Chapter 93: The Rankings, the Gap

The Dragon Knights and Dragon Warriors of the Knight Empire;
The Forbidden Spell Sorcerers and Archmages of the Arcane Dynasty;
The Necromancers and Death Warriors of the Undead Empire;
The Wood Elf Archers and Moon Elf Priests of the Elven Forest;
The Behemoth Warriors and Direwolf Fighters of the Beast Tribe;
The Dark Sorcerers and Nightmare Knights of the Dark Empire;
And dozens of top-tier mercenaries from the Trade Alliance, each rivaling these mighty individuals!
Every one of them is a hidden class, the most iconic in their nation. Not only do they possess combat power far above ordinary professions, but their innate talents are also unmatched by regular classes.
After finishing these recordings, I finally realized that my path as a Bow Warrior was but an obscure choice among countless ordinary professions.
Compared to the awe-inspiring power of the Behemoth Warriors, the Wood Elf Archers who can shoot lethal arrows without even needing a bowstring, the Dragon Knights and Dragon Warriors who soar through the skies with terrifying might, and the Forbidden Spell Sorcerers capable of destroying cities with a single incantation—all these hidden professions make me feel like an ant just stepping onto the path of growth…
This feeling is truly extraordinary!
…
“Master, the water temperature has risen above freezing. Would you like me to cool it down?”
The imp’s voice abruptly pulled me away from my thoughts about those hidden professions. Only then did I realize that, in just a dozen minutes, not only was my blood boiling with excitement, but even the bathwater had lost its chill.
“No need! Soaking too long isn’t good for the body…”
After answering the little imp, I got out, dressed, and went to the living room.

No sooner had I sat down than the little imp thoughtfully projected the light screen before my eyes again.
On the official Magic Era website, besides the two most prominent rows of videos, what caught my eye the most were the rankings and the soon-to-be-released guild introductions!
Forget the guilds for now—they won’t be open for another twenty-seven days. Let’s check out the game rankings first.
I remember hearing about them in-game from White Valentine and Black Tea—once when discussing the top fourth-tier powerhouses in Magic Era, and another time when we met Whisper…
But I’d never really understood the specifics of the rankings.
Entering the rankings page, the screen shifted, and several major leaderboards popped up—Level Ranking, Reputation Ranking, Mercenary Group Ranking, Wealth Ranking, Equipment Ranking, Weapon Ranking.
Wow, even wealth and equipment have their own leaderboards?
I was momentarily stunned, then clicked through each one… My head felt like it was swelling several sizes larger…
Each category, once opened, was further divided into an overall ranking and internal rankings for each of the Seven Great Empires, as well as class-specific leaderboards for the seven major professions. In all, there were over a hundred different lists, making my scalp tingle with numbness!
Take the level rankings for example:
The overall level leaderboard records the levels of all players in the game—over 1.3 billion, including those who just joined an hour ago;
Then there are separate level rankings for each of the Seven Great Empires…
Next up! There are also leaderboards for the Knight, Mage, Warrior, Archer, Rogue, Summoner, and Priest classes!
Mages alone are further divided into eight elemental branches—Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Light, Darkness, and Undead…
At this point, even after a cold bath, my head was spinning from the sheer volume of categories.
There are just too many rankings!
But thinking about it, such variety is necessary!
It’s a testament to the game’s popularity; without so many leaderboards, the same familiar faces would dominate right from the start. The multitude of rankings not only increases the chances for new faces to emerge but also boosts competition in the game!
Still… it’s clearly impossible to review every leaderboard.

Moreover, spending so much time browsing all those rankings seems like a waste. After some thought, I had the little imp search for “Windstrider”—that player’s name—to check his ranking.
The results made me frown!
Windstrider (Lin Xuefeng):
Level 33, Gale Warrior; ranked 3,822,973rd on the overall level leaderboard; 172,937th on the overall Warrior leaderboard; 472,821st on the Knight Empire leaderboard; 27,261st on the Knight Empire Warrior leaderboard.
It seems Lin Xuefeng had nearly been knocked all the way back to the starting point of third tier during the battle with the Chaos Mercenary Group.
After a class change, no matter how many times a player dies, level won’t drop below 10; upon reaching second tier, it can’t fall below 20; similarly, third tier can only be reduced to level 30, and no lower regardless of deaths.

“Search for the ‘World Mercenary Group’ rankings.”
“One moment…”
No sooner had I spoken than the details for the ‘World Mercenary Group’ created by Windstrider appeared before me:
World Mercenary Group, founded by ‘Windstrider’, with 982 members; group reputation 29,827 points; ranked 1,892nd on the overall mercenary group leaderboard; 71st on the Knight Empire mercenary group leaderboard.
At this, I breathed a small sigh of relief: at least… among the tens of thousands of mercenary groups, the World Mercenary Group’s ranking was still decent. It seemed they were once a strong force in the Knight Empire. Were it not for the suppression from the Chaos Mercenary Group, their ranking might have been higher still.
Thinking of the Chaos Mercenary Group, I couldn’t help but check the rankings for Chaos Hunter and their group.
The results…
‘Chaos Hunter’ is level 41, ranked eighth overall, and second in the Knight Empire!
Chaos Mercenary Group, 2,000 members! Group reputation 182,739 points; ranked seventh overall among mercenary groups; second in the Knight Empire!
A bit dizzying!
The gap between the World Mercenary Group and the Chaos Mercenary Group… it’s not just a little—it’s a chasm.