It wasn’t completely out of their imagination, but it was unexpected. Was Liber a world that had already been saved once before?
“…It’s not really anything strange. History usually repeats itself,” Noel said in a low voice. Although she quickly schooled her expression again, she couldn’t hide the worry in her voice.
“It’s true. I suppose it would be even rarer for peace to last forever after a world was saved once,” Zelit agreed. Crises were like natural disasters; they periodically occurred on any planet. Yes, it certainly wasn’t strange that a hero growth system was already established in this world, yet Zelit had been unable to hide his worry for a moment because of Liber’s current situation—it was noticeably much more of a giant heap of a mess compared to any other worlds—as the fact that so many heroes had ended their days in this place showed.
Usually, heroes didn’t die. They entered Worlds with many special privileges under their belt and miraculous coincidences occurred everywhere they went. It would be no exaggeration to say that Worlds revolved around heroes. Yet on Liber, the ‘World’ which would make this possible had disappeared.
Zelit fell into deep contemplation. He imagined the worst possible scenario. What if the reason why Liber became like this was connected to the salvation it had gone through in some way? For instance, what if the enemy they had defeated last time learned of the Celestial Realm’s existence and returned after assessing the cause of their failure? And that was why they had blown away the World existing on Liber planet from the get-go this time? Zelit felt chills running down his back. There was a saying that if one knew their enemy and themselves, they would not lose a battle even if they fought a hundred times. There was no enemy more fearful than one who knew their opponents well.
“Do you perhaps have anything else to share with us? Such as when the system was set in place…?”
—I can’t say. I simply brought traces of records. Records had turned into a mess with the disappearance of the World, so it’s difficult to know the exact details.
The response was disappointing. Zelit hung his head.
“It’s meaningless to worry about that now,” Noel said. Although she empathized with how Zelit felt, she forcefully strengthened her voice. “We have to do what we can do now.”
“…Yes.” Zelit agreed. He decided to disregard his worries for now and asked, “If it’s all right, could you tell us how the growth system works?” Zelit’s request was justified. There was no way a system for one person was like the one that catered to multiple people.
“Even a brief overview is fine. If there’s a concept of rank or level, could you explain those first, please?” Zelit asked politely since he was addressing a god.
—That won’t be difficult.
And as if Shahnaz was pleased by the way Zelit addressed her, she quickly started to explain.
—The basic growth system metric is ‘Tier’, which is divided into a total of nine tiers. First of all, the lowest tier is Iron, then, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, and finally the highest tier, Challenger.
Shahnaz finished explaining.
“What?’ Chi-Woo doubted his own ears. He didn’t realize it before, but now that he was hearing these names again, it reminded him of a game he was familiar with.
“How interesting,” Noel nodded and said. “There are many tiers in the system for each person.”
“The Celestial Realm measures danger levels, stats, and abilities in ranks and subranks. This growth system is sort of doing the opposite.”
“By the way, what is the reason ‘Challenger’ is above ‘Grandmaster’? It doesn’t seem fitting to be the highest tier.”
“It depends on how one interprets it. Grandmaster is the highest tier that a mortal can reach. But even a Grandmaster can’t surpass the limits of a human.”
“Thus, a Challenger is one who challenges the destiny fated for mortals. It doesn’t sound so bad if you think about it like that.”
And as Chi-Woo watched Noel and Zelit dive deep into this topic, he shook his head. ‘No,’ he thought, ‘There’s no need for them to attach such philosophical meanings to these tiers.’ But regardless, there was one thing he could be sure of. Chi-Woo didn’t know what kind of bastard set up this system, but they were 100% from Earth. And they must have played a particular famous game that Chi-Woo knew very well.
“The tiers are more divided than I thought, but…will it fit everyone in?”
“It will be difficult. There are thousands of us, and we will only keep increasing.”
“Then, how…?”
It was then, Chi-Woo raised his hand and announced, “I have a suggestion to make about this point.”
