Ketovan walked into the library, his eyes glowing bright yellow beneath the large chandelier that illuminated the space.
“Like it?” he asked.
“I just finished one of the many tales it offers. Are these stories even true?” Alex asked.
“Only the oldest people in this world know what really happened in the Era of Void,” Ketovan said, sitting beside him.
“Era of Void?” Alex asked, looking at Ketovan.
“It’s a blank age in the history of this existence, spanning about twelve hundred years in our records. They say massive wars happened then, and Divine Rankers fell like flies. The Almighties feared death, and the Founding Fathers fled into a pocket dimension.”
“Who are these Almighties and Founding Fathers, and whom did these beings fear?” Alex asked, his excitement growing.
“The Almighties are ten selected beings, considered as powerful as Conceptual Beings, or even higher. There can only be ten Almighties in this existence. They are chosen by the world itself and can destroy planets on a whim,” Ketovan said.
“Do you know who these ten are?”
“I know one personally, but the rest I only know by name and race.”
“Who are they? Tell me!”
“Not now,” Ketovan said simply.
“Fine,” Alex relented.
“Now, what about your ranking up? You don't plan to remain a Normal Ranker, do you?”
“Not really, but I’m not sure what to choose,” Alex admitted doubtfully.
“My friend, you have consumed one of the strongest cores this magical existence can offer. Not ranking up is no longer an option.”
“The ring you gave me says I need to use my ability thirty-six thousand five hundred times before I rank up, and all of my one hundred seventy-five skills need to be unlocked,” Alex said.
“Have you ever heard about a Warped Space?” Ketovan asked.
“No,” Alex said.
His ring immediately displayed a screen before him:
“This ring is as good as my lost skill,” Alex said.
“What skill are you talking about?” Ketovan asked, instantly suspicious.
“The Divine Rank skill I got from using an item. It was called the Voice of the World.”
“What happened to it?!” Ketovan's voice rose in genuine surprise.
“That cutlass I brought with me. It ate it,” Alex said, backing away slightly from the shouting man.
“It ate it?!” Ketovan's voice boomed through the library.
Prince Ector Calman Dior was having his daily lessons with his mentor. As the prince of a land rich with Mithril mines and warped spaces, he had access to the best opportunities available to humans. He had used Soulless Cores to reach Soldier Rank, but after that, he chose to rank up through hard work, aided by his father. His core, the Core of Clouds, granted the ability Construct. While some considered it excellent for a ruler, it was weak for a warrior, as it only allowed him to generate small cloud ships and buildings.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
His father insisted he use Soulless Cores to rank up faster, as his father had reached Royal Rank using them. It takes an unfathomable amount of wealth to buy enough cores to reach Royal Rank, but doing so leaves a person permanently crippled—unable to rank up any further or even reach the second level of Royal Rank.
“Having a hard day, Your Highness?” his instructor, Madam Diva, a Royal Rank woman with golden hair and light brown eyes, asked.
“Nothing much, Madam Diva,” the Prince answered.
They were sparring. The Prince’s moves were unrefined but landed accurately, while Madam Diva moved like flowing water, adapting instantly. Her movement made it impossible to discern where her hands ended and her sword began.
Ector lifted his left arm mid-fight, and a cloud wall materialized between them. The rules were simple: Ector could use his core abilities and skills; Madam Diva could not. Even so, he was overpowered; her Royal Rank strength alone could tear his strongest defenses like tissue paper. She simply cut through the cloud wall and continued her assault, forcing Ector into a purely defensive stance.
After some time, she had had enough. With a single kick, she sent Ector flying across the kilometers-wide palace gardens. She appeared before him the next second and slammed him into the ground using the pommel of her sword.
“I yield!” the Prince declared his defeat.
“Next time, we will be using actual weapons, not these metal scraps,” the instructor said, tossing her practice sword onto the ground.
Alex was walking alongside Ketovan in the mansion garden when a small glow caught his eye. Renald was moving his hands strangely, and lines of light started appearing, slowly coalescing into an intricate Rune Circle. It was a complex group of circles, hexagons, and symbols, glowing a deep crimson red.
