Kiana: I'm a Little Jealous

In the end, the protagonist of the story Kiana and Himeko had been gossiping about behind her back happened to arrive just then.

Theresa heard every bit of their teasing. Under her furious iron fists, Himeko and Kiana each gained a huge "bump" on their heads. Clutching the smoking "bumps," they could only run away crying with two streams of noodle tears.

Xina watched the bizarre scene with a twitching eye, covering her face in speechless disbelief.

A school that trained Valkyries sheltered a Herrscher and was infiltrated by one. Before class, a teacher made students drink Water of Life. Students gossiped behind their aunt Principal's back about her reading comics during work hours, while the Principal herself slacked off on the job...

Considering all that, Xina could not help but wonder: Was this academy really beyond saving?

Just as Xina inwardly cried that this lousy academy was doomed sooner or later, Theresa, who had just given Himeko and Kiana their "bumps," suddenly turned around and solemnly handed Xina her assessment form. "Seriously, I'm having a hard time deciding your rating!"

"Hm?" Xina swallowed and asked doubtfully, "Was my performance not good enough? Am I going to be expelled?"

"Not at all..."

Hearing Xina speak so despairingly, Theresa hurriedly waved her hands. She thought, As a freshman with no foundation whatsoever, her performance was even better than that of most ordinary Valkyries who had received specialized training. If I expelled her, that would be utterly unreasonable.

"Then what is it?"

Hearing that she would not be expelled, Xina breathed a sigh of relief. She still planned to see whether there were any clues about other gems at St. Freya!

If she got expelled, where could she find somewhere easier than St. Freya to pry for information?

"It's because your unprecedented D-Rank Physical Fitness makes it hard for me to rate you so easily." Theresa spread out the form with a wry smile, revealing an exceptionally conspicuous D and D- amid a row of S's and A's.

"Although your assessment this time was to assist Himeko... you defeated more Honkai Beasts and Death Stalkers than Himeko did, including two Chariot-class and one Knight-class. Given that you achieved such results without using your full strength and without any training, it wouldn't be unreasonable to grant you A-Rank Valkyrie qualifications."

"That's all? It's fine. If A-Rank is hard to approve, just give me B-Rank!" Xina waved dismissively, seeming completely unconcerned about the A-Rank assessment countless Valkyries coveted.

In fact, if Theresa truly insisted on giving Xina an A-Rank Valkyrie assessment, Xina would be the one crying out loud.

While waiting for her flight at the North American airport, Xina had specifically chatted with Fu Hua about Valkyrie rank assessments.

Unlike B-Rank Valkyrie trainees and below, whose missions required Theresa's prior review and approval, A-Rank Valkyries like Fu Hua and Himeko had the authority to deploy alone, because the missions they faced were also harder to handle.

Most importantly, a B-Rank Valkyrie assessment only needed the Branch Director's final approval, while A-Rank Valkyries, as Destiny's mid-to-high-level combat force, had to be reported to Destiny Headquarters. Only after headquarters sent someone to inspect and assess them would it count.

Xina felt that the people sent by Destiny Headquarters would probably be smarter than Theresa, and she might not be able to fool them.

Besides, she did not want to expose herself too early before the Destiny Bishop Catherine had described as practically godlike.

"Then... all right! Once you raise your physical fitness to C-Rank, I'll help you apply to headquarters for A-Rank Valkyrie qualifications." Theresa lowered her head and thought for a while before finally nodding at Xina. "For now, your rating will be set at B+!"

Thus, with the approval of Far East Branch Director Theresa Apocalypse, Xina's initial Valkyrie rank assessment was B+, a rank reserved for A-Rank Valkyrie candidates.

Yes, you heard that right. On her first day as a Valkyrie, Xina was already a B+ Valkyrie preparing for A-Rank!

When Kiana learned this news at the dinner table while stuffing herself senseless, she felt that the world was being unbearably cruel to her. Even Mei's cooking no longer smelled appetizing.

"Auntie, you're not lying to me, right? Xina's rating is already half a rank higher than mine on her first day as a Valkyrie!" Kiana furiously bit into the huge pork knuckle in her hand, turning her grief and indignation into appetite as she looked at Theresa beside her. Her eyes seemed to say: Auntie, aren't you going to comfort your deeply devastated, appetite-less niece?!

"Hehe..." Theresa gave a dry laugh, trying to use Xina's accomplishments to spur Kiana onward. "If Xina hadn't lacked systematic training, I would have already sent headquarters a recommendation form for her to become an A-Rank Valkyrie! You still fall just a little short compared to her!"

Sure enough, under Theresa's provocation, the fired-up Kiana actually put down the huge pork knuckle in her hand. She shouted that she would work hard, strive forward, advance to A-Rank faster than Xina, and ultimately become Destiny's strongest S-Rank Valkyrie.

In response, Xina merely smiled faintly and silently used the serving chopsticks to put a piece of chicken leg into Kiana's mouth. "I'll be watching!"

There were no classes that afternoon. With nothing better to do, Kiana dragged out a stack of game discs and wanted to pull Xina and Bronya into playing games together.

At first, Xina had wanted to refuse, but... when she saw the game disc in Kiana's hand, she changed her mind.

A long time ago, she had washed dishes at a fast-food restaurant to earn enough money to buy herself a game disc. But after buying it, she had discovered in surprise that her home had neither a game controller nor a disc reader.

Later, she had no idea where that game disc had gone.

"Xina, come on, come on. I'll teach you. This is forward, this is backward, this is jump..." Kiana stuffed a controller into Xina's hands and enthusiastically taught her how to operate it.

"Like this?" Xina stiffly pressed the buttons on the controller, and the character on the screen began moving crookedly under her control.

"That's right, exactly! Let Game King Kiana lead you all the way to the end!" Kiana said confidently, patting her chest.

Five minutes later...

Bronya looked at Kiana, who had been easily toyed with by minor enemies and had needed Xina to save her five times in five minutes. A look of contempt appeared on her face. "Idiot Kiana is the best at boasting. She got killed by minor enemies five times on the first stage!"

"This round was an accident! Today, I just... just wasn't feeling it. Um... didn't the class monitor say it before? People lose their footing, horses make mistakes..." Kiana's little face reddened as she stubbornly tried to explain.

"Idiot Kiana really is a huge idiot. The class monitor clearly said, 'Horses lose their footing, people make mistakes'!" Bronya seized on Kiana's verbal slip and deadpanned the correction.

"A-Anyway, they're basically the same..."