**Global Announcement**: "To everyone still suffering under the tyranny of the Bellos monsters, do not lose hope, do not despair! I am the mighty Emperor Aoyama from the Yamato Alliance, possessing SR-level strength. Once I have fully liberated the Yamato Alliance, I will come to rescue all of you from your suffering! I have one humble request: I've already acquired the 'Dragon God's Fang,' 'Dragon God's Wings,' and 'Dragon God's Scales.' All I need now is the 'Dragon God's Heart' to activate the 'Dragon God's Power,' and then my strength will be unparalleled! Please, everyone, reserve one 'Dragon God's Heart' and 'Dragon God's Flame' for me to purchase tomorrow!" — Yamato Alliance - Emperor Aoyama II.
The sudden world announcement left Alex and his group baffled, and as they finished reading it, they were even more dumbfounded.
Daniel burst into laughter. "What idiot posted this? Acting like some savior of the world, claiming to be SR-ranked but can't even gather enough points for a full divine set. And now he's begging others to leave items for him? How embarrassing!"
Michael and the others were equally amused, scrolling through the message again. Laughing, Michael said, "This guy's definitely not an impostor; it has to be someone from the Yamato Alliance. Emperor Aoyama? Does he even know where Aoyama is?"
Lily, however, noticed something different. After searching the in-game shop, she found what she was looking for. "Wow, that guy's a total spendthrift! A world announcement costs 1 million points!"
"What?!" The group stared at her in disbelief. They had been considering posting a world announcement to mock the guy but immediately backed down after hearing the price.
As if on cue, a second and third world announcement followed.
**Global Announcement**: "Greetings to people around the world! I am the spokesperson for the United States Federation. We deeply apologize for the recent 'game' disaster. However, there's no need to worry! The monster situation within the Federation is now under control. Within a month, we will have built grand new cities across our land, and we will dispatch elite teams to assist in quelling the monster threat worldwide!" — US Federation - Gulapatchi.
**Global Announcement**: "Earth's first capital city, 'Imperial Capital of Huaxia,' has been successfully established!"
**Update Notice**: "With the creation of the first capital city, Earth's first 'Domain Gate' will open in seven days! Tomorrow, a new batch of high-level resource points will be added. All five-star beginner cities worldwide will gain access to teleportation arrays leading to 'Huaxia Imperial Capital,' and qualified cities will be eligible to participate in the 'Extraterrestrial War' event."
---
The second and third announcements left Alex and his friends in stitches. They had expected someone to retaliate against "Emperor Aoyama," but the serious tone of the responses only added to the absurdity. The whole group exploded with laughter again after reading them.
Michael, wiping tears from his eyes, managed to speak between laughs. "That Gulapatchi guy? Yeah, he's real—I've seen him on TV before. Typical United States Federation style—grand, official, and all-American. Not like that clown from Yamato. The announcement cap is 200 characters, and this guy filled 199 of them!"
The laughter started all over again, especially since the third announcement—the establishment of the Huaxia Imperial Capital—was a massive slap in the face to both the Yamato Alliance and the US Federation. Both had just boasted about their plans to save the world, but Huaxia had already built the world's first capital city, altering the game's progress entirely.
"Actions speak louder than words!" Daniel exclaimed. "The Huaxia Imperial Capital didn't even bother talking big—they just went and did it."
Once the laughter subsided, they couldn't help but admire the Huaxia Empire's strength. It was only the second day of the city-building questline, and Huaxia had already upgraded from a beginner city to a capital city!
Upgrading to a level-three city required at least 20 resource points, so no one could imagine how many resource points a capital city needed.
Jenny, deep in thought, said, "I think there's another reason for it. Huaxia has a massive, dense population!"
Alex and the others nodded in realization. "That's true! With over a billion people in the Huaxia Empire, even if 100,000 people formed a single outpost, they'd have nearly a thousand outposts. If just half of those outposts captured resource points, that would be 500 resource points!"
The sheer number left everyone speechless. If it were 50,000 people per outpost, the number would be even larger!
Unable to contain himself, Ethan commented, "I bet the second and third capital cities will be established soon too!"
After all, the Huaxia Alliance wasn't the only one with super cities. Places like Pearl City and Magic City each had populations close to a billion, and they could easily capture hundreds of resource points in no time.
Despite all the world announcements, the next few hours passed quietly, with no further updates. The Huaxia capital's construction had shifted the game, but for now, Alex's group focused on their reality: preparing to conquer more resource points.
To participate in the next major event, a city needed to be at least level five. East Sea City only had 11 resource points, and though another team had just captured a new point, their progress still felt too slow.
Seeing everyone struggling to decide on their next purchases from the shop, Alex clapped his hands to get their attention. "How about I lend you guys some points? At least to help you all upgrade your potential to R-rank."
The group stared at Alex, stunned. Daniel was the first to react. "Wait, what?! R-rank potential stones cost 300,000 points even with the discount! Do you really have that much to lend us?"
Even excluding the four who had already reached R-rank, there were still over twenty members who needed upgrades. That meant Alex would need to lend over 70 million points!
Alex cleared his throat and decided to come clean. "Well, when we captured that monster nest earlier, I ended up with a few hundred R-rank resource crystals."
"What the...?! R-rank crystals are worth 20,000 points each! A few hundred of them—that's nearly a billion points!"
The group collectively gasped. They had each received resource crystals themselves, and those who had helped defeat an elite monster even got SR-rank crystals. But none of them had received more than 20 or so. They had assumed Alex would get more, but this was far beyond what they imagined.