In this day, to become a soldier you would be required to have at least a grade 3 mana affinity. That was the bare minimum in order to actually be able to become strong enough to fight with the lowest of terror beasts. The ranks in the military were based upon the strength system that was put in place by the Human Sages. You would start off as a Mana Apprentice then continue to Refinement Soldier, Core Formation Mage, Soul Seed Scholar and many others until the highest position, Sage.

A grade 3 mana affinity guaranteed that someone can become at least a Mana Apprentice. Of course, hard work can also have an impact on how strong you would become. But for a grade 3 affinity, the highest a person could go would be the early Refinement Soldier stage. Any more than that would require tremendous luck.

For Andrew, a grade 5 would mean that with hard work he could even become a Scholar in the future! That was something he didn't even dream of. To him, it would already be great if he could become a Soldier and have enough money to put food on the table for him and his sister.

"Put your hand on the ground." the voice of the woman snapped Andrew out of his shock. He then placed his left palm on the ground. The patterns surrounding Andrew grew brighter for a second and a strange symbol slowly rose from the ground. After 2 seconds though, it cracked and fell back down into the earth. Then another symbol rose, only to crack and fall back again.

This process repeated itself a few times. Meanwhile the woman in the back was starting to frown. Her right hand slipped into a pocket in her robe and took out what seemed to be a golden coin.

After a few more symbols came up and cracked the patterns surrounding Andrew quickly withdrew. The woman's frown only deepened at this. She hesitated a bit before rising from her chair and walking to Andrew.

"Please give me your hand." her voice a tad bit gentler than the last time. Andrew rose and extended his left hand.

The woman extended hers and held the golden coin under Andrew's open palm. Suddenly, a small slit appeared on his hand and a drop of blood fell down on the coin.

As the blood made contact with the surface of the coin the woman quickly threw it up. It suddenly stopped about 2 meters above her head. Then....then nothing. The woman kept looking at it for a bit and she hesitated.

"Why is it taking so long...hmm?" her eyes widened in shock as she saw something which left her heart racing. The drop of blood on the coin in the air kept disappearing and reappearing in the same spot. It was as if one second the drop was touching the coin and the next second the drop never existed.

"That is...new." she then waved her hand and the coin disappeared. The next moment she took out a purple crystal from her robe and placed it on her head. She murmured something and then the crystal turned into a light which quickly disappeared. This was a communication crystal, one of the more ingenious products of the current era. You just have to place it on your forehead, activate it using a bit of mana and then it would send the information you want to the desired target. Of course, where and how fast the information was delivered depended on the quality of the crystal.

"It shouldn't take long.." she said waiting for the answer. Suddenly, a hoarse voice sounded in the room.

"Indeed it didn't take long, but then again... it is after all, relative." The woman trembled and turned to her left. A hunched old man with long white hair and dark blue eyes was quietly standing there. His right hand held what seemed to be a struggling small snake made of light. He then clenched his fist and the snake cracked before disappearing.

"Who are you?" she asked coldly. However, sweat was beginning to form on her forehead because she couldn't even feel his presence! It was as if he wasn't there. Any respectable cultivator would know that this means that either the person before them doesn't have a trace of mana in them or their power is at least two stages above them! And clearly, the latter was the answer.

"Coral...?" asked Andrew with a confused look on his face.

The old man took a step forward and with that step it seemed as if time was going backwards. His back straightened and his hair was changing from white to grey and then to black. His wrinkles faded and he now looked like a handsome middle aged man.

"S-sir?!" the woman then quickly knelt.

"You didn't see anything." he said while he snapped his fingers and suddenly the woman was sitting on her chair again with the same bored look on her face. It was as if she couldn't even see Coral and Andrew in the room much less remember about them being there.

"Next!" she called out.

The now younger "Coral" snapped his fingers a second time and both he and Andrew disappeared from the room.