Derek’s brother stood and started walking toward the door while flames still flickered around his hands.

The lackey lay on the floor breathing hard and thinking he might survive because Derek’s brother was leaving.

Then Derek’s brother stopped without turning fully around.

He fired a concentrated flame blast back into the room. The fire hit the man before he could move, and he screamed as the flames consumed him while the apartment filled with smoke.

Derek’s brother left the building while the man burned behind him without calling his father yet because he wanted to face James first and find out why Derek had been looking for him. If James was connected to Dock 7’s destruction, then Derek’s brother wanted to hear it from James’s mouth before reporting anything to their father.

James left the TRB building through the same private exit Team Zero had used when arriving. He was mentally exhausted from Floor 9, the stream numbers, the TRB business meeting, and the fact that his name was now public across every Challenger network.

His body was fine because Tower injuries cleared automatically after leaving the floor, but his mind still carried the weight of everything that had happened.

He checked his phone while heading toward the public transport station and saw his name everywhere in articles with headlines like:

THE NECROMANCER OF TEAM ZERO

JAMES GANNER: FLOOR 9 WORLD-FIRST MVP

GANNER NAME RETURNS TO CHALLENGER SPOTLIGHT

TEAM ZERO’S NECROMANCER LINKED TO GANNER CORP

James stopped walking when he saw the Ganner Corp headline.

He opened the article and read it carefully.

The piece linked him to Ganner Corp’s weapons manufacturing, armor components, and Challenger equipment supply lines. It talked about James as part of the Ganner family line and mentioned his father’s legacy in the industry before his death.

James felt cold while reading.

The company had been built from what his father lost. His uncle had used stolen property and blood money to build wealth after pushing James’s father out. Now, because James had cleared Floor 9 on a livestream watched by millions, the Ganner Corp name was rising again in public attention.

They were already benefiting from him.

Not only from his father’s legacy that they’d stolen.

Now from James’s own fame too.

He closed the article and put his phone away.

He didn’t rage or break anything. He just got quiet.

They took my father’s name first.

Now they wanted mine too.

James resumed walking toward the station while keeping the revenge arc alive in his mind without becoming reckless about it.

James arrived home an hour later. His mother was there when he walked through the door, and her face lit up with relief when she saw him.

She didn’t interrogate him or turn the moment into something heavy. She just looked happy that he’d come home safely and told him to wash up and eat.

They sat together for dinner twenty minutes later. The scene was simple and warm in a way James needed after everything.

She talked normally while asking if he was eating properly and fussing over him the way mothers do. James let her because after Floor 9, the dark statue, the stream, and the TRB meeting, the normal feeling helped ground him.

She was proud of him, but more than that, she was just happy he was alive.

James didn’t tell her about the Mythic Egg, the hidden statue, or Derek. He just ate with her and answered her questions about whether he was taking care of himself.

Before going to his room later, James pulled out his phone and sent her money for upkeep.

[TRANSFER SENT: €100,000]

[RECIPIENT: MOTHER]

His mother’s phone buzzed on the table. She picked it up and looked at the screen, then went pale when she saw the amount.

"James, what is this?"

"Money," James said. "Don’t worry about bills for a while."

She tried to argue. "This is too much. Where did you—"

"You’ve carried enough," James interrupted gently. "Let me handle this part now." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

She stared at him for a long moment before her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t cry loudly or make a scene. She just reached over and squeezed his hand tightly while saying nothing.

James squeezed back.

At night, James went to his room and closed the door behind him. He sat at his desk and opened his status window.

After the Floor 9 rewards, party EXP, personal kills, the corrupted ogre, the goblin shaman, and the MVP contribution, he had gained enough experience to level up.

He’d been Level 13 before Floor 9. Now he was Level 14.

The level-up gave him the standard rewards:

+1 TO ALL STATS

+5 FREE STAT POINTS

He distributed the five free points the same way he always did:

+2 INTELLIGENCE

+1 STRENGTH

+1 AGILITY

+1 ENDURANCE

His updated stats appeared:

[NAME: JAMES GANNER]

[CLASS: NECROMANCER (LEGENDARY)]

[LEVEL: 14]

[EXP: 1,840/9,000]

[HP: 660/660]

[MANA: 1,140/1,140]

[PRIMARY STATS]

[STRENGTH: 34]

[AGILITY: 37]

[INTELLIGENCE: 57]

[ENDURANCE: 33]

[LUCK: 24]

[CONTRACT SLOTS: 2/4]

[MAX SUMMON UNDEAD SKELETONS: 5]

[UNSPENT STAT POINTS: 0]

[TOWER CREDITS: 91,615 TC]

His Tower Credits calculation was straightforward:

61,615 TC before Floor 9, plus 10,000 TC from the party reward, plus 20,000 TC from the MVP reward equaled 91,615 TC total.

James also checked his current contracted undead to confirm they were still listed:

[CURRENT CONTRACTED UNDEAD]

[REANIMATED DIRE WOLF — LEVEL 9]

[REANIMATED OGRE — LEVEL 10]

Both were accounted for and ready to summon whenever he needed them.

James brought out the Mythic Egg from his inventory.

It was still at 99.9% incubation progress. The shell felt warmer now than before, and the purple veins glowed slowly like something inside was waiting for the final push.

James placed his hand on the egg and channeled mana into it.

There was no distinction between normal mana and necrotic mana for him. Mana was mana. The egg absorbed it without resistance.

This time, the percentage moved.

[MYSTERIOUS EGG — MYTHIC GRADE]

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 99.9%]

[MANA ABSORBED]

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 100%]

[INCUBATION COMPLETE]

[HATCHING SEQUENCE INITIATED]

[TIME REMAINING: 12 HOURS]

James froze while staring at the notification.

After all the waiting, the egg was finally ready.

It would hatch in twelve hours.

The egg didn’t crack yet. It only pulsed once with warmth, then went still as if sleeping before birth.

James stored it carefully and closed his inventory.

As James was about to sleep, his phone buzzed on the nightstand.

He picked it up and saw a notification from the TRB streaming platform. The first stream payout had arrived.

[TRB STREAM PLATFORM PAYMENT RECEIVED]

[AMOUNT: €1,321,200]

[DESCRIPTION: TEAM ZERO FLOOR 9 STREAM SHARE — FIRST AUDIT PAYOUT]

James stared at the number for several seconds while processing it.

He thought about sending his mother money earlier. He thought about the Ganner Corp article and how his uncle’s company was getting richer because of his name being public.

Then he smiled faintly.

Not because of luxury or wealth.

Because now he had money, fame, power, and a clear direction forward.

He put the phone down and went to bed.

Derek’s brother sat in his car outside Derek’s apartment building while calling his father.

"I found something," he said when his father answered.

"Report."

"Derek was involved with Roman and his men. Roman’s people also disappeared. Derek sent Roman to look into someone before Dock 7 was wiped out."

His father’s voice sharpened. "Who?"

Derek’s brother paused while looking at James’s face on his phone screen from the Floor 9 news coverage.

He recognized the name now.

James Ganner.

But he didn’t mention it yet because he wanted to face James himself first. He wanted to know why Derek had gone after him and whether James knew something about Derek’s disappearance.

"Roman’s people are missing too," he said instead. "Derek may have been involved in something more serious than wasting money."

His father asked the direct question. "Is Derek dead?"

"I don’t know yet."

The line was quiet for a moment before his father spoke again. "Keep looking. Report everything you find. Don’t make assumptions."

"Understood."

Derek’s brother hung up and looked at James’s face on the screen again while thinking about Dock 7’s destruction weeks ago.

Before he told his father, he wanted to hear James say Derek’s name himself.