They all wore themselves out the day before with training. Asher had to carry Tiff to her room. Granted she walked fine once they were there, but she played it up beforehand.
She laid on Asher’s chest. Her breasts were the perfect size so her head was level with his pecs. He laid there happily for a while, but when she made no move to get up he rolled her off of him.
Tiffany grunted, but made no outward appearance that she was waking up any time soon. He took a shower and planned to wake her, but shot that down. They had a long time on the ship, and they had been through a lot already. Ash attributed his own lack of need for sleep to his stats.
Once out of his room he headed to the Mess Hall. Only Batman sat at the table. “Heyo Batman,” Asher said as he started up the food dispenser on the wall. Salad was let out, he guessed the other elves must have a way to get other food they weren’t sharing. With no obvious source of heat to cook food or boil water he didn’t see the point in raising a fuss. They all had plenty of snacks in their storage rings.
“Morning,” Batman said.
They sat in silence for a time. “Went over a bunch yesterday,” Asher noted. Batman nodded. “Still trying to wrap my head around it all. You?”
“Yep,” Batman said. He was more talkative than his DC version. “I’m sure there’s a whole mess more that hasn’t been touched on.” A long silence followed. “I was thinking on what Isyant said about Primes.” Asher’s gut clenched. He hadn’t talked about it with Tiff yet. Kytor’s reluctance to mention secrets on the ship made him hesitate. “I’m going to assume they aren’t something we should worry about.”
“Or talk about here,” Asher confirmed. Happy that Batman could keep a secret.
Batman looked at him for some time then nodded. “We training again today?”
“After lunch time,” Asher said. Happy they had changed the subject successfully. “Got plans till then?”
“I’m going to try to get on the bridge. Did you see my Operation skill? Let’s me learn how to drive vehicles quickly. Figure one of us may need to know how to drive these ships.”
“Good idea,” Asher said. As Batman walked away Asher noticed the shadows churn around him as he left down a hall. One of Isyant’s big lessons was forcing them to always use their mana in some way. Asher remembered the Gamer in Joon’s party that was continuously expelling ice mana. It had been interesting at the time, and the act was more common in the universe than Asher had originally thought.
As Asher was in his own thoughts some more people came out of a hall. Asher recognized the pompous Fetince Burill. His pink skin was very noticeable. Since the blood elf was Loyola’s fiancé Ash really didn’t want to interact with him.
Next to Fetince was a much darker skinned elf. A little shorter than Fetince, his skin was more red than pink, ears were taller, hair was still bleached, but he was much more muscular and older than Fetince.
The newcomers got their food and sat across from Asher. “Ah a human,” the stranger commented as if noticing Asher for the first time. Setting his food down they continued on as if Asher wasn’t there. He wanted to introduce himself, but the attitude of the blood elves was off putting.
“Asher, good to see you,” Tyranis said as he walked in from another hall. “Tell me, did Isyant meet your expectations?”
“He far exceeded them,” Asher admitted.
Tyranis had a slight smile and nodded simply. Sitting at the round table between Asher and the other elves he didn’t bother to make food. “I thought as much. Isyant has been my advisor for many years, but he started as a dungeon diver long ago. You would be hard pressed to find someone with more knowledge on fighting.”
“Fetince, I know you met the Hero yesterday, but Plarious have you met?” Tyranis asked, looking at the blood elves across from them.
“Ah the Hero,” the older elf noted. “I assumed he was part of your Roktai Guild. Despite being a human, I understand you often let other species join.”
“We do have some humans, as well as beastkin, but the majority of the Roktai are elves,” Tyranis commented. “No, this is Asher Whitmore. The Champion from one of the newly Initialized planets. The Lawful Good.”
Both blood elves stopped eating to look at Asher shocked. “I uh, um was unaware that a Lawful Good had been chosen,” the older elf stood right up and bowed to Asher. “I apologize for not introducing myself. I am Plarious Burill. It is a great honor to meet a Lawful Good.” The old man grabbed the arm of the arrogant Fetince next to him, forcing him to stand.
Fetince had an angry look on his face until Plarious whispered something in his ear. Fetince appeared to have been chastised. His pink face became red as he introduced himself with a bow. Before Asher could really react they simply got up and left the Mess Hall.
Tyranis chuckled with their departure. Asher was a little shocked by the attitude. “Can I ask what that was about?”
