Ryder Blackwood's eyelids twitched violently, a clear sign of the fierce internal conflict raging within him.
After a tense moment, his tightly shut eyes flew open. They locked onto the pink capsule in Kael Voss's hand, blazing with a fanatical glow that betrayed his desperation.
Kael said nothing. He placed the capsule on Ryder's tongue, watching as he swallowed it dry, then gently pulled out the nano-repair needles one by one from Ryder's gene nodes.
The moment the last needle was removed, the Marrow-Extracting Gene Serum took effect. Ryder's pale complexion flushed with an unnatural crimson, spreading rapidly across his entire face. His body convulsed again, limbs trembling uncontrollably, and low groans escaped his lips.
It was evident he tried to hold back, desperate not to lose his dignity in front of Kael. But the inhuman agony was too much—his groans erupted into guttural roars that echoed through the aurora-drenched grove.
Ryder's shouts grew louder, his body writhing more violently. Minutes stretched like hours before the roars gradually faded, then fell silent entirely.
His complexion returned to normal, and the convulsions ceased—he had survived the worst of the torment.
Ryder slowly straightened his posture, crossing his legs into a meditative stance. He closed his eyes again, focusing on channeling bio-energy to replenish his depleted reserves. Kael found a clean slab of carbon-titanium alloy nearby, sitting casually as he watched the other apprentice recover his strength.
After roughly the time it took to finish a meal, Ryder's eyes snapped open. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the obsidian-hilted quantum blade at his side, leaped to his feet, and swung it with all his enhanced strength. A blinding violet arc of energy sliced through the air, the blade pressing lightly against Kael's throat—sharp enough to draw a trickle of blood, but not yet piercing the skin.
"Give me one reason not to kill you," Ryder snarled, his eyes glinting with cold lethal intent, the quantum blade humming softly against Kael's neck.
"I just saved your life. Does that count?" Kael's expression remained calm, only the faintest twitch of his eyebrow betraying his awareness of the blade—barely noticeable to the untrained eye.
Ryder's features softened slightly, but his gaze still bore into Kael with unrelenting hostility.
"Before I treated you, I knew you might silence me to protect your secret," Kael finally let out a bitter chuckle, a hint of self-mockery in his voice. "I just didn't expect you to act so quickly."
"Sigh. Even knowing saving you would bring me trouble, I couldn't stand by and watch someone die—not after everything Dr. Thorne taught me about bio-augmentation first aid." Kael exhaled softly.
Ryder's face flushed with embarrassment. He pulled the quantum blade back slightly, though it still hovered dangerously close to Kael's neck.
Kael silently let out a breath of relief, his tone growing even steadier.
"You don't have to worry about me leaking your secret. I'm not one to gossip. If you're still uneasy, we can bind a gene oath—you can see I have no combat augmentations. If I break my word, you could end me with a single strike." Kael proposed calmly, his eyes never leaving Ryder's.
"Bind the oath," Ryder replied sharply, no room for hesitation in his voice.
Kael finally relaxed completely. Before treating Ryder, he had studied the man's bio-energy signatures and deduced he wasn't inherently ungrateful or cruel—but he couldn't be certain. If Ryder had turned out to be a backstabber, Kael had already prepared a last resort: a nano-defense module hidden in his sleeve, primed to release a protective energy shield at a moment's notice.
With that thought, Kael subtly moved his finger away from the module's activation switch.
After Kael sealed the gene oath—an irreversible bio-genetic binding that would trigger neural feedback if broken—Ryder finally sheathed his quantum blade.
Kael touched his neck, feeling the thin trickle of blood from the blade's edge. His palm came away sticky, and he noticed a cold sweat had soaked the back of his synthetic tunic.
"That was too close," he thought, still shaken. "I wasn't thorough enough. I must learn from this—no more thankless favors. Other people's fates are their own business."
He made a firm resolve in his heart: "I'll never save anyone again without sufficient reward and absolute certainty."
This unpleasant first experience with saving others forged Kael's future philosophy—he became someone who never acted without benefit. His once innocent nature faded entirely. He didn't become evil, but he was far from the loyal, kind-hearted boy he'd been in the village.
"You saved my life and agreed to keep my secret. I, Ryder Blackwood, owe you a great debt," Ryder said, fully restored to the confident warrior he'd been at the cliffside. He gathered his scattered belongings—gene scanner, credit chip, and utility tools—and approached Kael with sincere gratitude. "As long as I'm alive, if you ever need help, seek me out. I'll do whatever I can."
"I doubt I'll need your assistance. But you seem to have plenty of troubles of your own," Kael smiled faintly, countered.
"How did you know?" Ryder blinked in surprise.
"It's obvious," Kael said sharply. "A mere core apprentice, outperforming the disciples of sect elders and division heads—you can't possibly be living in peace."
Ryder's expression darkened, and he fell silent for a long moment.
"I don't want to meddle in your affairs, nor could I if I tried. But I can ease the pain from the Marrow-Extracting Serum," Kael continued.
"Really?" Ryder's spirits lifted instantly, the darkness vanishing from his face. His eyes lit up with hope—clearly, the serum's torment had plagued him relentlessly.
"Why would I lie?" Kael rolled his eyes. He indeed had a solution: a gene analgesic formula he'd developed in his spare time, originally for Gareth "Wraith" Stone. It drastically suppressed the body's pain receptors, and its effects were proven to be highly effective.
"That's incredible! Absolutely incredible!" Ryder rubbed his hands together eagerly, staring at Kael with undisguised longing.
"Don't look at me like that. I don't have the formula with me now. I need to return to the Verdant Bio-Dome to synthesize it," Kael said.
Ryder's eagerness faded into awkwardness. He'd just threatened Kael with a blade, and now he was begging for a favor.
"Meet me at the eastern entrance of the Verdant Bio-Dome at midday tomorrow. I'll bring the formula then," Kael said slowly. "Dr. Thorne is away, so I can't let outsiders enter the dome casually."
"Deal! I'll be there on time. Thank you, brother," Ryder agreed hastily, afraid Kael might change his mind.
"I'm Kael Voss, Dr. Mordecai Thorne's personal apprentice. You're far more skilled in combat—just call me Junior Brother Kael," Kael said, cutting off any more overly familiar terms. He could tell Ryder was about to use something even more cloying.
Ryder nodded, relief and gratitude evident in his eyes as he watched Kael turn toward the Verdant Bio-Dome. The promise of relief from his endless agony felt like a lifeline—and for the first time in years, he dared to hope for a way out of his self-destructive path.