The usual soft energy waves passed through, 'Guess I'm not S-rank.'
Suddenly, a blue box appeared in front of him. It was the system that every awakened person had access to.
_________________
Name Cassian Locke
Level 1
Experience 0/1259
Grade F
Class Swordsman
Health 35.5/35.5
Mana 26.5/26.5
Stats
Strength 6.5
Agility 5.2
Stamina 7.1
Intelligence 5.3
Free Stat points: 0
Attributes
Defense 1
Penetration 0
Critical Rate 1%
Critical Bonus 50%
Skills
Sword Slash - Level 1
Skill points: 0
_________________
He immediately checked his class,
Swordsman
A warm feeling filled his body; this was the very class he wanted. Words formed in the back of his head, fuzzy memories, 'A man who doesn't know how to swing a sword correctly isn't a man at all.' A nonsensical quote from one of the people most important to him, and now he shared a class with that man.
'What rank am I?' It was an afterthought of his class; he knew that whatever rank he had was secondary, as long as he had the swordsman class, he would definitely be able to succeed.
F-rank
He paused, blinked his eyes, and looked at it again.
The letters did not change; he was F-rank. He would have been able to rise easily with the swordsman class with any rank, besides F-rank.
He immediately checked the rest of his status and compared it to his knowledge; everything else was standard, but he had worse things to worry about.
Cassian turned away from the stone and got the reactions of the people watching him. Before they were filled with a cheerful aura from the awakenings. However, now every eye seemed to be looking down on him.
Dragon, who had once looked at him as a rival, now held an expressionless face. The principal, who had high expectations for him, now scowled at him.
Whispers poorly concealed leaked into his ears.
"F-rank, what an uppity bastard, he always acted like he was all that."
"And the swordsman class has the least survivability; it is the worst class for an F-rank."
"I guess I am now better than that so-called genius."
Cassian walked off the stage; he knew when to give up. F-rank was considered even worse than a non-combat class.
Where he walked, people backed away, but it was no longer in awe, but because of disgust.
Even his close friends from his class ignored him.
"Greg, it's almost your turn. Are you nervous yet?"
His voice was filled with anxious laughter, trying to cover up the hole in his heart.
Greg, however, ignored him and walked away.
Cassian did not try to do anything after that; instead, he stayed till the end of the ceremony.
"Now that everybody has awakened, we will rearrange your classes following the prior plan. Otherwise, you have three days to figure out your powers on your own."
"Good luck, and congratulations."
Cassian immediately left after the ceremony. He went to the school's treasury, every combat awakened student had the privilege of receiving basic gear from the school once they awakened.
Since he did not linger behind like the other excited students, he was the first in line.
"Cassian, you awakened as a combat class. Congratulations."
Sherry, an attendant, spoke kindly; he was one of the many people he created friendly relationships.
"Let's see your rank and class. I know you want to immediately start the grind, so I will make it fast."
She pulled out her tablet and typed his name. He could see her face change in real time.
"You know how to fill out the gear selection sheet." She tossed a clipboard at him and immediately turned her back on him.
He quickly chose the best equipment for the swordsman class and handed the clipboard back.
She wordlessly grabbed the equipment and threw it at him.
He caught it and left.
The walk home was more pleasant; nobody looked at him weirdly, and he knew he was the only one from his school there.
Everybody else who awakened a combat class would stay behind for actual instruction by the teachers. Other non-combat classes would be celebrating with their families or something similar.
He made it back to his house and immediately went to his yard. It was an open area with dirt ground and a large metal dummy right in the middle. It was where he practiced swordsmanship every day without fail.
He checked his status again and sighed.
Just to ignore some of his thoughts, he looked at his equipment. They would provide him with some bonuses at the start; however, the equipment the school would give to an F-rank must be quite bad.
[Longsword - Common - Strength+1]
[Boots - Common - Agility+1]
[Bracers - Common - Defense+1]
It was the least bonuses that equipment could have. He wanted to cast them out, but he needed every bit he could.
One of the lesser reasons that F-rank is so useless is that they do not start with any free stat points. Cassian had higher stats than average because of years of training, but other awakened got to make up that gap just by awakening.
Another reason F-ranks are considered useless is because of skills; they did not start with skill points, like C-rank and above do, but more importantly, rank affects skill acquisition.
Basically, the higher rank you are, the easier it is to acquire new skills, and the awakened skills gained through leveling have a higher chance of being more powerful.
Cassian checked his skill's, sword slash's, description.
[Sword Slash - Level 1
Active Skill
Mana Cost: 5
Restrictions: Sword
Effect: Increases one attack's slashing power by 10%.]
It was a pretty good skill for starting off. Sword Thrust, a similar skill, gave penetration, which reduced defense. However, lower-level monsters don't have high defenses, which makes it pretty useless early on, but essential for mid-levels.
The swordsman class gained power by stacking skills. This made F-rank incompatible with the class. It would be much more difficult to gather a variety of skills to use as an F-rank.
Skills cost mana to activate, which is based on intelligence, and most skills only enhance your stats.
This leads to the main reason F-ranks are considered irredeemable as combat classes is that they only get one stat point per level.
It meant even an E-rank at level five would gain the same stats he did at level fifteen.