"For my third question... do you know what I should do now?"
Raiko said with a thoughtful face as he pondered expectantly for Sasuachin's answer. It was actually a too open-ended question and a myriad of different answers could be given but with his limited knowledge of the city and the surrounding world, he has no idea what his next step should be.
Despite anything that might appear from his previous questions, he has not given it any particular thought up to that point but without a doubt his main goal was to never be a slave again, and there was something inside him that told him he should get as far away from the past as possible so he could look to the future that seemed to hold infinite possibilities. And for some reason the thing inside him was somehow screaming at him to become stronger and powerful, those kinds of thoughts constantly roaming around his head for the last few days.
"That question is the best you've ever asked so consider yourself lucky as the great Sasuachin Extrihes von Riitemberg Calim Usher Usher Maximial the Fourth is surely the only consultant in the city who can accurately guide you on this subject..."
Sasuachin had a look of haughtiness around him, as if giving an air to a great sage about to display his profound knowledge before hundreds of thousands of people who were eager to receive his great blessing upon them. At least it seemed that way but in reality, he was just a 15cm tall man rubbing his hands vigorously while gloating about his vast knowledge.
"The answer is quite simple and that is you should directly address to the Adventurers Guild and for that there is a reason, so first let me explain. The Adventurers Guild can be considered a very powerful organization within the whole world, as the name complies it is made up of hundreds and thousands of adventurers, some of them solitary and some of them in groups. There are even a few hundred Legions of mercenaries that are associated with the guild, justly the famous ranks have been created right there, as you may know these have been created from Omicron, it goes to Epsilon, Delta, Gamma, Beta, Alpha and ends at Omega."
Raiko was nodding quickly as he had heard many times people mentioning these ranks but until now, he was not sure what they meant.
"Each Rank represents a different level of power, it is not possible to say with total accuracy their representation but in my experience, I can say that the Omicron, being the weakest, can be considered as ordinary people without any power; Epsilons are those who have recently awakened their power and are people who could easily defeat dozens of Omicrons without too much effort but still they are barely considered as mere assistants.
People classified as Delta are those who can already be considered as true adventurers who have a pretty decent level of power. Have you heard of the beasts called elephants? They are medium sized creatures with long trunks and huge white horns, someone with Delta rank could easily take down two or three of them.
Gamma rank mostly are squad leaders or leaders of their own group of adventurers, many of them could conquer heavily defended castles on their own or even small villages.
The Beta are recognized entities, most of them are commanders of large legions or protectors of some large portions of territory and each of them has the power to besiege large cities and even if they are not able to conquer them, they can put up a good fight.
The Alpha can be considered as the apex of the world, they are extremely powerful existences and even if everyone in Skycity fought against a single person in this rank, including the 6 legions, it would be hard to say who would win.
Finally, there is the Omega rank and it is said that they can wipe out an entire empire effortlessly when provoked, there is a story in the records from 3500 years ago that is now known as The Void, which is a danger zone classified as Beta which consists of a hole of colossal proportions and inestimable depth was once an empire known as The Savage empire, which somehow offended an Omega level existence and well.... some of its ruins can still be found in the depths of The Void..."
Raiko was increasingly impressed by Sasuachin's descriptions, at this moment he definitely felt like a frog at the bottom of a well because was he for real? For a moment he had felt proud that he could lift a bed without much effort but now he understood that he was not even a gnat compared to the most powerful figures in the world.
"There is something else... There is something called Titled, those people who have excelled for some reason, either by performing a feat that seemed impossible or simply showing absolute mastery of their ability to reach immeasurable levels of power so they have received official Titles recognized by the whole world, these can be given either in the corrupt path or the righteous path. No matter if you are Human or come from some other race, there are even wild beasts that have received titles and the only thing I know about them is that they hold the world in the palm of their hand and are figures that wherever they are seen, they will be recognized and acclaimed or in any case feared and hated."
Sasuachin's look had become a bit melancholy, especially those last words which contained a hint of sadness and hatred of some sort.
