Taking a look at all of these, Sin immediately knew that he wasn't going to choose the cutlass. Although it looked promising, it wasn't Sin's style.
He had no clue how to hold a weapon, and if anything, it would probably just weaken him in a real fight. He was a hands-on fighter. He didn't like weapons to contort his strength. He wanted to feel his power affect his enemies. It felt comfortable.
Looking at the other two, the choice was quite difficult. Overall, Caldera's Ring was much more promising.
Sin had a Spirit with an A Grade Spirit Energy Affinity. Healing Bug was going to become very strong in the future, and a 15% boost in that would be drastically better.
When it came to the Draco Gauntlet, there was only an 8% boost in strength as opposed to the 15% in Spirit with Caldera's Ring. Sure, that also came with another 5% boost to durability, but even with that, it was only a total 13% boost of overall stats--still lacking in comparison to Caldera's Ring.
And of course, the reptile boost wasn't going to do anything for him, since he didn't have a reptile Spirit...
If he were to use Caldera's Ring right now, he would also balance out his power better. Right now, he was a strength-main, you could say. His physical power allowed him to dominate.
If he used Caldera's Ring, he could be both a Spirit user and a Strength user, and be overall much more well-rounded as a fighter.
However... there was another route. Sure, being a well-rounded fighter was great and all, but well-rounded was also just another word for average in Sin's mind.
Instead of that, the thought of being overwhelmingly powerful in one certain aspect was much more enticing to him. He knew his strength was already greater than most, and with an 8% boost to that, it could become almost unbearable to most.
Why choose to be good overall when you could be a monster in a certain aspect? Increasing the stats of something that was already far superior to average was going to make him unbeatable in that aspect in many ways.
On top of that, it wasn't like he was going to stall in power or anything like that. He had a system that allowed him to gain power, it seemed. He didn't know much about it, and he didn't allow himself the time to figure it out either since he got distracted by the Hunter Exam.
However, what he did know was that he could level up and put points into his Spirit stat and other stats.
Sin didn't know how long it would take Healing Bug to reach its final A Grade Spirit Energy Affinity. It could take months, or even years. Being only 15% better in the Spirit aspect for that many years of being was just not worth it in his eyes.
After not much more thinking, Sin chose his item, "I'll take the Draco Gauntlet..."
A slight murmur of acknowledgment and understanding rippled through the crowd:
"I see... so he chose the melee item."
"I would have easily chosen the cutlass."
"Out of the B Grade items, that was the worst one in my opinion..."
"The cutlass was far superior... poor guy didn't know what was better."
People seemed to doubt Sin's choice, but that didn't affect him whatsoever. After all, all those that were speaking behind his back right now were the ones that lost--those who were inferior to him.
They could talk all they wanted, but they weren't in Sin's situation, so their words didn't mean squat.
Bao frowned slightly as he heard Sin's choice, "I see... good choice. You may proceed back."
Sin nodded, hopping back down from the platform. After this, the examinees who passed all returned to the Hunter Guild through the same way they had entered.
Everyone else, however, was forced to follow Bao Huxin. It seemed they had more lessons to be taught.
Sin arrived at the Hunter Guild and didn't hesitate on getting his official Hunter ID. He couldn't help but smile the entire time as he did it--going up to the desk and requesting his card.
Coincidentally, the same worker as before addressed him:
"Sir Dalroth! Good to see you again. Since you are back here in the guild, you passed the exam, I presume?"
"Yes, I did. Give me my ID... I want to see what Rank they assigned me."
"Of course!" The guild representative began to search a database in a crystal screen below him. In the meantime, he chatted: "So... what Rank do you think you got?"
"I hope it's something high so that it doesn't take me too long to get to S Rank. But if it's not, then that's okay as well. As long as I have a Rank, even an F Rank, I will eventually climb to S and leave this Sanctuary." Sin was kind of speaking his thoughts out loud here, not giving much mind to what the receptionist would think.
The worker helping him, however, was stunlocked.
'What did he just say?' The worker finally blinked, furrowing his brows, "You... will get to S Rank? I see... good luck to you then." He said out loud.
Inwardly, however, he had different thoughts, 'Is this guy insane? He may have a good affinity, but Hunter Ranks are something different entirely. Even someone with an S Grade Spirit Energy Affinity could be an F Rank Hunter. And the highest Rank you can start off with from the exams is a B anyway... does he really think anyone in this world can climb from a B Rank all the way to S? I've never even heard of something so preposterous.'
Sin's Rank seemed to pop up on the screen at that moment, "Here it is." The worker announced.
Sin's excitement doubled as he leaned forward, his eyes wide and his pupils dancing with anticipation: "What is it?"
"Your official Hunter Rank is..."