With the influx of mana stones, the two gates became a hot commodity. And with the Southern Pole being occupied by one faction, their influence grew to a point where they could fully dominate it.
Of course, the question now remained if they could keep growing at a pace where they can defend it. Both from inside and the outside.
The world improved at a massive pace and more and more people began to 'breakthrough'. And yet, except the karma rankings which didn't really represent the peak power were the only way to gauge once competence.
These hindered talents all over the world, as the sheer diversity and lack of systematic order made it difficult for them to grow, even more so when their ideas went against common sense and produced no short-term results.
One of said talents had enough and with some support from the Five Lords of the North and the Beacon. A new system was being built.
It was based on a simple premise, as it was bound to evolve in the future to better nurture talents. So far, it targeted the main points of interests.
[Combat Strength]
Which represented the current power of an individual. Summoners and similar types were given a lower score on the premise of their main body being a weakness. On the other hand, their combat potential was much greater.
[Combat Potential]
A way to represent the potential power one can reach in one's lifetime and one they can reach in a short time using forbidden techniques, summons, etc.
[Logistic potential]
This one was the most obscure, as it ranged from buffing teammates or one-self to being able to produce steel creatures or potions.
All of these had no benchmark, this problem was solved through Magnus' contribution as his strength as number 1 was still undeniable.
Then, the other faction leaders fought with him one on one and later fought with each other in a spar. Although they couldn't use their trump cards or forbidden techniques, it was the best way to measure power they could think of.
As scouting spells or those types were easily disguised by hiding one's mana, and unless one was multiple times stronger than the other, it would be hard to tell the truth.
Magnus was then ranked as SS and other leaders and powerful individuals found to be able to fight with the leaders' evenly received rank S.
Afterwards, like a descending ladder, talents below the power of S were given A as they fought to B rank all the way up to F rank.
F ranks weren't actually weak, as the weakest were considered the ones unfit for fighting at the frontlines.
A watershed to prevent fools from participating to gain meager wealth. Another way for the higher ups to ensure that no corruption happened because of wealth or other circumstances a new law was passed, including a new association.
Members of the association could be basically anyone who was stronger than the examinee. They would battle as an artificial intelligence, would spectate and learn to judge combat strength and potential.
After the fight, the one examining would report his thoughts about the power of the examinee before it would be considered complete.
At first it wouldn't be accurate, but with time it would be more and more precise. The higher ups also agreed to let the access to the database of every examined person be accessible only to Magnus, leaders of their countries or empires and the chairman of the association.
Of course, before they would be able to access such information, at least 2 others must agree to such an idea, not even Magnus was exempted.
The entire system soon spread around the Earth as official buildings were established all across the world, though most of them were based in the major cities.
Weaker settlements or the ones which were threatened had the option to only promote others to B rank at maximum. And even then, it was considered as pseudo B rank.
In fact, the way to get SS rank might be easier than to get B rank, as they only had to defeat Magnus to gain such a ranking.
Threat levels were established as well to gauge the power of invaders, mana beasts and those on the negative karma rankings.
A problem soon reared its head though, the lack of enemies which would be easily turned into mana stones and could be used to hone one's power were low due to the extermination of wave 2.
But like a godsent gift, the enemy of his finally used points in a way Magnus could see. The enemy paid a huge price to open up smaller pathways to Earth on Africa.
Either they randomly guessed or they knew the lack of control they had over the continent as a whole.
Unbeknownst to the being smiling to itself after coming up with its plan, the humans, which almost began targeting mana beasts once again, had a new target.
It was then that Africa was considered being inhabitable and was now a place of opportunities and danger alike. Its new nickname became the World of dungeons.
While not the same, the portals leading to the other world were either permanent or temporary. The temporary ones would close themselves once something passed through.
Humans didn't have much understanding, however, they theorised that the capacity of the portal was linked with the size of the portals.
Albeit still under suspicion, as powerful generals like those that appeared on Wave 2 could very well pass through smaller portals.
The permanent ones were the places where real money could be earned. Unless someone too powerful passed through or destroyed it from the outside, it was capable of transporting a certain number of beings per day.
It was a way for humans to counterattack against their invaders. Ambition began to grow in the hearts of many, as it was no longer a matter of survival. It was about being the first.
The thought of being someone who unified two worlds was enough for them to stir their spirits.
Even to a point where they were willing to clash with the still relatively unknown being. It was noticed that the time of 'conversion' to being her slave was usually dependent on the mana one had.
