In the United States, buildings such as the Pentagon had grown all but useless with the waves of powerful users. Thanks to the system, even the threat that an atomic bomb posed for a powerful user could be debated.
What's more, many bombing raids on some cities which had been taken over by Beast Hordes had failed miserably with the planes being shot out of the sky as soon as they entered the monsters' line of sight.
Because of that, as of the moment, after five years, the Pentagon had been remodeled into an intelligence gathering station... using the System! Hundreds of users gathered together in large offices, keeping track of any noteworthy event.
Just as the bell indicating the lunch break was about to ring and people were stretching and chatting enthusiastically, a young man refreshed the glowing screen in front of him one last time.
"Lord Rankings" he sighed.
The screen grew fuzzy for a second and then grew clear once again. It looked exactly the same as before... if it weren't for a small detail. In fact, it was the disappearance of a short string of characters under the section: unoccupied cities.
A high-pitched scream suddenly rang out, silencing all murmuring. Then, the figure of the young man shit out of the small office and entered a room at the end of the vast hall.
The room was full of smoke and the young man had to repress the urge to cough. Gulping down, he immediately stepped forward.
"Boss! Quick, take a look! The Lord rankings, just now..." He shouted, shutting the door behind him.
"What is it?" A voice replied. A fat, old man sighed as he unhurriedly stood up from his comfortable chair. He went around the large, wooden desk and then pushed his hand on top of the young man's shoulder.
"Calm down and tell me what happened." He spoke, his presence making the youth shiver. He gulped to regroup his thoughts and then explained.
"A-A new Lord has just taken over a city!" He finally was able to speak out.
Stolen novel; please report.
"So what? That happens more often than not these days, what's there to make a fuss about? You scared me there... I thought a Sovereign had appeared or something..." the old man chuckled and took out his pipe from the front pocket of his jacket.
"No... sir... that's... he took over city B30."
"Mmm? B30? Someone actually beat that annoying beast horde? I heard there was even a C- dragon boss... that's impressive indeed, but is it enough for you to be this excited?"
"Sir... the user..." the young man wanted to cry, shout, but he was just in a state of shock and was unable to speak. It was at that moment that the door slammed open once again!
"Sir! The Solitary Sword Sovereign, one of the Peerless Dao master candidates, has become a Lord!" A woman barged into the room, her eyes glowing with a fanatical passion.
The old man was surprised for a moment but then regained his cool. He coughed twice and then nodded, "So it seems. Well, that is to be expected. After all, a Sovereign candidate still not being a Lord would have sounded like a joke, especially considering the announcement earlier... so, what city did he obtain? Is it in the thousands? Ten thousands?"
"...sir... he took over the highest ranked city in Florida." The woman tried her best not to cringe at the man's opinion about her idol and hubby, Peerless Dao Master!
"Florida? Oh, isn't that where Miami is?" The old man widened his eyes.
"...sir, I told you that somebody just took over B30, didn't I? That's Miami."
"Oh yeah! I remember wondering what kind of name system is the one assigning these codes to cities is using! Miami, yeah, a good place. I wonder who the lucky Lord is..."
Bang! The door flew open once again!
"Sir, a person was just reported to have leveled up tens of times at once!
This breaks all previously reported records!"
The old man was flabbergasted, "Who... Who is this guy? What a monster! Maybe he is the real Peerless Dao Master, would even the two other sovereigns be more talented than such a beast? This is the birth of a true sovereign, I tell you! How did it happen?"
The person that had just walked in was a man in his late thirties. He was dressed in a suit and wore glasses, making him look like an intellectual.
At the moment, however, this person had messy hair and a crazy grin on his face as he spoke excitedly "Sir, he conquered one of the highest ranking cities in Florida and earned the exp by defeating the Bosses that lived there!"
"Oh?" The old man flinched as he pondered. Then, his expression lit up and he laughed, "Ahahah, doesn't this sound familiar? That Peerless Dao Master candidate couldn't even make some achievements without copying them from this guy! What Sovereign, he is just a Copycat!"
At this point, the young man that had first walked in and had heard the whole thing couldn't hold it in any longer and wanted to either yell or punch something. Preferably, the both of them.
FOR FUDGE'S SAKE, A PEERLESS DAO MASTER CANDIDATE JUST FUDGING CONQUERED MIAMI, AND BY DOING SO HE GAINED TENS OF LEVELS ALL AT ONCE, BREAKING ANY OTHER RECORDS! IS IT THAT HARD TO COMPREHEND? HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU BECOME THIS COMPANY'S CEO WITH SUCH AN EVIDENT LACK OF GRAY MATTER?
Similar scenes played out all over the world. People all around Earth were staring at the System Windows with wide eyes.
Some wore happy smiles, other grimaced enviously, others simply stared at the glowing screens coldly, hiding their expression under masks of indifference. However, wherever and whenever they were, people in Europe, South America, Asia, Indonesia could all be seen feeling their blood pumping: a Sovereign had made his move after staying silent for so long! How could they not feel excited? Whether or not this guy was Peerless was up for debate, but there was no doubt that Peerless himself was involved in this. The timing and positioning of the events were too much'
As for Africa, ever since Golden Lord had taken over its entirety, no news had been heard from within as, after going in, no one had ever come back out, so one could only guess.
However, the first to have discovered Will's achievements was not a company or agency such as the NSSA (New System Society of America), but alone, insignificant player...