That night, after dinner ended and everyone left the restaurant, the city slowly became quiet again.
The sky was still covered with some clouds, and the dim street lights drew long shadows on the ground.
Louis, who looked calm and relaxed on the outside, felt his body screaming for rest.
But before he could say goodbye to everyone, he had to wait for one thing:
The cooldown of his Teleportation Skill to reset.
At the same time, Genos had just finished editing the video of the battle between the Emperor and Saitama.
The start of the challenge…
The first punch that blew up part of a mountain…
Louis's punch boosted by the Power Stone…
The final clash of fists…
Saitama's return, and the Emperor appearing behind him calmly.
"It's done," Genos said quietly to himself.
After that, the three of them – Louis, Genos, and Tatsumaki – gathered for a while to write and sign the recommendation letters.
In the end, they agreed that Tatsumaki, who was going back to Hero Association headquarters anyway, would be the one to submit the video and documents officially.
Time passed slowly…
Until the clock finally struck midnight.
At that moment, Louis felt a familiar sensation in the corner of his mind:
"Teleportation Skill: Usage has been reset."
Before leaving, Louis turned to Tatsumaki and said:
"We'll stop here for today.
Submit this evidence and wait for the executives' decision. It will be hard for them to ignore something like this."
Before Tatsumaki could say anything, Louis added:
"It's late now. Let's meet again after the Association announces their decision."
Then he activated his Teleportation Skill and disappeared without leaving a trace.
Tatsumaki, who was just about to speak, glared at the spot where Louis vanished.
"Damn it," she muttered angrily.
But in the end, she picked up the digital file and the recommendation copies, then flew off toward Hero Association HQ.
*** *** ***
As for Louis…
After using teleportation, he appeared inside one of his safe houses.
The place was very quiet, like a clean, organized apartment with no life in it:
a simple living room, a small desk, a large screen, and several devices connected to the system.
He took off his coat, threw it on the sofa, then lay down on the bed and opened the system interface.
Inside, one question kept bothering him:
"Why haven't I received any system notification yet?"
He had completed at least two main missions.
And yet… nothing.
"Did the system break?" he muttered with a bit of sarcasm.
He opened the main system menu.
In the top corner, he noticed a small icon he hadn't cared about before, with an X beside it.
He froze for a second.
"...Don't tell me…"
He opened the settings menu and found a line he hadn't paid attention to during his first visit to the Central Tower:
[Quest Notifications: Disabled]
"…"
Silence filled the room for a few seconds.
"Seriously…?" He raised his hand and covered his forehead.
"Because it was my first time in the Central Tower… I had to enable it manually? And I just ignored it back then…"
He felt like hitting his head against the wall, but only let out a long sigh.
He pressed the toggle to enable it.
In the next moment, the interface shook slightly.
Ding— Ding— Ding—
A series of messages appeared quickly, one after another:
[You have completed Main Mission 1: Become an S-Class Hero.]
[Due to your rank in the Hero Association, you receive bonus points.]
[You have completed a Hidden Mission: Obtain the title "The Strongest".]
[You have completed Main Mission 2: Defeat "The Strongest" in any way you see fit.]
[Your current total rating: SS.]
[Congratulations!! You are the first player to reach an SS rating in this world.]
Louis's eyes moved calmly over the messages.
He felt a bit of satisfaction… and a bit of a headache at the same time.
"If I was going to celebrate, it would've been better if this happened at the right time… not all at once hours later."
But the system wasn't done yet.
A new message appeared with a slightly different background:
[If you aim for the perfect rating SSS, and want to become the "Master of This World", you must clear Main Mission 3.]
[Main Mission 3: ??? ???]
[Time until unlock: 99 days, 15 hours, 42 minutes]
[Please survive in this world for 100 days to reveal Main Mission 3, or discover it by yourself.]
[You may choose to end this mission phase at any time, as long as you are not involved in any major event.]
After that, everything stopped.
The interface returned to normal, except for the countdown, which now started ticking steadily.
Louis stayed silent for a few minutes.
He rested his head on the pillow and let his eyes stare at the system screen.
"Master of this world…"
"Main Mission 3…"
"99 days until unlock…"
"The option to end the phase at any time…"
He raised his hand, laced his fingers behind his head, and let out a long breath.
"So… what should I do next?"
In his eyes, the glowing lines of the system were reflected.
And inside him… the outline of a new plan slowly began to form.