86: Chapter 86 Superpower Levels

Inside the mall, everyone stared in amazement at the wisp of flame dancing on Karl's fingertip.

The President took the opportunity to step forward, a broad smile spreading across his face as he asked Kara, "My lady, I wonder how your Esper abilities are sold? And how are they classified?"

Kara's two antennae curved slightly. "Our civilization has a type of potion. After consuming it, there is a certain probability of awakening an F-rank ability."

When the President heard the word 'probability,' his eyelid twitched, but he didn't interrupt.

"As for the classification..." She turned sideways and pointed toward the flame in Karl's hand, as if introducing an exhibit.

"This Mr. Karl is a fire-type Esper. The flame you see now is F-rank."

The flame flickered twice the moment she finished speaking, as if putting on a display.

"F-rank, we also call it the 'Lifestyle Rank.'" Kara's gaze swept over the crowd. "You can use it to light things."

The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State exchanged a look. Translated, that look meant: A human lighter.

The President's mind was racing with deductions: No wonder their technology tree grew into this bizarre shape. With people who can start a fire with a finger, who would bother researching how to rub sticks together?

Before he could fully digest this thought, Karl opened his palm.

The wisp of flame didn't go out. Instead, like a flower doused in oil, it bloomed in his palm, spreading from his fingertips to the base of his hand, gathering into a fist-sized ball of fire.

The fire danced upon his skin without harming him in the slightest.

"This is E-rank," Kara's voice followed immediately. "You can use it to cook food."

The analogy was very intuitive. The President's mind automatically filled in the picture: a whole sheep enveloped in flames, its skin sizzling, with golden sparks flying as the fat dripped. From a human lighter to a human grill, there was only one rank of difference.

"Then what about D-rank?" the Secretary of Defense asked expectantly.

Karl didn't answer. He raised his hand, and three fireballs shot from his fingertips. They were as fast as three meteors flying in reverse, cutting through the air with a sharp hiss.

Bang, bang, bang. Several charred pits appeared on the mall wall. The concrete at the edges was still sizzling with white smoke, and dust fell in flurries.

The Secretary of Defense had already walked over. Without hesitation, he reached out and stuck a finger into one of the still-hot holes, measuring the depth and feeling the residual heat inside.

He then hurried back to the President's side and whispered, his lips almost touching the President's ear, "Mr. President, the power is roughly between our human handguns and rifles."

Kara's voice remained as steady as ever. "This is D-rank. This level already possesses lethal force, so we also call it the 'Weapon Rank.'"

The President nodded, his expression not changing much. After all, it was hard to say if an Esper of this level could even win against a fully armed police officer.

In the next moment, Karl brought his hands together, and an intense, basketball-sized fireball—its color so deep it was almost white—instantly formed in his palms.

Karl gave a casual toss, and the fireball lightly struck the mall wall.

Boom!

A massive explosion erupted in the mall lobby, and a shockwave laden with dust rushed toward them.

Maya instinctively raised her hand to shield her face, the Secretary of the Treasury recoiled a step, his back hitting a pillar, and several agents instantly drew their guns, pointing them toward the explosion.

In the direction the gun barrels were pointed, a wall with a large hole blown through it appeared.

The edges of the hole were still burning, with flames dancing in the gaps between the bricks and stones.

Kara's voice rang out through the dust and smoke: "This is C-rank. You have seen its power for yourselves."

The Secretary of Defense stood at the very front. Dust covered the golden patterns on his shoulder straps, but he didn't brush it off. He stared at the large hole, something seemingly ignited within his pupils.

"Mr. President."

He leaned close to the President's ear again. "This power is already between a grenade and a small artillery shell. If we can arm the military in large numbers, our army's combat effectiveness could rise by several levels."

The President didn't answer. He placed a hand on the Secretary of Defense's arm and gave it a firm squeeze.

As a president who came from a business background, no one knew better than him how to negotiate a deal. Rule number one: never let your desire show.

Kara waited for the dust to settle before speaking. "Regarding B-rank and A-rank, we will not be demonstrating them here."

Her antennae swayed slightly. "The power of a B-rank Esper, with a full-strength strike, can roughly destroy this entire mall. It is also the watershed for the true powerhouses of our civilization."

She looked up, meeting the President's gaze. "As for A-rank, it would make half of the city everyone here is standing in disappear."

The lobby suddenly fell so silent that only the distant hum of the air conditioning could be heard.

The President completed the final conversion in his mind: B-rank power is roughly missile-level, while A-rank is a strategic nuclear weapon.

His gaze involuntarily drifted toward A-Zu. A-Zu was leaning against a mall pillar with his arms crossed and eyes closed, seemingly dozing off.

He hadn't expected that a hillbilly who looked like a primitive man could actually possess nuclear strike capabilities.

Meanwhile, Chen Mu, who had been observing the entire time, knew clearly that A-Zu was only a Quasi A-rank. He had been pieced together from several B-rank abilities. Although it was only a hair's breadth away, that gap was a world of difference.

“So,” the President turned to Kara and cleared his throat, “I wonder if there are even higher levels above A-rank?”

He asked it as an academic question, using a tone of seeking guidance, but everyone knew what he was really asking.

He was asking about the upper limit of this civilization. He wanted to know the worst-case scenario humanity would face if they ever fell out with them.

Kara was just about to speak.

"Cough, cough." Chen Mu coughed and took a step forward, that same indifferent smile that made the President both respect and fear him still hanging on his face.

"Regarding S-rank and above, those already belong to the cosmic scale of classification. It is not something you should be inquiring about right now."

The President immediately shut his mouth.

He forced a standard diplomatic smile, nodded obsequiously to Chen Mu, and then asked Kara, "Then, I wonder, how exactly is this Esper Development Potion sold?"

Kara held up one finger. "One thousand per bottle."

"Ms. Kara," the President said with a troubled expression, "ten million dollars per bottle is truly too expensive."

He put on a face that said, 'We really want to buy, but you can't fleece us like this.' "Furthermore, it's only an F-rank ability. You know, with that much money, I don't even know how many lighters and grills I could buy."

After all, the cost-performance ratio of an F-rank ability for ten million dollars was so low that any congressional auditor would have a heart attack on the spot. Even as the President of a nation, he couldn't be such a sucker.

Kara's two antennae slowly unfurled on her forehead, curving into two graceful arcs. "Mr. President, you've misunderstood."

She retracted her finger. "I said one thousand, not ten million!!!"