The Blue Planet Race Chat exploded into life.
Millions of voices, all at once. The regional chat's replacement was global—every human who'd survived the first two weeks could now communicate freely. The result was chaos, exhilaration, and a sudden, dizzying expansion of the known world.
Three messages dominated the top of the chat, pinned in gold with dragon emblems—reserved for the previous event's top three:
William Anderson (Supreme Overlord): Earth Paradise Alliance is recruiting. B-S rank talents welcome. A-rank and above accepted immediately.
Bai Qi (Supreme Overlord): The Eternal Life Sect welcomes all. Free Level 10 equipment for members.
Vladimir Nova (Supreme Overlord): King of Hell Alliance recruiting. Total attributes 1,000+.
Supreme Overlord. A title Essim had never seen before—presumably a reward for the top three. Their messages were unmovable, permanently visible, radiating an authority that the rest of the chat couldn't match.
Below the golden banners, the chat surged with humanity's full range of ambitions:
Karuta: Has anyone seen portals appearing on their islands? What do they lead to?
Dili: My friend entered one. He hasn't returned.
Xiao Yu: Why do the top 3 get golden chat? Is it just cosmetic or does it grant powers?
Essim read it all with the careful attention of a strategist studying a new battlefield. The removal of regional boundaries changed everything. Alliances that had been dominant in their regions were now small fish in an ocean. The American Alliance, the Chinese sect, the Russian coalition—these were the real powers. And the portals people were reporting…
He checked the event details.
[Race War Battle Event]
Objective: Defend humanity against invading realms.
Scoring: Kill Points from enemy combatants.
Special: Portals to foreign realms will appear across all territories.
[Event Rank Rewards]
Top 1–3: Super Territory Artifact, 100M crystals, Epic Chest, Ancestral Dragon Nest.
Top 4–10: Territory Artifact, 10M crystals, Gold Chest, Sky Griffin Nest.
Top 11–50: 1M crystals, Gold Chest, Hell Monkey Nest.
Foreign realms. Other races. The Ascendant Realm wasn't just for humans.
Essim sent a message to all core members and Aisha: emergency meeting, fifteen minutes. Then he stood, walked to the window, and looked out over the City of Life—its streets, its towers, its hundred thousand residents going about their lives.
"We built this in two weeks," he said quietly. "Now we have to defend it."
On the fifteenth floor of the WMA headquarters, Aisha was already setting up the conference room. Laras arrived first, her holy aura brightening the corridor. Haikal followed, his black tome floating at his shoulder. Takulani, Efan, Dion, Hana—one by one, the founding members assembled.
Essim entered last. He looked at the faces around the table—people he'd trusted, people who'd trusted him—and felt the weight of what was coming.
"The rules have changed," he began. "From this moment on, we're not just traders. We're defenders. And the enemy isn't Void Monsters."
He paused.
"It's whatever lives on the other side of those portals."
The room was silent. Outside the window, the first portal was already visible on the horizon—a shimmering disc of light, alien and beautiful and terrifying, hovering above the clouds like a second sun.
The war was here.
Essim looked at each face in turn. Laras, whose holy aura brightened when she was determined. Haikal, whose floating tome hummed with dark energy that belied his gentle demeanour. Takulani, solid as stone, already mentally planning defensive positions. Efan, whose Lucky Eye was probably blazing with readings right now. Dion, Hana, and the others — people who'd trusted a stranger's vision and helped build it into reality.
They had two weeks of preparation behind them. An island the size of a small country. Five thousand troops. Two hundred defence towers. The strongest economic network in the region. Trade partnerships with every major alliance. A civilian population of a hundred thousand people who depended on them for safety.
And none of them knew if it would be enough.
"We have twenty-nine days," Essim said. "Let's make them count."
The meeting lasted three hours. Defensive positions were assigned, patrol routes were doubled, and emergency protocols were established for civilian evacuation. Laras volunteered to lead the first reconnaissance team through the nearest portal. Haikal began preparations for a detection ward that could sense incoming threats across the island's perimeter.
By the time the last member filed out, the sun was setting over the Ascendant Realm, painting the clouds in shades of amber and violet. Essim stood at the window, watching the portal shimmer on the horizon.
Somewhere beyond it, an enemy he'd never met was preparing for war.
He intended to be ready.
The war had arrived. And with it, the next chapter of humanity's story in the Ascendant Realm — a chapter that would be written not in ink, but in blood and determination and the stubborn refusal to go quietly into the dark.