Starting the Mining

Yang Yu did not respond, merely waiting for what came next.

A being like this would not come all this way just to praise someone.

Sure enough, the shadow continued.

"Jin, that name."

It paused.

The Core Layer was pressed down an inch by an invisible force.

"It can only be mine."

"Anyone who wants to fight me for that name."

Its voice remained calm.

Yet every word made the scalps of everyone present tingle.

"Is my enemy."

Yang Yu's heart sank.

It sounded like gratitude, but it was really a warning.

He had called in the right person today.

The shadow had casually eliminated a Polyhedron that had tried to seize the name.

But from this moment onward, Yang Yu had also entered its sight.

If he ever dared touch the name "Jin," reach for the Authority of Name Holding, or display greed he should not have—

His end would not be much better than the Triacontakaihexagon's.

It might even be cleaner.

That included himself.

The Abyss.

And all Players.

Yang Yu nodded, steadying his voice.

"I have no such intentions."

"I can't bear that name, and I don't want to bear it either."

He said it frankly.

At least for now, that was indeed the truth.

The Sixth Step was too far away.

So far that, with his current foundation, even looking up at it was blinding.

Betting the entire Abyss on a name already watched by a terrifying existence was not ambition.

It was suicide.

The shadow paused for a breath.

That brief moment felt incomparably oppressive.

Then, just as it had appeared, the shadow vanished outright.

Space did not split open.

Time did not ripple.

Causality left no trace.

Even the system logs recorded no process of its departure.

It was gone.

No evidence remained that