Blue Star, Baiwu Kingdom
Xiagu Province, Lingyan City
"I don't know how long I've been dreaming of this day; I came here not as an employee, but as a customer."
In front of the building with the name 'Company Yunhe,' a young man of about twenty years old displayed a slight smile of happiness.
It didn't even seem like he was about to spend all his savings.
After calming down, the young man entered the store.
Immediately, some employees noticed his presence and slightly bowed to greet him.
"Manager Ling!"
Hearing the greeting, Ling Han responded with a slight smile and a nod.
"Did I really see that? Manager Ling actually smiled at us?"
"This is the first time I've seen Manager Ling smile in all the time I've worked here!"
"What could have happened? Manager Ling was on leave these past days. Why did he come here?"
After Ling Han passed by them, the employees began whispering among themselves.
Hearing the murmurs, Ling Han slightly shook his head and continued walking towards the counter.
Most of the employees' surprise was due to the fact that Ling Han usually had a stern and indifferent expression, almost never smiling.
Due to the premature death of his parents, Ling Han had to work from a young age to support his younger sister and himself, taking on great responsibilities early on.
Even so, since he joined the company, his services were considered excellent, and he was promoted to Sales Department Manager at just 21 years old, a remarkable achievement for someone so young.
But today, Ling Han had a reason to be happy, and that reason was in front of him, in a translucent panel.
[Ling Han, you have been summoned to enter the Infinite Staircase. Do you wish to enter immediately?]
[Enter]
[In 3:28:02, you will be immediately teleported to the Infinite Staircase.]
3:28:01
3:28:00
Seeing the time gradually decreasing, Ling Han did not panic.
Instead, he was increasingly eager to go home and enter the Infinite Staircase immediately.
However, he endured this anxiety because he knew he needed to do something before entering.
***
Fifty years ago, in a year that was supposed to be marked by the celebration of the world's population reaching the 10 billion mark, the world was devastated by a calamity.
Countless spatial rifts began to appear all over the planet, bringing hordes of demonic beasts that attacked humanity.
Faced with this threat, humanity fell into crisis.
The social order was completely destroyed, the population, which had just reached the 10 billion mark, quickly plummeted to less than 5 billion, and even one of the five major countries was completely overtaken by these terrible beasts.
Fortunately, when extinction seemed only a matter of time, individuals with impressive abilities suddenly appeared; these individuals were capable of fighting against these beasts.
With the help of these individuals, later known as Guardians, humanity finally had a chance to breathe again.
Through countless battles and sacrifices made by the Guardians, humanity was able to exchange resistance for progress and began to reclaim part of its lost territory.
Thus, an equilibrium was established between humans and the demonic beasts that lasts to this day.
After balance was restored and humans gradually returned to the cities, resuming a life as close to 'normal' as possible, these individuals finally revealed how they had obtained their abilities.
It was discovered that a mysterious voice had emerged in their heads, warning them about the summoning to the Infinite Staircase.
Although most didn't know what it was about and didn't initially enter, when the time ran out, they were summoned forcibly.
Inside the Infinite Staircase, the summoned discovered that they had received a profession and the ability to become stronger by killing monsters, as well as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to climb the staircase.
The higher someone climbed, the more powerful their talent would become!
For this reason, as soon as Ling Han received the mysterious summoning, he resisted the temptation and immediately went to Company Yunhe to prepare as much as possible.
After all, there was only one chance to climb the mysterious staircase, and Ling Han wanted to be as prepared as possible to acquire a good talent.
As for why he chose Company Yunhe instead of another company, it wasn't out of loyalty or anything like that, but because, as a manager, he received a discount.
"Hey, from what I heard, you're the manager?"
When Ling Han reached the counter and was about to speak to the clerk, a burly man appeared behind him and asked.
"Sorry about that, Manager Ling."
Before Ling Han could respond, a young girl of about 16 years old, dressed in the store's uniform, ran up to them and quickly bowed, her face pale and sweating nervously.
She knew well Ling Han's stern reputation.
"Sir, Manager Ling is on leave today. Please don't bother him with this."
Then, the girl cast a pleading look at the burly man, hoping he would understand.
"So that means you're the manager, right?"
The burly man ignored the girl's pleas and turned his gaze back to Ling Han.
"Yes, I'm the manager, but as she said, I'm on leave."
Ling Han responded to the middle-aged man, thinking that there was probably a problem.
However, what happened next surprised him and caught everyone's attention due to the volume of the man's voice.
"Sir, please, I beg you to approve the request."
"I promise, I will be extremely grateful."
The middle-aged man bowed deeply and then displayed a bracelet that immediately projected a holographic light, as if to show that his gratitude would be valuable to Ling Han.
As soon as the hologram appeared, several spectators immediately exclaimed.
"Is that a Guardian's identity? This person is a Guardian!"
"Even though he's only a Rank F Guardian, it's still rare for us common people to see one in person."
"Yes, they usually only do business in private rooms, but why is this Guardian bowing to this man and seeming to beg for something?"
In the past fifty years, technology has advanced considerably, and due to the energy cores extracted from monsters, what once seemed impossible and distant is now common.
An example is this smart bracelet, which is more advanced than the old cell phone.
There are two types of these smart bracelets: one for ordinary people, usually used as a more modern cell phone, and another, exclusive to Guardians, which has numerous auxiliary functions, communication with the Guardian Temple, and can confirm the Guardian's identity.