Aldric and Mukesh were a team to find some ancient artefacts in a dark and gloomy city while Suresh and Rajesh were doing the same.
Mukesh was a spellblade, He had the power to enchant his sword at will, even though he only knew how to slightly reduce its weight. He wasn't that much of an expert, his body, on the other hand, appeared to be well-built with strong muscles.
In this world, everything is given a rating based on the skill it can master or on its achievements. People in this world call it aptitude, which ranges from D to S. Everyone starts at aptitude D, and anyone with aptitude D will have the least concentration of vi-shakti-tejas, while with aptitude C, they will have a better concentration and so on. To figure out the aptitude, the first step is to take the samples of vi-shakti-tejas on Luminite and make them break into fine particles as Luminite is brittle as well, burning it and after some time it shows a black colour. The longer it takes for black colour to appear, the higher the concentration.
Aldric has an aptitude C right now, and Mukesh has an aptitude C-. Suresh and Rajesh have C+. Mohan has C-. We can rule out Mohan as he was not related to the military.
Mukesh despite having an aptitude C- is not that weak in his category. Mukesh was a spellblade while Suresh and Rajesh were Catalyst. Mukesh uses a sword which needs to have better enchanting and technique. Mukesh except for his muscular body lacks both enchanting and technique. Spellblades are considered weak in comparison to catalysts because catalysts don't need to be close to their opponent while spellblade needs to be if they are not using bows or crossbows.
Meanwhile, Catalyst has their own problem, they can not fight for a long time and they are slow as well, there are many aptitudes C+ in Catalyst but only the top ones are considered elite soldiers. Many of them are like Suresh and Rajesh who are aptitude C+ but are weaker than many people like Mukesh. Catalysts are also high in number throughout the world. There are many military schools, especially for Catalyst.
The problem is the skill they lack, in almost all the classes and to overcome them artefacts are necessary. Artefacts are more like ancient devices which forge masters try to copy and make more of them, artefacts make it easier for anyone to use their energy more efficiently. Artefacts are the biggest business in the market not only they are helpful in militaries but they are also useful for construction, research, chores, travel and many more. Artefacts are also rated based on the value they provide.
The Artefacts that have too much demand might make it to higher grade. The basic artefacts are grade D, while professional artefacts start from grade C.
Artefacts at grade C are the most brought artefacts among all the artefacts in the market, this is because of their credibility and value for money. An elite soldier tries to have all of his artefacts at least around grade C while generals tend to have it around grade B.
Grade B artefacts are considered very valuable and customizable. Most of the grade B weapons are astonishingly expensive, having one is like having a fortune.
Different from all these are grade A weapons or artefacts, they are not generally used personally by generals, they are rather used alongside a lot of other artefacts to make up a grade A artefact machine weapon that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction or for complicated task that need a lot of vi-shakti-tejas. Only a few of these exceptions make history by personally using a valuable, top-grade weapon in battle. These few exceptions are either the top generals in the world or the top commanders of an organisation that has the wealth to wield an A weapon.
Dreadbane in his previous life used to wield a grade A weapon and the crimson fang of Primodials also used a grade A weapon.
Then into a mystical realm is the grade S, there are only 48 grade S weapons recorded in history and of them, only 9 are remaining in the world currently. They hold an exceptional value beyond measure, one can also say that those grade A weapons that can not be recreated are placed in the grade S category even though that is not true for every weapon. Before the world got rearranged and went back in time, Aldric and Parikshit(Dreadbane) were considered strongest after they killed the Warithlord of Eboncrest, The only known person at the time who actually had and used a grade S weapon was none other than the Warithlord of Eboncrest.
He lived alone in the mountain, Eboncrest and he always said that he searching for purpose, he was also the self-proclaimed Strongest and he was indeed the strongest in the world at that time. No army crossed the mountain which was right in the middle of the world, at the border of Stormwold and their enemies. Aldric and Dreadbane suffered five defeats before killing the Wraithlord. He was the one to bring Dreadbane to the brink of death and killed half of his army. He was so good that he did not use any artefact while fighting or rather there was nothing suitable for him.
