New Challenge - 1500 power stone this week and I will upload one bonus chapter!
I lowered the count by 100 to help you guys achieve it! Lets Go!
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Ryan didn't stay with the Avengers to help with the aftermath of the disaster. Both Ryan and Kai returned to the Hidden Island Paradiso after saying goodbye to the Avengers.
"Daddy~!"
Kai heard a small voice calling him from afar. He smiled widely as Doreen ran toward him to hug him.
"...I'm soo jealous…" Ryan muttered to himself. Well, he didn't have any reason to, but he wanted the person next to him to hear it. Gwen beside him had a flushing face and nudged him with her elbow.
"You're gonna have to wait. At least a year after our marriage," Gwen said to him. Ryan widened his eyes and let out a gasp as he heard that.
"Really?! You won't change your mind later?" Ryan jogged slowly behind Gwen, pestering her about this matter. He stopped after getting hit on the head by her.
After this drama, they found a good place to continue their well-deserved vacation together.
Nick Fury tried to intercept Ryan from disappearing since he wanted to talk with him and Kai. But how could he?
He didn't even find the path Ryan and Kai took, they disappeared like they were not even here—fueling his suspicion even more toward the individuals.
Ryan knew what Fury was thinking, but he didn't care about the One-eyed pirate anymore.
"S.H.I.E.L.D will fall at any given moment now. I can't wait." Ryan said gleefully as he checked up on Zola's log about the organization. By now, he has managed to find more than 90% of Hydra's operatives around the world.
Nick Fury was focusing on the Insight Project that's 70% completed now. Based on Ryan's calculation, they will finish building the tri-carrier in 4 months, and the completion date keeps moving earlier.
"And when the time comes… muahahaha," Ryan laughed dangerously as he imagined what he was about to do. His purple eyes started glowing unconsciously since he still did not know how to comfortably use his profound new power.
"Why are you laughing like that? Are you planning to do something evil again?" Gwen was startled as she heard the evil laughter resounding all over the small cabin in the mountains they were living in. They have visited a lot of places during their pre-honeymoon, completely disregarding the wedding preparations.
"When did I ever plan something evil?! At most I've ever planned was a morally ambiguous event!" Ryan defended himself after he choked on his laugh when she saw him.
"I know how you laugh in most of the situations and That… was definitely the evil laugh," Gwen teasingly bit his ear. Ryan takes over and pushes her down on the bed.
"Help~ An evil man is bullying me~" she said playfully.
Ryan was happily playing around as his newly found power has given him peace of mind. The effects of the demon D'Spayre are totally purified by his short vacation — Although the world keeps asking him to go back.
…
A month ago.
Resting on a lazy chair inside of his house which is situated on his private island in Bali, Ryan is closing his eyes and sensing the changes in his magic circuit.
Fighting D'Spayre was only a few days ago and he was just starting his vacation with Gwen. 3 days had passed since the New York War.
During the war, he had fought an army of demons in the mirror dimension, almost killed by the Fear Lord, and had absorbed a lot of the space energy from the tesseract unconsciously.
"I couldn't wait any longer," Ryan muttered solemnly as he sensed the tier 4 magic circuit inside of his body was now in a critical state.
"However…the last time I had a breakthrough, I…" he mumbles and he turns his direction toward Gwen. She is wearing an apron over her swimsuit and cooking something. He looked at her with glittering eyes–never wanting to separate from her for even a second.
The last time he went through the breakthrough, he needed 2 days to meditate and stabilize his condition.
Fighting D'Spayre took a toll on his mental state. The nightmares that he had gone through, the tortures… will haunt him every time he closes his eyes.
Gwen cooked up some pancakes and brought them on a plate to the bed with syrup and butter.
"Hey, breakfast is ready," Gwen said cheerfully to him.
After the cringing breakfast session where they feed each other and do something extra with the 'syrup', Ryan told her as he had done cleaning her up with his magic. The sticky feeling all over their body is removed with a flick of the hand.
