Way of the Knights

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According to Raul, Ancient Elysium Sect's background is just unfathomable. 

Although he failed being five times in the disciples enlistment, Raul harbored no resentment nor was he shameful about admitting this. 

The reason as to why he didn't feel this way is largely because the trials of the Ancient Elysium Sect not only broadened his horizons but also allowed to receive great fortunes that greatly helped him even to this day. 

There was no need to doubt about the difficulty of the trials set by the sect to the aspiring disciples. Had it been simple, then Raul might not even remain in the Highlander Clan at all. Additionally, just possessing the badge doesn't mean that Raven would have it easy. The badge is just is a qualification requirement. It's only purpose is to allow someone to participate in the trials and nothing more. 

Raul advised Ravel to not casually show it around, mainly because of the fact that it might bring harm to him. The Ancient Elysium Sect is a famous place and those who recognize it are far too many, even more so, those people who wanted to be a part of it. Snatching someone's badge happens regularly due to desperation, right now, Raven is too weak and if he casually brings out his badge, he would undoubtedly be the target of the snatchers. 

Right now, what Raven has to do is to strengthen himself. Per Raul's words, what he needed is to condense a Perfected Immortal Champion's Physique upon his breakthrough, on then would he be able to at least struggle with the countless of hopefuls that will join the recruitment. While this is not an official rule, and no one would really prevent someone of lower champion's physique from participating, there are only limited numbers of disciples that would be admitted. It is already expected that this kind of event will be flocked by waves of geniuses. The competition would be incredibly fierce, and those that could barely keep up the pace will eventually be left behind. Which means that Raul's requirements are perfectly understandable.

The ranks of Champion Physiques are Golden, Platinum, Saint, Immortal, Perfected Immortal, Deity and Perfected Deity ranks. 

Sufficed to say, gaining a Perfected Immortal Physique would be very challenging for anyone, but so long as one places effort on their training and had solid foundations, then its definitely achievable. 

Which is precisely why Raven is working hard right now...

Raul informed Raven that the tests given out by the sect differs on each occasion and thus, making him incapable of providing him with hints to take advantage of. The only help Raul could offer is to supply him with resources, and Raven was perfectly fine with that. 

***

"Alright, we're here!" Albert announced after opening the door. 

As soon as the both of them entered, their sight were immediately blinded with countless glows and auras of formidable items. 

Right after their conversation, Raul tasked Albert to give Raven a tour of the Sect Treasury and allow him to take some items. Of course, Raven didn't hesitate to agree since he's really in need of supplies, specially now that he's preparing for something. 

From fearsome weapons down to the most mysterious trinkets, everything was in full display, leaving Raven somewhat stunned. After his initial surprise, Raven couldn't help but sigh.

'Just one of this item from this treasury would cause a rivers of blood to flow and mountains of corpses to form if taken to the lower planes, yet the sheer number of items here are just way too many. The disparity is just really too great.' He lamented inwardly. 

Raven wasn't really that surprised upon seeing this many treasures. During his previous life, he had seen countless of more formidable items compared to the ones here. It just really saddened him to be reminded that the disparity between realms are just too wide. 

Albert seemed to have not notice Raven's despondent face, instead his gaze is fixed at the rows upon rows of mystical items that caused his heartbeat to quicken. 

"I really wanted to take a look inside once again and see if I could take another item but I already received some. Plus, only one person could enter at a time." Albert sighed, he then looked at Raven and said: "Go try your luck. I'll wait for you here."

Raven nodded to him and held the pass that Raul gave him earlier before traversing the film of light that protected the treasury. 

As soon as he entered, the doors closed behind him and Raven was immediately assaulted by berserk energies emanating off of the items contained within.

Raven raised his brow and with an audible snort, he released a slight pulse of his spiritual pressure. Instantly, the world inside the treasury was drowned in a pin drop silence, some items were even trembling, probably due to fright because of what Raven did. 

Some of this treasures had definitely developed some form of consciousness already, and thus capable of choosing who wields them. It had to be known that entering the Sect Treasury is a test as well. Anyone who enters will have to endure the spiritual pressure of the intelligent items here and gain their acknowledgement before taking them away. On some instances upon the history of the sect, some disciples wasn't able to endure this spiritual pressure and directly fainted, thus not allowing them to take anything away. 

Anyone who witnesses this kind of reaction from the treasures here would probably faint in shock. Who would've thought that a day will come where, these insufferably arrogant and overbearing treasures, would submit due to a snort. 

"That's more like it." Raven smiled and began inspecting one treasure after another. 

Now that the treasures are behaving properly, Raven had more time to inspect their properties closer without being annoyed by their auras. The details of each treasures are listed on the jade slips placed before their vessels. And after spending time reading most of them, Raven sighed and whispered: 

"Nothing suits me here." His gaze then located the stairs leading up to the next floor, he then made a decision and climbed the stairs without hesitation. 

The Sect Treasury consists of five floors, each floor contained different kinds of treasures. Of course, the higher one climbed, the better the quality of their treasures will see, but also the more formidable the spiritual pressure they have to endure. 

Upon reaching the second floor, Raven was once again welcomed by a wave of overbearing spiritual might emanating out of the treasures located here. However, similar to how he dealt with the previous floor, one snort from him and everything calmed down. And just like this, Raven took his time inspecting one treasure after another. 

As expected, the quality of treasures here were naturally better compared to the previous floor. The second floor mostly contained peak-stage Platinum Ranked Spiritual Treasures while others reached Saint Ranked Spiritual Treasures. The grades of the treasures followed the same rankings as Champion Physiques, but as Raven inspected them one by one, nothing here really satisfied him at all. 

The same goes upon reaching the third floor. Even though most of the items on the third floor contained Immortal Ranked Spiritual Treasures, none managed to catch his eyes. 

This isn't because Raven was being greedy. Had he managed to find treasures that suited him, Raven wouldn't care less whether it is a only a Golden Ranked Spiritual Treasure, he would still take it. What matters to him is the potential synergy between him and his chosen treasure, not their quality. 

And thus, he ascended to the fourth floor. Upon his arrival, things got more interesting for him. 

Each time he ascended to another floor, the amount of treasures he sees gets lesser and lesser. Back in the first floor, he saw several hundreds of Golden Ranked treasures. On the second floor, he had seen more or less one hundred treasures. By the time he got to the third floor, he had seen less than fifty treasures. 

And on the fourth floor, he only saw twenty five spiritual treasures, yet their quality is high and their intelligence are firmer. 

After dispersing the spiritual treasures, Raven could actually see ripples emanating out of the weapons. Normally these wouldn't be visible to anyone but not for Raven. These ripples represents that these treasures are actually communicating with each other. 

Unfortunately, even though Raven was curious about what they're talking about, he had no way to decipher their language. 

As such, Raven ignored them and began inspecting the details of one treasure after another. The more he read, the more somber Raven got. These treasures were naturally formidable but none really suited him…

…at least, that's what he initially thought. 

Raven nearly ignored it, but thankfully he didn't. Once he focused on it's vessel, he felt some kind of calling, causing his eyes to lit up.

What's rather unfortunate is that, this treasure doesn't have any details. Clearly signifying that those who brought here were similarly puzzled about it's name and its actual uses. 

But what really intrigued Raven isn't the fact that this treasure doesn't have any details?..

It was the fact that what he's looking at, is a wide Praying Mat.