Unholy Player

Chapter 538 Henry’s Marketing Strategy

I can’t believe I’m really trying to make Adyr a real God, Henry thought bitterly, the words tasting wrong even inside his own head, only now fully grasping how absurd the idea was.

Nevertheless, he was trying to make it real here and now, with four Rank 4 Practitioners watching and Rhys standing there like a living contradiction. He could not afford to hesitate.

A couple of months ago, they were trying to make Adyr a hero. A symbol of hope and strength for Humanity.

Now things had changed so drastically that the plan had twisted into something absurd. They had jumped from the idea of a hero to the idea of a God, as if the world had skipped several steps and dared them to keep up.

Their era was changing too fast.

First came the world war that reset all of Earth. Then came the time of ascension, with Humanity developing mutation serums. After that came rapid construction and technological development. Then the discovery of a new world. Now they were adjusting to a new concept built around Gods, a word that would have sounded like superstition not long ago but now sat in their minds like a hard fact.

All of it felt surreal to anyone. At the same time, it was unfolding so naturally. Each development and event fell into place after the next, leaving no room to breathe. It felt like everything was moving toward a natural and inevitable end. Some invisible hand was pushing and shaping everything toward an unavoidable destiny, tightening the pace every time they tried to slow it down. “I think I’m misunderstanding something here.” Arvyn’s healthy, dark face was filled with questions. Her crimson eyes were bright with focus as she stared at Rhys rather than Henry. “Why am I getting a Blood Path feeling from this man? Can you explain it to me?”

It wasn’t only her eagerness to learn. Liora and Zephan were also desperate to understand what was really happening here, their attention fixed on Rhys’s body with the same intensity they would give a battlefield threat.

So far, they had thought Adyr was someone following at least 3 Paths, but now they were starting to wonder if they had been wrong the whole time, and the thought sat uneasily in their chests.

“Well, that’s normal.” Henry answered with a laugh, but his tone stayed

matter-of-fact, like he was commenting on something obvious. “It shouldn’t be only a Blood Path feeling you’re getting from him, though.”

His words carried a quiet mystery, but the four Rank 4 Practitioners caught the implication quickly. Their expressions shifted in small, controlled ways as they recalculated what they were looking at.

Zephan’s eyes narrowed slightly as he studied Rhys’s body more closely. He tracked his stance and every muscle under his white uniform. He read the tension in his posture and the subtle density in his frame, trying to measure what he was seeing. Then he murmured, “He has the [Will] stat as well?”

He looked at Henry’s hologram to see if he was right, and when he saw the confirming nod, shock hit him, sharp and immediate, because it meant his instincts had not been lying.

But that wasn’t all.

“He also has [Physique], I assume?” This time Liora asked, noticing the signs written into his build, the way his body carried weight and strength that did not come from mere training.

She wasn’t sure. She was only asking to confirm. But when she saw Henry nod to her as well, another wave of shock ran through the group. It was stronger than the first because it started forming a pattern.

[Vigor], [Will], and [Physique] were three stats, each one representing the power of three different gods individually, and they were not meant to coexist like that in one person.

So learning that the same body carried all 3 different kinds of power was enough to rattle their minds and force the same question.

How?

Blood Path followers also had 2 stats, but theirs were easy to explain, an ugly logic they had already accepted.

Before turning to the Blood Path, all of them had been followers of another Path, so after they were corrupted, they gained the second stat, [Vigor], naturally on top of the stat they had gained from their previous Path, like a stain that never washed out.

But in Rhys’s case, it was different. From what they understood, he had awakened with 3 stats from the start, naturally, without corruption, without a previous path to justify the extra power.

But their perspectives were still too narrow to see that Rhys had more in him than they could guess, because even this much already pushed against everything they believed about Paths.

Henry decided to reveal more after seeing the atmosphere shift in his favor. “On top of that, he has [Resilience] and [Sense], if that’s what you’re about to ask. And he can use Sparks from the other Paths too.”

He was now in the mode of a seasoned salesman. He was marketing the AXION Path. He laid out everything it could offer and what one would gain if they decided to change their Paths. He chose each line carefully, watching their faces for cracks.

And seeing the faces full of shock, he could tell it was working, because even these veterans could not hide what this implied.

Having all five stats was already a shock in itself, as it indicated that Rhys alone carried the combined power of five different Gods- a single body holding what should have been divided across entire races.

But the fact that he was also able to use Sparks of all other Paths made it feel like cheating, like a rule had been broken and nobody knew where the loophole

was.

This was especially significant for Blood Path Practitioners, as they could only utilize Blood Path Sparks that their superiors created for them using their

bloodline talents.

They were not even able to use the Sparks belonging to their previous Paths.

Arvyn suddenly became deeply interested after learning all these advantages, her earlier confusion turning into sharp curiosity. “Can I ask what this Path is called and what it represents?”

She had no deep intentions or desire like Kaelor, who joined the Blood Sect because he wanted to save his race, which was on the verge of extinction, carrying that desperation like a permanent wound.

She joined the sect and changed her Path to Blood purely for her desire to gain power and her instinct to rebel against the current order, the kind of hunger

that did not need a noble reason.

So learning that a Path like this existed, something so cheat-like, made her feel that if the conditions allowed it, she would try her chances at following it as well, because it offered exactly what she valued.

In the end, she had changed her Path once, so changing it a second time wouldn’t hurt, right?

Henry saw their interest, and relief spread through him. His gamble was paying off without backfiring. For the first time in this exchange, he felt like he might

actually have a path forward.

Arvyn and Kaelor were especially open-minded to it, as they hadn’t cared about blasphemy or the main Paths from the start, and that made them easier to

move.

Zephan and Liora’s lack of visible displeasure on their faces led him to believe

that they could also be persuaded to follow the AXION Path, even if their

motivations differed.

Henry spoke. “Unfortunately, I can’t reveal the name to you at the moment, as

you need to earn the right to know.”

He wasn’t sure if there would be consequences to revealing the name, so he chose not to say it, keeping that final piece close.

“But for what it represents, I can give you 1 word to understand.” He waited a

few seconds to build the hype and tension, letting the silence stretch just long

enough to pull them in.

Then he spoke in a heavy voice. “Balance.”

And now, finally hearing what the Path represented, Liora and Zephan’s faces

suddenly changed. Not with shock this time, but with recognition, like a hidden connection had just been exposed.

They looked at each other, understanding settling over their expressions.

So far, what Adyr had revealed about his goal and mission in the Outer Region

was simple: whatever he did would also benefit the natives.

And now they could finally see how.

The region they lived in had long been the weakest among the others, ignored

and pushed aside.

Even the ruling races here, the Lunari, the Gorathim, and the Umbraen before their collapse, were locked in constant conflict. They never had the time or the unity to gather enough power to strengthen the region and push it to a higher

level.

But now, after learning what Path Adyr had brought here and that it represented balance, they were finally beginning to see a potential they had never been able to grasp before.