CHAPTER 51Adrian stood before Dr. Aldric Arvan, his presence calm, unshakable, yet radiating an invisible force that pressed against the air itself. The man he faced had already crushed presidents, shattered Level-2 masters, and stood here with a near-black aura that could suffocate the unprepared. But Adrian wasn’t afraid. Not in the slightest.Dr. Arvan burst out laughing, a cold, echoing sound that reverberated through the hall. “So, this is the boy,” he said, voice dripping with amusement and contempt. “You’ve walked right into my hands. Perfect. I can settle all my grudges at once.”His laughter boomed like a drum of malice, drawing every eye. Even seasoned elders instinctively flinched. Yet Adrian’s expression remained unreadable. He merely tilted his head slightly, assessing, calculating.Before Dr. Arvan could finish speaking, Adrian’s hand twitched imperceptibly. Just a single ripple of mental force—subtle, almost casual. But in that moment, the invisible storm stirred.BOOM

CHAPTER 53The hall was still buzzing with the aftershocks of Dr. Aldric Arvan’s death. The oppressive pressure he had once commanded had vanished completely, swallowed by the overwhelming force Adrian had unleashed. It was as though the very air had been freed from chains. People inhaled deeply, their breaths shaking, minds struggling to comprehend what they had just witnessed.President Alistair Renford was still kneeling on the ground. His limbs trembled uncontrollably. Every breath he took quivered with disbelief, with awe, with a fear he could not hide no matter how hard he tried. The man who had been the pillar of Medical City, the iron-blooded President known for his pride, raised his head slowly… and stared at Adrian with eyes filled with a complicated mixture of humiliation and reverence.His lips trembled.“Y-Your mental force…” he whispered, voice unsteady as though his throat itself was shaking. “Is it… Level-4?”He swallowed hard. His next words barely made it out.“Or… i

CHAPTER 55The moment Adrian’s words settled into the hall—I accept the challenge—the silence that followed was not awe, but disbelief.Varric Ventress stared at him as if he had just heard a joke too absurd to process.Then he laughed.Not loudly. Not mockingly.But slowly—deep and dangerous.“You?” Varric said, shaking his head. “Face all seven?”He took a step forward, his presence immediately suffocating the nearby elders. “Boy, do you even understand what you just agreed to?”Adrian didn’t respond immediately. His calmness only deepened the irritation burning in Varric’s chest.Varric lifted a hand, silencing the murmurs that were beginning to swell.“The people I’m talking about,” he said coldly, “are not doctors who hide behind city walls. They are not bureaucrats. They are not politicians dressed as healers.”His eyes sharpened.“They are explorers. Pioneers. Monsters.”The hall stirred uneasily.“They crossed borders long before most of you were born,” Varric continued. “They

CHAPTER 57Adrian moved without haste.In the midst of the shattered authority, the kneeling guards, the trembling elders, and the suffocating silence that clung to the hall like smoke, he walked to the nearest high-backed chair and sat down.Not stiffly.Not cautiously.He sat as a king would—relaxed, one arm resting against the side, posture casual yet unmistakably commanding.His coat settled around him as if the chair itself had been waiting.A faint smile touched his lips.“I have to admit,” Adrian said calmly, his voice echoing through the vast hall, “I enjoy scenes like this.”Several elders stiffened.“I enjoy watching people who trample others,” he continued, eyes drifting lazily toward Varric Ventress, “finally taste their own medicine.”The words landed like a verdict.Varric Ventress was already shaking violently. Sweat soaked through his robes, dripping from his chin to the marble floor. His breath came in short, panicked gasps. The man who had arrived moments ago like a

CHAPTER 59Night had already settled when Adrian returned to his residence.The city lights below glittered like a distant sea, unaware of the storm gathering above it. Inside the house, everything was silent—too silent. The kind of silence that followed decisive moments, when the world paused before something irreversible.Adrian loosened his coat and placed it over the back of a chair. His movements were unhurried, precise. Anyone watching would think nothing weighed on his mind.But beneath that calm exterior, his thoughts moved steadily.Seven days.Twenty-one immortals.The Ventress family.Before he could sit, the door opened softly.Isabella Reyes stepped inside.She was dressed simply, but her presence filled the room immediately. Her expression was sharp, eyes carrying restrained anger beneath her usual composure.“Young Master,” she said, bowing her head slightly. “I heard what happened at the Medical Center banquet.”Adrian turned to face her. “That was fast.”“The Ventress