Maya stared where Hiron once stood.

“What was all that about?” She asked.

Sin sighed as she sat back.

“No idea. I think he’s... figuring some stuff out.”

Rai didn’t fully understand it, but he felt something was off with Hiron. Normally, they’d have been berated or shouted at for not being nobles, even with Sin there. But he walked away after only mentioning it once. It also sounded like he wanted to sit with us, but then decided not to. I really don’t get what’s going through his head.

“Who cares. He clearly hasn’t been kind to you all, so just ignore it.” Tullian said.

“I’m REALLY excited for the evaluation!” Amy said as she bounced with just a little more energy than the others were used to at this time in the morning.

“Me too.” Lina said.

“Did you guys hear the ceremony at the start of the evaluation?” Sin asked them.

“Nope!” Maya answered, “They were meant to put crystalakrums all around the school grounds, but that fell through last minute apparently. I heard one of the teachers talking about it earlier.”

Rai and Sin looked at each other.

“You wanna tell them then?” Rai asked her.

“You’ll tell it better.”

“The suspense is killing me! Will one of you just please tell us!” Tullian roared.

Amy nodded profusely while Maya and Lina stared at Rai, expecting an answer.

“Alright alright, then you guys should listen up.”

They were already listening.

“There’s a new technique tier. It’s called ‘unique’, and it’s supposed to be above legendary.”

The others stared in his direction for a moment. They were quiet.

Sin wasn’t expecting this. Surely hearing something like that is exciting right? So why aren’t they-

“NO WAY!” Amy shouted.

“... They haven’t changed the tiering system in... forever. It’s literally never changed.” Maya added.

“It’s exciting, right?!” Rai wanted to nerd out.

Lina quietly nodded in agreement.

Tullian seemed level-headed about it though, which was surprising to Rai. He was the one person that Rai’d expected to completely lose it.

“But... wait a second. How is that supposed to work? Legendary techniques are the most powerful, but they’re somehow not the best of the best that you can learn?” Tullian asked.

“I think there’s more to it than that.” Sin answered, “Unique techniques, as the lady said, are techniques that can’t be copied by anyone. They’re supposed to be really really hard to copy. She also said that they’re supposed to be at least as strong as a legendary technique, so it’s like legendary but it’s more special.”

“I guess there are too many one-off spells in the legendary tier, so the association is setting them apart from the others. That’s what makes sense to me.” He responded.

Neither Rai nor Sin had expected such insightful words to come out of Tullian’s mouth. But they both agreed with his outlook. It did feel like the new tier had more to do with filtering than with how powerful or useful a technique was. But at the same time, that didn’t take away from how special a unique technique must be. It still had to be at least the same level as a legendary technique, and it was even cooler if the technique was specific to a single person.

“... While I’m glad there’s a new tier, I don’t think I have any techniques that would end up in that tier right now.” Amy said.

“Me too. I might have a legendary technique or a few, but none that would land in the unique tier.” Maya added.

Sin could tell that they were starting to get down. She swiftly changed topics to avoid making her friends feel any worse.

“Okay, forget that, did you guys get your time slots?”

They all nodded. Amy answered on their collective behalf.

“We’re supposed to be near the end. But we didn’t get told why we were all placed near each other or why we have to go nearly last.”

“Uh, that might be because of us.” Rai said. “Rodrick put me, Sin, and Feris, all at the end. I think he put you guys just before us since you’re our friends. It’d mean there’s more competition at least.”

“I can’t wait to whoop your ass in the evaluation Rai!” Tullian declared.

“Bring it on. I’ll still win!”

“Nope, I will!” Sin butted in, “I’ll be number one out of our entire year!”

“You don’t even know how we’re going to be assessed. Remind me again, how are you going to be number one?” He teased her.

“You don’t know either, so how are you gonna beat Tullian?” Sin pouted as she teased Rai.

“You guys didn’t get told how the evaluation works?” Maya asked them.

Rai and Sin looked at her. They shook their heads.

A fire ignited in Maya’s eyes. She donned an ominous smile. “Then let me be the one to educate you two!”

Lina loved seeing Maya get fired up. Even if it was for something as pointless as this.

Rai and Sin listened attentively. Even Feris shifted a little to listen to her, since none of the three of them were told anything at all.

“We got told when they gave us our time slots, so listen up!”

Rai stared at her, deadpan. “We already are. Get on with it.”

“No barking back, lapdog!”

Rai shook his head slightly with a bewildered expression on his face. What does that even mean?!

Sin giggled. Pfft. Lapdog.

