Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 104 - 082. Hierarchy Concept

Chapter 104: 082. Hierarchy Concept

Luo Le scratched his head and said,

"According to the settings, the GTB organization unified the ranking and rating of human individual enhancement levels and threat standards."

"They use Greek letters as markers: from Alpha to Omega, a total of 24 ranks."

Lu Run scratched his head, "Why not use FEDCBA, super A, SSS to divide it, much simpler."

"...I don’t know what you’re implying, but as far as I know, the main reason is because: the patent rights for rating with Greek letters have not yet been claimed. The company can avoid property rights fees and legal battles over it."

Hearing this, Luo Le chuckled,

"That’s really interesting. I’ve never seen a company as stingy as Qiqiao Network."

"So, is this rating useful?"

"Very useful. You’ve also noticed it. The player’s panel has a ’Total Level’ which combines the levels of the main profession and secondary profession."

The video still needed some time to load, so Xue Nian decided to take a break, slack off a bit, and introduce the game background to Lu Run, to prevent the boy from being overwhelmed and unable to cooperate when the work started.

"There are only six main profession systems—Destroyer, Sovereign, Fine Artistry, Mysterious, Raiding, Redemption."

"The Destroyer type is known for its physical output and destructive power, with its main attribute being [Strength]. The initial professions are [Martial Artist], [Ranger], and [Assassin], and it’s very beginner-friendly with low entry barriers."

"The Sovereign type is represented by the Arcane User Li Aozi you’re going to film, like superheroes with all sorts of superpowers. Their main attribute is [Charm], and the initial profession is only [Mutant]."

"Fine Artistry’s main attribute is [Intelligence]—choosing the Fine Artistry main profession converts the [Will] attribute into [Intelligence]. Although only [Biochemist] and [Mechanic] are offered as initial professions on Azure Star, there are [Magician] and [Architect] inheritances on other planets."

"The Mysterious type mostly deals with ghosts and evil spirits, so if you’re timid, don’t touch it. Their main attribute is [Will], with initial professions being only [Spirit Medium] and [Shaman]."

"Raiding isn’t much to talk about. [Gambler] and [Plunder] are their initial professions, with [Dexterity] as the main attribute. Their feature is being able to occasionally steal some strengths from others."

"The Redemption type consists of healers and tanks, excelling in [Constitution], with initial professions being [Doctor], [Priest], and [Judge]."

"Looks like my task is quite simple. I just need to film one [Mutant]."

Lu Run felt relieved. If he had to film the four professions of Fine Artistry, he might have to work overtime until he dropped dead.

Suddenly, he realized something was wrong. It seemed like Xue Nian was intentionally slacking off and wasting time, so he quickly asked,

"Hey, you’ve said so much, what does profession have to do with the hierarchy?"

"Don’t rush." Luo Le lazily said, wanting to slack off a bit more. "You’ll understand soon."

"In traditional games, a high level = strong combat power, but in ’Starry Abyss,’ that’s not the case. The level of the main profession has a greater impact on combat power than the total level, and more important than the total level is the hierarchy."

Xue Nian leisurely explained,

"For example, Luo Le has a total level of 20, with the main profession being the Destroyer type—lv.8 [Martial Artist], and the secondary profession lv.12 [Hacker]. Although it seems to be at level 20, his combat power is only that of an lv.8 Martial Artist."

"In reality, because leveling in ’Starry Abyss’ is very difficult, a high total level could very well be the sum of multiple low-level secondary professions, which means there’s a lot of padding, but the hierarchy doesn’t lie."

Xue Nian thought for a moment and said,

"In the game, typically every 20 levels there’s a hierarchy. When the main profession hits level 20, it unlocks the ’Promotion Rank’ task, and passing it advances one rank."

"Of course, there’s no level cap in ’Starry Abyss.’ If you want to and have the time, you can grind to thousands of levels."

"As for why the hierarchy is important, you can refer to the GTB documents: they consider the hierarchy a symbol of an individual’s advancement to the extraordinary."

