Chapter 9: Rank Rulers
{A/N: Another chap is on the way but GC, SC, and CC means gold, silver, and copper coins.}
***
One thing Connor noticed upon his arrival back in the Bonsai Plains is that the clarity and depth of the game became so much clearer.
To gain two levels of World Synchronicity is no joke. Each level gives the user a 10% increase in immersion.
To give World Synchronicity a better explanation, it's like people who game on different pings. People with just +1 in Synchronicity are equivalent to someone who plays on 10 pings rather than someone who plays on 50 pings.
While also having the effect of playing on 240fps rather than someone playing on 100fps. The fluidity is just incomparable.
His reaction time when attacking or dodging would be much quicker than those playing at 100% immersion. He's essentially a cheat when it comes to PvP.
To NPC's… well they're on the same playing field since they are natives. He won't have an advantage over them until maybe World Synchronicity +3?
With level 2 tho, 120% immersion allows the player to feel the the mana in the air.
This was a new experience as he was never even close to achieving a synchronicity. But that's the past and today is today.
Looking at Melinda now, Connor found it hard to believe that THE Valkyrie Melinda was just a soldier in the Bankai Star Empire before her rise in fame.
During a war between two of the Top 10 Guilds, Melinda was somehow recruited to be a bodyguard of the Magic Incline Guild's Guild Master.
Even long before the war began, rumors spread around that the guild master was funneling crazy amounts of resources into a warrior. No one knew who the warrior was but once Melinda revealed herself, all was done.
It wouldn't take a genius to guess that Magic Incline invested heavily into a powerhouse that eventually became a Valkyrie. How could Melinda gain the Valkyrie race?
Was it innate or was it acquired through that Hell-mode World Dungeon Magic Incline had defeated months prior?
Connor would be the first to conquer that dungeon and obtain the first-clear rewards.
During that time, Melinda single-handedly slew a 5,000-man army fully equipped with Epic equipment with one swing of her lance.
The lance itself was a Pseudo-Legendary weapon named Hsemaglig's Retribution.
It ranked Top 10 over all Pseudo-Legendary weapons.
Not to mention the crazy stats brought on by her race change. It's a no-brainer she was able to kill that many despite being Rank 3.
Members of Ancient Races haven't stood the test of time for no reason.
The look of surprise on Connor's face eventually goes away and he immediately picks up all the loot from the monsters he'd killed.
He'd gotten quite a few good items from those monsters.
[Currency: 26GC, 371SC, 4138CC.
Materiel: 1200 Pieces of Common Material, 426 Rare Material, 200 Elite Materiel.
Consumables: 80 Blood Recovery Potions. 56 Mana Gathering Potions.
Weapons: 30 Common Weapons, 5 Rare Weapons and Equipment, 1 Unique Equipment.
Skills: 5 Skill Stones
Architect Recruit Letter.]
'Sheesh! With this much loot, I could successfully start my own guild and not worry about items.
Hm… I could go kill that Rank 2 Named Lord creature but that would take too much time. Let me complete this quest first.
Getting to the capital won't be easy. It would take at least 3 days to get there from the closest Major City.'
Making up his mind, Connor immediately sets out on his quest to get the Indus Falcon's jewels.
Melinda on the other hand saw the look of surprise on his face and was confused.
'Does that warrior recognize me? I do not remember meeting him.'
"Hey, Lieutenant, do you know that warrior? He seemed a bit surprised," her right-hand man asked, inquisitively.
"Or, perhaps, he was taken by the Lieutenant's beauty," the big-eyed soldier inclines playfully to the lieutenant.
Giving him a hard smack on the head, the lieutenant responded, "Shut up, Howzer! He didn't even look at me like that."
They all laugh together, seeing as they survived yet another life-and-death situation. The soldiers watch Connor disappear into the distance.
"You all remember this warrior. He will become an existence even the emperor will have to respect," the female lieutenant says to her subordinates.
She gets no response but knows how heavy her words were to her soldiers.
Her judgment has never been wrong.
Meanwhile, Connor, who had traveled 13km towards the Indus Falcon's territory, had no idea the declaration the female soldier told her subordinates.
Resting for a bit atop a giant tree, Connor takes this time to check his stats. He has gained too much in this short time and needs to figure out what has changed.
***
Player: Nebula
Affiliated Power: Bankai Star Empire
Titles: Blessed by the God of Space, Touched by the ????, The Progenitor of the Wearh, Weapons Class Master, Magic Calamity, Realm Tearer(Locked), Forbidden Divinity(Locked), Level Leveler.