* * *
Several days later, all the heroes got an alarm on their devices saying that their user information had been updated. First of all, the concept of denominations and tiers was introduced. To use the tier system, one needed to make a contract with a god and fill up the denomination space. Chi-Woo didn’t have to worry about this part since he had already made a contract with La Bella.
And to summarize the tier system, there were nine basic tiers. The four lowest tiers, namely Iron to Platinum, were divided into four ranks with four being the lowest. For example, the highest rank in the Iron tier was Iron I, while the lowest was Iron IV. And starting from the Master tier, tiers weren’t divided into ranks, but a restriction was placed on the number of people allowed in each rank. Thus, there were 27 possible tier-ranks that one could fall into.
Continuing, a hero could go up in ranks by completing missions or accumulating merits; this also meant that the merits they accumulated could decrease in the case they failed. But this was all based on the judgment of the god in their denomination. And once a hero reached the highest rank in their tier and fulfilled specific conditions, they gained the right to take a test to go up a tier. If they passed this test, they would enter a higher tier and could possibly gain a higher class. And as a reward, their physical ability would improve, and a new class ability would be granted. However, in the case they failed the test, they would receive penalties. Of course, since the one overseeing a hero’s growth would be the god in their denomination, little details could be different for each person, but the basic framework was the same for everyone.
Chi-Woo had no difficulty understanding all this because he was the one who proposed this last part of the system. He had received good responses from both Noel and Zelit on this idea, and many thought it was reasonable. They especially liked the part where gods would have to hold meetings to restrict the member count in tiers starting from Master tier. And like that, Chi-Woo’s updated user information appeared like this:
<User Information>
1. Name & Rank: Choi Chi-Woo (EX)
2. Sex & Age: Male & 23
3. Height & Weight: 180.5 & 73.5kg
4. Denomination: ‘The Goddess of Scales’ and ‘Guardian of Balance’, La Bella
5. Tier: Iron IV
6. Class: Exorcist
7. Heavenly Title: Three Lines
8. Disposition: Neutral
<Physical Attributes>
[Strength D]
[Durability D]
[Agility D]
[Stamina D]
[Mental Fortitude C]
[Exorcism E]
<Basic Ability (2)>
<Class Ability (0)>
<Innate Ability (10)>
<Special Ability (3)>
As soon as the update was implemented, the whole city fell into a commotion; in particular, the Shahnaz temple became extremely crowded.
“Senior! I got promoted!” Ru Hiana, who had used all the merits she had gained so far and received her rank, approached Chi-Woo and bragged.
“Already?”
“Yep. I got some negative points for failing the Evelaya volcano mission, but after taking into account that I participated in taking control of the capital, the system said that I passed the promotion test.”
“Oh. Is that so?” This also meant that the system considered holistically all the work that a hero had done so far. It was good news.
“Yeah, and this isn’t the only thing. The system also promoted me to a higher tier.”
“So what is your tier?”
“Fufu, don’t be too surprised—it’s Bronze II!” Ru Hiana made a V sign and laughed. She made a fuss saying that she’d soon reach Silver tier. “Growth system really rocks for sure. Thanks to that, I can raise my rank and also gain class ability.” Ru Hiana pulled out a long sword. The sword soon rang and let out an ominous aura.
“I’m jealous.” Zelit, who had been watching quietly, pushed his glasses up. “I haven’t made a contract yet. I hope that I can make a contract with a god that matches me as fast as possible.”
“Hmm? Goddess Shanaz is also the god of wind. You said you’re a mage. Can’t you use wind magic?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not my area of expertise.”
While Ru Hiana and Zelit talked, Chi-woo shifted his gaze to one person. Ru Amuh was staring at the air; he seemed to be looking at his user information. He responded with an awkward smile when he felt Chi-Woo’s gaze.
“What about you, Mr. Ru Amuh? What tier did you receive?”
“Sir, it’s Silver IV.”
Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. Ru Amuh already received silver?
“Ruahu also got deducted points for the same reason as me, but considering that he battled in the forest and participated in taking control of the capital and made a special achievement, the system counted him as completing three successful promotion missions…sir.” Ru Hiana, who had been energetically talking in informal speech changed to honorifics at the end. It was because Ru Amuh had glared at her to speak politely to their teacher.
