“Umm.”

Vik heard a hushed moan near him from under his blanket when he clenched his fists. In his excitement to know about Rankers, he had ignored the fact that Reece was sleeping beside him.

Vik lifted his blanket to see Reece sound asleep while hugging him tightly. Her head was right by his chest. But she had curled up a bit in an odd position– as if trying to sleep while taking the lowest amount of space on the bed. And his right hand was on her plush buns.

Reece was snoring a bit. She had uttered that moan in her sleep when his lightning mana tickled her sensitive spot. He had unconsciously channeled his lightning mana through both his hands after all.

‘You took advantage of me when I was sleeping. So with this, we are even. Hehe.’

He thought and lightly slapped Reece’s buns. Since he had kept his hand over her mushy tush for hours on end while he was sleeping, there was no reason to place it somewhere. He kneaded it some more while he was lost in his thoughts.

It wasn’t even 6 in the morning yet. The guild that they both worked in was supposed to start at 9. They both had plenty of time to get up and get ready.

‘So there are 9 stages in each rank.’

Vik was still digging Eren’s memories about Rankers. Being a Metahuman was the first rank. It was just the beginning for all rankers. And yet, it was not easy to enter Rank 2 on the fly.

A mana core had three phases it had to progress through to enter the next rank: vapor, liquid, and solid phases. Each of these three phases was conventionally divided into three stages– making each rank have 9 stages in total.

A Rank 1 entity can only use Rank 1 mana in its surroundings. After reaching the very limits of the solid stage of the Meta Rank, the mana core would implode. It would then start harnessing the mana of the next rank in the vapor stage. The mana core needed to pass through three phases to achieve the next rank.

A Rank 2 Ranker could make use of both Rank 1 and Rank 2 mana since his mana core had already reached that rank. But why would they use something low caliber to fuel their spells when they had a higher tier option available?

Similarly, a Meta Ranker could only make use of Rank 1 spells, artifacts, and potions. They weren’t able to cast higher-ranked spells because their bodies and their mana cores didn’t support them.

Vik kept on kneading Reece’s mushy buns while having these thoughts. He was revising these details in his head to make himself understand everything about them.

In his previous life as Viktor Vladimir, he had never envied Metahumans. That’s because he didn’t know anything about them other than the fact that they could use superhuman powers.

But apart from that, they weren’t that different from regular humans. They could still bleed when injured at the right places, using the right weapons. Vik’s fight with Triple G was a prime example of how Metas could be taken down by a bunch of mortals with relative ease.

But that was just it. Vik didn’t know that the Metas that he was used to seeing and the Metas here had a huge difference between them. As compared to the Metas he had seen from Eren’s memories, the Metas where he lived were akin to country bumpkins.

‘Why am I worrying about Metas and Awakened when I’m not even at the starting line? What do I need to do to enter Rank 1? That’s what I should be most concerned about.’

Vik remembered his thoughts that he had spelled out to the unknown entity who was asking him about what he wanted in life. He had said that he wanted to live his life to the fullest. To do that, he needed power. He needed power to not have any regrets. And he also wanted the power to get back Raquel for the shit she had pulled him and his brother into.

‘Tory, my brother, if your Lazarus sequence has not run haywire like mine, you must have been turned into an Osho. Just hang around for a while until I find you.

I’ll also try to find a way for you to not just exist in Oasis. If it could happen once, it could happen again.’

Vik narrowed his eyes as he kept on thinking about various thoughts. While doing this, he kept on squeezing and patting Reece’s derriere. Her right bun was getting the attention of its lifetime.

‘There are a few steps before entering Rank 1. The first step is being able to sense mana in the surroundings. The second step is being able to pull that mana into one’s body and channel it. Finally, the third step is completed when someone keeps on guiding the mana inside their body, turning the magical energy into the mana core.

A person enters Rank 1 when the mana core forms under their navel inside their body for the first time. This is the gist of entering Rank 1. But it’s not one size fits all. Even among rankers, there are commoners and then there are prodigies. And Eren was no prodigy.’

Vik sighed when he remembered the struggles Eren had to struggle through in this radically different form of society. This was in some way completely different from where he was used to living. Yet it too was working on a few principles Vik knew all too well. Might make right. And vast wealth is a form of overwhelming might.

Eren was 19 years old. And he hadn’t even reached the first stage of the Meta rank yet. This was a cause of concern when he was living inside the Elysian city.

Even the girl that was sleeping beside him was 6 months younger than him. And yet, she was in the 6th stage of the Meta Rank. This blue-eyed guy was way too behind for the Elysian city’s standard.

‘What is even more bizarre is the fact that these guys don’t have lifespan restrictions placed on them. So they can live well after 50 years and nobody would ask them jackshit. This… this is unbelievable.’

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