Part 1

Currently, Godou was in a realm of unknown space. In front of him was an indistinct shadowy figure, a Divine Saint Knight, an opponent who he currently stood little chance against.

In the left hand of the shadow was a simple long sword which radiated an unpleasant feeling at Godou. The pattern of a silver serpent was engraved on the scabbard of the sword.

I need to escape and find some time to regroup myself!

As Godou frantically tried to find a way out of his situation the shadow moved. It placed its right hand on the hilt of its sword, making a posture as if it were about to draw its sword.

The Chaos Origin Coat flared up and something seemed to pass between it and the sword.

“If you’re not going to leave, I will be forced to draw this sword!”

“I would love to do that. Unfortunately my teleport has a 10 minute cooldown so I can’t get out of here now!”

Godou could not swallow down such a retort.

However, taking Godou’s outburst as a lie, the shadow menacingly added.

“A teleport that crappy shouldn’t exist! I’m warning you, this sword emulates the powers of your kind’s natural enemies, the Destroyers! If you get slain by this, even your concept will be erased!”

Godou needed a weapon to defend himself with. Currently, the only divine skill he could use was [Divine Wind Decree]. For some reason he was unable to activate [Divine Wildcard Decree] despite a hostile divinity being present. But he if switched to [Divine Wildcard Decree], [Divine Wind Decree] would go on cooldown for 24 hours which meant that Godou had effectively lost his [Teleport] for a day.

“No, now that I look at you, you aren’t one of those conceptual gods. Which one are you? You’re too weak to be a True(Original) God. In fact, you’re even weaker than a slightly talented 11 year old girl! Are you an Ascended one then? No, you seem more like a strange mix. Regardless, a godslaying weapon should be pretty threating to your kind.”

The shadow gestured at his sword with exaggerated motions.

But… for someone who was threatening his life, Godou noticed that this shadow was awfully talkative.

Then… could it be?

Godou suddenly had a hunch at why he couldn’t use Divine Wildcard Decree. If his guess is correct then perhaps were was a way he could get out of this situation safely.

Gambling everything he had on that possibility, Godou continued to talk to the shadow.

“What do you mean by conceptual gods? True God? Ascended God? I’ve never heard of these terms before.”

“Gosh, you’re a god but you don’t even know about your own kind?!”

“Well… things happened so quickly and before I knew it I was what I am now.”

The shadow sighed.

“Okay listen up! Originally from the beginning of time there was only one type of god. The true gods. These gods were basically like all the other races except they were stronger. Because of their strength, various rumours spread about these True Gods. Eventually through the passage of time, these rumours became the myths and legends of the gods that we now know.”

“So basically the Gods existed and the shaped the legends.”

“Exactly.”

Godou was now genuinely intrigued by this. The gods came before the concept. Wasn’t this the exact opposite of the real world where the gods were shaped they their concepts?

The shadow continued its explanation.

“Time passed and shit happened. The True Gods established the Contract of Gods and exiled their kind into the immortal realms. They also implemented the Divine Saint Variants System to get rid of all the stragglers who didn’t want to leave the mortal realm.

However, these things were imperfect and caused unintended bugs. The first one was the importance of Faith. Through these systems, the power of faith was greater than the original gods intended. If a mortal gained enough faith directed to worshiping them then on very rare occasions they would be able to ascend to godhood. Thus, the Ascended Gods were created. Another name for them are Minor Gods.

Additionally, another type of gods were created accidently because of these two systems. The conceptual gods. With the power of faith so buffed up, mortal worship caused the system to generate gods based on the legends of the true gods. Thus, the Conceptual Gods came into being. Nearly all heretic gods belong to this category.

The True Gods were amused and intrigued by this reaction. The other two types of gods were similar to them but also different. Let me up it another way, if true gods were human than the other gods would be monkeys, it was that sort of thing. So instead of eliminating the source of these bugs, the True Gods simply let them be. However, they did install a limiter to the system so that none of the other two types of Gods could grow stronger than the 4th tier in strength.”

“4th Tier? What do you mean by that?”

“The tiers are the essentially power ranking system that the immortal realm unofficially established. Essentially there are 7 tiers with 7 being the weakest and 1 being the strongest. Basically everything in the mortal realm is in the 6th and 7th– Wait why am I explaining all this to you?!”

Godou grinned. It seemed his intuition was correct. This shadow actually had no intention of fighting him.