Job: Ominous-Celestial Knight (Prog)
Race: Wearh (Prog)
Level: 11 (EXP: 62%)
Combat Rating: 1545
HP: 84000/84000
MP: 44000/44000
Stamina: 84000/84000
Strength- 290
Agility- 260
Endurance- 440
Intelligence- 240
Vitality- 315
Free Attribute Points: 120
Class Points: 75
Quests: 2
Inventory: Blood Recovery Potion, Mana Recovery Potion, Vibrant Mitigation, Novice Sword, Skill Stone, Crystallized Naelop Htuos Antlers.
Skills: Shadow Estrangement (Passive), Lightbearer (Passive), Luminous Night, Overbreak, Heal/All Heal, Siphon, Negate/Dispel, Limitless Recovery (Passive).
***
As Connor read through his status screen, he remembered the notification suggesting he read the details of the titles being unlocked.
Seeing the first title, Connor mentally clicks on it.
[Title: Touched by the ????
Title Info: During the regression of Player Nebula, the Power of a higher existence briefly touched the Player. The Player's soul should have been destroyed but it suffered no ill effects.
The System detected that the source of Power originated outside of the Elohimic Realm.
To protect the Player from unknown effects, the System sealed the Power within the Player's soul.
Advises Player Nebula to wait until Rank 6 to unseal the Power to significantly lower the chances of Soul Annihilation.
Title Effects:
1. Unkown
2. Unknown
3. Luck +200
4. +200% to Physique
Would the Player like to undo the seal on the Power?
Unseal: Yes/No?]
Not knowing what to think about that, Connor pauses to contemplate while the unseal option pulsates red.
'What's with all this Elohimic Realm stuff? There's only one Shattered Realms and it's this one. However, there is technically more than one "realm" in the game if they even count as realms.
Despite that, most players didn't even count them as realms because they are just small dimensions with islands as big as continents.
Maybe, the main server is called the Elohimic Realm? That's what they must mean. But, d*am! +200 Luck? I can practically be a 100% drop rate cheater right now.'
As Connor had received +300 in all hidden stats, Luck is not counted as a hidden stat.
Instead, Players in the future thought of it as a fortune.
Not the money fortune but the future, destiny kind of fortune.
This stat cannot be increased by anything in the game. Only by happenstance could one's fortune be increased.
Luck not only increases a player's drop rate, but it also increases NPC favorability, quest bestowals, secret treasure findings, and many more.
Too many aspects of the player's life in the game would be affected if their luck increased.
To Connor right now though, this was the best thing he could wish for.
With this fortune increase, Connor's concerns about drop rates for certain items all vanished.
However, the side effect is that he doesn't know if he wishes to undo the seal.
The Power of something the system can't identify is no joking matter.
It could be demonic possession or even the infamous corruption.
'Perhaps that's what happened to the 3rd King?' A random thought passed through Connor's mind.
If he has to undo the seal, then it'll be during the most desperate of times with no way out.
That 200% increase in physique will elevate his strength by at least 50 levels.
Next, Connor decided to read the other title he had unlocked.
[Title: Progenitor of the Wearh
Description: The Progenitor of the Wearh race. The Player is a mix of the Wearh Beast and Wearh Hominid. The Player Nebula is the first of his kind and is deemed a Fledgling Progenitor of both races.
As such, the Player gains double the original power of a Fledgling Progenitor. In addition, the Player will gain +200% EXP on each kill. As the Player Ranks up, the Player will undergo Progenitor Evolution.
Title effects:
1. Light and Dark energy creation/manipulation.
3. All basic attribute stats increase by 20 per level.
4. Immortal Soul.
5. Intuitive Instinct.
6. Zenkai Boost.
7. Blood Frenzy.
8. All-Loot.
9. +1000 to all Basic Attributes.
10. +500% to Physique.
11. +200 to all Senses.
Note: The player would have to log off once the title is equipped. This is to sync the player's mind with the avatar with no drawbacks. The System advises Player Nebula to acquire information about Progenitor Evolution.
As the player is the first of his kind, all major Entities in the Elohimic Realm will know of the Player's emergence. Evil and Good. Enemies and Allies. Those who have the ability to sense, will know of the player's exact location.
Would the player like to equip title now? Yes/No?]
Connor was completed stuck. The information gained from playing the for 22 years had gone up in flames.
'No, no, no no. This is impossible!!! How could a title have these effects? This completely changes the way I view Shattered Realms as a whole.
