Chapter 651: New Generation

Before the Holy War, SemiGods were considered to be at the very top of the world. The very definition of SemiGod was someone that far surpassed mortals, but still wasn’t a God.

Ordinary powerful individuals would typically believe that this meant SemiGods were still weaker than Gods. However, there actually wasn’t much foundational difference between the two. In a way, Gods were simply SemiGods who had Divine Concepts. While Divine Concepts would give the Gods tremendous powers, there would also be associated restraints too.

It could be said that there was no upper limit to the SemiGod power level. Even the Demon Princes, Demon Lords, Undead Emperors, and so on who were Main God power level could technically be called SemiGods if they didn’t have any divinity or Divine Concepts.

Before, the power level ranking system in the mortal plane was to indicate the differences between the power levels, as well as give people a rough understanding that “an opponent of this power level would require ——— number of ——— power level individuals to deal with.” But now, this power level ranking system was no longer sufficient.

Before, the Iron, Silver, Gold… and all the way up to SemiGod power ranking system was quite convenient to use. That was because the great majority of powerful individuals and magical beasts in the mortal plane were at the lower to middle-level power rankings. Although there would be tremendous differences between SemiGods, there were very few SemiGods out there. Since there were only be a few hundred SemiGods in the entirety of the gigantic mortal plane, and each SemiGod would be the national treasure of some country, there was no need to further differentiate the power levels between SemiGods.

Any ranking system would exist for the sake of practicality. The fact that the great majority of warriors would spend their entire lifetimes below Silver and Gold rank meant that this power ranking system was focused far more on the lower and middle-level power levels. But, after the demon wave brought about a rise in the Elemental Tide, entering higher power levels became much easier. So-called false Golds, false Legends, and false Saints appeared in large numbers.

The most obvious difference was how in the past, a Gold-ranked powerful individual would be addressed as “Grandmaster”. This meant that they were an existence which had already surpassed ordinary mortal limits. Gold-ranked individuals were thus able to command great respect and receive excellent treatment everywhere that they went. But, in the time of this Holy War, entering Gold rank would be as easy as entering Silver rank in the past. It would be 100% possible to enter the new Gold rank as long as you worked hard enough and had sufficient training techniques. In fact, even the new false Legends could be viewed as the limit of what “mortals” could achieve. In that case, still viewing Gold rank as “Grandmasters” would be far too much to expect.

Not only that, in front of the powerful demon armies, there really wasn’t much difference between Silver and Gold rank… There would be no need to differentiate between cannon fodder that died in three seconds or ten seconds, after all.

It could be predicted that in less than ten years, there would also be false SemiGods appearing in large numbers. Yet, the power level difference between strong and weak SemiGods then would be even more ridiculous than currently. Since there was currently no system to rank power level past SemiGod, then this entire power level ranking system had become meaningless.

That was why when the demon wave descended, the Mage Country, adventurer guilds, and fairies used past experiences from previous Holy Wars to create a brand-new power level ranking system. The idea was to differentiate less between the lower power level rankings, and differentiate in more detail for powerful individuals who had surpassed Myth and SemiGod rank. This power level ranking system would be more meaningful for the practical situation for commanding in this Holy War.

It was common that the power level ranking system would be modified once every Holy War. However, this occurred much earlier than normal due to how explosively quick this Holy War started.

According to the new power ranking system, the weakest individuals were classified as Level 1 individuals. Level 1 included all of the previous Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold ranks put together. All of these old power ranks had become generalized into the same rank since they were all relatively weak. These old power rankings no longer had their own individual names anymore, and were all now collectively known as Level 1. At Level 1 ranking, mortals would still be trying to develop their physical bodies’ potential. Warriors wouldn’t even have supernatural abilities at this level yet. If there had to be a name for this level, then “peak of mortal abilities” would probably be appropriate.

