"Xena!"

Lexie got up to chase her friend but then thought twice about it. Xena hated being emotional in front of people and Lexie's presence would probably be more of a bother than anything else.

It was probably better to give her space. Right?

Lexie wasn't sure, but she knew if she received very disappointing news, she'd probably want to process it alone.

So instead, she sat back down and quickly sent a message. Text me if you need me.

Xena didn't reply but Lexie didn't expect her to. The other girl was probably going through it. Lexie sighed and surveyed the environment around her. Xena wasn't the only one who had run out. So had Diane. And Veronica looked shocked to her very marrow, muttering, "How?"

Lexie didn't know what that was about but she continued scanning. Abernathy looked disappointed. Doyle looked resigned. And Chris looked ecstatic.

"Yeah, boy!" He pumped his first, "A-Rank Physical, Warrior Type affinity!"

Abernathy finally met Lexie's eyes. "Did you get your pre-affixation?"

Lexie nodded. There was no use in hiding it now. "Card User Mage."

Abernathy blinked.

"That's lame," he said plainly, looking surprised and maybe a little happy too that he wasn't the only one with bad luck. "I thought pre-awakeneing meant that you were supposed to be powerful."

Lexie shrugged. "Apparently not. But I'm going to try and see if I can get a [Researcher] role with it."

"That might be best," he said, then sighed deeply staring up at the ceiling. "I wish I'd at least gotten something I could work with. Instead of a big fat nothing."

Once again, Lexie felt guilty. She wanted to say sorry, but something told her that Abernathy wouldn't appreciate her pity.

As he and the boys got up and filed out of the class, she finally turned to Dewie who was sitting there silently. He was moving his lips like he was reading something off his system screen.

"Hey Dewie," she asked. "You okay?"

He nodded slowly. "I think so. I'm not sure what this means though."

"What what means?"

He glanced at her and then a second later, she got the alert:

DEWIE AZURE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE HIS SCREEN WITH YOU. ACCEPT? [YES] [NO]

Lexie visually hovered over the [YES] button and it opened Dewie's stat screen.

She took a second to read the first few lines and she gaped.

Name: Dewie Azure

Race: Human

Age: 12

Mana: S-Rank (Open to View More)

Intelligence: C-Rank (Open to View More)

Physical: Unranked

Mana

Class: Undeclared

Subclass: Undeclared

Level: 1

Optimal Mana Range: 1000-1200

Affinity: Undetected

Sub Affinity: N/A

Mana Cap: 1200/1200

Mental

Class: Undeclared

Secondary Class: Undeclared (Cannot be declared until Optimum Level in Primary Class is Achieved).

Affinity: Undetected

Level: 2

Breakdown

IQ: 100

Wisdom: 35%

Memorization: 50%

Creativity: 69%

EQ: 27%

Talent: 90%

Thinking Speed: 50%

Perception: 92%

Belief: 80%

Strength: 30%

"Dewie, this is…" Lexie didn't have the words. It wasn't that she didn't consider that Dewie had magic. His visions hinted at something potentially magical and even though he hadn't pre-awakened, Lexie thought there was a good chance he had an innate magical ability. Just like how Lexie herself had been able to feel the mana in the atmosphere when she woke up from her coma. That didn't seem like something normal people could do and just like Dewie's visions, she didn't need the System's input before she got that ability.

But Lexie truly didn't expect him to be an S-Rank.

However, if she thought about it, it made sense. Maybe his mana capacity being so high was why he could see visions. But how did the System not detect it and pre-awaken him? Also, maybe there was a genetic component? While his dad, the famed hero Blueman, was only a B-Rank, Dewie's birth mother might have been higher-ranked. But Dewie never spoke about his mother, so Lexie had no clue.

His mana ranking wasn't the only surprising part.

He'd gotten a mental ranking too, but he'd scored pretty average on most things except Perception, Belief, and Talent. Perception meant that he could feel things that other people couldn't. That was probably tied into the visions he had, and once again, Lexie linked it to the Fae, possibly. Maybe his mother was partially Fae? But Elvira was partially Fae too and she didn't have the visions either.

Lexie also hadn't read anything like that in any of her Fae textbooks. Whatever, she would look into that later.

She also didn't know what Belief and Talent were exactly, but she could make educated guesses based on the context. 'Talent' most likely meant that he had something he was exceptional at, more so than the average person, and the higher the number, the more disparity there was between him and other people. Belief well…probably had to do with how much he believed in himself and his visions?

