Way of the Knights

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Upon hearing Raven's inquiry, the Heavenly Elk's eyes shone. It then said:

"First and foremost, you need to become a disciple of the Ancient Elysium Sect." It stated, "In fact, if you become an Inner Disciple, that would be better but that would ultimately depend on you."

The Heavenly Elk then opened its mouth, revealing several rows of sharp teeth. A beam of light escaped from its mouth and stopped in front of Raven. As the light faded, the item was then revealed at Raven. It turns out that it was a tiny talisman filled with profound inscriptions. 

"Take it." The Heavenly Elk said, "Once you enter the sect, that talisman could be used to exchange for a specific item in the sect. Get that item and study it. If you can take full control of it, then it would be extremely simple for you to break the seal placed on me."

Raven received the talisman and kept it. However, even though the Heavenly Elk gave him instructions, he couldn't help but feel like it is hiding something from him. 

"Do take note that what happened here must remain as a secret. If news of this leaked out, then I'm afraid that it will be bad for the both of us. Aside from the Sect Master, you must never let anyone know about what happened here. Are we clear?" 

Raven nodded in agreement. Honestly, even if the elk didn't warn him, he never had any thoughts about revealing this to anyone anyway. And since Raven decided to accept the talisman, it signifies that he agreed to help. 

"I'll wait for you here - the 89th floor of the Devil Emperor's Pagoda. I hope that when we meet next time, you've already grown strong enough to free me." The elk spoke in an anticipating manner. "And just as I promised, since you agreed to help me, then I will grant you serendipity."

The Heavenly Elk's eyes glowed with a terrifying green light. The whole forest shook fiercely and immediately turned into a scene of calamity. Raven stood there without panicking and waited. 

The green light became even stronger until it filled the entire space. After that, Raven's body started squirming. He could feel that his body was unconsciously releasing a kind of resonance to this green light. Raven originally wanted to study it further but he found himself unconscious. 

As the green was being emitted by the Heavenly Elk, it was staring at the unconscious Raven. Its thoughts were mostly unknown but there is a trace of expectation on its eyes. As it saw that Raven's body was resonating and absorbing the green light like a whale, it stopped and started burrowing back with a clear exhausted look on its face. 

Before it burrowed underground, a bird manifested from its forehead. The elk then gave its decree to the bird.

"Go and memorize his face. After that, pass down my decree to that person. Tell him to watch over the kid without hindering his growth. Just make sure that he gets the item that will allow the kid to release me. He'll know what to do after that."

After receiving the Heavenly Elk's decree, the little bird flew. It flapped its wings a couple of times before disappearing to the skies above.

The elk gave Raven one final look and sighed inwardly while thinking: 'Grow up quickly kid. We don't have much time.'

After that, it completely sank back to the ground. Just like that, the unusual appearance of the floor was gone. It reverted back to when it was just an endless expanse of forest. Meanwhile, Raven remained unconscious as his body absorbed the vivid green light released by the Heavenly Elk. 

***

Amongst the dark skies filled with ominous feeling, a streak of white light pierced through like a blazing meteor - only, due to its size, it was hardly noticeable. 

Despite the numerous thunderbolts slithering through the clouds, this white streak of light was seemingly unaffected and unhindered. It continued charging through as if nothing could bar its path until it pierced through an invisible barrier.

On the other side of the said barrier, was completely different world. 

It was as if this world was surrounded by an unending gray fog. The atmosphere was chilly but nothing uncomfortable. Visibility is extremely limited due to the fog. In fact, even energy sense and domains would be suppressed by this fog, making this world unbelievably hard to navigate. 

Nevertheless, the white streak of light seems to have nary a whit of care about this fog at all. It was as if it had been at this place before and knew the way. It pierced through several invisible barrier before stopping at an enormous landmass. 

The said landmass is a mountain, yet those who sees it might not be able to see its peak due to the sole reason that it was incredibly tall. This mountain was so tall that it easily pierced the skies. In fact, a good chunk of its body is actually hidden by the clouds. 

The white streak of light paused for a bit before resuming to fly at an alarming speed. This time it was obviously flying up the mountain. The speed of this white streak of light was incredibly fast, yet even with that, scaling the height of this mountain is still a challenge. 

After flying for some time, the white streak of light eventually ended up where it wanted to go. As it slowed down, the white light reverted back to its original form which is that of a white dove - the same one which carried the decree of the Heavenly Elk. It perched on a tree branch while looking around, searching for someone. 

Its eyes then changed when it saw a man exiting a cave. This man was tall, he's at least seven and half foot tall. His features were similar to that of a human. His upper body was naked, revealing a firm and muscular form. 

His skin was bronze and is filled with numerous scars. His face revealed an old and wizened look, also his beard was so long that its almost reaching the floor. 

The white dove then flew down and approached the old man gently. The old man lifted its head and saw the white dove. He then allowed the bird to approach him. 

The bird perched on his shoulder and opened its beak. However, instead of hearing a gentle chirp, the old man heard a voice rumbling through his ears. This voice could only be heard by him, and its contents caused the old man's face to change. 

"I see." The old man whispered, his voice sounded dry as if he hadn't said a word for a very long time. 

Once he said these words, the white bird then slowly turned illusory before completely disappearing from the face of the earth. It didn't even leave a single feather. The white bird's sole purpose is to deliver this Heavenly Elk's decree, and since it already did its purpose, it was bound to disappear. 

The old man's regained its calm. He stared at the skies above him in deep thought. After that, a sigh escaped his lips as he said: 

"So be it." The old man's eyes turned resolute. A badge filled with rainbow colored light appeared on his hands. He closed his eyes and sank his perception onto the badge, after that the badge turned a bit dimmer but the old man didn't care. 

He turned around and walked back to his abode. His mind was still occupied by some random thoughts, and these thoughts were actually pertaining to the specific image of a child that the bird showed him earlier. 

"Let's just hope that you're placing your bets on the right person, Old Friend. I'm at my limit as well."

***

Back at the Twin Star Academy…

Henry, who's calmly watching the progress of each remaining participants, suddenly froze but only for the briefest of moment. If one wasn't watching him closely, no one would notice this kind of reaction from him. 

The rest of the people within the room didn't notice this as well, which caused Henry to feel relieved. He had to stay on guard because there are Empyreans in the room. One wrong move from him and they'll be in trouble. Thankfully, Henry was alert and managed to hid his shock. 

Still, even though he looked calm and unperturbed. The same thing cannot be said with how chaotic his mind currently is. 

'Unbelievable.' Henry thought inwardly, 'To think that 'him' of all people would pay attention to this recruitment. Almost all of us thought that 'he' already entered his terminal seclusion, but who would've thought that he's still alive…'

His eyes then focused on a scene playing on the table. Even with his overflowing talent, he doesn't have the ability to discern that a small part what he was seeing was fake. In fact, not even the Empyreans were aware of it. 

'Just who? Who amongst these youngsters caused you to pay attention?' Henry mumbled inwardly, 'Well, it doesn't matter.. But since you made a move, then that means something big was bound to happen.'

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