The group saw us walking back and waved us over  

As we walked over, we saw that the other students were getting their appraisals ceremony going on, and I was curious if they were waiting for us to do their appraisal ceremony or were they already done with it 

So, once I reached them, I immediately asked them the question in my mind 

“Are you guys standing here because you are done with your appraisal or were you waiting for us to return from the office to do your appraisals?” 

“Nozomu answered my question 

"Yeah, we were waiting for you guys to be done so that we can do the appraisal together, but you guys took quite some time to return. Did something happen?” 

The others also looked curious about why we took so long 

And then we explained to them what happened 

First, we told them that we were the top 3 scoring students and had such similar scores that the school could not decide which one of us should be the leader, so they instead thought to hold a competition so that we can use our own strength to determine the leader 

They were not that shocked that we were the top-scoring students, but I saw their facial expression change once I mentioned our results, first I was telling them about my 4 Armaments and it immediately cause their facial expressions to change into one of shock  

As I said those words regarding my 4 Armaments both Nozomi and Schild's eyes gleamed and looked at me, and I could feel their fighting spirit leaking and targeted towards me 

And I immediately said 

“Yes, yes we can do that when we have the chance” 

And then I saw them brighten up 

I really made some battle-hungry friends, huh, hopefully, this will not come to bite me back in the end 

I should also remember to introduce them to each other, but from what I am seeing here they are well acquainted by now already 

It is crazy how fast some people can bond if they have similar interests or personalities 

“But yeah, let me get back on to topic, they found out that I had 4 Armaments that I owned, and yes I am not surprised because I knew that from the appraisal that I did from a younger age. But to be honest, I don’t even know why I got stuck with four of these when the average person doesn’t even have one.”  

And of course, I half-lied about the last part, I am fairly sure that I got them cause of the reincarnation cycle, but it is true that I do not know why I got stuck with all four of them and what is expected of me to do with these Armaments.”  

They did not ask many questions after that, and they immediately started talking about the mutation class and rank 7 Lancer that Aika got, along with the dual-class which Yuuna got appraised as with her flexible Armament 

As Aika said her results, I saw Schild and both purple-haired twins beam up in happiness  

And both twins exclaimed in happiness 

“You did it Miss Aika, your hard work really did pay off, and you even got a Mutation Class for your efforts”  

Schild also offered his congratulations 

“This is great news Aika, I also knew you could do it, I am going to try my best to catch up to you as well”  

As he said that, could swear I saw Aika face had a tinge of red 

Heh 

Aika saw me smirk and immediately regained her composure 

“Thanks, Schild, Kaminari and Inazuma for helping with my training and also believing in me”  

I think Aika saw my confused face regarding the two twins, and she opted to answer my question 

“Ah sorry for you not introducing them to you, this two are Kaminari and Inazuma from the Murasaki Shinobi Clan, they are a Clan of <Ninjas> who serve under my clan. We grew up together in the same place and are very close.”  

The twins turned to me and bow, I also returned the favour 

And from Aika’s words, I seemed to be the only one who is not acquainted with the twins 

Then it was Yuuna’s turn to talk about her Appraisal results 

She started off with the thing everyone already knew, and that she was appraised as a Double, she then proceeded by talking about the classes she was appraised with 

She told them she was appraised as Monk/Priest hybrid  

Which raised a few eyebrows and also seemed to get some of them thinking.  

To be honest, I would not blame them since she got the two of the best recovery classes that can heal someone with both Mana and Qi with the added benefit of being able to defend herself with the Monk Arts that come with her Monk class, this also eliminates the weakness of recovery classes being unable to protect themselves  

Another way her classes complement each other’s weakness is due to the ability of Priest’s to heal on a larger scale which can offset the single target healing of a Monk which might be a weakness when multiple members of the party are injured 

This makes her a valuable talent that would be wanted by many parties even before she graduates from the academy, and even I wanted her to join my party when I heard she had the skills 

But to be honest, I wanted her to join me even before that but that is something I definitely won't be saying out loud 

She then continued on by talking about the Armament she got blessed with, which is the versatile Guardian Dragons 

I then saw the two battle freak's eyes light up and then I immediately looked towards them as to say no 

I think they saw me disapprove and they both shrugged at the same time, making them seem like siblings 

I have to ask them one day if they have any lost siblings since they really acted like one 

And another person who seemed to have a big reaction was the golden-haired girl I saw on the day of the school ceremony, she had a neutral face while hearing our results, but she seemed to be genuinely happy when Yuuna announced her results 

