Damian thought about the Giants he'd killed in that first portal and about how overwhelmingly strong they'd been.
"And then S rank changes everything?"
"Indeed."
Alaric's voice took on a teaching tone.
"When your Aura core breaks through to S rank, your entire status screen transforms. The earlier numerical system can't contain what you've become."
"How does it work?"
"Three steps. First, every stat gets divided by 100. So if you had 600 strength, it becomes 6."
Damian frowned.
"That sounds weaker."
"That's step one. Step two is the ascension boost… That divided number doubles. So 6 becomes 12."
"Still seems..."
"Step three is the quality shift. Each S rank point isn't equal to 100 lower-rank points. It's a fundamentally different strength. In actual combat, one S rank point feels like a thousand regular points. Maybe more."
Alaric met his eyes.
