"Let's see what all these books are all about…"
Zenon was carrying over six books that could be over a thousand pages each. Their weight caught him off guard and almost tripped while on the way to his room, centimeters away from bumping into someone.
Now the easy part was over.
Zenon let the books fall on his desk, receiving a loud *Bam!* that scared the shit out of him, thinking that the desk might break in half. He even analyzed the screws in case some of them broke.
After realizing everything was alright, he sighed and took the first book. Since the lighting inside the room was already good enough, he opened it and began reading.
"Alright… All about the Layers Beasts, here I come."
The book was pretty straightforward given its name. The reason why he picked this book was in case he encountered a Layer Beast that could hide his power or research the different Physical Abilities or Magical Abilities they could have.
They were extremely peculiar scenarios but the possibility to come across one of them was definitely not zero, so he had to start grinding.
Layers Beasts can be separated into fourteen Ranks of strength and five Classes of intelligence. These Ranks are based on the number of eyes a Layer Beast has and nothing else. The fourteen Ranks can be divided in two to reveal which Ranks are more commonly found in each Layer.
Simply put, the First Layer mainly consisted of First-Ranks and Second-Ranks.
Of course, this was based on an average because - as Harbor said - you could find a Fourteenth-Rank and die before you even knew what attacked you.
Subsequently, the First Layer is around the Unseen strength. The Second Layer and their respective Layer Beasts were around the Enlightened strength and so on.
Now, these eyes can be of five different colors, meaning there are five different Classes. These colors signify the intelligence and abilities of said Layer Beast, and its scale - from lowest to highest is red, orange, yellow, green, and violet.
Red means the Layer Beast is Mindless and exists based on its instincts with no sense of danger whatsoever.
Orange means Instinctual, which fights with the use of basic thoughts, critical thinking, and a sense of danger. It also carries a physical Ability.
These are the easiest to fight against since they lack the ability to form actual strategies and rarely work as a team. The next three however are way more dangerous.
Yellow means Mindful, and can form complex thoughts and strategies and carry a magical Ability.
Green means Aware and has mild self-awareness of itself and can manipulate its surroundings.
And there's a final one. Violet means Transcendent, which has complete self-awareness, mastery of its abilities, and can communicate with the Enlighteneds.
To this day, no Enlightened has killed a Transcendent and could only run away from them.
This is also the reason why power scaling inside the Layers is still a concept being worked on.
An Unseen, while it's not supposed to fight anything higher than a Second-Rank, may have a chance of killing a Fourth-Rank or even a Fifth-Rank - which is two Ranks ahead of him.
Ranks serve as a boost to their strength and defense, but a skilled enough Unseen may be able to pull something as insane as killing a Fourth-Rank. It will be hard, and will probably take some time but it's doable.
"So you're telling me I can kill something two Ranks ahead of me… Well, even if their defense isn't over-exaggerated, I fear any direct attack they might use."
Now, how does one get stronger to fight these horrors beyond any human comprehension?
Soul Sacrifices. When you kill a Layer Beast, you get Sacrifices based on how many eyes they have. Is it a First-Rank? One Sacrifice. Is it a Fifth-Rank? Five Sacrifices.
Your Soul can only hold up to a thousand and five hundred Sacrifices for proportional direct power but after that, the next Sacrifices will serve as a way to make your Soul bigger.
This translates into better soul defense against soul attacks.
After you complete a Layer, this amount gets five hundred more Sacrifices added up, and rinse and repeat. If you want to see how many Sacrifices you accumulated over time, it's as easy as summoning your personal Runes.
Some Enlightened says that the optimal range to fight against anything higher than Second-Rank is past a thousand Sacrifices since the power increase is too big to ignore.
'A Layer Beast from the First Layer may have a stronger attack than a Layer Beast from the Second Layer, but the latter Layer Beast may have a sturdier defense… Damn, the Layers sure are variated.'
Zenon spent the next three hours reading the same book and was dumbfounded by all the documented species of Layer Beasts. This could either save his life or do nothing, as the number of Layers is infinite and he could end up in any First-Layer.
But knowing how a Layer Beast looked may help him perform an early strategy that could potentially save his life.
However, the section that scared him the most was the mixed Classed Layer Beasts.
If you recall correctly, Classes are based on their intelligence, but there's also their Ability.
Meaning, a Layer Beast can evolve to have red and orange eyes, having the intelligence of a Mindless but the Ability of an Instinctual.
This can work with any combination and it's what could make a measly weak Mindless extremely powerful in case he develops a powerful Ability.