I did not say that I saw her on that day since I did not want to make things awkward and make her explain why she was on top of the tree on that day 

After Yuuna finished announcing her results, she moved close to Yuuna and congratulated her 

Yuuna was about to introduce her to me when she stopped her and I think she said something in Yuuna’s ear and Yuuna nodded 

I did not pry since it was their own private matter 

After talking for a bit, the others who waited for us went on to get their appraisal results 

They waved by to us, as they went to line up 

And we used this time to discuss amongst ourselves regarding when to set out first mock battle time so that we can test each other's abilities and get accustomed to our own skills 

We did not take too long to set up a date since we were free throughout the whole month, the day we set up was 2 weeks from now 

This date gives us time to gain some knowledge from the academy classes regarding our jobs and fighting style, something I sorely need due to the fact three of the classes I am utilizing is something I am not accustomed to 

But also gives us two weeks of prep time before the true battle that is happening next month for us to gameplan and set up our equipment and countermeasures 

We are talking about random stuff while we waited for the rest to return and after nearly an hour and a half  

All of them returned with happy or satisfied faces, meaning they got what they wanted or they were as strong as they expected 

We three waited for them to announce their results to us 

First was Schild 

He said he was a Paladin as he expected, but what I did not expect was that he was already a Rank 5 which was plenty to graduate the academy with 

I thought 

As expected of the heir of one of the great Paladin families  

Then next Nozomu went and proudly proclaimed her status and appraisal results 

She stated that she was a Samurai, which I already expected already with her background and her getup but I probably should rely on those much when I am evaluating someone’s class since I was not a Paladin with my background anyway, but I might just be an outlier 

She also said she was a Rank 4, which is still much higher than the average person of our age range, but she stated that she will definitely catch up to Schild in no time 

As she said that both Schild and Nozomu had that competitive glow within their eyes  

They are looking more and more like siblings 

Then it was the twins that Aika introduced to me earlier, they got the same class and Rank for their appraisal results, which is quite a common phenomenon among twins, it is said that identical twins have a much higher chance of having identical results compared to fraternal twins 

There is a high chance that this is due to identical twins having a much similar genetic structure compared to fraternal twins, and this is also the reason why many researchers hypothesize that there might be something that is in our genetic makeup that might determine our Classes and Ranks 

The twins revealed that they were Ninjas of Rank 3, which still puts them above average for their age, but still have to catch up to the rest of the people in this group 

But it seems they were still satisfied with their results since they were all smiles and sunshine when they announced their results 

And lastly, it was the quiet golden-haired girl who quietly congratulated Yuuna earlier when she had announced her results 

But Yuuna was the first to say something 

She said 

“This is Mizuki Hanagami, my friend from middle school who is from a hunting nomad clan called the Elves, and she wanted me to wait to introduce her to you since she wanted to do everything in one fell swoop” 

“Nice to meet you, but I think this is the second time we have met.” 

She said in a quiet but clear voice 

“You are right, it was quite a first meeting, I must say.” 

She nodded and said 

“You don’t have to tell me about it, but I heard from Yuuna about how you saved her from tripping this morning and I thank you for looking out for my clumsy friend.”  

She said while smiling 

Yuuna looked embarrassed behind as Mizuki uttered the words clumsy 

After this short greeting session, she then went on to state her Appraisal results, which was a Rank 4 Hunter 

Damn another high ranker, was what I thought 

We really have so many people in this group who are highly ranked for their age, is this a coincidence or some bigger conspiracy 

But if this is really some big conspiracy, then I am definitely going to be seen as a nutjob if I dare to say this out loud, so I am going to keep this to myself as well 

After talking for some time, we all left school and went our respective ways for the school day tomorrow 

As we left to the school gate, Aika’s group (Schild, Aika and the twins) went the other way, while I and the rest went right from the school gate 

We talked about what could we expect tomorrow when we reach the convenience store spot that I bought food from last night, and since I was being lazy anyway, I chose to walk towards the store and buy something to eat at home 

And I looked towards the three and asked if they wanted to grab something to eat or drink 

“Sure! Let me grab something to drink, I am thirsty from talking so much on the way here”  

Said Nozomu as she entered the store first 

Yuuna and Mizuki also wanted to grab something to drink and entered the store at the same time I did 

Nozomu and Mizuki got some cola, while Yuuna got a black tea, and I chose to get green tea yet again with their set B meal which they still had surprisingly despite it usually being sold out early 

We spent some more time walking and drinking until we reached another fork on the road, in which I waved goodbye to the others I went my way when I realized Yuuna walked the same as I did 

Eh?