Way of the Knights

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"Oh…I'm back…"

Raven muttered after his vision adjusted. He saw the familiar walls of his cave dwelling and felt the cold air around him.

He smiled sheepishly and figured that the limit of his stay inside the crown space was used up, he had to wait until the next day to go there again and continue his training.

Meanwhile, Raven suddenly winced as he felt the soreness of his body. It served as a reminder to him that whatever happened inside the crown space was real, and that he need to soak in a medicinal bath as soon as possible.

And Raven planned to do just that.

Limping out of his cave dwelling, he arrived at the pond nearby his location. Without feeling any remorse, he threw out 10 vials of Body Restoration Liquid at the pond, all of those happened to be B-grades, which is enough to be used by Bronze Knights.

After letting the liquid merge with the water, he allowed it to steep in to get the best results, and as expected after a minute or so of waiting, he saw the pond glimmered ever so slightly and its viscosity became something like a liquid mercury.

Raven took off his clothes, slowly since he found out that his body was bruised all over and even the smallest action that he does could cause him to feel pain. Without any hesitation, he jumped at the pond and let himself sunk at least a meter deep into the pond.

He allowed himself to relax and let the efficacy of liquid medicine do it's thing. And because he trained his body rigorously over the past few months, he was capable at holding his breath underwater for at least two hours, and his recovery shouldn't take that long.

Raven felt his body scream in joy as it greedily sucked in the efficacy in the waters, the bruises all over his body started recovering at a visible speed, his worn out muscles that were resisting the pressure for a whole day spasmed in exhilaration, he could also feel his blood flow becoming very active and he could feel his whole body becoming more compact.

There's also a huge transformations on his energy channels and energy nodes. With his diligent efforts of circulating energy under that might pressure, every channels and nodes in his body expanded exponentially and gained an increase to their tenacity. This means that he's able to absorb and store more energies for future uses.

As for his Spiritual Sense, last time he could sense over 10 miles around him, now that raised to 11 miles, and that is just within a day of training. The amount of spiritual energy he has had risen as well as the its quality. Not only that, but his control over them also risen by a small amount.

Overall his harvest in just a day's worth of training inside that space had been overwhelming. Even Raven himself couldn't believe it. This would take him weeks or even months to acquire on a normal basis but in that space, it only took a day.

This made him more and more convinced about Inos' words. Now, he is a bit expectant about the challenges his will face in his conquest.

***

"Hah!"

Under the glaring rays of sunlight, Raven's bare upper body glistened with sweat as he threw his 300th punch. His body maintained a horse stance with both of his fist clenched beside him. Each breath he took was heavy, each time he inhales, a gust of air will go through his nostrils and fill his lungs, when he breathes out, the air shoots out like an arrow that disrupts the nearby grasses and bushes around him.

Each of the punches he threw were heavy and solid. There are no fancy moves nor any flashing lights, just a simple and straight forward punch.

Those who are unaware would mock him for doing such simple actions, thinking that how could simple punches help him battle, it's not like his fists are tougher than forged metal.

While in truth, they will never understand the might behind this simple punches unless they experience it themselves, and when they do, they will think twice before underestimating it again.

Before Raven could throw his 301st punch, he felt something vibrate on his pocket. With a frown on his face, he took it out and saw it was the badge that the director gave. Recalling the director's words earlier, this means that he's being summoned and he has to answer this call.

Taking a swift bath, he placed on his uniform and marched out of his cave dwelling and made his way towards the Main Building of the Institute.

After a couple of minutes walking, he finally arrived and went straight ahead towards the Director's Office.

Upon entering he found out that the rest of his friends were already there, apparently they were only waiting for him to start. He gave a casual greeting to the director and sat down with them.

"Alright, all of you are here. We can start talking about why I summoned you here." Victor spoke as soon as Raven was seated.

The man beside him moved, Raven guessed this was his assistant or secretary, he then gave each of them a box which was quite heavy. The Director told them to open the box, and to their surprise, they found some resources inside.

Inside the box were stack gold cards, from what Raven could tell, there's at least 50 Gold Cards in here. Next to them, are a 10 round blue-ish crystal that pulsed with a dense amount of energy. These are Energy Stones, a mineral used to aid one's cultivation. Another thing that he saw with the gold cards and energy stones, is a green jade-slip which has the similar symbol to the one at the Training Section.

"Those are your first monthly allowance. Do make sure that you have 50 Gold Cards, 10 Energy Stones and a green jade slip in that box. If there's even one missing, let me know." Victor informed them about the exact amount, the rest confirmed their numbers and had no complaints.

"Your allowance is handed every 2nd day of each month, make sure to come here to personally receive them. If you can't receive them during that day, inform someone at my office so that we can keep it for you."

Raven and rest nodded with his words.

"On another note, I'm sure that in less than a week, you're classmates would be back from the examinations. And by that time, the classes shall resume soon, make sure to always wear your badges so that you will be informed whenever I summoned you."

"While you might be the new addition to the class, it only seem proper for me to inform you about your classmates." Victor paused for a bit and then said: "Unfortunately, not all of them will be coming back. Some of them passed on due to some unfortunate reasons. From 15 students previously, there are only 10 left. With your addition, there are only 16 students in the Genius Class."

Undoubtedly, this piece of news came as a great surprise for them.

They felt that it was a pity that some of their classmates died without having the chance of meeting them. They all began to be afraid about the so-called 'Unstable Zones'.

"We've made sure to give proper compensation to their families despite reaching an agreement. I'm hoping that you will take this as a lesson that the Path towards Knighthood isn't going to be smooth. Train hard and become stronger, this is the best way to preserve your life." Victor preached for a moment and allowed his words to sink in.

After a round of silence. Victor continued talking…

"Now, a few points that I want to inform you before the class resumes." Talking up to this point, the kids paid closer attention his words, making sure not to miss any of them.

"While I might be considered as your Instructor from now on, I will act as more of an advisor instead. My reason is simple, aren't you geniuses? The prove it to me. I won't hold your hands, walk freely on your own. If you have questions, then you could ask me for guidance, but your road is yours to walk. I won't interfere."

Victor paused again to let his words steep in their minds.

"Aside from being the Instructor of the Genius Class, I'm also the current Director of the Inner Branch. Because of that, I also have to follow some rules, but I also could use my position to move some resources in order to help you grow faster. This will appear in the forms of Sudden Missions, Tests of Courage, and Chosen's Rankings. If you perform excellently then you will receive more resources and we will groom you even further to become an excellent knight. That is a promise."

"In exchange, we are only expecting you to help towards guarding the safety of our home. Surely, the more contributions you have, the better.. But remember, this is your home, and we are expecting you to defend it when danger befalls it."

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