“Okay, let’s get back on track. Get out of here! Shoo… Shoo..”

The shadow starting waving its sword around with even more exaggerated motions. However to Godou, this motion now seemed like a youth trying to shoo an overly attached kitten away.

Seeing that Godou hadn’t moved, the shadow’s shoulders drooped and it let out a sigh.

“Rather than fighting me, you were only trying to scare me away weren’t you?”, Godou asked.

“Yes. Yes. Now do me a favour and leave immediately!”

“I can’t! My teleport is still on cooldown!”

“Seriously? Such a crappy teleport exists? Well I never… Once your teleport cooldown is over you better leave…”

Like a child throwing a tantrum, the shadow threw its sword to the side and sat cross-legged on the “floor” in front of Godou. The sword vanished in a puff of black smoke as it touched the “floor”. The oppressive atmosphere in the place vanished with the sword.

Despite the shadow’s abrasiveness, Godou’s instincts told him that the shadow was someone he could get along with.

Feelings of rivalry or straight out antagonism, he felt neither of these things when confronted with this shadow.

Godou made up his mind.

Ignoring the shadow’s surprise, he sat down and continued the conversation.

“What is this place?”

The duo’s surroundings did not make sense at all.

Everywhere around the two there was nothing but dark swirling clouds, but yet there was no wind. The “floor” actually didn’t exist but yet Godou was currently sitting on something.

Nothing followed the laws of nature. This place was not part of the mortal realm.

“…”

The shadow remained silent for such a long period of time that Godou thought that it was just going to ignore him. Then,

“…apartment.”

It muttered something quietly as if in response.

“Sorry I couldn’t quite get that.”

“It’s an apartment.”

“Eh?”

In front of Godou’s bemused glaze, the shadow got up and gestured at its surroundings with exaggerated motions.

“All this you see before you, is the ultimate dream apartment! Deposit: Zero, Rent: Zero, One room with zero exits and an afternoon nap included. This apartment is constructed from an impenetrable form of Divine Power which seals godslaying powers. The sun does not exist in this realm and there is no food and water but even still, the price is just too cheap! The toilet is the diaperless-diaper model but since there is an abundance of Divine Power here there are no problems!”

As the shadow continued to talk, its words became increasingly sarcastic.

“Now the hottest feature of the place. Look at this masterfully constructed space, so secure and reliable! Ignoring 142 known methods, this place is the absolute safe security structure! Nothing can come in and out of it! But even with this state of the art security, the price is too cheap! This is zero rent after all… This advertisement has been sponsored by exhikiNEET productions…”

At the end of that outburst, the shadow turned to Godou and bowed refreshingly. It was panting slightly. Godou had the impression that it was venting out something which had been bottled up for a long time.

From the shadow’s tirade, Godou had gotten the gist of its situation. Essentially, this realm was a prison cell for it, isolated from the rest of the world.

Like Ferrex, this shadow seemed to be suffering from the repercussions of social withdraw. Godou wondered how long the shadow had been stuck in here. He didn’t know what it did to get stuck here but since it didn’t seem to want to talk about it he let the matter go.

“Wait, if you can break out of here then why don’t you?”

“Do you seriously think I will answer such a question?”

The shadow gave him an appraising look before lazily flopping down on the “ground” again. Then contrary to its words, the shadow answered him.

“I can break out… but what would be the point? What happens next? Do I continue grasping for my goal? The chance of success is low. Lives will be lost needlessly. The struggle is futile. Plus, the outer seal seems happy right now. If I break out, wouldn’t his happiness be naught?”

“You can’t just give up so easily! Even if the chance of success is low, it exists right?”

The shadow spoke the words of a battle-weary warrior while dejectedly staring at the dark clouds overhead. Godou tried to give it some encouragement, for some reason he sympathised with this shadow.

“How kind of you. To say that without even knowing what my goal was. But you shouldn’t be so trusting. For all you know, I could wish for the end of the world.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

“… Intuition.”

The shadow scoffed at Godou’s crude animal-like reasoning. However Godou had survived all the battles he had been through by trusting his gut instinct. He had faith in his evaluation of this shadow.

“I haven’t given up. But I will not break myself out voluntarily.”

“That seems kind of contradictory doesn’t it?”

Godou was baffled by these words. Seeing this, the shadow gave a leisurely explanation.

