The words made Sezel feel as if he was standing naked to the bone in a cold wasteland. They bit deeper than any beast ever could. He froze for a second, mind blank.
He turned away from her, his movements stiff and mechanical, and faced the open sky. The sun had not yet climbed to its zenith, and the white, wispy clouds drifted lazily across an azure canvas. Indeed, the atmosphere here was more than tenfold better than on Earth. He could smell the sweet, earthy scent of the wilderness, a fragrance of life in a city of death. A strange, beautiful thing to notice.
"Yes," he finally spoke. "You are correct." He paused, then added, "But I am not a Rank-5. Nor am I a Rank-3." Vesta's ruby eyes locked on him, a flicker of astonishment passed through her. This was the first time that she had been so wrong in one of her assumptions, and the realization seemed to unsettle her.
"I am a Rank-0," Sezel confirmed.