Level 2 would unmistakably be worthy of being called “Grandmaster”. Level 2 now included the former Legend and Saint ranks. To be honest, these two ranks never showed much of a difference in actual battle to begin with. In Level 2, powerful individuals would begin searching for their own paths, and mages would begin borrowing great magic powers from the natural elements. Soul Worlds and Soul Imprints would be concrete realizations of “one’s own path” in Level 2.

Level 3 could be considered “Mythic”. The former Myth rank and the new SemiGods would be included in Level 3. At this point, powerful individuals would have developed their personal paths into unique fighting styles and philosophies. They would inject everything that they knew into their personal Myth-ranked weapons.

Due to the old Three Heavy Doors of Myth rank, Level 3 was where people would get stuck the most in the new power ranking system. Once an individual surpassed Level 3, they would foundationally reach a whole new power level.

Level 4 represented the “Supreme” existences, or original SemiGods. All the powerful individuals in this level would be unique existences with talents and hard work that all reached the extreme. They would also have highly differing abilities and paths. Naturally, it would be impossible to classify them based on how far they had advanced along their personal paths. However, it was still possible to assess them based on the combat strength they displayed.

Since this new power ranking system would assess you based on your combat strength and achievements, there were some relatively lower-level SemiGods who might actually be ranked higher than their true strength based on combat achievements. For instance, a forbidden spell mage, or a lower-level beastman king with a ridiculously powerful beast army.

Those in Level 4 would be ranked by Star Levels, where more powerful dangerous individuals would be given more stars—all the way up to 20.

5 Stars would be a standard power level. Ordinary Low Gods’ true bodies would be 5 Star power level. The maximum of 20 Stars would represent the strongest of the strong in the entire world. The Main Gods would be ranked at 20 Stars. Anything higher would become meaningless to classify.

Just like how powerful SemiGod individuals could easily defeat Low Gods, the standard power level for a Main God would be that they could easily defeat a regular powerful God. Right now, at the beginning of the Holy War, the great majority of Level 4 individuals would still be ranked at 3 Stars or weaker. However, I knew that as the Holy War progressed, “SemiGods would become as common as dogs”, and powerful individuals more than 10 Stars in rank would be everywhere.

As for whether the Creator Goddesses of Order and Chaos would appear as the final bosses ranked 30 Stars in power level, that was unknown.

The result of this new power level ranking system was quite obvious. Those who were at lower power level would have far fewer rights than before, while the super-powerful needed to be classified in more detail.

Also, the fact that Level 4 individuals were known as Supreme was perhaps a way of hinting that perhaps they were more supreme compared to the Gods who had formerly been so venerated up above. Perhaps this new generation was one where a Low God would become considered lowlier than a dog.

Level 1 was nameless, Level 2 was known as Grandmaster, Level 3 was known as Mythic, and Level 4 was known as Supreme. The new power level ranking system brought new meaning, as well as new… rewards!

That was right, the Contract Heroes system that I’d established was now recognized by the entire world. Justice Points had become a global currency far more acceptable than any local currency. Slaying the dimensional invaders could bring countless amounts of wealth.

Eight years ago, the Goddess of Moonlight and God of Fate had combined their powers and paid the price of decreasing in power level in order to cast a forbidden spell, creating a star net that would forever mark all dimensional invaders. Slaying a dimensional invader would reward an individual with a corresponding amount of Justice Points depending on how powerful the slain dimensional invader was.

“What? You can’t pay me? Are you trying to joke with me?”

As for grinding money… er, grinding Justice Points, what job class could possibly compare to forbidden spell mage? One forbidden spell from me had frozen so many countless demons for all eternity. Just how many Justice Points would I be able to obtain from this?

My Hero’s Armlet would automatically record my combat achievements. Yet, my request to be paid had actually been rejected.

The fairy in front of me was sweating all over. Fairies were always able to mysteriously appear everywhere, so they had taken over the work of exchanging Justice Points. However, this fairy kept calculating things and found that no matter how much he calculated, my request had exceeded the upper limits of what he was allowed to exchange.