“I… will not go out voluntarily. However, my comrades will not just stay put while I am gone. They will search for me. And eventually, they will “free” me.”

“By comrades do you mean your order?”

If this shadow was a Divine Saint Knight then it’s should be a very important asset to its religious order right? Contrary to Godou’s expectations, the shadow’s response was full of distain.

“Hardly… Those guys… I won’t expect anything of them…”

The shadow’s tone changed to one filled with genuine pride.

“Rather, my capable disciple and her trustworthy comrades(cannon fodders) will be the ones to do the deed. I’m sure they will manage somehow… somehow… somehow…”

The shadow’s mood changed to one of great depression. It dropped down on all fours.

“Crap… I might just end up being stuck here forever!”

Godou watched this spectacle surprised by how quickly the shadow could change its mood.

Before he could comment on that, the shadow looked away suddenly and changed the subject.

“Ten minutes should be over right? You should be able to leave now right? Go.”

“Don’t you want me to stay?”

To Godou’s half-playful question the shadow have a serious answer.

“This seal was specifically made to contain me alone. Your prolonged presence here will cause problems for the outer seal. Please leave. And also, do not tell anyone about our encounter. Especially another Divine Saint Variant.”

Nodding his understanding, Godou made preparations to try and teleport to Ferrex again. Before he left he didn’t forget to give his introductions to the shadow.

“I am Godou. Pleased to meet you.”

The shadow remained silent for a while. For a moment Godou almost thought that the shadow wasn’t going to name itself.

But then, just before he teleported, he heard the shadow’s response in a clear voice a half a second late.

“My name is…”

Then, Godou’s vision changed. He had left the mysterious realm of the inner seal.

Part 2

In the mysterious realm, the shadow stood alone.

It looked wordlessly at the empty space which Godou had occupied just a few moments previously.

A sudden realisation struck it.

“I just sent away the only company I had for over a year… Shit!”

Part 3

Something is wrong?

As Godou tried to teleport to Ferrex again, his surroundings swirled and changed for several seconds. It was just like the time when he travelled to the shadow’s realm. Even as he thought that, Godou’s surrounds stablished again and he saw another vision.

Like the first vision, he could somehow feel the thoughts of some foreign entity.

***

They huddled in the dark room, clutching their blankets around them. The cold chill of the night penetrated the rough shack they had taken cover in. The full moon shone, allowing a beam of light to pass through one of the partially boarded up windows. The wind howled cruelly, rattling the entire shack and blowing more cold air into the shack.

One of them peered cautiously through the cracked window. Utilising the shadows to her advantage she took special care not to be seen.

“They’re everywhere…”

With that quiet murmur she had reported the expected result.

The rest stayed quiet. There was no need for them reply. Not verbally at least.

The crunching of crushed snow underfoot was enough to remind them of the nightmarish hell they were currently enduring. Skeletal monsters roamed everywhere in the snow filled valley. Mist permeated their surroundings rendering optical visibility virtually useless.

Despite the barbaric conditions they were currently in the eyes of the 7 young children shone with resolution. The entire atmosphere around the group bespoke of a fire which refused to flare out.

Merciless training that weeded out the elites from the failures and at the same time ingrained a deep rooted hatred of the undead.

The children understood purpose of the exercise very clearly. They had understood that many of them would not survive if they decided to take the test. But still they preserved. This was necessary for the sake of their dream. Many of them had died.

Nevertheless, the rest endured it, awakening new talents and abilities, finally managing to survive on one of the harshest environments in Versailles. Of course this had other effects on the survivors as well.

To survive this training the children had learnt to hide their emotions.

They no longer screamed when they encountered a skeletal knight or when one of their number was taken down because they knew that screaming would attract others.

They had learnt to make cold and calculative judgements unfitting of children of their age.

They no longer tried to engage undead monsters in head-on assaults to retrieve fallen comrades because they would only be rushing to their deaths if they tried.

And yet… they did not become heartless killers either.

They no longer visibly expressed sadness or anger as such expressions could promote others to perform reckless actions.

They could make the judgement that it was better to abandon one of their comrades in head-on conflicts because it was more efficient to trick the enemy and launch a surprise rescue afterwards.

Thus a sense of unspoken trust and developed between each of the 7 children. These were strong bonds formed through shared horrors, triumphs and fear.

Thus as skilled dark knights and shadow priests arrived to wipe out the undead and check for survivors they could safety tick off the training regime as successful.

