《Adam is the Protagonist》Chapter 31: Ranking
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Opening the door, there were a bedridden young man and a little girl sitting by side making casual conversation.
Adam's sudden declaration caught Zane and Eve off guard but his words informed them on whats going on.
"Zane, Eve, meet your new teammate, Mira. Get to know each other since we're going to be together for a while. Well, I'll leave you guys to talk."
After seeing Adam leave immediately right after, Mira was suddenly put in an awkward situation. Although they both saw each other from time to time in the doctor's lab, they haven't really talked.
Mira found some kind of confidence within herself and introduced herself first, "Hello, my name is Mira. I hope we could great friends from today onwards!"
She had to since first impressions mattered, she learned it the hard way when she first entered the orphanage. Though this kind of social interaction was quite odd for Mira it even more so on Zane and Eve.
Zane grew up alone in an orphanage and trained the majority of the time making no close friends while Eve grew up in a hellish environment where everything was against her. Seeing Mira actually have some confidence in her own social skills, Zane and Eve could only try to cope with it.
Eve was more understanding of social affairs since, in the end, she was still a noble, "Well, Mira, you look great. Did you finally get your trait controlled?"
Mira's expression slightly changed which changed the mood slightly.
Eve immediately said afterward, "Nevermind." While raising her hands trying to gesture she meant no harm.
They talked for a bit more until they felt that the initial tone of the conversation finally passed. After a good amount of time, Zane finally broke the ice.
"Why are you joining Adam?"
Mira knew it was better to say it sooner than later so she told them, "I want to live like a normal person. Of course, you know what I mean since its all in Adam's insane plan."
Mira saw Zane and Eve slightly confused expression and realized that Adam hasn't told them what he was planning. She didn't know if she should tell them right now or not. In the end, she decided to not tell them, if Adam wanted them to know then he just had to tell them.
After an hour, Adam opened the door again with servants bringing food and refreshments. They all took some and enjoy this relaxing atmosphere except for one person, Mira.
She finally got accustomed to the first initial phase of Ruler of Mana and so she could control mana coarsely so of course, she tried to do so. When she tried sensing mana around her she felt suffocated, it was as if mana all around her wouldn't even listen to her.
She looked at Zane and saw how powerful and reckless the mana around him is, there was a black tinge at the rim trying to enter the center but a powerful artifact was preventing it.
She glanced at Eve and saw her calm mana become composed and even non-existent then revert back to her calm mana in a cycle.
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She didn't even need to look at Adam to know the extent of his abilities since she knew that there were only a few things that could hinder him in this country.
Adam looked at Mira and said, "So that's your alignment? Interesting, I really thought you were going to be like Zane in this aspect with how chaotic your mana is. No matter, it's a good surprise."
Zane asked Adam a question that has been bothering him ever since he went to Bran, "Adam, just how much influence do you have?"
Adam instantly answered back, "A lot, I control the majority of the powerhouses of this country with my mana technique but that's as far as I can go in these four years. Though I can rule this country right now with an iron fist, multiple alliances will hunt me down and kill me."
Eve then asked Adam another question regarding power, "I remember you saying there are categories on how strong people are. Can you tell us?"
"There definitely is but the way we are training, it can't accurately define our strengths. There are a few mainstream ranking systems but they are constantly getting refined."
Mira then got confused by Adam's words, she knew how people's power is ranked since she heard it from Adam and the doctor's daily conversation.
"Why is that so?"
"Well if we were to rank us based on their system, Zane is the strongest followed by Mira then Eve then with me as last. I told you its highly inaccurate."
The three of them were confused by this ranking since Adam would obviously be higher than them combined.
Seeing their confused faces, Adam explained, "Their ranking system is based on how much mana you can store and how much destructive power you can show. Zane could cut the ground and destroyed terrain which makes him a Tier 2 threat. Mira could gather a terrifying amount of mana at such a short amount of time which makes her a Tier 2 as well. Eve's mana and power are considered average according to them making her Tier 1. While I can't gather a large amount due to my situation making me barely have any mana at any given time making me Tier 0, the bare minimum."
Hearing Adam's clear explanation everything made sense to them now. It only gauged their raw power but not their actual skill with it.
"That's really dumb, why would they only rank raw power?"
Adam got amused when he heard this question, "That's exactly what I asked myself so I integrated my own ranking system within the mainstream one. I made this when I first heard it. You guys are lucky, it's still pending but the paper I sent to the King Alliance is going to publish this new ranking system."
Adam controlled mana inside the room and condensed it forming words within the air. He then started to explain the new system he created.
Novice is given to those who are considered within the tier but do not possess power equal to their tier.
