Whether William wanted to take advantage of his card or not, what kind of dangerours things should be in a freaking library? That confused William to no avail, and since he didn't know what was best, he chose not to take any terrible action.
Leaning back, he played with his card in front of his face.
"Secrets. Perhaps a coin toss could fix this shit. What about a look at Rank 7 Darks? Primevals... are big and curious. Mi-Yung was hesitant about their expertise, and so was the case with those Sapients. I get why corrupted humans are odd. Ancient creatures are that too, or... those that might not come from anywhere. Corrupted Walkers are even worse, and... what to think of it from this research? Could they have those Darks caught up like lab rats and cut them to pieces?"
Unbeknownst to him, what he thought was what his life Outside got him, and it was far from a bad thing, no matter how Richards or he, himself, said. The subject was context and awareness, and unlike Stark, he understood some concepts better than his peers.
William might be unaware of things on a greater scale, but he wasn't clueless about the wider world, or Darks, or... what might be nasty... or here. It was a different life. His strength, perhaps?
Corruption was crazy, and looking at it from a calm and scientific perspective might reveal a much more terrifying truth, while a child looking at it might find it as fascinating as looking at the moon.
Shuddering, William couldn't even imagine what it took to take on that terrifying Corruption, drown in it, cherish it, become one with it, and switch.
The past month was a great reminder that he, too, could switch, but not like a fool or a demon. It felt almost too great, so the beginner things were bland.
William would disagree if he were younger, but he wasn't. He took every advantage with great vigor, instead of worrying about the further paths. It was much better to take it in doses. He did precisely that for the last few weeks. Years ago, he did the same thing with food, blood, and water, his damn mind, and gods knows what else.
Now, new choices were before him. Not a coin, however.
William grabbed the card, scribbled a small circle in one corner, and tossed it high in the air. The thin card tumbled, swirling like a wild leaf. Then, it fell with the circle facing the ceiling.
"Wait... What have I even bet on? Again... what the hell am I even doing?"
Grabbing it, he hesitated. This room was designed for the upper echelon of Darks. There were fewer details about the low ranks, with Ranks 4, 5, and 6 being notable exceptions, followed by Rank 7 Darks, which had a couple of notable cases, but those were special. He recalled why; every case of Rank 7 wasn't too excessive, and their research was meticulous, with many booklets and hunts.
"Look or not. Circle is the answer and eye."
He tossed the card with a more explicit promise, and it flew upward in circles.
"Does it fly like that naturally?"
Either way, it fell back on the ground, showing a circle, which half-wavering pokes didn't stress enough.
He looked at it, ignorant that Richards might still be around, but in a different dimension. The card made him hesitant, yet that circle was his choice, and it didn't look as if something even touched it.
"High-Rank Darks, eh? That would not hurt me, nor anyone else. Rank 6 or 7? Should I toss it again?"
He did so without thinking and slapped his head as he caught it before it landed.
"Nah. I don't feel like reading through these documents again, right? Right!" William glanced at the table instead.
There were documents pertaining to Jawrans, whose Rank was already sixth and quite high. Beside them were Rank 5 and 4 variants of the Sky Family, and this room had a lot about this Family.
Ranging from Pterans, Cocobosses, Shatterspines, Divers, colorful Pelicracks, or insane and talkative Purrots, William learned a lot of insane things that didn't even live in this hemisphere, or continent. A lot of insanity was in Amazon, for example, and it was boundless, colorful like a motley, and varied like the people.
Spread out around the table, William realized he already had quite a few advanced Darks before him and loved reading about them. Almost anything at this Rank had a way to utilize chaotic Arcana and an assortment of crazy attacking patterns.
"Ah, fuck it." With a motion, he stored the papers back into their folders and then returned them to their rightful cabinets. Closing them, William glanced at the tablet on the wall, which described the Darks and where to find them. The rooms had limited space, so many ideas were spread out across the upper floors. Ranks, names, and letters with numbers distinguished the way.
Not every Dark had a name change with every Rank. It was common to see that as a dangerous sign of evolution and transformation. The naming scheme was already insane as it is, so having clarity via numbers was nice; yet, William also felt that these names didn't sound all that bad.
The lower branches described Rank 7s. Mi-Yung hinted at these upper problems, but revealing them was apprehensive.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
What's the point, if everyone decent knew there was something above it? Rank 8 was behind Rank 7, while Rank 9 came after Rank 8. Shocking, right? William sighed as numbers didn't lie, yet each gap meant a huge disparity and scheme of power that Walkers and Darks saw as no simple digit.
William felt a new change at the moment. Rank 8 Walkers should be untouchable pillars of humanity, and Richards talked about those in the Academy, and the Academy itself, as if it were the greatest thing in the world.
Little things might not matter for such powerful beings, but was it fair, or did it make sense? Couldn't they just wipe out the entire species between Rank 1 and 5 with a wave of their hands? If they were so powerful, why the hell were they wasting time and not wiping those freaks out sooner rather than later?
Walkers went beyond humanity. Their issues could not possibly come close to someone unlike them, let alone ordinary people. The Academy might be even crazier, so William was curious just how monstrous number 8 was.
As far as his analysis bore its results, there were not that many stories describing Rank 8 Walkers. Darks were a little bit different, since their sheer legend and dreadful consequences assembled many stories and names.
