Riven woke up to silence, a cold surface pressing against his back, making him shiver as he slowly opened his eyes.
He lowered his gaze and found an arrow lodged in his right leg. Worse, his left arm was unresponsive while his left foot was twisted.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled the arrow out, threw it away and looked ahead of him. A vast expanse of grass stretched before him — patches green, others rotting, the ground wet — broken by dozens of colossal trees.
Meters away, the Archer patrolled the area — engulfed in a golden aura, chains wrapped tight around its body, whole sections of armor obliterated.
The Archer suddenly turned around and stared directly into his eyes. But not with malicious intent; instead, it stared at him with a blank expression, like that of an emotionless machine.
Riven stared back at him and examined it carefully as he mumbled.
"In a fight, I can't defeat him… not in my current condition."
He still didn't know why the Archer was protecting him so he was still wary of it despite the Archer saving him from the Powerful Vrekhar.
As he stared at the Archer, he heard a howl – a howl that shook the ground beneath him and made the branches of the tree sway.
Riven tilted his head. A bird soared hundreds of meters above his head — body longer than several trees, claw sharp, and fangs extended from its beak.
Cold sweat dripped from his back. This place was not safe.
To make matters worse the bird kept flying around him until it landed on a tree just a few meters away from the mountains — a mountain that cut through the clouds and stretched out to the heavens itself.
And at the very top was the destroyed section of the towering wall of the Vrekhar's base.
There was no one at the top. At least not yet.
And as he stared at the mountains, something changed. His mind became calm and his wounds began to heal at an unnatural speed.
And an ancient voice whispered in his ears.
(Heritage Seed… Completely devoured)
He instantly recognized the voice – remembering the message he received earlier.
But before he could process it, an ancient rune with letters carved in gold appeared before him. At first, his eyes narrowed but then they widened as a sense of understanding took hold.
(Name: Riven Holt
Rank: Awakened
Battle Art:
The Seal Of Loyalty Rank: Supreme
Description:
[You have inherited a battle art forged by an Ancient Human Monarch — a sovereign who built his empire not through conquest, but through ownership.
You possess the ability to seal living beings, binding their will, consciousness, and freedom beneath your authority. Every being you seal becomes your Subject – a permanent addition to your army, their autonomy suppressed for as long as the seal holds.
They do not serve you out of fear or loyalty. They serve because the part of them that could refuse no longer reaches the surface.
Your army grows the longer you live. So does the weight of what you carry.
You may develop techniques to weaponize the seal as you see fit.]
Techniques:
You may develop as many techniques as you wish.
The Cage
[You have inherited the knowledge of The Cage, absorbing the experience of countless hours of mastery in moments.
Channeling your mana, you can erect a false domain around your target — a sealed space that exists only to end someone's freedom.
Within it, chains manifest from nothing, moving with purpose rather than force.
They do not crush; instead, they wrap and find every point of resistance in the body and answer it with stillness. When the chains are complete, the seal is set, and they become your Subjects.
The being does not die. They remain — conscious enough to exist, suppressed enough to obey. Whatever they were before the Cage closed is still in there.
It simply no longer matters.]
Domain of Seal:
[You have inherited the fragment of the domain of the Ancient Human Monarch. With a single thought, you can open an entrance to the domain and store all your Subjects inside.
It heals all the injuries that your Subjects have sustained until they are in peak condition and it also serves as a prison for the Subjects who defy your command.]
Will: Not Developed. )
Riven's eyes narrowed. He knew that consuming the Sacred Seed would give him unimaginable power as it was the key to becoming an Awakened.
But he never expected to receive a battle art… Something that is the basis of the power of an Awakened.
An Awakened naturally had inhumane strength. But they couldn't have supernatural abilities without battle art. That is either learned or personally developed.
And based on what he just read, his power was that of sealing and making those who are sealed his Subjects.
Riven stared at the Archer, seeing it in a different light. Now he was sure that the Archer was not a threat. Instead, it had become his Subject – someone who will do anything that he commands it to do.
And he had a clear idea of how the Archer became his Subject.
As best he could tell, the expanding aura and the manifesting chains during the battle in the watchtower were the result of him triggering The Cage technique — without even realizing it.
The last time the Archer had looked at him with killing intent was before the chains took hold. After that, he was sure that the Archer had been sealed and turned into his Subject.
There was also a fragment of something called a domain. He didn't know what a domain was but this particular domain was probably a world for his Subjects to rest.
And according to the rune, he could summon its entrance with a thought.
"Let's try it…"
Before Riven could summon the entrance to the domain, a very familiar aura spread across the entire forest.
He tilted his head, far away from where he was standing and a red aura erupted from the ground to the sky.
He knew who that aura belonged to. Only a word escaped his mouth.
"That's the Powerful Vrekhar."
And to make matters worse, he heard countless echoes throughout the forest.
Not from the ground but just above him.
He tilted his head and froze.
At the top of the walls, countless Vrekhar soldiers had gathered near the exit of the base. They were marching down into the forest.
Riven's eyes narrowed and his body went stiff for a moment before he regained his composure and only a single sentence escaped his mouth.
"This place is not safe…"