“You may ask anything, and I will do my best to answer,” Tyranis said. “That is my role as the Integrator of your world. As far as their reaction, it is not uncommon to happen with a Lawful Good. In the millennia of System Initializations there have been 3 other Lawful Goods that the League knows of. Those 3 were legendary figures. Not at first of course. At first they were simple Champions of their planet. But all 3 had eventually become legends of their own time. What follows them is typically great upheaval in the League.”
After a pause Asher asked, “how so?”
Tyranis seemed to think for a time. “You have done a few Red Quests correct?” Asher nodded. “In the League, those are very very rare. Practically non-existent. It is assumed this is because the Systemic League has become too big. The System couldn’t watch the infinite amount of people and make sure they are not oppressed. It has been noticed that the System really only watches 2 things. Newly initialized planets and Hero’s. Because of this, Hero’s are often seen as the police of the universe. They are not tasked with policing of course, but many are in the right place at the right time and the System issues quests to reward them for their actions.”
Asher thought for a time. If there were a few thousand planets he could see how impossible that would be to monitor every person“That doesn’t really explain their actions.”
“Let’s put it this way,” Tyranis offered. “You are Lawful Good. So that must mean there is someone out there that is your opposite, most consider this a Hero that is Chaotic Evil.”
“A Chaotic Evil Hero? Doesn’t sound like a hero to me,” Asher admitted.
“I assure you, there are,” Tyranis said. “Lets postulate that you were on a planet. The people were oppressed and the System gave you a quest to kill the royal family of that planet. Everyone, every man, woman, and child. Would you do it?”
“Probably not. I don’t think I can kill kids.”
“What if the kids were just as bad as the parents? At 5 years old they had a slave tortured for spilling something on them. Skinned alive,” Tyranis answered.
“I um, I still don’t know,” Asher admitted. A part of him thought maybe, but he didn’t like hypotheticals.
“If the System deemed them the scum of the League. Irredeemable. It would often lead a Hero willing to complete the quest to the area.”
“Would that be legal?” Asher asked. “I mean, in the League I would assume killing a whole family is looked down upon.”
“In the League the System is deemed absolute. It is simply a matter of proving you received a quest and all will accept. There was an instance of that exact scenario some time ago with a Lawful Evil Hero. Allie’s of the killed family raised questions and demanded a trial. They claimed that those not included in the quest were killed, thus the Hero should be punished for those deaths. The trial was conducted, a representative of the System was contacted, but due to the ambiguity of the quest the hero was judged innocent.” Asher was quite surprised by the admission. The fact that someone could be killed without repercussion, simply because the faceless System judged them incapable of change.
“Now, let’s imagine that a Lawful Good did the deed. Someone the System said was the most honorable of its heroes. What do you imagine would have happened?” Asher did not answer. A part of him didn’t want to know what would have happened. “There wouldn’t have been a trial. An entire city killed. Not just the royal family. Millions of people gone from existence, and no one in the League would have batted an eye if you did it.”
Asher was very shocked by the information. “An entire city?”
Tyranis nodded. “Do you see now why some people, known for their bloodthirsty attitude, may be hesitant to offend you?”
Asher nodded. “Still, that’s very extreme.”
“Would you ever do that? Destroy a city of all its citizens?” Tyranis asked like it was a real question.
“Of course not,” Asher said.
“What if the System gave you a quest?”
“Hell no,” Asher said without hesitation.
“Exactly,” Tyranis said with a slight smile. “In our world the System is judge and jury, the Hero is executioner. Not many would deny the System. A Lawful Good is known to do only what is right. Thus they are held to a higher standard.”
“Still seems stupid after a simple trial,” Asher admitted. He was starting to realize that his title meant a lot more than he was led to believe by Lethelle all those months ago.
“Maybe, but it is our way. To go a step further, let’s say that a Lawful Good died trying to destroy a city. What would happen then is that a trial would be conducted to find out why a Lawful Good was there in the first place doing such a deed. And if extreme wrongdoing had been found then the League would punish those people.”
“What are you getting at?” Asher asked.
“Let’s just say that Lawful Goods are always watched. And hypothetically speaking, those connected to them are watched as well.” Asher was slowly understanding they weren’t talking in hypotheticals anymore.
Neither of them said anything for a time, simply locked eyes. “Should I be worried about Fetince?” Asher asked.
