The 102nd specific camp was one of the 966 that came to be in the war arena. It was comprised of a huge number of mortals of all ranks.
There was enough food and supplies for everyone for a year; of course, a year was not enough for the length of the battle. If they want more, they have no choice but to look around for more supplies.
Only rank 0 and some rank 1 mortals needed food; rank 2 and higher could survive without any need for it.
In general, the distribution of ranks is very lopsided. 99% of all mortals brought to the war arena were not even rank 0; around 0.9% were rank 0 mortals, while ranks 1 to 9 comprised 0.1% of the population. That is a very normal distribution; even, because of the abundance of resources, there may be fewer ranks 1 to 9 in other worlds.
To preserve the lives of higher-ranked mortals, those of ranks 7 to 9 can abandon their camp and act alone; it's not advised, though, because there is very little chance of survival if one acts alone.
In mortal ranks, the difference in power is not insurmountable. Many special battle formations can allow a large number of low-rank mortals to combine their power to defeat a higher-ranked mortal. For example, if around 100 rank 0 mages use a good battle formation skillfully, they can defeat a rank 1 mage. The cannon fodders can be useful.
In the camp of 102nd hell, everything was chaotic; on the first day, everyone was confused, and nothing was in order.
It soon changed, though, when rank 9s intervened.
In general, nearly all rank 9s had participated in many world wars. Even though rank 9 is weak in the grand scheme of things, it still takes many years for one to reach it.
Every 2000 years, 99% of the mortal population would be sent to the war arena, but 1% would be left back in the local hells. Who are those 1%?
Well, the fact is things aren't fair even in hell. The immortals responsible for picking the mortals for the war arena often play favorites and keep the high-ranking mortals back in their hell. In practice, if the immortal in charge is not too bad, anyone rank 7 and above can stay as long as they request it from their immortal.
It's just that they must work harder for their immortal to keep his or her favor; it also has another benefit.
If only high-ranking mortals stayed and gave birth to descendants, the next generation of mortals would have a higher chance of producing talented individuals. Because they are all children of high-level mortals.
One may, strangely, expect things to be fair and just in hell, but that is not the case. True hell is a very nasty and dark place; one would be hard-pressed to find one fair thing in it.
Despite having the option to stay, many rank 9s still come to try their luck. Reaching rank 10 is no easy task; for the overwhelming majority, the only hope is to try the evolution way to attain rank 10 power.
Even if one doesn't intend on using the evolution method, they can sell the loot they earn. Also, in the battle arena, many treasures appear; if one is smart, one might be able to snatch one.
If rank 9s are not too dim, they have an excellent chance of surviving.
With the intervention of the rank 9 mortals, the situation changed overnight. In just one day, the chaos disappeared; they gave military ranks to some and made them responsible for other, lower-ranking mortals.
In the 102nd specific camp, the rank 9s created 6 military ranks.
The lowest was the green rank; it was the lowest rank, and only mortals with no magical power and rank 0 mortals were placed on it. That means over 99% gained green rank.
The next was the yellow rank, which was responsible for 100 green ranks; they were mostly rank 1 mortals.
The next was blue rank; they were rank 2 to 3 mortals, responsible for thousands.
The next was purple rank, which was ranks 4-5-6, these people were responsible for up to millions of lower mortals.
The next was red rank, which were rank 7 and 8, responsible for billions, or even trillions.
The next was Golden rank, which was rank 9s; they were the highest command and collectively ordered the whole 102nd specific camp.
Ryan was a rank 8 mage who was sent to the war arena. He could have requested to stay in his local hell by spending a lot of contribution points. He didn't, though; he saw the war arenas as an opportunity.
His problem was not reaching rank 10; he was far from it.
The reason he was eager to come was because he was having problems reaching rank 9. One must not underestimate the barrier of mortal ranks.
Many people still struggle there. In true hell, mortals' lifespan is longer than the average, but it is still limited. Ryan was a human mortal, which was a species with the shortest lifespan. A rank 8 mortal can only live for up to 1 million years; it is terrifyingly short. Rank 8 demons can live up to 35 million years! It is also one of the main reasons humans are considered a weak race in true hell.
For some reason, the creator of this true hell world only gave humans this much life.
A rank 9 human can only live for up to 50 million years, only a bit more than a rank 8 demon. Ryan always wanted to be prepared for the future. Even though he was quite young, only 300,000 years old, he still jumped into this round of the war arena to cash in and get things that could help him break through.