“First, you get your mana and mana channels checked, so they can see how efficient your spells are. Then, they check your physical status using special equipment that uses magic to read your body fat, muscle mass, body type, etcetera.” Maya took a breath, “Second, they’ll test your techniques. Whether it’s physical or magical. For magical techniques, you’ll cast them into an orb that takes your mana information and calculates the spell’s efficiency, determines its power and function, and decides what tier it is. Some techniques like enhancement types will be assessed using the orb and a group of analysts from the association. You with me so far?”

Rai and Sin nodded.

“Okay good! For physical techniques, they have to be assessed by the group of analysts. You’ll either spend time attacking a dummy, or using the technique in a combat situation against an examiner. The technique’s tier will be determined after that.”

Sin looked at Rai. Her expression told him all that she was trying to say. Don’t use the Sword Dance.

Rai nodded. I know. It would easily be a technique far above legendary from what Kallad told him, but the world was meant to think that Jin was dead. Rai would keep it that way.

“That’s all. You two up to speed now?”

“Yes, thank you for explaining it, Captain Maya!” Sin answered.

Maya smiled with superiority. “It’s good that you recognise the hierarchy of our ranks.”

“What do you mean? I’m the queen, obviously.” Sin said with a deadly serious face.

“Oh please! You’re a princess at best!”

Sin burst out in laughter. The others followed suit.

Rai was clearly caught up in his thoughts, but he had the wherewithal to smile and nod at Maya to let her know that he’d gotten all the info..

“Should we go to the auditorium and watch some of the evaluations?” Amy asked them.

Rai put his hand up. “I’m in.”

Sin smiled at Amy. “Me too.”

Tullian yawned as he answered. “Me fwee.”

Lina shot Amy a pair of thumbs up.

Maya stood up. “Then let’s go.”

Feris would’ve liked to sit here for a while longer. He also hated admitting that he actually liked these buffoons. Therefore, he simply stayed quiet and followed them.

Rai noticed that.

“What if we don’t get seats next to each other?” Sin asked as they walked towards the Central Grounds.

“Nah, there’s no way we don’t get seats.” Rai answered, “I bet most people are just gonna show up for their evaluation, then leave after it’s done. I would’ve done that if there wasn’t a ranking board like last time.”

“Right? I’m sure most people just don’t really care that much.”

“More people are interested in that kind of stuff than you think.” Maya responded to Sin’s sentiment, “Especially students in the same school. They love seeing who’s on top of the game.”

Rai and Sin got what she was saying. They braced themselves to see a lot of students at the Central Grounds. Just yesterday, they were here sparring with Rodrick. Soon, they were about to have their techniques evaluated in the same place.

They’d arrived.

Central Grounds

The area that’s strictly limited to Academy faculty. For today only, it was opened up to the first year of the student body as the prime location for their technique evaluation.

The closer they got, the louder the noise became.

Just through the archway, the gardens hadn’t changed. But further ahead, where Rodrick had brought Rai and Sin to fight in the field, was where everything was taking place. They walked over to the field.

Rai was amazed. Joey’s words were an understatement.

This was far more than an auditorium. Part of the field had been converted into a full-on stadium inside a massive pit. Stairs led down from the outer edges, and rows upon rows of seats were filled on either side. Towards the centre of the pit was the grassy testing area. The orb that Maya mentioned was resting in the centre of the testing area.

The testing area itself was completely fabricated, and had seats for the analysts and examiner from the association. Rai was amazed that they’d managed to get all of this set up in just a single night.

He noticed ranking boards set up across the stadium’s walls. There were even some set up within the rows of seats that spectators from higher up could see.

Sin was blown away. This was more than she’d ever expected. The noise from the students in the audience was electrifying whenever someone approached the orb.

Maya sighed as she looked at the rows of packed seats.

“You guys were right... we might find it hard to get seats.” She said.

The stadium was completely packed.

Rai looked further down towards the testing ground. He squinted for a second.

“You guys see that? There’s an area with a crystalakrum and empty chairs! It’s also got a railing that you can stand at and watch the testing ground from. Why’s no one there?”

“Probably because you can’t watch the action live without standing. Looks like the only way to sit and watch when you’re there is to sit by the crystalakrum.” Sin said.

“Why don’t we just make our own seats and sit at the railing?” Amy asked, “One of us probably has a technique that can fabricate chairs, right?”

Everyone turned to her with surprise.

“What? Something on my face?”

“Nono! That’s a great idea. Come on, let’s go!” Sin said.

They went down to the spectator railing and Sin created mirror chairs for them all to watch the evaluation.