Chapter 238: Natalie Tests Label’s Incredible Potions, Shocked Beyond Belief!

-----

"Thank you," Riven said with a quiet, sincere nod as he finished speaking with Natalie. "Now, it’s getting late. My wife is taking a short nap in her room, but I have a feeling she’ll wake up any moment hungry for dinner. Daniela and Carlos are still in their rooms resting, and the ninjas have been outside the entire time. I’ll introduce you to the family and everything properly once we’re all together."

Riven led Natalie and her group outside into the front yard. The three ninjas immediately descended from the rooftop in perfect silence, landing lightly on the grass. They had been watching over the property all day long without a single complaint, their sharp eyes never missing a detail. They truly were excellent guards; nothing seemed to escape their notice.

"This is Natalie and her friends, Kagehisa," Riven introduced them calmly.

"Huh, so this is the group of useless rookies you talked about earlier?" Kagehisa rubbed his chin thoughtfully while examining them with a critical gaze. "Ah, and the Sunrise brat is here too."

"U-Useless..." Clair sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping as a wave of disappointment washed over her. The sharp comment only made her feel worse about her own abilities.

"Every one of them will be training real combat and practical martial arts under us from now on," Riven continued without hesitation. "I’d like you and your ninjas to help train them from time to time starting tomorrow. What do you think?"

"Sure, why not?" Kagehisa nodded with a small, almost amused smile. "It would be fun to break some kids who still think the world is all sunshine and rainbows, right you three?" He glanced at his retainers, whose eyes immediately lit up with eager interest.

"It’ll be fun," Goki chuckled in a low, slightly evil tone. "Hehehe..."

"We will enlighten them thoroughly," Ren added with a calm nod.

"We won’t have any mercy, just like our masters never showed us back in the hidden village," Hinata said with a bright, almost cheerful smile that somehow made the statement more terrifying.

Natalie’s friends were left completely speechless. They stood there trembling and sweating profusely as the reality of what awaited them began to sink in.

A short while later Daniela and Carlos came outside and joined the group, offering friendly greetings of their own.

"Ah, you’re the guys from back then! Hi!" Daniela said with an energetic wave of her hand. "It’s nice to meet you all again!"

"Oh, it’s the clown girl," Clair remarked with a small smile.

"Daniela, right? Nice to meet you too," Emma said with a polite nod.

"Hello," Philip greeted her simply.

While everyone continued exchanging greetings, Riven walked back inside the house. Natalie followed him closely, and together with Label they settled into a quieter conversation about their future cooperation.

"I’d like to request a sample of your potions so I can test them myself and compare them to our current products," Natalie said, her tone both professional and hopeful. "You mentioned you made even better recipes, right? I know this might be a bit sudden, but—"

"No, it’s completely fine," Riven nodded without hesitation. He quickly retrieved a batch of Health Potions, Antidotes, and Mana Potions from his Inventory and placed them on the table. "Is this good enough for a proper test? You can try them and show the results to your father later."

"Oh?" Natalie leaned forward with clear interest. "Let me try them then."

She began testing the potions one after another, carefully noting their effects while the sounds of activity drifted in from outside. The ninjas had already started a sudden sparring session with her friends, and the results were brutal. Clair’s arrows never connected properly. Emma’s swordsmanship was easily blocked, predicted, and avoided. Philip proved simply too slow to catch anyone.

"You all are terrible!" Kagehisa sighed loudly as he watched them. "If you weren’t D-Rank or above Awakened, you’d be completely useless in a real fight. But fine, that raw power alone makes you somewhat worthwhile... at least a little bit. If it was up to me I wouldn’t bother with any of this, but this was a direct request from Riven, so I’ll try at the very least. For now, just fight back with everything you’ve got. We’ll beat some sense into you until you can’t move a single inch of your bodies!"

"E-Eh?! Wait!" Clair screamed as Hinata suddenly punched her hard in the stomach. The force of the strike sent her flying backward until she crashed into a tree with a painful thud. "Ugeh?!"

"In a real life-or-death battle your opponent isn’t going to wait for you to finish speaking!" Hinata called out firmly.

"Clair?!" Philip panicked and started running toward her, only for Goki to catch him completely off-guard. The bald ninja kicked him straight in the face, sending his massive armored body crashing to the floor with a loud metallic clank. "Oof! D-Dude! My teeth! W-What the hell!"

"Less whining and more fighting, big guy," Goki smiled cheerfully as he began systematically breaking pieces of Philip’s armor while continuing to kick him around the yard.

"Philip!" Emma cried out in worry for her boyfriend, only for thin metallic threads to suddenly wrap around her body and drag her toward one of Ren’s flying kunai. The weapon exploded on contact, burning through her armor and searing part of her face. "Gaaaahhh!"

Natalie started sweating heavily as she watched her friends getting thoroughly beaten. It was painfully clear that they completely lacked experience in close combat. They could not predict incoming moves or defend properly against close-quarters attacks at all.

It was honestly quite shocking how poorly they performed. Even Riven looked slightly speechless as he observed the one-sided training while Natalie continued testing the potions.

"So? How are they?" he asked her calmly.

"A-Ah, right..." Natalie sighed and pulled her attention back to the potions in her hands. "May I test one of the healing ones on my friends? I think they’re about to die out there..."

"Ah... Kagehisa and his retainers went a bit too far this time," Riven sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Still, getting beaten down like this will help them recognize real danger and force their bodies to adapt better for future fights."

Natalie nodded slowly, already preparing a Health Potion while the sounds of continued training and occasional pained shouts continued outside. The day was far from over, and the path ahead for her friends was clearly going to be much harsher than any of them had expected.

-----