'That's… interesting to say the least. At least I'm safe behind a textbook.'
Zenon took a peek at the remaining pages - which were about four hundred - and talked about another important aspect of these Layer Beasts. Whenever you kill one, there's a chance for them to drop a Carapace, which is a special weapon, armor, charm…
These Carapaces are the main form of offense and defense apart from your Familiar's weapon that Zenon would check out the moment he enters the First Layer.
Why not earlier? Well, Familiars could only transform themselves once they arrive at the Layers for the first time.
'There is also a possibility that they need do not have one and must consume a weapon beforehand... hopefully Leviathan has one.'
But can't Enlightened use their Familiar's weapon and completely forget about these Carapaces? Let's answer it with another question, shall we?
Would you like to fight a flying Layer Beast with a mere dagger?
Every weapon comes with its downsides and upsides. Some are better for close-quarters combat while others are strictly for attacking from a distance.
Coming back to Carapaces, they are stronger based on the Layer Beast that dropped it. These Carapaces are ranked with Tiers in roman numbers and the Class of the Layer Beast.
For example, if you kill a Second-Rank Mindless and get a Carapace, that would be a Tier-II Mindless Carapace.
In case said Layer Beast is a mixed class, it will be named with its strongest Class. Meaning, a red and green-eyed colored Layer Beast would drop an Aware Carapace instead of a Mindless Carapace.
Not only this but Carapaces could be enhanced with special Attributes.
A fire-resistant Layer Beast may drop a Carapace with an Attribute called Fire Resistance that will give the wielder some protection against heat.
Even a Mindless Layer Beast could drop a Carapace with an Attribute!
Zenon continued reading for three more hours and the book suddenly ended. The boy blinked twice before making sure that he actually finished the book.
"Uhm… that was easier than expected. I thought that Layer Beasts would be harder."
Zenon put the book to the side and leaned on the chair while taking a deep breath. He spent six or seven hours reading the book without stopping, and he strangely wasn't suffering from a headache or similar.
'Maybe that's a perk about surviving the Awakening?'
He took a peek at the next few books, which were strictly about survival in different environments, and sighed. He tried searching for a book that talked about the history of the Layers but found nothing. The library was really small anyways.
He spent some seconds doing nothing before deciding to take a shower. Tomorrow will be a new day to learn new facts!
—
Zenon arrived at the canteen and was taken aback by the number of people. In fact, practically the entire shelter was there, eating while carefully watching the big TV set up on the wall. It had a countdown that would end in ten minutes or so, which left Zenon even more confused.
Ignoring it, he got some dinner and didn't waste time feasting on that delicious food.
"So, where in the ranking do you think you'll place? I hope that I get inside the top fifty, that way I get that Tier-I Carapace!"
"I'm expecting around the top hundred, perhaps lower."
Zenon eavesdropped on some conversation and instantly got a clue about what that countdown was for. Seems like that was the ranking Harbor talked about.
"What?! No... no, you must be bluffing! A Visionary Elemental Core?! You got a Visionary Core for real?!"
A sudden unbelievable shout grasped the attention of everyone inside the canteen. In less than a second, a big circle was made around the person who said such a statement. Everyone began asking questions but Zenon couldn't see who it was being directed to.
He got up from his seat and still couldn't take a look at the person receiving the questions, but he managed to hear a voice,
"I already told you guys, it was by pure chance."
It was a female voice. It seemed calm and indifferent to such an achievement, not too many people can last enough to get a Visionary Soul. Zenon quickly climbed on top of the table and managed to catch a glimpse of the girl.
Short white and turquoise hair reaching her neck, was taller than him, green eyes. Wearing a tank top and some trousers, yep.
It was Aurea.
'She got a Visionary? That's pretty neat.'
Zenon sat down again, waiting for the countdown to finish and see the rankings while everyone paid attention to her. Suddenly, a little path coincidentally opened and he made visual contact with the boy he beat up yesterday.
He made a devious grin and said,
"Hey, wimp!" Everyone stopped talking and looked at the boy, and later at Zenon, "What's up with those eyes?! Envious because a girl is better than you or what?"
'Huh? Are my eyes that hostile?' Just as Zenon wanted to look away and mind his own business, he felt something click inside of him which made his eyes widen.
'No! Leviathan!' Looking to his shoulder, he found Leviathan staring at him with a… smile? Was that a smile anyway?
'Don't you fucking dare! Don't yo-!'
And before he could prepare, Leviathan chuckled and Zenon said,
"Envious because she got a Visionary Core? Don't make me laugh, it's not that impressive anyways."