Is this really a Game?!

"Alright, so … maybe the underground is not for us right now." Reign said as he glanced at the others who quickly nodded at him.

"But on the bright side, now we have two areas where we know we can hunt Tier VI monsters," Mia said with a smirk as she leaned her back against the elevator.

"That's right, but it seems this area is the same as the desert, it's full of monsters and without being high-grade Tier VI combatants, I don't think it will be safe for us to go hunting down there."

"It's even worse than the desert when considering the fact that we can't leave it as easily as we can leave the desert." 

Reign and the others nodded at Wolf who placed his hand over his forehead.

"This means the plan for the future stays the same, after our evolution, we try to get to New York, establish contact with Shadow's father, and make sure we enter an alliance with him so that we can go to and fro the territory."

"That way, you two won't need to worry about them anymore, and you'll be able to see each other any time you want, while we will gain a portal leading us directly to New York, which, thanks to everything Shadow's father has told us, houses millions of monsters of different levels of power, there's definitely Tier VI monsters present there, probably even more powerful ones as well."

"New York is definitely the destination that we want to reach as quickly as possible, but we all know that it's not possible with our current strength."

"The aquatic monsters roaming the sea that separates us from New York are incredibly large and powerful, even if we reach Tier VI, we won't be able to defeat them, after all, we aren't able to use our full strength in the water, we are slower there and even against monsters of our own tier, we will have to struggle quite a lot."

"So the air is our best option, and it is highly possible to reach New York via the air when we finally become Tier VI combatants."

"Now, if only Beast could tame one or two flying monsters, things would be even easier."

The entire group agreed to what was being said.

Mia had not been with them for long, but she knew what was going on. She was a bit surprised to hear that Shadow's father was in New York and that New York, a city that had been thousands of miles away from this place originally, was located near them.

Shadow, feeling a mix of excitement and apprehension about the possibility of reconnecting with his father, spoke up, "So, the plan is to evolve to Tier VI, establish contact with my father, and secure an alliance. Once that's done, we'll have a direct portal to New York, where we can find powerful monsters for hunting and training."

Reign nodded, "Exactly. New York is a hub of magical activity and a hotspot for monsters. It'll be a perfect training ground for us, and with the alliance, we'll have a safe passage to and from the city."

Tank, holding his shield, added, "And while we're working towards that, we should also keep an eye on opportunities to evolve further. The stronger we become, the more challenges we can tackle."

Beast, who had been silent for a while, spoke up, "I agree with the plan, but taming flying monsters won't be easy. I'll need to find creatures with the right temperament and form a bond with them. It not only takes time but quite some luck as well."

Laura, always practical in her approach, suggested, "Let's focus on one step at a time. Right now, our priority is evolving to Tier VI. Once we achieve that, everything else will fall into place."

With the plan set, the party decided to return to the surface and continue their training in the desert. The elevator smoothly ascended, and the metal bars retracted as they stepped out into the moonlit desert night.

As they emerged, the specter's head once again appeared from a small portal, "Congratulations on surviving the Tier VI encounter. Quite unexpected, but you handled it well. Are you planning to continue exploring the underground or return to the surface?"

Reign, taking the lead, responded, "For now, we'll return to the surface. We've got some preparations to make before attempting the underground again."

The specter nodded, "Understood. The Torkan will remain here, and the underground will be accessible whenever you're ready. Safe travels."

The party walked away from the pyramid, the moon casting long shadows across the desert sand. The roars of monsters battling against one another echoed through the desert as Reign and the others glanced at one another before smiling.

The hunt resumes.

…

Ten days later, in the desert.

Reign and the others were sitting atop a sand dune and staring at the sea that was in front of them.

They had reached the peak of Tier V and only needed one more level before hitting the ceiling and getting their evolution challenge.

They had also gotten a nice number of items from Adrian, and there were still some that remained to be made, but their overall strength was much higher than a normal peak Tier V being.

For now, they would not level up.

They were waiting for the items to be finished, and thankfully, upon seeing what level they were, Adrian decided to put the other things on hold and promised to make all the remaining items for them in the next two days.

He knew that they shouldn't wait long to start their challenges. It wasn't because anything would change, but because he was a member of their territory as well, he would gain rewards from the system if they were the ones to reach the Transcendent realm first and win the game for their planet.

The Transcendents who had volunteered to come here had not done it because they were bored and had nothing to do. Some, like Eldar and Jack, were members of the Alliance, and doing a good job would result in a reward from the system, as well as a promotion.

Promotions were done via the system as well, it would automatically calculate what they had done during the 'game' and give them the corresponding achievement points for that.

There were many things they could do to gain rewards and promotions.

For example, the students Adrian had taken on.

If even one becomes a Transcendent later on, even though Adrian would not be present anymore, he would be rewarded as his teacher.

Even if they didn't reach that realm, if they managed to reach high levels of smithing and do some amazing things, he would still gain some small rewards.

If he made items for those who used them to defeat powerful enemies and he was partially responsible for why they were doing great things and leveling up faster, he would gain rewards.

All of those would be calculated and given to him after the game ended, even if it failed, he would still gain rewards, just not as much as if they won.

That was why it was important even for him to make sure Reign and the others reached a higher level faster.

As for Reign and the others, since they had nothing to do right now, they were relaxing on the beach.

It was a peaceful and calm day that they decided to use to its fullest to relax a bit.

They knew that soon, they would have to go through their challenges, which would definitely be harder than last time, as they always were.

Reign was wondering what would happen for his next challenge.

Would he be placed with somebody else this time too?

Would he be alone?

Would he be teleported to a brand new planet, or would it be one of the two he had already visited and done challenges in?

Nobody knew the answers to his questions, they simply had to wait and see what they would get for their challenge.

Each one was vastly different from the other, and even Wolf and the others had no idea what to expect this time.

It actually wasn't only them.

The challenges had truly changed now.

At least for those doing challenges for Tier V and above.

More people were reporting that their challenge was also going to be taking place in a completely different world and that they would be leaving soon.

For Tiers I, II, III, and IV, being sent to a different planet for your evolution challenge was incredibly rare, it actually almost never happened.

For Tier V and above, it wasn't that rare.

Hell, for Tiers VIII and above, it was almost always the case.

But that wasn't all.

Eldar had told them a day ago that after they reach Tier VIII, or maybe even VII, they would definitely struggle to find monsters of their own Tier.

After all, they were quite above the average Tier on Earth, and the monsters were not evolving as quickly as they were.

Even if they were, there still wouldn't be enough of them for everybody to hunt down and level up quickly.

After they reach that Tier, they would most definitely have to go to other planets and work as mercenaries if they want to quickly level up and reach a higher Tier.