“Uh…” For maybe the first time in her life, Lucy Kallen did not know what to do or say.
Given the current circumstances, though, she doubted that even her friends would be in the mood to tease her about it, if they were present. If there was ever a time for her to be overwhelmed so thoroughly as to be speechless, it would be when confronted with an actual goddess asking her to relay her own status to her.
A status that, despite having checked it over twice, she still couldn’t quite fully believe was real.
First things first, she thought, swallowing in an attempt to organise her thoughts.
The thing that worried her most was her current state of mind. To be specific, how calm she was about… all of this. By all accounts, she should be terrified. A part of her still was, she had no issues admitting to herself. Yet, despite this, she had felt awfully safe and soothed within the woman’s presence. At least, ever since she had gotten over her initial panic. Which, now that she thought about it, was suspiciously fast to begin with.
She had checked the woman’s status to see if it held any explanation for it, but nothing that she could see stood out to her. Granted, she hadn’t gone deep diving, not wanting to upset the dragoness. And a dragoness this was, as was made undoubtedly clear by her profile. Reading that, Lucy had to admit, was an immense relief, as it at least meant that her being ridiculously overpowered and weird was to be expected. Relatively.
Before she could get distracted with all manners of thoughts once again, she decided to address the request she had received first, namely giving Vuthe a verbal summary of her status. Technically the woman had only asked what the system told her about the goddess. In Lucy’s eyes, though, the best way to do that would be to relay the status page wholesale. Perhaps she should ask for a clarification?
The Beastkin snuck a glance at the masked swordswoman still standing next to her, watching the exchange silently. She trusted Miss Cecily far more than she trusted the dragoness. Over the past few months, the adventurer had saved her more than a few times, and she knew she could rely on the woman without hesitation. Sure, Miss Cecily wouldn’t necessarily throw her life away for nothing, but she was definitely a responsible woman who took her duties seriously.
At the same time, though, this was a goddess they were talking about. She wouldn’t blame the swordswoman, not even for a moment, if she decided she didn’t want to get involved in a fight she had no reasonable ways of winning. Of course, Miss Cecily was a rather unique case. Lucy had seen her status page, and was aware of the unique style of magic the adventurer had access to. Something the other woman usually kept under wraps, or, at the very least, didn’t openly parade around.
So perhaps she had a slim chance, but even then she wouldn’t hold it against her.
In addition to that, she held the secrets of a goddess in her palm. Secrets the woman might not want to be divulged in front of another person. Vuthe didn’t appear to be hostile, but that didn’t mean she would just accept having all her secrets laid bare.
In the end, she decided to speak up. Lucy doubted that the dragoness would hold it against her if she was asking for guidance.
“I, uhm… Should I just give you your status then?” She tried to keep her voice calm, but she wasn’t able to keep the uncertainty and the hint of fear out of it entirely. “Just asking, because Miss Cecily is still here and while I trust her, I’m not sure you do and I don’t want to upset you, since, y’know, you’re a goddess and all that, and I rather not get on the bad side of a deity, and–”
She was cut off when Vuthe held up her hand. The woman still looked rather serious, although there was now a faint smile playing on her lips, which Lucy took as a good sign. The gesture still made her flinch a little, though.
“It’s alright, Lucy. I’m not naive enough to think that the topic of my status won’t come up in your future conversations, and I don’t want to be the reason that ruined your friendship by driving a wedge of distrust between the two of you.”
The courier swallowed again, but nodded. “Okay… Uhm… Yeah, okay… I’m just asking, because your status is… wild.”
She wanted to say fucking ridiculous, but she didn’t think such a comment would go over well, given the being she was talking to. And she really didn’t want to get into more trouble than she was already in.
Of course, Lucy was fully aware that she had the tendencies to get involved with things she had absolutely no business being involved with. It had been that way her entire life. It was also the reason why and how she was currently here in this world, rather than on Calon.
For quite some time she had thought she was cursed, somehow. But she wasn’t. She had gotten herself checked over multiple times, at multiple churches, by multiple people, just to be safe. And nobody could detect even the hint of a curse.
That said, out of all the weird situations she had to endure during her life so far, this was probably the most mind blowing by far.
Vuthe’s quiet chuckle drew her attention back to the conversation at hand.
“I’m sure it is. Although, I’m not sure if Cecily even has a point of reference to understand how wild. Have you ever shared her or your status with her?”
Lucy winced, and shot her bodyguard an apologetic look. “No… I, uhm… I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.”
If the adventurer was upset by the development, she didn’t show any hints of it. Though, perhaps she was simply too focused on the situation at hand. Wouldn’t surprise the courier in the slightest.