"You will- ... how long?" Gwen asked with concern in her voice. After seeing Ryan almost die, she too felt the same way as him–not wanting to separate even for a second.
The incident had taken a toll on both of them as it directly increased their separation anxiety. Both of them are afraid to lose one another – afraid that something will happen when they can't be there for one another.
"Not sure. Maybe two or three days," Ryan said awkwardly while estimating the time needed for him. After talking for a while, Ryan and Gwen teleported to the hidden island, Paradiso.
"I will miss you," Gwen said to him, not wanting to let go of his hand as they were in front of Dawn's magic tower. The guy was undergoing his metamorphosis at the moment, so the elf didn't need the magic tower.
"I will miss you more," Ryan said and he clutches the slender finger that was only separated two inches and interlocks it with his own, pulling her close toward him. The process of separation started once more as they are being clingy in front of the door of the magic tower.
"Can you guys… not?" Annika, who was standing at the side, is nauseous after seeing the behavior of the newly-engaged couple. Not only are they rubbing their happiness into her nose, but they are pouring salt on her wounds of not being able to get a partner.
The only thing that can soothe her is the fact that there isn't any eligible man on the island that she can hook up with. That flimsy excuse is what keeps her from confronting the fact that she needed to go out of the island if she wanted to find someone.
Ryan entered the magic Tower, while Gwen left together with Annika. Both of the couples have teary eyes, making Annika want to puke.
While walking to Ryan's private quarters on the island, Annika asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes. I'm sure. He will be stronger and stronger. I don't want to fall behind," Gwen replied in an anxious tone. She kept thinking about him being injured, and she wanted to be able to help him in the future—desperately wanting to avoid something like that happening again.
"You will only have a few days to pass the basic training if you want to do it behind his back," Annika said again. Gwen requested to be trained in close combat. Her strength is comparable with the top fighter on the island, but she is extremely lacking in experience.
"I'll do my best!" She said with determination while pumping her fist.
While Gwen is training, Ryan is inside the magic tower. Before this, he had used the rent function of the system to help him summon a functioning magic tower, but right now he had to do this with the tower he had made.
Rather than a tower, it's more like a small room powered by a magical array. The array uses mana stones and amplifies the magic energy that's inside the room.
Taking out a hill of mana crystal from a storage ring he 'borrowed' from the sleeping Dawn, he makeshift them into the formation.
"I needed a lot of it… I think," Ryan muttered to himself. He keeps pouring the mana crystal without care until the storage ring runs out of it.
Sitting in the center of a large array powered by the mana crystals, he sat cross-legged and entered a meditation state. Taking a deep breath, he started his breakthrough into Tier 5!
Same as the previous ascension, he fell into a deep meditative state. His figure became ethereal, and he started to float from the floor of the magic tower unconsciously.
Myriad colors of magical energy started to flow from his body, illuminating the surrounding in a mystical aura. He gritted his teeth until it was bloody, and held onto the breakthrough session.
It didn't take him long to break through into Tier 5 in the magic circuit system. The circuits inside his body created a new path and combined it with the previous path, making an incredibly complex circuit inside of him.
During this ascension, his strength is also enhanced by the magic as a side effect of the system. His previous 20 tons of strength was doubled directly after he ascended.
Not only that, the type of energy he can use has varied greatly. Before this, he was unable to copy a unique type of energy, such as time and space, darkness and light, and chaos energy. All of this is now added to his resume as he had broken through the barrier to do that.
The previous ascension took him two days before he stabilized. He thought it would only take him 2-3 days for Tier 5. Unknown to him, his ascension today took him more than a week to establish.
…
In Somalia.
The election day had finally arrived. A massive number of citizens were standing in line at the government building and election booth. At the end of the election, Obax's party won and she was chosen as their country's new president.
Obax didn't have any chance of losing the election to another political party in the country. With Ryan's help on the surface and the hidden island in the shadows, the tale of the 27-year-old president will shape the new future of the continent.
The world is just shaken up by the alien invasion. Obax's promise to build something new in the country had been making her the first choice of every citizen.
