Jaana’s mind went blank. She barely registered Ryker’s arm wrapping around her waist.

She had felt Ryker’s lips before, but this could be said to be the first true kiss they had experienced. Ryker had always put up somewhat of a barrier between them. Although she had tried to do many things that couples did in the past, other than openly holding her hand, Ryker seemed to refuse to blaspheme her in any other way.

This left her feeling both aggrieved and warm. She could understand his thoughts, but she was also a strong-willed woman. She didn’t like the fact that Ryker seemed to be trying to make her decisions for her.

If Ryker just didn’t like her, although she wouldn’t like it, she could still accept it. But it was precisely because she knew that he liked her, yet was keeping her at bay as though she was a child who didn’t understand the consequences of her own actions, that made her so angry.

But this kiss seemed to erase all of that.

This was a shocking matter to witness for them all, because no matter what the situation or the taunting he had faced, Ryker had never so openly marked his territory before.

But this time, he had done it so freely, so without care and confidently that his aura seemed to spread into the surroundings, forcefully occupying space and controlling the region.

Daisy blinked in surprise and seemed to forget her own unhappiness. She couldn’t help but smile, though there was also a complicated light in her eye. She still didn’t feel like Ryker was the partner Jaana deserved, but that had little to do with his bearing or his talent. If one ignored his womanizing, he was truly the perfect man.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but send a glare over to her own husband, who felt his heart shudder. Even so, Manowin was a married man who was experienced in such things by now, so he immediately took the opportunity to rush forward and grab Daisy’s hands, whispering sweet nothings and an endless torrent of apologies.

Jaana’s closed eyes snapped open as she seemed to recall that she was in public. Her face flushed and she hurriedly pulled back.

Unfortunately, Ryker’s arm was like a steel bar. She ended up coming back and being forced to hide in his chest.

“What are you glaring at me for, pipsqueak?” Ryker sneered, looking at the Blue Cloud Seaking. It had been floating there this entire time, looking one part jealous and another part stunned as though it couldn’t believe that Ryker had finally grown a set of balls.

Provoked, its cloud body sparkled and bubbles of water appeared in the surroundings.

Jaana was in too much of a daze to realize what was going on, but Ryker didn’t mind it, continuing the staring match.

He and this creature had quite a rivalry and they had known each other for almost as long as Ryker had known Jaana.

‘Keep talking and I’ll riddle you with holes!’ A high-pitched male voice echoed in Ryker’s ears.

“Look at that. You still sound like a squeaky toy. As a man, aren’t you embarrassed?”

‘You!’

The water bubbles rushed forward, but Ryker only grinned.

He pointed out a finger and they all deflated like balloons. Then, before the Seaking could react, they inflated once more and charged back.

PA! PA! PA!

“You arrogant little shit, I’ve got at least 10 years of pent-up frustration to get out and you actually came to provoke your daddy Ryker.”

PA! PA! PA!

Every attack landed perfectly on the forehead of the Blue Cloud Seaking and sent its head bobbing backward.

‘You!’

“Are you a woman or a man? Make up your mind.”

The Seaking’s voice really did sound far too much like a woman. Even a prepubescent boy would probably sound more masculine.

Considering the Blue Cloud Seaking men also carried their young, it could be said that Ryker had gotten a lot of play out of this joke over the years. But now that he could actually fight back, the words hit harder.

Jaana finally snapped out of it and realized what was happening.

“Enough, you two!”

Jaana waved a hand and put her beast away. When she realized that she was still in Ryker’s arms, her blush returned.

“How long are you going to keep holding on like this?”

“For as long as your waist stays so slim,” Ryker said with a grin.

“Are you saying you’ll leave me if I get fat?!” Her temper flared.

“Leave? No. I plan on making you nice and big-bellied very soon. By then, I won’t be holding onto your waist, I’ll be wading on you in bed.”

Jaana took a while to understand what he was saying, and when she did, she felt like finding a place to hide again.

Ryker smiled, looking into her eyes and holding her chin up. Staring into those deep blues, he felt at peace. He had truly forgotten that while there were some friends around, not all of them were.

“Let’s go. I brought a gift for you,” Ryker suddenly said.

“Wait, what are you even doing here?” Jaana realized something, her normal bearing returning. “You think you can trick me? Did you really come here to go to a brothel again?”

