Chapter 413 - Four Rankings (Patreon)

The Entrance floor of the Beyond is massive and full of people. So far I have seen humans, lynthari, demons, and smaller humans with scaly legs; I don't know the name of their race.

And there are many more, all kinds of races. Some man with wings on his back, another one with hair that keeps glowing and floating around their head, a man twice as tall as me, and more. Sitting on the ground with my back against the wall of a nearby building and out of the way, I observe them moving all around.

None of them have text over their head. All of them are as real as I am, as Group 4 is, as Vega is.

All of them are the ones who were able to complete three Beyond trials and get here.

It makes sense. Our round has seven people in Beyond. Earth should have at least five rounds, and if each round has around, let's say, an average of five people. That means 25 from Earth alone, probably twice that if we have ten rounds. Even if some of them die, it means a decent number entering Beyond.

Now multiply it by hundreds, maybe thousands of tutorials running at the same time, and you will get an idea of how many of them are here. Well, probably not exactly here; from what I've seen, this entrance floor is huge but probably not the only one. I would expect there to be multiple of them.

It's all so much and so fascinating that I have to calm down my excitement.

Beyond, according to my handler, lies in between the real world and tutorials. So what exactly does that mean? I want to know. I also want to know about Beyond quests. I want to know about the First Dungeon that Beyond is built on and the whole 1st floor I should enter for now.

Guilds, rankings, trading, quests, a small possibility of meeting some Beyonder from Earth. Hell, I might be able to meet our round's first Beyonder or even Victoria, as I'm sure she would also get here.

Another big question is, are all of these people doing the tutorial, or is it possible to get here from the outside world as well?

“Hey,” my thoughts stop there as a friendly-looking man stops in front of me.

“Hey,” I answer back.

Everyone here is a Beyonder. The same as me, Tacita, or Savant. None of these people can be underestimated.

“You are probably new here, so if you want, I can point you to the place where they can restore your legs,” he offers.

“That would be nice.” I pretend to accept in hopes of getting some information out of him.

He nods quickly and points in one direction, “This way you can find a branch of Serene Circle. For the right price, they can heal you.”

“Is it possible to trade shards?”

The man laughs, “Yes, but only within Beyond, and the system always takes a 20% cut, so they often prefer you just buy some item to give them. Prices of the system shop are 10% higher here in Beyond, but it’s a bit better than trading. I have to go, good luck, man.” He waves it off and leaves.

I watch as he joins a small group of other people, and together they disappear behind the corner.

So trading shards while the system takes 20%, and 10% higher prices in the system shop.

There are so many ways for it to be abused and possibilities for someone very rich to make someone much stronger, and quickly. The shards can be used for better passives, for better items, and such.

But the more I think of it, the less worried I become. In the end, it’s all about the user, and active skills are the most important.

Testingly, I then try to open Community, but it’s impossible here, the same goes for Beyond Community. Checking the other notifications, there are no quests or other information.

So I decide to check the Rankings as my handler recommended, and there are multiple of them.

Guild Rankings

Exploration Leaders

Individual Rankings

Crafting Rankings

The first one seems obvious, and I open it and check the first few guilds.

Guild Rankings

1. Bloodline

2. Frontier

3. Primordial Knights

4. Crimson Forge

5. Astral Brotherhood

...

The list goes on, showing hundreds of guilds, but these five seem to be at the top. There is no more information on how it is calculated.

Then I open another list.

Exploration Leaders

1. Adrian (6th Floor)

2. Voss (5th Floor)

3. Nyssa Volare (5th Floor)

4. Orion (5th Floor)

5. Zenith (5th Floor)

...

Looking at them, I guess the floor shows the First Dungeon's floor and not the tutorial’s. And there sure seems to be a big difference between 1st and 2nd place.

Is it possible to enter Beyond after the tutorial? Are these rankings made by people during their five years of the tutorial only? There is so much to ask. I will need to find someone and question them. Hell, I can offer an item or two.

Onto another ranking then.

Individual Rankings

1. Adrian (Ivory Tower)

2. Lyraen (The Silent Veil)

3. Solae M’Karn (Bloodline)

4. Zarith K’Traal (The Darkmoon Collective)

5. Nyssa Volare (Primordial Knights)

…

This list also continues with hundreds of individuals up to one thousand. This raises the questions: Are all the people listed in the rankings currently active in Beyond, or are they historical rankings updated over most likely millennia or even longer?

The more questions I have, the more shards I'm willing to pay. I really need to grab someone weaker-looking and try to bully them into answering.

And lastly, there are Crafting Rankings

1. Eldrin (Crimson Forge)

2. Isolde (Crimson Forge)

3. Silverweave (Crimson Forge)

4. Vaelith (Frontier)

5. Orin (Stormrider Company)

…

Well, here it seems like Crimson Forge is kind of obliterating the rankings.

After closing the windows, I glance at my still not fully restored legs and send a bit more mana into my mana replacements, and stand up. It's a bit more difficult to keep my balance without any feeling in my feet, but nothing I haven't dealt with before.

Walking on the cobblestone, I look around, examining people around me.

