God-Level Dominance

"Drop that core right now, you filthy scavenger!"

Riley's jolted as the words cut right through him from behind. 

The blonde lady in the abandoned beast zone was finally awake, her fair skin covered in dirt as she struggled to pull herself off the muddy ground.

Her eyes locked onto the glowing essence core in his hands, then shifted to the massive corpse of the armored beast lying nearby. 

From his head to to his toe, her eyes surveyed him.

His dusty and faded clothes barely put together caused her stomach to churn with irritation. It was the topical dress of slum kids and people, trying to make ends meet and people that were way below her class.

She frowned seeing her elite squad of hunters all scattered around the place, some barely breathe while others slightly wounded.

"You're getting the wrong idea!" Riley started, almost indifferently. 

"Wrong ideas?" She hissed.

"You know damn well that I know the exact stunt you pulled here you dirty vulture!" she yelled, taking a step shaky by anger forward. 

"You followed my squad, didn't you? Waited for us to be weakened so you could steal our kill and loot my unconscious body!"

"Isn't that what slum pigs and people spat out from gutters like yourself know how to do?" Her eyes almost rolled out from their sockets as her body trembled with rage while she spoke.

Her hand went instinctively to her uniform, checking herself, then her belt where her weapons should be. Relief flickered across her face when she noticed nothing else was missing.

It only made her angrier.

"This was a restricted zone with armored beasts littered all over and a slum rat just happens to be here with the core in his hands" Her brows knitted even more. "Do you take me for a fool?"

Riley almost broke into a heavy sigh.

"I never intended to steal anything, good ma," he replied calmly with a hint of mockery in his tone.

"You were dying when I got here. Your essence veins were already going stiff. If I didn't act, you would be a rocky-breathing corpse right now."

"Shut up!" she snapped. "You think you know how essence works? You can barely hold that core properly without it melting your hands off."

She knew exactly what she was talking about, being a member of one of the most prestigious families in the city.

Even though she had not received proper training yet at the arcane academy about the essence of each individual, she already knew very well how they work and how to channel powers through one's inner self.

Only a small fraction of individuals in the world could directly handle and retrieve cores, and most work privately and discreetly under the government. 

Yet, a slum rat just claimed to have the same privilege. 

Her lips twisted with rage.

"That beast injected you with a paralytic venom," he continued, pointing at her collarbone. "I used my newly awakened core to absorb the toxin out of your system."

She paused. Her hand flew to her collarbone, fingers pressing against the skin where purple vein marks should have been crawling up her neck.

They were gone.

Her jaw tightened, but her pride held the line.

"Coincidence," she spat. "My squad healer was—"

"Unconscious over there with a broken arm," Riley cut in, pointing at a figure slumped against a rock. "He didn't touch you."

Her face went hot red like a tomato.

There was no explanation but she couldn't believe that this rat had anything to do with helping her.

"And how did you end up here?"

"Oh, I sleep here!" Responded Riley.

Instantly Mia burst out into thick rolls of laughter after which, her face hardened.

"That's enough of the lies and tricks slum kid."

"If you don't drop that core in the next three seconds," she continued, "I will have you chained and dragged to the Channeler Authority for restricted zone violation, theft and interference with a military squad."

Riley raised a brow. "You sure you want to report this one?"

Her eyes flared. "What did you just say?"

"I'm just wondering what you're going to tell them," he said, his tone staying level. "That your three-cord advanced squad got wiped out by a single beast? That you needed a slum rat to save your life?"

Her face shifted into something that looked almost like shame but it disappeared quickly. 

"We weren't wiped out!" she yelled. "We were ambushed! And you... you took advantage of it!"

"If you say so, good ma," Riley replied nonchalantly. "But last time I checked, advanced squads don't usually end up scattered like this from an ambush. Unless the ambush was really, really good."

Her essence, what little she had left, was already flaring around her like a weak flame. If she had more power right now, he was sure he would already be missing a head.

"You listen to me, slum rat," she said, each word clipped. "There is no way someone with that ferial body is a channeler. Stop lying through your teeth."

"If I didn't absorb the toxin, then explain why the purple marks under your collarbone are completely gone," Riley fired back.

She couldn't argue with that one and they both knew it.

But she tried anyway.

"That doesn't prove anything. My core could have processed it on its own."

"With a completely drained essence core?" Riley replied. "Good ma, your core is so empty right now I can practically hear the echo."

Her mouth opened slightly, then closed.

"I might even be more powerful than any channeler you have ever met," he added offhandedly.

And what followed was a deep silence that bored deep into her soul.

Then she burst out into mocking laughter. The kind that bounced off the trees and came back louder.

"You?" She could barely get the words out. "More powerful? You look like a strong wind would fold you in half!"

She wiped the corner of her eye. "You are nothing but a delusional slum rat. A weakling who got lucky finding a dead beast."

Riley waited for her to finish.

"Listen carefully," she said, stepping closer. Even weakened, she still had that aura that could threaten anyone else apart from. "You are going to crawl back to whatever hole you came from, and you are going to forget you ever saw me, my squad, or this beast."

Her eyes narrowed. "Because if a single word of this reaches the wrong ears, I won't need the Channeler Authority. I will personally hunt you down and make sure that little life you're clinging to ends in the most painful way possible."

Riley stared at her for a moment.

"I get it," he said softly. "You don't want people to know you messed up. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"That's not—"

"It's fine," he cut in. "Elite channeler can't admit a slum rat saved her life. It might stain the pretty record."

Her fingers twitched like she wanted to hit him but she stopped herself. 

"And don't let me catch you in this zone again!" she added, her voice getting shriller.

Riley raised one hand without turning around.

"Consider the core as my payment for medical services, good ma," he called back. "Next time, maybe try saying thank you instead of threatening people."

He walked away from the ungrateful lady, making his way toward the dark path. His legs ached badly and with every step he could hear the little cracking of his bones. The venom he had pulled into his own system was still burning through his channels.

He had nearly died. Not nearly as in a close call. Nearly as in he had felt his consciousness beginning to slip while he was crouched beside her, pulling the toxin out of her body and into his own.

And she had called him a delusional slum rat for it.

As his feet swayed further into the lonely path, strange words flickered right before him.

[Toxin Absorption Complete]

[Host Vitality Restored: 15\%]

[Target Life Saved]