“Wait a moment. There are not two, but three promotion missions?”
“Yep~ Ah, my bad. I’ll speak formally. Senior, you didn’t know? Goddess Shahnaz said that to get from Iron to Bronze, you need to complete one promotion test, but to get from Bronze to Silver, you need to successfully complete two out of three promotion tests.” And to get from Silver to Gold, one needed to successfully complete three out of five tests.
Chi-Woo nodded as he listened to Ru Hiana’s explanation. The overall authority of the growth system lied with the god of each denomination. Chi-Woo didn’t know much about other gods, but he could understand what Shahnaz’s criteria for passing were.
Ru Hiana was in a very good mood as she eagerly asked, “By the way, what about you, senior? What’s your tier? You also made a contract with a god.”
“Iron IV.”
“Oh~ Iron IV~ As expected of senior~ Wait, what?” Ru Hiana let out a gasp and blinked several times; she seemed to be wondering if she had misheard him. Zelit tapped her side with his elbow, and it was only then that Ru Hiana came back to focus. The tier system used merit that a hero collected so far to assign tiers. However, Chi-Woo had used up all his merit to fully activate the system.
The growth system functioned in a similar way to a bank. To run a bank, there needed to be initial capital to maintain it for the time being. Since he had paid all of that capital by himself, he was bound to have severe expenditure.
“But…Senior, don’t you still have a little bit left? With just that amount, you can…”
“There was a bit left, but I gave it all to Goddess Shahnaz.”
“What, why?”
“The number of recruits increased after the earlier recruits joined us. If there is a hero who wants to make a contract with Goddess Shahnaz, I told her that she can use the divinity I have left.”
Ru Hiana’s mouth gaped open. Then her expression turned solemn and embarrassed. Now that she thought about it, Chi-Woo had always been an impressive hero who cared about the good of everyone above himself. She hadn’t even realized this and just bragged to him in excitement. Ru Hiana murmured to herself and bit her lips. She had spoken carelessly and put a damper on the mood.
“B-but still, it’s really too much. You should have started out with at least platinum.” Ru Hiana made a soft laugh and tried desperately to change the topic. Chi-Woo shook his head. He knew that Ru Hiana had spoken out of goodwill, but he could never let this happen. And even if the system told him he could start out with platinum, he would refuse. There was no way he would give up on raising each tier and receiving the rewards with each promotion.
But most of all, Chi-Woo had no intention to immediately raise his physical ability even if he raised his tier. He wanted to save it as much as possible. His assistant, Mimi, had asked him if he still believed he was just human. In another way, she was telling him that the limit to how much he could raise his physical ability through training had increased to unimaginable lengths. So rather than jumping several levels at once, he wanted to raise his physical abilities and other abilities to their maximum by training and using the promotion rewards to upgrade them even further.
Just thinking about this made Chi-Woo happy, and he made a wide smile that showed his teeth. Patience was the key to success. “Push your tier as high as possible.” Chi-Woo continued with a grin. “I’ll overtake you soon. We’ll see then.”
“What? Uh? Yes?” Ru Hiana was taken aback by Chi-Woo’s declaration of war. She immediately thought she couldn’t beat him because as a great hero, Chi-Woo could overtake her in no time.
However, Ru Hiana accepted his words as him trying to console her, and she brightened up. “Ahhh~ Come on, don’t be like that~ Senior~.” She immediately sidled up to Chi-Woo and said, “I wasn’t trying to make fun of you, Senior~ It’s because I didn’t know~.”
Honestly, Chi-Woo didn’t have good memories of that game because his mentality was completely shaken up after failing 14 times in the promotion match from Bronze to Silver.
‘But it’s going to be different this time.’ Chi-Woo looked at Ru Hiana as she continued to fuss over him and secretly made a resolution. He had set a new goal for himself. Even though he was Bronze I on Earth, he was definitely going to reach Challenger on Liber.