Darius’ eyes widened. Even his bones trembled deep beneath his skin due to the rage brewing in his chest. Despite that, he did not do anything and merely smiled at Shelvin.

Even so, Shelvin could tell the former was pretending. He curled one side of his lips upward, sneering, “You keep pretending like you’re keen on working with me, but deep down, all you want is to hit the pause button on our battle today—”

His voice remained monotonous the entire time.

“From what I recall, I’ve always viewed you as somewhat of a decent human. Granted, you can be arrogant and lack the potential for much character development, but I can understand why.

Shelvin nodded understandingly, but it only left a bitter taste in Darius’ mouth. Although Darius frowned, Shelvin ignored the former and resumed his speech.

“That’s normal. You used to be very poor, after all.” He shot a sympathetic look at Darius but then smirked while shrugging. “So, even after you inherited your newfound wealth and martial arts skil