What followed was six days of relentless hunting.
Essim separated from the main island on a small hundred-by-hundred-metre platform, drifting through the cloud sea in search of Rock Islands. He fought alone—Aisha stayed behind to manage the City of Life and oversee the alliance's operations, a division of labour they'd agreed on without argument.
At Level 20 with over two thousand attribute points, Essim was a one-man army. Rock Islands that would have challenged entire alliances fell to him in minutes. He carved through Warrior-class monsters by the hundreds, cut down Protectors in two or three exchanges, and destroyed Alpha Orbs for the experience—even though he couldn't level further, the Kill Points accumulated relentlessly.
The days blurred into a rhythm of violence and efficiency. Wake. Hunt. Kill. Destroy the core. Move on. Sleep for four hours. Repeat.
On the evening of the third day, he encountered a Red Shark Protector that conjured an ocean within a hundred-metre radius. For the first time since the Demon Child, Essim found himself in genuine danger—submerged, struggling to breathe, taking small cuts from the creature's razor teeth. He ended it with a Sky Shattering Slash that bisected the shark and evaporated the water in a blast of golden energy, but the encounter left him shaken. Not every fight would be easy.
Meanwhile, Aisha ran the alliance with a competence that would have surprised anyone who'd known her only as Essim's little sister.
She managed the teleportation network, coordinated defences during Void Monster attacks, processed membership applications, and—most impressively—began building the World Market Alliance's commercial infrastructure. She instructed Takulani and Efan to sell basic goods under the alliance banner through the system market. Members with rare items were directed to the City of Life for premium trades. The foundations of an economic empire were being laid, one transaction at a time.
She also began recruiting. Five new members joined during the event week, each vetted by Aisha personally, each bringing A-rank or S-rank talents. The alliance's military and economic power grew daily.
And she never once asked Essim for permission.
• • •
By the seventh day, the event was nearly over. Essim sat on his small floating island in a comfortable chair, a glass of duplicated wine in his hand, watching the sun rise over the Ascendant Realm.
He opened the leaderboard one final time.
[Event Rankings]
William Anderson — 136,490,000
Bai Qi — 91,721,000
Vladimir Nova — 85,034,000
...
Essim — 23,800,000
Laras — 21,738,000
The gap was enormous. William Anderson's score was nearly six times his own. Whatever talent the American Alliance's leader possessed, it was built for exactly this kind of event—pure, sustained, large-scale combat.
Essim's talent was not.
The realisation didn't sting as badly as he'd expected. It was, in fact, clarifying. He'd spent six days trying to be something he wasn't—a combat specialist competing against people whose entire builds were optimised for killing. His EX-rank talent was extraordinary, but its strength lay in economics, logistics, and exponential growth. Not in racking up Kill Points.
I should have stayed on the main island,
he thought.
I should have built more. Traded more. Empowered more people. That's where my power lives.
He finished his wine and stepped through the portal home.
On the second day, he cleared a Rock Island populated entirely by plant-type Void Monsters — carnivorous trees that launched explosive seed pods and fungal golems that regenerated unless their core crystal was shattered. The fight required precision rather than raw power, and Essim found himself adapting, switching from broad sweeping attacks to targeted thrusts and carefully aimed Sky Shattering Slashes.
On the fourth day, he encountered a hive of insectoid Protectors that fought with coordinated pack tactics, flanking and retreating in patterns that suggested genuine intelligence. He killed them all, but not before taking a deep gash across his ribs that took his healing skill a full minute to close.
Meanwhile, Aisha was building something remarkable. She didn't just manage the alliance — she redesigned it. Trade routes were optimised, membership criteria were formalised, and a tiered pricing system was implemented that made the WMA's offerings accessible to refugees and profitable from bulk trades. She recruited five new core members during the event week, each personally vetted, each bringing A-rank or S-rank talents.
And she never once asked Essim for permission. The girl who had followed her brother's lead on the first day was becoming a leader in her own right — and she was good at it.
By the fifth day, Essim had stopped counting Rock Islands. The only numbers that mattered were the Kill Points accumulating in his event panel — and the gnawing awareness that no matter how fast he killed, the top players were killing faster.
He pushed harder. Slept less. And tried not to think about the leaderboard.