"First, what is your name?"
"I'm Claude."
"Age?"
"33."
"Which organization are you from?"
"Dark Alliance."
After asking a few more questions to gauge Claude's psychological baseline to ensure he could detect any lies, Nash began probing for what he was after.
"What do you mean by evaluator? Why are we being evaluated?"
"The top brass of the Earth Horizon Alliance ordered us to assess and rank every individual in the base. As for what it's for, I don't know."
Sensing that Claude wasn't lying, Nash continued, "How many evaluators are there?"
"There are only a few dozen of us Void Warriors in Crimson Headquarters serving as evaluators. The rest are at a nine percent saturation rate, testing the weaker individuals."
"Then why did you target me? I'm not yet an official Void Warrior."
"The Crimson Phoenix Squad was on the priority list, so all of you were to be tested by a Void Warrior."
Hearing this, Nash frowned, worrying about Hector, Amber, and Emily.
As for Camilla, with her strength, he should be more concerned about the evaluator instead.
After asking a few more questions and roughly understanding the situation, Nash released Claude.
"You're letting me go?" Claude thought excitedly, ready to retaliate against Nash at any moment.
Unfortunately, before Claude could celebrate, Nash's fist squarely struck his gut.
As Claude's eyes bulged in pain, Nash forced a few hypnotizing pills into his mouth.
Soon, under Nash's consecutive moves, Claude's mind began to daze as he stared blankly into the air.
"Success..." Nash thought with a smile.
The hypnotizing pill was a B3 banned drug he exchanged in the Crimson Gang.
Costing a contribution point worth 1 void crystal, it was often used to interrogate prisoners to extract information.
However, because of its cheap price, the prisoner had to be tortured near insanity before it could work.
He didn't expect it to work on the first try.
It seemed Claude was quite lucky, avoiding a long and bloody torture.
Turning to Claude, Nash grew serious, modifying Claude's memory of the battle.
"You were barely defeated by me using my marksmanship, so you decided to rank me as an A-class talent..."
Not wanting to draw too much attention or be too low-profile, Nash carefully adjusted his talents and abilities in Claude's memory.
After a few minutes of instilling different memories in Claude's mind, Nash nodded in satisfaction.
"I hope this works…"
---
Returning to the Crimson Phoenix Squad's assigned room, he noticed that Hector, Amber, and Emily were badly injured.
Thinking of the information he had just gotten from Claude, Nash's expression darkened.
Fortunately, the base provided a healing potion so they would be fine in just a few minutes to an hour.
"Nash, it seems you're okay," Camilla said, noticing Nash was uninjured.
"You too, Captain. It seems you gave them quite a beating," Nash commented, seeing the bloody whip in her hand.
"If I had known they had beaten my squad, I would have taken their arm or two!" Camilla said angrily.
"As expected of you, Captain," the other three said, touched by her words.
"Hmph! Because you were weak, you got beaten like this! Now rest, we still have a lot to do tomorrow!"
"Yes, Captain!"
---
The next day, the speaker's intercom in their room blared, summoning them to the base lobby.
Walking to the lobby, they saw a virtual projection displaying the ranking list of all individuals, from rank 1 to over 2 thousand.
After last night's chaos, with almost all of them being beaten up, they knew this was the result of the assessment.
"Look, Captain, you're on top!" Emily muttered, easily spotting Camilla's name.
[No. 27 Camilla: Crimson Phoenix Squad
Potential: S Grade
Void Saturation Rate: 12%
Proficient: Whip, Close Combat, Hidden Weapons]
"Wow, Captain, you're at the rank 27!" Amber said excitedly.
"Awesome!" Nash also gave a thumbs-up.
Despite Camilla having a lower Void saturation rate, she was ranked higher than those stronger than her.
The lowest saturation rate in the top 30, besides Camilla, was 15%.
Being able to squeeze into the top ranks was thanks to Camilla's potential and superb combat ability.
"You're not bad either," Camilla muttered, seeing Nash's rank.
[Rank 371 Nash: Crimson Phoenix Squad
Potential: A Grade
Saturation Rate: 9%
Proficient: Sniper and Mid-range Weapons]
"It's good enough," Nash smiled slightly.
Although he surpassed dozens of official Void Warriors, it wasn't too high-profile.
There was even an individual with S-grade potential who wasn't a Void Warrior but ranked in the top 100.
Inconspicuous among the list, Nash felt satisfied with his rank.
"You two don't brag too much; we're over the 1,000 mark, barely in the middle," Hector said, a little jealous of their talent.
There were over 2,000 individuals on the list, and ranking in the middle was barely subpar.
While they were marveling at their ranks, a person approached them.
"I'm Chloe, from the Titan Behemoth Squad, ranked 15th on the list. Are you Nash?" Chloe asked coldly, looking at Nash.
"Yes, so?"
"Are you willing to join my squad? I'll make you my vice-captain," Chloe said straightforwardly.
Fancying Nash's looks and potential, she couldn't help but want to recruit him.
"What?!" Camilla quickly reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"I want to recruit this man. You don't have to question me!" Chloe said, releasing her pressure.
Standing at 15th rank, Chloe had A-grade potential and over 23% saturation rate.
If not for Camilla's potential, she wouldn't have even given her a look.
Feeling the immense pressure, Camilla gritted her teeth and looked intently at Nash.
"I won't hop into any squad; I'm satisfied with the Crimson Phoenix Squad," Nash frowned, finding the matter troublesome.
Although he downplayed his rank, he forgot that his appearance was still a disaster.
Every time he went out, Nash made sure to wear a mask or disguise, but he forgot that the projection list included a bare image of him.
Although it was low quality due to the secretive angle it was shot, it was enough to cause trouble.
With his disguise blown, Nash had to face yet another troublesome peach blossom.