“Smart,” the dragonness approved with a nod. “Although I don’t know what her status, or mine for that matter, would even look like, since we don’t have access to the system. I’d be surprised if it could still give the same sort of detailed response.”
The topic seemed to genuinely fascinate the woman, her gaze becoming a bit more absent as she got lost in thought. The inquiry helped Lucy find some more stable footing, and she took a deep breath before she opened her mouth to start explaining what she knew.
“Well, it is still mostly the same for people who aren’t from Calon. You’re just missing the skills section, and your class is listed as ‘Job’ rather than ‘Class’. Interestingly, there is also a change to my own status ever since coming here. In regards to my level, to be exact. The people of this world don’t have any concept of levels, although–unsurprisingly–they, too, have some way to quantify strength as you well know. Or maybe not, given your amnesia.” She paused for a moment, giving the dragoness a curious glance.
“I do, although I wouldn’t mind a refresher on the topic, if you don’t mind.”
Lucy nodded. “Okay. So, you know how there is like Copper Rank, followed by Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald, etcetera. While they are pretty vague, mostly based around mana density and personal ability from what I can tell, they do seem to be somewhat static–or at the very least static enough for the System. I’m a level 26 [Courier], and it lists my level as such on my status page. But ever since I came here, it now also has a ‘Rank Equivalent’ rating next to it. That being Copper. Which is roughly in the same ballpark the guild estimated myself to be.”
She waited for a moment, giving the dragoness time to digest this new information. The woman still watching her nodded in turn, obviously not surprised by this. What she said next, though, surprised Lucy, and she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows.
“Yeah. From what I know, each Rank equivalent should be somewhat level oriented. Up until Silver, it’s all in 25 level sections. So Level 1 through 25 are Copper, 26 through 50 are Iron, 51 through 75 are Bronze, and 76 through 100 are Silver. After that, the increment increases, although not uniformly. Gold and Platinum both cover 50 levels each, with Gold covering the range from Level 101 through 150, and Platinum covering levels 151 through 200. Emerald, Diamond, and Adamantine last even longer. Emerald is 100 levels, Diamond 200, and Adamantine 250. After that is the Singularity, although to be blunt, even I couldn’t tell you much about it. On paper it should also cover 250 levels, from Levels 751 to Level 1000, but as far as I’m aware, that rank is entirely theoretical. Not that the rest of what I just told you is necessarily correct. It could very well be not fully accurate. My knowledge is vastly out of date, entirely intellectual with no personal experience, and coming from an unconfirmed source with no direct relation to the realm in question, so take this with a sizeable helping of salt. Especially given that you are Level 26 and still listed as Copper, but that might also have to do with the fact that you aren’t exactly combat or magic oriented. No offence meant, of course.” She gave a small smile. “Given that the Ranks usually take more than just mana density into account, it might just be that you have the mana density of an Iron Ranker–which would explain your higher level, as mana density should be the main point of reference upon which levels are based–but without the necessary strength you’d normally expect to see for someone of that level. Hence your lower ranking.”
A moment of silence followed her statement. It made a bit of sense–or at the very least conformed with her experience so far–but she found it strange that Vuthe, the woman supposedly lacking memories, just knew something so critical about the system, despite the fact that she said she had never even visited Calon before.
She also found it rather strange that the Rank system somehow conformed with Calon’s System Levels, despite the fact that this world didn’t have access to said System. It felt a bit too convenient for her to just take at face value. Then again, stranger things have happened before. And it was also true that there were actual physical thresholds for mana density at certain points that were noticeable and measurable.
She was just about to comment on it, but managed to stop herself at the last second.
Lucy had seen Vuthe’s status, and all the weirdness displayed there, so maybe it shouldn’t come to much of a surprise that she was kind of strange and knew things others probably wouldn’t. Not to mention that she was a damn goddess! If the system truly was drawing upon the divine, then Vuthe might very well have more insights into the inner workings than anyone else.
“Yeah, that makes sense,” she continued cautiously, not quite able to mask her curiosity, but quickly moving past it. “Anyway, to get back to the original question. The Rank Equivalent would give Miss Cecily at least some way to understand how, uhm… strange your status is. Especially since… Well… Uhm…” She swallowed again, unable to meet the dragoness eyes.
“Yes?” The woman inquired, watching the courier closely.
Lucy swallowed again, not quite able to suppress some nervous fidgeting, then took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, it might be easier to just read out your profile rather than to try and explain it to you. I just hope you won’t be too mad at me… It’s not exactly… friendly.”
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