The Vrekhar who stood before the two kneeling Vrekhars asked.
"Voric and Dreykal, tell me how a human slave could escape in your presence?"
Voric lowered his head in shame and said.
"Lord Kulvrek, a human, consumed the Heritage Seed hidden in that tower — the power it granted made killing him difficult. I was close to finishing it, but three Awakened Human warriors arrived. I barely escaped with my life."
Then Dreykal tilted his head, stared at Kulvrek in submission, and added.
"Lord Kulvrek, at the time I was in the north fighting the human warriors defending their northern territory. At the time, Voric was responsible for guarding the base."
Kulvrek said nothing. His eyes locked on Voric — then he kicked him, snapping his head upright, body still anchored to the ground. When he spoke, his voice boiled with rage.
His gaze swept across both Voric and Dreykal, kneeling before him, and he said.
"You all deserve to be killed by those insects. Letting Humans consume heritage seeds is a sin punishable by death in our domain."
Voric rubbed his nose against Kulvrek's feet as he said.
"I am sorry for my failure… Please forgive me Lord Kulvrek."
Kulvrek turned his back on them and said.
"I will report this to King Thorrund… He will decide our fate."
As Riven listened to their conversation. His face turned ugly. They were talking about him and especially about the fact that he had consumed the Heritage Seed.
They seemed to know more about the heritage seed than him. He thought to himself.
"When I capture the Vrekhar in the middle, I will also torture him until he spills out everything he knows about the heritage seed."
But there was a problem — everyone here knew he had consumed the Heritage Seed. If it turned out to be more valuable than he thought, what would they do with him once he was no longer useful?
As he lost deep in thought, Null whispered — not to question him but to warn them.
"We need to get the hell out of here."
Riven didn't want to go… he wanted to capture Dreykal and torture that creature until it spilled out the whereabouts of his sister. He looked at Null and asked.
"Why?"
Null pointed towards them and replied, his voice grim and serious.
"Those three kneeling before him are all Awakened. The one in the middle is on the verge of ascending. As for the one standing he is already a full-fledged Ascended, with years of combat experience. If they spot us, we're dead."
Immediately, everyone's posture lowered slightly and their muscles tightened even before they realized it. Everyone stared at Null like he was joking.
Riven frowned. He had no idea what even being an Ascended meant. Was it a slightly stronger version of an Awakened or what? So he asked.
"What's the difference between Awakened and Ascended beings?"
Gravitor looked at him in disbelief and said.
"Brat, do you really not know or are you messing with us?"
Riven just shook his head in response, he really didn't know that's when Null looked at Riven for a heartbeat and whispered into his ear.
"Becoming an Awakened is just the first step of becoming an Absolute. According to the legends, an absolute is a being who is not bound by any laws of nature. The ladder of becoming an Absolute is divided into tiers known as ranks. The ranks are as follows…
Awakened
Ascended
King
Emperor
Sovereign
Monarch
Although, the difference between the lower rank is not as vast as the higher, an Ascended being can easily kill dozens of Awakened with ease."
Riven's eyes widened — if what he said was true then it was nothing but a death sentence if he faced them. But he didn't want to leave without knowing the whereabouts of his sister.
But if he did that then he will have to fight the Ascended Vrekhar and from Null's words fighting meant death. A few minutes later, he thought to himself.
"I will think of a way to interrogate him when he is alone."
Then he heard Gravitor's voice, his voice low just loud enough for them to hear.
"I think I found a way out of here."
Riven turned towards him and Gravitor pointed towards a certain direction then he whispered.
"There is a staircase that we can use to go to another section of Vrekhar base."
Null said nothing and started to slowly make his way towards the staircase while he signaled the others to follow him. Everyone followed him.
When they reached the staircase, they began to climb it but a few minutes later Riven halted his steps just a moment later. Null turned to him without stopping and asked.
"What's wrong?"
Riven pointed his finger in a certain direction and said.
"Look in front of you…"
Ahead of them were two Vrekhar soldiers guarding the exit. Their backs were facing them so they didn't know about them just yet.
Riven said calmly.
"We need to hide…"
They were not Awakened so they could easily kill them but the noise of fighting would certainly draw the attention of the powerful Vrekhar below which wouldn't be good for them.
Then Null just shook his head and said.
"There is no need… they will collapse to the ground very soon."
A moment later they collapsed on their back with a loud thud just like Null said. Null looked at their bodies briefly. He turned towards Gravitor and Forest Princess then he said.
"Get rid of their bodies."
They nodded then the Forest Princess walked towards their bodies. She put her palm on the surface of their bodies. Then an aura engulfed their body which flowed into the Forest Princess's body.
Their skin, flesh, and organs turned into the green aura by the time the aura disappeared only their armor and bones remained.
He looked at Forest Princess in disbelief and remarked.
"What the hell did you do?"
The Forest Princess replied in a playful tone and said.
"What else? I just broke down their skin, flesh, and organs into nutrients. Then I absorbed those nutrients to replenish my low mana reserve."
As he talked with her, Gravitor walked towards the remains of Vrekhar. He took out a transparent bottle that was full of a red liquid. He opened the lid and dropped a drop of the liquid onto their bodies.
Their armor, weapons, and bones started to turn into a white gas. A heartbeat later nothing remained — not even the ashes of their bodies.
And if she was on the verge of death — her only way of surviving being to absorb him — would she? He didn't trust her. But if she tried, he had a surprise waiting for her.