"Yes!"
Baksa stared at me for a moment.
I waited for his response.
I knew what he was feeling.
No one can confidently say they can help someone reach 10-Rank.
There are rare potions that can help promote a Rank-8 to Rank-7, but nothing exists to help Rank-7 ascend to the next level.
"Are you sure you can help me?"
Baksa asked nervously.
"I did promise to help you reach 10-Rank, didn't I?"
"Well... I..."
(Can you really make someone rank up just because you said you can?)
"So, what do I need to do?"
Baksa finally asked.
I took out a mixture from my spatial ring and handed it to him.
"Drink this,"
I said.
Baksa held the glass and stared at it.
His expression turned serious, as if he was looking at a priceless treasure.
"This is... This is..."
he began.
(Wow, does he feel the power of this potion already? Maybe he thinks this is his ticket to 10-Rank!)
"This is what?"
I asked, curious.
-PTUI!
I almost fell over when Baksa spit it out.
Earlier, he looked so serious, like he understood its value.
I quickly regained my composure and stood tall.
"Ahem. This is the potion that will help you reach 10-Rank,"
I explained.
"This drink?"
he asked, skeptical.
"Yes! Now hurry up. Go to a room and take the potion. Just wait for its effects,"
I instructed.
He hesitated but eventually left the office.
I followed him with the Vice-federation master.
We waited outside the room.
After two hours, the Vice-federation master broke the silence.
"Will the federation master really succeed?"
"Trust me. He'll be a new man when he steps out of that room,"
I replied.
-BOOM!
A sudden burst of mana came from the room.
The aura surged from Rank-7 to Rank-10
.
"It looks like he did it,"
I said.
Baksa stepped out, shirtless and glowing with energy.
His aura was unstable but clearly Rank-10.
"Thank you! I never thought I'd reach this rank in my lifetime,"
Baksa said, bowing deeply.
"That's what I promised,"
I said, placing a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
"Now that you've ranked up, you need to stabilize your power. I'll leave you to it,"
I added.
"Thank you for your help. Our federation will work hard to repay this kindness,"
the Vice-federation master said.
I nodded and left the federation.
Instead of heading to the dorm, I went back to my company.
The Dungeon Dashers' situation was still bad.
The DevilFuckers federation hadn't given up and kept trying to disrupt our business.
They left negative comments, spread slander online, and even posted false reports in the news.
I didn't expect them to be this persistent.
Even though we were losing money, I didn't take serious action against them because I had WorldCraft in development.
The prototype was ready, and I wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly.
"Isla, is the chat system working properly?"
I asked the team leader for WorldCraft.
Isla was one of the best programmers at Tech Genesis.
Even though she was Rank-1 like most of my employees, her Rank-2 analytical skill made her better at coding than others.
"We've tested it several times. It's working perfectly,"
she said.
"Great!"
I played the game for an hour.
It reminded me of the earliest version of Minecraft.
"Good! Everything is running perfectly!"
I said.
We discussed the launch schedule with the developers and decided to release WorldCraft on Monday.
I spent the rest of the day training.
On Sunday, I pushed myself even harder with intensive training.
On Monday, WorldCraft was set to launch at noon.
We had done a lot of advertising on Dungeon Dashers and created a wishlist for users who wanted to buy the game in advance.
Dungeon Dashers's user base had grown to millions, and about 5% of them had already decided to purchase the game.
At a price of only 10 coins per copy, the response was incredible.
By the time the game launched, I had already earned around 500,000 coins from pre-orders alone.
This was the power of social media advertising.
"Hehe..."
Just thinking about the money I could earn made me grin.
I had already experienced the boost in power from having a good artifact.
If I wanted to buy stronger artifacts in the future, I would need a lot more money.
This was just the beginning.
=============================
I woke up at 5:00 AM and went to the NightShade training room to practice.
I trained until 7:00 AM and then returned home.
After taking a shower, I had breakfast.
At 7:30 AM, I left the house and headed to the classroom.
The day went by like any other.
I got back home at 6:00 PM.
I opened my laptop to check the sales of WorldCraft.
To my surprise, it had been downloaded 200,000 times.
Feeling happy about the success, I called Ekapal.
"Hello!"
I greeted.
"Hello, Ekapal. The sales of WorldCraft are going great. Please add bonuses for the developers and give them a day off tomorrow."
"Understood,"
Ekapal replied.
I continued,
"Also, I see that DevilFuckers hasn't stopped messing with Dungeon Dashers."
"Should we ask for help from NightShade? Using their name might stop the interference,"
Ekapal suggested.
"No, focus on WorldCraft for now. The Federation master of NightShade is consolidating his power, so we'll wait before confronting DevilFuckers."
"Got it!"
I couldn't understand why DevilFuckers kept targeting my company.
They weren't just trying to make money.
If they wanted profit, they would've stopped their slander long ago.
Instead, they've even tried to buy my company, sending people to negotiate.
I rejected them all.
It felt odd.
Most federations focus on dungeons and artifacts, which are far more profitable than regular businesses.
Why waste resources on acquiring my company?
Thankfully, they hadn't resorted to physical threats.
With NightShade's protection, I doubted they'd try anything reckless.
Despite these issues, the success of WorldCraft made me happy.
It outperformed Dungeon Dashers, which made sense.
Unlike Dungeon Dashers, WorldCraft had a full team working on development, bug fixes, and advertising.
We spent over 100,000 coins on ads across newspapers, TV, and more.
The biggest news that day, however, wasn't about our game.
It was about Baksa, the Federation master of NightShade, breaking through to 10-Rank. He was now among the 200 10-Rank heroes in this Domain.
I turned on the news to see the coverage.
"Last night, we received incredible news. Baka, Federation master of NightShade, has ascended to 10-Rank!"
the anchor announced.
An expert shared their thoughts:
"Baksa's breakthrough was unexpected. He must've gained an opportunity during the Obelisk Tower mission."
This was huge.
NightShade was back in the spotlight after being on the verge of collapse.
Baksa's new status would attract federations and companies wanting to work with NightShade.
As I thought about using Baksa's fame to counter DevilFuckers's slander, the doorbell rang.
DING-DONG!
I opened the door to find an envelope from Ekapal.
Curious, I called him.
"Hello, Ekapal!"
"Hello, Sir!"
"What's this envelope you sent me?"
"Oh! I forgot to mention. It's an invitation from the Silverblade federation,"
Ekapal explained.
"Silverblade?"
I asked, trying to recall.
"They're a Diamond-graded federation led by Crazy Sword, a Rank-10+ hero ranked 34th,"
he clarified.
"Why would they send us an invitation?"
"I'm not sure, Sir. They just sent it to our company."
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a sleek, black invitation card for the birthday party of Sophia, Crazy Sword's daughter.
This was strange.
We had no ties to Silverblade.
Still, I couldn't ignore an invitation from a powerful federation.
I tried to remember if anything significant happened during this event in the novel.
From what I recalled, nothing major occurred, just the main characters attending the party.
That was a relief.
Even so, I wasn't thrilled about going.
Crowds weren't my thing.
"What suit should I wear for this party Huh!"