"An S-ranker, huh…"

A pink-haired woman sighed.

Hailey removed her eyeglasses, picked up the microfiber cloth on her desk, cleaned her glasses with it, then sat on her plush office chair before staring out the tall window to her right, seemingly deep in thought.

She can't deny that she was a bit disappointed.

The world government was losing power by the day, wrestled through a variety of methods by the Seven Sword Guilds.

Hailey thought that Onimaru Kunitsuna was the answer, or at least could be a start to a change.

But the tier of his sword was too low for such a colossal task.

She couldn't help but blame the incompetence of the previous generations of leaders, those who built the current system, allowing the Seven Sword Guilds to grow so unruly.

It wouldn't even be an overstatement to outright call their actions rebellious, especially in the last two years.

But she also can't deny that if they forcefully used legal authority without having the ability to enforce it — capable bladeborns working under them, to be specific — then the world government would not only lose face, but probably also authority.

Unfortunately, all the other promising novices in the past decade had almost always been immediately secured by the crazy rich Seven Sword Guilds, some even before they awakened their swords.

The government simply doesn't have the funds to compete.

It wasn't too much of a stretch to call Onimaru Kunitsuna, who they thought was an SSS-ranker, their "last hope".

There hasn't been a single other anomaly like him — someone who could somehow escape the registration system and preferred privacy over money.

He would have long jumped at the chance to come out and chose to sign with one of the seven if he was after the latter.

Hailey pondered for a while, mostly about Onimaru Kunitsuna's identity and his sword's tier.

This was the only thing she could do while waiting for the recording.

The novice agent they hired to spy on Daru did well not being caught, plus he was greatly vouching for the mysterious S-ranker's ability, which gave the young division head a bit of hope.

There was also the matter of Onimaru Kunitsuna snatching an unlikely victory in the duel event a few weeks back.

Still, she didn't dare get her expectations too high.

Hailey planned to see for herself first and compare Onimaru Kunitsuna's battle to the SSS-ranker, Chi Xiao's.

They both defeated an SS-ranker of enemy races, with the only difference being that the former defeated an Aetherborn while the latter, a Vyrrkan.

She tapped her fingers on her desk in slight impatience.

At the end of the day, Hailey was still a bit young herself, at least compared to the others in the same position.

Fortunately, her subordinates moved fast.

She received an email just around five minutes later.

Hailey opened it with unexpected enthusiasm, downloading the attached recording and playing it on her laptop.

Her eyes narrowed at the verbal exchange at the beginning, her serious expression cracking slightly at Daru's cutting words.

She even paused to zoom in on the Aetherborn's face.

The guy was undoubtedly pissed.

'Haha, he's got quite the vicious mouth, doesn't he?' Hailey chuckled, only pressing the play button once she was done.

Her eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat in the first clash.

What happened was too fast for her Neo-Earth eyes, so she had to rewind the recording a few seconds back and slow it down to a fourth of the original speed, in utter disbelief that Daru somehow drew first blood.

She then couldn't help but replay the unbelievable moment over and over in fascination.

The almost prophetic, instantaneous response, the accuracy, the boldness, everything could be considered flawless for a novice.

Only after a little over ten replays did Hailey continue watching the rest of the recording

Her expression changed every few seconds.

She chuckled whenever Daru's merciless tongue violated the Aetherborn, frowned at certain moments, but praised more often than anything else.

What won her appreciation the most were Daru's attitude towards the battle, his unwavering focus, his combat instincts, and his technique.

It was as though he was always one step ahead of his opponent.

In the few moments that he wasn't, he would always react perfectly, giving the impression that he was invincible in a duel.

The fight wasn't exactly one-sided, but it was mostly because of the Aetherborn's conjured weapons.

Hailey could only imagine what would happen if it were a straight-up one-on-one, or at least if he fought the Vyrrkan Chi Xiao did.

There was a great chance he would've dominated in the same fashion.

She wished she had a recording of how Onimaru Kunitsuna defeated his Vyrrkan opponent in the duel event, so that she would have had an easier time deciding whether the government should bet all in on this wildcard.

Another thing that puzzled her was the raw physical prowess domination.

It was very clear that, somehow, despite being a rank lower in terms of Soulbound Swords, Daru was higher-leveled than Ra Mehn.

How else would he be able to send the Aetherborn staggering back in every frontal clash?

Soon, the battle concluded, and Hailey replayed the rather brutal yet satisfying ending a few times before closing her laptop and sighing.

She fell into deep ponderment.

Clearly, Onimaru Kunitsuna was more than just an S-ranker.

She didn't know what the rank of the Vyrrkan he defeated in the duel event was, but the enemy novice was probably at least of the SS rank, and he won without assistance.

He also emerged triumphant against another SS-ranker, this time a mighty and arrogant Aetherborn who wielded the destructive fire element.

Hailey believed she could safely conclude that Daru's overall combat power was at least of the mid to high SS-rank.

A bladeborn of such capabilities was more than worth it to recruit, and she planned to do her best to win him over.

But as for whether they would go all out in grooming him…

'Not yet…I need to see more…'

Onimaru Kunitsuna was certainly a monstrous novice, but they were still in the early stages, where swordsmanship and every other aspect of combat mattered just as much as the tier of one's sword.

This would not be the case later.

Nonetheless, showing sincerity and slowly beckoning him to their side would be the wiser move.

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