A quick clarification about the difficulties of the dungeon. They are judged by the same A-F, however you can’t see letters on the dungeons. Each dungeon has a portal with a distinct color which corresponds with the letter system.

Gray is F, Green is E, Blue is D, Purple is C, Gold is, and rainbow is A. The thing with rainbow colored portals, there can be a chance of there being an S rank dungeon.

Wait, a random letter suddenly appeared? S is now the best rank? Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t mention it a while back since it isn’t a proper rank. Having a potential of S isn’t technically possible.

As I previously said, with true potential being a thing, A rank potential can be negated by a lower true potential. Since there isn’t a way to measure true potential, there could always be the possibility of the rank given to be false.

For example, take someone with high potential yet doesn’t train which in turn makes them have a low true potential. Due to this, it’ll be difficult for them to achieve their actual potential.

We do know a few things about true potential, one of which is true potential can be changed. This is why there are so many cases of seemingly ordinary people exceeding their expectations.

In a study conducted by George Mathers, a group of forty individuals (slaves) were separated into two groups; twenty individuals with high potential and twenty with low potential, then futher into two more.

The two groups of ten, each from low and high potential, were nurtured, given the best education.

The other half were treated just as well, the difference being the lack of education. To them they gained the opportunity to live a luxurious life. And who would deny that?

The results were shocking at the time, the study being done about sixty years ago. The ones nurtured surpassed their original potential while the other half actually regressed.

Although with the results being a big part of our understanding it had its fair share of criticism. Firstly, demi humans were used as test subjects. Even though we share many characteristics with each other, we’re still different at the end of a day.

The troubling part is we don’t know where demi humans come from.

As such, we don’t know if it also applies to us which is why thirty years later another study was done by George’s daughter, Mary.

This time humans were the subjects. Unfortunately, the documents explaining the findings went presumably missing. It’s more likely the government decided to hide the information. Most things are controlled by the government, in some way you have to be involved with them if you want to be influential.

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I heard there was a possible third study down, but further details are unknown. Which is unfortunate since the discoveries are important for our understanding of the situation.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the first study being done about this subject. In fact there are countless like this. However what separates them from the others is the time and subjects.

The time is obvious since George took all the already known information and expanded on it. One the other hand, the subjects are more of a sensitive topic.

For the forty test subjects were of all ranging ages which means it also included children. This is where a controversy spark among the community.

The conductor of the study only published the results yet never went into further detail about the rest. Sure we got a basic explanation of the living conditions, but never the tiny, crucial details about the slaves.

For all we know, they could be doing some questionable things back there. This is why the study is split into the realm of trustworthy and untrustworthy.

The results are trustworthy yet the method behind the scenes are questionable at best. Rumor has it the reason the other studies done were private was for the very same reasons. Some even speculated humans were forced to participate.

It’s a simple yet complicated topic to understand, but my point with this is that S rank is only used when both the potential and true potential are of A rank. Since we can’t measure one, it’s impossible to add the S rank.

“What are you doing Taetel? We’re going in,” said Leon, bringing me out of my monologue.

True to his word, the other four entered the dungeon without us.

“Yeah,” I replied.

Leon went on first as he finished his message. I quickly stepped into the portal, I didn’t want anything horrible to happen to me. When I stepped foot at the new environment the portal behind me pulsed, and immediately shut itself.

This was pretty normal so there was nothing to worry about. Our new environment was a dimly lit cave, there were torches around the area. The area definitely wasn’t inhabited by any people so the torches didn’t make sense, monsters also have no need for it.

Strangely the dungeon knows when we enter as it lit up the exact moment I stepped into it. Yeah, not when the other four did. The portal also closed exactly when I entered. Honestly it’s unsettling how it knows all this.

I gaze downwards, a tiny rock being in the way. I crouched and picked the rock, examining it. I got a strange look for Cynthia, but that probably was since she wasn’t used to this.

I examined the rock to figure out our starting point. Dungeons don’t have an actual starting point as the portal leads you to random places. Given your luck you may be summoned right where the final boss is, but those are rare occasions.

Checking the hardness to the rock gives a good indicator of the area. More difficult areas have sturdier surroundings to make it harder to escape. This is exactly why I’m currently checking the walls nearby. Arakawa and Rick were doing the same while Leon, Rona, and Cynthia guarded us.