The conference room had been redesigned since Essim last saw it.
Red-brown walls carved with geometric patterns. Statues of mythical creatures at each corner — a wolf, a serpent, an eagle, a dragon — their eyes set with polished stones that caught the chandelier's light. The long table could seat twelve, its surface inlaid with a map of the alliance's territories that updated in real time, glowing faintly with system energy.
Essim and Aisha sat in the two black chairs at the head. The ten core members of the World Market Alliance filled the remaining seats. Every face carried the marks of the past two weeks — harder eyes, sharper jawlines, auras that hummed with contained power.
To his right, Haikal Emanuel sat with his floating black tome hovering at his shoulder, its pages shifting restlessly. The old man's mastery of dark magic had deepened since his promotion — even sitting still, he radiated an aura that made the air feel heavier. Opposite him, Laras sat with her massive cross-weapon leaning against the wall, its holy light dimmed to a soft glow. She was calmer now, more composed, but no less formidable.
Beside Laras sat Gusti, a barrel-chested blacksmith with his upper body exposed, his arms laced with burn scars from decades at the forge. His S-rank talent in weapon crafting had made him indispensable. Next to him was Budi, a young man with a Y-shaped staff whose green flame never extinguished. And in the back left: Nisa, a girl no older than twelve, with short black hair and wide pale eyes. She'd been shy to the point of silence when Aisha first brought her, but the skeletal dragon she could summon had earned her a seat at this table.
"Welcome," Essim began. "The Race War event changes everything. Let's make sure we understand what we're dealing with."
Gusti spoke first: several of his sources confirmed that the portals led to territories occupied by other races — civilisations engaged in active warfare. Assisting one side earned contribution points.
Haikal added the critical detail: "Those contribution points can be exchanged for Silver Badges. The same badges we need for Tier-2 promotion."
The room shifted. The Silver Badge — hunted for weeks without success — was available as currency in a foreign realm's war economy.
The members shared intelligence methodically. Portals appeared randomly across their hundred-thousand-square-kilometre territory. Size correlated with danger. Entry cost a hundred Energy Crystals per person, scaling with portal size. Once inside, a mandatory one-hour delay prevented immediate retreat.
"We go in teams," Haikal recommended. "We don't yet understand the dangers."
After extensive debate, they settled on a plan: two teams of five, led by Haikal and Laras respectively. Essim and Aisha would operate independently. Before concluding, Essim distributed duplicated Golden Shield and Step Talismans to every member — emergency tools powerful enough to withstand a Master-level attack.
The meeting lasted ninety minutes. When it ended, the alliance was ready for war.
Afterwards, Essim and Aisha walked through the City of Life toward the western quarter.
"Brother, the largest portals are near Sister Laras's City of Light," Aisha said. "Several twenty-metre portals. The biggest we've recorded."
Essim nodded. "After lunch, we go."
"After the drink shop," Aisha corrected firmly, and dragged him inside.
Earlier, Essim had received private messages from the Earth Paradise Alliance and over ten other major powers requesting partnerships. He'd declined them all. Their terms demanded subordination — twenty percent of earnings in exchange for "protection." The WMA wasn't for sale.
Aisha worried that the rejections would breed hostility. Essim wasn't concerned. "This isn't a novel," he told her. "People don't always become enemies because you say no." But privately, he noted the names. Just in case. -e • • •
The portal swallowed them like a mouth closing.
Essim felt the now-familiar lurch of dimensional transit — a brief, nauseating twist of perception, as though the universe folded him in half and unfolded him somewhere else. Then light returned, and he was standing in a vast field under an alien sky.
The sky was wrong. Not the golden diffusion of the Ascendant Realm, but a deep vivid blue streaked with bands of silver cloud moving too fast, as though driven by winds that didn't touch the ground. Two suns hung low on the horizon — one white, one faintly copper — casting double shadows.
Around them, smaller portals were arranged in neat rows, each disgorging travellers. And the travellers were extraordinary.
Some wielded bows of living wood that pulsed with green light. Others wore halos — actual rings of luminous energy hovering above their heads. A woman passed with flames wreathing her arms. A man in leather armour walked alongside a wolf the size of a horse, its eyes glowing amber.
"Brother," Aisha whispered, "these people are not from our realm."
Near the portals, outposts manned by uniformed guards bore the emblem of crossed swords. A sharp-eyed guard greeted them.
"Welcome. First time in the Guandu Realm?"
Essim studied the guard's status panel through the system: Ju Kun, Cui Race, Cultivator, Foundation Establishment. A cultivator — a living example of the power type referenced in Essim's own promotion requirements.
Ju Kun served as their guide. The Guandu Realm was home to the Cui, a civilisation of cultivators at war with the Torvu — a rival race of Beast Masters from the neighbouring Tuwu Realm. The war had raged for generations, and the Cui had begun recruiting foreign fighters through the portal network.
The five Power Cores, Ju Kun explained, represented the fundamental types of beings across the universe: Cultivators, who channelled natural energy; Players, who drew strength from systemic frameworks; Faithwardens, powered by collective belief; Beast Masters, who commanded Star Beasts; and Star Beasts themselves — beings born with innate cosmic power.
Essim absorbed every word. The Ascendant Realm was just one corner of a vast, interconnected cosmos. And "Player" was the term other races used for system users like him.
At the registration post, they received War Badges — bronze rank, zero contribution points. The first step into a much larger world.
They entered Heavenly News City, and the city took their breath. A sprawling metropolis of stone towers and tiled roofs, streets teeming with beings from dozens of races. Vendors shouted from stalls. Animal-drawn carriages rattled along cobblestone roads. A tower so tall its peak vanished into the clouds dominated the skyline.
"Brother," Aisha said, eyes wide, "this makes the City of Life look like a village."
She wasn't wrong. For all their progress, Essim's island was two weeks old. This city had existed for centuries.