Life Ranks
Power in Erasval is divided into nine known tiers. The stat gap between tiers is not gradual, it is a cliff. A high-level cultivator at the top of a lower tier cannot beat an average cultivator at the bottom of the next.
Tier 1 - Common - Level 1 to 50
Tier 2 - Ranked - Level 51 to 100
Tier 3 - Hardened - Level 101 to 200
Tier 4 - Champion - Level 201 to 350
Tier 5 - King - Level 351 to 500
Tier 6 - Emperor - Level 501 to 1000
Tier 7 - Archon - Level 1001 to 2000
Tier 8 - Sovereign - Level 2001 to 5000
Tier 9 - Eternal - Level 5001 to 10000
Tier 10 - ??? - Beyond recorded history
Tier 10 has no confirmed name. The Record returns a blank when queried about it. Crossing into Tier 10 is theorised to be the threshold for ascending to the next realm entirely.
Item Grades and Tiers:
Every item carries two values that must be read together. Grade alone is meaningless without Tier.
Grade is the quality ceiling of the item, determining how powerful it can become and what enchantments it can hold. From lowest to highest:
Common / Uncommon / Rare / Epic / Legendary / Mythical / Exalted / Unmarked
Tier is which life rank the item is built to operate at, running Tier 1 through Tier 9 and mirroring the life rank system directly. Tier determines the item's base stats and how much power it can channel before breaking. A Tier 1 weapon is built for Common-rank cultivators. A Tier 6 weapon is forged from materials that would harm anyone below Emperor rank trying to wield it unequipped.
The rule: Grade sets the ceiling. Tier sets the floor. A Legendary Tier 1 item loses to an Epic Tier 2 item. Always read both values together.
Unmarked items cannot be appraised by the Record at all. The system returns blank. Seen perhaps once per era.
Skill Grades:
Skills are graded on a letter scale representing mastery ceiling and growth potential, not raw power today. The standard scale the Record can display:
F / E / D / C / B / A / S / SS / SSS
Beyond SSS the Record cannot classify what comes next. Skills that surpass SSS are assigned Named Grades instead:
Sovereign-grade / Eternal-grade / Archon-grade / King-grade / Emperor-grade / ???
To avoid confusion with item grades, skills at Named Grade level are always written with the suffix: Sovereign-grade (Skill), Eternal-grade (Skill) and so on.
Every skill also has a proficiency level from 1 to 10 that multiplies its output independently of grade. A B-grade skill at proficiency 10 can match an A-grade skill at proficiency 1. Grade determines the proficiency ceiling. F-grade caps at proficiency 4. SSS-grade has no confirmed ceiling.