“Very much so,” Tyranis said sadly. “His people are ruthless, but have their own honor. Well, their honor is more about not being dishonored,” he admitted after a thought. “If he decides he has been slighted. In any way. You may find yourself in serious trouble.”
“What about your people? Could I be causing an incident?” Asher wasn’t too scared of someone a few levels above his own, despite Tyranis and Kytor’s reaction.
Tyranis let out a laugh. “My daughter has had a dozen fiancés. None have passed her criteria for a husband. My people believe in strength. We have ways of testing it. I wrote these terms in my agreement with the Burill. For now simply leave him be and ignore him. If he passes our test, then he will marry my daughter. And no past affairs need to be worried about.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Asher asked.
“Then he will die, and I will start searching for a new alliance,” Tyranis said. For some reason Asher didn’t think that alliance would be with him. He wasn’t sure if he cared. The more Tyranis spoke of alliances, the more Asher admitted they needed their own.
As if on cue Asher’s friends and family walked in. Well Ming, Atalanta, and Vincent weren’t exactly friends yet, but Asher thought they were warming up to him.
“Are we interrupting something?” Tiffany asked, studying Asher’s face.
“No, we were simply discussing the way of the universe,” Tyranis admitted. A few people got a salad, but most simply sat at the table.
“On that, Tyranis, I was hoping you would answer some questions on general knowledge,” Nadir said.
“How so?” Tyranis said.
“Major powers in the universe? Recent events? I would really like to know what max level is. Is it 100? That’s what we assumed on Earth.”
Tyranis laughed. “Of course. On levels it is easy to admit that no max level has been found. Generally you stop receiving experience from monsters 20 levels below your own. Most planets in our sector of the League are Tier 0-3. So you will find monsters up to level 100. I have not strayed far from our sector, but I am proud to say I am currently level 99.”
The room became very still. All of them knew the exponential rise stats gave. He had 3 times the stats Asher had, but he estimated Tyranis was most likely 10 times stronger.
Tyranis continued as if he hadn’t said anything too out of the norm. “Every 100 levels there is a threshold to cross. To be allowed to pass into level 100 you must have at least 10 skills at Max Level, which is the true test of strength.”
“What is the max level for skills?” Vincent asked.
“Depends on the power of the skill. The stronger it’s capability, the higher the level requirements, but it generally ranges from 25-75. Identification, System Store, Group Formation, and your Omni language skills do not have a max level, or at least they have not been found.”
A few people were surprised by the information as they cursed or said something to someone else. “What are the level tiers of planets?” Nadir asked.
“It is confirmed to go up to 10, at least from what is known in this sector,” Tyranis explained. “Tier 0 are no monsters and little mana in the atmosphere, like your planet was. Tier I is up to level 25. Tier II is level 50. Tier III is level 100. Tier IV is level 150. Tier V is level 250. Tier VI is level 350. Tier VII is level 400. Tier VIII is level 500. Tier IX is level 750. Tier X is level 1,000. There are typically very few that go above Tier 5 here, but sometimes dungeons will appear and we will have an influx of people from outer sectors. These can be very turbulent or prosperous times.”
“What is the highest level you have met?” Nadir asked.
“In the League it is common courtesy to not ask,” he warned. People nodded, most had assumed so. “But I did meet a level 299 person once. They were one of my ancestors. Simply stopped by the planet to see how we were doing, and to make sure the Roktai was still in power. Took care of some major issues for my people like it was nothing, then left back to other sectors.”
“Holy hell,” Asher whispered. He was incapable of understanding the strength of someone at that level. The others in the room also had stunned expressions on their faces.
“I would not worry about such beings though. They are few and far between.” Asher hoped he was right. “You asked on recent events?” He directed his view to Nadir. Asher had introduced them of course, but he wasn’t sure if the elf remembered their names. Then again his Identification skill was probably high enough to tell him their names.
“There is the dungeon delve into the Ruins of Loradmere. It is said to be an ancient System Planet that was destroyed, and has many secrets yet to be uncovered. It has been going on for over a year, but is said to be finishing soon as they reach closer to the planet’s core. But Initializations typically take precedence throughout the Systemic League so there is no other real concern in our Sector.”
“How do you judge a sector?” Ria, Asher’s mother asked. Her name was Alexandria, but she went by Ria.
“Typically anywhere within a month’s travel through the Ether Stream. To get from one end to the other of the Systemic League it would take years. Luckily we are spread out enough to have portals to places outside our sector. Alliances thousands of years old.” Asher tried to think on the scale of the universe. If there were places years away, then there were at least 30 sectors in a straight line through the League. Thus there were hundreds of sectors, and thousands of planets in each sector.
