“You know, senior.” Ru Hiana paused mid-march and tilted her head to stare at Chi-Woo, who had been following them from behind. “Did something happen?”
Chi-Woo seemed to be deep in thoughts. He walked with a serious expression and sometimes stopped suddenly to let out a small cry. Then, he would stare at midair and nod. One would liken him to Rodin’s The Thinker, while Ru Hiana saw Chi-Woo as a great sage pondering about the future.
“He’s acting strangely. I was worried that he would go crazy like the cursed ones,” she muttered aloud. She had been deeply troubled before, but now she was relieved. After all, she hadn’t been able to understand Chi-Woo’s behavior—how utterly shocked he had been after the recent incident; it would’ve been understandable if newbies like her and Ru Amuh had responded in this manner, but Chi-Woo was supposed to be an experienced hero who was used to things like mass sacrifice.
‘Is this perhaps his first time?’ If this was his first mission, his reaction would be understandable; she remembered reacting in a similar way in the same situation. However, Ru Hiana dismissed the possibility immediately. Not only was Chi-Woo able to make decisions calmly and coolly, he knew when to push forward more aggressively. There was no way such a skilled leader like Chi-Woo would be a newbie. Anyone would have mocked her for having such thoughts. After thinking deeply about this matter, she reached her own conclusions.
‘He must have kept people’s sacrifices close to his heart despite all the things he had been through. As expected of him. Or maybe, this could be senior’s first failure. Of course, I don’t think he failed at all, but perhaps he believes he could’ve done better and isn’t satisfied with how things ended up unfolding. Ah, ah! No wonder he is lamenting so much.’ Her image of Chi-Woo soon transformed into one of an exceedingly rare, genius hero who was despairing after tasting failure for the first time. Chi-Woo would have shaken his head vigorously if he heard her thoughts, but Ru Hiana already had a fixed image of him inside her head, and her mind wandered wherever she pleased.
In truth, it didn’t really matter what the reason for Chi-Woo’s response was. To Ru Hiana and many others, Chi-Woo was irreplaceable. If he suddenly disappeared, many would be in fright looking for him. She was simply curious about the reason for Chi-Woo’s sudden change in attitude. She looked up and narrowed her eyes. Ru Amuh was smiling. Now that she thought about it, Ru Amuh was also acting strangely. He had been running around the place busily with an urgent look on his face, but for some reason, he seemed at ease today.
She poked at Ru Amuh’s sides and asked, “Something’s happened, right?”
“What?”
“Something’s happened between you two, right? Tell me now.”
“What are you talking about?” Ru Amuh responded with a small smile.
“Ah, seriously!” Ru Hiana glared at Ru Amuh intently like he couldn’t have been more annoying.
On the other hand, Chi-Woo was still deep in thought.
‘Well, what about the stars next to the names?’
1. Name & Rank: Ru Amuh (★☆☆☆ )
‘What do these stars mean?’ Chi-Woo thought as he looked at Ru Amuh’s rank.
[It shows the brightness of the star. Not all heroes are the same.]
Mimi spoke clearly, but as if she herself knew that this explanation wasn’t satisfactory, she continued.
[Some heroes struggle to save one planet, while others work at a galaxy level.]
Chi-Woo recalled Laguel’s explanation about the scales of an event— Planet, Stellar System, Star Cluster, Galaxy, Galaxy Cluster — and nodded.
[Of course, you might wonder how one can rank the great deed of saving Worlds, but realistically, we must keep in mind the differences between individuals’ skill levels. Thus, we have to consider how impressive a hero’s potential is and how many Worlds their dazzling light can shine upon.]
In other words, the stars ranked how far the hero could progress — their hidden potential. Hearing that, Chi-Woo scratched his head. ‘Their potential, huh?...Then, I suppose the more stars one has, the better they are?’
[That’s usually the case.]
‘Are you saying that there are cases when it is not?’
[There are always exceptions. The number of stars that a hero has is one of the first factors to consider, but their progression rate matters as well.]
‘Progression rate?’
[See the black stars and white stars?]
☆ The white stars show how much potential a hero has and how much he can grow.
★ The black stars show the current stage the hero is at and the potential they have already awakened.
Thus, in Ru Amuh’s case, he could grow up to 4 stages, and currently, he had awakened his first one.
[Furthermore, even if two heroes have the same number of stars, you have to consider the difference in the amount of experience necessary for them to progress to the next stage.]