She would need to cross-check with Aiden to know for sure.

"Is it alright?"

Lexie blinked and realized that Dewie was waiting there anxiously for her response.

"Yeah," she said and smiled at him for good measure. "This is incredible. You're an S-Ranked Mana User.

He offered her a little smile. "Yeah, I guess. I didn't think I would be, even with all Madam Clementia's lessons. She probably didn't think I would be either."

"Well, she was wrong." And she wouldn't be the first person. Judging by the students' faces and grumbles as they filed out of the class, most people were surprised and unsatisfied with whatever they got.

Including me, Lexie thought. She didn't think the C-Rank in Mana would bother her but it did.

Never got a C in my life before, she thought bitterly. Especially after all that hard work.

Rather than dwell on it, she banished the thought to refocus on Dewie.

"So," she asked. "What are you going to do? Do you know?"

He shrugged. "No." Then suddenly his face brightened. "Do you think I could be a [Researcher] too? That way we could go to the same school?"

Lexie's eyebrows raised. "Oh. I'm not sure." While Dewie's stats were overall pretty good, his mental ranking was still on the lower end for some of the schools Lexie planned to apply to, and he ranked high on the wrong things (typically the schools preferred high rankings on memorization, creativity, and IQ, rather than talent and belief).

"But are you sure you want to do research?" Lexie asked. Her own dad still didn't think she had the personality for it, but Lexie knew she could handle the isolation. Dewie, though, probably couldn't. "How about being a [Hero] like your dad? Or even just a mage? You're S-Rank in mana so you can pretty much probably choose whatever mage academy you want."

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"I guess." He glanced down at his fingers and Lexie felt bad that she'd been somewhat dismissive of his earlier plan.

"But," she added. "If we do end up at the same school, I'd be happy."

Dewie hesitated then smiled brightly. Lexie smiled back but shook her head internally. It seemed that even though they'd been friends for a year already, Dewie still had doubts about whether or not Lexie and Xena truly liked having him around. It showed in the things he said sometimes, and how he got really sad whenever they accidentally left him out of anything. Lexie was trying hard not to do that anymore.

"Dewie."

They both glanced over at Veronica who was swinging her leather school bag over her shoulder with an irritated look on her face.

"The chauffeur's here. Let's go."

Dewie nodded and stood, grabbing his bag. Lexie waved at him as he walked out with his sister, who glared at Lexie on the way out. Lexie glared right back.

I wonder what her problem is.

She didn't wonder for a long time though. There were so many other thoughts that were vying for her attention. For example, the thing with Xena. Lexie didn't know if she should wait for Xena or go. She probably couldn't stay long since her dad was waiting for her. While he let her use the train on her own sometimes, after numerous lectures on what and who she should avoid, he didn't want her coming home late. But she didn't want to leave Xena to deal with the disaster on her own. But maybe Xena wanted to be left alone?

After about a minute of waffling, she finally texted her Xena: Hey, I'm leaving school now. Let me know if you want me to hang around for a little bit.

Then she drummed her fingers as she waited.

After ten minutes with no response, Lexie texted. Okay, I'm going. But call me soon okay?

Again no response.

So she stood and walked out.

***

Xena still hadn't responded by the time Lexie got home and she was starting to get worried. She didn't want to keep texting so she told herself she would give it another hour and then check in.

Lexie was also worried about what she was going to tell Aiden. She wasn't sure if the double role assignment was because of a screw-up with ISTS or not. Her reigning theory right now was that the initial affixation of [Card User Hero] was for Lexie Sparrowfoot, but the second one [Card User Researcher] was for Lexie Evans. Since she was technically both, the System messed up and gave her both roles.

So did that mean Lexie Sparrowfoot's soul was still in her body? Or was the system just glitching because Lexie Evan's soul was in Lexie Sparrowfoot's body?

I don't know but the more I think about it, the more of a headache I get.

Lexie's temples twinged as she rested her hand on the doorknob. But she hesitated at the threshold.

She was going to have to tell Aiden about her low mana ranking. He'd be letdown, wouldn't he? No matter how much he denied it, Lexie was pretty sure he was expecting her to be as talented with mana as he was.

He would of course try to cover it up so she didn't feel bad, but she would probably see disappointment and confusion flash on his face at least briefly.

That would hurt.

But she would understand.

