Our humble feast had finished, but our day was just beginning. There was still so much to do and Kanae—most likely due to Svilran's influence—still wanted to be involved and see what Heroes do. I also caught her eyeing Elma intently. I wished I could tell what face she was making.

Anyway, we went over to the newest building, excited to show it off.

"Alright, ladies, behold," I said as I wheeled Kanae up.

Svilran jumped ahead of us, danced on the spot, hopped and landed with her legs shoulder length apart, and released many stars and lights behind her as bells chimed.

"The <Status Shrine>!" she excitedly said. "Come on, girls! Go check out the shrine! If you touch it, something good will happen!"

Elma shrugged and smiled at Dorthaunzee and then went up to the shrine. Dorthaunzee, meanwhile, slid over to me—I didn't notice her until she was shoulder-to-shoulder with me even.

Elma touched the pedestal, and the shrine flashed as magic particles were released into the air.

"Oh, I see," Elma said. "One of the worlds I went to had this feature—a Status Screen."

"That's right!" Svilran declared. "Fainn and I were incredibly excited. Now we'll better understand what is going on with you girls and be better able to guide you."

"This will also be our first time seeing what a Hero's status looks like, so it'll be a learning experience. Dorthaunzee, could you get yours too?" I looked down at Kanae. "Would you like to touch it, Kanae?"

"I would love to," she quickly replied.

I wheeled her up, crossing by Elma, who looked extremely perplexed. Before I could ask her what was up, Kanae reached up and touched the shrine. The flash of light caught me off guard and made me chuckle.

"Wow... I'm not sure what all these letters and numbers mean, but this will be of help to you?" Kanae asked as she showed me her screen.

I studied it quickly, but I, too, was perplexed.

***

Status

Racial Abilities:

 

Class Abilities:

 

Special Abilities:

 

Stat Percentile: (How to Read: Only X-Rank Y% is worse than you)

P-ATK: D-02 (Read as: 02% of D-Rank Imaginals have worse P-ATK)

P-DEF: C-12

M-ATK: C-52

M-DEF: C-12

SPD: D-07

Proficiency:

Tags:

 

***

"What even is this?" I asked.

I looked over at Svilran and saw her murmuring and investigating Dorthaunzee's status screen. I turned my attention back to Kanae's screen.

"Injured Beyond Recognition? Impaired? Powerless? This isn't a tasteful joke."

I looked over at Elma's screen.

***

Status

 

Racial Abilities:

 

Class Abilities:

 

Special Abilities:

 

Stat Percentile: (Only E-Rank x% is worse than you)

P-ATK: E-07

P-DEF: E-3

M-ATK: E-28

M-DEF: E-16

SPD: E-65

Proficiencies:

 

Tags:

 

***

"The Status Screen I saw on my mission wasn't like this," Elma said.

"Fainn, before you get mad, I learned how to read it," Svilran said. "So, first, with regard to Rank and Level, this is the Letter Grade system. The higher level, the stronger you are within that Rank. F-Rank is the lowest. Ranks can be increased by fulfilling special conditions.

"So... I get it. There were games where you had to increase the 'Ranks' of a character multiple times to get them to their strongest..."

"The other parts work on a Percentile Grade system," Svilran said.

"Percentile? Then, if someone has a speed stat of E-65, it means they are faster than 65% of E-Rank Imaginals?"

Svilran nodded.

"Okay, so the stats don't tell us the values; they paint a comparison. I understand Racial Abilities. But these tags," I said, pointing at Elma's. "These are not flattering."

"The tags are what we found out about through unlocking the <Hero Archive>. They're just descriptors that our Hub recognizes, and they're used in other systems. Fainn, please don't take offense. The tags report facts... At the moment, we can only see five of them on a Status Screen."

I took a breath. "Okay... Dorth, may I see yours?"

Dorthaunzee pranced on over, and she showed me her screen. She noticed Kanae wanted to see, so she lowered hers down. Elma also got in closer.

