"Lucifer and Hades? What do you mean? Weâre none of them," Ryder stepped forward as he answered.
"Youâre not those two? Then who are you? They said only the top ten players are allowed to take part, I think. You donât look like a staff either?" One of the guys asked Lucifer.
"Ah, I think youâre misunderstanding something. Itâs not that only the top ten players can take part. My sister isnât in the top ten, but she also got lucky and got an invitation. Iâm her guardian," Ryder replied, acting ignorantly.
"Sheâs not in the top ten? And she was invited? Why werenât we told about this before?"
"This is strange. So more than ten players will take part? Interesting."
The new news came as a surprise to most of them that hadnât known this as Necrosis hadnât explained anything either.
While most of the players were shocked about them, there was one girl in the group that was looking at Alice curiously.
" She was specially invited, so something must be special about her. Whatâs your level?" The girl asked Alice.
"Iâm level Sixty-two," Alice answered.
"Huh? Not a bad level, but still, nothing special either. So it canât be because of your level or strength. Could it be because of your class? Whatâs your class in Divinity?" the dark-haired girl asked again.
"My class is Divine Oracle," Alice answered again.
"Divine Oracle? Never heard about that. Could it be a special class thatâs received after doing some unknown set of tasks in the proper sequence?" A man muttered, curious.
"Send like that. This must be why she was invited. Because of her Unique Class," another man chimed in as he brought his hand out of his pocket.
"So thatâs how it is. I think I understand it now. Only special players are invited. The top ten players and the players with special classes. It looks like this isnât going to be as easy as I thought," A short man said.
Hearing his words, the rest of the men turned to look at the short man weirdly.
"Did you really think it was going to be easy? Hades should be taking part as well. I have no idea how strong he is not, but still, at the speed he was growing when levels were visible, he could very well be above level hundred by now and not by a little."
"Thatâs right. Thereâs Lucifer too. Heâs at Rank Two. Those two are really strong. But still, the real nightmare would be Hades. Did you see how many Unique Treasures he had? Itâs like he has a cave where he can get any treasure he wants."
"Yeah, itâs weird. Even I donât understand how he does it. I thought it was because he was related to Necrosis, but even they denied that they had any relation to Hades. That guy must have some crazy luck."
"I wonder what he looks like. He must be a tall and handsome man. He might as well be a billionaire who can buy any treasure he wants in Divinity? Whoever he is, itâll be fun to meet him."
Throughout the conversation, there seemed to be only five of the eight people that were talking. As for the other three, they remained entirely silent.
"I donât know about this Hades, but maybe heâs an ugly guy? Or a broke fellow who is just lucky?" Ryder chimed in, smiling. It was fun hearing people talk about them.
They were so wrong about many things. Level hundred player? He was way above five hundred already.
âThey are wrong about many things except one. Theyâre pretty spot on about my looks. Iâm tall and handsome as well, arenât I right, Janus?â Ryder asked Janus in his thoughts, jokingly.
"If Handsome meant looking like you, then yeah. If we go by the normal definition of this world from earthâs standard then, no comments," Janus finally responded as he heard Ryderâs words.
"You, Mr. Guardian! Stay silent! What do you know about Hades to make that comment? Iâm his fan! Stop ruining my dreams already and keep your mouth shut!"
It seemed as if Ryderâs words about Hades had triggered one the dark-haired girl that had asked Alice about her class.
"Who might you be?" Ryder asked the girl even though he already knew who he was.
"Iâm Rank Seven, Naomi!" The girl replied proudly.
"So, Rank Seven Naomi, please explain why I should stay silent?" Ryder asked, amused. "Itâs not like I said anything about you. The only one who can complain is Hades himself. When he gets here, tell him what I said."
"You! Shut up! Iâm a high-ranking player! How can you talk to me like that? Do you even know how many channels ran after me to sign me?" Naomi told Ryder, seemingly upset.
"Uh, should I care how many channels came after you? Itâs not like youâre Hades. So however many came after you, came to you because they couldnât get Hades and the others, isnât that right? Rank Seven Naomi?" Ryder asked, laughing.
He didnât know why, but today he was having fun annoying this lady.
"You! Shut up, shut up, shut up! Donât talk to me! Youâre making my blood boil!" Naomi thundered before she stormed back to the sofa. She didnât want to talk to this foul mouth guy.
The other players also walked back as the introduction was over, leaving only one guy behind.
The blonde man closed in on Ryder before he said, "I must say, youâre really good at words, bro. By the way, I also think Hades would be ugly. I guess weâll see today."
"You must be the current Rank Four Vien? Right?" Ryder asked the man, recognizing him.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Thatâs right. I thought you said you donât know much about Divinity. How did you know about me?" Vien asked Ryder.
" I just saw you on a news channel. Youâre pretty good yourself. Best of luck for the competition," Ryder answered.
In reality, he knew Vien in the original timeline. Vien had even joined up with him to finish some missions. Unfortunately, he wasnât in the top ten at that time. Surprisingly, he reached number four in this timeline. Things really were different.
"Thank you. I think Iâll really need that," Vien replied as he laughed.
He shifted his gaze to Alice as he continued, "Best of luck to you as well, Young Lady. Iâm sure youâll have fun at least."
He also walked back to his seat with Alice and Ryder, who sat near him.
Time kept passing slowly as ten minutes were over. Other than Ryder and Vien, not many people were talking.
Soon, the entrance door opened as a few people stepped inside.
The man in the lead was dressed in a black coat and black pants, looking entirely professional. He was accompanied by a few guards and a lady that seemed like an assistant.
"It looks like all the players are here. We shall start the briefing without wasting your time. My name is Ion. Iâm the Director of Necrosis Corporation and also the big boss as a few people jokingly call me," the man introduced himself.
"And she is my personal assistant. So are you all ready for the briefing about this contest?" Ion asked the ten people who were inside the room.
"Wait a minute. We are only nine, and that lady isnât even from the top ten. As for that man, he is her guardian. So that means at least two people are still missing, Lucifer and Hades," Naomi chimed in as she reminded the man that Hades wasnât here.
She was his fan and didnât want him to miss it. In any case, she didnât think she could even win against everyone else. All she came here for was to meet Hades and maybe help him.
"Not at all. I already know those two arenât here, and I donât think theyâll be coming either. They refused the offer and didnât reach out to us. I believe they donât want to take part," Ion explained with a calm smile on his face as he looked at Naomi.
"Wait a minute, did you really say that Hades doesnât want to take part? Seriously? Does he hate money or something? I mean, he really has the best chance to win, and still, he isnât taking part?" Rank Five Player Beming asked, surprised.
"It could also be that he really doesnât want to show his face? Maybe he actually us ugly as my friend here said?" Vien chimed in as he gestured towards Ryder. "He doesnât want to show his face even if it means losing a billion dollars?"
"Shut up! Youâre ugly! Stop talking!" Naomi snapped at Vien as she heard him talk bad about Hades.
"I donât think itâs about his looks," Beming again said. "I mean, he also said no to all deals that the channels offered him. I heard he even refused the contract worth fifty million dollars. They didnât even want him to show face. He still refused. I think he really doesnât want money. Naomi could be right. Maybe heâs a billionaire."