Guild Wars-Novel



So obviously, with all of that, Now we must talk about the power system of the True Gods of Boundless. How do they tick and what works for them? 

Firstly, let us talk about their classes. 

What is a class? There was a long explanation about it before, but it was basically a designation that summarized and categorized the abilities of a being throughout the Combat Ranks. 

Classes may or may not be linked to other ranks like Tradeskills or those from other worlds. 

In short, you cannot exist in Boundless without a class unless you were a player before level 10. All  NPCs, players after level 10, and monsters had a class, but what constituted a class for monsters was usually tied to their race, type, and State of Being. 

Classes persisted from Rank 1 to Rank 7 of the combat Ranks, but were altered after becoming a True God. For simpler, singular classes like say, the Pyromancer, once one became a True God, their class would morph into their Divine Title or Attribute. 

So from Pyromancer to God of Fire for example. 

This was the endpoint for classes and the Divine Attribute you got or achieved after transitioning to become a True God was based on the fundamental nature of your class. Of course, the next question was that for freaks like the core members of Umbra who had diverse classes with more than one focus, what was their Divine Attribute? 

The simplest answer was that the AI did not think that far. It would cross that bridge when it came to it, but you should for sure know it was dreading that day! 

Secondly, there was the issue of levels. 

For the Mortal Ranks, there were as follows; 

Rank 0 - Beginner - Level 0 to 10 (Player only) 

Rank 1 - Adventurer - Level 10 to 50 (For players)/ Level 1 to 50 (For NPCs) 

Rank 2 - Lord - Level 50 to 100 

Rank 3 - King - Level 100 to 150 

Rank 4 - Emperor - Level 150 to 200 

Rank 5 - Demigod - Level 200 to 250 

Rank 6 - Godling - Level 250 to 300 

Rank 7 - God - Level 300 to 400 

So what came after level 400? Did True Gods just switch to level 401 and continue from there or did they start again from level 1? 

The answer was neither. 

True Gods did not have levels in the traditional sense, only stages, or Ranks. Each sub-stage within the general 'True God' category was split not by the amount of experience you gained, but by the quality of your law. 

And speaking of levels and experience, what about exp points when monsters were killed? Did True Gods not have monsters of the equivalent level to kill and farm experience, money, and equipment? 

The answer was yes and no. Boundless is a game first and foremost made for players, and everything else was created to balance that. Obviously, if the AI created True God Ranks and even Origin Ranks, it expected and hoped for players to one day reach that level. 

So how was a player supposed to 'play' if there were no such things? 

True God players gained experience, but it was no longer called Experience, but 'Divine Essence'. Divine Essence dropped from monsters and NPCs alike at the True God level and above. You could not, unfortunately, farm Divine Essence from being below True God, the AI stuck with its rule of hardship for the players. 

True God players also got loot from True God monsters and NPCs, be they Epic to Divine equipment. True God NPCs and monsters did not drop below Epic tier items and equipment at that stage. 

Oh and if you were wondering, yes, the protection mechanics for NPCs which made players only gain 50% of the total drops of that NPC were removed at the True God stage. At that point, the AI wouldn't babysit anyone, you had fully matured and could be responsible for your own decisions and safety. 

What were Divine Essence used for? To answer that, we had to get to the final topic, but before that, let's talk about stats. 

Since there were no traditional levels, what happened to the stat points that a player or NPC, or even a monster, had before coalescing divinity and becoming a True God? Did they stay or did they just walk away? 

Usually, the idea would be that once one reached a new stage like this, their previous stats would be converted upwards to a higher tier, causing their values to fall but their potency to rise. Unfortunately, the AI wanted to make its system unique, so stats were completely useless above the mortal Ranks. 

Even if you were like the Evil Trio and had hundreds and thousands of stats in different categories, they were mostly discarded when you Ranked up to True God on the surface. In the background though, they were sort of merged to your essence and your law. 

And that brought us to the final topic, the true power system of the true Gods, and the Law. 

What was a Law? 

It was a nomological rule that existed in the foundation of this universe that was comprehended by a being becoming a True God, allowing them to control the law as they please and use it to either attack, defend, or support. 

When one was 'Ranking up' to true God, you had a divine attribute that was based on your class, right? Well, within that Divine Attribute, you had to pick out a sub-law or rule that you would attach to yourself under it. 

So using the same Pyromancer class from earlier, you would become a God of Fire. 

But wait, there was Flashflame, right? So who was the true God of Fire? Were the two of you now enemies who were competing for the rule? Were you a parasite leeching off his control of the law? 

