Bryan felt that Jess was about to have her last breath when the light involved them. They disappeared from that horrible battlefield and were teleported to somewhere else. Bryan opened his eyes and saw that he was in a room with an old man. The man was drinking a cup of tea and was looking at Bryan.

He was too shocked to say something. The only thing that he did was look at his arms to see the blood that was in them. The old man waited patientily until Bryan took the courage and opened his mouth to speak.

“Where am I?” Bryan asked with emptiness on his eyes.

“You are in the reward hall of the epic mission, here is where you are going to receive your reward.” The man said with a neutral expression.

“What is my reward?”

“From master missions on, you can choose what you receive based on what kind of mission it is, and how much you contributed to the mission. You have greatly contributed to your mission, so you can receive many prizes from million points, items, rare skills or information.”

“Where are the other people that arrived with me? are they alright? what about a girl named Jessica?” He asked hurriedly. He was anxious to know what happened to her.

“Oh… So you’re worried about her… The only thing I can tell you is that she is alive for now, but won’t be for long.”

Bryan’s face lightened up when he heard that she was fine for now, but all of it went away when he heard that she wouldn’t live for long.

“Can my prize make her survive?” Bryan looked at the old man with pleading eyes.

“It’s not possible to save her now, but I can at least give you some information about how to save her.” The old man said. “But this information is going to cost all of your contribution to the mission.”

“Tell me, I don’t care for rewards if I can save her.” Light returned to Bryan’s eyes, and he looked serious.

“Vey well. Pay attention to what I am going to tell you because there won’t be a second time.” He looked into Bryan’s eyes and the latter nodded. “The system was created to combat a terrifying enemy. You don’t need to know who the enemy is for now, but what you need to know is that they are powerful enough to destroy the life of entire galaxies if possible.”

Bryan was shocked to hear this information. He knew that the system had a purpose, but he didn’t know it was because of a great enemy.

“Your planet was selected by the system because the enemy would invade it soon, and they would destroy it. As a countermeasure, the system protected your planet and delayed the invasion.”

“Now, let’s go to the main part, how to save your companion.” Bryan got closer to the man and began to listen to what he was about to say with more attention.

“The system wishes for the beings that live in the planets to get stronger to defend against the enemy, that is its ultimate goal. What you don’t know is the limits of what you can achieve. Every being already has almost infinite potential, and the system guides them, and make this potential flourish even more. What you have to do is achieve the peak of your world, and become the king of your world. When you do so, you’ll be able to save the one you love.”

Bryan heard what he said and remembered these words in his heart. What intrigued him, even more, was that he said save, and not revive. It meant that she was not completely dead.

Bryan nodded his head after understanding what he meant. He would have to become the king of the world, the most powerful person. Determination appeared in his eyes, and he swore to conquer everything in his way to achieve what was necessary.

“Now that you’ve received your prize, it’s time to go back.” The old man waved his hand and Bryan vanished from that room.

***

He appeared in the middle of the mission hall. He looked around in search of Jess and was surprised by what he saw. The others had already arrived in the room, and everybody was looking at an ice block that contained a woman on it. She had a peaceful countenance like she was happy about something.

Bryan walked to the ice coffin and kneeled before it. “I swear to one day save you, Jess… I will not let you down.” He said in a low voice.

Everybody looked solemnly at that scene and were impacted by his determination. The mange and shadow left the room, and Samuel placed his hand in Bryan’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry buddy. I’ll help you in saving her.”

Shadow looked at that scene and left the place, the mage said some words in consideration and left as well.

“We should take her to a safe place, but where is that?” Bryan asked Samuel. He was truly lost now, he couldn’t just let her body there in the street.

“Let’s take her to your apartment, for now, we will think of a better place soon.” Samuel answered.

They gently picked her up and took her ice coffin to Bryan’s house. After getting there, Bryan sat on the sofa while looking at her.

