Way of the Knights

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As he saw what happened in his Inner World, everything became clear to him. Though he's still finding it difficult to believe that such a thing was possible to happen. 

"Damn!" Raven's lips twitched, "So this was the serendipity that the elk was talking about? Isn't this more of a gamble instead of a lucky chance? The risks are simply too high, if it weren't for my habits ever since I started cultivating, I would've died!"

Raven's heart pounded, the sound of it was so loud that it reverberates to his surroundings. This isn't because he's nervous or anything, this just because the blood vitality on his body was too dense and his pulse is strong that every heartbeat of his sounds like thundering drums. His body could naturally suppress this sound without affecting his state. 

"If I am correct, I would've reached this stage naturally once I reached Immortal Knight Emperor Realm. Which also means that I would've already been halfway through cultivating the Second Chapter of the Book of Chaos. But now, it seems that it was expedited. I don't know if this is a good thing or not." Raven mused to himself. 

It had to be known that Raven has no knowledge about the Second Chapter for the Book of Chaos just yet. He was told by Geezer to not open the seal containing the second chapter before he finished cultivating the first and he intended to follow that.

There are two transformations left before he reaches the acme for cultivating the first chapter. The 8th Transformation will take him to Saint Knight Realm and the 9th Transformation will allow him to reach Lord Knight Realm. 

The beginning of the Second Chapter will take him to the Knight Monarch Realm, it would then be followed by Knight King, Knight Emperor - which has sub-stages like: Platinum, Saint, Immortal, Perfected Immortal, Deity and Perfect Deity. After Knight Emperor Realm comes the Empyrean Knight Realm. What follows is the stage that is yearned by many. The Divine Knight Realm.

The sub-stages of the Knight Emperor Realm is the ultimate divider for cultivators. Observing closely, the names of the sub-stages are the same exact ranks used to determine one's Champion Physique. 

As the famous saying goes: 'Immortal to Empyrean, Deity to Divinity.' 

The direct explanation for this is only those who managed to form an Immortal-ranked Champion's Physique would have the chances to enter the Empyrean Stage. This is because only those who has Immortal-ranked Champion's Physique will reach Immortal Knight Emperor Realm. And only those at the Immortal Knight Emperor Realm has the enough potential and qualifications to challenge the barrier of the Empyrean Knight Realm. Anything lower would just be plain suicide.

Champion Physiques are something that the Heavenly Laws bestowed to people, throughout the years, humans discovered the trend which got them to realize that Champion's Physique is simply the way Heavenly Laws decides one's potential. 

Similarly, only those who posses Deity-ranked Champion's Physiques has the qualifications to dream about reaching the Divine Knight Realm. Unfortunately, no one managed to even come close to reaching it, which is why everyone has little hopes about it. Still, the owners of Deity-ranked Champion's Physique are still valued by many. 

Raven has no idea on how far the Second Chapter will take him, but for now it seems that his path had become slightly different from his Senior Disciples.

When his musings reached this thought, Raven unconsciously looked at the trees and remembered the time when the Heavenly Elk said that it could see the workings of fate itself. This caused Raven to wonder what the Heavenly Elk saw about his fate. Why did it decide to unseal his Cosmic Force? It should've known the risk of doing so yet it still did the deed. Was the Heavenly Elk certain that he will survive the unsealing? 

Unfortunately, since the elk decided to hide itself, Raven had no options but to throw these questions away. 

"I'm…too strong." A peculiar look appeared on Raven's face. "Never thought that I would say those words, and I never thought that I would find this feeling troublesome." 

Had Raven reached this stage normally, there wouldn't have been any problems. Unfortunately, that's not the case. This massive boost in strength was too sudden and surprising for him. It threw all of his control out of the window. 

Sure, his instinctual habits before helped with his survive this early unsealing but since he wasn't actively in charge, he had no accurate judgement on how to actively suppress his strength in order to not destroy everything that he touches. 

Just now, he legitimately shattered an entire mountain with just a step, he wasn't even sure if the Golem residing within it survived the crash. 

A wave of his hand alone could cause the air to turn into sharp blades that could cut through solid objects cleanly. What's worse is that he's not even using his Cosmic Energy during this. All of these results were reached by just his sheer physical strength alone. 

And for a mere Champion Knight, such results are incredibly abnormal. He's afraid that he might be mistaken as a spy sent by Ancient Elysium Sect's enemies, and that is something that he didn't want to happen. 

"How much time has passed anyway?" Raven took out a device from his spatial ring which could monitor time and found out the answer to his question. "Roughly a year huh?"

This means that he still has 9 more years to stay inside, which made Raven feel a little bit conflicted. 

"What's going to happen to my Smelting Trial then?" He asked out loud, trying to see if the Heavenly Elk would answer him. Unfortunately, only silence replied to him, leaving the situation quite strange for him. 

Raven originally wanted to take out the Ancient Elysium Sect's badge but he decided against it since he's afraid that he will break it. So in order to prevent accidents from happening Raven decided to immediately start learning how to control his monstrous strength. 

***

"Well, I guess this can be counted as my smelting trial…" Raven mused as he sat down on a piece of rock. 

His whole body was drenched in sweat, his breathing was a bit hurried but he was fine and dandy. Compared to his state, his surroundings however was in a complete opposite state. 

A good chunk of the forest was ruined. Shattered trees and broken leaves along with branches lied scattered around him. The previously flat and fertile land has now turned into a deep pit and it will only become deeper as time goes on. 

Raven has spent a total of six months here in the 89th floor, focused on the task of gaining full control over his sudden increase in power. Whilst everyone else were ceaselessly fighting against Lesser Imps and searching for more serendipities, Raven was stuck here to train by himself. 

Gaining control over his monstrous strength had been rather challenging to him. Raven had never once thought that he will face a problem like this. Usually, the reason why he improves his control is to be stronger, now however, he exercise control because he wants to be weaker. 

Raven's methods were simple. In fact, nothing major really changed on his training. Raven had once applied a Restriction Seal on his body which helped in training his physique. Raven simply cranked up the level of restriction on his body. 

Additionally, he also modified the Restriction Seal to a point where it would only seal his Physical Strength. That way, he could get used to it in a methodical manner. 

Still, even with this method, gaining control still proved to be challenging. He had to seal 90% of his Physical Strength in order to not break everything he touches. That is an absurd amount, yet it was barely enough to stop him. 

In fact, the reason why this pit was present here is because he tried throwing a serious punch on the ground with unrefined control, resulting in such outcome. When he sealed 50% of his strength, he threw another serious punch and a large path of the forest ended up in devastation. He had to seal 90% of strength in order to go back to his original state - before the unsealing happened. 

That where he began, after constantly training for six months, he's only sealing 75% which was a great progress for him. 

What's funny is that, gaining full control over full strength actually became his task. At first, he thought that his minds were playing games with him, but he received the updated message from the Devil Emperor's Pagoda and it tasked him to control his strength until the time limit. This includes not only his physical strength but also his current laws and other techniques. 

There's even a disclaimer saying that he doesn't have to worry about anyone spying over him since no one would dare to within the Heavenly Elk's supervision. 

In truth, Raven didn't know what to feel in this situation. On one hand, he didn't like the idea of preferential treatment but at the same time, he really needed this chance.. In the end, he could only sigh and accept the deal, thinking that since he was provided with a chance, he would repay this favor in full in the future.