"Before we move on," a voice says, "we need to decide what S rank means."
I look over. Veil from Cog and Core leans forward. A small smile sits on his face as he runs a hand through his beard.
"For what purpose?" Sho says. "The guild definition is fine."
"Enlighten me," Veil replies. "What is the guild's definition?"
"I'll take that," Mr. Sato says. "S rank is anyone or anything with the power to destroy an entire floor. That includes monsters and players."
"Then is it smart to let anyone who wins a few fights reach S rank?"
"I agree," Yin says. "S rank should be rare."
"Are you serious?" Arthur says. "If someone fights through hundreds of A ranks to reach S, they earn it."
"I agree with Arthur," Ripley says. "You're speaking from privilege. You're already S rank."
Ripley looks around. "Do you know how hard it will be for future players to reach this rank?"
Sho shrugs. "If the standard is destroying a floor, most of you shouldn't be S rank. I doubt Archer or Hex could."
"What was that?" Hex says. Dark energy leaks from him.
Sho laughs. "Relax. Out of everyone here, only four others could destroy the capital alone."
"And who are they?" Orin asks.
"Me, obviously," Sho says. "Then Valen, Lyra, Shino, and Tenshi."
"Tenshi?" someone says.
"Valen, Shino, and Lyra make sense," Anya says. "But Tenshi?"
Sho nods. "We can add a rank below S. Semi S rank. Only the best reach S."
"And how does someone move up?" Yuto asks.
"We decide that now," Sho says.
"Oh yeah?" Valen says. "And what have you done to deserve S rank?"
Sho smirks. "I beat an upgraded Spider Queen. Then I fought all of G2. I cleared Reapers solo. I've taken challenges from almost every S rank here."
"Beating a spider and a weak guild proves nothing," Valen says.
"I like the idea," Veil says. "It adds risk. It adds a waiting period."
"It adds prestige," Circe says.
Pendant steps forward. "If S ranks can destroy floors, then Semi S ranks should beat multiple A ranks but still lose to S ranks."
"Then who are the first S ranks?" Han asks.
"It's obvious," Lilith says. "Shino, Sho, and Valen."
"I doubt any other S rank could beat G2 alone," she adds.
"And to move from Semi S to S," Risto says, "you need to defeat an S rank alone."
"I don't think Shino should be S rank," Hex says. "I could beat her."
"Slime Queens are already B rank, and with Shino's skills, she's beyond that. Keeping her at S rank means she won't face constant challenges," Risto says. "She qualifies. She doesn't need to compete … she's essentially immortal."
"In that case," Ashen says, "Lyra should be added too."
"If we're using G2 as the standard, Lyra won't struggle," Circe says.
"I agree," Reyna says. "If my entire guild fought Lyra without Shino, we'd lose."
"Then we add Lyra to the S ranks," Sho says with a sigh. "The elo system still applies. Once you hit 3000, you face an S rank. If you lose, you drop more points."
"Semi S rank should start at 2750," Risto adds.
"In a perfect world," Sho mutters, "there would be five times more Semi S ranks than S ranks."
"Alright," Mr. Sato says. "Agenda one, item six. We add a new rank called Semi S. All current S ranks move down except Shino, Sho, Lyra, and Valen. Semi S ranks dominate A ranks but struggle against S ranks. Entry starts at 2750 points."
Hands rise across the room.
"The vote is unanimous."
Sho exhales. "Good. Let's move on."
We all nod.
"Agenda two," Sho says. "Boss fights and Shino."
Mr. Sato steps forward. "This agenda covers boss fights and avatars."
The room goes quiet. Not the usual silence. This one feels heavy.
"I think we all agree," Sho says, "the current boss system doesn't work. If we want progress, we remove the restriction that only specific guilds fight bosses."
"Wouldn't that start a race for bosses and loot?" Ezekiel asks. "Our current system prevents deaths."
"At what cost?" Arthur says. "We've been here for months. We just cleared the tutorial. Bosses will start spawning across floors, not fixed locations."
"Was it ever realistic?" Reyna says. "Even tutorial bosses moved. This isn't a game. Bosses act on their own."
"Opening it up creates more solo players like Silverleaf," Arthur says.
"Silverleaf is impressive," Yin says. "I want her in my guild."
"Silverleaf is reckless," Arthur snaps. "More solo players means more deaths."
"Then we vote," Sho says. "Should anyone be allowed to challenge any boss at any time?"
"Even then," Ashen says, "there's no real incentive to fight bosses. If the goal is unlocking floors, fine. But more players would leave the first floor if we had raids instead of guild-only fights."
"That solves two problems," Archer says. "Solo players see how guilds operate."
"So what are your proposals?" Sho asks, looking at Ashen.
"I think we should allow anyone to attack any boss at any time," Ashen says, "but we should also have a raid system. For really tough bosses, we could form raid parties so solos can still earn rewards with less risk."
"So two things to vote on," Mr. Sato says. "Raid parties and changing boss fight requirements."
"I'm sorry," Yin says, "I'm not a gamer. What's a raid party?"
"I'm not sure either," Veil adds.
Ashen keeps a neutral expression. "A raid party is a large group of multiple people or guilds working together to defeat a powerful boss no single guild can handle. Each member has a role, and rewards are split accordingly."
