Way of the Knights

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It has a been a total of two weeks since Raven had finished clearing the first pocket dimension of the Crown Space and received his rewards.

Time passed by uneventfully, the Genius Class was gathered for a class once during this time but all they did was to discuss about how to properly control one's energy, all for the sake of 100% conversion rate to Energy Essence, that's all they focused on which was boring for Raven since he's already ahead of everyone.

So instead of wasting time, he instead focused on his main plan. That is to reach for the goal earlier than anyone.

This plan was made due to the fact that he might not be able to stay in the Genius Class once he switched his cultivation art. Victor made it extremely clear that he won't bend the rule for anyone and that includes him so he could only delay his transition.

But Raven was already prepared enough to make a breakthrough. He already had enough discipline and control over his energy that it just makes sense to breakthrough. So for the past two weeks, he had been focusing on condensing regular energy to Energy Essence.

Individuals who aren't prepared for this would usually feel bloated, Energy Essence could either be as thick as a mercury or as solid as a crystal, depending one one's conversion. It would feel like a heavy lead was clogging up a part of one's body. Their energy network would hurt, there's even a risk of it being damaged, this is why one should have enough control over their energies before they even attempt this.

Raven didn't have this problem, his energy network had been tempered and widened so these kind of pressure won't be any problem for him. His control is impeccable, so far he was able to crystalize two of his energy nodes. At the same time, some of the free flowing energies in his energy channels are already converted, which makes the rest of conversion easier. He should meet the goal in another two weeks or so.

Aside from converting his energies, he also used this time to improve his hammer wielding.

Recently, he brought a new hammer that's heavier than the training version. The one he bought weighed for more or less a ton, which is a bit of a challenge for him to wield but not impossible. He could use it for a few set of moves before his arm and leg muscles scream bloody murder at him. After every training, he will soak in the pond filled with Body Restoration Fluid to soothe his aching muscles and make them stronger. Doing this allowed him to constantly raise his stamina bit by bit.

He also scoured the market in search for hammer wielding manuals. So long as it's available, he will but it, even if it's incomplete, low grade or focused on blacksmithing, he didn't care since he wanted them all. His goal is to gain as much insight as he could and gain inspiration from multiple perspectives. He decided that he would train and make his own style of hammer wielding, this way he could bring out the true potential of the hammer.

Speaking of training, Raven almost destroyed his whole yard during these past few days. His attacks were so ferocious that it left web-like cracks on the ground all the time. The walls beside his cave dwelling also didn't escape his torment and was filled with holes, cracks and destruction.

Raven knew that he couldn't do anymore damage around him or else his cave dwelling might collapse. So he had been thinking of a way to compensate for this.

While he was thinking, he felt something buzz around his pocket. He frowned and reached out to grab a badge. He looked at it and realized that it was the badge that Victor handed to him when he became a part of Eternal Horizon Clan.

He sank his perception onto the badge and read the message that was left.

'Meet me at near the entrance of my office in four hours. Wear a disguise, make sure you won't be followed, we will be meeting with the members.'

Victor's message was brief and straight to the point. Raven placed back the badge on his pocket and went into deep thought.

'So it's finally time to meet them huh? This meeting should more or less answer some of my curiosities about this organization. Their purpose and the reason behind the mystery. Come to think of it, why did he ask me to meet near his office instead of going directly at where the organization was? Something's up, I should prepare myself.'

So with this in mind, he didn't tarry any longer and started preparing for the private meeting.

***

Raven who's under a disguise of a middle aged man, went near the entrance of Victor's office.

He noticed someone's there but he didn't know who it is. Both of them gazed at each other and Raven saw the man reached out to his pocket. He brought his hand on his lips and spoke a few words. After he was done, Raven felt the badge inside his pocket buzz, he reached out to it and sank his perception once more.

'Follow me and be discreet. If you notice anyone following us, stomp really hard to let me know and walk the other way.'

Raven's brow shot up, he realized that the man in front of him was actually Victor under a disguise, he then thought 'Is there really a need for all of this secrecy?', but he didn't say anything. He had no idea how this organization truly function just yet so he was in no position to comment about anything.

Victor then lead the way while he maintained a safe distance behind. He was in a constant look out just in case someone was following them and so far, none entered his observation radius.

After taking many twists and turns, both of them arrived at a rather secretive location. It was a place completely deserted by people, close to one of the danger zones inside the kingdom.

Raven's sense picked some things off around him. He sensed another person but he couldn't pinpoint the exact location where he/she was hiding. Another thing was that, there is some sort of a barrier not too far away from them that's preventing his observation to go through. It didn't matter if it was his Energy Sense, Spiritual Sense or Tremorsense, all of those were blocked by this thing.

Sudden, the bush nearby them shook which greatly alerted Raven. His eyes narrowed and he quickly threw out a couple of needles towards it. The needles were enhanced by his energies thus making them sharper and deadlier. Raven heard a groan from the bush and it sounded like a man, he moved like a phantom and appeared beside the pinned down guy, his fingers were clutching a few needles as he brought them close to the man's neck. He then asked with a threatening tone…

"Make any unnecessary movements and these needles will find their way into your throat." Raven felt the man tensed up under his threat. "I'll ask a question, you answer. Blink once if yes, blink twice if no, if you don't know the answer then don't blink."

"Stand down." Raven was about to ask some question when Victor grabbed his shoulder. "He's not an enemy. He's guarding the place."

"Oh." Raven's cold eyes disappeared like snow in the middle of a summer. He then quickly retrieved the needles that pierced the guy and tapped some parts of his body. He then stared at the guy and said: "My bad. I'm new here."

Victor watched this scene while holding back his laughter. He then thought, 'What a kid! He made him eat a loss. How's he going to react to this?'

"God damn!" The guy exclaimed after catching his breath, he clutched his chest with a hand and looked wearily at Raven, then to Victor. "I just fucking saw my whole god damn life flash before my eyes! I genuinely thought that I will die! Holy shit!"

The started spitting out more profanities as he felt the rush in his heart. Just a few seconds ago he was genuinely convinced that he will die, a few seconds after that he was saved, his poor heart was having a difficulty processing all of this. He then faced Victor and said:

"Why didn't you tell him that I was here!?"

"You were clearly aware that aside from us members, almost no one comes here. Plus, you obviously know that we are coming, you won't be out lookout for at least a decade if you didn't have any skill. You obviously want to scare him for your own amusement, unfortunately he's better compared to you so you ate a loss."

Victor berated the guy harshly, from Raven's point of view, the two must really know each other or else the situation will be more tense right now.

"Alright, alright! You win! Enter now, the rest already arrived." The man threw his hands up and gave up, he then looked at Raven, he smiled then said: "You're very good, we're lacking people like you.. I hope you stay."