“Sorry, sorry, I need to ask my bosses about this.”

Right after I recovered enough to move, I came here to exchange for Justice Points, wanting to obtain Justice Points as quickly as possible, because…

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“I apologize, Your Highness Roland. I just asked my bosses. There have been adjustments to the Justice Points exchange rules. The most Justice Points that anyone is allowed to be rewarded for a single battle is 200,000. Slaying more of the same species of demon or dimensional invader will also result in a reduction of Justice Points…”

A different fairy popped up and prattled on about a lot of rules and regulations. I’ll skip over the rest for the sake of you readers. The end result was that I would be unable to dream about having millions or tens of millions of Justice Points. The maximum allowed to be given me was 200,000 Justice Points, but since I had worked so hard and discovered a possible way of exploiting the system for Justice Points, I would be rewarded with an extra 1000 for a total of 201,000 Justice Points.

“…Why does this all sound like a heartless game developer, such as QQ or Blizzard?”

I felt rather helpless. I wanted to curse someone, but didn’t even know whom to curse. I had instantly requested to exchange for Justice Points precisely because I was afraid of this. Yet, I was also the one who mentioned that this loophole in the system for easily grinding Justice Points should be fixed… Should I go bash myself on the head for my own stupidity?

There was no such thing as a policy that would be perfect. I had mentioned this loophole in order to prevent others from obtaining Justice Points too easily. Thus, the loophole in the system was immediately fixed, and I was given an “appropriate” monetary reward.

What? You’re saying that this wasn’t technically a loophole? Wasn’t being able to obtain a large amount of Justice Points easily a loophole? As long as it would have a large effect on the stability of the entire system, no matter what the reason was, I would simply treat it as a loophole.

Indeed, no matter what the reason was, if I truly obtained several tens of millions of Justice Points here, I would have been able to exchange for a dozen or more God Equipment to play around with, which would probably make our Gods supporting the Justice Points system go broke. The entire financial security behind the Justice Points system would then collapse.

What was an “appropriate” monetary reward for me, then? “Yeah, since I won’t be satisfied no matter how much I get, then just make a show of things. At least give me 1% or even 0.1%…” Those were my exact words. I really wanted to slap myself now. It seemed that I had truly shot myself in the foot.

You’re asking if I was worried about those who would lose Justice Points rebelling or causing incidents…? Of course not. This was because I had referenced game developer contracts with players from Earth when creating Contract Hero contracts. Wumianzhe, the God of Contracts, personally enforced these contracts which all had non-disclosure agreements. Breaking the contract would result in negative reputation as well as penalties.

“…Actually, I have a really good relationship with your bosses, especially the bosses behind the Justice Points system. Perhaps I could talk to them?”

Alright, since I was unable to contractually get anything more, I would try using my connections. Of course I was familiar with the bosses of the Justice Points system as they would be the Hell Gods and the relevant local mortal plane factions. Goddess of Wealth Beyana was in charge of accounting, while Wumianzhe was in charge of enforcement. I also counted as one of the bosses, although I had no responsibilities or income from this system.

“…Actually, they were the ones who told me to come talk to you, and, I quote, ‘That’s enough out of you. 200,000 Justice Points at most, which will be enough for you to get what you want.’ There’s also a blessing for you from Goddess Beyana. ‘Don’t go too overboard. I haven’t even asked you for any portion of your proceeds, ahem. You understand what will happen if you ask for too much…’”

“Cough, cough, I’ll just take 200,000, then.”

I refrained from saying anything else. Without even mentioning what Ayer would think, if that grudge-holding Goddess of Wealth started holding a grudge against me, well… I didn’t want to experience always losing money every time I went outside.

