CH 26

"Sir, contact with Team Alpha has been terminated. Should we send in reinforcements?"

"Don't bother, head for the city instead. All troops concentrate fire in that direction!"

A young man wearing an admiral's uniform stood at the starboard ship of the Pangea's fleet. His blue eyes seemed to devour the island as the red lips on his face showed a perverted smile. He wore the standard white coat and white pants while the yellow pads on his shoulder had three stars on them. Vice Admiral Red "Dog" Cane has arrived at the borders of Pantheon's Oculus.

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

The days where he had to standby for deployment and yet no action was present still made him yawn every now and then. Military men that only train, no wars to fight or enemies to kill. How boring was that? Why else would you join the military?

'Now I get to blow shit up!'

His father was once an admiral too, but he was fighting real wars to the east where the true battles really happen. He grew up seeing his stern father's face that only looked happy whenever he was talking to his old veteran friends who had came back with him from those wars. The tales of his adventures were so evidently seen through rose colored glasses that you would have thought this was a decent man.

That is if you didn't know that this old man who liked to pester young girls and hit his only child was the same man in his stories. It no wonder that he was murdered in his sleep when Red was eighteen. Though no one ever caught for his murder since no one cared enough to bother. Not even Red, especially Red.

Now that he was gone, Red wanted to know how a man like that, who made so many mistakes in his life, get to even a moment to smile like that. He wanted to know that feeling, so much so that he joined the navy when he had the chance. The grueling training still haunted him to this day, not knowing why that perverted old man wanted to come back to this kind of thing in the first place. But he persevered and fought and conquered.

Finally, his efforts and talent has earned him a rank of the highest name in the Navy, an admiral. Although it was only a rear admiral, it was a start that would most certainly end one way, and even now, he was promoted to vice admiral just before this mission. Though the title brought him no small amount of pride, it was something else that really made his blood flow.

'I finally understand it now, old man. I really do.'

The blood in his veins were pumping so fast that he thought that everything had slowed down. He wondered if the feeling of a pending war was what got that man smiling that way, but now he felt it didn't matter. He was dead anyway, he made sure of that. He checked the watch on his left wrist to see the stats he had cultivated until now.

[#1220 Red Cane

Age: 31       Race: Human

Gender: Male   Class: Warrior of the Sea

Vessel Limit: (16/24)   Level: 4 (330/1000)

Mana: 100(+350)    Exp: 0

Titles :

Born Navy - A user whose fate is intertwined with the sea.

*Unlocks Seaworthy]

[Stats:

Strength - 11(+0) Endurance - 2(+0)

Agility - 3+(2) Will Power - 1(+0)

Intelligence - 2(+7) Wit - 3(+0)

Dexterity - 2(+9)

Stat Points Available: 0

-For reference, a regular mortal human has a baseline of 1 in each stat. Each succeeding point in stats showcase the user's capability in comparison to that.

Skills:

[2] - Knife Specialist - Level 2 (Exp 67%)

- The ability to fight with the use of a knife with mastery. Gives the user +2 in Agility.

- Active Ability: Grants + 1 Agility while fighting.

Requirements: Armed with a knife [Mana Cost: 20 to activate and 1/second to keep active]

[4] - Pistol Specialist - Level 4 (Exp 0%)

- The ability to fight with the use a pistol with mastery. Gives the user +4 in Dexterity

- Active Ability: Grants + (Level) Dexterity and Agility while fighting.

Requirements: Armed with hot weapon [Mana Cost: 20 to activate and 1/second to keep active]

[2] - Basic Mana Storage - Level 2 (Exp 0%)

- The ability to observe and handle mana. Gives the user + 4 in Intelligence

- Active Ability: None

Requirements: None

Skill Points Available: 0 pt.]

[Equipment: (3/3)

-Sea Stone Ring (+3 Intelligence)

-System Watch 2.0

-Dutch's Pistol (+5 Dexterity)

Reputation:

Engsea - 20

Talents:

[8] - Seaworthy - Yellow

- The sea loves your presence, it protects you.

- Active Ability: Sea Water Control - Move salt water as you please. [Mana Cost: 100 to activate and 10/second to keep active]

Requirements: Near a body of salt water.

Skills and Talents Available:

[9]Seaworthy - Yellow -9 pt.

Mastery Points Available: 8 pt.]

His work-focused lifestyle made it harder for him to get Side Quests done. He knew this for a fact because rankers had tried and tested the mechanics surrounding these quests. Main Quests basically serve as incentives for a ranker to grow stronger by spending their Exp Points. Giving out rewards whenever they level up or achieve a higher skill level that promotes their strength. It's not like it was easy to do however, as Exp Points are impossible to earn unless you completed your Side Quests.

As of right now, only Side Quests gave off Exp Points other than the Main Quests, at least it was commonly known as such. But the purpose of the Side Quest was different but related to Main Quests.

Rankers had theorized that the likely common variable between Side Quests was that it made the ranker 'grow'. With the accomplishment of Side Quests, a ranker's personal ability, whether social or physical, mental or psychological, they were all meant to improve a ranker's rather lacking capability. It was backed by the theory that Exp points were like actual experiences being quantified. That a person whose life had more to experience are able to get stronger, evidenced by the fact that Leveling Up requires Exp Points.

