Way of the Knights

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"Holy shit!" 

This was Albert's reaction upon seeing Raven for the first time after a long seclusion. The next one was…

"Who the hell are you?" 

Aside from being stunned, Raven burst out laughing as soon as he heard that question. He could still remember that this was the same question that Albert asked him upon their first meeting. Of course, Raven was aware that Albert's just fooling around. 

Albert stared at Raven, inspecting him closely like some sort of an experimental object. He even placed a hand under his chin and circled Raven under his inspection. After a while, he hummed in approval and said:

"Not bad. You can almost seduce every woman that will lay eyes on you. That's great!"

"Yeah, fuck you too." Raven roared out in laughter as he smacked Albert's shoulders. 

"Thanks. At least, your mother would soon be the principal of your own kindergarten." Albert snorted as he said his obscene comment. "You should at least get up to a 100 concubines even without lifting a finger. So long as your not lazy, then you can establish a whole damn clan by yourself! Aim high brother!"

"Bullshit!" Raven laughed, "I've no time for such things. Plus, one wife is enough for me." 

"A damn shame it is then!" Albert recklessly commented, "Won't you consider it? Your wife might become lonely by herself. You should at least take home a sister or ten! That way she'll have someone to accompany her."

"Shut up dude!" Raven continued laughing, "My wife isn't some random damsel in distress. Who knows? There might be a day when she could plunge her entire leg up your ass. You will regret making these comments then." 

"We will see." Albert grinned, "Anyway, if you haven't told me that you've got a wife, I might even start thinking that you're a monk or something. Hell, not even once did you go out from your seclusion! If I were in your position, I might've lost my mind already."

"It's not that bad." Raven smiled in a carefree manner. "If anything, these kinds of long term seclusion will become more and more frequent. After all, progress will be much harder from here on out. Not to mention, we also have to seek out enlightenments even more."

"I envy your strong mentality." Albert commented in a straightforward manner. "One year might've passed outside but due to your array, you were inside for less than five years! That's insanely long even for me! Not to mention that you didn't even step outside to relax momentarily, I actually find it a miracle that you're still sane in the head."

"Well, I had to or else, I won't have a chance in the recruitment." Raven commented. 

In the entirety of Raven's second life, this was the longest seclusion he had ever done. Practicing night and day, barely stopping in between, for less than five years could become tedious and boring for most people, specially the younger ones. 

However, how could they know that this was actually Raven's second life? In his past life, entering a seclusion that lasted for hundreds or even thousands of years, was pretty common for him. His heart and will had been long tempered by the loneliness and dull repetition of his actions. 

Five years of seclusion is nothing by a passing thought for him. 

"Anyway, how's the sect? Did anything happen while I was away?" Raven asked. 

"Same old, same old." Albert dismissively said, "It might be long for you but its just barely a year for us. Nothing much could really happen within that time frame. If anything, our clan just solidified our position even more."

"Right now, it's as if no one even remembers that old tool that we dealt with. Everyone in the Blue Marble Planet already accepted that we are now the overlords of this area. We're managing the sect pretty well. I'm not bragging when I said that some disciples think that we are more suited to run the sect rather than that dead fellow. As a result, we're more cohesive now and the sect's even doing better compared before. So there's nothing to worry about."

"I see, that's good then." Raven was relieved to hear that, he was initially worried that the Highlander Clan might face some difficulties managing the sect but it seems that his concerns were unnecessary.

"Anyhow, you've just exited conclusion. You better eat something light and have plenty of rest. I'll pass the message to Dad." Albert then looked at Raven with a strange smile and said: "Well, if you want to, I could also introduce you to some 'establishments' which could allow you to vent out your pent up frustrations. I'm sure none of those beauties would mind since you're just 'relieving your stress' if you know what I mean." 

"Scram!" Raven yelled as he laughed at Albert's suggestions. Albert just shrugged and said…

"Well, your loss then. Sigh, you really don't appreciate the good intentions of this brother!" Albert laughed as he waved off, swaggering towards Raul's office. Leaving Raven to shake his head in his shamelessness. 

But Albert's words were correct, even though Raven feels relatively fine, the truth is he needed a day or two to completely unwind. Even without him telling Raven what to do, the latter would do so anyway…

In all honesty, even if Raven were to go completely ballistic right now, he would still be relatively fine since his breakthrough was thoroughly consolidated anyway. Still, the best decision for him would be to spend a couple of days unwinding his stress in order to stabilize his soul. 

Going mad from long term seclusions is something that happened to many people before. Even though the stress doesn't really affect their overall process, it is still harmful for their mentality, without firm and strong wills, it is easy to fall into a quagmire of madness during these times, and Raven isn't willing to allow such thing to happen to him, even if the chances were close to none.

***

'Hmm, this [God Slaying Palm Art] is really profound.'

Raven originally planned to use two days to unwind, but it ended up becoming three days due to Raul's arrangement. According to him, he had to settle down some things before leaving so Raven's rest was extended. Of course, Raven didn't mind it much, so long as they could get to the venue in time, its fine for him. 

During these days, Raven ate, sleep and toured the Blue Marble Planet by himself. Seeking out vistas, enjoying sceneries and delicacies while also basking on a peaceful and serene environments which reinvigorated his soul. He didn't practice a thing throughout this time nor he meditated. He treated this days as his vacation, doing what he wanted without arousing any unnecessary attention to himself. 

These acts helped Raven to re-attune himself to reality and caused him to completely relaxed. 

However, while he was enjoying the life of an immortal tourist, the same thing can't be said for his Avatars. 

All nine of his Avatars are hard at work. Of course they do eat and rest at necessary times but their focus is to comprehend and learn as much as they could. 

As he was relaxing, Raven turned-off his connection with his Avatars during his vacation. He only opened them just now. 

It took Raven a whole hour in order to organize the insights that he received from his Avatars as soon as he connected with them. And just like this, Raven's aura subtlety changed once more but this hardly visible to anyone at all. 

The [99 Destruction Seals] were endlessly profound. He hadn't even studied the second seal, yet his Destruction Laws had already greatly benefitted from it. Though he already laid a solid foundation for the Breaking Concept, he could still feel that it is improving at an alarming pace. 

As for the [99 Holy Seals], it was more confusing for him. By virtue, the [99 Holy Seals] were the stark contrast of his Destruction Laws, therefore his benefit from this was negligible. However, strangely enough, its profundity still benefitted his Destruction Laws at some point, only his progress to it was relatively slower than the previous seals. 

'Wavefolding' is another thing that made Raven completely helpless. Even though he was already using it for quite sometime, he still have no methods to peer into its true profundities as for now. Still this didn't stop him from meditating over it. 

Lastly, the [God Slaying Palm Art]. His progress here was decent, as he already have his fist intent aiding him. Even though its posing a challenge right now, Raven was confident that he'll be able to learn it in due time. 

After adjusting himself and arranging all of his insights neatly on his psyche. Raven let out a sigh and heard a knock on his door. 

"Your Excellency, Sect Master Raul is already waiting for you in the Transmission Array." 

Hearing this, Raven inhaled sharply and pushed the door open. He then nodded to the attendant and walked towards the place where Raul and Albert was waiting for him. He calmed down his excitement as he solemnly thought…

'Alright Ancient Elysium Sect. Make things interesting for me, will you?'