Power Rankings

20 minutes before...

"You talked about the Grade of the Health Capsule you gave me right? I want to know more about that. What are the different Grades?" Tyr asked, curious about this as it was a foreign concept to him.

Still, he wanted to get more powerful, and knowledge was power. Especially when it came to seemingly important things like this.

'I wanna get strong to unlock more of those memories and live a decent life... but also just for the hell of it. I'm in a world with a fantastical, magical Aura element. After all those years living a boring, shit hole of life, why the hell shouldn't I try to get as powerful as possible?'

It might have been a man's natural instinct to conquer and prevail, or maybe something else. Tyr didn't have a clue, but he didn't care either. Getting stronger was just satisfying!

"Grades huh? Well, just know that everything has a letter grade. Every item, at least. Weapons, armor, health items, etc. It goes from F, being the most basic and run-of-the-mill thing, to D, C, B, A, A+, and S--around these parts. Of course, there's also the SS and even the SSS+ Grades, but you only see those in the inner city and in the greater empires. Our Seris Dynasty isn't so prosperous compared to those like the Zasea Kingdom and Rock Saelfine Empire."

"I see... is A the only one with an A+ Grade in front of it?"

"Yep. That's just how it goes. At least on this continent. Subworld is big... way too big to say anything for sure. Still, you shouldn't underestimate the difference between A and A+. It's the same as the other grades."

"Hmm... I've also heard about Beast Rankings before. Do they work in the same way?"

"They sure do. Except, they got fancier names is all. And, they correlate to the beast's threat level too. Beast Rankings and Human Rankings are different for this reason. Anyways, from the weakest to the strongest, the beast one goes like this: Basic, Pure, Wild, Apex. These four are the beginner options, let's just say. After them come the big boys. These are not only on a whole separate level of power, but they increase in terms of growth after each Rank as well. Sentinel, Warden, Berserk, Vanguard, and finally... Titan. But, then again, you probably won't have to worry about most of those, since whatever city you're in when you come across them will most likely get demolished and so will you along with it. Who cares what Rank they are when you aren't even alive, pahaha!"

Hanzo was so nonchalant about it, but Tyr was a bit scared hearing all this horrifying shit.

'Strong enough to demolish a city!? Damn... those beings are probably in the thousands of Power Levels if I were to Scan their status'... I haven't even turned into a sapling from a bud in comparison to them, who are already large oaks!'

"You said that only the Beast Rankings stand for a beast's threat level right? What about Human Rankings? If they exist, what are they, and what do they signify? Strength?" Tyr asked, more and more questions appearing in his head as they continued.

"Not exactly... Human Rankings aren't based purely on strength though, but rather on growth. Human rankings are a bit different from the beast ones. They also correlate perfectly to the Hunter Ranks--which are the C, B, and A shit I told you about a second ago."

'I see... so Hunter Ranks are just like Item Ranks. I should remember to differentiate Hunter Ranks from normal Human Ranks.'

"From weakest to strongest, they go like this: Initiate, Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Virtuoso, Grandmaster, Sage, Paragon. Each one signifies growth from one stage in adapting and strengthening your Ancestral Ability to another..." Hanzo seemed tired at this point, almost wanting to yawn.

"Ancestral Ability?" Tyr quipped, intrigued by this new word.

"Oh God..." Hanzo exclaimed, 'I shouldn't have even mentioned that to him.'

"What's that?"

"You will learn on your own."

"No! I want to know right now! Give me a heads up."

"Nah..."

"Come on! It sounds important."

"That's cuz' it is."

"Then tell me!"

"Tsk! Fine! But I won't go into much detail. It's complicated, to say the least. Pretty much... 40% of those in the Subworld receive a random ability conceived from a chosen time through all of their ancestries when they unlock their Aura Core. It's different for everyone, not just the Ancestral Ability, but also their Aura Core. You can grow stronger in this ability by strengthening said Aura Core... but that takes a lot of resources and time. You will figure it out on your own in the future."

Tyr was pleasantly surprised by all of this, "I see... what's your Ancestral Ability?"

"Elite Bowmanship paired with Mother Gaia's Touch. Or in other words, I can shoot good and my chances of healing another person are increased by over 500%..."

Tyr was blown away by this, "That's powerful! And you can have two of these at the same time? That's a bit too strong, isn't it? I wonder what my Ancestral Ability would be."

"I'm surprised you don't already have it. Usually, the lucky 40% unlock their Aura Core at 5 years of age, at which point they also receive their Ancestral Ability. You can't harness Aura and use it to actually wield your Ancestral Ability without an Aura Core since the Aura has nowhere to pass through in your body. So, an Aura Core is needed. I mean, you can still control it temporarily to do some household chores or whatever... but that isn't nearly as effective or strong as actually absorbing it."

Hanzo turned, noticing Tyr's excited dome. He sighed, "Look... there's a lot you will need to figure out. For now, just try to not get killed inside the city."

Hanzo looked forward. Tyr did the same, noticing large stone pillars in the distance.

He was so distracted in the conversation that he hadn't even seen the city walls approach.

They weren't exactly walls though. Stone pillars reaching over 100 feet in height were placed about 50 feet away from each other. In between them was an invisible glass-like barrier that you could see through.

Looking up above the city, right below the clouds, there was a giant transparent green diamond-looking thing rotating in the air.

"The sign of civilization. We've arrived." Hanzo smiled