The answer was a bit mixed, but mostly no. 

Neither Flashflame nor you, the new True God, could be the God of Fire. 'Fire' itself is an origin Rule, so there could only be an Origin God of Fire, never a True God. 

At that moment, you would have to pick out one of the rules UNDER the Origin Law of Fire and make it your own. 

So for example, the Law of Burning, the Law of Immolation, the Law of Warmth, the Law of Cold Fire, the Law of Natural Fire, etc. 

Once you picked this, it became your law and you now had to increase it through comprehension. Laws for True Gods had stages, and this was what divided them in terms of power and strength. 

The Ranks were as follows; 

Basic Law: The initial stage of a rule where you are just introduced to it and barely have a firm grasp over it. You can only imbue up to 5% of the law into any skill, spell, or technique you possess at a given time. Against mortals of any Rank, it's an instant kill unless there are mitigating factors. 

Draco, Eva, and Shuangtian were now here thanks to their items. 

Intermediate Law: The second stage of a rule where you have gone past the beginner stage and are beginning to grasp its maxims. You can only imbue up to 10% of the law into any skill, spell, or technique you possess at a given time. Can one-shot most mortals and lightly suppress Basic Law users. 

Sunna was at this Rank. 

Advanced Law: The third stage of a rule where you now have advanced control over it and can use it semi-perfectly. You can now imbue up to 15% of the law into any skill, spell, or technique you possess at a given time. You can also one-shot 99% mortals and lightly suppress Intermediate Law users while severely suppressing Basic Law users. 

Flashflame was at this Rank. 

Master Law: The fourth stage and the final stage for the initial state of a rule in the hands of a True God. Here, you have mastered the rule completely and can use it with ease, imbuing it into more things than before. However, you still can only imbue up to 30% of the law into any skill, spell, or technique you possess at once. Fortunately, you can now kill all mortals regardless of whatever mitigating factors they have and lightly suppress Advanced Law users, severely suppress Intermediate Law users, and basically put Basic Law users under your feet. 

Sigurd was at this Rank. 

True Law: The fifth stage of a rule and a huge threshold and watershed. Getting to this level guaranteed that the True God was in the upper echelon and could be counted as a unique being in the divine society. Here, your law had coalesced from something you were controlling to something you were developing. You were no longer 'taking' from the rule but 'adding' to it and developing it further. Here, you could imbue 50% of the entire rule into your various abilities and their potency was frightening. It doesn't matter whether mortal, basic law, intermediate, advanced, or master, they would all die. 

To sit in the Supreme Pantheon, your power must start from here. 

Divine Law: The sixth stage of a rule and the next step in taking it to the limit. Here, the law was beginning to gain a sentience of its own, and this sentience was passively and slowly absorbing your innate Divine Energy to strengthen itself even faster. The best side effect was that by absorbing your Divine Energy, it was slowly becoming personalized to you and its budding sentience would be loyal to you. Also, even if you did not use Divine Energy, the law could absorb ambient divine energy to power itself once used in an attack. Here, you could imbue 70% of the entire rule into your various abilities, and with its energy-absorbing ability, you were a beast. Master law and below were ants while True Law users were slightly suppressed. 

Ultimate Law: The seventh stage of a rule and the penultimate step into supremacy. Here, the law's sentience had partially formed, becoming like an assistant to you. The sheer depth of its utility cannot be described in one sitting, but one thing that can be said was that it gained a level of autonomous ability based on your will. It could absorb Divine energy on its own and even convert lower energies upward at a loss to make up for it. It could also help you develop itself further, bringing it closer and closer to perfection with each step. Here, you could imbue a whopping 90% of the entire rule into your various abilities, and with its current power, any skill would become world-ending. Master Law and below were ants while True Law users were severely suppressed and Divine Law users were slightly suppressed. 

Supreme Law: The eighth and final stage of a rule and the place where you achieve supremacy and ultimate power. The law you have comprehended and nurtured since it was a Basic Law has fully bloomed into maturity and has gained full sentience that is not unlike a clone of you. As long as the law exists, you exist. It can use all and any type of energy to power itself with varying results. It no longer needed to develop itself because the next stage would be upgrading into an Origin Law. But to do so would be breaking away from the Origin Law it originated from and the Origin God above you will not obviously allow that, so this was the end of the road for 99% of True Gods in existence within or outside of the mapped zones. Here, you could obviously imbue the full extent of your law in all abilities as freely as you wish and you won't even have to provide a lick of your own energy. As for other True Gods, it doesn't matter what stage they are, they have to greet you as grandfather.