so interested in and can talk about the Named for so much and passionately.”
“I am not as a good of a person as you think I am, I just want to fight with everyone on equal grounds and fighting against strong opponents is always very exciting. Besides, it is a sad sight to see many talented people not being able to become stronger due to the lack of resources in their schools. And this might be a bit idealistic but I think it is weird that the academies in this country have such varying level of resources despite being in such close proximity of each other and I hope that it will change in the future. Who knows, I might even be the one who will try and change it?”
That’s a grand dream, but something tells me she will try her best to see that dream come through
“If you ever try to run for the elders, I would give you my best support if you want, since I believe you could do something interesting.”
“Running for the elders is still something too early for me now, but I will gladly take your vote of confidence.”
"By the way, can I call you Itsuki?”
“Yeah, sure I don’t mind, since I don’t like people calling me by my family name anyway. And I will call you Yuuna in return then if you don’t mind?”
"Yeah, it's fine on my end too. So Itsuki, I want to ask a personal question and you don’t have to answer it if you want but, you are from the Tida Paladin Family, right? Daughter of the current 8th and 9th Ranked Paladins?”
"Yeah, that’s right. My father is the 8th rank Paladin Jiro and my mother is the 9th rank Paladin Fumi, why?”
“So that means you are from an influential family and these families usually send their kids to numbered schools, I personally know that since I am also from one, but why did you choose to go to a Named school instead?”
Yuuna is from the famed Narukami family which has old roots back in Gosei or more specifically the area Gosei was before the current leaders came into power, they are known for their martial prowess and lightning-fast attacks which is also in their namesake “Narukami”
And she is also right about pretty much all influential families sending their children into the Numbered schools due to the resources and the prestige of going to such schools.
“My family didn’t really care where I went to and instead just wanted me to grow into an outstanding person who would not veer off the path of being human. And as for why I went to a named school, it's pretty much because it was close to my home and I was able to save some time on travel, nothing too grand. But my experience there really helped me a lot since I was able to meet many strong seniors allowing me to improve my fighting style and even eventually making me strong enough to win a block at the rumble. Sorry if the reason was not as grand or touching as you think.”
She was shocked when I said out my reason but then her facial expression became soft again
"You have such good parents who don’t care too much about looking good in terms of presitge and just wants their child to grow up to be an outstanding person. I hope I will have a chance to meet them one day.”
“They are great parents that's for sure, although their training methods is anything but humane”
I shivered as I remembered the bear hunting trip, I went to last year
“I will introduce them to you next time they are back in town, since they are back in our hometown doing something for my grandparents. Oh, look at the time it's time for us to get to the school hall for our appraisal.”
Time had passed by so quickly while we were talking and walking to school, but luckily we still had enough time to leisurely walk to the hall
Nozomu saw me and waved at me, and then she saw Yuuna next to me and winked at me while giving a small whistle
I glared at her in response
Since we were ordered to stand according to our heights, I said goodbye to Yuuna and went to stand at the end of the line with Nozomu since we were the tallest and second tallest girls in our group
"When did you two get so close, close enough to walk to school together and here I thought I was you best friend boohoo.”
“We just met at the entrance today and had a chat while walking to school, and when did you become me best friend, as far as I remember you have no handed in the permission slip to be my best friend. If you want to be my best friend please hand in the slip to my office by tonight”
We joked around as we waited for the school staff to arrive at the hall and prepare for the ceremony
Since the ceremony was going to separate into three sections which will be used to check the students <Class>, <Rank> and if they have armaments, there was quite some time needed for the staff to set up all the equipment in the school hall
The reason why it is separated into three sections is because the gleaming crystals used to check the status cants handle reflecting all the information at the same time so they each have been programmed to only reveal one information in order to prevent the crystal from overheating, there are some crystals that can release all of the status information without any problems but they are rare and are usually kept by other military or government organizations. And although our school the Reinhardt Academy is also military-related since most of the students are trained to be adventurers who will join the military.
We do not have access to those crystals probably because it is not worth the investment and effort. In addition, we also learn to <Appraise> during our first year so we will not have much chance to use it anyway. The only reason it is still used is because of recording purposes, since the <Appraisal> skill is much more useful when in combat but cannot be used to record down the results.
I was still feeling quite a bit nervous while waiting for them to finish so I ask Nozomu
“Are you feeling nervous Nozomu? Because I sure am...”
“I am not really nervous, because there is pretty much no other <Class> that I can be assigned to due to my lineage and my abilities, I would be shocked if I was not assigned a <Samurai> since I have been training for it since I was young.”
