Riven glowed with a green hum as a mysterious energy flowed from her hand, the ground, and even the trees around her directly into his body.
His eyes went still as he mumbled.
"Is it poison?"
But then his wounds began to close rapidly, his broken bones slowly joined together and even his mana replenishment rate increased slightly.
His body stopped glowing a moment later, the pain disappeared, replaced by a sense of refreshment. The woman removed her hand from his shoulder and stepped back.
Riven stood up — there was no struggle, no pain. He flexed his hand, opening and closing it, and moved it freely. There was nothing — no pain. His wounds were really gone.
He stared directly at the woman and asked.
"Why did you heal me?"
The woman turned to the wolf and petted it. The wolf watched her with murderous intent — but held still, Riven's command the only thing keeping it in place.
A heartbeat later, the woman retreated and remarked, her voice echoing throughout the forest.
"Your wolf is very cute and calm. Are you a beast tamer?"
Riven didn't say a word. He returned her question with another question.
"You haven't answered my question."
The woman smiled, stared back at Riven, and said, her voice plateful and echoing throughout the forest.
"Why should I?"
Riven thought for a moment, stared at them with a glint of killing intent, and added.
"Well, if you don't — my wolf might get upset and eat your hand. He's a hungry one."
A heartbeat after he said this, a terrifying pressure spread across the entire area. Small rocks, leaves, and broken branches began to float high in the air.
Then a familiar voice resounded through his ears.
"Did you just threaten Forest Princess Kid…"
The man in the middle stood engulfed in a blue aura, stones, branches, and leaves orbiting him in slow circles.
Riven's expression didn't change. But he knew what was coming. He channeled what mana he had left, body beginning to glow — ready to cast The Cage, order the wolf forward, and pull the Archer back if it came to that.
But before he could do anything, an aura much more powerful than the middleman's own exploded from the tall man who was leaning against a tree.
He thought the tall man was also going to join the fight.
But he was wrong this time…
Instead, the tall man glared at him — and the aura died. Everything floating dropped to the ground, not by force, but by authority.
Then his voice resounded.
"Silence Gravitor…"
Gravitor's face went pale. He quickly stopped lowering his head and apologized.
"Sorry…"
The tall man did not pay him any attention anymore instead he glared at Forest Princess and said.
"Stop provoking him. Have you forgotten our goals?"
The woman's smile dropped, and she sighed and said.
"Relax, Relax Null, I was just messing with him."
As Riven listened, he picked up their names — though they sounded more like titles than actual names.
"Maybe it's their code names?"
He wasn't sure whether he was interested in knowing. Just then, Null glared at Riven from behind his mask and said.
"I apologize for their rudeness."
Riven stopped channeling his mana, and his body stopped glowing. He dropped any idea about commanding the Wolf to attack since it looked like they weren't really hostile.
And besides, he knew that he couldn't defeat all of them alone.
"Don't do that again. Otherwise, the outcome won't be good."
Null nodded, glared at him from behind the mask, and said quietly but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"You want to know why she healed you right? It's because I commanded her and the healing that you received wasn't free."
Riven's eyes narrowed and he asked.
"What do you want?"
Null replied.
"You are an Awakened Human like us so we want you to help us in our mission."
Riven studied them. Seasoned Awakened warriors — and from the look of it, powerful ones so why did they need him?
Were they planning to use him as bait or what? If that was what they were planning he wasn't going to let them.
So he thought for a moment and asked.
"Why do you need me?"
Null ignored his questions and repeated his offer.
"So are you joining us or NOT?"
He stared at Null with ice-cold eyes and said.
"What if I refuse?"
This time Forest Princess replied in Null's stead with a sinister smile.
"Nothing much if you refuse I will break your bones, rip open your closed wounds that I healed. Now we can't give you something that you are refusing to pay for can we?"
Riven's eyes darkened, he stared at Null and he didn't even say a word to the Forest Princess. That meant, the forest princess had the permission to do what she said if he refused to help them.
And running away from them was impossible not because his mana reserves were low but because these three were very strong.
The only thing he could do was to gain more benefits from them. To that he needed more leverage and to gain leverage he needed to project that he still had cards up his sleeve.
Riven thought for a moment and said.
"I am assuming that I am needed for the mission to succeed for reasons that I am not sure of. Is that right?"
No one spoke a single word so Riven continued.
"So it's only fair if you give me more rewards."
Gravitor glared at him with a malicious look.
"You are very cocky, you know that kid."
Riven didn't pay him any attention, stared directly at Null, and asked once again.
"I repeat, what else will I get?"
Null didn't answer. Instead, he pointed at Riven's torn clothes and said
"You don't seem to have proper fighting equipment."
Null lowered his finger, pausing for a very brief moment, and said.
"If we complete the mission and make it alive, I promise you will receive armour, weapons, a place to reside permanently, and something far greater if your performance is splendid… "
Null paused and added.
"However, if you betray us you will meet a fate worse than death."
Riven remained unfazed and said.
"You can rest assured that I won't betray you but how can I be sure that you will fulfil your promise?"
Null fell silent for a long time until he finally broke the silence by replying.
"We are members of the Special Forces of the army of the Supreme Empire. I swear in the name of our king that I will fulfil my promise."
Riven's eyes narrowed. Everyone had heard of the Supreme Empire — and feared it. It worked from the shadows, and always got what it wanted.