Before the Holy War, SemiGods were the most powerful existences in the world. SemiGods meant that they were existences that surpassed mortals, but weren't Gods.
Ordinary powerful individuals would often believe that SemiGods were inferior to Gods, but there was actually no foundational difference between the two. From a certain standpoint, Gods were nothing more than SemiGods with their own duties. Divine Concepts would give them tremendous benefits, but they would also be restricted in various aspects.
It could be said that there was no limit to the SemiGod rank. Even Main God level Demon Princes, Demon Lords, and Undead Emperors could be called SemiGods as long as they didn't have Divine Concepts or Divine Concepts.
In the past, the mortal plane's leveling system would give the mortals a rough hint in order to indicate the different levels of cultivation. That was, "We need several experts at XX level or higher to deal with an opponent of this level." But now, that was no longer enough.
In the past, the SemiGod ranks of Iron, Bronze, Silver, and so on were quite useful. That was because most magical beasts and powerful individuals in the mortal plane could be divided into lower and middle ranks. Although there was a huge difference between SemiGods, there weren't that many SemiGods. If a massive mortal plane only had several hundred SemiGods, and every single SemiGod was a national treasure of a major country, there would be no need to rank them.
The system existed for the sake of reality. Most warriors would spend their entire lives at the Silver or Gold rank, which made the system pay special attention to the lower and middle ranks. And as the demon wave and Holy War descended, it became much easier to advance in power levels. So-called Legends, Gold, and False Saints appeared in large numbers.
The most obvious difference was that in the past, Gold ranked individuals would be called "Masters". They were existences that surpassed the limits of mortals. They would receive great respect and treatment no matter where they went. But during the Holy War, reaching Gold rank was just like reaching Silver rank in the past. As long as one had willpower and excellent training techniques, it was 100% possible to reach Gold rank. In fact, even False Legends could be viewed as the limits of "mortals". In that case, it would be far too much to call Gold rank "Masters".
Besides, in front of a powerful demon army, the difference between Gold and Silver wasn't that obvious … Cannon fodder that would die in three seconds and cannon fodder that would die in ten seconds wouldn't need to be ranked at all.
It was foreseeable that in less than ten years, "Pseudo SemiGods" would appear in large numbers as well. However, the difference in combat strength among them would be even more ridiculous than it was now. No matter if it was low or high level, if the evaluation system was still the same as it had been for the past thousand years, then it would be impossible to evaluate existences that surpassed SemiGod. The ranking system itself would become meaningless.
That was why when the demon wave officially arrived, the Mage Country, adventurer guilds, and fairies used the previous Holy Wars as reference and created a new ranking system. The core of this system was to blur out the differences between low-level job classes and carefully differentiate between Myth and SemiGod top-level individuals. This would allow the ranking system to be useful in actual combat.
Such a thing would probably happen once in every Holy War. However, this time, due to the Holy War's sudden eruption, it came a little too early.
The new first rank included the previous Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold ranks. It could be said that this was a huge step up from the previous Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold ranks. Since these ranks were still quite low, there wasn't even a proper name for each rank. At this rank, mortals were still trying to discover their own physical body's potential. Warrior job classes didn't even have any supernatural abilities. If a name had to be given, it would probably be something like "Peak Mortal" or "Artisan".
The second rank was the unmistakable "Master" rank. The general range included "Legend" and "Saint" ranks. Actually, there wasn't much of a difference between these two ranks in actual combat. At this rank, powerful individuals would begin searching for their own personal paths. Mages would begin learning how to use powerful natural elemental magic. Soul Worlds and soul imprints would all be the embodiment of one's "self" at this rank.
The third rank was the "Legend" rank. Past "Myth" and "new SemiGod" were all included in this rank. The powerful individuals at this rank would sublimate their own personal paths into unique combat styles and philosophies. They would fuse everything from their past into their Legendary weapons (Myth-ranked weapons of the past).
Due to the existence of the previous three Myth rank levels, this rank would be incredibly difficult to pass. But once one passed this rank, it would be a completely different level.
The fourth rank was the "Level Surpassers" of the original SemiGod rank. The powerful individuals at this rank were all unique existences. Their talent and hard work had reached the pinnacle. Their abilities would be vastly different, and even their paths would be different. Naturally, it was impossible to rank them based on how far they had progressed. However, it was still possible to rank them based on their combat strength.
Since the ranking was based on their combat achievements and combat strength, a small number of strange low-level individuals could also enter this rank based on their combat achievements, such as forbidden spell mages or low-level Beast Kings with ridiculously powerful beasts.
These individuals would be ranked at 20 Stars based on their combat strength (danger level).
