It was a bustling day as usual in the Blessed Empire, and today it was bustling even more as a momentous event occurred.
After days where almost all the dungeons in the world began breaking down permanently, in the last 24 hours, new ones had begun appearing!
Hunters and governments had been gravely worried that the rate at which they increased their strength would drastically reduce without the constant supply of cores, skills, and items, but their worries did not last too long.
A few days after the initial panic, huge monoliths began appearing around the world once more. The monoliths were different than the ones they had been used to, as they appeared black and did not have a change in color over time. They never would have thought that they would be happy at the sight of dungeons, but people moved eagerly after these new ones appeared.
They worked differently compared to the old ones, and the hunters would learn more about their secrets as time went on.
The bustling day today was interrupted by the appearance of something nobody could have guessed in their wildest dreams. Above the skies of the small city in the periphery of the Blessed Empire, a floating landmass that entirely blocked the skies appeared!
The landmass caused surprise and panic on many hunters as they thought an unexpected attack had arrived yet again, and they were preparing themselves as they watched a blue light expanding from the landmass.
The light went on to cover every nook and cranny of the small city, lasting for a few seconds as the people in it began feeling the air around them change. A dense collection of essence was swirling around the city, and amazing scenes could be seen playing out.
In one location, a child that was on a swing set found himself thrown in the air as he used too much force, and surprisingly landed on the ground unharmed as he began to feel unknown strength coursing through him. A status panel appeared on his eyes soon after, as he stupendously realized he had somehow awakened.
Those that had some talent and luck found themselves with a status panel appearing in front of their eyes as many people underwent their awakening to become hunters all over the city, the converging essence being a catalyst for such a surprising event.
The veteran hunters found themselves being able to move faster and easier as if they were constantly receiving a buff from the air around them. They moved ecstatically as they stared at the landmass blocking the sky.
A top hunter and Admiral in Star City who held multiple S+ skills and was now a peak rank S, Elizabeth, was looking stupidly at the floating landmass as the air around her continued to change. She watched with surprise as just as it had appeared, the landmass began shrinking rapidly before it disappeared in the blink of an eye. She thought that she felt a gaze land on her in an instant from the disappearing landmass as she shook her head in confusion.
Clear skies returned as things returned to normal, but the city itself had experienced a huge change.
This scene repeated itself many times over the areas of the Blessed Empire where most people were congregated, as a magically floating Spiritual Land appeared and disappeared, leaving behind a changed environment where the essence had become increasingly dense.
This process was already happening naturally as the world continued to grow, and the levels of essence in the air would sooner or later reach a similar level as that of the Beast World. But just like how the lands in the Frozen Kingdom benefitted from [Boost Environment], the cities around the empire that experienced the same thing benefitted even more.
When the Spiritual Land appeared in the skies of the capital, Steel Mikhail stood proudly in the air, two spears rotating around him as the air crackled with power. He felt the changing of the air as the newly appeared landmass continued to release a blue light that covered everything.
His mind shifted to a certain man that had left not too long ago, was it even just over a month? Had he obtained something this spectacular so quickly? Mikhail thought of hs own power as he looked up to see the floating landmass disappearing.
He was somewhat glad that the person inside of it did not come down. He felt ashamed as he thought he was strong enough when he combined his skills to gain the power of EPIC rank, but it seemed he was still far behind that man who was chasing their enemies who knew where.
Steel Mikhail felt the air around him that seemed to open up his pores and fill him with strength as his sight turned to the large monolith which appeared at the center of the empire a few days ago.
The monolith was ranked to be an EPIC ranked dungeon, and even now it was not fully explored. He would prepare his team and dive down into this dungeon over the coming weeks, training his skills as much as he could and increasing his strength. He could not lag behind someone that was fighting for all them too much.
He knew his role as the protector, but was slightly envious of the things outside this word he hadn't yet gotten a chance to see. When would the chance come in the future for him to explore the unknown places out there?
---
Many countries in the United Federation found themselves experiencing a similar occurrence with the floating landmass. The event would later be termed simply as a Worldwide Buff as many places experienced elevated levels of essence that caused the awakening and strengthening of many individuals.
With the advent of new dungeons that were not undergoing dungeon breaks if they weren't constantly cleared, along with this new occurrence, the hopes of the humans were extremely high.
A surprising sight had played itself out in the United Federation when the floating landmass first appeared, where its top hunter, Kazuhiko, bolted into the skies trying to reach it.
"Hey hey hey!"
His screams rang out in the skies as he stood on a katana surrounded by darkness which was propelling him further into the skies. He didn't care for the dense essence filling the air as he bolted towards the landmass at even faster speeds.
He found it to be shrinking as he neared it, seemingly about to escape his grasp.
"HEY!"
His figure flew even faster as he tried to reach it before it disappeared, but it flashed away, and so did his figure. This was the first case that people noticed and talked about later, where a hunter had reached and gone inside the floating landmass.
It continued to appear and disappear all over the countries that held a significant amount of people in the next hour, where the figure of Kazuhiko also flashed out as the last country was covered by the blue light.
Hunters and governments would call and ask Kazuhiko exactly what he saw in the floating landmass when he reappeared, but the reckless hunter didn't give any answers. People only found him to be diving into the newly appeared dungeons with even more and more vigor, occasionally screaming out how he wanted to see demihumans and own his own land.