So far, no one tried to use mana to examine me, so I do the same. It was considered rude on multiple floors I already visited, so it's probably the same here.

Plenty of people create groups, moving in the direction where I guess an entrance to the dungeon is or the way to get on the surface. Each of these groups is bigger, often over 20 people, sometimes even 50.

There are also smaller groups of less than 10 people, but they seem very strong. It's hard to estimate it by just looking, but they are surely in their 300s, most likely years into their tutorial. 

I wonder how many of these weapons are arcane, how many of these people have arcane passives, and what level are their skills. It frustrates me to not know as I have so many questions. Was Savant right in saying that arcane rarity is the limit of the tutorial? Could I fight some of the 3rd, 4th, or even 5th year Beyonders? How many shards do they have?

As I stand there, I notice someone from the crowd move closer, a man in simple clothes and with a big bag on his back.

“Let me guess, you are new here,” he says with a smile that immediately betrays him as someone with an extrovert class.

“Did looking around give me away?” I ask.

“Yes, I passed by here three times and you are still at the same place, looking around while trying to not make it feel annoying.” He smiles, “My name's Duncan, I'm one of the locals.”

“Locals?”

“Oh, of course, you don't know. Well, one of the earlier generations of tutorial attendees came to Beyond. Some of them had kids and they… well, they left them here. So a few Rulers twisted the rules a bit and since then there have been locals. Would you like to know more?”

It's all interesting stuff so I nod. Maybe I really found myself some informed guy.

I nod in answer.

“One epic item and I will answer your questions for an hour or two. Of course, not all of them, that would cost more, but some basic ones should be fine. Things that everyone should know.”

I'm not even surprised.

“No, thank you.”

“Got it! I have to go but this one is free, beware of guilds. They often like to try to reel in some newbie with terrible contracts so don't sign anything yet. See you around.”

With these words, Duncan leaves.

For now, I will follow the advice my handler gave me, at least until my legs regrow. With the amount of concentrated thermal energy I feed my passive with and my body upgrade, it should take a day or two.

In such time, I should be able to learn some information for free, so there is no need to waste 4 thousand shards or even more.

Walking through the crowd, everyone else seems capable, that's the word I would use. They often have nice equipment and I even recognize some voidsteel blades, the rapier the Housekeeper used, some items from the 3rd Floor, some equipment from the 2nd floor but of higher quality than I was able to get.

Plenty of these people have stuff I do not recognize. Maybe from the 6th, 7th, and higher floors of Hell difficulty.

That makes me feel like a rookie again, someone who just started somewhere, and I do wonder if, in a few years, some new Beyonder will look at me the same way I look at these people.

Instead of demotivating me, it fuels my competitive spirit. There are multiple rankings I can get onto. The surface and the dungeon to explore and all the information I can collect about the system, planets, and all this stuff.

And there is hope the difficulty here is higher. Other than the "bosses" of the floors, I do not have to worry that much in Hell difficulty - well, maybe only if I decide to make things harder on purpose. Of course, I also think the higher floors of the tutorial will be much more difficult and dangerous.

As I walk onto a place reminding me of a town square with a fountain in the middle, I glance at the ceiling of the cave. There are dozens of crystal-like stones, radiating a light similar to sunlight. There are probably some inscriptions on them, but I do not send my senses towards them. Having to not use them feels like I lost one of my senses.

“Hey, you are Pride subclass, right? I recognize your clothes, they are 5th floor style, right?” A woman comes closer to me.

She is surprisingly friendly.

As an answer, I nod but she doesn't seem to be bothered.

“I'm Pride as well, I reached Adept not that long ago so I could sense…”

She blabbers away and I listen with one ear, waiting for a catch.

“So, me and a few of my friends have a guild. We just started, but our guild master has huge plans. He is on the 8th floor of Hell difficulty you know. 8th already, just three years into the tutorial!”

“He must be really strong,” I throw in.

“Yes, he is and…”

“Listen, by any chance, do you know more about rankings and would you answer some of my questions?” I ask, trying to get some answers before she tries to scam me or something.

With a sigh, her expression changes from cheery to neutral and she turns to leave.

“Fucking smartass rookies,” I hear her mumble under her breath before she disappears somewhere in the crowd.

Shrugging my shoulders, I then continue to walk around, looking for some answers. I locate a few buildings with guards in front of them, some smithies, places for enchanters, and even inn-like buildings. There are gardens, there is trading going on, and plenty of exchanges.

Everyone seems to be energetic and hurrying, and remembering the prices of Stay Tokens, it all makes sense.

In the end, I get invited to two more guilds. Someone offers to buy my ax. Another person tries to sell me a damaged epic item they say has the performance of arcane when fixed.

A bunch of people as confused as me even invites me to an expedition into the dungeons. I refuse and then watch them leave. 

And no one answers my questions. Most of the people just ignore me. It's something I'm really not used to, it's like they put me down, judging me not worth their time.

So when multiple hours pass and I see Duncan passing by, I stop him. I don't even have to say anything as he smiles brightly at me, fixing a huge bag on his back.

Then he asks for the payment first, the price for answering my questions increasing from 1 epic item to 1 epic item and 1 rare item.

***

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