In the waiting room, Louis, Johan, and the other five slowly regained consciousness, as if their minds were still trying to process the shock caused by the system's repeated notifications. A heavy silence filled the space for a few seconds, until it was broken by a trembling voice full of disbelief.
"I… I got an S rating!" one of them said, his eyes wide as he stared at his system screen, joy and shock freezing his expression.
Only a moment later, another voice followed, sharper from excitement.
"Me too! Oh my god… an S rating!"
The third spoke almost in a whisper, as if afraid someone might wake him from a beautiful dream.
"Th-this… am I dreaming? With this achievement, no one will look down on me anymore."
On the other side, the remaining two watched them with obvious jealousy. One of them clenched his teeth and spoke with restrained frustration.
"Damn it… if I had put in just a little more effort in the first main mission, I could've gotten an S rating too thanks to the system's compensation. Still… an A rating isn't bad."
The fifth person stayed silent longer than the others. He stared at his system screen with dark eyes, then let out a long sigh.
"Even with the system's compensation… my rating is still B. Low… as always."
None of them truly knew what mistake the system had made during the stage, but they were certain of one thing: what happened today would never happen again. Deep down, they all understood that these high ratings were not earned by their own strength, but because of the presence of two people among them.
Louis and Johan.
As if by unspoken agreement, they all raised their heads in the same direction.
Louis and Johan were still staring at their system screens in complete silence, not saying a single word, as if they were in an entirely different world.
No words were exchanged. One by one, the five quietly left the waiting room, deliberately avoiding interrupting the thoughts of those two "geniuses."
As soon as the door closed behind the last of them, Johan finally raised his head and looked at Louis. A helpless smile appeared on his face.
"Heh… who would've expected such compensation from the system?"
He paused, then continued in a more serious tone.
"But I still wonder… how did you get involved with a being like that?"
There was no answer.
Louis remained silent, his eyes still fixed on the system interface.
Johan sighed lightly. "Are you going to ignore me until the very end?" Then he added, "Fine, let me guess… you're thinking about how to use the free summoning card, or maybe about spending World Points to summon more characters, right?"
This time, Louis finally turned to look at him.
Johan's smile widened slightly as he continued.
"You might not know this, but a character can only be summoned into the real world once. That means… we can't summon the same person."
After a brief pause, Louis finally spoke, his voice calm but sharp.
"So what? Do you want to know who I'm going to summon?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
"As for you, you don't even have the luxury of choosing. You need to consult Duke Albert to decide which character best strengthens the family… unless you're thinking about rebelling."
Johan's smile faded a little. "That means those restrictions don't apply to you, right?"
He stared at Louis with sharp eyes.
"Then either you're a newcomer with no backing, or you're hiding your achievements under a temporary identity."
A temporary identity was a method some players used instead of directly changing their real ID in the Multiverse Tower, which could attract unwanted attention. By paying a certain amount of World Points, a player could obtain a temporary identity usable for the next stage only. The cost was high, and the stronger the player, the more expensive it became. There was also one strict condition: the temporary ID could not already belong to another player.
Louis knew all of this very well.
Even so, he completely ignored Johan's words and focused again on the system interface.
Seeing this, Johan gave another helpless smile.
"Well… I don't think you'd agree if I asked to add you as a friend, right?"
After a few seconds of silence, Johan finally sighed and spoke in a cold tone.
"Fine, let's end this here. Since you're human too, I'm sure we'll meet sooner or later in the real world."
With that, Johan left the waiting room without looking back.
Louis didn't care about the change in Johan's tone. His mind was focused on something else entirely.
Who should I summon this time?
He first looked at his World Points balance.
[World Points: 23,000]
Twenty thousand points came from the SS rating in the Solo Leveling world, and three thousand were saved from before.
He opened the list of characters whose power exceeded rank S. All the Monarchs appeared, except for the Shadow Monarch and the Dragon Monarch, who belonged to the "Hero" and "Strongest Enemy" categories of this world.
Other names appeared as well: Thomas Andre, Christopher Reed, and even monsters like Kamish. Of course, Beru was there too.
Louis thought for a moment.
I have dozens of ant monster eggs waiting to hatch. Instead of wasting time training and controlling them myself… wouldn't it be better to summon someone to handle that?
In the end, his choice narrowed down to two characters.
The Insect Queen, Arsha… and Beru.
Both had perfect authority to control an ant army. But when compared, Arsha was clearly much stronger, and… more beautiful as well.
Louis smiled faintly.
"But as a loyal reader of the Solo Leveling novel and manhwa… I lean more toward Beru."
A system message appeared.
[You have selected the character "Beru". ] [Confirm: Yes / No]
"No need to ask," Louis said as he confirmed the choice. "Sorry, Arsha… if I get the chance, I'll try to summon you in the future."
After that, he glanced at the purchase option next to the Insect Queen and sighed.
Instead of spending 20,000 points on one person, no matter how strong, it was wiser to divide the points and invest in a group for the future.
With a clear decision, he confirmed the list he had already planned.
[Igris (Rank AA): 6,000 points]
[Cha Hae-In (Rank S): 9,000 points]
[Song Jin-Ah (Ordinary person): 100 points]
[Song Yi-Han (Rank E): 250 points]
"Oh… and since I promised to compensate Jin-Ah for using her before, bringing her close friend is necessary," Louis said as if justifying himself. "Anyway, her summoning cost is low… and I don't mean anything else by it."
He looked at his remaining points.
[World Points: 7,650]
"Hmmm… should I summon one more person?"
He sifted through and compiled several profile pages of hunters—those with the necessary qualifications—and asked the system to randomly select one. Ultimately, it settled on Park Hee-jin, a Rank B hunter from the White Tiger Guild.
He smiled a little awkwardly.
"Compared to the others… she's much better in terms of personality, and… appearance too, of course."
In the end, the result was clear.
Summoned Characters:
Beru, Igris, Cha Hae-In, Song Jin-Ah, Song Yi-Han, Park Hee-Jin
[Remaining World Points: 5,650]
Louis slowly closed the interface.
The game… had entered a completely new phase.
*** ***
After returning to the real world at five in the morning, Louis realized that there were still a few extra hours before reaching the island he was going to rule.
When he looked at Tatsumaki, Psykos, and Fubuki, he saw that they were all fast asleep, their faces showing clear signs of exhaustion. He decided that this was a good opportunity.
So, Louis went to the inner room and confirmed the summoning of the four women he had chosen from the Solo Leveling world. Without wasting time on explanations, he began their training immediately.
As for Igris and Beru, he decided to delay confirming their summons until he reached his destination. Everything had its right timing, and he did not want to use all his cards at once.
Before long, moans and cries began to rise from inside the room, caused by how harsh and difficult the training was.
In another place, far from the sea and the darkness, inside a grand palace that radiated authority and dignity, Johan bowed respectfully as he greeted the man sitting on the seat of the family head.
The man looked very similar to Johan, with blond hair and blue eyes. Their facial features were almost the same. However, the thick beard, the scar on his cheek, and the powerful aura he gave off clearly confirmed his identity.
It was Duke Albert.
The duke spoke in a formal and deep voice:
"Obtaining an SS rank is an outstanding achievement for you, and for the Albert family as well. It gives us the chance to grow closer to the Emperor and finally surpass the MacLaine family, who oppressed us for decades."
He paused briefly, then continued in a calmer but more serious tone:
"You deserve a reward for what you have achieved."
Johan slightly raised his head.
"But before that," the duke added, "I want a complete explanation. Tell me everything you experienced in the Solo Leveling stage. Do not leave out a single detail."
Silence filled the hall for a moment, before Johan began to explain everything.