Way of the Knights

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Time passed quickly and just like that, there's only a year left before the end of the Smelting Trial. 

While the other participants gathered as many achievements as they could get, this Smelting Trial turned out to be another seclusion for Raven. 

Raven honed his skills even more, as he got to control his outrageous boost in physical strength, he ultimately felt immense confidence. He truly felt unstoppable. Even though he experienced just how absurd his physical strength was during these past nine years of seclusion first hand, the feeling and satisfaction of possessing legitimate strength makes him feel giddy and slight dizzy. 

Having the seal released on his Cosmic Energy enabled Raven to perform more complicated techniques with relative ease. Due to the immense capacity this brings him, he no longer has to spend his longevity to cast powerful skills in case of emergency in the future. 

What's funny to him is that, performing techniques which costs larger amounts of energy was easier for him to do instead of casting the skills that doesn't consume much. 

Due to this, Raven's ability to use simple skills such as energy sensing, climbing on sloped surfaces, and even the simple act of activating his ocular technique became harder to him, so much to the point that he had to re-train himself to do all of those again. 

It took him months of constant practice before he was able to use them again, this time they were truly ingrained on his instincts to the point that he could use them unconsciously. 

Raven also mastered the [God Slaying Art] which he received from the crown before. He couldn't use this skill before due to its strict requirements. It needed him to condense at least an Immortal Champion's Physique, additionally performing the technique requires an absurd amount of energy. But now, those were no longer a problem to him. 

As soon as he mastered this technique, Raven finally understood why it was given to him. The [God Slaying Art] is actually a heaven-defying technique. 

The art itself doesn't contain any moves. In truth, it is a unique method to sharply increase the aggressiveness of his Cosmic Energy. Upon mastering the technique, Raven's energy would turn incredibly aggressive to the point that it will pulverize anything it touches. Aside from that, its also incredibly heavy, invasive and destructive - even without Raven using his Destruction Laws. 

Once the [God Slaying Art] was invoked, anything that Raven does afterward will cause a terrifying force which is capable to wiping out hundreds, if not thousands, of people. That being said, learning it was challenging to him as well. 

Additionally, Raven had to use this technique smarter in actual battles. This is due to the side effect of this technique. Casting the art two times in a row will not only double its strength, it would also consume double the energy needed. Which means that if Raven wasn't careful enough, it is still possible for him to run out of energy even if the seal on his Cosmic Energy has been released. 

It had to be known that Cosmic Energy doesn't refill itself. Raven has to manually convert energies into Cosmic Energies during his meditations, therefore it doesn't mean that Raven had an unlimited supply of Cosmic Energy. 

Still, due to his special circumstances, Raven had enough time to focus on mastering the God Slaying Art. After experimenting with the technique, which caused the majority of the forest around him to disappear, he figured that he could only use the God Slaying Art ten times consecutively before running dangerously low on Cosmic Energy. 

Raven had to sit down and recover his Cosmic Energy for two whole weeks after that. So Raven didn't dare to do it again. 

Ultimately, he decided that the God Slaying Art would only be used as a trump card. He won't reveal it unless he encountered a life-threatening emergency. 

With a lot of time on his hands, Raven also improved on other aspects of his strength. 

Even though he got the message that he wasn't being tracked or monitored by anyone at all, Raven didn't dare to believe this. Which means that he prevented himself from training his Spacetime Laws. He had already made a promise to himself that he wouldn't reveal this secret unless he was forced to do so. 

And its not like Raven had no rooms for improvement anymore. Actually, there are still a lot of sectors on his arsenal that could use improvements. And this includes the techniques he knows, he will use very often. 

During this seclusion of his, he created a set of Battle Arts that him and only him alone could use. 

Raven named this technique as: [Grand Apocalyptic Stances]. 

This technique was born out of Raven's outrageous fleshly strength. It consists of punches and kicks which carries an astounding momentum that could cause an apocalyptic aftermath. Each stance on this technique is unique and is capable of unleashing the entirety of Raven's physical strength as well as his Cosmic Energy. It could even harness his intricate understanding of Destruction Laws as well as his quasi-Slaughter Intent plus his Fist Intent.

The first stance is named as 'Star Birth Stance'. In this stance, Raven would gather his strength on his fists and calves. Upon release, he will perform an upper-jab that will also cause his body to shoot up like a flying star. Upon reaching the peak of his rise, Raven will shift his body and sharply fall like a falling star, causing a large area to be destroyed by his outrageous strength. 

The second stance is named as 'Breath Stance'. In this stance, Raven would take a long and deep breath until his lungs were full. He will the exhale slowly as he starts gathering momentum on his legs. The air he exhaled will be laced with his Cosmic Energy, therefore it will follow his commands. Using his legs, he will now use this winds to either deliver sharp blades of pure and pressurized winds or a massive tornado to his enemies. 

The third stance is named as 'Thunder Stance'. This stance is focused on speed. Using his enhanced physical state, his legs are capable of travelling with an absurd speed. He is able to cross hundreds of miles in just seconds by just relying on his raw speed alone. This stance would be used to chase or flee should the situation calls for it, but of course it could also be used offensively. As he travels with blinding speed, he will be able to gather a strong momentum to crush anything that stands on his way.

The fourth stance is called 'Wall Stance'. This stance is focused on defense. Upon assuming this stance, Raven's physical strength with be on alert. If he receives an attack during this stance, his alert strength will cause his body to swiftly judge the strength of the attack and adjust his body to properly endure the attack. This stance represent Raven's instincts at its prime since he would defend instinctively. Out of all stances, Raven practiced this the least since he had no enemies to deal with, still it wasn't really hard for him to create the foundations for this. 

And final stance for now, is called 'Annihilator Stance'. This stance, is Raven's most powerful stance/state. Once he entered it, Raven basically decided to destroy whatever's in front of him at all cost, which also means that he's going all out. Even though there's no need for him to seal his physical strength, Raven still does it. But once on this stance, Raven releases the seal and will attack at will. So long as his target stands, there will no stopping him. Because he had no enemies right now, it's difficult to say just how powerful Raven truly is, but if he could gauge himself, then his strength will be something around Lord Knight Level. 

For now the [Grand Apocalyptic Stances] aren't complete and still has many rooms for improvement. It's already commendable for Raven to be able to create such a unique battle art by himself. Even if the basis behind the stances were simple, it made it easier for Raven to achieve the result he wanted to. All he truly needed, is a hearty battle to see where he could improve. 

Unfortunately, there's still more or less a year before the Smelting Trial reaches its conclusion. 

What made Raven somewhat anxious is his results. He wasn't really expecting to gain a preferential treatment. Although he was thankful for it, he couldn't help but wonder if he could truly pass. 

Raven still didn't know that what's being shown to the facilitators were fake. All that was revealed to him is the fact that he basically already passed the smelting trial, which also made him the disciple of the Ancient Elysium Sect. As for the subsequent matters after that, like the inheritances that he's 'supposed' to get and the number of lesser imps he had to kill, he had no idea since no one told him anything yet. 

Unfortunately, it seems like he still needs to wait until the conclusion of the Smelting Trial to find out. 

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