“Me? A brothel? How could I do that when I have a wife waiting for me at home?”

“Don’t mess around! Don’t think you can distract me either!” Jaana humphed.

Ryker chuckled. He understood her thoughts. She probably believed that he had been on his way here regardless, but had ended up running into her instead.

He didn’t blame her. The only other explanation was that he had scanned the entire city to find her, and that was something that only Gods should be able to do. But that was truly what he had done.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Rather than explaining this, though, his eyes twinkled.

“It is a coincidence, I really was on my way here and happened to run into my wife. Isn’t that fate?”

Jaana glared at him, but Ryker continued speaking.

“I didn’t come for the women, though. I actually came to see these handsome gentlemen.”

Ryker looked up and met Cyrus’ gaze for the first time. He held his wife’s waist in one hand and flipped over his palm with the other.

“Oh?” Cyrus smiled, curious about Ryker’s intentions.

It was impossible to read this man’s expressions. Even if he had a furious rage inside of him, there were simply no faults to read on the surface. It made him feel unfathomable and as deep as a well.

Even though Ryker was holding the woman he wanted in his arms, one would have thought that he had no relationship with Jaana at all. It was truly something that was worth admiration.

And yet, Ryker didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Even when he was only in the 1st Enlightenment Realm, he had never taken Cyrus seriously.

“Indeed. I was walking around the city and I heard that a certain genius of the Primgold family had managed to become a Mythic. Truly impressive. It has been many years since my own Valorian Clan has had a Glory Mythic, so this is certainly a matter worth celebrating.”

Cyrus’ gaze flashed. No one knew this information but the people here because he had just said it aloud. Beforehand, the only people who knew were the five young men he had invited because they were also his closest confidants.

He had planned on announcing this matter in grand fashion tonight when the atmosphere was at its peak; this would be the best way to ingrain it into the minds of people and make them truly feel the weight of his accomplishment.

When he announced it before, Ryker shouldn’t have been close enough to hear. With Cyrus’ senses, he had been the first to notice Ryker’s approach. It was just that he hadn’t said anything and let things happen.

But it was also because of that that he knew that Ryker had no way of hearing him.

That meant only one thing…

Ryker had managed to sense it on his own without even the slightest effort. Cyrus hadn’t even sensed Ryker scanning him at all. It might as well have been as inconspicuous as a subtle breeze. But even then, at least a breeze could be sensed with focus. In this case, he hadn’t sensed anything at all.

However, Cyrus didn’t let these deductions slow his response in the slightest.

“So does that mean you came bearing gifts? To have a former 9th Circle Talent grace me like this, I can only say that it is my greatest honor.”

Ryker chuckled. “Of course.”

He waved a hand and three badges appeared.

The moment they did, the atmosphere became frighteningly cold.

“I’m not sure what happened, but when I was coming out of the ocean, three dogs blocked my path. I decided to teach them a bit of a lesson, but they ended up being far more fragile than I expected. Two of them died, and one managed to scurry away.

“Still, I wanted to at least bring back their badges so that the Alliance could properly deal with them. I’ve heard of the concept of looking at the master before beating the dog, but I hope you’ll understand that my circumstances this time didn’t permit this.”

DING! DING! DING!

With a light toss, the golden badges fell at Cyrus’ feet, their resounding glint echoing through the quiet atmosphere. At that moment, even the golden-dressed women felt that there was something wrong with what was going on, and they withdrew, silently vanishing. From their motions alone, it

was clear that their cultivations were still quite profound.

“Happy birthday,” Ryker continued with a smile. “Helping a leader clean up the snakes and rats in their organization should certainly be a cause for celebration. I won’t hold you up any further.

“There’s no need to apologize. I know that the esteemed Mystery Master Alliance would never do something like targeting a little guy like me. That would be too ridiculous.”

Ryker smiled, and with Jaana’s waist in his hand, he strolled out.

Cyrus looked down at the badges before him, not caring very much about the deaths of these people, but far more about Ryker’s intentions in doing this.

Ryker didn’t seem to take him seriously at all, but worse than that, he was ruining the festivities that he had planned.

Luckily, this was just the pre-party, or else if Ryker showed up tonight and did this, it would be impossible to remove the stain.

