A Tier 4 being could easily trump a hundred Tier 3 beings from his/her race. Another thing that led to a qualitative leap in their strength was their possession of an Unranked Skill.

The Parasites, whether Wisdom or Frenzy had six segments, meaning they were capable of six evolutions.

When the Parasite evolves the fourth—with the first being the Induction Ceremony—time, it gains the ability to exist independently. If it chooses so, it can roam the Wilds. The only reason it refrains from this option is that the moment it does so, it would lose all scope for growth. Moreover, it wouldn't be able to use its Skills, not to mention its body paling in comparison to the host it had Nurtured.

So, unless the host died, the Parasite would never resort to living out in the open.

The Nurturing effect changes at Tier 4, resulting in a qualitative change in the host's aura, amplifying his/her presence to the extent it suffocated all lower Tiered beings. This was why Tier 4 beings were termed elites and composed the majority of any race's strength. It wasn't odd that Marble City valued the lives of every Tier 4 being.

So, the compensation for his sacrifice would of course be different from others.

He had everything he needed in life: power, wealth, authority, and an alive family. If he wanted to strive for something, it would only be to fuel his greed. He didn't have a necessity to sacrifice himself; this fact further increased his compensation.

The reason he readily sacrificed himself was to better the conditions of his family. The Eagle Family had been established 40 years ago by his father's generation; a group of like-minded strong people, all at Tier 4 convened together and established it.

They made an official declaration, obtained support from Central Command, recruited other like-minded people into the fold, and expanded considerably. They then pooled their money, time, effort, and resources into research and development, seeking to create something that every established Family wished to create.

An Unranked Skill!

In their world, a person's strength could trump an organisation.

But to grow strong in the first place, one needed the collective accumulation of an organisation. Traits, Artifacts, Relics, knowledge of techniques, methods to obtain certain Skills through the Nurturing effect, etc. were all products of accumulations of tens of hundreds of people spanning decades.

Only by using the wisdom of the forerunners could the torch bearers tread further into the uncharted land.

Every Aristocratic Family had once started as a small group of like-minded people convening together to achieve a single objective. As they grew with time, pooling accumulations worth decades or even a century, their fruits of labour would ripen and they would create an Unranked Skill.

An Unranked Skill was something that everyone desired to possess. Unlike regular Skills, it grew with the person. Moreover, Unranked Skills were versatile and superior to Nurtured Skills even at the same Tier.

Mass Shifter—a common Tier 4 Skill Nurtured by humanity—allowed the Shifter to shift his weight by morphing his body parts. A Shifter's body was heavy, surpassing a tonne. The amount of force he/she could pack through a normal body slam was terrifying.

But using this Skill, a Shifter could instantaneously shift the mass in his body to a certain spot, raising his power. He could similarly use it to defend by raising muscle density at impact location and also toughen up the leg muscles, leading to an explosive spike in jumping ability.

Mass Shifter was the most versatile among all Tier 4 Skills in humanity's possession. But it had its limits. Even though Mass Shifter could fill in for the aspects of offence, defence, and evasion, it was primarily focused on close combat; its user would face a hard time while confronting Espers.

Moreover, it lacked any means in the domain of sensory and healing abilities, not to mention endurance.

When compared to Bone Devour at Tier 4, it paled in comparison. Shooting bone spikes for offence, manipulating one's flesh and bones for defence, and an impressive regenerative ability, it surpassed Mass Shifter in the fields it excelled at.

Moreover, Bone Devour allowed the user to sense the presence of flesh and blood in his surroundings, the range similar to an Esper a Tier lower. The user can also influence the bodies of everyone in this domain. Adding onto the ability to filter out Essence of Frenzy and absorb energy from foes, Bone Devour excelled in every aspect.

All the user of Bone Devour needed to do was to win a fight and he would be able to recover to his prime immediately.

All Unranked Skills were similarly versatile. Despite possessing powerful Artifacts, Relics, Traits, etc. a Shifter would lose to an unarmed Shifter that possessed an Unranked Skill. It was pretty much apparent as to what was cost-effective and beneficial in the long term.