“Buddy, I wish I could stay here, but I have to check on my family.” Samuel said.

Bryan shook his head and answered. “It’s fine. You go and see if they are fine, we will talk more later.”

Samuel left his apartment, and as soon as he did, Bryan curled up on the sofa and cried. He only had a few people he truly cared in this world, he was ruthless to everyone else, but he would do anything to save his loved ones. He looked at Jess's face for a few hours until he realized that saving her would require action and that he wouldn’t earn anything staying there.

He looked at the store for a few moments and began to browse for some specific things, a plan slowly began to form on his head. His thoughts were as quick as the lightning that he controlled.

a table was soon laid in front of him, with many books and annotations. He learned many things from the store but ignored most of them until now in search of personal power. He browsed the books he bought from the store and read books about leadership, and how to form a faction. He was a genius in many things, but not in social interactions, he even needed books to learn how to do that.

The foundation of any power is benefits, no one wants to belong to a weak power with a weak leader. Even if the leader is strong, it will mean nothing if the benefits offered to the members are bad…..

He read the books and began to think madly. the plan that was formed in his head, was to create his own faction, to amass power and resources, so that he could one day have enough power to save Jess. He was doing this because he knew the limitations of individual power, even if someone was powerfull, an individual could not win against larger numbers. A clear example of this was the elves and the orcs. The later had great numbers but were not as powerful as the elves, but they were underestimated and amassed enough power to destroy the elves.

Although he didn’t like the idea of creating a faction or cooperating with other people, he would do whatever was necessary to save Jess.

Hour later, and he finished many books about leadership and how to form a faction. The first thing he would do was go to the elder faction! The faction that lost all their power in town, and get their resources.

The system said something about don’t let any faction being formed for some time, however, if the faction was not official, it could still work.

After planning of how to form the faction, he went to the benefits that the members would receive. This part was harder them the other ones, what he could give that would attract more people? Bryan knew that if he was not the strongest, he was at least one of the strongest of the town. He opened the store and began to browse for specific books. He formed a rough idea of the benefits that he could offer the members. Some of the books he brought talked about runes and smithing. the weapons given by the system were truly powerful, but they were limited in quantity. The Zeus spear that he had bought was one of such examples, it was the top spear offered by the system, and it couldn’t be updated.

The only way forward was to make your weapons, to create things, and not only rely on the system. Bryan studied the books for the rest of the day and meditated at night, but just before doing so, he looked at the status screen.

Name:

Bryan Fulgur

Race:

Human

Strength:

172 → 182 (+10)

Agility:

217 → 272 (+55)

Intelligence:

119 → 124 (+5)

Wisdom:

115 → 120 (+5)

Endurance:

183 → 213 (+30)

Vitality:

171 → 181 (+10)

Skills

Name

Level/Tier

Spear mastery

01/Grandmaster

Lightning body

03/Master

Cloud walker

95/Expert

Storm armor

43/Expert

He had advanced in the last struggle, and his status had changed. However, there were no more points earned from the spear mastery. was it because it was a mastery skill? would other skills also had no more points earned during further evolution? He dismissed these thoughts and focused on the books. He didn’t care for what was happening outside the city, he would only focus on what could be done now.

Bryan studied books about runes and smithing for one more month. only leaving his room to train his skills. Samuel came visiting some times to tell him about what was happening to the city. After they finished the mission, the invasion stopped. The city was being invaded by a strange race that was part insect but walked on both feet. After the unending hordes stopped coming through the portal, the situation was quickly stopped.

He cultivated and honed his mind to begin his plans. Making this was not an easy thing, and he even talked with Samuel to get his help. Samuel talked with the remaining people of the elder faction and would talk with them in a week. It was time to leave his room and began to make changes.

Bryan donned his armor and grabbed his spear. He walked toward the door and looked at the frozen figure that was on the building. He wanted to keep her in a safer place, but for now, she would have to stay here.

“I swear I will save you someday my love.”