Recovery

A few days later, within an a well decorated bedroom, a figure lay with his body slightly bandaged.

" Uggh. I'm still alive." He opened his eyes groggily and spoke after looking around a bit.

" My eyes." He touched his nose bridge only to feel a piece of cloth covering the upper part of his face.

" That was close. " He sighed as he slowly stood up and made his way to a wardrobe where he picked up new clothes and put them on. He took a watch from the edge of the bed and slowly put it on before sitting back down.

" Ares. Run overall body diagnosis." He spoke and waited for a few seconds.

" Ares system online. Welcome back from the dead Sir. " The AI spoke.

" How did I even survive after that?" He asked as he examined his body report. Every thing was fine. All the broken bones were fixed and all the torn muscles and everything was back to normal.

" Well Sir, it must've been the pill your teammate fed you after she found you. She had been staying here for quite a while and went to get a change of clothes yesterday." The AI spoke.

" Sigh. Remind me never to use that technique again." He walked out of the bedroom and walked to his fridge, pulled out a glass of milk and stale bread before gulping it down hurriedly.

" I would try to, but knowing your stubborn character Sir, I doubt you'd even listen to me." It added.

" It seems she's here again Sir. Should I let her in?" The AI spoke and awaited instructions.

" Of course Ares. Even I'm not that cold to leave my benefactor standing outside my door." He smiled and sat on a couch.

" Good afternoon Ares." Silver heard a familiar voice but didn't bother to turn around. A few seconds later, he saw Moon standing in front of him with a slightly shocked expression.

" You're awake?" She asked as she carefully examined him. " I'm fine. I guess you've met Ares already so I'll skip the introductions." Silver spoke as he munched in his stale bread.

" What are you eating??" She asked as she saw the nigh moldy bread in his hand.

" Is it even edible?" She asked as she began to unpack well prepared food.

" Here I brought something for myself, but you can have it." She pushed the huge bowl containing a well made rice dish and what looked like steak as well as some side dishes.

" Did you make it yourself?" He asked as he looked at her, wanting to refuse.

" No no. You can't refuse. You have to eat it now or I'll feed it to you myself." She spoke in a demanding tone but her eyes were full of care. Silver obediently grabbed unto a spoon by the side. Unconsciously, his hand began to shiver as he slowly fetched some of the rice and placed it into his mouth.

His facial expression changed immediately to one of surprise. He now realized something. He had never eaten a proper home made dish before and didn't even know how rice tasted. The only part of his childhood he remembers was from 4 years old and from that time, he was a filthy beggar on the street who had found an abandoned baby near an incinerator and vowed to take care of him. Thinking up to this point unconsciously, a tear rolled down his cheek.

" Why what's wrong? Do you not like the food?" Moon asked clearly startled by Silver's sudden reaction.

" N-No. It's good. It-it's just I've never eaten something like this before." He stammered in a low voice as more tears dripped down his cheek. At a very young age, he had learnt how to scheme against people and how to steal and even murder people, he didn't even know what being a child even felt like.

At this point, it all came crashing down on him. He had never thought on this before. All he saw himself as was a mindless and emotionless monster who only achieved his goals by any means necessary. He didn't want that for Anderson. He wanted him to have a great childhood and grow up to become a good young man, have a family and have a great life. He didnt want him to involved in the bloodshed and murder.

" If you like it, I can always make it for you, together with several different dishes." Moon spoke as she pulled close to him.

" Why are you helping me?" Silver finally asked. He felt it was strange indeed. At first he thought she had a hidden motive in mind, however after a few months of being around her, he realized that she was just cold on the outside and on the inside, she was warm, extremely warm. It baffled him so much.

" I-I don't know. I just feel like you need someone around you and I want to be that person." She spoke with a slight blush, as her heart rate began to increase.

Silver looked on. He didn't understand a single thing she said but he still listened, after which he sighed and went back to the food.

" Sir, a few unknown personnel are making their way here. Should I activate emergency protocol 101?" The AI sounded an alert immediately to which Silver sighed.

" Let them in Ares. I think I know who they are. " He smiled and ate.

A few seconds later a group of people in suits appeared, followed by a very beautiful looking woman with astounding body curves and a man in pure white robes.

She looked at him with intrigue as she smiled. " It's good to finally meet you Mr. Silver or should I call you Ghost?" The woman asked as she took a seat on the couch.

Feeling the tension arising, Silver signaled to Moon who immediately stood up and left to a guest room.

" Call me whatever you want. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Silver silently looked at Gerald who stood without a single word.

" We're her to discuss a few things with you Mr. Silver. " The woman looked at him with a proud smirk as she took out a piece of paper.

" Mr. Silver, you are currently the most wanted criminal in this country." She paused and smiled as she looked at his indifferent temperament.

" Most of the top conglomerates and company's in this country will pay a good price just to have your head." She added.

" But, this institution has taken it upon ourselves to shield you and protect you as one of our own." She smiled and spoke, like a goddess offering grace to a beggar.

" Hahaha, Silver laughed. You intentionally let a group of renowned criminals attack a student and you claim you're protecting him as one of your own. Isn't that charming." Silver laughed.

" You're missing the point here Mr. Silver. This world isn't a fairytale. Every school, every institution out there is competing with several others who would stop at nothing to bring them down. It's completely unnecessary on our part to house a criminal who has no worth. It will only come back to bite us in the tail later on." She spoke with seriousness this time.

" We want to offer a proposition. We want you to lead a team to represent us in the upcoming worldwide Arcanist Exploration Competition and we want you to win." She offered him a sheet of paper.

" It's a competition where the younger generation of arcanist from the various schools would be sent to an unhabitable world to completely eradicate overgrown direbeast populations. The top 10 winners of the competition would get a free scholarship to join the International Arcanist University and their almaters would gain 4 free quotas every year as well as an unparalleled amount of resources. We want you to use your skillls to get into top 10." She spoke with a fanatic look.

" And what if I refuse?" He spoke plainly and immediately, the temperature of the room dropped. " It's simple Mr. Silver. If you refuse, you die and your brother will follow you into hades." She spoke with a bone chilling murderous smile.

" Fine I accept." He spoke with a neither rushed nor slow tone. He wasn't ready to be anyone's pawn, however if his brothers life was at stake, then it couldn't be helped. He didn't care about his life, but to him Anderson's life was the most sacred thing in the cosmos and he wouldn't hesitate to even destroy the entire world just to preserve his life.

" Good. I knew you were a smart man Mr. Silver. Gerald here would be your tutor. He'd provide you with any amount of resources and train you as well." She spoke with a happy smile.

" We look forward to your performance in the upcoming competitions, as well as the main one. Don't let us down." She left the following words, before she stood up.

" Wait. I have a proposition. " Silver spoke immediately as she stood up.

" Let's hear it then. " She took her seat as she looked at him. " Well for the team, I want my current teammates to be on board as well. That's all." Silver spoke briefly.

" Alright sure. " She spoke, took her bag and left.

" I'll see you tomorrow at 9" Gerald spoke and left as well leaving an indifferent looking Silver.

" Sigh. Ares get me whatever you have on that woman as well as any shady dealings of this school. " Silver immediately clenched his fist. He was going to participate in whatever competition, however if they tried a funny business with him, it wouldn't end well for neither party.

A/N : Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please more and more powerstones.