To illustrate the point, imagine two four-star heroes going through the same experience. Only one ended up progressing to the next stage, while the other remained at their starting stage. The hero who had not entered the next stage actually had more room for growth.
‘In other words, you’re telling me that I shouldn’t celebrate just because a hero has many stars.’
[Yes. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that you should consider a hero’s number of stars first and foremost. Truthfully, if a hero has 4 stars, things like that won’t really matter.]
‘Is that so? Is 4 stars that impressive?&rsquoHe recalled how he had grumbled about rank B being low for basic swordsmanship. Mimi soon proved him right. A 1-star hero was the most common of all heroes. Once in a while, a useful one came out of this group, but it was very rare. 2-stars heroes were uncommon, but they were still nothing out of the ordinary; nevertheless, they were quite useful. Heroes with more than 3 stars were rare, and the chance of finding one was like expecting beans to grow in a drought. One would be fortunate to encounter a couple in their lifetime, and such heroes almost always became the main force of a group wherever they went. If that was the case for a 3-stars hero, one could only imagine how strong a 4-stars or 5-stars hero would be. The number of 4-star heroes among all existing heroes could be counted on one hand. As for 5-star heroes…
[It will be easier to find two black specks of a chick’s eye on a sandy beach as wide as an ocean.]
It was then Chi-Woo realized how lucky he had been. After all, a 4-star hero had come to him of his own volition even though there were only a handful of them in the Celestial Realm. Chi-Woo now had a better perspective. Since 4 or 5-stars heroes were basically nonexistent, he had to change the way he thought about heroes below 3 stars accordingly. Depending on their progression rate, a 1-star hero could be better than a 2-star or 3-star hero.
[That’s correct. Furthermore, a 1-star hero can become a 2-stars hero, and a 2-stars hero can become a 3-stars hero.]
‘That can happen?’
[Yes. They can go through a pivotal event, consume an elixir from the heavens, or transform their body to push beyond their limits somehow. It’s not uncommon for a hero to evolve to a higher rank.]
Chi-Woo scratched his head. He understood the ranking system well now
‘I wonder what my rank is?’ Chi-Woo opened up his user information to check..
<User Information>
1. Name & Rank: Choi Chi-Woo (EX)
2. Sex & Age: Male & 23
3. Height & Weight: 180.5 & 85.5kg
4. Class: -
5. Characteristics: Three Lines
6. Disposition: Neutral
<Physical Attributes>
[Strength F]
[Durability F]
[Agility F]
[Stamina F]
[Mental Fortitude D]
<Basic Ability (1)>
1. [Basic Blunt Attack F]—Martial arts fighting with a blunt weapon. User is at a beginner level; skill level equal to swinging a club only a couple of times.
<Class Ability (0)>
<Innate Ability (5)>
<Special Ability (1)>
Chi-Woo was severely disappointed as soon as he saw the ranks of his physical attributes. He had expected them to be bad, of course, but they were worse than he had imagined. He couldn’t believe that he had four Fs. And his mental fortitude, which he had high hopes for, turned out to be rank D—no, was D actually somewhat high? But to add insult to injury…
‘I don’t even have any divinity…!’
[Whether it’s qi, mana, or divinity, you haven’t awakened any of them yet.]
Mimi’s words didn’t make him feel any better. However, Chi-Woo at least felt consoled by looking at his other abilities besides his basic ones.
‘…Wait, isn’t it a bit much?’ As he read through his abilities, Chi-Woo became dumbfounded. All of his abilities were either ranked S or EX. He knew they were great based on their description, but he couldn’t get a sense of exactly how great they were.
‘What’s the order of the ranks?’
[F→E→D→C→B→B+→A→A+→A++→A+++→AA→AAA→S→EX]
Mimi kindly sent a message in chart form to make it easier for Chi-Woo to understand. Chi-Woo stared at the chart in a daze and realized something: From F to C, the ranks went up directly; Meanwhile, there were a lot of sub-ranks to go through before one could go from B to A, and even more so from A to S.
[Since physical abilities are restricted by the limits of an individual’s species, they can’t be measured with the same standard as other miscellaneous abilities, but they are the same in one aspect.]
[Rank A means that you are an expert. And an expert is still human.]
[If you surpass rank A, you’ve surpassed the limits of a human.]
[The process of reaching this stage is extremely difficult and exhausting, and even among the chosen ones, who are extremely few in number, only a handful of them are able to reach this rank. You can no longer consider these people human anymore.]
