Essim turned to the matter of Aisha's promotion.
She had the same requirements—an Aura Crystal, ten thousand Energy Crystals, and a Protector-rank Monster Heart. All of which they had in abundance.
"Why not use the same Immortal Core I did?" Essim suggested. He could duplicate it easily enough.
Aisha shook her head. "I want to try the promotion on my own first. If it goes badly, I can always use a duplicated Immortal Core as a fallback." She lifted her chin and placed her hands on her hips in a pose of mock authority. "A girl should have her own achievements, brother."
Essim raised his hands in surrender. "Fair enough."
She selected the Aura Crystal she'd chosen hours ago: Archer, Elven Realm Race. Then she confirmed the promotion and vanished from the island in a wash of pale green light.
Essim was left alone.
• • •
While he waited, he surveyed the island.
It was now late afternoon—roughly ten hours since humans had arrived in the Ascendant Realm. The island had grown considerably. The stone wall was complete, encircling the perimeter in a ring of grey-white blocks. The Main Hall had finished construction during the gorilla battles—a thirty-metre structure that looked like a blend of medieval European keep and something out of a fantasy painting, with arched windows, reinforced doors, and a central tower that offered a commanding view of the surrounding clouds.
Surrounding the Main Hall were dozens of production buildings: a woodcutting station, a smelting forge, an herbalist's workshop, a grain mill. To the south, the military zone bristled with nesting structures—Werewolf Den, Mountain Witch Hut, Rhino Stables, Warrior Ant Colony—each producing soldiers on timed cycles. Defence towers stood at regular intervals along the wall: Lightning, Fire, Automated Bow, Dragon Cannon, and Watchtower variants.
Essim had built a small kingdom in ten hours. It should have felt triumphant. Instead, standing alone on the balcony of the Main Hall, watching the sun sink below the cloud line, he felt the first tendrils of a thought that would grow larger in the days ahead:
Is this enough?
He checked the regional chat. The world was moving fast. Alliances were forming—large ones, with thousands of members. Some were led by politicians who'd retained their authority through force of personality. Others were military operations, run by officers who treated the Ascendant Realm like a theatre of war.
One name kept recurring.
[Regional Chat #1825]
Raden Tui: I hereby declare the European Alliance formed.
All European citizens are welcome. Strength in unity.
Hans Breuer: President Schultz has established the Central European Federation.
Military coordination begins immediately.
Laras: The Radiant Order offers sanctuary. Come to the light.
Essim studied the messages. Raden Tui's European Alliance, Schultz's Central European Federation—power was consolidating. And here he sat, alone on his island, with the strongest talent in the realm and no one to share it with.
"I need people," he murmured to himself. The realisation was uncomfortable. Essim had never been a leader. He'd been a mid-level video editor at a Berlin ad agency, happiest when left alone with his software. But the Ascendant Realm didn't care about his comfort zone.
A flash of pale green light interrupted his thoughts. Aisha had returned.
• • •
She materialised on the island's central platform, slightly unsteady, her eyes wide. A faint emerald aura clung to her, wisps of green light spiralling around her arms before fading.
"How did it go?" Essim asked, hurrying over.
Aisha looked at him. Then she grinned—wide, genuine, radiant.
"See for yourself."
(Crystal Core: King Level)
Race: Elven | Class: Archer
Level Cap: King Level
Additional EXP: +60%
Skill 1: (Arrow Explosion) — Arrows explode on impact, +30% damage in 10m radius. No cooldown.
Skill 2: (Nature Archery Dance) — +200% movement speed, two mid-air jumps, +50% damage.
Duration: 2 min. Cooldown: 10 min.
Skill 3: (Sun Core Arrow) — Lock-on arrow. +100% damage, ignores 50% defence.
Cooldown: 1 hour.
"King Level," Essim said, impressed. Not Immortal—but King was still extraordinary. And that third skill—a homing arrow that ignored half of all defences—was the kind of ability that could decide battles by itself.
"A lock-on arrow?" He whistled. "That's terrifying."
Aisha struck a victory pose, one hand raised in a V-sign. "Your little sister isn't so little anymore."
"Never said you were," Essim replied. "Now hold still. Before you absorb that, let me duplicate it."
"Right."
His duplication cooldown had just ended. He took the Elven Archer King-Level Core from Aisha and activated the talent.
[Duplicate Crystal Core (Archer: Elven — King Level) x10,000?]
"Yes."
Ten thousand copies flooded into storage. Another impossibly valuable resource banked for the future.
Aisha absorbed her core. The green aura returned, brighter this time, wrapping around her like a cocoon before settling into her skin. When it faded, she looked… lighter. Her movements had a new fluidity, and her eyes seemed sharper, as though the world had come into finer focus.
"This feels incredible," she breathed, flexing her fingers. "I can feel the wind differently. Like it's part of me."
Essim watched her with quiet pride. His sister—the girl who'd been studying for her A-levels in a Kreuzberg classroom this morning—was now a King-Level Elven Archer with skills that could reshape a battlefield.
The Ascendant Realm had taken everything from them. But it had given them this.
"Ready for what comes next?" he asked.
Aisha pulled her new bow from her back—a long, elegant weapon of pale wood and silver string that had appeared during her promotion—and drew the string experimentally. A faint green light trailed the arrowhead as it materialised.
"Always."
And together, the siblings walked back toward the Main Hall, their island glowing beneath the first stars of the Ascendant Realm's night sky, its towers and walls a promise of what was yet to come.
DUPLICATE INTO INFINITY
Chapters 11–15
Revised Edition