Tai just closed the menu in front of him and started heading back to the city. Since the city was so big, it was easy to spot in the distance.

Arriving at the city, Tai took a look at his guild card which showed his information.

Name: Tai Zenith Level: 176 Species: Human Rank: B Missions Completed: 53 Missions Failed: 0 Complete 62 more Rank B missions to take promotion test

"Tsk." To get promoted to Rank A, he needed to complete 62 Rank B missions which he was confident he could do in 2-3 days if he worked at a pace of 21-31 missions a day, but the problem was, the task of doing so was pretty tiring. Not physically, but mentally. Not to mention that he would inevitably finish the 'exciting' missions, and be stuck with dozens of boring missions that are usually 'Get this rare plant' or something like that.

Scratching his head in irritation as he walked to the guild building, a young man in a UEE uniform approached him.

"Hello! Are you Tai Zenith?" the young man asked.

Tai nodded as he placed his card in his pocket, but actually placing it into the shadows.

"Congratulations, you have been recognized by Captain Berthold, the 2nd strongest person in this city, and a Captain in the UEE," the man said in a proud tone.

Thinking back, Tai did somewhat remember the name Berthold, but it was a bit fuzzy. "Ok, and so?"

The man was surprised from Tai's lack of a reaction. Usually, when he was sent to recruit someone, there would be more of a reaction. "I have been sent to recruit you. If I remember correctly, you're level 148, correct? Because of your high level, you will be immediately promoted to Lieutenant Commander."

"No thanks, and I'm level 176 now." Tai started walking away, leaving the man.

The man ran up to Tai. "W-wait. 176?! That's higher than Captain Berthold's level. How? He's the strongest here."

The young man was genuinely confused. It had only been a day, how could he increase his level so fast?

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"It is? Huh, guess he's not the strongest, is he?" Tai said, laughing. "Also, wasn't there someone above him on the leaderboard?"

"Yes, but that's one of those filthy aliens," the man said, clearly disgusted by the thought of the alien. "Are you sure you want to decline? As a Lieutenant Commander, you will receive a substantial salary that many people would like."

Tai's face turned sour. Clearly, this man was racist to aliens. Such a shame that racism still exists even in the apocalypse. "Like I told you, no thanks, and stop bothering me."

The man didn't expect the offer to be turned down, but at least he knew that if someone said no, he wouldn't keep pursuing them. Now, he just had to tell his captain that the recruitment wasn't successful and that Tai turned down his offer.

Free of the man, Tai kept walking, arriving at the guild. When he entered, he garnered some looks as some people knew who he was, and some of them had seen his ridiculous level increase last night.

Ignoring them, Tai sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. Tai liked beer, not addicted to it, but he wouldn't turn down an offer if someone gave him one, but because of his endurance, he didn't get drunk easily, which was a good thing and a bad thing, since some people liked the intoxicating effect of alcohol.

Grabbing his order of beer, he took a sip as a woman sat beside him, his sister.

"Where have you been? Mom didn't like how you just left," she said, ordering water. "Can you believe it? Even in the apocalypse, there are age restrictions on alcohol."

She drank her water with an annoyed face. "Let me take a sip of your beer? I won't tell mom."

"I didn't want to bother her, and no, not until you're 18," he said, bursting out in quiet laughter. 

"Wahh, not fair," she pouted. "I'm already 16. You probably drank some at 16."

"No alcohol for you. You know it messes up your body?" he said, taking another sip of beer.

"Aha! You didn't deny it," she pointed out, smiling with a proud face. "Couldn't I just invest some of my points in endurance if it messes up my body?"

"Well, you could. Here, look at this." Tai rolled up his sleeve so his forearm was showing. He stuck it out to her and formed a small knife with darkness in his right hand.

"Whoah, what are you doing?" she asked, worried about what her brother was going to do with the knife in his hand.

"Relax, just watch." Holding the knife, he pressed it into his forearm and made a small cut.

"Tai, what the hell are you doing?! Quickly stop the bleeding." She rummaged around her pockets for something to stop the bleeding but found nothing.

"Anna, relax. Just watch," Tai reassured her.

The blood started clotting, closing the wound. The cut skin started merging back together right before their eyes and after not even a second, it was brand new, with not even a sign that it was cut, except for the blood around the area.

"Look, look at that. All brand new." Tai grabbed a towel from his pocket, which was in reality, in his darkness storage, and wiped his forearm of the blood.

"Wha- How?" Anna started touching Tai's forearm to see if there was anything and make sure he was fine.

Anna was shocked. She had never seen that happen before, but then again, like her brother, she was kind of a loner, although she did build up a bit of fame as the only female human in the top 10 of the city.

"It's my endurance. I have 150. You can get it too, probably. Just invest 150 points into endurance, or you can invest 50 points to get the lower, downgraded version," Tai explained.