***

Status

 

Racial Abilities:

 

 

Class Abilities:

Healing Magic

 

Special Abilities:

 

Stat Percentile:

P-ATK: A-98

P-DEF: S+

M-ATK: D-07

M-DEF: A-43

SPD: E-08

Proficiencies:

 

Tags:

 

***

"What the heck? Svilran, what does X mean?" I asked.

Svilran lifted her gaze from the other screens. "It means it's above 'A,' but hard to quantify. If you notice, Dorthaunzee has that 'S' as well. It doesn't have a number because 'S' means unique and cannot be fairly ranked."

I looked at Dorthaunzee and kind of shuddered. "That Abyssal Curse sure is something..."

I then realized that I had looked at all three of the Statuses. I looked at Elma again, concerned, and saw her with her brow furrowed. Before I could say anything, Svilran started talking.

"Wow, so as things stand, we have Dorthaunzee, an X-Rank Imaginal, Kanae, a C-Rank Imaginal, and Elma our--oh. Umm, that's okay Elma--"

"You're right, Madam Goddess. It is okay," Elma replied, her brow still furrowed. "I..." I saw Elma's eyes water as her voice died for a moment. "I knew that Dorthaunzee was on another level than I was..." I studied Elma's gaze and saw that she was looking at her stat percentiles specifically. "I was just a slave. Is it any surprise that I'm so lacking?" Elma wiped her eyes as I placed my hand on her shoulder. "I'll improve."

Elma looked at Svilran. "That's what we're here to do, yes? To grow?"

"That's right."

"That's what I'll do." Elma looked at me and smiled. "I'll be okay, Fainn... Can we see your stats? I assume they're a marvel too."

"Unfortunately, no. Svilran nor I have those screens you girls do."

"A shame," Elma replied.

"I agree," Kanae followed. "E-Elma?"

"Yes?"

"When I've healed... I would enjoy the opportunity to train with you."

The small moment between the two caught me off-guard. When Elma smiled, my heart felt lighter.

"I would too." She smirked. "I would love to work with you out on the field as well. Having another high-rank person may alleviate some of the pressure we place on Dorthaunzee."

Dorthaunzee nodded happily at the thought.

"Oh, Fainn!" Svilran excitedly said. "We unlocked a new facility when the girls got their Status Menus!" Svilran gasped. "The <Merit Shrine>! This is where the girls can use their Hero Merit to increase their Levels!"

Elma swung her head so fast--I even caught that glimmer of happiness and the faint hints of a smile. She then opened her menu and looked at her Merit.

"I have 235... Will that be worthwhile?" she asked.

"If it's what I think it is, then yeah," I said. "It will definitely be worthwhile... The new facility is a Rare facility, so it will only cost 100 Points... We could buy it now." I looked at the girls.

"This is most likely a critical facility for us, Fainn," Svilran said. "Our Heroes need to be able to use their Merit."

Kanae was the next to speak up. "That boy was able to defeat me easily. I need to improve as well."

Elma tapped my shoulder. "Fainn, I'll make back the 100 Points quickly. I promise."

"Don't doubt you..." I tapped on the Merit Shrine and picked a location. "Okay. It's being built... That said, Svilran?"

"Yes, Fainn?"

"We just got a lot of information. I think we need to sit down with the girls and go over this with them. Really understand what we have here."

Svilran lit up. "Oh! Yes, yes! We should start our gentle guidance." Svilran turned her attention to our Heroes in the making. "Yes, let us do that! Oh, this will be so fun! We'll have one-on-one sessions! We can answer questions and such!"

I looked down at Kanae. "Do you want to go first? You're the one with fatigue."

Kanae looked to the side--was she looking at Elma?

"Actually, how about Elma chat with you and Svilran first? She was your first Hero... I feel that should be observed."

Elma nodded softly at Kanae.

"And what about you?" I asked.

Kanae then looked over to Dorth. "Maybe Dorthaunzee would be willing to spend time with me?"

Dorthaunzee hopped on the spot and put her hands on the wheelchair, urging me to let her take over.

With a chuckle, I backed off. "Alright, as you so wish." I went and stood next to Svilran. "So that's what we will do. We'll sit down with Elma, and then we'll call in someone else and have the sit-down. Sound good?"

The girls happily consented.