Title effects only give 10% EXP gain or some favorabilty points to certain factions. And some may give 50 points in certain attributes.
But, to completely give skills and abilities, along with attribute increases means only one thing…
Progenitors are also innate Rank Rulers.'
During his time in the future, Connor had heard about Rank Rulers a few times.
The first time was during a major war for dominance over an entire 10,000km region of land owned by an empire.
The Lightheart Guild Master not only acquired a powerful legacy, but he managed to collect the #1 Ranked Legendary Armor set.
The weapon he had was ranked #3 on the Legendary Weapon rankings list.
With all those crazy basic attributes increased, his physique, hidden stats, and senses would be increased to a whole new level. Multiple levels even.
Not to the mention the armor set bonus he had active would boost him even further.
With an ultimate defensive armor, and a powerful weapon along side a peak legacy, the Lightheart Guild Master was considered untouchable and therefore a Rank Ruler.
Those with that title were unrivaled in that same Rank. They could even go as far as dealing critical blows to beings of a higher Rank if they fought with 110% of their strength.
Basically, the Guild Leader decimated the Emperor of that empire who was a Rank 6 Magician fully decked in his own Legendary gear and staff.
The NPC's of the game are not something normal players could toy with. Their HP was insanely high and their attack power was just as strong.
So, for the Guild Master to actually be able to completely dominate a being like that shows just how powerful he truly was.
Since then, he was deemed the number one Player in the entire server. And the name "Rank Ruler" was associated with him.
Eventually, a few more Rank Ruler Players showcased their abilities sometime afterward. It was a subtle warning from other powers that he wasn't the only Rank Ruler. Other titles were granted to more individuals later on.
At this moment in time, Connor was completely shaken. He didn't dare equip that title due to the high risk of not only alerting every god in Shattered Realms, but also attracting the Evil Gods as well.
Two of them are currently hiding on the main server. However, they won't pose a threat to him simply because they are asleep.
Some Dark players would stumble upon their temples and awaken the first one some months from now. A system logout will force everyone out of the game to give updates.
These players would then receive power but would become corrupted to the point where the Evil Gods would be able to completely control them while they were in-game.
He would deal with it when he gets stronger. At that time, even that weakened Evil God would die at his hands.
With his mind more in order, Connor focuses on the other titles he has.
The title, "Magic Calamity", reduces the damage he takes from magic-infused and pure magic attacks by 90%. And in reverse, his magic attacks deal 3x as much damage as normal while having a 30% crit chance.
Level Leveler allowed the EXP gained from killing monsters, creatures, or hostile beings 20 Levels or more above his own by 150%.
Realm Tearer didn't have any information due to it being locked. The same with Forbidden Divinity.
As for Weapons and Class Master…
That should be evident. Connor can fully use any weapon of any class he wants without any restrictions. As a bonus, he even has familiarity with them as well.
In addition to the weapons master part, his class master is a bit similar.
If Connor acquires a legacy of any class, he could equip it without discarding his own.
Imagine having a Legendary Berserker Legacy, Mage Legacy, Swordsman Legacy, Priest Legacy, and Tank Legacy, in addition to his Guardian Knight legacy.
Talk about an All-Around Master. Connor would be akin to a God in the eyes of the Players.
He would no longer be seen as a Player but as an NPC who broke character.
"Calm, calm, calm, calm, calm, calm, calm," Connor keeps repeating aloud, over and over again.
No matter who it would be, just the Weapons master portion alone was enough to make every power in Shattered Realms fight for or annihilate Connor.
'No wonder these guys are reclusive. Revealing the Class Master portion as well is enough to get killed by every empire that wasn't able to recruit them.
We're too powerful. We could shape the destiny of an entire Region with just one of us. What if there were more…'
Connor didn't dare to finish the thought he had.
The ramifications of just revealing one's strength were enough to put major powers on high alert.
Connor himself can already be considered a one-man army fighting against Rank 1 beings equipped with at least one Epic equipment or weapon.
Even then, he would be too strong once he ascends to being a true Rank 1 Knight. Though he won't be considered a Rank Ruler, he would just be a high leveled Rank 1 being who couldn't ascend to Rank 2.
'Sure enough, members of Ancient Races are unrivaled in the same Rank.'
Sighing at such a thought, Connor quickly glosses over the other things in his status and finds that it checked out.
Equipping all the titles except for "Touched by the ????" and "Progenitor of the Wearh", Connor has one thought, 'Alright, Indus Falcon…
Time for you to die.'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone