As Rin, Erix, and Aria descended, they saw that the vast meadow to the left of the tower was completely different and huge!
Towering castles, palaces, exotic tree structures, different structures, futuristic glassy mansions, and various things spread in the meadow.
The most prominent one was the territory of the Heavenly Melody Guild.
"That's our guild. It became bigger too," Rin smiled as she looked around. "But the number of territories reduced to only five, eh?"
"The buildings are beautiful and so different," Aria muttered as she curiously looked at everything.
Soon, the trio arrived at the tower's base and entered its base floor.
Immediately after that, all three of them were bombarded with notifications.
Rin and Erix became the natives again, while Aria was also registered as a native.
But the notifications just started.
[Evaluating your power level...]
All three of them saw a status screen of their powers with numbers beside them.
[Evaluation complete.]
[Congratulations, you are number 1 ranked in the World Leaderboard.]
[Congratulations, you are number 2 ranked in the world leaderboard.]
Everyone else got a notification of the change in the leaderboard, spreading a huge shock at the big shots all over the world.
"Damn, we are top ranks already?" Erix was dumbfounded.
He opened the world leaderboard and indeed saw his name at the top!
[World Leaderboard]
-No.1: Erix—105,435—Title: not selected yet.
-No.2: Rin—86,022—Title: selected yet.
-No.3: Leishun—32,440—Title: Roaring Thunder.
-No.4....
"Why is Aria not 3rd?" Rin raised her eyebrows.
"I know it," Aria said with a wry smile. "I got a notification saying that I can get benefits of native and participate in events, but can't have my name on leaderboards."
[Aria]
_Power level:
-> 39,570.
_Evaluation:
-Stats: 2500 points. (Max foundational stats of Royal-order)
-Spirit: 3290 points.
-Soul: 2640 points.
-Bloodline:
—> Special-type Mythical-grade: 10,140 points.
-Affinities:
—> Light—3rd realm: 3000 points.
—> Water—4th realm: 4000 points.
—> Earth—3rd realm: 3000 points.
—> Fire—3rd realm: 3000 points.
—> Wind—3rd realm: 3000 points.
—> Animus—1st realm: 5,000 points.
-Concepts: —
"Interesting. The Power level doesn't include our skills and actual combat power, but only the powers we have," Erix said as he looked at his evaluation.
[Erix]
_Power level
—> 105,434.
_Evaluation:
-Stats: 2500 points.
-Spirit: 1439 points.
-Bloodline:
—>Unique-type Mythic Grade: 14,495 points.
"Erix, follow us," Kenshin said as he looked at Erix, his expression severe. "We have to save Isabella and Aaron."
...
Inside the Unfettered Fate guild's central hall...
The guild had five exotic structures, but the main one was a twenty-meter-tall black crystal palace, with the [Unfettered Fate] written in huge golden letters at the center.
Inside the hall, the people numbered a total of 18, including Rin, Erix, Aria, Sameira, and Kenshin.
Rin's and Erix's expressions were dark, and their eyes were murderous.
Although the guild had slots to have 100 people, only 13 members remained.
"So only you remained..." Erix looked at the members he recruited initially, along with some new faces.
Leon, Zoe, and Alfred remained. Elena, the Six-eyed Monk class girl also remained who was the trio.
Roy and Tony, the twin brothers also remained with their uncle Samual.
These six were the ones that Erix and Rin initially recruited.
The other seven people were new and were meeting Rin and Erix for the first time.
'Goddamn, they both took first ranks in the leaderboard!...'
'Isabella-chi always used to praise them to heavens, but I can now see why... W-we can do this with them.'
'Of course! Hahaha, just look at their damn power level. I don't know how the hell he passed 100,000...what kind of crazy powers he has?'
"How is Isabella's situation?" Erix asked as he looked at Sameira and Kenshin.
"She is healing, but it's taking time," Kenshin clenched his fist. "She died once and revived beside Aaron, but a traitor betrayed the guild and spilled information."
"Her name is Kela. She used to be a high-ranking member and was a woman in her forties. Strong-willed and tough woman," Sameira said with a sigh. "We still don't know why she betrayed Isabella."
"She told enemies about Isabella's special skill and also helped them get Aaron."
"Aaron is now in their captivity and what they want is Isabella."
*Crrrrr.....*
Everyone felt a sudden suffocation and felt as if they were glued to space. The feeling of death infinitely neared to them.
But this phenomenon immediately vanished in a second.
"My bad..." Erix said as he stood up, his eyes returned to an eerily cold calm state—the dim red eyes bearing a dark silver glint in the depths.
"Give us their location," Rin said as she and Aria stood up.
Aria already knew what Rin and Erix were thinking, and seeing the atmosphere, she brightly smiled and said, "Don't worry. We will get back to Aaron first. Safe and sound. I promise."
"That's right!" Amu shouted with anger bubbling in its big cute golden eyes. "Those assholes will pay this price with their deaths!"
The Slime's vulgarity was also gradually increasing after traveling outside for the past month.
"I'm sending you their location," Kenshin stood up. His hand blurred, his index finger already at Erix's forehead.
Erix started seeing images in the bird's eye view.
Kenshin sent the whole map with great details visually by using spirit force.
"You know their base now, but Aaron is with them," Sameira clenched her fist, feeling frustrated. "Kenshin and I were planning to go and save Aaron, but we couldn't think of a good plan."
"If we went, they would surely kill Aaron," Kenshin fumed, and his eyes trembled. "Things got out of hand."
Erix saw their stats and realized something.
"Dad, Mom," Erix smiled. "We'll bring him back safely. And don't blame yourself for this situation."
"Who could've thought that someone that close would betray the guild? Unexpected things happen and sometimes tragedies too, but this..." Erix coldly smiled. "This is not a tragedy for us, but for them."
Rin looked at Erix and held his hand.
There was nothing to say. Rin knew what her parents felt. Since they were strong, and were allies, they were feeling responsibility as leaders.
"Don't worry," Rin said as she looked at her parents. "We'll return soon with Aaron and introduce you to Aria."
Erix looked at the guild members and nodded with a faint smile, "Rest and recovery. We'll be back."
In the next second, Erix, Rin, and Aria vanished as Erix used teleport.
Destination: Dark Daggers Alliance, Frangara City.
...
On the other hand, people all over the world were talking about the top two spots on the leaderboard.
After all, it happened very suddenly.
East, West, South, North, Center. Everywhere in the world, all the top guilds and forces felt a sudden overwhelming pressure on them.
An individual's power didn't matter most of the time, but there were times when it mattered.
The appearance of Rin and Erix riled up all the top ones, especially those who thought themselves they were best, with both facts and confidence.
A storm has begun brewing.
A storm capable enough to engulf the whole world and change its foundation.
The Relentless Force.