Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 80: End Of The Tutorial

The glowing text hung high above the broken city, and for a long moment, nobody made a single sound.

Even surviving hunters just stared up at the sky.

They forgot about their bleeding wounds and broken weapons as they read the massive floating words.

[450 Days since the Apocalypse.]

[50 days remain for the Final Rankings of Phase I.]

[The Official competition will begin immediately afterwards.]

[Earth and multiple surviving planets will participate in a game to see who gets to keep their world safe.]

[Congratulations on getting to Level 2.]

The blue boxes flickered and vanished into the dark red clouds.

Julien felt his stomach drop right down to his legs.

The entire nightmare they just lived through for the past year was nothing but a tutorial phase, while the real game had not even started yet.

The Association crews finally moved in to secure the area, and they started loading the injured hunters into transport trucks headed for District 1.

But Isabella had a completely different plan for Julien and his friends.

She snapped her fingers, and a man in a sharp black suit stepped out of the shadows.

His name was Levi, and he was Isabella’s personal assistant.

He moved with incredibly smooth precision as he bypassed the normal Association medics entirely.

Julien was holding his crushed right hand against his chest, but he refused to take a single step toward Isabella’s luxury armoured van.

"I am not going anywhere until Kiara’s mother is safe," Julien told the rich guild leader.

"I do not care about your money or your questions."

Isabella just smiled and nodded at Levi.

Levi immediately flagged down a high-end, private medical transport and personally made sure Kiara’s mother was loaded onto a soft stretcher and hooked up to premium healing machines with extreme care.

Kiara climbed into the back of the medical transport and shot Julien a grateful look before the doors closed.

Julien finally let out a tired breath and agreed to cooperate.

Seeing the recent events unfold had completely messed with his mind.

He was physically and mentally exhausted and did not even get to use his mutated ability properly before he had to cancel the expensive contract, and he still had not explored the crazy new magic skills hiding in his Tier 3 Inventor menu.

Now the system was treating them like contestants in a cosmic death match.

It was just way too much to handle.

He climbed into the back of Isabella’s massive, armoured van.

The inside looked like a private jet as it had soft leather seats, a chilled drink cooler, and freezing cold air conditioning that felt amazing against his sweaty skin.

Chris climbed in next.

The blonde tank was still in a complete daze from using the Ruined Knight sword.

His hands were wrapped in mana bandages that Alice had secured, and he immediately slumped over.

He laid his heavy head on Alice’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

Alice just wrapped her arms around him and stayed perfectly quiet.

Julien sat across from Isabella.

She was sitting in the front passenger seat, but she had turned her expensive leather chair completely around to face him and crossed her legs and smoothed out an invisible wrinkle on her perfectly tailored business suit.

’This is ridiculous,’ Julien thought to himself.

’We almost died five minutes ago, and she looks like she is heading to a board meeting.’

"You look awfully relaxed, ma’am," Julien said, wiping a streak of blood off his cheek.

"How are you so calm about all this?"

"I am not calm, Julien," Isabella replied.

Her tone was completely flat and indifferent.

"I am just not reacting the way you expect me to."

Julien frowned and leaned forward.

The cold air in the van was helping him focus, so he started asking his questions one by one.

"So why did this happen today?" Julien asked, pointing a finger back toward the ruined district outside the tinted windows.

"A Red Gate usually doesn’t release monsters until the third wave. We all know the rules. Plus, we killed the bosses, so why didn’t the Red Gate close? The sky is still bleeding up there."

Isabella looked at him with her sharp red eyes and did not blink.

"You are asking the wrong person," she said smoothly.

"But you are smart enough to see the cracks. Did you ever wonder why all of this was left to weaklings like you? Have you asked yourself why none of the actual powerhouses fought on the ground today?"

Julien paused.

She had a massive point.

Aside from Leo and the hammer lady showing up at the absolute last second, the elite hunters were nowhere to be seen when the boss monsters first dropped.

"You are right about one thing," Isabella continued, keeping her voice low so she did not wake Chris.

"This is not normal, as the rules were broken. You know Kane, right? The black market leader."

Julien nodded slowly.

That name rang a massive bell in his head.

"Kane caused the gate to break," Isabella said.

"He triggered it early for reasons unknown to the Association. And do not ask me anything else about him, because I am not going to answer."

Julien leaned back in his leather seat.

The last time he heard about Kane, the black market boss was dealing with Maya.

That specific name jolted Julien completely awake.

"Do you know about Maya?" Julien asked quickly, leaning forward again.

"She was in District 9 the last time I saw her. Is she okay?"

Isabella looked mildly amused by his sudden panic.

"She was in District 1 earlier today, making a mess," Isabella replied smoothly.

"I am not sure where she is right now, but she is fine."

Julien instantly relaxed and let out a long breath.

’Okay, she is safe,’ he thought.

He knew Maya was an absolute monster in combat, and she definitely did not need him to worry about her, but it was still a huge relief to hear she was alive and causing trouble.

His eyes darted out the tinted window and noticed the scenery changing.

The ruined buildings were fading away, and the streets were getting much cleaner.

They were driving past high security checkpoints and glass towers.

"So where are we going?" Julien asked, looking back at the guild leader.

"The medical tents are back that way."

"We are going to my personal estate in District 2," Isabella said.

"District 1 is completely crowded with Association higher-ups and angry guild masters right now. We cannot talk freely there without someone listening in."

Julien raised an eyebrow.

He looked at his crushed hand, then looked at the sleeping tank next to him.

"And what exactly are we going to talk about?" Julien asked.

"I am just a merchant. I sell potions and gear, so I don’t know anything about multiverse tournaments or black market gate breakers."

Isabella uncrossed her legs and leaned forward so she was sitting just a few feet away from him.

The amused look completely vanished from her face, leaving her expression dead serious.

"You aren’t the only one with an SSS-rank skill, Julien," Isabella said quietly.

Julien froze.

His breathing stopped for a second.

He had tried so hard to keep his system rating a total secret from the big guilds.

"We have ten of you in total across the globe," Isabella continued, watching his shocked reaction carefully.

"And in our nine districts alone, we have three. Including you."

Julien’s eyes went incredibly wide, and he gripped the edge of his leather seat with his good hand.

’Three of us right here?’ Julien thought, his mind spinning completely out of control.

’More people with broken system powers? Are they building a secret SSS-rank team?’

He looked at Isabella’s cold red eyes and realised he was stepping into a game that was way bigger than selling a few swords.

The tutorial was over, and the real players were finally showing their cards.