"What is this place?"
Ronny couldn't help blurt out his surprise when he saw one of the four distant towers up close. The exploration team had been split into five groups after the man on the stone platform finished his speech.
According to him, this separate dimension had four towers located in four different directions. There was also an underground dungeon right in the middle, allowing for a team-based entry.
The four towers were intended to test an individual's ranking power. The southern tower was meant for F-Rank Novices, the west tower was meant for Aces, the east tower was meant for Adepts, and the north tower was meant for C-Rank Experts.
The underground dungeon, just like the four towers, was supposed to have 7 floors, arranged in descending order. The difficulty will increase as you proceed further from floor zero.
The underground dungeon had a very large cave-like entrance. The cave was almost 500 meters wide and the ceiling stood at least half that length from the ground.
Ronny and his team were brought in first to try their luck in a group battle, whereas the high-ranked entities and rankers like Ivor who wanted to complete the individual tests headed to the towers depending on their ranking.
"This is what we call floor zero, Ronny. Here's where we'll qualify to enter the dungeon. Just follow Lady Zee's lead."
Jules provided a brief explanation to Ronny when she heard her question. She was walking beside him whereas Renar, Viper, and Belar were following him. Lady Zee was walking in the front, leading their squad. There were a bunch of squads like them in the group, led by Adept ranker each.
Soon the entire dungeon exploration group found itself standing in the middle of a large array. The array lit up as soon as the last person in the group stepped into it.
"Just relax and let the array scan and rate you. I'll tell you what this is about in a minute."
Lady Zee addressed her squad as soon as the array lit up. Ronny followed her advice and stood still. He felt that an artificial mana sense was scanning him. Artificial because he didn't feel like the mana sense belonged to a living being. He guessed that the array had a built-in mana sense embedded into it, which enabled it to scan and rate the dungeon participants.
Ronny felt that the artificial mana sense seeped into his flesh and bones before heading towards his mana core, observing and confirming every last bit of information it could gain from him. Soon after, he felt that something had been written over his right hand's palm.
99/100
This was Ronny AKA Eren's rating as soon as the artificial mana sense finished scanning him. He closed his palm and looked around to understand the meaning of his rating by comparing it with the rest of the participants.
'The score dipped again. It's 55/100 now, just 5 points away from the cut-off. I'm afraid this year will be my last purgatory exploration.'
Lady sighed internally as she saw her personal score. This was not her first purgatory exploration. But every time she returned, her personal rating would plummet even when she had progressed further into her ranking status.
Arthur had already told the Illuminati that purgatory wouldn't entertain repeat participants forever. The personal score of 50 was the cut off a ranker needed to proceed further in the underground dungeon as well as towers meant for individual exploration.
One's ranking status wasn't the only criteria behind the rating. Scholars at Arthur's disposal as well as those within the Illuminati concluded that rankers' previous purgatory exploration attempts, their age, and constitutions were also taken into account. This allowed for a more balanced rating. Lady Zee explained this to her squad before demanding to know about the members' individual scores:
"Alright, tell me your individual scores."
So everyone obliged. Renar scored 82, Viper 85, and Belar's score was 81. Jules on the other hand only scored 71. The pathological liar in Ronny just replied he got 87 when he was asked about it. The rating had faded anyway, replaced by a circle with sections inside it. So he didn't have to hide his palm before lying.
"Hm? Jules, is this not your first time exploring purgatory? Why is your score so low despite your talent?"
Ronny asked Jules when he heard about her score. He could tell from the scores of Renar and the rest that Jules had been rated low. Lady Zee smiled mirthlessly before replying:
"That's why it is said that purgatory is partial towards the anthropes. When talent is the same, anthropes are rated higher than normal people on individual ratings.
We have explored purgatory with anthropes before, you know. But this is certainly our first with so many of you exploring the place at the same time."
Lady Zee explained to Ronny before Jules could. The next year, she was considering undergoing the anthrope transformation to make it to the cut off and explore purgatory once more.
Ronny's eyes had a strange light in them as soon as this detail was made available to him. He had scored 99/100 in his personal rating. Thus, he was the one most qualified to explore this dungeon out of everyone present in the purgatory exploration team. Even the high-ranked weren't exceptions.
"What happens next?"
Renar asked as soon as the squad's individual rating was declared. Lady Zee just pointed her finger at her front as a response to his question, causing everyone to turn their attention in that direction.
Various small spectral doorways had been raised from the ground after the individual ratings were assigned to each participant. The spectral portals almost became solid soon after their emergence.
It was time to enter the underground dungeon!
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AN: Thanks to the top GT contributors omfgcookies, SereneOcean, Edisong, and the rest for placing their GTs on VEH.. A good start at the beginning of the month matters a lot. ;)