After all, the children had become skilled fighters with the potential to become brilliant commanders and leaders.

Considering the fact that they could make level-headed decisions.

Considering the fact that their emotions and expressions could not be read during negotiations.

Considering the fact that they possessed deep care and understanding for comrades.

The higher ups of the Church would be extremely pleased.

***

The vision ended and Godou found himself in another unfamiliar environment.

Void.

If the theme of the shadow’s realm was darkness, then theme of this room would be nothingness. Like the shadow’s realm, there was no “floor” in this realm but yet Godou was able to stand up perfectly.

Just where did I end up now?

Godou warily took in this blank world. Was he going to get threatened again?

Then Godou noticed a familiar face and dropped his guard.

“Just now… there was a reaction in the seal?”

There was a dark haired youth wearing a red robe with a white toga wrapped over it. Looking at his left hand with a bewildered expression was Ferrex.

“Yo Ferrex. It seems like my teleport skill actually has the ability to bring me here.”

Looking away from his hand, Ferrex greeted Godou weakly.

“It’s been a while since we’ve actually met face to face hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, the last time was the incident with Seirph wasn’t it? Man, I really thought I was going to die back then.”

“Well technically I did die so what does that say about me?”

“You’re still around now aren’t you? Actually, remember that time Lexus made us attack that wolf pack by ourselves?”

“That was terrifying… I really thought we were done for when they started calling other wolf packs for help.”

The fact the duo could talk about these matter so easily about such matters with each other was testament of how well they knew each other.

Godou noticed that compared to the shadow, Ferrex’s aura was a lot softer, colourless even. Rather than comparing him to other Divine Saint Variants, Godou felt that Ferrex’s aura was the most similar to Badas’s current aura.

Physically, Ferrex seemed paler and more gloomy than Godou remembered. Perhaps he really had been over doing it. Conversely, he seemed more talkative than usual. Maybe some part of him had been craving for social interaction. He could speak with Godou remotely though his pendent, but evidently, this was not the same as having someone come over and talk with you.

“Just now did you mention something about a seal? It’s fine. You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Godou asked the question which had been on his mind for a long time. Pausing for a moment as if to consider something, Ferrex answered him in a surprisingly bitter tone.

“Currently, no, even before I met you, I was used as part of a seal to contain a great evil.”

“A great evil?”

“Yes but for some reason I actually can’t recall what the evil is. I don’t if that’s the effect of the seal or something else. Even when using oracles and divine inspiration I am unable to gather information on it.”

“That… sound pretty suspicious actually.”

As Godou blurted out his thoughts, Ferrex gave him a wry smile.

“Yes, it actually is pretty troubling. Though during the time I stayed at the church of Freya I never really got concerned about this matter… Is it because I’m not in the mortal realm or is it because of something else…

Ferrex broke off into muttering for a moment before recovering and saying:

“Anyway, due to maintaining that seal I am unable to use more that 20% of my full strength and if I push myself too far, the seal will break. That is the main obstacle for me to rebuilt my body.”

“I see…”

Ferrex hung his head down in dejection.

To help distract Ferrex from brooding over negative thoughts Godou quickly racked his brain to find a different conversation topic. The first thing that came to mind was the unanswered question which the shadow had introduced to him.

Godou decided to ask about it.

“By the way, do you know anything about the 7 tier system?”

“What’s this about?!”

“Oh nothing, it’s just that someone recently mentioned it to me but they never got around to explaining it.”

“…Someone told you about it? Who was it? Lexus? Information on that ranking system is not something one can easily obtain in the mortal realm.”

“I don’t remember.”

“…”

Godou sheepishly wondered whether or not he was digging his own grave as Ferrex fell into deep thought. However, he had promised the shadow that he would not speak about it and had no intentions of breaking that oath yet.

“Well, if you remember, tell me who said it. This sort of information can only be gained in the mortal realm via oracles.”

“Oracles? You mentioned those before. Is it like that Divine Inspiration thing you did before?”

Godou remembered. Right before his final showdown with Knite, Ferrex had suddenly obtained a mass of information about his origins through what he called Divine Inspiration. From Godou’s understanding, it seemed to be something like Spirit Vision in the real world.

Where oracles related to this?

