Earth.

Quarath.

Slightly more than a dozen people sat around a table inside one of the tallest buildings in the city, in a hall spacious enough to host hundreds.

The wall at the end of the room bore a single word, large enough for everyone to see from across the room, Nemesis.

Meetings like this had become commonplace over the years as the number of problems never stopped rising, only increasing, and six years ago, they grew explosively after Nemesis managed to take over Quarath, thanks to the Dean of Quarath Academy, Ynsera.

Seeing no way to reclaim the city in the short term, the Federation had quickly retreated, leaving no government presence behind and effectively ceding the city to Nemesis, hoping that with their limited manpower, the organization would soon collapse under its own greed.

But even after six years, that did not happen.

"Give me the battle reports for the past week."

Sitting at the head of the table was a fair-skinned woman whose hair was slowly but surely turning from black to a pale, icy blue. Her voice, however, carried a weariness that couldn't be blamed on just a few sleepless nights. She was Cassidy, who, ever since Nova had disappeared for two years before vanishing again into another Portal without a word, had been the one managing everything.

A woman dressed entirely in black nodded and rose from her seat.

"Six days ago, we had another skirmish with the Federation outside the northern gate, resulting in several of our people being heavily injured.

Four days ago, around a hundred beasts charged the east gate, leading to a mid-scale battle. No Grade 1 beasts were present, but we suffered six casualties.

Yesterday, we engaged the Federation once again at the west gate. This time, our side reported two deaths."

Shira's cold yet soft voice rang clearly through the silent hall.

But her report didn't provoke even the slightest reaction from anyone in the room.

All of this was just a normal week for them, far from a bad one.

Years ago, as Earth slowly evolved under the influence of Mana, it began giving birth to beasts whose strength rivaled that of humanity's strongest.

The revelation sent shockwaves through the population. People suddenly found themselves unable to travel safely between cities without waiting for soldiers to escort modern caravans, only then did they feel slightly safer. But never completely.

Already at that time were countless reports of beasts charging and wiping out entire escorts, leaving only bones and broken caravans behind.

At first, no one believed it was even possible for animals to become so strong. Some even wondered whether they could enter Portals, but that theory was quickly disproven. Through careful monitoring of animals in laboratories, researchers discovered that, over time, these creatures began to exhibit signs of accelerated growth.

The kind of strength that only a few years earlier had been considered exceptional among humans soon became common among ordinary animals without any training at all.

For the joy of old animal researchers and enthusiasts, this phenomenon offered a brand-new world to explore. But most of them had no idea of the dangers involved. When starved beasts were confined together in a closed space, there was only ever one possible outcome.

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Fight. Win. Eat.

When the last beast standing devoured the others, its strength exploded uncontrollably. Rooms that had once been able to contain them crumpled like paper, and a massacre of researchers soon followed.

From that day on, humanity never looked at animals the same way again.

And so, the word animal, seen as too weak, was abandoned. In its place, a new term emerged: beast.

Now, only those who were strong enough, possessed ample space, and had been officially certified by the city were granted permission to keep a beast in their home. The requirements were so strict that cities now had few beasts, if any at all.

"Hmm? The last report, were there any Grade 1s from the Federation present in the skirmish?" Darius frowned. As the leader of the Legion, and someone who had trained countless soldiers, he found it odd for his men to die at the hands of Federation forces when their standard wasn't nearly as high. That was under the assumption of there not being any Grade 1.

Shira nodded. "There were three Grade 1s present."

Grade 1.

A term that had only recently become widespread among the general population and quickly turned into a symbol of ultimate power.

When one reached level 50, the System would display a prompt, asking whether they wished to advance to Grade 1 or continue as Grade 0.

If one chose the latter, then after another fifty levels, at level 100, the same prompt would appear once again, offering the same two choices.

If, however, one chose to advance, the Universe itself would temper their body, elevating their very existence, what people now called their Life Rating.

The process was gruesome. Every cell, every fiber, and even the mind had to undergo relentless tempering, pushing both body and willpower to their absolute limits. Those unable to endure it met one of the most excruciating deaths imaginable.

But for those who survived, what awaited them was glory. Infinite, boundless glory.

Their level would reset to zero, yet each level gained afterward would grant five times the stat points compared to a Grade 0. The difference in strength between a Grade 1 and a Grade 0 was no longer a gap, it was a chasm.

And that wasn't even all.

Grade 1s, being higher life forms, exert a natural suppression over Grade 0s, a pressure that heavily impacts the latter's ability to fight, rendering them, at the same level of understanding, little more than sitting ducks in direct combat.

Adira snorted. "They keep sacrificing the future of their people, yet all they manage are a few skirmishes. If I were part of the Federation, I'd have left without a second thought."

Hector replied calmly, "That's true. But even so, they're still managing to win some fights and kill our people. I think we should have a few of our own soldiers advance, just enough to keep the Federation at bay when either us or the commanders aren't around."

"And then what? We'll be no different from them," Adira shot back.

She despised how the Federation dangled promises of riches and glory before its soldiers, pushing them to cripple their own futures by ascending to Grade 1 as soon as they reached level 50.

Because while an average Grade 1 was indeed stronger than an average Grade 0...

What about geniuses?

And what about those who could advance at level 100? Or even higher?

At that point, when one such genius emerged, the disparity between the Federation's forces and everyone else would reach such extremes that not even all of its forces together could handle a single individual.

The Federation, however, had been on tenterhooks ever since the first Birth of Deities more than eleven years ago, when Nova astonished the world with his strength. From that moment, they began taking every shortcut they could find out and within the Portals to grow stronger, fearing that, at their current pace, the future Adira imagined might never even come.

Malachi smiled faintly and said, "We could test our people's aptitude, or perhaps some of the academy students, and select a few of the weaker ones, those with no real hope of advancing further. Let's say... several dozen should be enough to handle the skirmishes and deal with the few Grade 1 beasts that approach our city."

Having full control over Quarath also meant that Nemesis now controlled the academy, which had become a training ground for their young talents. While Nemesis didn't force graduates to enlist in its army, allowing them to choose their own roles within the city, the military, naturally, held far more influence than any other path.

Cassidy, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

"How would you go about testing their aptitudes?"

The others in the room turned toward Malachi, who leaned back in his chair.

"Combat. Mana. Survivability. Comprehension. And ruthlessness."

He swept his gaze across the room and said,

"Up to now, we've determined that one needs all five of those traits to be considered a genius. The only thing left is to measure how high each one ranks, and the best way to do that is through the Portals, obviously."

"I propose we assign one of our soldiers to each recruit as an overseer and have them enter a portal together. The overseer won't be allowed to interfere, but will be required to submit a detailed mission report along with a final evaluation."

A grin spread across his face.

"What do you all think?"

It was madness.

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