Ranks F>E>D>C>B>A>S

>EPIC RANK

>LEGENDARY RANK

>MYTHICAL RANK

>PHANTASMAL RANK

>TRANSCENDENT RANK

>SAINT RANK

>VOID RANK(A crucial rank that allows one to freely traverse the void of space)

>SOUL RANK

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Celestial Rankings encapsulate multiple ranks as their definition of power is much simpler

Rank 1: Epic(Middle Rank 1) Legendary(Middle Rank 2)

Rank 2: Mythical(Middle Rank 2) and Phantasmal(Peak Rank 2)

Rank 3: Transcendent(Middle) and Saint(Peak)

Rank 4: Void(Middle) and Soul(Peak)

Rank 5: UNKOWN

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Ranks converge as higher levels are reached, with the same names applying for Cultivators. Example: Transcendent Rank>Transcendent Realm, Saint Rank>Saint Realm, Void Rank> Void Fimerment Realm>Soul Forging Realm

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Skill Levels follow the same ranks, with the addition of specialized skills that grow with the user. In terms of power:

{UNIQUE}

{ULTIMATE}

>

Skill Trees:

[Lich Lord of Abomination] (15/15):: Abilities- Summon Poison Totem(5/5), Summon Undead(5/5), Noxious Outburst(5/5), and Dereliction of the Saintly Poison Lord(5/5) >> [Abhorred Lich Emperor](30/30) :: Additional Abilities- Undead Legion(5/5), Will of the Undead Emperor(5/5), and Delay Death(5/5)

[Amorphous Space Beast] (15/15) :: Abilities- Spatial Cage(5/5), Destabilize(5/5), Shattered Star(5/5), and Miniature Space(5/5). >> [Lesser Cthulhu](30/30) Additional Abilities- Morph(5/5), Child of Space(5/5), Portals of Terror(5/5), and Sever(5/5).

[Blood Lord] (30/30):: A technique that only those with the purest forms of blood can use. It is Ancient Blood Magic that includes the abilities Dawn of the Blood Lord(0/5), Blood World(5/5), Drain Life(0/5), and Nightmarish Descent(0/5).

>

> :: A skill given to the holder of all the "Seven Deadly Sins" skills. The user is considered to be the Absolute Sin, empowering every sin type skill they hold. It gives access to the skills: [Sin Empowerment], [Harbinger of Sin], [Sin Manipulation], [Sin Syphoning], and [Arch Demon Lord Transformation]

> :: Your connection to the stars is unique, being able to assert an influence that bends the laws of space to your will. A proficient Connector is able to freely traverse through space, even to locations they have never been to before. Abilities include Marker, Connector, Astral Traveler, Expansive Space, and Star Seeker.

> Your very core holds a unique relationship to blood, granting you wondrous ways of utilizing it that many can only aspire to. Abilities Include Unique Origin, World Veil, Blood Sea, A Drop of Blood, Telepathy, Vampyrism, and Panacea.

Bloodline(s):

[Vampyre Progenitor](Awakening) :: The Bloodline of the Vampyre Progenitor has fused with your origin, slowly continuing to awaken to its full potential as time progresses. Bloodline boosts include: Ancient Being, Vampyre Ruler, Supernatural Beauty, Decelerated Aging, Blood Controller, Bloodline Affinity, Bloodline Bestowal, World Portal, All Element Resistance, Natural Blood Armor, Enhanced Charisma, Unnatural Healing, Unnatural Speed, and Blood Gourmet

Have fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun

I was looking at a glistening book on the table, a [Skill Book], albeit a very low ranked one at that. [Fireball], an F ranked spell that only the most unfortunate beginners start with.

But this skill book took a majority of my remaining inheritance, and all of my savings. I was known to be a fairly smart guy before everything went to shit, so I planned ahead before spending most of my money

In the worst-case scenario, I still have enough funds to last me at least a few months.

In the best-case scenario, as planned, I would consume this skill book and hope for a semi-decent talent when I awaken.

