The moment the main door opened and Rio entered, all the eyes fell on him, the cameras focused on him, and many reporters who were invited for broadcasting this event rushed over.
To prevent the situation from getting chaotic, several bodyguards lined up and stood on both of the sides of the red carpet lying in the middle.
Rio walked on the red carpet while being protected by the bodyguards from the crazily excited reporters and cameramen.
Even many S-rankers cast their eyes over to assess him and released their aura to do a basic probing gesture.
Rio wasn’t going to be outdone either; he released a slight bit of his sword intent and caused all people at rank S or below to feel an immense pressure.
The difference between an S-ranker who has mastered a legendary skill above 95 percent and an S-ranker who has no legendary skills is massive.
Even though Rio is just an early S-ranker right now who has just reached this realm not long ago, his strength is already beyond most peak S-rankers.
Not to mention the ordinary people, even the S-rankers present in the hall felt a chill run down their spine after sensing Rio’s sword intent easily suppress them.
Everyone present in the hall except for Raji Croft had the same thought at that moment: Rio Flash can, in fact, kill every single person present here all on his own even if they fought him together.
Reaching the S-rank has not only increased Rio’s stats, but it has also increased the base power of his sword intent by many times; now it’s more powerful and effective on a basic level.
After feeling his strength, Rio even heard some people whisper quietly,
"So, this is an SS-ranker in the making... The rumors are indeed true; he will be the next SS-ranker of the human empire..."
"Yup, those with the capability to reach the realm of demi-gods are fundamentally different than us ordinary folks..."
Rio didn’t mind people talking about him, and he retracted his sword intent right away.
He walked to the prepared stage in the center of the party hall, and Raji also walked over.
All the guests took a seat, and the reporters finally calmed down after feeling Rio’s overwhelming aura and quietly set up their cameras and got ready for the main event.
Rio and Raji walked on the stage and sat down on the chairs that were already prepared for them.
Seeing Rio in those amazing clothes and with a new hairstyle, Lia’s eyes were shining brightly, and she was taking more photos than the actual news reporters.
Raji nodded her head at Rio as a greeting and spoke in an amused tone,
"Truthfully speaking, I didn’t even remember a student like you even existed during the time you first got in the academy..."
"I only knew your name and some basic information, as I had only seen it during the admission procedures..."
Raji smiled and continued speaking.
"But you broke one record after another, and kept achieving one feat after another, which is really an amazing feat..."
"I heard that they only detected C-rank talent from you when they did the test, but after you proved yourself more talented, I also ran a background check and found out that your father was Kevin Flash..."
"I am quite sure that the talent-checking machine must have been defective; it missed a talented person like you... I would like to apologize on behalf of the awakener’s association for such a mistake..."
Raji even gave Rio a slight bow to show her sincerity.
Rio was surprised at her words, but then he figured out why she was taking this matter seriously.
In a world where talent, strength, and status govern your life, a small mistake in measuring them can cause tremendous harm to a person’s life.
If Rio was indeed a person with high-rank talent and was mistakenly assessed as having low talent, he would have suffered a lot and would have never received the support an S-rank-talent-possessing individual should receive.
This situation would have been bad for Rio and for the nation too, as losing even one person with the potential to become an SS-ranker is a massive loss for the entire nation.
The main reason why the government and the awakener’s association are so hell-bent on conducting nationwide talent tests is also because they don’t want to miss a single person with talent.
Talent is scarce and is important for a nation as big as the human empire.
Rio didn’t originally have such high talent, and his real talent was only C rank at most.
He himself considers that this happened because Rio’s mother was an ordinary person; moreover, Kevin left right after marriage, and Rio’s parents never had much love in their relationship either.
The ’law’ of ’love,’ ’care,’ and ’protection’ is one of the most powerful ’laws’ in this ’world’; neglecting it can result in a situation like Rio’s.
Due to the neglect of love between his parents, Rio’s talent was affected too. There were other reasons too, but these two were the main reasons.
"I don’t mind it; you don’t have to bow to me. In fact, the mistake only gave me more motivation to prove myself... so I am not really upset about anything."
Raji shook her head at Rio’s words, and said,
"No, the awakeners association must compensate you properly for their mistake... Tell me, what would you like to have as compensation?"
"The compensation for this mistake and the award for your achievements are different matters, so don’t feel burdened to accept them both..."
Raji even tilted her head and smiled before saying,
"In my personal opinion, you should accept and demand as much as you can; after all, you have already become an S-ranker; you will have to shoulder a lot of work soon..."
"It would be better to get lot of benefits, as I am quite sure you will have to work overtime a lot just like me and the others..."
Rio could only shake his head in helplessness after hearing those words.
He noticed Lia looking at him from the corner of his eyes and immediately decided what he wanted.
"Well, if you really want to give some compensation, I would life a house in a place with an extremely good scenery... something that’s a not too big and not too small, to be specific..."
Rio didn’t care about asking for money or any other resources, as he knew that he could just get such things on his own, as he’s already an S-ranker now.
Even in terms of weaponry or equipment, Rio knows the location of better equipment from a novel he read and doesn’t need to ask for equipment from the association.
"You really are unique... I was expecting something more precious; well, I guess I will just have to increase your main award later to balance things out then..."
Raji shook her head and then gave a signal to tell the reporters to start the broadcast, and she asked Link and the others to come to the stage too.
Rio is indeed the main star today, but Lia and others are also going to get the credit they deserve too.
After all, it’s a graduation ceremony for all of them.