As Kailan annihilated the party of Reigon, Eva could tell that if he were to go up against Douglas, who would win or lose wasn’t certain. Douglas could also see this and a drop of cold sweat formed on his forehead. This was someone he really didn’t want to pi** off. At the same time he was also very jealous. Douglas had worked hard to obtain the power he had and Kailan had nearly the same level of power as him right from the beginning.

Kailan checked the blade of the Zweihänder, it was pristine. Truly well crafted. “This Zweihänder isn’t quite like a nodachi, it doesn’t curve properly with my attacks. I’ll have to adjust for that.” He thought as he placed it back into it’s holster on his back.

“You have killed 4 level 1 Reigon Warriors.”

“You have gained 4 experience.”

“You have gained 4 AP.”

“Oh, more AP. I nearly forgot about the Achievement Shop. I’ll have to look into it later.” He thought as he examined the lines of text that appeared in front of his vision.

~Clap, clap, clap~

“Nicely done.” Eva approached as she praised Kailan. Douglas was following silently behind her. He looked a bit pale.

“Thanks.” Kailan replied with a smile.

“Did you get any AP?” Eva asked as she examined the bodies of the dead Reigon. She was admiring how swift and accurate he had been.

“You know about Achievement Points?” Kailan asked curiously. It did kind of make sense that she would since it is a Returnee perk and there are other Returnees other than him.

“Sure. All Returnees have it. So the Bureau naturally has information on it. You can obtain some pretty amazing benefits from the shop so you should look into it later if you haven’t already. Actually it’s one of the reasons why the Bureau takes special care of Returnees. Since some of the items can even be gifted to others, like the recipes.” Eva explained.

“Recipes?”

“Yeah, there are crafting recipes that can only be obtained from the Achievement Shop. They can be given to craftsmen to allow them to learn that recipe. Interestingly only one copy can be purchased per Returnee and once it’s used it disappears. It doesn’t actually have any information written on it either so we’ve never been able to manufacture copies. We can only rely on Returnees to gain AP and purchase them for us. It’s also one of the reasons the guilds are always interested in Returnees as well.” Eva continued.

“So basically a Returnee is nothing but a slave worker for the guilds and Bureau, is what you’re saying.” Kailan chuckled as he joked.

“Haha. No. There are fair compensations for their aid.” Eva knew how it sounded but the Bureau and the guilds were generally very fair in their treatment of all Hunters, Returnee or not. They needed them and their power so they had to be fair.

As they continued ahead, Kailan slaughtered every party of Reigon they came across. At one point they encountered a Reigon mage who had fire spells. But he was no match for Kailan’s speed. Kailan simply dodged the attacks like they were moving in slow motion. A mere level 1 Plebeian rank talent couldn’t be compared to a level 1 God talent.

“How did you fight against that lizard man?” Douglas had been watching Kailan silently for a while now. The more he saw the more he realized that Kailan was far stronger than they had estimated. But there was still a discrepancy in the power levels they estimated for the creatures in that dungeon.

Kailan turned to Douglas curiously as he recalled the fight in the level 4 Plebeian ranked dungeon. “You mean the Salarion Guardian?”

“You didn’t have a blade then, but you have martial arts skills right? Did you use those to beat it?” Douglas continued. He wanted to know how a level 1 could beat a level 4 so easily. According to the reports he one-shotted it even blasting a hole in it’s chest. When a 12 man party was run off by it and it’s handful of friends.

“That’s right. I used my Divine Martial Arts and the Destruction Palm technique.” Kailan replied with a slight grin.

“Based on our own investigation that Salarion Guardian was a Knight rank talent. We’ve never seen a Knight rank talent show up in any of the dungeons before. Not even in the higher level 7 and 8 dungeons.” Eva said thoughtfully.

Kailan’s grin became more obvious. It was the type of look an elderly sage would give to a clueless acolyte. It made Douglas and Eva a little uncomfortable.

“You’re right, it was probably a Knight rank talent. If not then it would have been blasted into mush by my attack. But do you really think that this world is the only one with Knight and King rank talents? What about Demon rank talents?” Kailan asked gently. He intended on educating these two so they can report it back to their higher ups as a type of warning.

