Chapter 26: The River's Embrace

The qualifiers continued, and Ryu Jin felt the river's gift settle deeper into his bones with each passing day. He won, but he did not chase victory. He flowed, and victory followed him like a current follows the moon. His name climbed the ranked list—twenty-ninth, then twenty-fifth, then twenty-first—and the whispers grew into a low, constant hum that accompanied him through the corridors like a...