Outside

"C-rating, undisclosed" Called one of the homeroom teachers in an open area of the hall next to an instrument meant to assess the affinity of newly awakened students. While another recorded the rating next to the student's name.

For the privacy of students, it does not inform the teacher of the exact details of a student's affinity. Therefore, it is up to the students if they'd like to disclose this information.

However, it can obtain vague information on whether a student has an elemental affinity, species affinity, the strength of the creature they can bind, and how broad each affinity is. The broader a student's affinity, the more types of creatures they can bind and the potential of the bound creatures determines a students rating.

A student that can bind any type of ice attribute spiritual creature, would have greater potential than one who could only bind ice- attribute cat spiritual creatures. After all the number of species that meet that criteria is quite limited.

A student that can bind to any lizard type, or better yet all reptile-type creatures, would be rated higher than one who can only bind to geckos.

Of course, there are exceptions. A student that can only bind fire- attribute dragons would likely still achieve an A-rating simply by the fact that they possess a rare affinity for the powerful dragons.

However, a student with a low-rated affinity could still achieve great things if they manage to bind an extraordinarily strong creature that meets the conditions of their affinity.

Additionally, a student that awakens a powerful gift may also have an ability to change their fate, but not even one in 500 awakened may manifest a gift, and most of them are useless.

The rating of one's affinity, while an accurate predictor of how likely a student is to achieve success, is not a 100% accurate foretelling of their future.

"No affinity"

"D-rating, undisclosed"

"No affinity"

"No affinity"

"No affinity"

"No affinity"

"A-rating, feline affinity!!!" At the sudden noticeable change in the teacher's voice, everyone in the building glanced over. After all, out of the 98 students qualified to undergo the awakening ceremony, so far 58 were unawakened with no affinity, 19 were rated D or less, 10 were rated C, 4 were rated B, and the only A rating so far is this one.

"He's probably the one with the highest affinity today." Said one of the legacy students with a C-rating, voice filled with envy.

"Maybe not, there are still 6 people that haven't woken up yet." Said another C-rating non-legacy who was just happy to awaken an affinity at all.

"Oh please," snorted the legacy, "if they are taking this long to wake up they probably don't have any affinity and are just futilely looking for an affinity egg until their mental strength is exhausted and they're ejected from the space."

Bridge's heart dropped upon hearing those words. He had been so happy to find out that he had a B-rated affinity and had a chance at entering a top college that he hadn't even considered what Kain not waking up yet could mean.

'Please Kain! Please have an affinity!'

"He's up!" Someone shouted. Bridge rushed over to where the other students were all gathered.