Ryan hopped down to the lower part of the stadium to meet with his five teammates in his little corner marked with the name 'Ryan Smith', the pseudonym Ryan had chosen.
He knew people from the Kheaweth Military would be here, so he wasn't stupid enough to put his full name on display.
"Hello, everyone," Ryan said, approaching the five recruits standing at attention.
"Commander," the five shouted as Ryan approached, doing various salutes.
Three of the warriors were phoenixes, one was a dragon in human form, and the last was a human.
Ryan waved his hand dismissively, and the five dropped their salutes.
"I'm glad you all told the truth," Ryan said, looking at the three phoenixes who were his first three picks.
Ryan then looked at the dragon and human. "And I'm glad you two are joining us as well."
All the warriors smiled as they had been enthralled by Ryan's pleasant face ability earlier.
Ryan was currently still keeping it active, although only at the lowest amount, as he would run out of energy if he kept using it at full strength.
As Ryan led his warriors to their new training room, he heard Yoko start talking.
[You know, Master, I've never really thought about it, but you're rather strong for someone of your rank.]
Ryan arched his eyebrow as he continued walking. [I mean, I have an SSS-Rank specialty, and I'm a heaven's chosen.]
Yoko huffed. [I'm obviously aware of that, Master. What I'm talking about is that you're not only strong in terms of strength on this baby planet, but in the entire Multiverse!]
Ryan didn't see the big deal. [Shouldn't I be? I have the strongest specialty. I have-]
[Hahaha, Master, don't tell me you think SSS-Rank is the highest specialty rank, right?]
Ryan suddenly stopped, which caused the warriors following behind him to suddenly halt and look around, the dragon even unsheathing her saber.
"Just testing your reaction time," Ryan said. "One point to the dragon, everyone else. Step up your game!"
Ryan cleared his thoughts and went back to his conversation with Yoko. [Of course, I didn't think that,] Ryan lied.
Yoko chuckled. [It's okay, Master. Honestly, you're right about one thing. It's the best specialty you could've gotten.]
[A specialty at Master-Rank or above needs to be evolved from a 'lettered specialty'.]
[But for the big families and clans of the Multiverse, it's chump change to rank a specialty up from F to SSS.]
Ryan frowned. [Then do I get no advantage for starting out with an SSS-Rank specialty?]
Yoko licked her lips. [You get a huge advantage. Although the rank of the specialty goes up, the rarity does not.]
Yoko explained. [Rarity determines the usefulness of the specialty, while rank determines its power. So if someone is a Master-Ranked brewmaster, they can make great beer, but they won't suddenly become as strong as someone with a battle specialty.]
Ryan scratched his head. [Then how come I've been getting new specialty abilities even though it hasn't increased in rank?]
Inside her shell, Yoko nodded sagely. [Master, it is not that you are getting new abilities. Rather it is you are unlocking, locked abilities. If you had gotten an F-Class, you wouldn't have gotten any 'new abilities'; instead, you would have had to upgrade your specialty to get more benefits.]
Ryan's eyelid twitched, but he kept calm as he tuned out Yoko, arriving at the team's training room.
Although Ryan didn't have any military tactic training, he did have Grace's ability which gave him a boost to the training speed of those under his command.
But he wouldn't have to rely on that for long, as Ryan had received a quest that if he won his first battle, he would get an upgradable military tactics skill.
The quest was a continuing one, so if he managed to win the first round, he would get a follow-up quest that could increase the ability's rank.
"Is everyone ready for training?" Ryan asked, but the question seemed redundant as five eager faces stared back at him.
Chuckling, Ryan activated the training device and set it to search for any sparring partners.
===
"Are you sure it was him, Leon?" Aurora's voice asked through their communication devices.
The man from the stadium somberly nodded his head. "The picture you provided matches him perfectly. He's the man who is potentially involved with the Frost General and the one who came to broker an alliance on behalf of their mysterious Master."
Aurora pursed her lips on the other side of the communication device as she contemplated what to do.
She hadn't told her cousin the other identity of the man, who tripped the alarms only her son could have set off.
"You introduced yourself as a member of the Dawn family, right?" Aurora suddenly asked.
"Yes, I did."
"Then it's simple. See if he comes up to interact with you," Aurora said, cutting off the communication link.
Although she didn't know how this mysterious raven-haired man set off the alarms, and why her sister went missing after she followed him.
Since receiving the letter from her son, she was positive this boy was in some way related to him.
'And if he's related to the mysterious boss I've allied with, it's best not to probe further. I've waited 13 years. I can wait a few more days until the wedding,' Aurora thought.
Aurora sighed as she sat back in her chair. "I wish I could go back to those good old days, the days of teaching that..."
Aurora shook her head. "He's not real, and even if he was, I've used up my one chance to be with him."
Aurora couldn't help but smile and feel a blush form as memories of what once was started to pour over her mind.
"Those few years we spent together were some of the best in my long life."
Then, remembering what she had done, she laughed. "I wonder how he liked my surprise I left him before I departed."
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