Kailan was aware that these two no doubt reported almost everything he explained to them to Director Morris, and he in turn chose what to report up to the board of directors and higher. It’s one of the reasons Kailan was so talkative with them. He could use them to convey exactly what he wanted them to know.

Eva and Douglas’ eyes widened in surprise. Of course this made sense. But they had thought that there were rules protecting their realm from higher ranks appearing.

“According to Gaia the highest level and talent rank that can appear in a dungeon matches the average level and talent rank of the world. The average on Earth shouldn’t be higher than level 4 and a talent rank of Mortal.” Eva stated.

“Did Gaia say world or realm?” Kailan asked with a knowing grin.

“She said realm. But on Earth…”

“Precisely. On Earth.” Kailan cut Eva off as he emphasized these last two words before continuing.

“Humans are still so arrogant that they cannot even conceive of life on other planets within our own universe but they can accept lifeforms coming through dungeons from other realms? If the average level of the realm wasn’t 8 then how can level 8 dungeons form here on Earth? And if the average level of Earthlings is only 4 then where is the average level being calculated from?” This was the point he wanted to get to.

“You’re talking about the existence of aliens. There’s no scientific proof.” Douglas interjected.

“There doesn’t need to be for the possibility to exist as a part of your theories right? In fact it should have been one of the very first things scientists thought of when discussing theories of Gaia. And for that matter, there is actual scientific proof. It’s standing in the fresh dungeons you have yet to conquer or capture. Aren’t they alien lifeforms? If they exist, then why can’t they also exist on other worlds here in Midgard?” Kailan corrected Douglas.

“Actually there is a small niche of scientists that have been tossing this idea around. But they’re quickly disregarded.” Eva had a moment of clarity as she started to piece together the points those scientists had been discussing with what Kailan was saying.

“The mere fact that Knight rank talents have appeared means that the average talent rank of the realm has increased. Meaning that there are enough Knight and King rank talents to warrant it. And that average is being calculated from all living creatures both sentient and non-sentient throughout this universe. So you can expect even more to start appearing.” He concluded.

It was important to Kailan to impress upon the Bureau how serious the issue of the dungeon Rebecca nearly died in was. The fact that Knight rank talents appeared there means that they can appear in any dungeon on Earth now, regardless of the level. All realms had various talents and they all needed to level up. Everyone starts at level 1, so naturally those talents will appear in level 1 dungeons and up for the sole purpose of growing their power.

It meant that lower talent ranks could be in danger when venturing into fresh dungeons if they didn’t prepare properly. In fact they may even be in danger in dungeon mines as Gaia would mirror the levels and talents of the creatures from the dungeon the mine was formed from.

“As for how I killed that level 4 Knight rank talent Salarion, I overwhelmed him with power.” Kailan stated succinctly.

As they stood there staring at each other, Eva and Douglas deep in thought and Kailan waiting for them to catch up, suddenly a loud deep rumble sounded out. Douglas blushed as he realised it was his stomach.

“Come to think of it, how long have we been in here? It seems like a lot of time has passed.” Kailan asked as he pretended he didn’t hear Douglas’ stomach rumbling. His condescending expression had morphed into an amiable smile.

“This dungeon has a 3:1 time ratio. So it’s only been an hour on Earth but it’s been three hours in here. Which makes it past lunch time for us.” Eva explained. Dungeon mines didn’t always use the same time variance as their fresh dungeon counterparts. Gaia would often speed up the time flow since dungeon raids took a while.

“Let’s sit down and eat. I assume there’s food in that backpack you’re wearing?” Kailan returned to his friendly self as he eyed the backpack Eva was wearing.

“It’s a survival kit. So of course there's food. We can use the wood from the trees here to start a campfire.” She explained as she took the backpack off and started rummaging through it for the utensils and food.

Kailan walked to one of the trees nearby and cut off several branches to use as firewood. Douglas grabbed some rocks from the area and they built a small campfire to heat their food with.

“This won’t attract those goblin things will it?” Douglas asked Eva seriously.

“Don’t worry. Kailan’s already killed most of the first half. So I doubt we’ll see a patrol any time soon. And if one shows up, we can have lunch and a show.” Eva smiled at Kailan as she stated this.