“Hmmm sort of. Oracles and Divine Inspiration are a bit different though. People who specialise in obtaining oracles are called seers and generally have the best sensing abilities in the mortal realm. In the case of oracles you gain new information but Divine Inspiration feels a bit different to me. It actually feels a bit strange. Rather than learning something new, it feels like I’m re-remembering something?”

“Is that so…”

Ferrex’s expression blanked out for a moment, his body tensed up. Then he relaxed and recovered himself.

“You wanted to know about the 7 tiers right?”

“Er… Yeah.”

“To put it simply, the 7 tiers is an unofficial power ranking created by the beings in the Immortal Realms.”

As he recovered, Ferrex asked to confirm Godou’s objective. Then, taking a deep breath, he started to explain.

“The power of all entities in all realms can be ranked into 7 tiers. Only tiers 7 and 6 inhabit the mortal realm, everything else is pretty much banished to the immortal realms. Tier 1 is the strongest while tier 7 is considered to be the weakest.

Originally, this ranking system only had three levels: The first level comprising of undefeatable beings; the second level comprising of everything else in the Immortal Realms and those in the mortal realm that had power; and finally the third level containing everything else.

However, over time this ranking became more developed and split into two branches. Thus the 7 tier ranks and the SABCDEF ranking was formed. While the first level stayed the same, the rankings for the other two levels became more detailed. The second level was split into different tiers and became the 7 tier system. The third level was split into different racial rankings and became the SABCDEF ranking. You get me so far?”

“Yeah, actually I think I remember someone mentioning that SABCDEF ranking before as well.”

“Come to think of it, I remember that as well. Who said it?”

Ferrex appeared to think for a moment at Godou’s comment. Likewise Godou tried to rack his brain to remember who said it. The person who had mentioned it was someone he was acquainted to, Godou was sure of it.

Lexus seemed to be the most likely candidate but Godou had never talked to him about this subject. But then who had said it? It was someone with a lot of experience.

Perhaps a veteran player like Reta or…

“Ah! I remember now. It was Satoshi.”

“Oh, that guy… I remember him now. I wonder how he got this information.”

Godou recalled the player who had he had become acquainted with during the incident with Knite. A man who wore a lab coat and had the aura of a doctor or a scientist around him.

Satoshi wasn’t without his quirks but he had given Godou a great deal of help during and after Knite’s incident. Since that incident, Godou had run into Satoshi many times either while helping the town rebuilt or relaxing at pubs.

It occurred to Godou that despite all their encounters, Satoshi was still something like an enigma to him. Apparently Satoshi was well versed in a variety of Ancient Magics but Godou never got the impression of a fighter from Satoshi.

Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, Ferrex continued with his explanation.

“With the addition of these two systems, the overall detail in the ranking system was greatly increased and both rankings could be used concurrently with each other to create an overall detailed ranking of all beings.

In the 7 tier system the first and third levels were left intact was their own separate tiers while the second level was split into 5 tiers. Basically, the first level became known as the first tier and the third level became the 7th tier.

Meanwhile the SABCDEF ranking split the third level into 6 different racial potential rating, i.e. A, B, C, D, E, and F. The S ranking represented anything stronger than that in other words anything S rank was considered to be or have the potential to be 6th tier or stronger. You still follow me?”

“I think so. Basically, the 7th tier system is a detailed ranking for the immortal realms while the SABCDEF ranking is the detailed ranking for the mortal realms right?”

“I guess you can think of it that way.”

A sudden question came to Godou’s mind.

“I get that the second and third level are separated because they represent the inhabitants of the different realms but what’s so special about the first level?”

“Hmmm… I’ll get to that later. It will mess up my explanation if I tell you about it now. You initially wanted to know about the 7 tiers right? I will explain about it now.”

“Okay.”

After that brief interruption, Ferrex took a deep breath and continued to speak.

“99% of all living things in this world inhabit the mortal realm. In other words, 99% of the world’s population is considered to be part of the weakest tier, the 7th tier. The main reason for this is because the remaining 1% are that much more powerful.

Normal monsters like goblins and kobolds, boss monsters like the King Hydra, and immature dragon Imogi, final class advancements like Saints and Saint Knights, and even weak minor gods, all of them are considered to be part of this tier.

Since this population was so vast, a separate ranking needed to be created to rank the beings in the 7th tier against each other. This separate ranking is the SABCDEF rating.”

As Godou listened to these worlds, he started to develop his own understanding of the power ranking of the world.

