Interspecies Trader

I examined the whole place, which wasn’t that large. There were maybe around twenty rooms, some storing items unknown to me. I didn’t find anyone until the end, including any corpses or species remains.

It was time to make a decision now. This place was perfect for an emergency shelter since it already had everything I could ever want and more. It was already sealed from the outside and in an excellent state. I would just need to clean it up a bit, put on some sheets for one or two beds, maybe decorate it a bit, and that would be enough. Next would be storing some water and long-lasting food and it would be ready for use. It normally wasn’t a place I would stay too long in, after all.

Of course, the problem was that I didn’t know if it still had an owner or not. Some parts seemed weirdly dilapidated, while others were in good shape. There also wasn’t any sign of a teleportation gate anywhere, making me wonder how people could normally access it. It could be that the ones who built it were living thousands of years ago. Or maybe they were still alive somewhere out there, even if that seemed unlikely.

After a bit of thinking, I chose to keep it a potential temporary shelter. To be safe, I would come here from time to time to monitor if anyone else used it.

It took me some time to find this shelter but I saved so much from not needing to build anything. My original plan was to only find a place today and come back later to transform it into a bunker. Instead, I would only need to refurbish it a little to get a perfectly livable environment.

I teleported outside, finding out that the sun was setting. There was one last thing I wanted to do before it became dark. I teleported to Makji and stayed in the sky, monitoring any large troop movements. Alfiro was getting restless and, judging from the situation, I estimated their army would depart any day now. I continued further until I reached a very large city, which I assumed was Hyien, Makji’s capital. One day’s worth of travel south from Hyien was a first army detachment of about two thousand soldiers, already marching toward Thuk in the southeast. It wouldn’t be long before the war started for real now. There was no doubt its scale would be something else, with tens of thousands of fighters combining their sel and martial prowess to defeat their enemies.

Since I was here already, I memorized Hyien’s coordinates before teleporting to 82. I helped Suuru close the stall, and we chatted a little when we were back home.

“Tila, I have a question about ranks.”

“Tell me.”

“You said there are many transcendents in your world, correct?”

“That’s right. A bit more than a thousand.”

“…It’s still hard for me to imagine a thousand of them.”

“It’s all relative. My world has a population of thirteen billion. That’s less than one transcendent for ten million people, which makes them incredibly rare and valuable.”

“Okay, but reaching transcendence means that one should be rank 11, right?”

“Correct.”

“Is it possible to continue ranking up after that? Like rank 12?”

“Hehe, a rank 0 asking about rank 12? I like your optimism, Suuru. I’ll cheer on you.”

“T-Tila! Don’t tease me! That was a serious question.”

“There’s something soothing about teasing you, Suuru. I don’t think I’ll be able to stop anytime soon. I’m already addicted.”

“Tila!”

“All right, all right. Yes, rank 12 exists.”

“Is there a maximum rank one can achieve?”

“That’s a good question. As far as I know, there are no limits. There are some tales about legendary warriors achieving rank 20 in the far past.”

“20! No way!”

“Well, no way indeed. No matter what, rank 20 is too unrealistic. The highest rank officially recorded in my world is rank 15.”

“15? That’s still incredible. How powerful is someone at that rank?”

“Unmatched, no doubt about it. But it wasn’t without its price. There’s only one person in history who reached that rank, and she did it at the very end of her life. She was probably one of the most incredible geniuses of all time but even then, she spent all her life only focusing on increasing her rank. She did nothing else. She didn’t have a lover, a family, or children. Just magic training, from birth to death. It’s no wonder she was the only one to achieve it. Who would want to spend their whole life only doing this?”

“She was a genius, she spent hundreds of years training, and she still couldn’t reach more than 15?”

“Wow, look you, saying that as if reaching rank 15 is nothing.”

She scowled, and I smiled back at her.

“You should know that it becomes harder to reach the next rank the higher you go. It’s not too bad for lower ranks, rank 1 to 6, but one truly starts to feel it after rank 7. As for transcendent ranks, well, it’s even worse. To make it simple, you can consider each transcendent rank to be similar to a wall, like the one from rank 6 to 7 and rank 10 to 11. Plus, each wall becomes harder and harder to break. That’s why reaching rank 15 is an incredible achievement and why it’s unrealistic to reach rank 20.”

“Oh… What about you, Tila? How high do you think you’ll reach?”

“Rank 11. I don’t think I’ll try anymore after that. It’s just not worth the hassle.”

“You say that as if you’re certain you’ll get there.”

I gave a large grin.

“Pretty much.”

“Haha! I should say the same to you now. It’s good to be optimistic, even if you say it as a joke.”

I continued to smile without faltering and she hesitated.

“You’re saying that as a joke, right?”

I didn’t answer that last question. She shut her mouth and stared at me with a frown.

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