Five stars was a benchmark for the true bodies of ordinary Lesser Gods. Ten stars was another benchmark for the true bodies of powerful Gods. Twenty stars still represented the pinnacle of the entire world. For the Main Gods, there was no point in going any higher than that.
Just like how powerful SemiGod individuals were capable of beating up weak Gods, Main Gods were also capable of beating up powerful Gods. Right now, in the early stages of the Holy War, the great majority of "Level Surpassers" were probably still below 3 Stars. But I knew that as the Holy War progressed, "SemiGods" would be like dogs, and powerful individuals with more than 10 Stars would be everywhere.
As for whether or not a Creator Goddess with more than 30 Stars would appear in the end, that was something nobody could guarantee.
It was quite obvious that this change was to make it so that low-level individuals would no longer have any rights. Level Surpassers at SemiGod and above would have to be ranked differently.
Perhaps the title "Level Surpassers" implied that they would look down on the high and mighty Gods of the past. Perhaps an era where weak Gods were like dogs was about to arrive.
Level 1 nameless, level 2 Master, level 3 Legend, and level 4 Level Surpassers. The new rankings brought new meaning, as well as new … bounties!
That's right, the Contract Heroes system was now recognized by the entire world. Justice Points had become a form of currency that was even more useful than the official government currency. And, the dimensional invaders of different Stars also represented tremendous amounts of wealth.
Back in the day, the Moon Goddess and the God of Fate had paid the price of lowering their own power levels in order to create a network created by Starlight and Fate that marked all dimensional invaders. Now, the system would give a fixed reward based on the enemy's strength and danger level.
"What? You can't pay? Are you sure you're not joking with me? "
In terms of money — er, Justice Points — no job class could compare to mages who could cast forbidden spells. A single forbidden spell could freeze countless Abyss Demons for eternity. How much Justice Points would that be?
My Contract Bracelet had already recorded my combat results. Now that I asked for Justice Points, I was actually rejected.
The fairies in front of me were sweating profusely. They were known to appear and disappear unpredictably everywhere. They had already taken over the task of exchanging Justice Points for Justice Points. But no matter how he calculated, he discovered that no matter how much he calculated, Roland's request still exceeded the limit of what he had on hand.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I need to ask my superiors."
The moment I discovered that I could move my arm again, I immediately went to find the exchange staff and requested that my Justice Points be exchanged as soon as possible. That was because …
"I'm sorry, Your Highness Roland. I just asked my superiors to make some adjustments to the exchange rules for Justice Points. The maximum reward for a single battle will be 200,000 Justice Points. The reward for killing demons and dimensional invaders of the same species will be greatly reduced …"
Another fairy jumped out and rambled on about a large number of changes. She skipped words, but her conclusion was that it was highly likely that she would receive millions or even tens of millions of Justice Points. She would receive at most 200,000 Justice Points in the future. But since you worked so hard to find a bug in my System, I'll give you a special reward — 21,000 Justice Points at most.
"… Why does this sound so much like some unscrupulous video game developers, such as Big Q Goose or Big Snow Daddy?"
I felt rather helpless. I wanted to curse out loud, but I didn't know who to curse out loud. I had immediately requested to exchange Justice Points for Justice Points precisely because I was worried that this would happen. Yet, it just so happened that I was the one who had suggested the compensation system … Should I punch myself in the face?
Policies would never be perfect. In order to prevent people from maliciously farming Justice Points, I suggested that as soon as an obvious loophole appeared, the system should be immediately amended and "appropriate" additional compensation would be given.
What? This wasn't a loophole? Farming a large amount of Justice Points in one go wasn't a loophole? As long as it affected the stability of the entire System, no matter what the reason was, I would simply treat it as a loophole and deal with it.
Indeed, no matter what the reason was, if I was truly given several tens of millions of Justice Points, I could directly exchange for a dozen or so God Equipment to play around with. That would probably be enough to force some Gods to commit suicide, and the entire system of Justice Points would naturally collapse.
What did I mean by appropriate compensation? "Yep, it's impossible to satisfy me no matter how many Justice Points I have, so I might as well give you a little something. I'll give you 1% or even 1/1000 of the original amount." … When I recalled what I had originally said, I really wanted to slap myself in the face even more. It would seem that I had dug my own grave yet again.
I didn't need to worry about those who had been scammed rebelling or causing trouble … Of course I didn't need to worry about that at all. Back then, I used some of the contracts from Earth as a reference. When I received my Armlets, I would also have to sign a series of "Dear Contract Hero System user, I am your father" contracts (guaranteed by the God of Contracts, Wumianzhe). Not only could I not tell anyone about this, if I told anyone about this, it would cause a bad reputation effect, and I would even have to pay for it.