“And the major powers we should know of?” Nadir asked.
“Truthfully, I would really only worry about those in our sector,” Tyranis admitted. “There is the Majoris Guild, which spans past our sector. They focus on technology and have the best available. This ship was built by them. They only care about being paid on time, and doing something challenging. Then there is the Aartiliak Empire. They are considered the strongest in our sector. They often monopolize materials, and do not stray from war to lock certain items down. Then the Seinsterf Pirates. They are a nomadic pirate group that lost their planet in an Initialization. Over a few millennia they have grown in power. They are known as slavers and the scum of our sector.”
“You can lose your planet in Initialization!?” Asher asked, standing up.
“I guess I haven’t stressed that,” Tyranis said as if they were discussing this over tea. “The System will oftentimes quest interested parties in sponsoring Initialization groups. As you know your people will be split into groups of 1,000, with a current System User as their instructor. There are 3 planets going through Initialization currently. The average population between your 3 planets is about 5 billion each. So 15 billion people in groups of 1,000 is about 15,000,000 groups. That is a lot of different areas for them to occupy. The planets they could be sent to range from a Tier I to Tier II. And sometimes the sponsors of groups will be allowed to have a group from each new planet in the same testing area. After the Initialization there will be struggles for power. Some people may receive sponsors through their Initialization Group. That sponsor will do what they can to take over the planet from other sponsors.” He paused, then continued. “This is what happened to the Seinsterf Pirates. On their planet there was more than one race, the stronger race received a sponsor that demanded they be the only people on the planet. The Pirates escaped rather than being annihilated.”
There was stunned silence in the Hall. Asher struggled to hold his anger in. “So not only could our people stumble into an area with a level 50 monster, they could get teleported to some zone run by some bloodthirsty sponsor, and they could go up against some strange new Initialized people that doesn’t speak our language?”
“In not so many words, yes,” Tyranis said. “But the Omni language skills are very cheap in the System Store. And a lot of people will get them as quest rewards.”
“Great,” Asher said. Feeling anything but.
They all wore themselves out the day before with training. Asher had to carry Tiff to her room. Granted she walked fine once they were there, but she played it up beforehand.
She laid on Asher’s chest. Her breasts were the perfect size so her head was level with his pecs. He laid there happily for a while, but when she made no move to get up he rolled her off of him.
Tiffany grunted, but made no outward appearance that she was waking up any time soon. He took a shower and planned to wake her, but shot that down. They had a long time on the ship, and they had been through a lot already. Ash attributed his own lack of need for sleep to his stats.
Once out of his room he headed to the Mess Hall. Only Batman sat at the table. “Heyo Batman,” Asher said as he started up the food dispenser on the wall. Salad was let out, he guessed the other elves must have a way to get other food they weren’t sharing. With no obvious source of heat to cook food or boil water he didn’t see the point in raising a fuss. They all had plenty of snacks in their storage rings.
“Morning,” Batman said.
They sat in silence for a time. “Went over a bunch yesterday,” Asher noted. Batman nodded. “Still trying to wrap my head around it all. You?”
“Yep,” Batman said. He was more talkative than his DC version. “I’m sure there’s a whole mess more that hasn’t been touched on.” A long silence followed. “I was thinking on what Isyant said about Primes.” Asher’s gut clenched. He hadn’t talked about it with Tiff yet. Kytor’s reluctance to mention secrets on the ship made him hesitate. “I’m going to assume they aren’t something we should worry about.”
“Or talk about here,” Asher confirmed. Happy that Batman could keep a secret.
Batman looked at him for some time then nodded. “We training again today?”
“After lunch time,” Asher said. Happy they had changed the subject successfully. “Got plans till then?”
“I’m going to try to get on the bridge. Did you see my Operation skill? Let’s me learn how to drive vehicles quickly. Figure one of us may need to know how to drive these ships.”
“Good idea,” Asher said. As Batman walked away Asher noticed the shadows churn around him as he left down a hall. One of Isyant’s big lessons was forcing them to always use their mana in some way. Asher remembered the Gamer in Joon’s party that was continuously expelling ice mana. It had been interesting at the time, and the act was more common in the universe than Asher had originally thought.