Getting this skill book was not easy, but it was the only way to awaken if you did not awaken naturally. The rich had no problem awakening themselves, their children, and their children's children

I look at the skill book again before steeling my resolve and picking it up. Bringing it close to my chest, I close my eyes.

A few seconds pass before I see a flash of light, even though my eyes are closed. Opening them, the book in my hands had disappeared, and at the corner of my eyes something else had appeared

[Noah]

[Vitality: 10]

[Focus: - ]

[Strength: 10]

[Skill(s): Fireball]

Shining with blue light, the words brought confusion more than relief to me. Where the hell were the numbers for focus?

From the released knowledge, ever since the apocalyptic event that killed more than a billion people occurred, a new magical world took its place. People that are termed as Awakened appeared and others could also become awakened through learning [Skill book] that can be dropped from killed monsters

Yes, monsters. Magical beings that most commonly reside in dungeons, and occasionally come out whenever a dungeon break occurs.

Since more than a year has passed, it became common knowledge that those who are awakened are able to use skills, whether inherently gained or from skill books, to perform amazing feats and vanquish monsters

These awakened beings can increase their strength by killing more monsters and absorbing the [Life Cores] they drop, which add to the three attributes: [Vitality][Focus] and [Strength]

Sigh. So why the f.u.c.k is my [Focus] empty?

I try not to become depressed as I feel my body change somewhat after I awakened. I seem to have become slightly stronger, and can instinctively cast the skill I just learned

The problem is, can I even cast skills if I don't have any Focus?

Why the hell is there no number though? My exhilaration of awakening was slowly fading away as I couldn't figure out the numbers, or lack of thereof, on the blue screen in front of me

Looking back, nothing like this seems to come to mind from the news and everything I have been paying close attention to.

Sigh, I'll have to figure it out as I go, [Vitality] and [Strength] are average, and [Focus], what is required to cast skills and increase the damage you do, is black…

Can I even cast [Fireball] if I don't even know how much [Focus] I have? Usually, most average awakanees can cast F tier skills 5 times before they completely deplete the energy in their body. The larger your [Focus], the higher tier the skills you can cast and the more times you can cast them

Since Awakened Mages are extremely powerful, [Focus Cores] are much more in demand than [Vitality Cores] and [Strength Cores]

Awakened Mages can shoot their skills at a long distance and not even give the monsters a chance to retaliate, while Awakened Berserkers and Awakened Knights have to get up close to fight

I was hoping to awaken to become a Mage…

Sigh, without wallowing in melancholic thoughts anymore, I try the last hail mary I can, actually casting the skill I just learned

[Fireball], a common F rank skill that many F ranked Awakened have. I step out of my small apartment and head to an empty barren field behind the apartment complex

Rent had become increasingly more expensive nowadays, as buildings that had high security where you won't suddenly lose your life were high priced. I had to move quite a distance to get to the barren field before I could begin testing my first skill, and possibly my last

Hyping myself up, I raise my hand in front of me and call out, [Fireball]

A small ball of flames came to light in front of me, much to my shock and disbelief

Along with the shock came exhilaration. I can still cast skills even though my [Focus] bar doesn't show anything?!

Putting my shock aside, I command the fireball to move forward before it exploded a few meters from me

Wanting to test to see if I can at least cast the average 5 fireballs that normal F ranked Awakened can cast, I keep ongoing

[Fireball]...[Fireball]...[Fireball]....

Three more fireballs were shot and exploded in front of me, increasing the shock and happiness in my heart. At Least I have average skills, even if it doesn't show on the stat panel!

Weirdly enough, I did not feel any less energy in my body...Well, my [Focus] was blank, to begin with, so I didn't really feel much.

I focus once more as I cast what is probably my last fireball until I rest for a while before I can cast again

[Fireball]

The fifth fireball flew out and exploded just like the ones before

With a smile on my face, I wiped the perspiration on my forehead while feeling relieved. Being average is not bad, at least with this, I can count myself among the top of many people in the world today

I was still confused on the fact that no numbers were showing on my [Focus] though, which meant I couldn't get a gauge on just how much energy I had and how many times I could cast my skill

I hesitantly raised my hand again to see just how many times I could cast [Fireball]

…[Fireball]...[Fireball]...[Fireball]...

