MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 1040: Von Bryan-1

On the Blue Planet, serene conditions hung in the air while inhabitants carried on with their routine activities. Adventurers plunged into explorations and dungeon raids, mercenaries grabbed odd jobs for Mana Crystals, and everyday folks at society's lowest rung—Mortal Rankers spanning F to SSS Mana Rank—pushed through trades and hustles, battling nonstop to endure and scrape by in the boundless, shifting tides of civilization.

Billions of kilometers off in a different direction towered the Dragon Domain, where dragons slashed across the skies in their true draconic shapes, others streaking through the heavens in humanoid bodies bearing wings. Farther inside this realm sprawled a massive estate covering tens of kilometers, housing the Royal Dragon clan that commanded the Dragon Domain through absolute dominance and crushing strength.

Countless structures sprawled across the grounds, and inside one castle among them, a young man with disheveled hair and a body slick with sweat strode along a corridor. He could have banished that sweat effortlessly with a mere nudge of his Mana, but he let it linger, relishing the fruits of his grueling practice and toil.

This youth was Von Bryan, Crown Prince of the Dragon Domain, destined to claim it from his father, Iserios Von Deathwrath—the reigning Dragon Emperor and the mightiest dragon since the First Supreme Monarch, whose mere name instilled terror and awe across infinite worlds.

Though only the second prince by birth, Von Bryan's genius had earned him the official Crown Prince title, positioning him to seize and govern the whole Dragon Domain. It was a throne soaked in splendor and slaughter, reachable solely by the supreme elite.

Just now, Von Bryan emerged from his training room after hours of relentless sword swings, honing his skills with unyielding concentration. As he moved, a female dragon materialized beside him and dipped into a bow.

"What is it?" Bryan questioned in a flat voice, never pausing to note her bow since she was just a maid who bowed every time she spotted him; responding each instance was beneath his notice.

The maid straightened up swiftly and replied, trailing him with soft, elegant footfalls, "The Money God was online for five hours and logged off roughly ten minutes ago," her voice polite, even, and stripped of excess feeling.

Hearing this, Bryan halted briefly, his phone materializing from his space ring into his grasp as he dove into the web's latest happenings, eyes darting like he hunted something vastly more profound than routine news.

Puzzlement gripped the maid; she failed to grasp why her lord, a Royal Dragon hailed as surpassing even their Emperor in talent, fixated on a human dubbing himself "Money God."

She had checked this Money God's open profile and posts, finding only endless billions of Quarks flung around amid online chatter. Sure, billions of Quarks sounded hefty, but anyone could burn through them—even she, a mere servant, could toss quadrillions without a second thought.

At their tier, Quarks meant nothing; only raw materials and Mana Crystals held value. To her, the Money God offered zero intrigue. Bryan himself could claim that moniker online and eclipse it without effort.

These notions churned inside her head, yet none surfaced on her features. Immensely strong as she was, her role was to serve the Royal Dragon house; as a maid, she wouldn't dream of challenging the Crown Prince.

"You may leave," Bryan's words rang out as he continued onward, and with that order, the maid dissolved from sight as if she'd never existed, her arrival and exit equally flawless.

A sigh escaped Bryan as he eyed his phone, poring over the Money God's comments from his online session. Unlike the rest, he knew Null Anthony embodied the Money God. Five years back at Omni Peak Star Academy, they had been classmates in the same class and building, tackling exams and school events before graduating in year one, skipping further years and forging an unmatched legend.

Those events lingered sharp in his mind like yesterday, every fragment burned indelibly as if time dared not fade them.

Post-graduation five years prior, he, the Titan Storm Brothers, Rider and Bringer, and the vampire Tiara had scattered to their paths. No outreach occurred; hailing from clans of epic heritage and antiquity, duties and drives pulled them apart without glance back.

That shifted eight months ago with the Military's assault to eradicate the Forsaken Cult from the Blue Planet forever, a cataclysm rattling the globe.

In that clash, StreamGhost broadcast every skirmish worldwide in a purge of epic scope. Von Bryan viewed it; he witnessed Null Anthony, old classmate, erupt with unimaginable might.

He watched him obliterate kilometers into void, stars into dust, planets, moons, suns, comets, and cosmic arrays during his duel with Demon Lilith—a display shattering all reason.

Yet the wildest twist was Anthony rewinding time across the planet for a grand revival, a feat beyond his wildest dreams, transcending all power limits.

Null Anthony—classmate, the human he'd vied with for Rank 1 at Omni's entry trials five years past, the one he'd drilled to outrank in Principal-led sessions, once his rival.

After beholding these wonders, Von Bryan sought his father, Iserios Von Deathwrath, for Anthony's intel. He craved details on Anthony's moves, his rocket rise in five years; he had to know, sleep impossible without the secrets of such explosive ascent.

The Emperor wavered at first, then relented. As ruler and Planetary powerhouse, intel on Anthony came easy to Iserios Von Deathwrath; in one day, he revealed to Von Bryan Anthony's saga, truths to stagger titans.