[ Regional Announcement: In ten minutes, every Player's Talent will be randomly initialized. ]
[Talent Ranks: F , E, D, C, B, A, S , and beyond. ]
[ Your Talent is your foundation. It dictates your growth, your power, and your survival. It will determine the direction of your future! ]
The Chat went from frantic to absolute nuclear meltdown as the comments started pouring in. Comments poured in so fast the text was a blur of neon blue. Some players were hyped, others were skeptical, but the vast majority were busy cursing their luck or spiraling into a panic. In a world where your utility was decided by a gacha, everyone knew the odds of pulling a high-rank talent were astronomically low.
[ F-Rank? If I get an F-Rank, I'm just going to walk into the jaws of that fire-wolf and get it over with. I'm not spending my new life struggling.. what's the point of a new life if it's the same fucking thing over again! ]
[ Does anyone know the drop rates? Is S-Rank like 0.01%? Someone tell me I have a chance! ]
[ Jax here. Don't sweat the rank, kids. A B-Rank in the hands of a pro is better than an S-Rank in the hands of a noob. Get ready to move when the timer hits zero! ]
….
The announcement was clear, your Rank didn't technically lock your future in concrete, but it definitely built the ladder you were expected to climb.
An F ranker would struggle with the most basic monsters while an S ranker could breeze through them making it feels like one was playing on Hell level difficulty while the other was on easy mode with a bag full of cheats.
Victor leaned back against a cold stone pillar and let out a long, weary sigh. Watching the panic unfold in real-time was like witnessing a slow-motion train wreck. All around him, the hundred thousand players of Stormgate City were cycling through a frantic myriad of negative emotions..
Few rows over, a man in a rumpled business suit was screaming curses at the sky as if he could intimidate the system into giving him a better deal. Nearby, a group had dropped to their knees, hands clasped in desperate prayer to gods they had likely ignored for years.
But the most haunting ones were the laughers ,people who had simply snapped under the pressure, alternating between hysterical giggles and jagged, ugly sobs.
Victor didn't join the screaming as to him, panicking was a massive waste of energy, it wouldn't change or solve their current predicament, and it certainly wouldn't stop a monster from eating you. But that didn't mean his heart wasn't hammering against his ribs.
He was human, after all. He was just as nervous as the guy sobbing into his burrito three feet away.
Naturally, he hoped for a high-tier talent, who wouldn't want a head start? But Victor had already made a mental pact with himself, if he drew a bottom-tier F-Rank, he'd just have to grind ten times harder than everyone else.
He didn't have the delusion that he could bridge the gap between an S rank and F rank with sheer hard work but he wasn't going to just give up because his talent was trash.
He didn't need to be a god. He just wanted enough strength to feel a sense of safety in this strange, violent new world.
Maybe he was losing his mind, but as the timer ticked down, a strange rush of excitement began to drown out the fear. This was a live-action RPG with real-world consequences, and for the first time in his life, the path ahead wasn't a boring corporate ladder but just a blank slate with endless possibilities.
Victor didn't just want to survive, he wanted to see exactly how far he could go.
[ 10... 9... 8... ]
The entire plaza fell silent. 100,000 people held their breath at once.
[ 3... 2... 1... ]
[ Initialization Complete! ]
The countdown vanished, replaced by soft blue glow as the the personal interface flickered to life , a progress bar appearing on screen reminding Victor of a video game loading screen.
[ Character Attributes and Innate Talents have been unlocked. ]
[ Welcome to the New Hierarchy Survivor. ]
Victor ignored the wails of a guy nearby who had just realized his talent was Slightly Improved Digging. He focused entirely on his own screen, his eyes widening as a single line of text burned into his vision in shimmering, iridescent gold.
[Player: Victor Thorne ]
[ Level: 1 (0.00%) ]
[ Class: Unassigned (Specialization unlocks at Level 10) ]
[ HP: 100/100 ]
[ Attack: 10 | Defense: 0 ]
[ Talent: Infinite Enhancement (Rank: SSS — Unique) ]
Victor's eyes were fixed on those three letters … SSS
Not a common D-rank. Not a decent B. Not even the S-rank the system had mentioned in the announcement.
Victor had already mentally prepared himself to make the best use out of his F rank talent as he believed his rotten luck would strike again.
Never in his life has he won an outcome related to luck , not even a simple scratch and win.
Victor couldn't believe it , he blinked at the screen half expecting the system to correct itself and maybe give him a C rank.
But it never changed , the text still stayed fixed at 'SSS'
All around him people were cursing about their F ranks , and talking about their D rank talents and Victor stood among them feeling like he had just hit the jackpot.
As he had become the only SSS rank in all of the Aethelgard realm…