The more times I cast the skill and more fireballs flew and exploded in front of me, the more shocked I became

…[Fireball]...

The shock soon turned into incredulousness, as I had counted more than 50 fireballs flying from me and exploding

This…

10 times the normal amount of energy an average F rank has?!

I try to breathe to calm myself down. 10 times. That means my energy nears rank D Awakened. That was extremely rare, as long-distance awakened with skills like fireballs can easily take down an F rank monster, and 3 to 4 fireballs or equivalent skills can take care of E ranked monsters. D ranked Awakened individuals also triumph over D ranked monsters fairly easily with good usage of their skills

Am I actually one of the talented awakanees? I try to push down the pride that began rising before calling out another [Fireball], because I still didn't feel like I was out of energy

This both scared me and made me extremely hopeful in the future. When I kept casting the skill, I didn't really feel any energy leaving, nor did I feel exhausted

When I reached 100 casts, my shock increased.

When it reached 300, my head was pounding from this unknown situation

When it reached 500 casts, My whole body shook. I breathed heavily before looking around me, I was fairly deep into the barren field and had the cover of trees behind me

Glancing around and making sure there was nobody around me, I rushed back to my apartment to try and calm my nearly exploding heart

500 times I had cast an F ranked skill, and I didn't feel any exhaustion, what exactly was going on?

As soon as I was back in my apartment, I took deep breaths and analyzed everything that had happened so far.

No numbers were showing for my [Focus], something I have never heard about before. Yet, I could still cast skills that require focus. I did not feel any exhaustion while casting F ranked skill over 500 times.

My goodness. Taking another deep breath, I continued thinking

The most important question now is, Do I just have an abnormal amount of Focus that surpasses most people, or something else? This was the biggest thing on my mind, as even the strongest B ranked Awakened individuals cannot cast skills that many times without exhausting themselves

Alright…with that in mind, I need to test just how many times I can continue to cast skills before I can't anymore. Which also means I need to get my hands on higher-ranked skills that consume more energy

With that in mind, a smile bloomed on my face

Just the fact that I could cast an F ranked skill more than 500 times meant amazing things. As long as I am not braindead, I can easily clear an F and E ranked dungeons, even if I'm alone

D ranked dungeons might be a stretch, as the strength of monsters increase and I would need higher ranked skills besides fireball to take them down

But there's no problem taking things slow. I pull out my phone and look at the remaining balance in my bank account

$5,867

Enough money for rent and food for a few months, and the remainder of my savings. I convinced myself to buy the F ranked skill book, [Fireball], for $20,000. After this, most of my inheritance money was now gone

A year ago, when the apocalypse began, my parents were not so lucky to survive. I was stuck in the bas.e.m.e.nt of my old house asleep and escaped the onslaught of monsters that were taken care of by the government and newly awakened people after a few days

As time passed, more information was released to the public. Monsters had appeared. Most of them congregated in Dungeons. If they were left alone, they would increase and something called dungeon break would occur. This caused monsters to leave the dungeon and indiscriminately attack everything on site

But never fear, Awakened people are here. Able to use powerful skills and great strength to protect everyone else…

And now, I was among those people too

The first order of business? Obtain an Awakened License that will allow me to enter dungeons. Without a license, you cannot bypass the security that allows the Awakened to clear dungeons

You can get a license fairly easily, as you just have to be examined and exhibit skills. I was itching to get started as soon as possible, so I grabbed my backpack and rushed downtown.

With the advent of monsters and heroes, many of the populations were condensed onto a few protected cities. Almost everything was close to each other, so the Awaken Center was not too far away

A few minutes and I was already there. On the way, I saw the usual people with sullen faces and occasional awakened individuals rushing about.

