After finishing his meal at the restaurant, Essim continued to stroll through the bustling city streets, hoping to clear his mind.
An hour passed, and finally, the long-awaited 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 across the entire region.
Then, the system revealed Essim's results.
[Congratulations, Sovereign Essim, for achieving 26th place]
[Sovereign has earned]
100,000 Energy Crystals
Automatic Bow Tower Blueprint
Small Teleport Blueprint
Werewolf Lair
...
Essim watched as the rewards appeared in his inventory, but a wave of disappointment washed over him.
However, he accepted his situation with an open heart, determined to learn from the experience as a valuable life lesson.
"Brother... Where are you?" At that moment, a personal message from Aisha popped up.
"What's up? I'm just wandering around the city," Essim replied.
"It's nothing, brother. Don't give up; I'll always support you," Aisha responded, refraining from mentioning the rankings and instead expressing her unwavering encouragement for Essim, regardless of the outcome.
"Thank you. You're quite mature this time... Hhhh," Essim replied, shaking his head with a mix of amusement and frustration.
Sometimes, his little sister could be a bit annoying, yet she was the biggest reason he worked so hard. He wanted to make her happy and ensure she didn't have to face any difficulties.
Aside from Aisha, several messages from the alliance group also appeared.
[Group #World Market Alliance]
(Laras): Brother Essim... Congratulations! We all support you.
(Haikal Emanuel): Mr. Essim, don't be discouraged. Great things often start small...
(Hana): Keep your spirits up, Brother Essim.
(Dion): Brother Essim, don't give up. We support you.
(Essim): Thank you all. I'm fine.
All the alliance members were well aware of Essim's grand ambition to be number one. On several occasions, they had wondered why he hadn't returned for six days.
"Huffff... Hahhhh." Essim 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 the best at everything," Essim said to himself, reflecting on his journey.
As he contemplated where to go next, someone suddenly bumped into him on the side of the road.
"Ouch... I'm so sorry, sir," a woman in her twenties exclaimed as she stood up after falling. Papers she had been holding scattered everywhere.
The woman was dressed in formal black attire, suggesting she worked for a company.
Initially, Essim was curious about who had dared to bump into him on this bright morning.
(Status)
Name: Sofya
Level: 1
Class: Magician
But seeing the disheveled woman, he could only sigh inwardly.
"Let me help," Essim said, kneeling to gather the fallen papers.
"Thank you very much for your help, sir," the woman said, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she quickly took the papers from Essim's hands.
"Do you work at the World Market Alliance?" Essim asked, noticing the emblem of a golden coin with a straight sword in the center on her attire, which was the symbol of the World Market Alliance.
"Yes, sir," Sofya replied, slightly catching her breath and beginning to calm down.
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 race.
"What's the matter? Let's head to the office together. I happen to work there too," Essim offered, hoping to ease her anxiety.
"Alright... alright," Sofya responded, quickly agreeing without giving it much thought, her eyes averted from his.
They walked leisurely down the street, and during the walk, Sofya followed closely behind, her silence palpable.
"Excuse me, I don't know the way. Could you lead?" Essim turned and asked Sofya.
"Ahh... okay, sir," she replied, immediately walking ahead, a bit too nervously.
Essim was slightly perplexed by the woman's behavior. He truly didn't know the way to the main office of the World Market Alliance.
After about 15 minutes of walking, they finally arrived at an impressively tall building, around 15 stories high.
The entrance was massive, yet even with such a large door, it was bustling with people.
"Excuse me, sir, I need to go in first. I might be late," Sofya said, excusing herself without waiting for Essim's response, and quickly dashed toward the main office of the alliance.
"Brother!" A loud shout suddenly echoed through the entrance hall. A girl in green clothing descended from the 15th floor. Without hesitation, Aisha floated down, landing conspicuously in front of everyone.
"Brother, you're finally back! I missed you so much," Aisha exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Essim in a tight hug.
"Who is that? Is that the sovereign of the island?"
"Yes, I heard Princess Aisha has an older brother."
"Her brother is quite handsome... Hhhh."
"Is her brother married?"
"Hey, stop talking nonsense; he can hear you!"
Lighthearted discussions swirled around them, filtering into Essim's ears.
"Aisha, stop that; people are watching," Essim said gently, pushing her away.
"Let them. I'm not afraid of them," Aisha retorted, maintaining her usual arrogance.
"Enough... let's go inside," Essim said, taking Aisha's hand and leading her into the alliance office.
At this moment, a woman was hiding behind the receptionist desk. Yes, Sofya was in complete shock. The person she had brushed off was not just any random individual but the island owner and the actual leader of the alliance?
"Oh my God, what is happening? What a terrible day," Sofya thought, overwhelmed. She could only hope she wouldn't be fired from her job as a receptionist.
———
On the 15th floor, in the main office of the Alliance, Essim and Aisha settled comfortably at the conference table.
Aisha began explaining everything about the alliance's recent progress.
First, the alliance had established partnerships with the top five alliances in regional #2344 to supply weapon materials, building supplies, and strategic items.
Second, several branches of the alliance's stores had opened in the ten busiest cities in regional #2344.
Third, the total number of alliance members had reached over 8,000, with 1,000 of them at level 10, and 10 already at level 15.
The main members of the alliance, Laras and Old Man Haikal, had reached level 17, while the rest remained at level 16 for now.
Today, Old Man Haikal and Dion had gone to the Indonesian Alliance to deliver transaction goods.
"Thank you, Aisha, you've worked hard," Essim praised her management skills, slightly puzzled about where she had learned to manage an organization so effectively.
Over the past six days, Essim had multiplied gold chests a hundredfold. Even now, there were still hundreds of thousands of gold chests in the warehouse.
The results from the gold chests had undoubtedly brought significant changes, and Essim himself was shocked when he first witnessed the transformation of his floating island.
Thanks to the gold chests, the World Market Alliance had risen to become the number one alliance in regional #2344.
Aisha proudly lifted her chin at Essim's praise.
"By the way, when will we attempt the promotion test, brother?" Aisha asked curiously.
Essim had actually been considering taking the promotion test for a while now. 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
Essim realized he was still missing the Silver Badge. Even after opening tens of thousands of gold chests, the elusive badge remained out of reach.
-----
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