In that category, even Rank 9 Darks were like that, though those were far beyond the expected definition. As for Darks below it, one couldn't see their reasons or power at the same conjecture as Rank 6.
Stories were stories. William felt, heard, and probably saw parts of their meaning.
That helicopter ride showed him a part of this continent marked by vast destruction and history. It showed everything, and this place showed something else.
For a fair deal, Rank 7 Walkers weren't excessively sealed, and their stories or notes were under many rooms and even floors. It was for reminders, lessons, and, as William learned, propaganda.
Rank 7 Walkers could deal with Hordes alone or make significant hierarchy changes across Dark Territories. Stories in the library distinguished such missions, notes gave them value, such as great killers or heroes or nicknames, and William swore there might be something useful in those stories. Alas, he probably looked for answers in the wrong way.
Still, these Walkers were extravagant, powerful figures that could move mountains and shatter buildings in a simple Move or wave of their potent Skills. Arcalyst were also there, of course, but who knew what they were like at their sequences?
What of their Dark equivalents? What was the point of those stories? If Walkers must be around that Rank to do crazy shits, what it indicated was terrifying.
Pity, William figured. For humanity to be losing this much, Darks must be better dozens... no, hundreds of times.
Because of this, these stories must contain a great deal of moral exaggeration and stupidity. William took them for what they could be, fixed them to his memory, and swore he was glad about being a freak and an Outsider.
Alas, he had no idea what powers moved within the upper Ranks, as what he found was just a bunch of words of aging history. What the Rank-up meant might be different from what he understood right now, and William was forgetting what sort of place he was even living in.
The Federation had a lot of Walkers, and their reputation was soaring in this place, unlike the skepticism and roughness Outside.
"Bloody hell. Rank 8. Rank 7. Academy and so on. I am not afraid... No way." William shook his head as he watched the names and numbers before him.
"Rank 1 Walkers can fight up to Rank 4 Darks at the upper limits. I get it, but those describe insane talents, and there is a difference even within Rank 4 Darks, like in Walkers. Can't it be clearer? Walkers have Emblems and what they could do, or... could Darks have their limits and talents as well? They have their Dark Aspects, which describe specialization and body relations.”
“Other than that, isn't one massive topic missing? How does Arcana work for them? I saw notes about it in Rank 5 and 6 Darks. It indicates that it is the first boundary where Darks are able to touch on concepts of chaos. That means the lower ones are unable to do so, and they are considerably weaker, right? That's why Rank 4s are killable." William stood on new facts, and no one was around to answer them.
"Walkers are able to touch Arcana from the very beginning, yet what is up for us is different. Arcalyst! Above, or at this point, there is a different realm that I am unable to see, so could it correlate to how Darks changes? How do those numbers make sense? Why not combine Rank 1, 2, 3, and 4 Darks into the same bracket and give them further quality? Well, at least Rank 3 Walkers could fight Rank 6 Darks, right? Nah. It doesn't work like that?! Why?!" William scolded and slapped his head because he knew how stupid he sounded.
"No. I am overthinking it again. I am wrong. There is a distinct line within the first four Ranks because there are differences in conventional powers, as well as Walker powers. Rank 2 Walkers can fight against Rank 4 Darks in an unusual and rare case. Rank 1 Walkers do that in exceptional circumstances. Rank 3 can kill Rank 4s, while Rank 4 against Rank 4 is a fair deal, with many of them challenging Rank 5s. That's where the terror begins. This sort of scheme is simpler if one understands it, and the disparity between Rank 5 and 6 is huge, yet... fair. For example, Luke killed that Jawran, which isn't common for his Rank."
As William reconsidered his findings without pen or paper, he realized what else he had missed. "Outside? Thank the moon, there is nothing like this Outside! Just a rough name and Rank is enough out there. There is also the System with its Rules, so... fuck me."
He became overwhelmed again, so he moved away from the table of contents and its numbers, which were like treats before him.
He changed his target to his right hand. "There are things that could imply talents of the Emblems, ridiculous fusions, Skills, Arcalyst powers, strategy, or weaknesses. Using it all, decreasing Rank 5 Darks and their efficiency might give Rank 4 a big advantage. Add to it the team.... debuffs... buffs? Ah, how overwhelming. There might even be an instance where Rank 5 Giant might get swarmed by Rank 3 Walkers and lose if a good strategy is involved. It is like a total raid boss, though." William nodded as he began to walk around the empty room.
"Few Walkers of Rank 4 can manage the true solo, and that's a very important point. It isn't a clever play with numbers, but rather a question of life and death: to kill or not to be killed. Talent is not a key. It's not even the ground. Merits are bullshit. The further this goes, the harder it gets. Then, the premise of Upper Darks describes things I can't even guess. I suppose the disparity in Arcana or their scaling goes out the window. Some Darks could also fight against higher Walkers, shatter the consensus of chance, and the status quo. There are a lot of exceptions to the rules."
"Numbers that. Number this... It's so simple, yet I am getting headaches because of them." William sighted. A lot of what he was thinking about resembled gaming or weird books on the cultural floor. Dungeon or something.
There were levels that described experiences, including killing bosses or goblins, acquiring loot, managing magic, and so on. It was interesting, but only as far as he could see it as a simple game.
However, with this reality, he couldn't dwell on it too much, as that century was very remote. Could such things make up for the lack of experience? Not in the slightest.