As Asher was in his own thoughts some more people came out of a hall. Asher recognized the pompous Fetince Burill. His pink skin was very noticeable. Since the blood elf was Loyola’s fiancé Ash really didn’t want to interact with him.
Next to Fetince was a much darker skinned elf. A little shorter than Fetince, his skin was more red than pink, ears were taller, hair was still bleached, but he was much more muscular and older than Fetince.
The newcomers got their food and sat across from Asher. “Ah a human,” the stranger commented as if noticing Asher for the first time. Setting his food down they continued on as if Asher wasn’t there. He wanted to introduce himself, but the attitude of the blood elves was off putting.
“Asher, good to see you,” Tyranis said as he walked in from another hall. “Tell me, did Isyant meet your expectations?”
“He far exceeded them,” Asher admitted.
Tyranis had a slight smile and nodded simply. Sitting at the round table between Asher and the other elves he didn’t bother to make food. “I thought as much. Isyant has been my advisor for many years, but he started as a dungeon diver long ago. You would be hard pressed to find someone with more knowledge on fighting.”
“Fetince, I know you met the Hero yesterday, but Plarious have you met?” Tyranis asked, looking at the blood elves across from them.
“Ah the Hero,” the older elf noted. “I assumed he was part of your Roktai Guild. Despite being a human, I understand you often let other species join.”
“We do have some humans, as well as beastkin, but the majority of the Roktai are elves,” Tyranis commented. “No, this is Asher Whitmore. The Champion from one of the newly Initialized planets. The Lawful Good.”
Both blood elves stopped eating to look at Asher shocked. “I uh, um was unaware that a Lawful Good had been chosen,” the older elf stood right up and bowed to Asher. “I apologize for not introducing myself. I am Plarious Burill. It is a great honor to meet a Lawful Good.” The old man grabbed the arm of the arrogant Fetince next to him, forcing him to stand.
Fetince had an angry look on his face until Plarious whispered something in his ear. Fetince appeared to have been chastised. His pink face became red as he introduced himself with a bow. Before Asher could really react they simply got up and left the Mess Hall.
Tyranis chuckled with their departure. Asher was a little shocked by the attitude. “Can I ask what that was about?”
“You may ask anything, and I will do my best to answer,” Tyranis said. “That is my role as the Integrator of your world. As far as their reaction, it is not uncommon to happen with a Lawful Good. In the millennia of System Initializations there have been 3 other Lawful Goods that the League knows of. Those 3 were legendary figures. Not at first of course. At first they were simple Champions of their planet. But all 3 had eventually become legends of their own time. What follows them is typically great upheaval in the League.”
After a pause Asher asked, “how so?”
Tyranis seemed to think for a time. “You have done a few Red Quests correct?” Asher nodded. “In the League, those are very very rare. Practically non-existent. It is assumed this is because the Systemic League has become too big. The System couldn’t watch the infinite amount of people and make sure they are not oppressed. It has been noticed that the System really only watches 2 things. Newly initialized planets and Hero’s. Because of this, Hero’s are often seen as the police of the universe. They are not tasked with policing of course, but many are in the right place at the right time and the System issues quests to reward them for their actions.”
Asher thought for a time. If there were a few thousand planets he could see how impossible that would be to monitor every person“That doesn’t really explain their actions.”
“Let’s put it this way,” Tyranis offered. “You are Lawful Good. So that must mean there is someone out there that is your opposite, most consider this a Hero that is Chaotic Evil.”
“A Chaotic Evil Hero? Doesn’t sound like a hero to me,” Asher admitted.
“I assure you, there are,” Tyranis said. “Lets postulate that you were on a planet. The people were oppressed and the System gave you a quest to kill the royal family of that planet. Everyone, every man, woman, and child. Would you do it?”
“Probably not. I don’t think I can kill kids.”
“What if the kids were just as bad as the parents? At 5 years old they had a slave tortured for spilling something on them. Skinned alive,” Tyranis answered.
“I um, I still don’t know,” Asher admitted. A part of him thought maybe, but he didn’t like hypotheticals.
“If the System deemed them the scum of the League. Irredeemable. It would often lead a Hero willing to complete the quest to the area.”
“Would that be legal?” Asher asked. “I mean, in the League I would assume killing a whole family is looked down upon.”