However, in some ways, it was precisely because Ryker didn’t care enough to hold this as a trump card for later that Cyrus couldn’t help but frown inwardly.

It seemed that Ryker hadn’t even had the intention of targeting him. If not for Jaana’s words and him coming up with a casual excuse to obfuscate, then he might not have even cared to reveal this to Cyrus.

There was something between Ryker’s brows that couldn’t be faked…

Confidence.

He didn’t take even another 8th Circle Talent, even one that had become a Mythic, seriously. And even when Cyrus said “former” 9th Circle Talent, Ryker didn’t react at all when in the past he would have at least shown some flash of rage.

He was truly indifferent to it all.

Manowin looked toward the direction where Ryker had gone and shook his head.

‘Daisy,’ he sent by voice transmission, ‘you should really be wary of Ryker if you can help it. I won’t say anything about your relationship with Jaana because I know that you have been friends for too long. But if things continue like this, you might be pulled down with the sinking ship.

‘Everyone knows that the Valorian Clan is no longer a single monolith. They raised too many Tigers in the last generation, creating three Glory Mythics all at once, but this has also caused too many factions to appear in their ranks. And ultimately, they still have just one God.

‘The moment one of their Glory Mythics becomes another God, it won’t fix things, but will likely make things worse, and there are even more invested in making sure that they never get such a chance to rise at all.

‘The Rivarius Clan is being stubborn about this matter, and so is Jaana. And now, Ryker is arrogant enough to think that now that he’s become an Ascended, he doesn’t need to care about anything else. But his appearance might be the catalyst that takes the already precarious situation of the Valorians and lights it on fire.

‘I…’

Daisy glared at Manowin. “That’s enough.”

With a huff, she turned and left.

Manowin sent an apologetic gaze toward Cyrus and the others before rushing after his wife. Compared to forming connections, he had to make his wife happy first and foremost.

Cyrus waved him away with a smile, not minding it.

“Be sure to come back with Lady Daisy tonight. I will reserve two spots for the both of you.”

Cyrus walked back to his seat, not glancing at the badges again.

“Haha, the doll-faced bastard has guts, but that’s all he has.”

The man who spoke was Nariel.

There were two supreme Alliances in the galaxy. One of them was the Mystery Master Alliance, and the second was the Spiritual Mark Alliance. Both were headed by three Clans, and both controlled two extremely important aspects of cultivation.

The Mystery Master Alliance had treasure makers, forgers, and the likes.

The Spiritual Mark Alliance had formation masters, were masters of battle tactics and beast formations, and had the best alchemists of the galaxy.

Nariel wasn’t an 8th Circle Talent, but in terms of Spiritual Patterns, it was said that he was second to none in his age group. This sort of influence came with much more heft than pure combat power alone unless one became a God…

“He certainly doesn’t have brains. Admitting to killing members of the Mystery Master Alliance in broad daylight is a… choice.”

The one who spoke this time was known as Eldrin.

Of those here, he was the only one who seemed to be of completely unknown origins. However, to the ancients of this galaxy, there was a very well-known saying…

The oldest were the Adonis…

The most mysterious were the Evander…

The last you should provoke were the Lucian…

These three ancient and secluded families had long faded from public record, and one of them happened to be Ryker’s own mother’s family.

As for Eldrin’s, it was none other than the Evander Clan.

No one knew where these Clans were located or why such legends about them were passed down about them.

But here one of them was, casually helping Cyrus out with a few words of disdain for Ryker.

Cyrus eventually shook his head and chuckled.

“No need to talk about this anymore, everyone. Things will bear out as expected eventually. Let’s not waste time on insignificant things.”

With a laugh, they called the ladies back in with more tea.

**

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ryker protested. “Less pinching, my body is fragile.”

Every time Jaana felt her embarrassment overflow, she would stealthily pinch Ryker, but every time he mentioned it, it only made her more embarrassed so she pinched again.

She wasn’t used to walking down the street being held by a man like this, and she felt like everyone was looking at them.

Soon, though, they had made it to her Rivarius Clan compound and Ryker suddenly picked her up and accelerated. Before anyone knew what was happening, he was already taking a step onto Jaana’s balcony and strolling into her room.

“Ryker—.”

“Look what your husband brought you.”

Jaana’s eyes opened wide when she noticed the egg in Ryker’s hand.