The City of Life had changed.
Essim stepped off the portal platform and stopped dead. The city he'd left six days ago—already impressive—had become something else entirely. The streets were alive with people. Thousands of them. Vendors called out from stalls lining the main avenue. A ten-storey inn had expanded to fifteen. A restaurant district had sprouted near the eastern quarter, and the smells drifting from it were—impossibly—the smells of Earth cuisine. Grilled fish. Fresh bread. Spiced tea.
Children played in a newly built park. A school—an actual school, with a carved wooden sign reading "Red Flower Academy"—stood near the residential quarter. An entertainment hall advertised opera performances.
Combat equipment was invisible unless activated—the system only displayed it during use—so the citizens walking these streets looked almost normal. Almost like people living ordinary lives, dressed in ordinary clothes, going about ordinary business.
It was the most extraordinary thing Essim had ever seen.
"What has she done?" he murmured, a smile spreading across his face despite himself.
He wandered. For the first time since arriving in the Ascendant Realm, he walked without purpose—no monsters to kill, no orbs to destroy, no stats to optimise. Just a man walking through a city that existed because of decisions he'd made two weeks ago.
He stopped at a three-storey restaurant called Rudi's. Inside, the atmosphere was warm and quiet—a small fountain burbled in the corner, and families ate at wooden tables. The menu featured dishes that could have come from any European city: schnitzel, roasted vegetables, spiced crab soup, fresh-baked rolls.
"The spiced crab and a tea, please," Essim told the waiter, still slightly dazed.
When the food arrived—a crab the size of his head, swimming in fragrant broth—he took one bite and nearly groaned aloud.
Six days,
he thought.
I spent six days eating dried meat on a floating rock when this existed.
He thought of Aisha, who had mentioned none of this in her reports. "Everything's going well," she'd said. "No problems." Underselling the miracle she'd built by approximately a thousand percent.
I'm going to get her for this.
• • •
The event ended while he walked.
[Event: Rise of the Sovereign has ended.]
[Congratulations, Sovereign Essim, for achieving 26th place.]
The rewards appeared in his inventory: a hundred thousand Energy Crystals, an Auto-Bow Tower Blueprint, a Small Teleport Blueprint, and a Werewolf Lair. Functional items. Useful, even. But compared to the top-three prizes—Territory Artifacts, Multi-Space Teleportation, Earth Dragon Nests—they were consolation trophies.
He expected disappointment. Instead, he felt something closer to resolution.
A message from Aisha appeared.
Cute Cat: Brother, don't give up. I'll always support you.
She hadn't mentioned the rankings. Hadn't offered analysis or suggestions. Just quiet, unconditional encouragement.
Messages from the alliance followed.
Laras: Brother Essim… Congratulations. We all support you.
Haikal Emanuel: Mr. Essim, don't be discouraged. Great things start small.
Hana: Keep going, Brother Essim.
Essim stared at the messages for a long moment. Then he typed his reply.
Essim: Thank you all. I'm fine. And I know what I need to do next.
He closed the chat and took a deep breath. The ranking had humbled him. Good. Arrogance was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Focus on your strengths. Build what no one else can build. Let the warriors fight—you'll arm them.
He passed a workshop where a blacksmith — a real blacksmith, not a system construct — hammered at an anvil, producing sparks that danced in the morning light. Two streets over, a pair of women had set up a tailoring shop, using system-generated fabric and their own Earth-trained skills to produce clothing that looked almost normal. A barbershop. A flower stall. A hand-painted sign advertising music lessons.
These weren't system amenities. These were human beings rebuilding civilisation from memory and determination, one shopfront at a time. The Ascendant Realm had taken their planet, their homes, their old lives. And they were simply… starting over.
Essim stopped at a three-storey restaurant called Rudi's. The menu featured dishes that could have come from any European city — schnitzel, roasted vegetables, spiced crab soup, fresh rolls. When the food arrived, he took one bite of the crab soup and nearly groaned aloud.
Six days. He'd spent six days eating dried meat on a floating rock when this existed.
He thought of Aisha, who had mentioned none of this in her daily reports. "Everything's going well," she'd said. "No problems." Underselling the miracle she'd built by approximately a thousand percent.
I'm going to get her for this, he thought, already smiling.
The event notification appeared between bites of crab soup. Twenty-sixth place. He set down his spoon, read it twice, and then — to his own surprise — simply nodded.
He had learned something more valuable than a ranking. He had learned where he belonged.
And that was enough.