“In the League the System is deemed absolute. It is simply a matter of proving you received a quest and all will accept. There was an instance of that exact scenario some time ago with a Lawful Evil Hero. Allie’s of the killed family raised questions and demanded a trial. They claimed that those not included in the quest were killed, thus the Hero should be punished for those deaths. The trial was conducted, a representative of the System was contacted, but due to the ambiguity of the quest the hero was judged innocent.” Asher was quite surprised by the admission. The fact that someone could be killed without repercussion, simply because the faceless System judged them incapable of change.
“Now, let’s imagine that a Lawful Good did the deed. Someone the System said was the most honorable of its heroes. What do you imagine would have happened?” Asher did not answer. A part of him didn’t want to know what would have happened. “There wouldn’t have been a trial. An entire city killed. Not just the royal family. Millions of people gone from existence, and no one in the League would have batted an eye if you did it.”
Asher was very shocked by the information. “An entire city?”
Tyranis nodded. “Do you see now why some people, known for their bloodthirsty attitude, may be hesitant to offend you?”
Asher nodded. “Still, that’s very extreme.”
“Would you ever do that? Destroy a city of all its citizens?” Tyranis asked like it was a real question.
“Of course not,” Asher said.
“What if the System gave you a quest?”
“Hell no,” Asher said without hesitation.
“Exactly,” Tyranis said with a slight smile. “In our world the System is judge and jury, the Hero is executioner. Not many would deny the System. A Lawful Good is known to do only what is right. Thus they are held to a higher standard.”
“Still seems stupid after a simple trial,” Asher admitted. He was starting to realize that his title meant a lot more than he was led to believe by Lethelle all those months ago.
“Maybe, but it is our way. To go a step further, let’s say that a Lawful Good died trying to destroy a city. What would happen then is that a trial would be conducted to find out why a Lawful Good was there in the first place doing such a deed. And if extreme wrongdoing had been found then the League would punish those people.”
“What are you getting at?” Asher asked.
“Let’s just say that Lawful Goods are always watched. And hypothetically speaking, those connected to them are watched as well.” Asher was slowly understanding they weren’t talking in hypotheticals anymore.
Neither of them said anything for a time, simply locked eyes. “Should I be worried about Fetince?” Asher asked.
“Very much so,” Tyranis said sadly. “His people are ruthless, but have their own honor. Well, their honor is more about not being dishonored,” he admitted after a thought. “If he decides he has been slighted. In any way. You may find yourself in serious trouble.”
“What about your people? Could I be causing an incident?” Asher wasn’t too scared of someone a few levels above his own, despite Tyranis and Kytor’s reaction.
Tyranis let out a laugh. “My daughter has had a dozen fiancés. None have passed her criteria for a husband. My people believe in strength. We have ways of testing it. I wrote these terms in my agreement with the Burill. For now simply leave him be and ignore him. If he passes our test, then he will marry my daughter. And no past affairs need to be worried about.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Asher asked.
“Then he will die, and I will start searching for a new alliance,” Tyranis said. For some reason Asher didn’t think that alliance would be with him. He wasn’t sure if he cared. The more Tyranis spoke of alliances, the more Asher admitted they needed their own.
As if on cue Asher’s friends and family walked in. Well Ming, Atalanta, and Vincent weren’t exactly friends yet, but Asher thought they were warming up to him.
“Are we interrupting something?” Tiffany asked, studying Asher’s face.
“No, we were simply discussing the way of the universe,” Tyranis admitted. A few people got a salad, but most simply sat at the table.
“On that, Tyranis, I was hoping you would answer some questions on general knowledge,” Nadir said.
“How so?” Tyranis said.
“Major powers in the universe? Recent events? I would really like to know what max level is. Is it 100? That’s what we assumed on Earth.”
Tyranis laughed. “Of course. On levels it is easy to admit that no max level has been found. Generally you stop receiving experience from monsters 20 levels below your own. Most planets in our sector of the League are Tier 0-3. So you will find monsters up to level 100. I have not strayed far from our sector, but I am proud to say I am currently level 99.”
The room became very still. All of them knew the exponential rise stats gave. He had 3 times the stats Asher had, but he estimated Tyranis was most likely 10 times stronger.
Tyranis continued as if he hadn’t said anything too out of the norm. “Every 100 levels there is a threshold to cross. To be allowed to pass into level 100 you must have at least 10 skills at Max Level, which is the true test of strength.”
“What is the max level for skills?” Vincent asked.