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Basic is considered the bare minimum to be within this tier. It is usually for people who just reached this stage.
Intermediate is given to those in the tier who could fight multiple people of the same tier and succeed.
Advanced is given to those who could fight the next tiers to a standstill or could possibly win.
Master is given to who could fight multiple people of the next tiers by standstill or victory.
Prominent is a special one given to those who could turn the tides in a large scale war.
With these sub-tiers in mind, the group's whole new strength ratings are Zane, Basic Tier 2. Mira Novice Tier 2, Mira Intermediate Tier 1.
After Adam wrote their power rating based on this new system, Zane wondered about Adam's rating, "Hey Adam, what about yours? Based on this you should be a Master, right?"
Adam walked back to his seat after explaining and casually said, "Right, Master Tier 0. By the way, there's something really interesting in your little group, Zane, Abel is considered as an Intermediate Tier 1 while Gabe is considered as a Prominent Tier 1. Quite a nice group you have there."
Zane spoke up, "Speaking of them, can I see them?"
Adam looked around and said, "Let's go girls, Zane wants something to meet them in private."
Right after that, Adam snapped his fingers, and Abel who had a stiff proper posture giving our orders and a lazing Gabe sleeping on the side appeared. Although they were confused when they saw Zane lying on the bed they immediately understood what was happening.
Both of them said at the exact same time, "Boss!"
Adam, Eve and Mira were now walking down the corridor bringing Mira up to date with what happened to Zane. Mira then understood just how much Zane had to deal with these past two weeks, while she was having fun Zane was fighting for people he swore to protect.
Although Mira felt this way she didn't fail to see how Adam orchestrated this whole event and was the sole reason this ever happened. As cruel an act, this was, it was something Adam made clear, if he ever needed to do something to achieve his goals he will do it.
When Mira looked at Adam with a knowing look, Adam simply smiled back. They reached a training ground where a few odd-looking servants were training and gathering mana for Condensation. There was a gigantic space for training making those few training look insignificant.
Adam went to the side and relaxed for a bit while ordering Mira and Eve to train as well. He planned to teach them and guide them through this process.
After properly sitting down and focusing they started to gather their mana inside their bodies and continued the crystallization. As Mira gathered enough to crystallize a section of their blood vessels Adam yelled out.
"Wrong! You forgot to pinpoint your weak point first."
Mira realized this and tried to feel where she was at her weakest and started from there. She looked around trying to feel out which part of her had the smallest vessels.
"Another mistake! The weakest point I am referring to is where your mana circuit is furthest from your blood circuit!"
When one of the people training heard that he immediately started sweating while a smirk appeared on the other servants.
Mira then followed Adam's instructions and pinpointed the furthest point from her mana circuit. She then started crystallizing it from the end and slowly worked her way up. Adam hasn't said a single word so she kept on going until she felt an odd sensation where she immediately stopped.
"Good reaction, knowing when to stop and starting over. Remember, I'll only be a guide and I won't teach you to step by step."
They continued until night and what laid before the previous casual training servants were an extremely jealous inducing scene. Mira had condensed a tenth of her entire body's blood vessels essentially finishing the initial requirement to go on the next phase, Integration.
Of course, this could only be done by Mira and no one else since her own Trait, Mana Void, completely eats the mana surrounding her aiming to constantly fill her body with mana. With how much mana crystallization takes, it was only logical that she would speed through this process. It's a speed that not even Adam could compete with.
The servants surrounding them could only speak under their breaths. With Adam's affinity with mana, he could clearly hear what they were saying but Mira couldn't. The vibration through the air was mimicked by mana letting Adam understand their words.
"The True Underworld King brought another freak of nature. I wonder how the Hoheim Kingdom will respond."
"I guess I'll have to travel to Bran this time around, I want to see her full abilities in full. There might be a slight chance that I could gain her favor."
"It's just one after the other, they may be kids but they could each be called powerhouse, I wonder if the True Underworld King would consider my daughter."
Adam reached his hand out towards Mira and she grabbed it, pulling her up. Adam also reached his hand towards Eve offering his hand but she didn't accept it.
There was already a gigantic gap between her and the newcomer. She thought she could retain her strength since everyone around her was extremely strong in their own right. Though the newcomer just arrived today she already achieved more than what Eve has done.
Adam spoke some encouraging words, "Eve, don't compare yourself to her, you're going to be extremely terrifying if you keep your training. In the near future, your name will be even more prominent than hers."
Seeing Eve's eyes lit up for a bit made Adam think, Charm and complete invisibility, such completely contrasting abilities but put together, a terrifying assassin is born.
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