Chapter 90: Civilian Tiers, Stages
The ASUV flashed through the roads. Buildings and other structures seemed to blur into light and steel as it moved with speed unexpected for its monstrous size and the heavy armour that covered it.
However, Jaden was able to see everything clearly, and he still found himself pleasantly surprised by the speed of the metal monster with four wheels.
’It’s even faster than those racing cars... I want one,’ he concluded before looking towards Jamie, who was still staring at him.
Jamie noticed his stare and asked.
"What’s wrong?"
Jaden blinked at his question and thought. ’Shouldn’t I be asking that of you?’
However, he didn’t waste his words on meaningless questions; instead, he asked the important ones.
"How much does one of these cost?"
Jamie blinked at his question and looked at Maria and Lane, who shook their heads upon feeling his gaze.
Seeing him acting like that, Jaden frowned and questioned.
"What’s wrong?"
Jamie looked at him and pointed at the bottom as he spoke, "You can not buy them. The roads would be full of these if you could."
Jaden tilted his head and questioned, "How is one supposed to get them then?"
"You need to be a tier one civilian to get one," Lane answered while focusing on the road.
Jaden tilted his head. "Tier one civilian?"
He didn’t know anything about that after all. He had only cared about information related to nightmares and memories, such as soul, shadows, phantoms, etc. That’s why he didn’t know about the citadels that were already captured by the force of humanity and the history around them. He was joining the academy just to do that.
Maria raised five fingers as she explained.
"Civilians are ranked into five tiers. A tier five civilian would be unawakened and stay at the outskirts." She folded one of the fingers as she continued, "A tier four civilian would be unawakened and reside within the sectors. A tier three civilian would be unawakened, but an imperial employee. A tier two civilian would be an Arcane Knight, but not an imperial employee. A tier one civilian would be an Arcane Knight and an imperial employee."
At the end, only one finger stood unfolded, which she folded right after and continued.
"Lastly, a tier zero civilian would be a duke, king or someone at another higher position, like the headmaster of the academy. Everyone in the family of a tier zero civilian is considered a tier one."
Jaden nodded at her explanation and asked.
"So... what’s an imperial employee?"
Maria let out a slight chuckle before shaking her head and answering.
"Those who serve the Imperial Family or the Imperial Council."
"Oh..." Jaden, of course, knew about the imperial council... It was a group of talented individuals who looked over humanity under the rule of its sole sovereign, the Immortal Emperor of Bright Light.
He had also learned of the stages beyond the Elite rank. They were:
Initiate —> Adept —> Expert —> Elite —> Master —> Saint —> Sovereign.
He didn’t know of the stage above sovereign, but he was sure of it upon reading the level conversion... he had also found out about something that disappointed him greatly.
A blue screen appeared before him.
————[System]————
Level — Rank — Grade
0 — Novice — F
1 — Initiate — E
10 — Adept — D
25 — Expert — C
50 — Elite — B
100 — Master — A
??? — Saint — S (Unattainable through level-up)
??? — Sovereign — SS (Unattainable through level-up)
————[System]————
’I’ll only reach A rank using the system... what would happen to the experience I gain after reaching that?’ Jaden would be lying if he said that he wasn’t disheartened after knowing this, but there was nothing he could do about it.
And his conclusion of there being another stage was simply because he had a SSS rank job—The Shutter Summoner—but the list ended at SS.
He dismissed the screen and looked out of the window. Just then, Jamie spoke.
"Which classes would you be attending?"
Jaden raised an eyebrow and turned to look at him with a puzzled look, "Hmm?"
Jamie heaved a sigh as he asked, "Do not tell me that you have not decided yet?"
Jaden let out a low cough as he responded.
"Of course I have. Why don’t you tell me about yours first?"
Jamie saw through his facade and shook his head before answering, "I would be taking the classes of combat, survival and dream realm geography."
"Oh? Looks like we would be doing the same." Jaden replied with a wide smile.
To which Jamie sighed before replying, "Are you not going to join the classes of history as well?"
Jaden nodded his head and asked with the same shamelessness, "Oh? How did you know?"
Jamie didn’t reply and just looked away. Jaden also looked away while smiling just as foolishly as before.
Maria looked at both of them via the rear-view mirror and thought.
’Does he really think anyone believes that act of his?’
’Damn. I didn’t even know we had to select the classes.’ Jaden thought as he stared at the blurring world outside.
Suddenly, a blue screen appeared before him.
[Ding!]
[New quest!]
[Find the realm gate of Shadow Sovereign.]
Jaden finished reading the message, and his eyes went wide.
’What?!’
’Shadow... Sovereign? Isn’t the emperor the only sovereign? And what the hell is a realm gate?’ He questioned himself, and suddenly he heard a low beep.
He turned towards the sound and saw a small, red light screen. It was blinking with three black horizontal lines. Looking around, he saw everyone’s expression had turned dark.
"Is there something wrong?" He questioned worriedly.
Jamie’s lips curved up a little, and he lowered his head to hide it before answering, "There is an Expert rank dreamgate nearby us."
Jaden’s eyes widened for a moment before he turned to Maria and questioned.
"Are we going to it?"
Maria shook her head and answered.
"Sector Dreamgate Containment Force will take care of it." (SDCF)
Suddenly, the screen turned from light red to dark red, and the beep turned louder.
"What now?" Jaden questioned, to which Lane replied with a dark look.
"It’s about to break..."
Maria’s heavy sigh filled the ASUV as she spoke, "Lane. Let us not be late this time."
"I know. Also, it was because of you last time."