“Depends on the power of the skill. The stronger it’s capability, the higher the level requirements, but it generally ranges from 25-75. Identification, System Store, Group Formation, and your Omni language skills do not have a max level, or at least they have not been found.”
A few people were surprised by the information as they cursed or said something to someone else. “What are the level tiers of planets?” Nadir asked.
“It is confirmed to go up to 10, at least from what is known in this sector,” Tyranis explained. “Tier 0 are no monsters and little mana in the atmosphere, like your planet was. Tier I is up to level 25. Tier II is level 50. Tier III is level 100. Tier IV is level 150. Tier V is level 250. Tier VI is level 350. Tier VII is level 400. Tier VIII is level 500. Tier IX is level 750. Tier X is level 1,000. There are typically very few that go above Tier 5 here, but sometimes dungeons will appear and we will have an influx of people from outer sectors. These can be very turbulent or prosperous times.”
“What is the highest level you have met?” Nadir asked.
“In the League it is common courtesy to not ask,” he warned. People nodded, most had assumed so. “But I did meet a level 299 person once. They were one of my ancestors. Simply stopped by the planet to see how we were doing, and to make sure the Roktai was still in power. Took care of some major issues for my people like it was nothing, then left back to other sectors.”
“Holy hell,” Asher whispered. He was incapable of understanding the strength of someone at that level. The others in the room also had stunned expressions on their faces.
“I would not worry about such beings though. They are few and far between.” Asher hoped he was right. “You asked on recent events?” He directed his view to Nadir. Asher had introduced them of course, but he wasn’t sure if the elf remembered their names. Then again his Identification skill was probably high enough to tell him their names.
“There is the dungeon delve into the Ruins of Loradmere. It is said to be an ancient System Planet that was destroyed, and has many secrets yet to be uncovered. It has been going on for over a year, but is said to be finishing soon as they reach closer to the planet’s core. But Initializations typically take precedence throughout the Systemic League so there is no other real concern in our Sector.”
“How do you judge a sector?” Ria, Asher’s mother asked. Her name was Alexandria, but she went by Ria.
“Typically anywhere within a month’s travel through the Ether Stream. To get from one end to the other of the Systemic League it would take years. Luckily we are spread out enough to have portals to places outside our sector. Alliances thousands of years old.” Asher tried to think on the scale of the universe. If there were places years away, then there were at least 30 sectors in a straight line through the League. Thus there were hundreds of sectors, and thousands of planets in each sector.
“And the major powers we should know of?” Nadir asked.
“Truthfully, I would really only worry about those in our sector,” Tyranis admitted. “There is the Majoris Guild, which spans past our sector. They focus on technology and have the best available. This ship was built by them. They only care about being paid on time, and doing something challenging. Then there is the Aartiliak Empire. They are considered the strongest in our sector. They often monopolize materials, and do not stray from war to lock certain items down. Then the Seinsterf Pirates. They are a nomadic pirate group that lost their planet in an Initialization. Over a few millennia they have grown in power. They are known as slavers and the scum of our sector.”
“You can lose your planet in Initialization!?” Asher asked, standing up.
“I guess I haven’t stressed that,” Tyranis said as if they were discussing this over tea. “The System will oftentimes quest interested parties in sponsoring Initialization groups. As you know your people will be split into groups of 1,000, with a current System User as their instructor. There are 3 planets going through Initialization currently. The average population between your 3 planets is about 5 billion each. So 15 billion people in groups of 1,000 is about 15,000,000 groups. That is a lot of different areas for them to occupy. The planets they could be sent to range from a Tier I to Tier II. And sometimes the sponsors of groups will be allowed to have a group from each new planet in the same testing area. After the Initialization there will be struggles for power. Some people may receive sponsors through their Initialization Group. That sponsor will do what they can to take over the planet from other sponsors.” He paused, then continued. “This is what happened to the Seinsterf Pirates. On their planet there was more than one race, the stronger race received a sponsor that demanded they be the only people on the planet. The Pirates escaped rather than being annihilated.”
There was stunned silence in the Hall. Asher struggled to hold his anger in. “So not only could our people stumble into an area with a level 50 monster, they could get teleported to some zone run by some bloodthirsty sponsor, and they could go up against some strange new Initialized people that doesn’t speak our language?”
“In not so many words, yes,” Tyranis said. “But the Omni language skills are very cheap in the System Store. And a lot of people will get them as quest rewards.”
“Great,” Asher said. Feeling anything but.