Due to her pre-awakening, he and probably tons of people thought she'd have powers similar to his. Maybe they didn't predict she would be a generational genius double S-Rank mage exactly, but they probably expected her to at least have maybe a B or an A mana ranking.

But she got a C. An almost-unranked.

This was what her father back on Earth 2 would call 'a massive disappointment'. It was the type of disappointment that would make him not speak to her for weeks. Her mother would give her a whole speech about how she needed to apply herself more and not take everything they did for her for granted. And Lexie would sit there silently, a lump in her throat, feeling like the lowest of the low.

Aiden isn't like that, she told herself. She doubted he would make a big deal about it, at least not to her face.

But she knew even just that flash of disappointment would still cut her deep, with how much his opinion had come to mean to her.

She swallowed and her fingers tightened on the door handle. Here goes nothing.

She pulled it open and immediately spotted Aiden in the kitchen. He was still in his teaching suit, with the jacket off and the sleeves rolled up. But he'd also tied his trademark flower-patterned apron right on top of it.

When Lexie closed the door behind her, he spun around.

Welcome lit up his expression.

"Honey bee," he said and Lexie walked forward to the kitchen. She saw two cakes resting on the counter, one of which said, 'Congratulations on System Day', and the other said, 'Sorry that System Day sucked. '

"I didn't know which one would be more appropriate for the occasion," Aiden said following her gaze. "So, I made both just in case. How did it go?"

Lexie slid into the seat and said, "Okay, I guess. I got a pretty good mental ranking."

"Oh good!" He clapped once, happily. "Looks like it's the first cake then."

"But," she snuck a look at his face, unable to help herself, "I'm only a C-Rank Mana User."

"Oh." His eyebrows furrowed in thought for a second, but he didn't look mad or disappointed, or even really surprised. "Well it's to be expected, I suppose, given your mother and my genetics. And the fact that you got prematurely pre-affixed as a Card User."

"Yeah, but I thought I would be an A or B-Ranked Card User. That way I had access to a larger deck." Even though almost no A-ranked mages used Cards, the system still gave some advantages to an A-rank Card User. They got access to a deck of twenty-four cards instead of the usual twelve and B-Ranked Users could have decks of eighteen. Lexie wanted that so she could expand her Starter Deck.

Aiden smiled indulgently. "Honey, you realize that being an A or B-Rank Card User makes it more difficult for you to perform the…amendments that you do to the activation process, right? After all, that requires precise mana control, and the more mana you have the harder it is to control."

"Yeah I get that, but I just…I don't know." She sighed. Her head was kind of a mess right now and she couldn't properly even articulate her feelings on the subject, couldn't explain the stray feelings of failure she had.

But Aiden seemed to understand. He came to her side and sat by her, taking her hand. "You did well, Lexie. Very well."

"Not as well as you."

"Oh, so it's a competition?" He teased, then chuckled. "There are tons of things you're better at than I ever was. Your awareness of your environment, creativity, thoughtfulness, daring… heck, Max thinks you would probably be better in a crisis than I would."

Lexie shrugged. She knew he was just saying that to make her feel better but she was happy he didn't seem too let down. Nevertheless, she had to check. "You're not disappointed?"

Aiden snorted. "Of course not. To be truly frank, I've never cared one way or another what your ranking is. For some time, your mother and I thought that you might get the unranked combination of both of us and become mundane. Then you would be a botanist and open a nice flower shop in a safe part of whatever city you chose to reside in. And we were very happy with that. All I care about Lexie is your happiness and your safety."

Lexie stared at him. He looked like he meant it. She thought about all the times she'd seen other parents say that to their kids, mostly on TV, and she'd always thought something like that only existed in the minds of sitcom writers. She'd thought that most parents only wanted their kids to achieve greatness and perfection, and would invariably be disappointed when they fell short.

But Aiden… he truly looked and sounded convincing.

So much so that Lexie felt like a load was being lifted off her chest. She finally attempted a smile. "I guess we can have the first cake then."

"Great. I was hoping you would say that. That one is a new recipe I was attempting with butter pecan and I was hoping you would like it." He went over to the counter, to slice off a big piece of cake, shuffling it on a plate and lining up two forks on either side. Then he returned putting it on the table.

Lexie took her fork and cut out a piece, popping it in her mouth. The flavor burst on her tongue. It was really good, buttery and moist. It alleviated even more of her earlier melancholy.

