As everyone knew, the gap in strength between extraordinary individuals of the same rank could be greater than the gap between a human and a dog.
That did not stop people from crudely using ranks to classify individual strength.
Compared to ordinary people, those of Brass Rank, Lv10–Lv30, improved most not in strength or speed, but in their endurance and recovery as living beings.
An ordinary person would enter a state of exhaustion after exerting their full strength for a short while, while they only needed two breaths to recover. They could wield weapons weighing dozens of pounds and swing them continuously at high intensity. In the age of cold weapons, they were fierce generals capable of taking on a hundred enemies alone.
Silver Rank, Lv30–Lv60, formed the backbone of the entire world.
Extraordinary individuals who reached Silver Rank possessed all sorts of abilities to evade bullets.
Whether it was Battle Qi wrapped around their bodies or illusions created with magic, both could render modern weapons harmless.
However, if they were directly struck by a large-caliber bullet capable of piercing steel plates, most Silver Rank extraordinary individuals would still suffer severe injuries or even die on the spot.
Most students who had been swept into extraordinary academies through brutal examinations could reach this rank before graduation.
Gold Rank, Lv60–Lv90, could be considered conventional powerhouses.
Even the major top-tier factions would do their best to recruit unaffiliated Gold Rank extraordinary individuals.
In terms of experience required for leveling, advancing from level 1 to level 30 required 1.05 million, while reaching level 60 required 16.14 million.
Ordinary kinetic bullets could no longer harm them. Given time to prepare and charge up, they could even blast apart a building with a single strike.
Legendary Rank, Lv90–Lv120, was essentially as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.
They were the chief representatives of major factions in a given city, high-ranking military officers, the faces of mercenary associations, the No. 3s of assassin associations, and the godfathers of gangs.
The aftermath of a battle between two Legendary Rank individuals could destroy an entire city.
Hero Rank, Lv120–Lv150, represented the strongest beings publicly known within the Alliance.
They did not need to maintain any social standing to obtain whatever they wanted.
In combat, Hero Rank extraordinary individuals had mastered certain "rules" and could accomplish things that "defied common sense."
For instance, stopping time within a certain area or tampering with an enemy's five senses.
So, when the immobilized players finally regained the ability to move—
They saw a wounded old man facing a man in military uniform, each stabbing the weapon in their hand into the other's stomach.
Meanwhile, another punk with a Mohawk shouted, "You tricked me, bastard!" and smashed the studded baseball bat in his hand into a tree trunk some distance away from the two men.
The next moment, that wildly off-target blow somehow caved in the old man's skull in the distance.
Like a punctured sack, the old man weakly released his short staff and collapsed limply to the ground.
"Holy shit, Father-in-law!"
Several players with "Wheelchair Professions" instantly recognized the middle-aged man in military uniform.
—Inside the "Magical Girl's Bedroom" at the estate outside New Hope City, they could use "Alice's Warm Memories" to reach the past within those memories, find this gentle father who was always dressed in military uniform, and complete the class advancement for the fifth-tier profession, Hourglass Guard.
The Mohawk punk was also an instructor for a fifth-tier profession.
But he had lost out by not having a daughter in Lolita fashion, so the players had not recognized him immediately.
These two Hero Rank class advancement instructors were the bodyguards Li Li had found for his own saintess.
Before Lost a Leg brought Aperria back, Li Li had only planned to let the players operate within Broken Sword Valley.
Under those circumstances, even if they encountered danger, they would at most lose some faith. They might even find the mole responsible for the Alliance's destruction because of it.
But Aperria's appearance forced Li Li to change his plans.
Aperria had not only brought him a "Novice Village" far from the Alliance, but also a demigod-rank saintess and the Heart of Blazing Flames, which could suppress corruption to a certain extent.
Yet even without those things, Li Li, as the Creator God, would never stand by and watch his own saintess's village perish.
However, the moment Aperria appeared at the city entrance checkpoint, she was destined to draw the attention of "interested parties."
Unless she remained in Iron Wall City forever, the moment she left Li Li's supervision, she would become his weakness.
So Li Li simply pretended not to realize this at all. He allowed Aperria to leave with the "mysterious Otherworlders," using her, Aer, and the players as bait.
To protect them, Li Li had left several layers of contingencies in place.
He had Nodens, the teddy bear plushie, contact trustworthy powerhouses in the Thirteen City Alliance through dreams. He told them the full story and had them capture the "werewolves" hiding within the Alliance.
Because the Alliance's mole was most likely also a high-ranking figure, Li Li used the "prophets" on the player forum to find the powerhouses universally acknowledged by the Alliance as "cleared innocents."
They were the class advancement instructors who had provided advanced class changes to players during the first playthrough.
Li Li had Nodens harass a total of nine Hero Rank "class advancement instructors."
However, only these two had come. Fortunately, they had still won in the end.
The old man lying on the ground deflated into a thin sheet of skin like a punctured ball, but the Mohawk punk had no intention of letting it go. He smashed the tree trunk before him with another swing.
"Riiip—"
The baseball bat studded with rivets slammed into the tree trunk, tearing out a mass of flesh and blood.
The mole disguised as an old man had already been locked onto by the Mohawk's baseball bat. Combined with its severe injuries, it was destined to be unable to escape the pursuit of the two men.
But its goal had never been to escape. Suddenly, the campfire at the center of the camp grew a mouth and eyes. Amid its flickering flames, a venomous voice rang out:
"None of you will leave here alive!"
During the few seconds that the "flames" spoke, the Mohawk did not indulge it. He smashed the tree trunk several more times, each blow tearing out great amounts of flesh and blood.
Yet the phantom face within the flames seemed to feel no pain. It extended an arm made of fire and drove a purple-black Ritual Dagger into the flaming face.
The next moment, accompanied by a pained howl, the campfire swept up the bird head beside it and soared into the sky with a piercing cry.
The two Hero Rank "fifth-tier instructors" both widened their eyes in unspoken shock.
No one had expected that the mole of unknown identity would sacrifice itself at the very last moment!
It was already too late.
The flames shooting into the sky condensed into a bird-shaped shadow of fire. The searing heat even scattered the mist of Misty Forest.
A few players curiously scanned the bird-shaped flames overhead, then tossed aside their weapons and cursed, "Fuck."
Source of Evil Fire · Cursed Vermilion Bird (Incarnation) Level: 197 Rank: God HP: 77777777/77777777 Traits: Corruption, Divine Incarnation, Source of Evil Fire, God of Four Symbols, Seven Mansions of the South (Expand+) Skills: Inferno Storm, Soul Annihilation, World-Burning Eye, Fire Phoenix Dance (Expand+) Kill EXP: 77777777 Drops: Seed of Chaos, Divine Feather, Heart of Flames (Expand+)
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