While abundant like those at B rank and higher could look at her and be fine, the ones below would at most sneak a glance or two, anymore than that and they would have a high chance of being 'converted.'
This 'conversion' was not truly complete until one joined the group of 'converted' and bringing the half-converted away was enough to grant them sanity after some time.
A new unspoken rule was made where B ranks and higher became mandatory leaders and, except for the really desperate ones, it was a standard no one would like to breach.
Blockade was built across the entire continent, which acted as a barrier, telling the world if anything non-human passed through. Once it did, alarms would ring to the entire world.
Everyone knew the massive importance of keeping them caged in. Once escaped, they might very well created small problems which would eventually maybe even years from now on cause the downfall of the entire race.
And while the importance of mana stones could not be denied, it was not worth more than one's life, at least not yet.
Some people began devoting their time and energy to further the efficiency and effectivity of the creation of mana stones just to tag along a powerful group.
It wasn't all fun and roses as the enemies weren't willing to be farmed for nothing and deaths skyrocketed. On the other hand, to prevent this, Magnus gave the entire world a referendum where they voted if the children and pregnant women should return.
This would boost their numbers and would be a catalyst for the new generation. Most voted yes, as they either knew the importance of the new generation or simply missed their families and considered this a somewhat stable environment.
With the influx of billions of new people, the expansion which had slowed down began once again. Half of the entire island was soon turned into a megacity that had one purpose.
To house dozens, or maybe even hundreds, of billions of humans in the future. The need for manpower began to skyrocket though, as the Wave 3 was right around the corner.
The powerhouses were stretched thin as they had to defend the entire African continent whilst ensuring that they had enough power on both Poles to exterminate the incoming armies.
Technology became ever so important with advances in flying technology. Planes now had the potential to break through the new strengthened sound barrier and travel across the globe as long as one had mana stones.
This didn't end in flight as weapons had seen the most improvement, bombs capable of replicating the feat of the feared nuclear bombs were already in testing. Laser technology and even the mana railguns were considered to be the new mainstream weapons in another decade.
A collective decision was made to concentrate most of their technological weapons on the Southern Pole to wipe out the enemies whilst gaining enough mana stones to offset the price.
The Northen Pole, on the other hand, was decided to become the treasure trove where powerhouses and armies actually battled.
And while this might have targeted Magnus' faction to reduce their profits to a degree, it was also a way to ensure that manpower is sufficient.
Once a sufficient number of powerhouses appeared on Earth, the Southern Pole would become the third treasure trove of humanity.
Time passed like it always does, one second at a time. And humans began executing their plans. The entire Southern Pole was basically littered with mana bombs filled with the power of hundreds of kilotonnes of TNT.
This was both a test to see if this is an overkill and to see the 'strength' their new Earth had. How much destruction could a continent withstand?
A question that would decide if they should treat the threat of a potential breach with utmost urgency each time, even if it wastes manpower or if other measures could be taken.
The System announced the arrival of the Wave 3, and unknown to the enemy, a massive surprise was given to them. The army on the Southern Pole marched out, only to see that there was no one in sight.
Enemies which bitterly fought them to death and suppressed them on Wave 2 and 1 simply vanished.
Bad feeling engulfed the general, who walked out of the gate. His power was already on the level of an A ranker by his sheer aura alone and might even give some tough time to S rankers specialised in combat.
But did it matter if they can fight a bunch of mortal men? The answer was a plain and simple no as dozens of kilometers around the Southern Gate lit up like a huge firework.
Energy and heat alone could already melt some of the ice, and a shockwave was sent through a hundred kilometers before sizzling out of existence.
The army, once filled with morale, was reduced to pieces of recognisable flesh. Only one being still stood on the now quiet battlefield.
A lone general with the light of his eyes long gone was standing there. His face became the only medium of his last thoughts.
The Southern Gate closed down as a shadow quietly observed from deep within. Not long after, people most proficient in turning corpses into mana stones began their work.
On the other hand, the Northen Gate was met with a fierce attack of humans as multiple S rank leaders and a dozen or so A ranks led the charge.
Battlefield could be considered as a massacre with the only A rank buff/debuff powerhouse on the scene. She alone changed the number of deaths to almost a zero.
Anyone within her range of buffs was considered being safe.
Meanwhile, the rest of S rank leaders and Magnus Fjall stood tall in Africa. The enemy used the smaller pathways to give way for multiple B rank level threats and even 2 A rank threats with the power equal to that of the generals.
Alas, their struggle was futile and until the pathways strengthen enough to give way for S rank level threats, their wishes would remain just that wish.