"An ordinary professional soldier might at most implant one military-grade prosthesis and use it once a day before their brain can’t handle the mechanical burden, but an Alpha rank Martial Artist can easily implant two sets and use them five or six times in one battle."

"Mechanical knowledge and physics formulas that even a Mortal Mechanic racks their brain over are mere glimpses to an Alpha rank Mechanic."

"This kind of enhancement based on the main attribute brings about a more severe level of danger than for ordinary people."

Xue Nian pointed to the projection of Li Aozi in the data,

"This guy at least has Beta rank combat power, which translates roughly to the danger level of a Frost Plated enhanced mechanized battalion."

Lu Run, not understanding military matters, reflexively said, "That doesn’t seem very strong."

Xue Nian gave him a strange look,

"—The latter includes: 140 full-time professional soldiers implanted with military-grade prosthetics, with an average level not less than 15.

Each armed with a 5.8 mm automatic rifle as their primary weapon, equipped with disposable anti-armor rocket launchers, and exoskeleton powered armor capable of resisting standard rifle bullets. Each platoon has four heavy machine guns and four grenade launchers, with officers equipped with 0.48 caliber, high-stopping power smart pistols.

The Frost Plated unit has no light infantry; all are carried by BRM ’Wolf Badger’ armored personnel carriers, moving at high speed. Apart from infantry, they also have two artillery platoons with four 125mm self-propelled guns and eight 88mm recoilless rifles, an engineer platoon, and a 12-person medical squad."

As a veteran, Xue Nian was particularly sensitive to these things. After reading a few Frost Plated recruitment materials, he became very familiar with their armament.

But for the completely inexperienced Lu Run, he was blank-faced, not understanding the concept at all.

"Only 140 people, doesn’t seem very strong."

"You’re speaking in a way he doesn’t understand. Outsiders don’t know the combat power of professional troops."

Luo Le smirked and said bluntly,

"To put it simply, a single Beta rank person is equivalent to being able to destroy the district you live in."

"The hierarchy rating, though it speaks to combat power, actually refers to threat capability."

"The military might I mentioned is sufficient to cause severe panic in a county or urban district with a population of 50,000. If he wants, just attacking the water sources or power plants can force these people to flee their homes."

"Rural areas might be better off since they can at least be self-sufficient, but cities don’t have this capability. Individual actions are secretive and hard to detect."

"So the real situation could be even more severe. If a Beta rank powerhouse decides to launch a terrorist attack, they could accomplish their target and wipe out the mentioned military forces before the army reacts and leave unscathed."

"As for Alpha rank elites, they alone can take on SWAT and riot control troops. Imagine the chaos if a few of these individuals joined a protest, strike, or school walkout."

This immediate danger made it clear to Lu Run.

"If a Beta rank is so powerful, how terrifying must an Omega rank elite be?"

If the danger level of an Alpha rank is causing village-level destruction and Beta rank is urban district-level chaos, rendering them non-functional.

Then, extrapolating to Gamma rank means city-level devastation, prompting mass civilian exodus and turning it to a wasteland.

Delta rank would be province-level, forcing millions to abandon their homes, an unimaginably huge impact.

Then Zeta rank must mean nations...

"It’s not that terrifying, because destroying a nation is still very difficult, and on Azure Star, there are no elites above Delta rank."

Xue Nian joked,

"Even the smallest nation has thousands of people, right? Killing tens of thousands of pigs would still take a few days. High danger levels also need time to manifest—okay, enough talk, break time is over, let’s check out the fully loaded video footage."

Needing time to manifest... but it’s still possible, right?

Lu Run thought for a moment, it was just a game, what was he worrying about?

Anyway, he could always respawn after dying. The idea of an individual damaging a nation sounded absurd—but thinking further, nations differed.

The Four Nations and those small countries were all nations. If individuals were so powerful, yet the Four Nations remained standing, it meant national strength was still reliable.