The infrastructure of the country was advancing greatly as compared to the previous era. With Ryan's construction knowledge, he created a new compound to build everlasting roads that can survive the harsh climates of the continents.
The citizens don't have to worry about food and water. Even the prices of houses are regulated by the government.
Somalia had been criticized greatly by the capitalist world as a socialist country. Obax's act of caring for the citizens is hypothesized to destroy the spirit of progress in the country, making the economy fall to shambles. The idea that everyone benefited equally from the advancement of technology is inconceivable to them.
However, Ryan had used the knowledge of the 23rd century that he got as a reward from the mass effect universe to steadily grow the country step by step.
"Technology and Social Ethics need to advance together, only then will the people can use the technology responsibly. Otherwise, only a handful of people will monopolize all the good stuff, leaving only scraps for the others. In the wrong hands… advancements in technology can … lead to war. "
Obax is remembering the quotes that she learned from Dawn, and keeps fighting hard to progress in both aspects. After the improvement in healthcare and quality of life, only then did she focus on the other aspects of the country.
Her initiative and control over the country had caused a lot of assassination attempts in her life. She is now a symbol of the continent, and some interested party is afraid of that.
If the continent stabilizes, then it will be hard for them to take advantage of the mineral-rich land.
Although all seemed well, Obax was incredibly restless and anxious at the moment – on her first day as the president.
Standing in front of the throne of knowledge, she stared silently at the empty seat. Usually, there sits a person only seen by people whom he deemed worthy. Someone that will come to them when they need him. But now, the throne is truly empty.
A few days back, her forces had captured an illegal smuggling crew, bringing the chitauri weapons inside Somalia. The crew consisted of her countryman, who was lost at sea but still kept their identity registered as Somalian.
These pirates are trying to avoid their own country as they didn't want to change their ways of robbing people.
Those who tried to change had been helped by Dawn using brainwashing to ensure they didn't fall back to their previous ways and now were serving in the navy.
These small numbers of escapees are bringing a big potential crisis to the country.
If their act gets out, not only will America's intelligence agency be more active than usual but they will even try to sanction this country. The use of high technological weapons inside the country will bring chaos to the people.
"I… don't know what to do," She muttered in a wishing voice to the empty throne.
She seemed to hear Dawn's laughter as she said that. She knows that he is helping her out, but she can only depend on him to make the right choices.
Now that he was sleeping, she does not have the luxury to ask him about this matter at this moment, and possibly a long time afterward.
"That is right… I am not alone," She muttered again, this time with desiciness in her voice.
She summoned her council. The 20 people in the conference room are the brains of the entire country. Right then, she shared the problems with them. For the first time as a leader, Obax put her trust in her people.
"Those people are still Somalian. They did the wrong things, but we are the ones who are responsible for this," A towering black man said as he pushed up his glasses.
"We still didn't know where they got the weapons from. We need to investigate this matter from here to make sure that this isn't a plot by another country," A slender woman with hair like a tigress said calmly.
"Our special forces can be dispatched anytime. We can cooperate with the Knight Industry to send back the weapon to the department of defence control if necessary." Another person commented.
They debated calmly to express their point of view, and they listened attentively to what the others were saying. They didn't let their bias influence their decision.
After a short discussion, a unanimous decision was made. Obax agreed with the decision, and it was quickly implemented.
That exact time when the decision was made, Obax was finally able to become a leader that can handle the problem on her own — was the time that Ryan's country development quest completed.
Too bad the guy couldn't check the rewards at that moment.
…
Finally finishing his meditation, Ryan felt extreme hunger after he opened his eyes. He didn't realise it yet — 7 days had passed.
He stood up and stretched his body, making cracking joint sounds. Walking out of the magic tower, he saw Gwen in front of the door – waiting for him.
"You are late. Are you okay?" Gwen asked nervously as she hugged him.
"I am okay. I am really hungry tho," Ryan said playfully as he hugged her tightly.
'She must have been worried,' he thought as he checked the memory log from Kai — the only one of them who is conscious.
"Are you guys going to keep hugging?" Annika asked in disbelief. It's been 20 minutes.
