Gaia Building, Grand Auditorium.
From the moment Bai Pu stepped through the auditorium doors until he walked into the crowd, he could feel gazes coming at him from every direction.
Shock, scrutiny, disbelief...
Those undisguised, intense emotions were so strong that even Bai Pu sensed them.
Just like the words hanging at the top of the ranking list in the hall—"Steel Heart, solo record 6-2"—he stood in the spotlight, far ahead of everyone else.
"Congratulations."
Airalos, the boy who loved to smile, no longer wore such a sunny smile now. There was something a little forced about it.
He felt a little melancholy.
He had always been pleasant and polite to everyone, but in truth, deep down, he had carried a sense of superiority, as if looking down from above.
Even when Steel Heart had risen suddenly to prominence, Airalos had not been worried.
What he had planned was to take the attitude of an elder brother and guide Steel Heart into the circle of prodigies of the Silver Heart Great World. Later, depending on how both sides developed, he would decide whether to make Steel Heart an ally or take him in as a little brother.
But now, that elder-brother plan had gone bankrupt. Airalos needed some time to recover and reassess the relationship between himself and Bai Pu.
6-1 was something Airalos had only barely cleared after many repeated attempts in team mode.
If Airalos had challenged it in solo mode, there was no way he could have gotten past 6-1.
If Bai Pu had only cleared 6-1, Airalos would still have had hope of catching up.
But Bai Pu had cleared 6-2.
As an experienced Babel Tower challenger, Airalos understood all too well just how difficult that was.
He could sense the enormous gap in strength between