"If you were mundane," Lexie said. "I think you would own the best bakeshop in the city."

Aiden grinned. "Thank you. But most restaurants still require ranked baking experts as their primary chefs."

"Of course they do." Lexie sighed and cut another piece. "So, what now? Oh also, another weird thing happened but I'll tell you after I'm done with my cake."

"Noted," Aiden said as he picked up a fork and sliced out a piece for himself. "How did your mental scores look? What was the breakdown?"

"I don't really remember. It was a bunch of numbers and percentages. Here let me share my screen with you." In between mouthfuls of cake, Lexie granted access to her screen for Aiden to see.

She was about to take another bite when Aiden froze beside her.

She faced him alarmed. "What is it?"

His mouth was slightly agape as he stared into the air at the screen she'd shared. And then he closed his mouth and swallowed.

"Well, for one thing," he said. "You massively downplayed how good your mental score was. And here you were jealous of my scores."

She cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "Lexie, you're not just an S-Ranker. You're a Level 7 S-Ranker." His eyes bored into hers, pushing to translate the impact of what he was saying. "There has never been a Level 7 S-Rank assigned on System Day. I was only a Level 5 when I awakened. To my knowledge, there has never been a level 7 S-Rank awakening before."

Lexie was somewhat confused by Aiden's reaction.

"I don't understand," she said.

"Perhaps I should explain it better then." He spread his arms wide as he searched for the words, uttering them carefully. "Levels are calculated based on averages of the population, with more weight given to people with the same skill set and affinity as you. Ranks have to do with your mana capacity and affinity, while levels have to do with your expertise. So a Rank cannot be changed, because it's deeply tied to your genetics, but levels can. An S-Rank Level 3 user will have more raw mana and higher mana affinity than an A-Rank Level 6 user, but the latter could have more mastery over the skill than the former. Now what that means is that a Level is a semi-complex ranking based on the scores of those like you and those not like you."

"So…" Lexie wanted to reword his claim to ensure she understood fully what he was trying to say. "You're saying that my level of intellect is as compared to other S-Ranked Card-Users and to a lesser extent other card users…"

"Yes and to an even lesser extent, others of other disciplines. Again we don't know the exact calculations the system uses to determine such a thing, but those are the major factors it includes. That means that starting out, most people are going to be, by definition, average or below average when it comes to any given discipline because they're being compared to people who have had years to level up. I, for example, awakened as a level 4 intellect and level 5 mana, and that was considered extremely good for my age. Most start as a level 1, 2 or 3. But you're starting as a Level 7. That's pretty unheard of."

"Oh." Lexie shrugged but she didn't see the big deal. "Maybe it's because I pre-awakened?"

Aiden shook his head. "That still wouldn't account for it. It would maybe, maybe get you a level 6 but not a 7."

"That's only a one-point difference."

Aiden picked up his fork again, twirling it in his fingers. "It might seem like not a lot. But it is. The higher your level, the harder it is to advance, because the stiffer the competition. There's a bigger difference between levels 6 and 7 than there is between levels 6 and 4. At those high levels, most people are trying their hardest to advance so you might actually see your level drop if enough people advance past you, although that often doesn't happen. And it doesn't happen mostly because of the second thing."

"Which is?"

"Most talented people will only move up three levels in their entire lifetime. Four if they're extremely dedicated. Two if they start at a high enough level." He met her eyes. "Do you understand? That means that if you work hard enough, you'll reach level 10. You may even go beyond that."

"Like a level 11?" she frowned. "Is that possible? I thought people peaked out at 10."

"That's what we assume because no one has ever gone beyond a level 10 before. It's damn near impossible to even reach Level 10. Only one person, Lexie, one person I know of has ever reached Level 10 Intelligence."

"Who?'

Aiden's face changed, becoming slightly shuttered. "I forget his name. But that's not the important thing, the important thing is that you should have a pretty easy time going to any [Research] academy you want to with these numbers."

Lexie had a feeling Aiden was lying about not knowing the name of one Level 10 person, mostly because Aiden knew everything, but she let it go, focusing instead on what he was saying. "You think?"

"Yes. Even if you never manage to change your pre-affixation to research, your intelligence score puts you amongst the top ranked scholars."

Lexie sighed and didn't see any point in hiding it anymore. Aiden was the only one who could help her figure out the double role thing. "Speaking of pre-affixation, there's also something else I need to tell you..."

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