"I want to do more… but you're here soo," Ryan replied playfully. He didn't let go though.
Ryan was gorging himself with a feast when he finally got a notification from the system panel.
[Congratulations User: Hydraisabitch (Ryan Knight). You have reached tier 3 of the ITS marketplace!]
" Ohh, " Ryan said in a mild shock.
< You've accumulated 30 types of achievement (+ 1 hidden achievement) and completed 20 quests. You have unlocked tier 3 membership of the interdimensional trading system. {ITS}. Your increased authority will bring you more benefit from now on. We hope you're happy here at ITS! >
< You can now trade – 9 hours for every session, four times a week. Your trading time is on Monday to Thursday starting at 3.00 pm. Make sure to get more benefit from ITS~ – the prettiest management. >
"I will still only get nine hours for the system huh," Ryan muttered to himself. The welcome message is the same as when he got to level 2 marketplace
There is an additional text, but he didn't read it right now. He is at the Great Hall in the island, eating the food that the house-elf has prepared with the rest of the islanders.
"What are you mumbling about? Did you hear what I just said?" Gwen asked, not hiding her excitement.
"So you have beaten up Park Shin. That's great babe…" Ryan turned back his focus on Gwen. He can multitask and read the panel while talking to her, but he loves her too much to do that.
"Hmmph, I was distracted at that time!" Park Shin defended herself. She is the top 3 combatant on the island – minus the inhuman trio Kai, Ryan and Annika. Dawn wasn't even on her list. His position in her heart is unshakable.
"Although it was beginner's luck for Shin, she did have an excellent combat instinct," Annika said to Ryan – hoping that Gwen can come here more. Park Shin glared at Annika, but she couldn't say anything to the apostle.
"I knew it, my fiance is the greatest," Ryan complimented Gwen, making the islander's around him roll their eyes from the blatant favouritism.
Although Ryan and Gwen went to the vacation afterward, Gwen will come by the island at least once a week for a training session with the fighters there.
After settling all of his affairs, he finally read the message that was floating at his screen panels. There was a highlighted message that attracted his attention.
< The dedication that you had done to climb the marketplace is greatly appreciated by the system, and its founder. Before he was gone, our founder had created a thank you message for all of the traders that has reached this level. You can experience the message by clicking the button or click HERE. >
*Button*
"Hmm, why is the chat group blocked before I read the founder's message?"
Although it is suspicious, Ryan still clicks on the link.
His surroundings suddenly change. His mind was dragged into a white space, where a 5 meter tall man was waiting for him.
His eyes are the galaxy, and he holds a staff that is the entirety of the world tree. His clothes are extremely shiny, making Ryan squint his eyes.
"Ryan!" The old man said in a loud voice, making his heart jump and his mouth dry.
"Now you're finally in my grasp. I will possess you and resurrect myself in your universe," the old man said in a dignified voice.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Ryan cursed out loud to the old man. He puts his guard up as the old man is staring at him with a contorted face.
' So, the system is not real?' Ryan starts to spiral.
How about his friends and the sorts? Are all of them not real? Only a plot from this man in front of him to take over his body?
"Pffft," The old man couldn't hold it any longer and let out a chuckle. And then, he laughed out loud. His voice changed into the voice of the neighbourhood uncle, and his size changes to match Ryan's size.
"Dude, you should have seen the look on your face!"
"Ehh-" Ryan is stunned by the sudden changes.
"Don't worry, I had posted your reaction to the chat group. All of your friends in tier 3 can see it now," the founder said playfully.
"Damn it!" Ryan cursed again, as he was pranked by the recorded simulation of the creator of the system. When he gets back to the chat group, he will be able to see the various reactions from all of his friends as they will all go through the final prank of the departed man.
" Welcome to Tier 3 Ryan. You have now become the backbone of the system," The old man said again, calming Ryan down with his speech. His long…long…loooooonnnngggg… speech.
The speech made Ryan bored. He sat down on the ground, straining himself to hear another word.
"Oh my god, how long will this take?"
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