I fell silent. Back then, when I drafted my own contract to fight for the throne, I used many classic contracts from Earth as reference. There really weren't any loopholes that I could take advantage of. However, my family business was quite large, and my expenses were quite high as well. I was quite unwilling to let such a large sum of money fly away just like that.
"… Actually, I have quite a good relationship with the higher-ups, especially the boss behind the Justice Points system. Perhaps I can have a chat with him."
Alright then, since I couldn't win against him in a contract, I might as well try a favor. Of course, I was quite familiar with the boss behind the Justice Points system. It was the entire Hades Divine Faction, including Wumianzhe, as well as all the related factions on the surface. The Goddess of Wealth was in charge of the finances, and Wumianzhe was the one who guaranteed authority. I could count myself as one of them as well, except that I didn't have to do anything and didn't receive any dividends.
"… Actually, the boss behind the Justice Points system was the one who sent me here. His original words were 'Don't go overboard. I'll give you 200,000 Justice Points at most. That'll be enough for you to take what you want.' Also, Her Highness Beyana gave me her blessings. 'Don't go too overboard. I haven't even taken your commission yet. Cough, if you go overboard, you know …' "
"Cough, cough, 200,000 it is."
I interrupted her. First of all, I didn't even need to mention Great God Aillé's understanding. If that petty Goddess of Wealth decided to hold a grudge against me, I didn't want to go through the experience of losing money every time I went out.
I didn't know how I offended Beyana, but the result … was that I would lose money every time I went out, and my house would always be robbed. I had to change my diet, and in the end, I discovered that eating other people's food wouldn't trigger the Curse of the Poor God, so I shamelessly began to eat and drink for free. In the end, I was so poor that I had to go to Barton's bar to eat and drink for free.
[I've already told you many times. You won't be cursed at all. You're just too unlucky …]
"Shut up! Nonsense! I'm only temporarily cursed. There's still hope for my life! At most, I'll really give Beyana some commission … I mean, I'll donate some to the Goddess of Wealth to change my luck. "
"Didn't the Goddess of Wealth's church forbid you from entering? Ever since you spent half a year there, idling around, eating and drinking until the gods were enraged and sent down divine punishment … You're the first one … "
"Cough, cough, let's forget about my dark history."
After the battle of the Hades, I didn't have any pressure or responsibilities while I was roaming the mortal plane. I had the happiest days of my life. However, my personal life, which was independent from my organization, exposed my lack of wealth and ability to live … Yep, for the sake of living, I did some shameless things. But Harloys, why are you bringing up my dark history again? Don't you want the bonuses I get from buying cosmetics?
I wasn't the only one who wanted to use my Fate Points to exchange for some treasures. Harloys and my System were also eyeing my wallet. They had already prepared how they were going to sweep me clean at the end of the year.
"Right, according to our new system, you've been evaluated as a Level 7 Level 4. Based on your usual achievements and faction preferences, you're also allowed to spend money here."
I wasn't surprised that I had such a high evaluation. Although I indeed hadn't reached SemiGod rank yet, just my forbidden spells alone were far more destructive than the so-called Gods.
I chuckled when I heard that I could spend money here.
"I can spend money here? Give me another 100,000! "
The fairies wouldn't be like the gnomes who could spend money here and there. Of course, it would be a waste not to take out an interest-free loan.
"Um, your limit is 1,000 Fate Points …"
Alright then, in the end, I still ended up with 21,000 Fate Points. So I had already been seen through by others.
But even though this was a small amount of Fate Points, it was still a tremendous amount of wealth. At the time, I only had a bounty of 50,000 Fate Points. Perhaps it wouldn't be enough to exchange for a custom-made God Equipment (it wasn't on the list), but it would be more than enough to purchase the items I desperately needed.
"Dusk Fruits that are five years old. I recall that they're worth 500 Fate Points each. Let's exchange for 100 of them first. Even if it's a Double Diamond Bloodline, that damned bloodline should be able to reach adulthood or even enter the prime of its life after 500 years. Also, help me check my inventory of ancient Sword Saints' martial arts manuals. I want to focus on ice magic … "
Spending money was always fun. My wallet would always become empty without me realizing it, especially since my shopping cart was already filled to the brim when I didn't have enough money to pay for it. Now that I had money in my account, I spent nearly 100,000 Fate Points to purchase Dusk Fruits, magical martial arts manuals that I personally needed, and so on.
I wasn't trying to be frugal with the remaining Fate Points. Converting resources into actual combat strength as quickly as possible was my top priority. It was just that the items that I wanted would require time to gather. I would either purchase them from the national treasuries of the mortal plane, or trade them with other Gods. Right now, I could only purchase the treasures that were already in storage.
At this moment, the airship fleet suddenly stopped and looked out the window. Finally, the sky was no longer covered in ice and snow. For the elves, the cruel migration had only just begun.
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