“What is he doing?” Alex asked.
“Using his ability,” Ketovan answered.
“So that’s how we use our abilities,” Alex said, a hint of realization in his voice.
“Not exactly. Renald is a ritual specialist. Most of his skills require him to produce these runic circles to manifest them.”
“He said his core ability was Verdict. What does it do? I know your ability, Minority Space, creates a domain where you reign supreme unless someone higher-ranked enters it. I still need to discover mine. I couldn’t find anything about the Command ability in that encyclopedia you suggested.”
“The ability Verdict allows the user to decide what happens to a person, thing, or concept through their verdict. But there is one catch.”
“What is it?”
“You can’t kill or harm a person who did not do the work for which you are passing your verdict.”
“So if a murderer is charged for a robbery he didn't commit, he is safe, even though he committed a more heinous crime?”
“Exactly.”
The ritual completed, and Renald began chanting:
“May the Goddess of Life and Death be pleased by my verdict. By the power of the justice of this world that has been bestowed upon me, my verdict is imprisonment.”
A massive golem made of gold and crimson-red stone emerged from the circle. It was nearly sixty feet tall and six feet wide. Every part of its body moved like regular flesh and bone. A portal appeared beside the golem, and it stepped through.
“What was the name of that spell?” Alex asked.
“It is a nameless skill,” Ketovan said.
“So, skills are both nameless and named.”
“You are a fast learner, Alex,” Ketovan said.
“Will I now use Soulless Cores to advance?” Alex asked.
“No, absolutely not. The use of the Core of Hegemon with Soulless Cores is a stain on the reputation of the Church of the Hegemon,” Ketovan said firmly.
“Then what am I going to do in that Warped Space you talked about?” Alex questioned him.
“Train, of course,” Ketovan said.
“But I don’t even know how to hold a sword.”
“You are looking at the son of the strongest Royal Rank sword master in the world. And why be in a hurry? My family owns a few Warped Spaces in the mountains, which I have access to anytime. Take your own time in preparing.”
“Yeah, yeah. Your family is rich,” Alex rolled his eyes.
“Fine. You have gold on you?” Ketovan asked.
“Even better, I got Mithril,” Alex responded.
“Good. With one Mithril coin, you have enough funds to live in a mansion similar to this for an entire century and have some amount left,” Ketovan said, finally putting the insane value of Alex's loot into perspective.
The planet of Terra is famously called the planet of the weak. It is the second smallest planet in the magical solar system called the Throne World of Eternia. It is known as the home world of the weakest non-core using species: Humans and humanoid species (like demi-human tribes, merfolk) and humanoid abominations (like orcs, half-spider/half-human hybrids).
Most inhabitants of Terra are born coreless or with useless cores. Terra is 4/5ths covered in water, and the remaining 1/5th land is mostly forests and mountains. Civilizations live close to death. The ocean holds the strength of the world; massive tornados, some existing for hundreds of years with diameters of hundreds of kilometers, are stopped by the strong ocean currents.
Despite the chaotic and unsafe environment, humans and their sub-species have excelled in both magic and technology. They have gone against the odds to become the most technologically advanced race, learning to bend the laws of physics with magic. They have built floating islands that revolve around Terra and cities on and inside the ocean.
Daro City, situated in a valley on the continent of Uratos, started as a Mithril mining site and grew to roughly the size of New York. The city is a hexagon divided into 42 sectors.
32 sectors are occupied by the ruling class, working class, and clergy (30% of the population).
20 sectors are allotted to the remaining 70% of the population (homeless, daily wage workers, etc.). These 20 sectors are called the Night City, where most important operations occur after dark.
The majority of the city's population are humans, with a handful of demi-humans (cat and fox tribes). The Night City, however, houses all kinds of species, including the hated races like Spidermen and Orc tribes, who operate as thieves and mercenaries. The saying in Daro goes: “If a man has enough gold, he can even buy a Legendary Rank restricted cores like an apple in a fruit shop.”