I wish I could say the same, despite being part of a Paladin lineage I have been using different weapons since I was young and the Armaments will definitely affect my <Class> selection.
“Hopefully, it would go smoothly for me as well ha-ha.”
Nozomu looked puzzled and spoke
“I don’t know what you are worried about, but all I can say is that, no matter what class is chosen for you, it does not define what you are and doesn’t diminish your strength.”
“You say some good things, huh. But thanks for the encouragement and I look forward to working with you throughout this school life.”
But she was right and I should not sulk so much just because I might not get the class I want or get a class I don’t want to get, as I relished in the challenge of wanting to learn manipulation magic and using all four of my armaments at the same time, I should also see not getting <Paladin> as a type of challenge that I can try to get through
We then started talking about random topics ranging from our favourite food to our favourite idols
I did not think that she had a soft spot for sweet stuff, I guess appearances can be deceiving huh
We then heard a gasp from the people doing the appraisal and also the people standing in front of the line
We saw that Yuuna was the one that was getting tested, but what shocked us the most was not the fact that Yuuna was getting tested but it was the fact that there were two <Classes> being reflected by the round appraisal crystal
I was not sure if I was seeing right and I also looked at Nozomu for confirmation
“Am I not seeing things, am I?”
“No, you are not because I am also seeing two Classes from the crystal, damn what a wild day it is shaping up to be.”
If the crystal is not faulty, then we might be seeing the birth of a rare dual-class person or <Doubles> as the people like to call them
As far as I remember there was only been one dual-class person per country, that how rare it is. But with the existence of Yuuna, Rengo would be the first country to have two <Doubles>.
<Doubles> are a strong existence because it is nigh impossible for one person to possess two classes at the same time due to the compatibility is measure to the smallest digit, and even if there is a 0.00001 difference between the <Classes>, the person would manifest the class with a slightly higher compatibility.
If one person manifests the ability to be a Double means that both classes are equally compatible with that person.
In addition, they are very strong due to their dual-class nature allowing them to use the abilities of both classes at the same time without needing time to switch between <Classes> using the <Job Swap> ability of a <Freelancer>, effectively giving them more abilities at their disposal than the average person.
It would especially strong if the two class they have are synergistic with each other.
I was not able to see the classes she was assigned since I was quite a bit far away, and she was also immediately escorted to meet the principal after her ceremony so I could not ask her as well
I guess I will just have to ask her after the appraisals are done
There were still quite a few people to go, and some were happy while some were sad with their <Classes>
I was not able to see everyone's <Classes> except for a few, I saw the gold haired girl from yesterday get <Hunter> and after her a pair of black-haired twins got <Ninja>, which seemed to suit them since their attire was similar to ninjas
It seems those two twins are someone Aika knows since they were talking together after Aika got appraised as a <Dragoon>
Talking about Aika, she also stirred the crowds quite a bit, not only because she was appraised as a <Dragoon>, but also because it was her mutation class
Mutation classes are also quite rare but not as rare as being a <Double>
She was actually assigned as a <Lancer (Mutation)> at first with her mutation class being a <Dragoon>
Mutation means that she can evolve into the Mutation Class if she fulfils certain conditions and since she is going to be starting as a Lancer, she can also gain the growths and skills of that class before she promotes into a <Dragoon>, the thing about mutation is that the classes are always related or apart of the same tree
So, while she can gain a bit more skills than the average person, the skills are also going to be overlapping due to the same nature of the classes
It was finally Nozomu's turn and I gave her a fist bump before she went
It seems Shinkai's turn was also at the same time since they were side to side when doing their appraisal
After a brief flash of light, their classes were reflected out and they seemed quite with the results as they were smiling, I took a closer look and saw that they got <Paladin> and <Samurai> respectively, explaining their joy
They both turned and saw me looking at them, so they responded and waved at me
I saw their wave and so I waved back
They then saw each other waving and looked back at me
I then said a bit loudly, I will introduce you to each other later, wait for me before you go to the next section
They then nodded at me and walked away while they made small talk and walked to Aika's group
Since Nozomu was done, it was my turn and I walked up to the crystal and place my hand on it
"Keep calm and say Status.”
The staff said to me
I complied with the staff and spoke
"STATUS”
Then I felt a little bit of something leave my body and then the crystal started to shine
Then something got reflected out and in front of me
It wrote out
FREELANCER
Daym tough luck