"My work is done Raiko but let me tell you something else, these power ranks don't apply only to people, they also apply to beasts. The difficulty of missions and even to the overall power of some special weapon or material that has been discovered is worth saying that whenever a beast of a certain rank is born or in any case a living entity advances in its plasma concentration enough to be recognized by the whole world, the world law acts and that object, person, beast, forged weapon or material found will suffer a tribulation which besides being a test is a warning to the whole world that a powerful existence has appeared. I could still remember the last time an object of Alpha rank was discovered, it was a pearl called 'The pearl of stone', the register's say's that anything that comes in contact with it is quickly petrified and just when it was discovered, a 5-stage tribulation occurred that lasted 1 month. Once that was over there were 5 world powers that battled for half a year for the pearl. It can be said that tens of millions of lives were lost because of it and in the end, no one knows exactly what happened to the object but probably was the mechanical country who took possession of the pearl so if you ever visit the Stone Forest you will see the power of an Alpha rank object Buajajaja"
That laugh from Sasuachin sounded like a direct message saying, 'You sure do wet your pants, too bad I won't be there to tease you but I do so in a forward manner'.
"Well, Raiko, I don't like goodbyes but my duty here is done. Let me give you just one more thing, since I broke your heart it's the least that I can do."
Sasuachin pulled out from somewhere an unknown black marble and placed it in Raiko's hands.
"This is a message stone; they are quite common objects and all you have to do is place a drop of your blood on it and it will register you as its owner. After that you just have to make contact with someone else's message stone and no matter how far away you are you can send them a mental message, once you place your blood the instructions will automatically appear in your head."
With that said, Raiko bit one of his fingers and dropped on top of that black marble a drop of his blood which suddenly glowed and a magical information on how to use it appeared on Raiko's mind just like Sasuachin had said.
"Just a reminder that the farther away you are from the other person, the longer it will take for the message to get through.... If you want to know how the stone works for the modest price of ninety-nine golden Denarii, I will gladly explain it to you in detail Buajajaja."
As if he was a fly, the little one was rubbing his hands like an evil genius carrying out his master plan of savoring those 99 golden Denarii that Raiko had in his possession but the problem was that a huge foot suddenly appeared right in front of his head, and he ended up crushed against the floor with great force.
Raiko was surprised and fearful of killing him so he quickly removed his foot but when he lifted it he noticed that there was nothing under it but instead he felt a throbbing pain in his cheek and.... "SLAP" a sound of someone being hit could be heard throughout the room, this time Raiko didn't just recoil a little, rather he was sent flying until he crashed into the wall of the room.
Little blood could be seen on his lips and with a face of pain due to the blow, Raiko raised his hand in front of him as his fingers turned completely red and 5 red threads shot quickly towards Sasuachin who was a few meters away, those lines of blood looked like extremely sharp and long needles travelling at a great speed towards the small 15cm that couldn't help but smile. Just when those red threads were about to make contact with his body, Sasauchin disappeared causing the blood lines to crash to the ground, sinking several centimeters, only possible if they were extremely sharp.
"Raiiikooo Is this how you treat your elders? If his majesty King Magnus had not called me at this moment, I would definitely teach you a lesson, you damn pervert!"
Sasuachin, who at some point had appeared outside the room, shouted, and pointed menacingly towards Raiko and then he started walking towards the hallway.
As Raiko turned around he could not help but be astonished since on the back of Sasauchin's harlequin suit, a letter B was plastered on it representing a Beta existence on the level of Commander Aeris.
"I wonder what relation the King has with that eccentric swindler; I don't think he is one of the commanders because he would have surely bragged about it..."
Days later Raiko found himself in front of one of the exit doors of the imposing Jade Castle and during those days he had no longer heard anything from Aeris or Sasuachin, the only one who had visited him to fulfill his requests was Misha.
After a few days of luxurious and comfortable living, Raiko felt well enough to start his journey and with a smile he gave his thanks to Misha who was the person that had taken him to the exit of the castle. Asking her to thank all the servants, Aeris and Lady Angelica for their hospitality and being a little reluctant to leave, Raiko turned around and started to walk away with a smile on his face for he was finally a free and independent man?
Unfortunately, he did not know that his future would be more turbulent than he thought.