Kael stepped up to the counter before speaking in a calm tone.
"I came for a Hunter rank reassessment."
The woman behind the counter didn’t even look up from the monitor in front of her. Her fingers continued dancing across the keyboard with practiced efficiency as she spoke in the same professional tone she had used countless times before.
"Name."
"Kael Voss."
"Hunter ID."
Kael recited the series of numbers from memory.
The woman nodded faintly before entering the information into the system. The keyboard clicked rhythmically beneath her fingertips as the Association database searched through millions of registered Hunters.
A second later...
Kael’s profile appeared on the monitor.
The receptionist’s eyes swept over the information out of habit. Name. Age. Registered Rank. Previous records.
Everything was perfectly normal.
She moved the cursor toward the reassessment registration option, intending to assign Kael to one of the simulation rooms.
Then...
Her hand suddenly stopped.
"...This..."
The word escaped her lips almost unconsciously.
Her pupils shrank.
Her eyes became glued to a single line displayed near the very top of Kael’s profile.
For a brief moment, her mind completely went blank.
The color slowly drained from her face as she stared at the screen in disbelief before instinctively raising her head to look at the young man standing quietly before her.
There wasn’t any visible aura around him.
Nothing extraordinary about his appearance.
If anything, he looked like an ordinary young Hunter.
Yet...
The line displayed on her monitor couldn’t possibly be wrong.
The Association’s central database was incapable of making mistakes.
Kael noticed the abrupt change in her expression almost immediately.
"Is there a problem?"
"H-Huh?"
The woman subconsciously answered before realizing she’d lost her composure. She hurriedly took a small breath, forcing the shock from her face as years of professional training finally kicked in.
"N-No... there’s no problem."
She offered an awkward smile before quickly continuing.
"I’ll arrange for someone to accompany you..."
She hadn’t even finished speaking before Kael gently shook his head.
"There’s no need."
"I can handle it from here."
He wasn’t being arrogant.
There simply wasn’t a need for someone to escort him.
His future self had undergone more than a few reassessment examinations over the years, so the process was already familiar to him.
The receptionist’s job ended the moment she registered him into the system.
After that, all he needed to do was head toward the designated examination room, enter one of the Association’s virtual simulation pods, and complete the required combat evaluations. Once he passed, the results would automatically be uploaded into the Association’s database, after which he could simply update his Hunter identification to reflect his new rank.
It was a straightforward process.
There wasn’t much anyone needed to explain.
The receptionist opened her mouth.
"Umm..."
But no words came out.
She genuinely didn’t know what to say.
Her gaze unconsciously drifted back toward the monitor.
More specifically...
Toward the classification displayed beneath Kael’s personal information.
VIP Clearance.
The two simple words felt absurdly out of place.
To outsiders, the classification might sound like nothing more than preferential treatment.
It wasn’t.
Within the Hunter Association, that designation carried an entirely different meaning.
It wasn’t a symbol of superiority.
Nor was it a rank.
Instead, it served as an internal directive.
Any Hunter whose profile carried that classification was to have their arrival immediately reported to the highest-ranking official within whichever Association branch they visited.
Regardless of location.
Regardless of time.
It meant only one thing.
This person was important.
Important enough that their appearance alone warranted notifying the branch’s leadership.
Not even every S-Rank Hunter possessed that classification.
Only a select few.
Which was exactly why the receptionist felt so helpless.



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