21: Chapter 21 Federal Investigator, Random Talent

After walking only a few steps, two school administrators waiting at the plaza exit approached him.

The middle-aged woman wearing glasses spoke in a tone more polite than any previous conversation: "Student Lin Yan, an S-Rank rating makes you a key subject of interest for the Federation. According to procedure, a Federal Investigator needs to verify your data in person and conduct a secondary test of your talent. Please accompany us to the Administration Center."

Lin Yan nodded and followed the two toward the Administration Center.

They entered a simply furnished office containing a long conference table, a few chairs, and a wall adorned with the Federal Legion emblem and several maps of Blue Star. Standing by the window were two people, a man and a woman, both wearing the standard deep blue Federal uniform with a Star Shield emblem pinned to their chests.

The man was in his early forties with slightly graying temples, standing straight with eyes as sharp as knives. The woman was around thirty, with short, professional-looking hair, holding a translucent data pad.

"Student Lin Yan," the man began, his tone not exactly polite but not aggressive either.

"I am He Ping, an investigator from the Seventh Safe Zone branch of the Federal Awakened Management Bureau. This is my colleague, Song Min."

"Your Dungeon rating data has been uploaded to the Federal Central Database in real-time. An S-Rank rating is a subject of key interest in any Safe Zone. Yet, your talent level is registered in the system as F-Rank. This kind of discrepancy has never occurred in the history of the Federation."

"We are here today, on one hand, to verify if your rating data is anomalous, and on the other, to conduct a secondary talent test on you. Please cooperate with our work."

Lin Yan nodded.

Song Min stepped forward, holding a portable talent detector. It was the size of a book, flat and hexagonal in appearance, with a light blue sensor panel embedded on the front and a ring of intricate rune engravings along the edge.

"Place your hand on the panel, close your eyes, and don't think about anything."

Lin Yan placed his right hand on it. A cold sensation seeped into his palm, exactly the same feeling as touching the stone platform during the Awakening Ceremony. The rune patterns began to flow with a steady and even frequency. Ten seconds later, the detector emitted a faint hum.

Song Min turned the detector over to check the reading, frowned, and tested it again. The result of the second test was exactly the same.

"F-Rank Weak Constitution. Constitution +2." She put the detector away, her tone filled with obvious confusion. Then, she tested her own talent.

"The instrument is fine; it tested as F twice. But his Dungeon data is right there: Level 10, S-Rank rating. I have never seen such a thing."

He Ping leaned against the windowsill and was silent for a few seconds. He had seen many Awakened achieve an S-Rank rating. Both A-Rank and B-Rank had done it, but an F-Rank achieving an S-Rank rating was truly unprecedented; this could not be explained by luck.

He turned back around: "Student Lin Yan, there are no issues with your Dungeon data; the rating is authentic and valid. However, there is a huge discrepancy between your talent test results and your actual combat performance. As an investigator, I am obligated to record this phenomenon. Do you have any explanation?"

Lin Yan had already prepared his explanation. He looked into He Ping's eyes and spoke in a steady tone: "My talent is not an ordinary F-Rank. The Awakening Ceremony only measured its initial attribute, Constitution +2. But its true characteristic is hidden; in every Dungeon, my talent randomly resets into a different effect."

Lin Yan then briefly described his performance in the Dungeon.

Song Min stopped typing on her data pad.

"For this Dungeon, my talent reset into an effect leaning towards growth, where HP could stack during combat. That's why I was able to stack such high attributes and tank the BOSS."

"In the next Dungeon, my talent will randomize again and might become something else; I don't know what it will be. The only thing I am certain of is that every time the system tests it, it only detects its initial state. That is why the results of the Awakening Ceremony and today's test are both F-Rank."

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

He Ping did not speak, and Song Min's fingers hovered over the data pad without descending. This explanation was too significant; if it were true, it meant the Federation's talent rating system had a blind spot when facing such a talent. It wasn't that the detector was broken, but that the subject being tested was not static.

"Random Talent," He Ping repeated those two words, "There has been no such precedent in the history of the Federation."

"There has also been no precedent for an F-Rank achieving an S-Rank rating."

He Ping was silent for a few seconds, then spoke: "Student Lin Yan, I will reserve my opinion on the Random Talent you mentioned for now. But I have another question. You are Level 10 now, and the few pieces of equipment you are wearing appear to be Level 5 green equipment. Even if all four pieces of green equipment added HP, what would your normal HP reach? Two or three thousand?" He paused.

"Would you mind revealing your actual HP right now?"

Lin Yan did not answer; he raised his right hand and tapped in mid-air.

The public access permission for his Awakened personal panel was triggered, and a translucent light screen unfolded silently. Most of the data on the panel was hidden, leaving only one line of text.

[HP: 30535]

The data pad in Song Min's hand slipped, almost falling from her grasp.

"Thirty... thirty thousand?" Her voice sounded strange, "Did you hide some other attributes? This is only Level 10, and with just a few pieces of Level 4 green equipment, a normal Class C Talent at Level 10 would have, at most, a little over 3,000 HP."

"Even an A-Rank defensive talent that purely stacks Constitution with full gear wouldn't exceed 10,000 HP at Level 10. You've only participated in a Dungeon for the first time; this value is absurd!"

He Ping took two steps from the windowsill and leaned in closer, as if looking at a weapon prototype he was seeing for the first time. What did thirty thousand HP mean? It meant that even if an Awakened of the same level stood still and let an opponent attack, they could exhaust the opponent to the point of collapse. The BOSS in a 1-star Dungeon only had ten or twenty thousand HP; this kid was tankier than a BOSS.

"I understand," He Ping shifted his gaze away from the light screen. His tone was no longer as formulaic as before, carrying a bit more genuine gravity, "Whatever the name of your talent is, the actual effect is right before us. The system rated you as F, but your actual combat panel is S. Very well, I will write the report truthfully, but honestly, I've been writing reports for over a decade, and this is the first time I don't know how to start."

"Just write 'Random Talent'," Lin Yan closed the panel.

"Random Talent," He Ping nodded as well, "Alright, that's how I'll write it."

Then, he and Song Min left the room. Before the door closed, Song Min looked back at Lin Yan. Her expression was like she was looking at a living lab report, her curiosity almost overflowing, but in the end, she did not ask any more questions.

Lin Yan followed them out of the office and raised his wrist to activate his information bracelet. Three Federal notifications unfolded one after another on the floating light screen—

Notification 1: Dormitory Reassignment. Relocated from the original Ninth Public Awakening Middle School standard single dormitory to the Seventh Safe Zone Awakened Apartment, Area C, Building B, Room 9-12, a single apartment including a private bathroom, a small training room, and a private storage room.

Notification 2: Star Coin Disbursement. The S-Rank rating first-awakening reward of 500,000 Star Coins has been credited, with a subsequent fixed monthly subsidy of 50,000 Star Coins for 11 consecutive months.

Notification 3: Class Assignment. Core Class (Number AR-01), reporting time is the fifth day of this month, location is the 3rd Floor, Area A of the Awakened Training Center. The remarks column notes that the Core Class is directly cultivated by the 7th District Federal Government, selecting outstanding Awakened from all public middle schools in the 7th District for training. It adopts a dynamic elimination system, with class assignments re-evaluated monthly based on comprehensive Dungeon performance; students can be promoted or eliminated and returned to their original school.