When They Beg, I Rise!

Lemira logged into the game and immediately received a friend request notification. She glanced at the name and was taken aback-it's Alaric.

Just a few days ago, she had turned down Alaric's invitation to join his team. She hadn't expected the proud and haughty Alaric to personally seek her out.

Lemira didn't accept the friend request and instead teamed up with Orion to tackle an instance dungeon.

After randomly teaming up with three other players and completing the dungeon, someone sent her a friend request. It's one of the teammates from the dungeon, and given their decent gameplay, she accepted. The next second, a message popped up: [Hey, I'm Alaric, the leader of SkyBlaze. I noticed your skills during our dungeon run. How about joining our team? We can negotiate terms.]

Lemira frowned in annoyance, "Why can't he just let it go?"

She was surprised Alaric had used an alternate account to add her as a friend.

Orion looked over, "What's up?"

"It's Alaric-he's using an alt to invite me to his team, and he has no idea who I am."

After all, she was using her alternate account too.

Orion glanced at the screen, "If they don't find a strong backup player, they're going to lose the first round of the finals."

"That's why Alaric is getting desperate. He's too proud to poach well-known players, so he has to scout talented rookies to train."

Lemira knew Alaric's personality all too well.

After all, the Reapers of the Everhart family in Nyric were formidable. If it hadn't been for the Reapers' captain, Matthew Everhart, skipping the finals last time, she wasn't sure she could have won. "The Reapers are tough. Their captain is said to be King's protegé, very strong."

"Well, he hasn't even mastered the twelve-hit combo."

Lemira swept an astonished glance at him, "The twelve-hit combo isn't something just anyone can learn."

"Aren't you a master of it?"

""That's because..."

Lemira caught herself, nearly revealing things about her past life which hadn't happened yet.

Orion narrowed his eyes slightly, "Because what?"

Lemira paused, "Because I greatly admire King. I really adore him, so I managed to pull off the twelve-hit combo by sheer luck!"

Orion cast her a glance. Clearly, Lemira wasn't telling the whole truth.

Did she teach herself? Or did someone teach her?

Lemira didn't respond to Alaric and continued instance dungeon crawling with Orion.

Meanwhile, Alaric, not having received a reply, rubbed his temples in frustration, his jaw shadowed with stubble.

The training results lately had been disappointing. He hadn't found a strong gunner.

Watching a video of Lemira competing in a revival match on his computer, her execution of the twelve-hit combo and her leaping silhouette were unforgettable. He felt a sense of pride-she was his sister.

After countless attempts at mastering the twelve-hit combo and failing every time, he had to admit Lemira had got talent.

But that slap had completely soured their relationship.

Alaric called Lucian, and after a long silence, said, "Lucian, how's Lemira been doing lately?"

"The same as always, not listening to anyone. She ranked tenth in her exams this time, a significant improvement."

"Top ten, huh? That's quite fast progress."

Alaric remembered when Lemira ranked a hundredth, and he had prejudged her, thinking she had cheated due to her sudden good performance.

Thinking back, he realized he had been too harsh. Lemira had always been smart, performing well academically since childhood.

It seemed things started to change after Evelina joined the Langston family.

Lucian, looking at the emerald necklace in a box, sighed, "Alaric, did we neglect her too much before?"

"Lucian, you feel that way too?"

The brothers fell into silence on either end of the call.

"Lucian, do you think she might forgive me if I apologize to Lemira?"

Alaric had braced himself for this moment. He genuinely wanted to reconcile with Lemira.

He regretted slapping her that day. It wasn't intentional.