In terms of power, the current him and the current Ferrex would no doubt be part of the 7th tier as well.

“The next weakest tier is the 6th tier. Despite being the second weakest tier, the power gap between the 7th and 6th tiers is massive. After all, this tier consists of the weakest of the second level.

Basically, the strongest of the mortal realm and the weakest of the immortal realms fit into this tier. Due to the contract of Gods and other similar bindings on none-divine races, this tier is the strongest you can become while in the mortal plane.”

Godou remembered his fight with Knite. While Knite was fighting in Tellap, he had never seemed to fight at his true level of strength, always holding back and using the minimum amount of power it took to defeat his adversary. At first Godou had thought it was because of his arrogance but to think there was actually such a reason behind Knite’s attitude.

“Fully grown dragons, immature dragon kings, minor gods, ultimate class humans like Badas Sky, there are a variety of different beings classified in this realm.”

Ferrex suddenly stopped as if considering something. Then he added as a side note:

“Actually the 1st tier are exempt from the 6th tier strength limit. However they are a special case so I will explain them later. Any questions?”

“What do you mean by Ultimate class?”, Godou decided to ask as he came across the term which he had never heard before.

“That is what we call beings who have reached the limit of their race. Generally all races have the potential to reach 6th tier. It’s just very rare when one of the weaker races like humans do. For example, that Great Knight, Badas Sky is the first Ultimate Class Human I’ve seen. Well apart from Divine Saint Variants anyway.”

“I still don’t…”

“You remember the SABCDEF rankings right?”

“Yeah…”

“Those rankings are a measure of how much effort you have to put in to reach the limit of your power. For example a level 1 dragon is stronger than a level 1 rabbit and to reach the level of power of a dragon the rabbit needs to be several levels higher.

Though there is a level cap though. By that I mean there comes a stage where you run out of enemies that given you sufficient experience points as your level becomes higher. Basically, no matter how long you train you can’t become stronger than that.

There is no real generic formula on how to reach ultimate class since it varies between races. For some races like humans, you evolve into an ascended version of your race as a result of some stimulus and then depending on what you do in that phase you might be able to evolve once again to the Ultimate class version of your race. Other races like spirits and elementals, this “ascended” state is split into a middle class and a high class section while other races might just jump directly to ultimate class in one go.

It is unknown if this is applicable for you freemen though since you have the ability to change races and classes easily under the right conditions.”

“I see.”

“Anything else then?”

Godou shook his head. Although he had initially started this conversation because he wanted to distract Ferrex from brooding, Godou as actually becoming quite interested in the conversation.

Instinctively, Godou felt that when using [Gift of the Overlord], in terms of power he would fit somewhere in the 6th tier.

“Next up is the 5th tier. Beings which are ranked 5th tier or higher are forced into the immortal realms by the varying bindings on the land. If such a being choses to resist the bindings then they will only be able to use their full power for short periods of time in the mortal realm.

This tier is filled with ultimate class beings such as Mature Dragon Kings, Major Gods, Major Demons, Elemental Avatars etc”

After listing off some ominous sounding names, Ferrex paused for Godou to ask questions but continued when he remained silent.

“After that is the 4th tier. The strength of those in the 4th tier is so great that they would be able to destroy the whole world if they wanted to. This tier represents the limits of Major Gods. Almost all the Gods after this tier are True(Original) Gods.

Beyond that is the 3rd tier who are said to be able to destroy the world with a single attack. It is in this tier at beings start to reach the limits on what is physically possible. This tier consists of the various Candidates of the major chieftain fractions and the True Gods. Another way of looking at it is that this tier consists of the successors to the 2nd tier in the case than anybody in the second tier were to fall.”

Godou’s mind when blank as he considered the horrifying implications of this piece of information. If there were several beings ranked 4th tier and up didn’t this mean that this world could end at any time if someone pissed them off?

A sudden realisation hit him.

“Wait! By Candidates do you mean–!”

“Yes, as an Elemental Lord Candidate, Knite at his full power would have been considered to be part of this tier.”

Godou almost couldn’t believe that he had managed to win against such a monster. Looking back, although Knite had been severely weakened, he had only managed to beat Knite by a hairsbreadth.

Godou shook himself. A win was a win. No matter how much time he wasted considering the “what ifs”, he couldn’t deny his own achievements.