Previously, I’d angered her for some reason, and the result was… I would always lose money when going outside, and my place was constantly robbed. I tried to improve my food and drinks, and finally discovered that the curse of poorness wouldn’t activate on me if I was eating and drinking what others treated me to. I thus started shamelessly freeloading off others, and finally became poor to the extent where I was completely broke, scamming for free food in Barton’s bar.

[How many times have I told you already? You’re completely immune to all curses, it’s only that your luck is far too terrible…]

“Shut up! Ridiculous! I’ve only been temporarily cursed, there’s still hope for me in life! If it really comes to it, I’ll give Beyana some kickbacks… Er, I meant I’ll give her some donations in order to improve my luck!”

“Aren’t you already permanently banned in all Goddess of Wealth churches? It’s because of the last time when you freeloaded for half a year there while doing nothing. You’re probably the first person in all of history who freeloaded so much that a Goddess angrily sent down a divine decree to have you banned from her churches…”

“Ahem, ahem, let’s refrain from mentioning my dark history.”

Right after the battle of Hell was over, I had no pressure or responsibilities anymore while traveling around the mortal plane. Those were some of the most fun days I’d ever had. However, when I started living as an individual rather than part of an organization, that exposed the fact that I was rather poor at taking care of myself financially as well as at obtaining living necessities… Yep, so in order to live well, I did some slightly shameless things. Harloys, if you dare to mention my dark history again, I’ll stop giving you kickbacks to buy your makeup products!

In fact, not only was I planning on exchanging Justice Points for precious treasures, even Harloys and Astrya were watching my wallet closely. Both of them were already prepared beforehand for what products they wanted to celebrate.

“Right, according to the new power ranking system, you have been assessed at Level 4, 7 Stars. When considering your past accomplishments and your current factional standing, you’re even allowed to take out loans from us.”

I wasn’t surprised at all to hear an assessment of me that was higher than my actual power level. Although I still hadn’t reached SemiGod rank yet, just the destructive power of my forbidden spell far exceeded the attack power of any so-called ordinary God.

I laughed out loud when I heard I could take out loans.

“I can even take out a loan? Okay, I’m going to take out a loan for 10,000 Justice Points!”

The fairies were different from the goblins who would play around with ridiculously high compound interest rates. Naturally, such a loan here would be for no interest, so of course I would take out a loan.

“Um, I apologize, the upper limit for the loan you can take out is 1000 Justice Points…”

Alright, in a roundabout way, I was still getting 201,000 Justice Points. It would seem that this amount had already been calculated for me.

But even despite the cheapness of the Justice Points system working against me, it was still a tremendous amount of wealth. Even the amount offered as reward for my death was only 50,000 Justice Points. Perhaps exchanging for personalized God Equipment would still be impossible with these many Justice Points, and none that I needed were available, but I had more than enough Justice Points to purchase what I really needed.

“I recall that the Dusk Fruits which add five years to a person’s age cost 500 Justice Points each? I’m going to exchange for 100 of those. Even if I have a Double Diamond Bloodline, if I add 500 years to my age, this damned bloodline will finally be able to reach mature age or even adult age, wouldn’t it? I also want techniques or manuals from ancient Sword Saints. Help me check what’s in stock. I mainly want ice type techniques…”

Spending money was always something that made me happy. My wallet would always empty itself without my realizing it, and my online shopping cart would always become filled even though I didn’t have enough money to pay for everything in it. But now that I had some money, I instantly purchased 500 Dusk Fruits along with some magic and techniques that I personally needed, which instantly cost me almost 100,000 of the Justice Points I’d just obtained.

I saved the remaining Justice Points not because I was the type to save—I far preferred to transform my resources into actual combat strength. It was just that the other things I wanted to purchase would require time to be gathered or purchased from other kingdoms’ treasuries, or even exchanged from the Gods. Right now, all that I could purchase were items already in stock.

At this moment, our airship squadron finally stopped. When I looked outside the window, there finally wasn’t any more ice and snow. But for the elves, their cruel banishment was just beginning.