"Do you need sothing?" Adyr asked calmly, his gaze sweeping across the small group gathered before him.
Dalin Ravencourt stood at the front, her crimson eyes fixed on him as she studied him up and down. Behind her, Cole Vance and the others held back uneasily.
Adyr’s earlier performance had left a deep impression on them. So had even lost consciousness simply standing in his presence.
And now they were stepping directly into his path. That only tightened the tension.
Without a word, Dalin tapped a few tis on the bracelet at her wrist, then held up the screen that appeared.
"J.T.Ripper," she said evenly. "That’s you, isn’t it?"
The screen displayed the latest power ranking. Adyr’s na—J.T.Ripper—had been pushed from first place at 304 points to second. The top slot now belonged to VelvetFox with 360.
Adyr didn’t bother denying it. "Looks like you overtook ," he replied, his tone unreadable. "You’re as talented as you look."
He didn’t ask how she’d guessed his nickna; she obviously had her own thods. Just like he’d known imdiately that VelvetFox was hers.
"Is that so?" Dalin’s voice dropped, as if rejecting his casual complint.
After all, she had witnessed him sparring with Rhys Graves. She had felt his presence so vividly that her knees had nearly buckled without him even looking her way. She could see what most couldn’t—Adyr was far more dangerous than his relaxed bearing suggested.
Dalin Ravencourt was born into power and had spent her life being indulged and flattered. Arrogance was second nature to her, but that wasn’t just vanity—it was backed by a talent that let her see who truly held strength and who was only posturing.
That insight was nearly on par with Adyr’s own observer talent.
And Adyr could see it clearly too. Given her undeniable genius and the fact that one of her talents could reach level 4 if she truly pushed herself, it was obvious she was on a straightforward path to becoming a Rank 3 practitioner in the near future.
With that kind of foundation and her talent, breaking through was less a question of if and more a question of when.
"Dalin, are you sure he’s really J.T.Ripper?" Cole broke in, his voice tense with jealousy. "Isn’t he just faking it? I don’t see what’s so special."
He had been nursing a grudge against Adyr for a long ti, ever since losing Selina to him. Watching Dalin’s attention shift toward Adyr as well was unbearable.
That bitterness had built up into reckless defiance.
"Are you stupid?" Dalin’s brow arched as she turned to him.
She was only close to Cole because their families knew each other, and they belonged to the sa social circle. They had ford a team mainly because they’d spawned near one another in the ga world. In a place this dangerous, sticking together was vital, and even soone like Cole could be useful.
But with this kind of stupidity, he was quickly becoming more of a liability than an asset.
And especially not if his stupidity could ruin her first impression of Adyr.
It was his careless remarks about Adyr that had soured her first impression of him. Almost misled by his bias, she’d nearly treated Adyr as an enemy without reason. If not for her own instincts and sharp judgnt, that foolishness could have cost her far more than re embarrassnt.
"What?" Cole stared at her, taken aback by her sharp tone.
"I asked," she said icily, her voice carrying so everyone heard, "are you stupid? You were lying on the floor monts ago without him even touching you. And you dare question whether he’s really that strong?"
Cole froze, his mouth opening and then closing without a sound. Reality hit him like a fist. Personal grudges and pride had blinded him, but even he couldn’t argue with what everyone had witnessed.
Everyone in the group knew that the only reason they were still alive in this ga was because of Dalin Ravencourt and the team she led. Without them, most of them would have been corpses days ago—it was as simple as that. That was why nobody dared speak against her, why they took even her sharpest insults for granted and swallowed them without a word.
Cole, as usual, kept his mouth shut.
When Dalin saw him stay silent, she shifted her attention back to Adyr. Up close, her red eyes glimred as if tiny flas danced inside them.
"Sorry for bothering you," she began, her voice lower than usual. A faint flush rose to her face, and for a fleeting second, she glanced away, but it didn’t last long before she locked her gaze back on his. "And sorry for earlier, too. I want you to join my team."
"I don’t want to," Adyr replied without a second’s hesitation.
Dalin didn’t seem surprised, as if she had already predicted his answer. "Okay," she countered smoothly, "then let’s form a team—just you and . No need for this baggage," she added, tilting her chin toward Cole and the others standing behind her.
"Why?" Soone in the group finally broke the tense silence, their voice tinged with disbelief at being so easily discarded, but nobody even spared them a glance.
"Still not interested," Adyr repeated simply.
This ti, Dalin’s expression tightened. Clearly pushed into an awkward corner, she raised a hand and pressed her fingers against her temple, rubbing it slowly as she muttered through gritted teeth, "Okay... okay. That bitch—I an, Selina—can join as well, if that’s what you want."
It was obvious how difficult that concession was for her to make.
Adyr watched her for a mont, faintly amused. Rivalries between won were always like a quiet storm beneath a polite surface, and Dalin was visibly wrestling with hers.
"Sorry," he replied, his tone as casual as before, "but my answer is still no."
"Why? What am I lacking to be worthy in your eyes?" Dalin grimaced. Never in her life had she asked such a question of anyone.
She was always the one who asured others by their worth, yet here she was allowing soone else to judge hers.
But she wasn’t ready to give up. Adyr was far too valuable to simply walk away from. Every detail she had observed—and witnessed firsthand—showed just how highly Player Headquarters already regarded him.
The way those researchers had appeared outside the training room the mont he got inside. The fact that soone like Rhys Graves had personally co all the way down just to offer him a spar.
And then there was Rhys’s slip about the Cannibal incident—an even more telling sign.
Dalin had heard whispers of that case through her own circle, even gathered a few inside details, but nothing close to the full picture. Whatever had happened out there was obviously bigger than what was circulating among the usual informants.
Sothing was changing in this world, and even if she couldn’t put her finger on it yet, Adyr seed to stand right at the center of it all.
If this was truly a turning point, Dalin was too clever—and too determined—to let herself be left behind. However tangled or difficult the path might be, the only way to secure her place in whatever was coming was to make sure she stayed close to him.
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