It may not have been the first time Jake had encountered the familiar darkness within the Red Cube, but it was still a mind-bending experience. The darkness was bearable, but the silence and lack of sensory feedback as if he had no body was just too disturbing for him to adjust to. Somehow he felt as if he no longer existed.
[Participant: Jake Wilderth, Earthling]
[Second Ordeal concluded]
[Type: Simulation/Battle Royal (Humanoid species)]
[Aether density: 4 or 40 pts]
[Number of participants: 11,658,435]
[Main Mission: Enter the Sanctuary Bubble.]
[Penalty for failure: None.]
[Evaluation of the Ordeal in Progress...]
[…]
[Evaluation complete. The result is as follows:]
[-Main Mission; Rating: Perfect= +100]
[-1st Trial: Reach the Shore; Rating: Fair: +50]
[-2nd Trial: Spend a night on the Island: Rating: Good: +75]
[-3rd Trial: Surviving on the Island until the descent of the Phantom Sanctuary (Battle Royal)): rating: Perfect= +150]
[-4th Trial: The Phantom Sanctuary Maze, Follow the Luminous Arrows and survive until the end: Perfect= +150]
[Exploration; Rating: Good= +15 pts]
[Proactivity; Rating: Excellent= +50]
[Fighting; Rating: Very Active= +20]
[ Other exploits:]
[Exploit n°1: First in the Player Rankings ; rating: +50]
[Exploit n°2: Looter and slaughterer of the Tribe of Chaos: +50]
[Exploit n°3: Meeting the Ancient Designer; Rating: +0]
[Special Exploit n°1: Inadvertently cooking your comrade to death: -20]
[Special Exploit n°2 : Save your soul mate at the risk of your life : +50]
[Total rating: +740]
[ This score is ranked first in this Ordeal and in the top 0.000 000 001% of all Second Ordeals combined. Congratulations!]
[Distribution of rewards in consequence:]
[Reward n°1: Oracle Rank + 5= Sergeant>Staff Sergeant(-100)>Sergeant First Class(-100)> First Sergeant(-100)> Master Sergeant(-200)> Sergeant Major(-200)]
"Only five ranks..." Jake mumbled with the expression of a pawnbroker who was owed money.
Xi, who knew exactly why he was ranting like that, could not help but jest at him in a mocking tone,
[ What did you think? That you were going to be promoted 7 Ranks at once because your rating was over 700 points? You've got quite an appetite! Junior Officers ranks are worth 400 Rating pts, while Field Officers ranks are worth 800 Rating pts. I'll let you imagine the ranks of Flag Officers. To be honest, your current Rank is already higher than some of the Fifth Ordeal Players, even if they are mostly small fry.]
"Ugh, actually, that's exactly what I imagined. "Jake grunted grumpily.
[ With such logic and ratings like that, you'd become a Supreme General of the Mirror Universe after just a few Ordeals. The Oracle would never let that happen. Those ranks don't just serve to give you advantages or reputation. They also serve to legitimize and coordinate the participants in certain Ordeals. If everyone has an absurdly high rank, the magic no longer works.]
"Is there at least a maximum Oracle Rank? "Jake asked curiously.
[ Hmmm... No idea.] Xi conceded after a long hesitation. [The Oracle Rank hierarchy is quite complex. At the same time, there are the Oracle Ranks of those directly representing the Oracle, such as Oracle Guardian and Oracle Overseer, which form a separate system.]
[ However, there are also Nobility Ranks, which generally take precedence over the classic military Oracle Ranks. From the Fifth Ordeal onwards, it becomes difficult to motivate Players to continue taking risks. The same is true in the Mirror Universe during massive Digestor invasions. Since the Oracle absolutely needs Players for these Ordeals, the Nobility Ranks were created to overcome this problem.
[ The main advantage of these Nobility Ranks is that with equivalent Oracle Ranks, the one with a Nobility Rank will be considered higher ranked. I let you imagine the repercussions on the Shadow Guide and the Oracle Paths calculation. The other advantage is that the Oracle will never mobilize a Noble or his faction on the battlefield against his will. This can happen when a System's situation becomes critical.]
After Xi's brief clarification, Jake took a look at the number of points required to be promoted again through the normal channels, but he instantly regretted it:
[Oracle Rank 10, Sergeant Major = 0/10,000B pts]
''Forget it... At this point I think that the advantage of a faction or a military group to be promoted faster becomes almost worthless."
That was the only consolation. At least he no longer risked running into Players with ridiculously high Oracle Ranks in their first Ordeals. Even if he was slaying Digestors all day long, it wasn't realistic to get promoted by this method in a short period of time.
[ It is actually possible to accumulate experience points quickly by commanding a large group of units. If your orders or strategies allow the units under your authority to eliminate a large group of Digestors, you will receive a significant fraction of their points. Until now, you have been unaware of this because you have fought Digestors head-on. Depending on your Oracle Rank, you may have a number of units under your command sharing their accomplishments with you.]
Upon further reflection, Jake found that this made perfect sense. If these military ranks were only honorary, it would not have been necessary to name them so. More neutral, flattering titles would have achieved the same result.
After a short interruption, a new notification appeared.
[Reward n°2: Xion Zolvhur's Soul Stone.]
[Reward n°3: Ordeal Store. 740 credits to spend.]
Jake was momentarily disappointed when he received only one Soul Stone as a reward. He was hoping to receive at least one of each type. If Ruby hadn't robbed him, he probably would have gotten a much better haul.
However, when he recognized the name of the Ancient Designer, he was instantly cheerful again. No matter how many regular Soul Stones he brought back, a Soul Stone from Xion Zolvhur's Spirit Body outshone them all and much more!
The old alien's colorful Spirit Body at least proved that such a Soul Stone harboured plenty of secrets.