[Thus, a person at rank S is a superhuman. Only those who surpassed human limits can reach this stage.]
Chi-Woo’s jaw dropped. He didn’t realize how amazing rank S was, and he had so many of them.
‘But I haven’t really surpassed human limits before…’
[It’s because they’re all abilities given to you rather than things you achieved by yourself.]
Mimi calmly roasted Chi-Woo.
‘That’s true, but…I guess it doesn’t matter too much right now. Given my current physical ability, any random monster will be able to instantly…’
Chi-Woo licked his lips and suddenly realized something strange. He had opened his user information in the beginning because he was curious about his rank. Although he got caught up looking at his abilities momentarily, he soon noticed that there wasn’t a star rank attached to his name, but merely the term ‘EX’. Since he was curious about this, Chi-Woo expected Mimi, who could read his thoughts, to take the initiative to explain it to him. However, no matter how long he waited, Mimi never spoke up.
‘Ms. Mimi?’
‘Ms. Assistant?’
‘Lady Mimi Sio Rg?’
Chi-Woo tilted his head and thought more carefully.
‘Hey, chatterbox.’
[What?]
‘Ah, here you are…!’
[What did you just call…]
‘Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you’re still around.’
Chi-Woo heard Mimi click her tongue and sigh in exasperation.
[…Extra.]
And soon after, Mimi calmed down and continued.
[Outside the standard. Special.]
Before Chi-Woo could say anything, she continued.
[I’ll ask a question in return. Have you ever played a gacha game before?]
Chi-Woo was taken aback by Mimi’s abrupt question. Still, he responded with a ‘yes’.
[It’s not difficult to rank a character that you pick from a gacha.]
[Even though there are other factors to consider when judging a character’s strength and usefulness, you can always make a rough estimation of their capabilities as long as they are available.]
[However, what rank do you give to a character that is not available and can’t be gained from a gacha?]
Chi-Woo couldn’t reply to this question.
* * *
Two days had passed since they changed their destination, and it was now nighttime. When they first departed, Chi-Woo had felt like dying; his talk with Eshnunna made it a little easier for him to breathe. However, it didn’t take long for Chi-Woo to feel like dying again; he was just so hungry and thirsty. With a clearer mind, he was able to focus on the reality again, which had the unfortunate effect of making him see how miserable their situation was. Neither recruits nor natives were given food anymore. They were given water, but just enough to keep people alive. If things went on, Chi-Woo would have to start eating mud.
‘I’m hungry…’
Like the past few days, Chi-Woo clutched his rumbling stomach and stopped himself from reaching towards his bag. He wanted to eat the snacks, but if he ate them, he’d get thirsty. He wanted to drink as much water as he wanted first.
‘Is there a lake somewhere…? Why won’t rain come down…’
Things were still manageable at the moment, but if nothing was changed for another one or two days, it would be difficult for everyone to endure. Chi-Woo forced himself to at least get some sleep, but someone shook him awake. It was Ru Hiana.
She put a finger to her lips and waved for him to follow her. Did she have some secret stash of water she wanted to share with him? Chi-Woo followed her with hopeful expectations, but he soon realized he was completely wrong. Several heroes, including Zelit, were gathered around a bonfire. Standing still, Chi-Woo saw Ru Amuh and Eshnunna as well, and Allen Leonard from the sixth recruit.
“You’ve arrived,” Zelit looked up at Chi-Woo and said. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, well.”
“Good. Let’s begin right away.”
Chi-Woo stared at Zelit’s emaciated face as he found a suitable place to sit.
“We ran out of food.” Zelit immediately brought up the main subject. “And drinking water.”
In this dark night, a heavy silence fell between them. This was what they had all expected, but hearing it spelled out felt like a death sentence.
“It couldn’t be helped. I discussed rationing with Eshnunna, and we tried to save as much as possible, but we reached our limit today.”
Bemused, Allen Leonard asked, “How long will it take for us to reach our new destination from here?”
Eshnunna replied, “If we can maintain our current speed, it’ll take us three days.”
“Three days, hmm three days…” Allen Leonard smacked his lips and made a realistic estimation. “It’s difficult to say for sure, but we should be prepared to lose some people.”
“No.” However, Zelit spoke up again. “This is not the only problem.”
Chi-Woo furrowed his brows. Running out of food and drinking water was already a bombshell, but there was another problem?
“This is merely my own observation, but it seems…” Zelit hesitated and spoke with a grave expression, “We’re being followed.”
Everyone froze.