The creation of Artifacts, Relics, and Traits required significant resources, time, and manpower per each. Traits were still fine as they can't be damaged once injected into the body. But, Artifacts and Relics were constantly damaged in battle.

Artifacts were still inanimate objects. But Relics were different; they contained Skills in them, a creation by morphing the body of the Wisdom Parasite. Therefore, Relics lost their Skill with the slightest damage.

Moreover, if the wielder died, they were permanently lost in the Wilds. Losses such as these were commonplace and continuously expended the foundation of any organisation.

Therefore, a worthwhile investment was in Unranked Skills.

Rhachis Ancestor Light, Psychic Ancestor Marble; Ancestors were titled based on their Unranked Skill. Just this fact alone spoke volumes about the benefit of Unranked Skills.

This was the reason why he, as a Shifter decided to sacrifice his life in the Cleansement Manoeuvre.

The contribution points obtained from his sacrifice would be sufficient to invite the legendary figure from Central Command for a short duration. In both Marble City and beyond, she was treated the same as an Ancestor. Just the number of Unranked Skills that passed through her hands to perfection numbered in the double digits.

During the time she would oversee their research, the development of their Unranked Skill would progress by at least a decade. To increase the progress, they needed her to spend more time. To obtain that, they had to accumulate enough contribution points. The Cleansement Manoeuvre provided a good opportunity to do so.

Creating an Unranked Skill was a daunting task. The Bone Family took almost a century to perfect Bone Devour.

As part of the Eagle Family, Gerude Eagle knew that to achieve their goal, sacrifices were necessary. Being in the same Ring and having interacted on numerous occasions, the Eagle Family was well-versed in the Bone Family's struggles. 'The Bone Family sacrificed plenty to achieve their goal, even approaching bankruptcy numerous times to fuel their research.'

The upper echelon of the Eagle Family, Gerude included had enacted numerous schemes to obtain as much support as possible. One of them was making use of the Cleansement Manoeuvre. They had plans for various other missions too.

They wished to complete their Unranked Skill in their generation, unwilling to suffer like the Bone Family that struggled for a century with uncounted hardships. The completion of their Unranked Skill would signal their rise, making all sacrifices worth it. Therefore, they were willing to shed blood for that.

Three Tier 4 beings—including Gerude Eagle—and 21 Tier 3 beings from their Eagle Family had participated in the Cleansement Manoeuvre. They had long since designated their members for each mission, intending to comply as and when Central Command announced them. It was a unanimous decision; those that had no more room for growth would serve as the logs that fuelled the fire.

Moreover, since he volunteered to sacrifice himself, it meant his wife and children were exempt from such sacrifice. That was another reason he and the participants from his family volunteered.

Sacrificing his life in the Cleansement Manoeuvre made him a member of Steam Force, ensuring a steady stream of funds for the development of his family. As dictated by their established laws, the Eagle Family would protect the family members of those that had sacrificed themselves for the Family.

Obtained through their sacrifice was the help from Atika Light, giving them hope for their children to one day wield the perfected Unranked Skill.

Atika Light was responsible for many matters concerning the fate of Marble City and other cities. The price to obtain the help of such a being wasn't cheap.

Competing against them were other Families similarly researching their Unranked Skills. After all, there were many families like the Eagle Family in Marble City. They all had their own plans. So, only through such a sacrifice can she be summoned for a short duration. But, everyone in the Eagle Family's upper echelon felt it was worth it.

Creating an Unranked Skill was a daunting task. The more they researched and invested, the more they understood this point. It led them to understand why the Bone Family almost experienced bankruptcy many times.

In comparison, sacrificing themselves to further their research was the cheapest way they could think of. Central Command would take care of the daily needs of their families while the contribution points from their sacrifice would fuel their research. To the Eagle Family, it was a win-win situation, despite the losses and pain from losing their loved ones.

Surviving in their era without a guarantee in strength was simply suicide. The number of Shifters among the normal populace that lost their lives were five times those from the Aristocratic Families and more than ten times the Royal Families.

This was the difference between those that wielded an Unranked Skill and those that did not.