A portal appeared in front of me. All I needed to do was to just jump and fall and vanish inside. The world I spent a long time inside vanished before my familiar world came into my eyes once again.

The world here was more bustling and noisy than the one I was at. Yet it felt really like going back home this time.

The dungeon test is finished

Your final score is ready

You did outstanding job in clearing five gates and opening six

You killed a large number of monsters with different grades and ranks

Your individual score puts you at the top of your team

“That’s expected,” the first thing I did was to summon my cherished chariot. The moment it appeared, I felt like it was ages since I saw my girl.

I didn’t realise it before. To me, this chariot was becoming more like a family member.

Just before I could search for my team, rows of messages popped up next, giving me lots of surprises.

Your score is ready

Your overall achievement is considered epic!

Congratulations! You have gained a rank in the overall test list across the universe

Your current ranking is twenty-three

You gained a special prize

The overall score of your team is going to rise by three ranks

You gained an access to the test world

You can now enter that world from your profile anytime you want

You gained one million soul as a reward

You gained the materials of the monsters you killed at your last two gates

You gained twenty-three points of favouritism with the current dwellers of the Lost Rocker world

The overall score of your team is rank four

You have three ranks as a reward

Your team final score is rank seven

You can now gain access to rank seven dungeon

I looked at all these messages, feeling slightly puzzled.

I got a ranking in the overall test universal list? Did such a thing even exist?

Also these favour points with the current dwellers of that world… Was it worth it? This was a lost world, one that lost the apocalypse race and got damaged in the end.

That meant they weren’t worth the effort, at least in my eyes. Anyway, I gained a few other cool things like the access to that world and the one million soul points.

Also I gained the materials from the killed monsters that I couldn’t find before. Anyway, it was an overall nice experience, but I didn’t want to repeat it anytime soon at least.

I didn’t know if rank seven in the dungeon evaluation was good or bad. I had to wait until I’d try this dungeon to know the answer.

“Where are they?” As I got done with this, it felt really weird to not see any of the faces of my team.

They used to come and annoy me at any chance. They got out before me, but where were they?

I didn’t even get a single message from them.

I looked down. The place here was used by lots of people to study the energy problem and the weapons I asked for.

But when I look down now, it feels a little weird. The place was slightly desolate. There weren’t that many people standing down below or working.

What just happened here?

“Hey, what happened here?” as I couldn’t hold back my curiosity, I went down my chariot and asked one of the people here.

“Oh, you are lord… The lord is back! He is finally back!” The youth I asked looked at me in daze for a few seconds before he jumped up and down, screaming like he found some kind of treasure.

“Hold on!” I stopped him from running away. I didn’t know why he acted this way, but I couldn’t let him go without knowing what was going on here. “Just tell me what happened.”

“You… You were gone for a week sir,” the words he said made me all shocked.

“What do you just say?” I couldn’t control myself and held him from the collar, drawing his face closer to mine. “Did you just say… A week?”

“Yes… Sir,” the youth swallowed his saliva before adding, “you… things went wrong in the West. all the forces here moved out to stop the invading armies coming for us.”

“Armies?” Another bad news came from his mouth. What? Was he a bad news bringer or what? “Tell me everything!” I demanded and he slowly nodded, while his body started shivering under my grasp.

“Four days ago a grand army came from the West. they came knocking on our western borders. The leaders you left behind gathered almost everyone and went to stop them.”

He didn’t give me any much info to be honest. I let him loose while asking:

“Are you part of the campus? MIT people?”

And he nodded.

“So are you still studying and experimenting?”

“Well… About that…” he looked a little hesitant. Yet under my strong demanding gaze, he had to reply, “we had to stop this. The threat in the West is just overbearing.”

“Hectors? Dragons? Or combined army?” I asked yet the answer I got was something I never expected.

“Humans… They are humans, sir.”

“Humans?!!” This was something I never expected. The first thing that jumped into my mind was that Ed. he threatened me before, but wasn’t he in the West? All the way to the western coast? Or what?

“Ok, what are you doing here then?” If the situation was this dire, then why were some left here?

“We… I’m part of the remaining force to defend the city,” he said and I gave him a look full of doubts.

“Go back then,” I didn’t trust him. Such a weak looking dude was left with a bunch of weak fighters to secure this city? Was that fight really bad?

One week… That meant my promise with Fang and Wryly was gone. I was going to meet them a few days after I left. But now it seems I missed that date.