By this point in time, Rankers were a worldwide common knowledge. The presence of rankers has already been revealed to the world but not all of them chose to reveal themselves as one. Though most people were skeptical of such unimaginable circumstances happening, those who mattered in the grand scheme of things were already given enough evidence to prove that these people were real.

By the time the appearance of Abdicates were showed to the world however, no one has tried to refute their existence anymore. The broadcast of the debut fight of Zel who had named himself 'King' in coordination with his name had valiantly defeated an army of Level 5 abdicates that would have otherwise completely flattened the USM's Flowrida.

Footage of the fact as well as the observing survivors have spread the existence of rankers as hype for their reveal made people all over the world curious to who they are and what do they want. With how much splendor he showed by revealing his abilities on full display, which included his blue mana, no one was able to resist wanting to know more about 'King'.

They had wondered whether he was a representative of the so called 'rankers' and put him on the highest pedestal of 'Strongest Ranker'.

This, combined with the leaks of the construction of the Oculus, provided the Pangea and the X-Force with enough reason to destroy the Pantheon and its leader, King. If he was left to grow his forces, the threat he posed would be unimaginable. As the only known ranker with a blue-ranked talent, who knew what his limits would be.

'I don't even know what skills he used.'

Rankers have already started to label a ranker's skill set. They followed the same coding system that the system used to rank talents, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. The color of a person's mana depends on their talent with the red being the weakest and violet being the strongest. If red-ranked talents were already uncommon and highly desired, imagine what a blue-ranked talent that is four ranks higher would be treated. This knowledge about ranks were provided by the system through an announcement that also gave out very bad news.

[System Announcements:

- Top 10 function has now concluded! Rewards will be handed out when the timer runs out -

- Congratulations! Dimensional Maturity has completed! Find out what the means! -]

When the timer ran out, an announcement containing details of what dimensional maturity meant. All four of the organizations had to change plans after that. A wrench in the mass production plans of the big four that was dropped so suddenly that months of preparation were brought to ruin. Luckily, Red had the system three weeks earlier. He had time to at least get something out of it.

When the fleet's only a few hundred meters away from the shore, he commanded everyone to prepare for departure. He took out a variety of weapons, starting with his trusted pistol and a pair of combat knives. He was a commander whose specialty was in the sea, he didn't need to go there himself. His responsibility was to take care of every stray enemy that went to sea.

'Now, we wait.' Looking towards the sky, he saw the wing of fighter jets swing by and drop a few warning shots to the tall walls. These X-Force jets were all given mana imbued bullets, so they pack quite the punch. They have already tested it's power by annihilating an army of Level 3 abdicates using one wing that had 15 jets in it. He knew how dangerous they were.

"Ding. Ding. Ding." All fifteen jets shot out but not a single hole can be seen on the walls, only a dent was left behind.

'The rough looking earth walls stopped those bullets? How is this even possible?' Red couldn't believe his eyes, even a Level 5 ranker would have a hard time defending from that, with the best of them even receiving a few light wounds.

"What the hell is that wall!?" Chaos had appeared on the army that's heading for those walls.

The whole plan relied on the walls being taken down so that the troops on foot could tackle their defense lines and take over the city. But their imbued bullets didn't work?

"Permission to switch to second grade weapons sir!" Red looked towards the ship beside his, this was the commander of the X-Force that was sent to facilitate their aerial advance.

"Permission granted!"

His weathered face was now showing a serious expression while his short white hair drifted along the sea breeze. He had on a combat uniform that hugged his well-trained body. Though his short stature made one look down on him, especially with how old he looked, this was one of the strongest members of the X-Force.

"John Lucas, the Orange Talent Level 5 whose powerful lightning skills were highlighted when he joined the fight to take back the Engsea Harbor. Though not able to finish the battle, his valiant efforts have even taken down a few Level 4 abdicates."

The old man was surely someone the higher ups sent to make sure the mission is a success. If his face looked calm, everyone else would stay calm. But if his face looked like someone took a crap in his coffee, people knew that shit was about to go down.

Red looked at the time, it's a few more hours until the timer that the system keeps a watch on would finally end. Though he was curious about the resulting change, the downside would be quite difficult to swallow.

'I'd really rather have the system stay the same. If things really happen as it said, I may have to do a lot more work for less money.' Even a maniac like Red knew that the most powerful force in the world is money. Even his old man loved money, he was talking about it every day.

'Fuck that old man!' Red knew that he had a problem with his father. The old man may not have been the kindest, far from it, but his influence has reached deep into Red's core that it felt like he was contaminated by it.

"Boom! Yeah!" The surrounding men took joy in watching the jets' newly released weapons hit the walls as the entire wing even hid behind a cloud of smoke.

"Fall Back!" Lucas screamed at the radio that was used to contact the elite pilots of the jets, but no response returned. It had been a few seconds before their last received transmission. A message that made Lucas' skin crawl off his back.

"This is Freedom-1. An invisible blockade has appeared in the aerial space around the target! Requesting permission to retreat! I repeat, ah fuck it. Boys! Regroup and Retreat! Head eas- Boom! Boom! Tcch-"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

That was until the successive explosions turned the cheer into a questioning whimper. Were the weapons able to be sent out in rapid succession? Then why didn't they just open with that?