After finishing at the restaurant, Lein continued to stroll through the city streets to clear his mind.
An hour passed, and finally, the system announcement came.
[Event: Rise of the Sovereign has ended]
[Congratulations to Sovereign William Anderson for achieving 1st place]
[Congratulations to Sovereign Bai Qi for achieving 2nd place]
...
The top 10 rankings were announced to the entire region.
Finally, the system revealed Lein's result to him.
[Congratulations, Sovereign Lein, for achieving 26th place]
[Sovereign has earned]
- 100,000 Energy Crystals
- Automatic Bow Tower Blueprint
- Small Teleport Blueprint
- Werewolf Lair
...
Lein saw his rewards appear in his inventory. He felt deeply disappointed this time.
However, he accepted his situation with an open heart, using this experience as a valuable life lesson.
"Brother... Where are you?" At that moment, a personal message from Nita appeared.
"What's up? I'm just wandering around the city," Lein replied.
"It's nothing, brother. Don't give up, I'll always support you," Nita said without mentioning the rankings, simply expressing her unwavering support for Lein no matter what happened.
"Thank you, you're quite mature this time... Hhhh," Lein responded, shaking his head.
Sometimes, his little sister could be quite annoying. Yet, she was the biggest reason he worked so hard. He wanted to make her happy and ensure she didn't face any difficulties.
Aside from Nita, several messages from the alliance group also appeared.
[Group #world market alliance]
- (Laras): Brother Lein... Congratulations, we all support you.
- (Haikal Emanuel): Mr. Lein, don't be discouraged. Great things often start small...
- (Hana): Keep your spirits up, Brother Lein.
- (Dion): Brother Lein, don't give up. We support you.
- (Lein): Thank you all. I'm fine.
Of course, all the alliance members knew of Lein's grand ambition to be number one. On several occasions, they wondered why Lein hadn't returned for six days.
"Huffff... Hahhhh," Lein took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"Alright... I need to be more realistic next time."
"I should focus on my strengths. No one can be number one in everything," Lein said to himself.
Lein was contemplating where to go next when someone suddenly bumped into him on the side of the road.
"Ouch... I'm sorry, sir,"
A woman in her twenties stood up after falling. Papers she was holding scattered everywhere.
The woman was dressed in formal black attire, appearing to work for a company.
Initially, Lein was curious about who dared to bump into him on this bright morning.
(Status)
- Name: Sofya
- Level: 1
- Class: Magic
But seeing the poor woman, he could only sigh inwardly.
"Let me help," Lein said, helping her gather the fallen papers.
"Thank you very much for your help, sir," the woman looked very embarrassed, quickly taking the papers from Lein's hands.
"Do you work at the World Market Alliance?" Lein asked the woman, noticing the emblem of a golden coin with a straight sword in the center on her attire. It was the emblem of the World Market Alliance.
"Yes, sir," the woman said, slightly catching her breath and becoming calmer.
She observed the young man in front of her. His calm, kind eyes and slightly long black hair blowing in the wind made her heart beat faster.
"What's the matter? Let's head to the office together. I happen to work there too," Lein offered.
"Alright... alright," to avoid his gaze, Sofya quickly agreed without thinking.
They walked leisurely down the street. During the walk, Sofya followed closely behind, not saying a word.
"Excuse me, I don't know the way. Could you lead?" Lein turned and asked Sofya.
"Ahh... okay, sir," Sofya immediately walked ahead, nervously and quickly.
Lein was slightly confused by the woman's behavior. He truly didn't know the way to the main office of the World Market Alliance.
They walked for 15 minutes before finally reaching a very tall building, around 15 floors high.
The entrance was massive, yet even with such a large door, it was still crowded.
"Excuse me, sir, I need to go in first. I might be late," Sofya excused herself without waiting for Lein's response, running toward the main office of the alliance.
"Brother!" A loud shout suddenly echoed. A girl in green clothing descended from the 15th floor. Without hesitation, Nita floated down, landing conspicuously in front of everyone.
"Brother, you're finally back. I missed you so much," Nita hugged Lein tightly.
"Who is that? Is that the sovereign of the island?"
"Yes, I heard Princess Nita has an older brother."
"Her brother is quite handsome... Hhhh."
"Is her brother married?"
"Hey, stop talking nonsense, he can hear you."
Light discussions from around filtered into Lein's ears clearly.
"Nita, stop that, people are watching," Lein gently pushed Nita away.
"Let them, I'm not afraid of them," Nita remained as arrogant as ever.
"Enough... let's go inside," Lein grabbed Nita's hand and entered the alliance office.
At this moment, a woman was hiding behind the receptionist desk. Yes, Sofya was in complete shock. The person she ignored was the island owner and the actual leader of the alliance?
"Oh my God, what is happening. What a terrible day," Sofya could only complain, not knowing what to do. She just hoped she wouldn't be fired from her job as a receptionist.
———
15th floor, main office of the Alliance.
Lein and Nita were sitting comfortably at the conference table.
Nita explained everything about the alliance's progress.
First, the alliance had established partnerships with the top 5 alliances in regional #2344 to supply weapon materials, building materials, and strategic items.
Second, several branches of the alliance's stores had opened in the 10 busiest cities in regional #2344.
Third, the total alliance members had reached over 8,000. 1,000 of them were level 10, and 10 were already level 15.
The main members of the alliance, Laras and Old Man Haikal, had reached level 17. The rest remained at level 16 for now.
Today, Old Man Haikal and Dion went to the Indonesian Alliance to deliver transaction goods.
"Thank you, Nita, you've worked hard," Lein praised Nita's management skills. He was slightly puzzled about where she had learned to manage an organization.
Over the past six days, Lein had multiplied gold chests a hundredfold. Even now, there were still over hundreds of thousands of gold chests in the warehouse.
The results from the gold chests had undoubtedly brought significant changes. Lein himself was shocked when he first saw the transformation of his floating island.
Thanks to the gold chests, the World Market Alliance became the number one alliance in regional #2344.
Nita proudly lifted her chin when Lein praised her.
"By the way, when will we attempt the promotion test, brother?" Nita asked curiously.
Lein had actually been considering taking the promotion test for a while. He then checked the promotion panel.
[Promotion Mission Tier-2]
- Silver Badge - Holy Human Race (Cultivator)
- 100,000 Energy Crystals
- Monster Heart level 20 - Commander rank
Lein was still missing the Silver Badge. Even after opening tens of thousands of gold chests, the Silver Badge remained elusive.