Kailan wore a helpless look. He was on guard duty then.

They all sat down as they waited for the food to heat. Eva had packed a small ham, a tub of mashed potatoes and some green beans. It was very basic but also wholesome. Hunters have large appetites but they can also ration and survive off of less food than a normal human can. When they ate in dungeons it was light and they would commonly bring a wholesome meal along rather than something small like sandwiches, which wouldn’t even whet their appetite.

As they ate, Douglas slowed down as he seemed to contemplate something. He looked up at Kailan. “I still don’t get how you could beat that lizard man.” He stated between chewing.

Eva and Kailan about fell over from shock. He was still going on about that? Kailan didn’t mind explaining it but he felt like this big lug was too fixated on him.

“If that thing was a level 4 Knight rank talent then his Primary stats should have been 96 and his Secondary stats should have been 72. But you said you used your martial arts and Destruction Palm skill to overpower it. Meaning that your stats are lower right? And yet your Individual Rank is Mortal. Eva who is a level 6 Knight rank talent is only graded as a Plebeian Individual Rank. So how exactly does that work?” Douglas asked as he analysed.

“Sometimes I can’t tell if this guy is extremely dense or extremely intelligent.” Kailan thought to himself as he wore a defeated expression.

What he said made perfect sense and from the point of view of someone who wasn’t very knowledgeable about Gaia’s systems it was very insightful and accurate. Kailan thought for a moment as he organized his thoughts. He didn’t see any reason not to explain it.

“How much do you understand about statistics?” He asked.

“We understand that the stats Gaia displays are all geared towards combat since her primary focus is to aid us in self-defense. Stats are calculated based on a person’s Talent Rank and they increase by their base amount every level. And that each increase in stats seems to cause an exponential growth in that person’s power. We also have a basic understanding of what each stat represents. There are a lot of theories around stats but none have been proven.” Eva stated as she finished her meal and set her plate down.

“Well, that’s roughly accurate. Let me explain it like this. Open up your species' innate skill.” Kailan directed as he put his plate down as well.

Douglas however, continued eating as both he and Eva willed their specie’s skill to show.

“These are the basic abilities of Humans as a species. All species have their own unique species skill that also details the facets of their species. But note the rank of the skill. It’s Plebeian right?” Kailan continued.

“Yes.” Eva replied curiously.

“The rank of the skill is actually a very important piece of information, because it’s also the average talent rank of the species in question. Meaning that the majority of the species will have this level of talent. It also represents the basic level of power that species has even before it is connected to Gaia. Of course there are exceptions like you and Douglas. Some bloodlines have evolved over time to become more powerful. And eventually may even evolve into higher forms of life with a higher average talent rank. But that’s an entirely different discussion.” Kailan explained.

“So Humans are a Plebeian rank species?” Douglas reiterated with an unaccepting and confused look.

“Yes. Humans are among the lowest ranked species, as hard as that is to accept.” Kailan responded with a bit of sas.

Douglas’ face scrunched up having been ridiculed.

“This ranking represents the average power of any lifeform that is of that ranking. That’s how it’s assigned. Take a level 1 Plebeian talent Human as an example. Let’s say their Power stat is Primary, then it would be 8. If it was Secondary it would be 6 and if it was Tertiary it would be 4. These numbers represent the above average, average and below average stats for that species rank. So an average human that has yet to be connected to Gaia would have a Power stat of 6. Of course that’s a bit of an exaggeration as Gaia averages stats when lifeforms are connected.” Kailan continued his explanation.

“So a level 1 Plebeian represents a normal human being, I get that. But what do you mean Gaia averages the stats of lifeforms?” Eva was able to follow Kailan’s explanation, and with her vast time watching scientific debates it actually seemed to fill in many of the blanks scientists had in their analysis.

“Plebeian is a relative rank to any species that falls within it. The same is true for all of the other ranks. In truth an average human would probably have 4 or 5 Power, that’s why level 1 Plebeians still seem somewhat stronger than a non-connected person. But the average Power of ALL Plebeian ranked species is 6. So when an individual becomes connected to Gaia, she raises or lowers their Power stat to match the average. For a human that has Secondary in Power, that means she raises it from 4 to 6. And for another species that might have a Power of 9, she would lower it to 6. It’s the same as when their talent rank is higher than Plebeian, she’ll raise their stats to meet that average.” Kailan answered.

