Chapter 10: From SSS to G
Nexus wasn’t interested in fighting, so there was no reason to stick around and watch Michael and Lucifer’s ’friendly match’.
Returning to Earth, not even one hundredth of a second had passed. On top of that, Nexus’s body hadn’t been moved at all, so no one noticed anything unusual.
The light from the crystal sphere grew brighter and brighter before finally turning into the dazzling golden letters ’SSS’, leaving everyone who saw it wide-eyed.
"A legend... it’s actually happening again!"
The person in charge of the awakening was so shocked that he stuttered. Sweat poured down his forehead like a stream, his eyes burning with hope as he stared at Nexus without blinking.
Not just him, but everyone else felt the same way. Witnessing the birth of a legend was the greatest honor of this era.
Thirty years ago, when monsters poured out from dungeons and ravaged humanity. The first humans received help from angels, and that was how the first generation of hunters was born.
It was an incredibly brutal era. Those hunters had only just awakened and hadn’t had time to grow before they had to face the massive number of monsters that had built up over a long period, causing many hunters from A-rank and above to sacrifice their lives.
An S-rank in this era was considered a guarantee of a bright future, but in that brutal period, even they could hardly survive.
But the world was fair. The S-rank hunters who survived those battles became far stronger than those who only ran away to save themselves.
If an S-rank only knew how to run, then their combat strength was even worse than that of an experienced B-rank hunter. That was the greatest waste and also the greatest humiliation for a hunter.
During that hopelessly difficult era, a legend was born. With SSS-rank power, he swept through an entire era. By himself alone, he wiped out nearly half of all the monsters on Earth at the time.
The tide quickly turned, and humanity successfully pushed the monsters back. After that period, no one ever saw him again, but the dungeon gates became much more stable.
Back then, most dungeon gates were red gates that released monsters everywhere, but now most of them were just ordinary blue gates waiting for humanity to raid them.
The legendary hero vanished without a trace. Nearly three decades had passed, yet no one had found any clue related to him.
Now, right in front of a group of people who could be considered completely ordinary members of society, an SSS-rank existence like that legendary hero had been born.
Bell was standing on the fifth floor of a skyscraper, looking down at the crowd below. His gaze had only swept across by chance, but the moment he saw the letters ’SSS’, he couldn’t stay calm.
This was that legend! An existence capable of carrying an entire civilization alone. If he could invite Nexus to join the Wolf guild, he would even be willing to give up his S-rank ability.
Just moments ago, he had been wrapping an arm around Mia’s waist, but now he didn’t even care that she was there. Bell swung his fist into the glass window, sending a few shards flying into her by accident, but he didn’t care at all and jumped straight down.
The moment he landed, he was so shocked that he lost his footing and crashed into the stone ground, shattering it.
The letters ’SSS’ had suddenly changed to ’SS’.
It wasn’t just him. Everyone else was just as shocked. In the past thirty years, humanity had never recorded a case where someone’s rank could change during awakening.
If it went up, that would be great, but dropping? Who could accept that? Even as mere spectators, they didn’t feel any satisfaction. Instead, they were filled with regret.
Humanity might be temporarily safe for now, but who knew what the future held? After all, they were just ordinary people. If there were an SSS-rank protecting them, they would be much safer.
Nexus was the one awakening, so he understood better than anyone. He knew the rank would keep dropping until it reached the lowest possible level.
This wasn’t something Nexus did on purpose. It was because when Lucifer gave him the black heart, he had also tampered a little with the seven-colored card Nexus had received.
It was only a small prank and didn’t affect the card’s core power in the slightest. Nexus was easygoing, so he naturally didn’t care about something like this.
The displayed rank kept dropping before Nexus’s calm eyes until it finally stopped at the letter ’F’.
What the hell?
Everyone was a different individual, and most of them didn’t even know each other, yet at this moment, the thoughts in their heads were perfectly identical.
I looked at you; you looked at me. Everyone looked at each other as if hoping someone could explain what was happening, but unfortunately, no one had any idea.
Out of nowhere, a kid who wasn’t even old enough to awaken yet muttered without thinking.
"Mom, is the crystal sphere broken? How did an F-rank get mistaken for SSS?"
That childish voice was like a ripple that set off wave after wave of emotions, making everyone laugh at someone else’s misfortune.
"Hahaha, so he’s just an F-rank loser."
"Just because it has never malfunctioned doesn’t mean it never will."
"We were way too naive. We actually mistook a legend for bottom-tier trash."
"The crystal sphere has to be broken. Look, the letter ’F’ isn’t changing anymore."
No one knew who had just said it, but somehow, the letter ’F’ suddenly dropped and became the letter ’G’. This time, everyone was truly so stunned that they couldn’t say a word.
This counted as a legend too, didn’t it? The first G-rank in history... No one really knew how to judge it.
An F-rank’s combat strength was already almost no different from an ordinary person, so what exactly was a G-rank? No matter how they looked at Nexus, he didn’t seem weaker than an ordinary person.
"Why are you all looking at me?"
Now that he had more emotions, Nexus was a little more interested in talking with everyone.
"Well..."
The person in charge of the awakening had plenty of experience, but when faced with this situation, he was as clueless as a blank sheet of paper.
Should he send him away? That would be far too shortsighted. But if he invited Nexus into the Wolf guild and it turned out Nexus didn’t have any worthwhile ability at all, wouldn’t his superiors reprimand him?