He knew himself; it was obvious to him that he would not be able to reach rank 9 if he didn't take risks. Sure, he can live for hundreds of thousands of years more, but in the end, when he hits the 1 million years old mark, he would still die.
As a rational person, he doesn't see a difference between living for 300,000 years or 1,000,000 years. In the end, if one dies, one dies, and for how long one lived before doesn't matter. Those who can, in such a harsh environment, reach high mortal ranks are usually cold and ruthless, to themselves and others.
Ryan here, even though he could live in luxury for hundreds of thousands of years, decided to risk it. Of course, he had made preparations, including some rank 9 spell crystals for safety.
"This time, they are going with 6 color rankings?" Ryan looked at the red token that appeared in his hand.
This one is Ryan's second world war. His first world war was hundreds of thousands of years ago when he was just a rank 3 mage. Back then, he found a special blood and sold it, gaining lots of money that propelled him to rank 7 in a short time.
Fortunately, at the end of each world war, everyone is given a chance to sell their loot to the demon emperor for contribution points.
The demon emperor's contribution points are the most valuable in the whole world; each one can be exchanged for a lot of materials.
Ryan soared from rank 3 to 7 in less than 1000 years using those.
After rank 7, though, the emperor's contribution points ended, and he was stuck in rank 7 for 200,000 years. After 200,000 years, he finally stepped into rank 8, which he is today.
To be able to reach rank 9, he must loot things and use opportunities that appear.
"Last time I was here, the rank 9s granted ranks based on battle performance, but this time, they directly granted ranks based on cultivation base! This is good for me!" As a rank 8, he gained one of the highest ranks from the start.
Looking into the details on the token, he was given around ~25 trillion lower-ranked mortals and was responsible for the 451st battalion on the left wing of the army.
Along with all of that, he was also appointed as the supervising officer, responsible for the 9th area of the specific camp. The supervising officer is responsible for distributing food, supplies, housing, etc. It is not a war position but is powerful.
"Good start!" He smiled, then began acting quickly. The last time he was here, he was only a low-ranking mortal, so he didn't have access to many war formations. This time, however, he was directly appointed as a supervising officer, which can have access to the camp library.
...
Browsing through the book, Ryan smiled with bright eyes. These formations are very valuable; it's a pity that these battle formations only work in the war arena. If one tried to use them in local hells, the participants would explode because of energy irregularities.
Making a copy of many useful battle formations, he returned and called all of his purple-rank officers.
He gave a battle formation to each and ordered them to train the mortals with the battle formations.
The next important matter was advancing the mortals without any magic power to rank 0. Those with no magic power have little effect on battle formations; it would be much more economical to help them reach rank 0.
Fortunately, there are resources for it in the camp.
He instructed his purple officers to promote as many as possible to rank 0 and said those who satisfy him receive rewards. The purple officers bowed and left.
As for his responsibilities as the presiding officer, he delegated them to some rank 6 purple officers; of course, he wouldn't do the job personally.
...
After a month, the light curtain shields finally disappeared.
Just as they disappeared, an unimaginably massive purple flag appeared in the northwest direction.
Every time loot appears, a flag appears to show its location, visible to nearby forces.
"First loot!" Ryan smiled. The first person who touches the loot owns it, and nobody can take it from them; if they die, the loot disappears.
Now, Ryan is very close to this one, and the rank 9s may not even come.
Golden flags signify a reward between ranks 4 to 6. Rank 9s are on alert for higher rank rewards; it would be bad if they come here for this one, and as they are looking for it, a red or even golden flag appears somewhere else.
The space here in the battle arena is unstable, and nobody can teleport. The speed is also limited by its specific laws; basically, the speed of ranks 7 and 9 is not that different. All cloning, incarnation, and avatars are also prohibited. Otherwise, all rewards would have gone to rank 9s, with nothing for anyone else.
...
Up above, the immortals were betting.
"Look 566 looks good! I put 12 emperor contribution points on them!" an immortal with 4 horns on his head said.
"666! I love the number, and as always, I bet 50 on it; it's my lucky number!" said a female demon with a long tail.
"I put 100 emperor contribution points on 102! That human looks promising!" said a human immortal, looking thoughtful.
"100? Have you gone crazy? I bet 100 on him dying before the 100th month! Are you in?" the demon with 4 horns said.
"Let's do it!" said the human immortal.
As they were talking, a rank 11 immortal, known as the recorder, was recording all the bets.