Yin looks down, hesitating. "But wouldn't we need rules and laws for this new system too?"
"Normally, they're set by the guild organizing the boss fight," Ashen explains.
"I think raid parties are a good idea," Veil says, "but bosses don't drop items like in a game. Even if we hold massive parties, splitting rewards would be the hardest part."
"That's even better," Ashen says. "Since bosses don't drop preset items, we can carve resources from the enemies. Imagine a dragon. We could take its bones, scales, blood, and core and distribute them. Dragon blood might go to Glassthorn for potions, scales to Cog for armor, and the core to the organizing guild."
"I guess that makes sense. We carve resources and sort them based on pre-agreed terms," Ezekiel adds.
"You're passionate about this," Sho smiles. "I think it's a better system. For future floors, we'll have a reason to rely on multiple guilds instead of just one beating every floor."
"Moving on," Mr. Sato says, "what should we do regarding avatars and bonded beings like Shino?"
I glance at Teruki. I notice the nervous tension in her stomach.
"I think," Reyna begins, "there's no reason to fear avatars. Think of it as a class only they can access. It wouldn't be fair to put restrictions on their classes specifically."
"That's stupid," Rhy retorts. "All it takes is one disaster, one person losing control, and the world burns."
"Just because Shino and the Slime Queen merged doesn't mean all will be like that," Risto says. "It makes more sense to restrict the formation of bonds rather than prevent anyone from bonding with any boss."
"I disagree. Every guild has something it wants to hide, whether it's magic, alliances, or materials. Forcing players to act a certain way goes against the spirit of the game."
"The thing is, this isn't just a game," Yin says. "People's lives are at stake. I won't risk a pact going wrong, or some boss taking over and destroying a floor."
"Well, what's stopping someone from doing that now?" Teruki asks quietly.
Lyra turns toward her. "What did you say?"
"Almost everyone here uses magic. What's stopping someone from teleporting to the capital and destroying it right now?"
Yin and Arthur stay silent, unsure how to respond.
"Being scared of avatars is the same as being scared of magic," Lyra continues. "If we look back at our previous talks, it should be up to the players if they want to be like Adrian and avoid magic, or like Sho and use it fully."
Sho smiles. "I agree. Restricting certain magic or forbidding anyone from using a type of magic will only make things worse."
"If someone destroys the capital, we'll deal with it," she adds. "It doesn't matter if they're controlled by an avatar or not. It would be terrible either way."
"Don't you think that creates an unfair power gap?" Anya asks. "I've heard those who pact with bosses become leagues ahead."
"I've only fought one," Sho says. "They were hundreds of times stronger than before."
"So why allow such a gap?" Anya asks.
"Because it'll be fun."
"Fun?" Anya laughs.
"Strength breeds strength. To beat this tower, we need every advantage we can get."
"Well, we'll vote on this," Mr. Sato interjects.
"Avatars raise two questions," Valen adds. "Should we force people to reveal if they are an avatar?"
"I mean, how would we know? It's not obvious. We only know Shino because the fight with the Slime Queen was recorded. There could be nine other avatars we don't know about."
"I think it's unrealistic to force them, even if we knew every avatar," Reyna says. "It doesn't make sense to make someone do something they don't want to."
"What's the other question?" Teruki asks, looking at her brother.
"The other question is, since Sho said avatars are so much stronger than regulars, should they even be allowed to compete in rankings? Just because Shino doesn't want to doesn't mean others won't."
"That goes back to the magic issue," Reyna says. "Restricting avatars is the same as restricting a type of magic from being used in rankings. That's not fair to anyone."
"I'm sure I could create a spell to detect avatars," Pendant says.
"What?" Reyna asks.
"If the main problem is not knowing who's an avatar, I can figure it out," Pendant explains. "If avatars are forced to register with the guild, I propose inventing a magic avatar detector."
"That's enough discussion," Mr. Sato says. "I think we can start voting now."
"All right," Sho sighs.
"Agenda two, item one: remove the current system and allow players and guilds to challenge monsters wherever they want."
All hands rise.
"The vote is unanimous."
"Agenda two, item two: set up infrastructure for raid groups so everyone is treated fairly in combination with the world guild."
All hands rise.
"The vote is unanimous."
"Agenda two, item three: allow anyone to become an avatar."
Every guild leader raises a hand except Lilith, Anya, Yin, Valen, and Ripley.
"The vote passes. Everyone may become an avatar."
"Agenda two, item four: Avatar's don't have to register with WG."
Lyra, Adrian, and Reyna raise their hands.
"The vote fails . Avatars must register with WG."
"Agenda two, item four point one: have Pendant create a magic avatar detector."
Every guild leader raises a hand except Lyra, Yin, Adrian, and Reyna.
"The vote passes. Pendant will invent an avatar detector."
"Agenda two, item five: allow avatars to compete in rankings."
All hands rise.
"The vote is unanimous."
"How long will it take?" Shino asks about inventing the magic.
"As quickly as possible," Risto says. "You'll need to stop being lazy."
"Lazy? I work the hardest here," Pendant snaps.
Sho sighs. "Next, agenda three: forbidden magic, magic systems, and weapons."