Way of the Knights

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"Nina, Tori! Come, come!"

Raven called out to his sisters who had been playing with each other not too far away from him. When the twins heard his voice, they burst into cute giggles and started walking towards him while on a stroller stand. 

"Gii! Ray~." The twins called out to him while giggling. Raven smiled warmly and pinched their puffy cheeks. 

He then picked Nina then Tori and showered them with kisses, much to the delight of the two who started pinching his cheeks and pulling his hairs out. 

Nina and Tori had both grew up. They could now call out some words and were already showing some intelligence. Their personalities are already showing up as well. Nina is the more active one and she was also the one who likes pulling his hair. She generally goes wherever she pleases and would throw a fit if she didn't get what she wanted. Even Raven has to admit that they spoiled this little princess.

As for Tori, she is the mellowed down version of Nina. Tori was the one who always pinches Raven's cheeks. Tori rarely threw a fit, she will only do so if she's extremely irritated or if she couldn't see Nina anywhere. She's also the one who could reel in Nina's mischievousness just by holding her hand. It was like they both have their own language even though they can't speak properly just yet.

The girls always comes in a pair. They're almost inseparable. If someone wanted to carry Nina, they also have to carry Tori too or else Nina would throw a fit, this goes vice versa. No one can choose one of them, it has to be both of them. 

As Raven played with his sisters, Eva as well as Luis came in and smiled seeing their interaction. They just loved how Raven never compromises and will always look for a time to spend with the twins even under his busy schedule. They both laughed when Raven turned around and they saw how twins pinched his cheeks and pulled his hairs. 

"Okay, okay you two. Your Big Brother had enough." Eva said as she took both of them away from Raven's arms and placed them back on their strollers. 

They saw Nina pouting while spouting some gibberish, making them laugh. She probably wanted to spend more time pulling Raven's hairs out. She only calmed down when Tori called out to her using their own language, then they started talking to each other.

"And you, isn't it your first day today? Shouldn't you be preparing for it?" Eva chided at Raven.

"I know, Mom. I just want to visit before I go." Raven said while fixing his hair.

"Have you eaten yet?" Luis asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yes, Dad." Raven nodded, as soon as he finished tidying himself up, he then said: "Anyways, I'm going now. You guys take care."

His parents nodded as he waved goodbye. After exiting his Dad's office, he then called for a carriage and rode towards the Heavenly Cloud Academy.

Yes, the academy was finished. And it's opening ceremony happened last week. 

To say that the event was glorious, isn't an understatement. The Academy is probably the largest infrastructure built at the Inner Court of the Kingdom. The opening ceremony was attended by the majority of the Kingdom's representatives. As the pioneer of this whole movement, Raven of course was the one who's at the seat of honor. He sat with the King and his aides, clearly signifying his status by now. 

The enrollment happened shortly after that, and everyone who wanted to study was welcomed. No tuition fees are needed, all they need to bring is their personal belongings and that's it. 

There are a whopping 200,000 students who enrolled, they differ in ages and cultivation realms. But since the Academy was large, they all fit in. In fact, there's even room for more. 

Today is the first day of the School Year. Raven and his friends honored the promise of being Instructors of the Academy.

Raven was tasked to teach students the qualities of being a 'Leader', knowledge about the 'Unity of Body, Energy, and Spirit', as well as 'Alchemy' and 'Beastiology'. He's also tasked to give students some 'Conditioning Training'. 

Paul is the Instructor for 'Defenders', 'Energy Path' and 'Body Path'. Mark is the Instructor of the 'Assassins', 'Lair Hunters', as well as 'Body Path'. Ellen teaches the 'Assaulters, 'Energy Path', and 'Spirit Path'. Anne teaches 'Rangers', 'Energy Path' and 'Spirit Path'. And Luna is the Instructor for 'Assaulters', and the 'Three Human Cultivation Paths'.

Of course, they aren't the only teachers in here. There is no lack of knowledgeable people in the kingdom, Raven only needed to give them some pointers and suddenly they have more instructors even in other areas that he couldn't cover.

Raven wore his Instructor attire as soon as he stepped out of the carriage. It was a white, scholar's robe which sleeves reaches halfway through his arms. There is a crest of a colorful cloud at the back of the robes, signifying that he's a personnel. This robes have another function as well. There is a badge sewn on the robes itself that could allow any instructor to access every information that they needed to know in just moments. This idea was presented by Paul to Raven since he didn't want to swamp his old man with papers again. 

This robes are also made out of quality materials. While it couldn't actively defend against an attack, it won't get easily damaged.

As soon as Raven stepped within the territory of the Academy, the guards already noticed his presence. He showed his personal badge and the guards let them in. In fact there's absolutely no need for him to do this but Raven was the one who insisted to do so. He didn't want to show any preferential treatment even for himself.

Due to the sheer size of the Academy, Raven was required to employ some movement techniques in order to reach the Teacher's Faculty Room swiftly since he was very close to being late in his schedule. He had to report in or else, this day wouldn't be counted towards his service.

Due to how fast he moved, people barely saw his silhouette. He came in the faculty room, stamped the attendance sheet and swiftly went towards his first class. 

Raven appeared like a phantom inside a large field with students. His sudden appearance caused the students to immediately cease all activities to focus at him. Once they realized who was standing in front of them, they were all stunned.

"Unbelievable…"

"Eek! So it's true! He's will really be an Instructor of this class! I'm so glad I took this course!"

"Holy shit! My idol is here!"

"Shit! Shit! I'm going to faint!"

Murmurs of the class didn't escape Raven's ears, causing him to sigh and shake his head. He touched the badge on his chest and all of a sudden, a screen of light appeared in front of him. The screen of light started showing lists of names and profiles for each students. 

"Good morning, everyone." Raven greeted the class. "Welcome to the Training Class. My name's Raven, and I'll be your Instructor."

"Good morning, Instructor Raven." The class greeted back. Raven waved his hand and signaled them to sit. 

"Before we start the class, as I am the first Instructor that you met in this newly formed Academy. I have to remind you of some things first. You may already heard this from your parents but I'm going to repeat them one more time, so listen closely."

"This applies not only in my class, but for others as well. Admission Rule #3. Once a student wore the Academy's uniform and badge, they are no longer the person who they were before they got admitted. It matters not what their background is, noble or common, everyone will start at the same line. Inside the academy they are a Student, no more no less. Their families are prohibited from using their connections to provide any kind of resources to the student of the academy. On the day the students got admitted to the academy, anything that they want to take with them from outside have to go through an application process except for their daily needs. This will make so that everything they wanted to reach should be achieved by using their own efforts."

"In short, your surnames won't give you any kind of benefits here. If you want to become an Official Knight of the Kingdom, then reach it with your own efforts."

"In this class, I will be teaching you ways to train effectively. That being said, my methods may or may not push you to the brink of insanity. I won't stop for anyone. If you couldn't follow, then I won't wait for you. If you do good, you will receive something. If you can't, then better luck next time."

"I won't pressure any of you to remain in my class. As long as I see at least one student in here, I will continue teaching."

"If any of you have no questions, pick up the weighted armors on that side of the field.. Wear them and start running laps around, those who finish ten laps will receive something from me."