Artefacts were so good that they could make someone use powers that they have no talent in, if some child knew how to use the perfect set of artefacts, they could defeat even a general.
Some basic artefacts that Mukesh had, were Fleeting Ember and Ironroot Armlets both were grade C and were basic.
Fleeting Ember is a movement type of artefact which is a pair of sleek, lightweight design with a glowing green aura. It is worn around the lower leg of the user. It glows in the colour green when vi-shakti-tejas is given to it, it makes the user move faster, it mainly increases speed and it is considered a cheap knockoff to the better artefacts in the same category. Even though it is really good but business is business, after all, the companies make this artefact at low prices and market it as a cheap knockoff to the better versions that soldiers can buy. Some militants have to use this artefact for the rest of their lives only elite soldiers can buy something better than this. There are also stereotypical opinions about the soldiers who use this artefact; the belief is that those soldiers are weak and poor, and this is the reason why almost all of the soldiers leave this artefact as soon as they get a good bonus for ascending to the elite.
Ironroot armlets are considered pure grade C artefacts, they have the ability to make the user's arm more studier and make their strike much faster and heavy. The only downgrade that doesn't make this top-level grade C artefact to the top level as it takes a lot of vi-shakti-tejas to use, either they have to time it perfectly or they can not last much longer. They are enchanted steel, and they look like a normal iron ring but a lot is going on behind that with the complicated system that connects the user to the artefact which in turn makes the bones and muscles much better for a little time. They come in pairs for both arms except Mukesh only brought one after a long negotiation and borrowing money from five loan sharks which was still due.
Mukesh could have brought more artefacts for the same price that he brought Ironroot armlets or maybe just armlet. According to him with his massive body, he just needed to have a single armlet in his right hand. He had also practising two swords lately. One sword in his right hand would be to make heavy strikes while the sword in his left hand would get all the enchantments, making it lighter and faster to strike.
Suresh had an aptitude C+ but was still weak because he chose the most declining path that being wind and its applications. The only problem with wind is that it doesn't have enough force in it to strike or kill enemies. Despite the fact that one can use artefacts to enhance the qualities of being a wind catalyst like they can become cyclone warden, vortex harbinger and they can literally fly however it is still not the public favourite and hence it gets the lesser and lesser number of artefacts every single day and almost no progress.
Suresh could have been much stronger but he used all the money to get a single artefact that could make you and a few of your allies to fly for less than five seconds and when he tried it with Rajesh and Mukesh, they lasted in the air for about 2 seconds and when they fall down Rajesh broke his ankle, Mukesh got injures in his head and only Suresh was unharmed after that "incident" as he got the idea when they would start to fall. All the blame was given to the weight of Mukesh as they thought the expensive artefact could not be wrong, they could have thought that it also depends on the user's capabilities and concentration. The only artefact that Suresh has is called Whisperwind Ring, some people mock it saying that they could only whisper to the wind and after that, they fall.
Rajesh was rather special even in the category of catalyst as he was a fire catalyst and it is a saying in this world that Unless you have a gold stockpile at home, you should not take the path of fire. Another saying is that only rich people are allowed to play with fire. Rajesh on the other hand doesn't even have a house and he lives on rent with the other two. Fire catalysts can not make fire as they are dependent on fuel and after burning it they could manipulate fire to some extent. Fire catalyst's staff and artefacts are not that costly rather their fuel is costly. The path of fire is challenging, yet it's among the strongest in the world, the downside except for fuel is the range. According to common sense, it should be declining yet it is one of the favourite choices of youth. If someone asks Rajesh about his choice then he would say," He will soon be rich", he was't that wrong... now he was with Aldric after all.
Rajesh had three artefacts and one staff of flames and he had never used any of them yet as it would expand the fuel. According to him, he would use them in war.
In short, the three idiots more or less were very weak despite having the talent of being an elite soldier already.