To reach Rank A, a player must have an average stat score exceeding 100,000 across all stats. This level of stats is sufficient to defeat Elder-level monsters with bare hands.
Combined with artifacts and skills, the destructive power of a Rank A player is multiplied many times over. Such combat power, even for a single player, is equivalent to the military might of a small nation.
However, not every player reaches this level. Out of over 10 million players worldwide, fewer than a thousand have achieved Rank A. Reaching this rank requires not only extraordinary talent and ability but also immense resources.
Therefore, most Rank A players are concentrated in wealthy countries.
For Thailand, a relatively small country, having ten Rank A players is considered a remarkable achievement. Some neighboring countries don't even have a single Rank A player. For this reason, these ten Rank A players are considered national treasures, vital components in the nation's development.
Among the ten A-rank players, only two work for the government. The first holds the position of commander of the Ayra Unit, an agency responsible for overseeing player actions in the real world. Their combat power is comparable to that of the three major guilds.
The second is the director of the Asashi Institute, a training and development institute for players. Their primary function is to improve player quality, but they also conduct research and development on skills and artifacts.
The other six are distributed among the three major guilds in the country.
The Future Guild has the most A-rank players, with three: the guild president, Tana (the one Nawa met at the press conference at The One Association), and two vice-presidents who are also A-rank players.
Although most members of The Future Guild are low-rank players with lower combat power, the presence of three A-rank players makes them comparable to, or perhaps slightly, superior in combat power to the other two guilds.
As for the Azure Dragon Guild, only one A-rank player serves as its president. Even with just one player, the Azure Dragon Guild's combat power is no less than the other two guilds. This is because the Azure Dragon Guild has the largest number of high-ranked players.
Founded by leading figures in the country, the guild's members are mostly descendants of wealthy, high-society families. It's predicted that in the near future, the Azure Dragon Guild will produce its 11th A-ranked player, instantly becoming the number one guild.
The last guild is the Earth Tiger Guild. They have two A-ranked players: the guild president and vice-president.
Although the Earth Tiger Guild doesn't have as many members as The Future Guild and fewer high-ranked players compared to the Azure Dragon Guild, its combat power is undeniable.
They possess the renowned Assassin Team, a bounty hunter team famous throughout the ASEAN region.
In particular, the leader of the Assassin Team, while not an A-ranked player, is just as formidable as the guild president and vice-president. Once, an A-rank player from Burma, marked with a red head, fled to the Yothandia Kingdom. Shortly after, this A-rank player was killed by the leader of the Assassination Team.
If the Assassination Team leader had also been involved in the theft of the legendary weapon, the outcome might have been different. Perhaps the one who died would have been the one in the cloak instead.
The remaining two A-rank players, while not affiliated with the three major guilds and not working for the government, were equally famous and influential. One founded a cult with over 500,000 followers nationwide.
The last one was Lotus. In the days before humans knew of The Oneness, he was known as the strongest man in the world, a multiple-time world champion in hand-to-hand combat.
But when the world learned of The Oneness, those reputations became a laughingstock, as even low-ranked players were stronger than him.
Later, Lotus abandoned everything and dedicated himself to becoming a player, his sole goal being to regain the title of the strongest man in the world.
Unfortunately, even though he rose to become one of the top 10 A-rank players in the country, he's still far from being the strongest in the world.
In Nawa's opinion, Lotus is the most suspicious person as the murderer who killed the four assassins and stole the legendary weapons. He's the only one not affiliated with any guild or organization, which coincidentally aligns with the killer's behavior of acting alone.
However, Nawa isn't convinced Lotus is the culprit. The Oneness doesn't only have these 10 A-rank players. While the possibility is slim, there's still a chance the murderer could be a player from another country.
The Oneness is vast; the Yotandia Kingdom alone covers an area ten times larger than Thailand. Combined with various dangers, traveling between kingdoms is extremely difficult.
The more Nawa thought about it, the more possibilities arose. He decided to put the matter aside for now, as he currently lacked sufficient information.
Nawa walked along the riverbank, letting the current cover his tracks. After walking for more than half a day, he hadn't encountered any danger.
Besides the absence of any A-rank killer, he hadn't even seen a single monster. After walking a little further, Nawa came across a large number of monster carcasses lined up along the riverbank.
With a single glance, Nawa immediately recognized these as the monsters he had seen on the cliff. More than half were the spiral-shelled sheep he had just hunted.
"They must have been caught in the crossfire of those people's fight and washed up here by the flood," Nawa said to himself, a look of relief on his face.
Without hesitation, Nawa summoned White Snake and ordered it to devour all the monster carcasses except the spiral-shelled sheep. White Snake had already eaten many of them the day before, and the meat's effectiveness didn't affect Nawa's body much anymore.
After almost an hour, all the monster carcasses, except the spiral-shelled sheep... It ended up in the White Snake's stomach.
"The old saying that the sun always shines after the rain is true,"
Nawa muttered to himself with a smile as he looked at his status window. His average stats had increased to near 200, and his maximum mana had reached 500, almost double what it was before.
The luck he had after surviving near-death had greatly boosted Nawa's morale. Besides the increased stats, he also obtained the remains of over 30 conch shell sheep, enough to complete the quest.
But then Nawa suddenly realized something. Actually, the quest only required the wool; the meat wasn't a requirement. If he could separate the wool, he could sell the meat for money as well.
The problem was, Nawa didn't have any sheep shearing tools. His only weapon, a kitchen knife, was in his tent, and he didn't know where it was now. Nawa considered trying the White Snake's teeth as a substitute for the knife to shear the sheep, but found it ineffective. The white snake's tusks are more suited for piercing than cutting.
In the end, Nawa chose not to complete the quest and instead sold the sheep carcass. He would use the money for essential expenses and the remainder to buy protective gear, replacing the quest reward. Although it was a shame he wouldn't get reputation points, he had no choice.
While storing the sheep carcass in his dimensional inventory, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed through Nawa's mind, causing him to involuntarily exclaim with delight.