The Awakened Center was vibrating with life, as long lines of people visiting shops could be seen, with even more carefully selling monster [Cores] to the authorities

Many people chose to first consume the [Cores] and get stronger themselves, but many more also sold them to the government and other markets as they went for high prices

[Vitality Core]s and [Strength Core]s went for around a $1000, while [Focus] cores were almost double that price because of their demand

I moved my eyes to another section of the Center, which was dealing in the selling of Skill Books ranging from F to C. Obtaining a C ranked skill book was a dream for many people, as they were extremely rare and went for more than half a million dollars

Looking at the skill books that I greatly desired, I shook my head and moved towards the Registration Hall.

The receptionist was very welcoming, asking for my name, date of birth, address, and bank account information

As soon as she had everything down, I was told to head toward a certain door where my ability would be observed.

There were 3 people standing behind thick glass and an open area with testing dummies. After hearing the directions, I stood a few meters from the dummies and cast [Fireball] consecutively 8 times, making sure to look like I was struggling to get the last few out

"Wow.." (Judge 1)

"A peak F rank huh…" (Judge 2)

Drawing a few surprises from the observers behind the thick glass, everything was completed successfully and I received my license. It was a golden card similar to a credit card with my name, age, and rank. The surprise from the observers was most likely due to the fact that high ranked awakened are extremely rare, with there being only one B ranked awakened in this city that is known publicly

There a few tens of C ranked awakened, a few hundred D ranks, and thousands of E and F ranks. Most of the hunters were F ranked, so being at the peak of this rank at the starting point was a good thing by itself

One can slowly raise their rank by absorbing [Core]s, but unless you were in the army where they were provided for you by the government or in a rich household that could buy them in mass, you would rise very slowly

There were some slight changes to the panel on the corner of my eyes as I walked out of the Awakened Center and received my license.

[Noah] [Occupation: Hunter]

[Vitality: 10]

[Focus: - ]

[Strength: 10]

[Skill(s): (Fireball-8)]

A new occupation had appeared, marking me as an official awakened Hunter, and...Oh?

I was surprised because I didn't see it before, but the proficiency of the [Fireball] skill had quickly risen to 8. The was an extremely fast process when it took people weeks to raise their proficiency with their skill

I guess it is understandable as I was able to cast the skill more than 500 times, and most people have to use their skills over a period of weeks to reach that number

My next course of action after getting my license was the nearest beginner dungeon in this city, [Ape's Paradise]

Boasting 10 floors, each floor held 10-20 monsters, with the last floor housing a huge black Ape 3 meters in size. This dungeon was regularly cleared by parties of F and E ranked Hunters, who could take on the monsters and the boss without fear of casualties if everyone was doing their jobs

Parties consisting of 2 Knights who put their focus on their [Vitality], 2 berserkers with their focus on [Strength], and 2 mages with their focus on [Focus] were the most common for this dungeon

The Knights act as tanks to ward off coming monsters, Berserkers use their high strength to strike down and protect the mages that are the brunt of the firepower to kill everything on site

Equipment from dungeons was extremely rare, so most people had to make do with newly designed machetes or metal pipes and iron shields as their first equipment. Only the boss of the dungeon had a chance to drop [Skill Book]s and [Items].

Any item dropped from a dungeon was highly sought after, with their prices not being too different from the [Skill Book]s

My goal today was to enter [Ape's Paradise]... and alone at that. My heart was pounding at this crazy idea. When the thought was forming in my head, I had to ask myself multiple times if I had gone insane

But it will not be that dangerous. Seeing how I can cast my Skills so many times without feeling any fatigue, the rank of my [Focus], even though I cant f.u.c.k.i.n.g see it for some reason, should be nearing B if not A

And any rank B hunter can easily clear Rank F and E dungeons, though they don't care to, and put their focus on higher-ranked dungeons

Now, with me being the only F ranked Hunter entering and clearing this dungeon...My heart was pounding from the possible rewards

Usually, rewards are split between the many members of the Party, But I would keep all the [Core]s and possible [Skill Book]s and [Item]s that drop. Just the thought of it made my heart excited

I steeled my resolve and heading towards [Ape's Paradise]