It’s been far, far too long since I had the opportunity to do this.

Last time I ranked up, I was in captivity. A slave of the United States, forced to train its military forces in the way of the Destiny Deck System. A few of them passed my level just in the time before the invasion. I’m sure there are a large contingent of A-Rank heroes, or should I say villains, currently invading the multiverse.

To combat them, I will catch up to them.

I have been a B-Rank [Adventurer] for far too long. It is time for me to become an A-Rank [Adventurer] as quickly as I can!

Hold on, everyone.

This is about to get epic.

Everyone on the ship, all these Santa Barbaran soldiers, gather around to see it happen. They’ve heard their king is about to ascend to a higher tier, and they want to see it as it happens. They want to be a part of history.

And I’ll let them be there.

“It’s time,” I say. “RANK UP TIME.”

The glowy sparkly substance surrounds me. Colors swirl around me in a vibrant rainbow that covers the whole boat.

It feels so similar to last time; nearly identical in scope and grandeur.

A full rainbow engulfs me and changes the hue of my whole body temporarily.

The other soldiers gasp and cheer, some of them shouting about how prideful they are, presumably having great reverence for my decision to rank up.

And then music plays in the scene. Absolutely riveting tunes blasting around the entire scene. If we were a stealth ship, we would have been spotted immediately.

And now... I am finally Rank A.

It’s here!

I’m now just one rank away from becoming the first S-Rank Hero in a millennium. So close to tasting victory that I can, indeed, taste it.

And it comes with so many wonderful perks, as well.

First off, an astounding FIFTY THOUSAND Life Points!

[50,000/50,000] points in my health right now. That’s superb.

The tradeoff is now that leveling up requires 50 Destiny Points rather than 40 like in Rank B. But I have so many at my disposal at this point that my risk of death from natural Life Point drain is practically nothing. At normal living pace, I can survive for over a month without increasing my level even once.

When I first arrived on Earth all that time ago, I had just 15,000 Life Points at my disposal. Now I have more than triple.

And for another wonderful ability, I have... FAST TRAVEL!

Yes, indeed. For a cost of just 1,000 Life Points at a time, I can revisit any location I have previously been to with teleportation very similar to what Julie showed me back in Mutsu. I wonder if she perhaps was using this power and simply didn’t realize it.

Either way, this ability of course does not allow cross-world travel in most cases. I cannot return to Balloon Land, for example. But, thankfully for me and me only, I happen to have a ghost on Mystix as we speak. Not one I can access in dream form like before, but it means all of Mystix that I have explored is open to me, should I ever choose to do so.

Along with that very significant new power, I also have upgrades to my Destiny Cards and the systems revolving those.

First is an upgrade called Life Point Drawing Doubling. Before, I could draw a card for a randomized cost of 500-1500 LP each. Now, I can do the same thing for a much higher 1000-2500 LP. But when I do this, I will draw two cards instead!

This sounds essentially unchanged from simply using the old ability twice, but the speed at which I can draw cards is the real increase here. In the heat of battle, being able to rapidly draw new cards is an extremely important tool. I will make great use of this.

And finally, another upgrade called Destiny’s Price: Gain the full rank value of any Destiny Card discarded. Before, it was half the points, rounded down (except for cards at rank value 1, but of course gaining 0 points to discard is a silly proposition no deity like The Goddess would ever program in for the feel-bad nature of it). Now everything is so much more efficient.

And to carry over with all these nice upgrades, my Destiny Card slots now increase to a whopping FIFTEEN!

Time Acceleration. Rank 4. Speeds up time x5 for what feels to you like 5 minutes. Cost: 800 LP.

Overload Spark: Rank 5. Deal electric damage to each selected target within one mile. Cost: 888 LP.

Double Dip: Rank 3. Doubles the effects of the next Destiny Card you use. Cost: 600 LP.

Inventory Slot: Rank 4. Store an item here to retrieve for future use. Current item: Balloon Sword.

Inventory Slot: Rank 4. Store an item here to retrieve for future use. Current item: AK-47.

Super Reverse: Rank 4. Reverse everything in a ten foot radius around you. Cost: 100 LP.

Searing Rush: Rank 3. Triples speed and agility for 3 minutes. Cost: 1115 LP.

Instant Death: Rank 8. Kill target. Cost: 4444 LP.

Irreparable Force: Rank 7. Inertial mass is cut by 625 KG/s for 80 seconds. Cost: 4000 LP.

Time Deceleration. Rank 4. Slows down time x5 for what feels to you like 5 minutes. Cost: 800 LP.

Transmigrated Specter: Rank 7. Summon an expert-level spirit to assist you for ten minutes. Cost: 666 LP.

I’m so utterly happy about this.

The options for my destiny expand in so many different directions. I am already nearly unstoppable. This will make me even more practically unstoppable. I give these qualifiers because I am not yet Rank S, but I will be soon enough.

Now, let’s draw some cards quickly to fill these four extra slots...

Here we go. Two cards at a time!

Skill Check: Rank 1. Examine the variables around you. (There is a small chance that your next action will go exceedingly well or exceedingly poorly.) Cost: 50 LP.

Skill Check Ultimate: Rank 27. Examine the variables around you. Manipulate them to your will. Effect lasts 24 hours, but changes are permanent. Cost: 69423 LP.

What in The Goddess’s name is [Skill Check Ultimate]?

The first one is a very common card, a nuisance really. The second one is... Well, it seems a little broken in terms of powers.

I am fairly sure a power like this could lead one to utterly dominate the planet. Therefore, its absolutely absurd 69,423 Life Point cost is entirely justified. It would of course kill me in a single use. I’m not even sure if I am able to use a card like that, or if the system would simply reject it. I am too scared to try.

I’ll keep it around to examine it a bit further, but I will most likely be discarding that one as soon as I need and taking that lovely 27 DP.

For my final two card draws...

Skill Check: Rank 1. Examine the variables around you. (There is a small chance that your next action will go exceedingly well or exceedingly poorly.) Cost: 50 LP.

Skill Check: Rank 1. Examine the variables around you. (There is a small chance that your next action will go exceedingly well or exceedingly poorly.) Cost: 50 LP.

Curses.

Oh well. I’ll rebalance my inventory after the next time something truly exciting happens.

Like the battle I am about to begin.

The attack on Santa Barbara... And all of California... Begins!