“The 2nd tier comes after this. This is the strongest tier in the second level. The beings in this tier are the strongest it is possible to be in this world. The second power gap in the ranking arguable occurs here between the 2nd and the 3rd tiers.

The 2nd tier consists of the leaders of the various fractions in the Immortal Realms, For example True Gods, Elemental Lords, Spirit Kings, the Beast(666) etc.

“Wait if the strongest are in 2nd tier then what’s up with the 1st tier then?”

“I’m getting to it.”

Despite Godou’s interruption, Ferrex responded to him patiently.

“Battles between 6th to 3rd tier beings could go either way depending on the conditions, strategies, compatibility, luck, mental state etc. At this point overwhelming brute force does not guarantee victory. You’re pretty much an example of that. That powerup skill you used to beat Knite was pretty similar to the Divine Saint Knight’s divine possession ability and it brought you up from 7th tier to the lower 6th tier.

However, when it gets to the 2nd tier, things get more complicated. Looking at it from a technical stand point, the 2nd tier and 1st tier both have the same base stats. Yet in a battle between a 1st tier entity and a 2nd tier entity, the 1st tier will always win no matter what. Rather, it is impossible for a 1st tier to lose at all.

Let’s think about it for a bit. The top two tiers consist of beings who have reached all the physical limits.

So… how do you fight? How do you beat your opponent? Do you become stronger than them? Become faster than them? Hit harder than them? Cast faster than them? Fight smarter than them? What do you do when both you and your opponent have reached the limit at which this world will allow you to reach? What do you do when faster does not exist? What do you do when stronger is not allowed?

In the 3rd tier, beings begin to realise this. No matter how fast you try to go, there is a wall you cannot cross. ~3 x 10^8 metres per second. The speed of light.

It is physically impossible to move faster than this, thus becoming faster is impossible. It’s the same in the other aspects, there’s a limit to the amount of damage you can do in this world. There’s a limit to how high your defences can be. There’s a limit to how much mana you can have. There’s a limit to how many spells you can use simultaneously.

Those in the 2nd tier are able to reach these limit points. Yet, if this is the case then why is the gap between the 1st and 2nd tiers so wide? Stat wise 2nd tier and 1st tier are around the same. Nothing is faster than them, nothing hits harder than them, nothing casts magic stronger than them yet why are the 1st tier so feared? Why does a single 1st tier have the ability to solo several 2nd tiers when the difference between their abilities isn’t that different?

All those on the 1st tier possess something that makes them different. No matter how overwhelming the odds they will not fall. Indestructible. Invincible. This is the reputation that they have built up. And that, Godou is the answer to your question.”

Godou suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia hit him as he heard Ferrex talk. Just where he did encounter such a being that seemed to transcend all others?

“The 1st tier consists of absolute monsters with the ability to destroy all others with ease. Just as the gap between the 7th and 6th tiers, the power of those on the 1st tier are said to be on a completely different level. Although they have never fought, all entities on this tier have roughly the same level of power.

The 1st tier consists of a collection of mysterious beings who only appear and disappear on whim. Even if the world is in a crisis they may not appear.

They include the Divine Overlords who I have already told you about previously, the Original Destroyer also known as the Hero King and the first Magic King, the Anti-spiral who reverses evolution, the Dragon God who holds the power of the infinite while being born from nothingness and last but not least the Caped Baldy, the strongest unknown hero to ever exist!

All 1st tier entities obey a single omnipotent and omnipresent entity which is not included in the rankings sorely because it represents everything and only acts as an observer.”

“There’s something stronger than 1st tier?”

Godou wondered why such a thing would exist. The scale of power he had heard Ferrex describe was already ridiculous but now there was something even stronger than that?

Ferrex’s next words baffled him even more.

“You’ve already met it apparently.”

“I have?!”

“This being is something that goes by many names. The Origin, The creator of all and A.I. Goddess. However, its most well-known name is the Holy Seer. In other words it’s the being that sends you freemen into this world!”

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~Chapter end~

The reason the types of Gods seemed so convoluted was because lin4t and I had different viewpoints on what gods were so we combined them to make things consistent (well, we do have a collab volume between our series though since I wanted to finish vol 3 first there hasn’t been much progress…). Contrary to expectations, True Gods were my idea while Concept gods were lin4t’s.

On a side note, I was really tempted to name this chapter “No cost apartment” but I thought against it.

ps:these forum codes bugs are really annoying