"Who actually are you? I never asked."
Elias murmured whilst pushing himself up from the ground, the pressure still pressed down on his small body, his fingertips started tingling, and he could feel a low thump in his ears now.
Seraph sighed.
"Is that an important question, Elias? I'm your caretaker, that's all you need to know—"
"No, because I can tell you are strong…It's just my curiosity."
Elias interrupted Seraph for the first time, which left the old man surprised.
The old man shook his head and tapped his walking stick onto the ground. That single movement made the mana pressure disappear entirely, which made Elias sigh in relief.
His whole body felt light, and his lungs felt free, finally.
"You've read so many books, yet you lack so much knowledge."
He honestly sounded dissatisfied with Elias's question for some reason.
'Yeah, but most of those books were just about the different continents and their cultures.'
"Sit back down on the ground, since you have questions you need to endure things."
Tapping his stick again, the mana pressure increased tenfold from what it was before. Well, that's what it felt like to Elias at least.
He instantly dropped to the ground, his entire body sweating and confused. He could feel his head spinning due to nausea.
'The hell is his problem?!'
"Eventually, you will have to face people who have much stronger pressure than this. It's better if you get used to it now than to falter and die in battle."
Seraph's logic made complete sense, but that didn't mean the pressure got any less or better.
'He is right..'
Elias shook his head, and his whole body shook as well.
"Let's begin with the basics."
'Right the basics..'
Seraph took a seat as well, legs crossed right in front of Elias. Of course, his pressure was only affecting Elias. So the difference in their posture was like comparing an ant and a dragon.
"Techniques…such as magic or swordsmanship techniques are ranged based on stars."
'…right..just like in some novels back on earth.'
The introduction sounded reasonably simple for now.
"Like this."
Seraph held his hand out, and a shining ball materialized in his palm. The ball swirled around until it started taking a bright red shape, flames.
The smell of burning enveloped Elias's nostrils as he began sweating even more from the heat and the continuous pressure. Flames crackled around the ball slightly.
"This is a one star spell, called Fireball."
'I see… seems pretty simple.'
"Stars go from a range of one star to ten stars, obviously with one being the weakest and ten being the strongest."
'What could a ten star spell possibly look like if a fireball is a one star..'
Elias shivered just from the thought alone. Could ten star spells destroy cities, maybe? Or even influence reality? He was yet to find out.
"Now to answer your question after this small lesson—"
Seraph closed his hand, and the fireball disappeared, the temperature and smell returning to normal.
"—I'm a pillar."
'…a what?'
Elias just stared dumbfounded, but a white panel appeared behind Seraph.
[Gathering new information for the host.]
They both stared at each other as the panel slowly faded away.
"What's a pillar?"
Seraph sighed and shook his head at Elias's question, his white hair swaying.
"Let's begin from the basics..again."
Elias nodded, and Seraph started his explanation without wasting a single second.
"In our world, strength is everything."
Seraph tapped the ground with his fingers, and the entire aura in the room shifted, becoming ominous and choking.
Suddenly, a strange hum filled the room as a stone appeared out of thin air, as if it had manifested at Seraph's fingertips.
Elias squinted, trying to take a look at the strange stone. Some writings were visible, but due to his current mental tiredness, he wasn't able to read them clearly.
"What is that? Looks like someone scraped a homework essay into a rock."
Seraph tapped the stone with his bare fingers.
"This is a fragment of a monolith."
'A what now?'
"It's a fragment of a monolith which was made by the world root."
Elias just stared at the stone, trying to decipher the writing, however, the amount of information he was receiving made his brain wobble.
"These monoliths are run by guilds in each continent in our world. Most cities do contain monoliths since they are important for rankings."
'Rankings..?'
Seraph sighed and continued.
"As I said, strength is everything. Only those who are strong enough can be mentioned on these monoliths. Like ascendants, sovereigns, pillars, and apex pillars."
'This is way too much of an information dump.'
"Ascendants are basically the top one hundred thousand fighters in our world, which is a huge strength achievement considering billions are living in our world."
He waited for Elias to nod, then continued his explanation.
"..sovereigns are the top five thousand fighters, their strength is much greater. The biggest difference, though, is between Pillars, the top one hundred strongest in our world."
'….he said he was a pillar, didn't he..?'
Elias was completely starstuck however the explanation wasn't even finished yet.
"The apex pillars, though, are in a league of their own. Most of them are the ones running the kingdoms of our continents..like the head of our continent Ian Ravennholt, he is among the apex pillars, his strength is rivaled only by the nine others of their category."
This explanation and the entire system were straight out of a fantasy novel… it couldn't seem any more surreal or more straightforward.
'However, if this old man is a pillar, then that means his strength is barely rivaled.'
Elias had just realized that the old man in front of him was actually a secret powerhouse in the shape of a retired old man.
He gulped audibly and asked the dumbest question possible.
"What is your ranking as a pillar?"
Seraph tapped his fingers against the monolith fragment, and a number popped up.
"Currently, I am number 15."
'…'
Elias's face twitched uncontrollably, which didn't even make Seraph surprised at this point, he had just revealed a bunch of information that a six-year-old might not even be able to comprehend properly.
"It's okay if you need time to understand—"
"No, I get it, you are secretly a powerhouse and there are only fourteen stronger people than you in the world…"
Elias interrupted Seraph, which surprised him, however, he just nodded, confirming that what Elias had said was indeed true.
'I need to milk the training with him as much as I can.'
However, in Elias's mind, he was already thinking about learning under the man who was the fifteenth ranked out of billions of people.
Suddenly, another white panel flashed in front of him whilst Seraph was standing up…and it glitched in his torso, however, nothing happened at all.
[New Information Processed!]
[Ranking System]