“It may seem like over strengthening or weakening of the species, but it actually does strengthen them overall. It’s a balancing act. This is one of the ways Gaia creates equality among the ranks, both of the same ranks and the ranks higher or lower than them.”

Eva and Douglas were finally able to piece together what Kailan was explaining in relation to understanding how an individual’s power worked. Basically the lowest level of the lowest talent rank represented that species’ average power. And the reason why their power seemed to grow exponentially with leveling was because their base power was being multiplied by their level, which fell in line with what humanity knew about stats.

If a level 1 Plebeian talent represented roughly the average strength of a normal human. Then a level 2 Plebeian talent would be twice as powerful as a normal human. And a level 3 Plebeian talent would be three times as powerful as a normal human. Then add in their talent rank which enhances their base stats. A level 1 Mortal rank talent would have 9 for their Secondary stats, which is 3 points higher than the Secondary of a Plebeian rank. That’s one and a half times higher. A level 1 Knight rank talent would have a Secondary of 18 which is three times the power of a level 1 Plebeian’s Secondary stat.

So a level 1 Knight talent is as powerful as a level 3 Plebeian talent. And as they level that difference grows relative to the difference in their average power.

“So then as a God, your base stats are higher than any other species but are still relative to all of the other ranks?” Eva asked, staring straight into Kailan’s eyes. She was growing more and more interested in what all Kailan knew. He was like a walking treasure trove of information.

“Yes. My Secondary stats are at 48 as their base. Making me 8 times more powerful than a normal human even at level 1. My Power, which is a Primary, is at 64 or roughly 10 and a half times more powerful than the average human.” Kailan replied smoothly as he continued on to now explain the differences between himself and the Salarion Guardian he faced.

“So by comparison, the level 4 Knight rank Salarion who probably had Primary for his Vitality stat would have been more powerful than me. At level 4 a Knight rank would have 96 as their stat for any Primary, which would be 32 points higher than my Power stat. Of course it’s not as if stats have strict calculations for determining damage. It may look like a video game from the outside but it’s not. There are a lot of factors involved in real life combat, many of which can’t be equated into numbers for calculating.”

“So then how did you overpower him?” Douglas continued with the same question he had asked before.

“Because of my Divine Martial Arts and Destruction Palm. Divine Martial Arts raises the attack power of hand to hand combat by 80% and Destruction Palm doubles it. 64 plus 80% is 115 then add in another 64 and you get 179. So while his Vitality may have been 16 times higher than the average human, my Power when combined with my skills was almost 30 times higher than an average human.” Kailan finally came to the point he was trying to explain.

It wouldn’t have made sense if he hadn’t explained how stats and talent works. But now Eva and Douglas understood how he was able to easily overpower a being whose stats were higher than his own.

“Of course my base stats are slightly higher than that due to another skill. Plus I activated a critical strike and the special effect of my Divine Martial Arts…” Kailan thought as Eva and Douglas digested what he had explained.

“Ok. So that explains how you were able to beat that big lizard. But not your Individual Rank. Your stats are still lower than ours and we’re only Plebeian rank.” Douglas jumped on the missing point.

“Except that I did explain it. It’s the combination of my stats plus my skills. When Gaia determines the Individual Rank of any lifeform it’s based on their strongest attack power. The Power stat of a level 10 Mortal rank talent, if it were Primary, would be 120. With my stats and skills combined my Power essentially raised all the way up to 179. Meaning that with that single attack I’m more powerful than a level 10 Mortal rank talent. Of course it has to be a consistent attack power, the random chance of a Critical for instance doesn’t play into that calculation. As long as you possess power equivalent to that level and rank, then you are classified at that ranking.” Kailan explained.

Eva and Douglas felt like they had just opened a doorway into a higher level of understanding into how the power of every living thing worked. Everything made so much more sense now and they felt like if they took this information into account, then they could easily estimate the abilities of others even without Gaia’s aid. It was a moment of revelation.