Way of the Knights

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"Okay, first of all what the fuck?" Jason was the one who reacted first. "Did you really have to do that to your arm? Are you out of your mind?"

His words summarized what the others were thinking too. They couldn't help but think if that was really necessary but then they remembered that someone rudely antagonized him just now so he might've done that just to silence his hater. 

Hearing his questions on caused Raven to shrug it off. 

"But more importantly, these pills are pretty much priceless isn't it?" Jonathan said as he stared at the pills bottles. "How many pills are inside each bottle?"

"There's five." Raven answered. 

"So that's like five extra lives for us. Ain't that neat? If you're really in a pinch, you can also use it just the way he did just now in order to squeeze as much value out of it as possible. That's incredible." Jonathan added. 

"Will there be any side effects?" Nelson asked.

"I don't think so. If there is, I should be feeling traces of it by now." He answered. 

"Which makes this pills even more incredible." Franklin added, "I can't believe that we're receiving something like this during our first week here. Just this alone raises my expectations for what's to come, that being said we also need to work hard and have the best results in order for us to receive these things again."

"If they could hand something like this to us, then I can't even imagine what they will give us when we show a very promising result. Gah, I'm feeling fired up." Edward commented. 

"Okay, let's calm down. This is just the beginning. Each of us will take a pill bottle, after that we'll let Raven check out the next crate." 

And just like what Jason stated, each member received a bottle of life-saving pills. Raven kept the bottle which has the one pill he took shavings from. After everyone received theirs, Raven moved on to the next crate and picked up a bottle from it to inspect. 

He removed the cork and sniffed the fragrance escaping from the opening. He paused for a bit as his mind gradually identified the ingredients used to make the pill, from there he could discover what kind of pill this is and what effect its going to have if an individual consumes it.

Just like before, everyone saw that Raven took out a single pill from the bottle before sealing it again with the cork. He took of some shavings from it once again before returning it to the bottle. However, he didn't injure himself this time. And instead of applying it externally, he sprinkled the powder onto his mouth and went into a meditative state. 

His actions were a bit questionable for them but they could only wait for him to reveal the details later. They didn't have to wait that long either, it only took Raven a minute before his eyes opened again. He then started explaining.

"This is a pill that hastens cultivation speed." Raven stated, "Just now, with that amount, I could feel an improvement of 3%."

"Holy shit!"

"You are kidding!"

"That's absurd!"

Violent reactions were heard from the group as they heard his statement. How can they not be shocked? How could a pill have such an effect? Raven just consumed some shavings off of it! In theory that shouldn't even be enough to have any effect at all but there he was, saying that he felt an improvement of 3%. 

"You're always free to try it yourselves if you don't believe me." Raven shrugged amidst their doubtful reactions. "Anyway, let me finish."

"Although I can't tell how much boost we will receive if we consume an entire pill, I have no doubts that it'd be no less than shocking. Additionally, it's also quite possible for this pill to harmonize with external tools such as a good cultivation environment, or other supplements such as medicines or tools that could allow you to enter a pseudo-enlightenment state."

If Raven's first revelation already shocked them this much, then his words just now left them reeling. Aren't these medicines a little too absurd? To think that they'll be receiving something like this with minimal effort is just…

"Do you guys want to hear my suggestions?" Raven asked, causing some of them to raise a brow. 

Jason spoke for the team and said: "Let's hear it."

"For those who are planning to switch their cultivation techniques, then I recommend that you consume this pills after switching. The sect doesn't lack strong cultivation techniques or resources. There's six pills inside a bottle and because it's absurdly potent, then it will shorten the time you need to get back from the peak. Now all that's missing is to purchase a suitable technique, a good environment with great amounts of pure energy and you're more or less set. If you do it this way, then you'll at least save up some Merit Points since we basically received these pills for free. But of course, the decision is still yours in the end."

Switching cultivation techniques at this point basically means starting from scratch. Usually, those who made up their mind to do so, will start accumulating resources so that they could return to their previous realm as soon as they could. This process could become incredibly expensive depending on the circumstances but thanks to this pills, anyone in Unit-17 who's planning to switch could save up Merit Points since this pill bottle should be enough to get them back to their peak. 

The members, specially the weaker links, fell into deep thought upon hearing his suggestions. Actually, now that he mentioned it, switching their cultivation methods sounds rather tempting, specially after laying eyes on their absurd numbers in the Repository Hall. 

"Thanks for the great suggestion, I think it's not only me who's rather tempted to switch their cultivation methods however now's not the time, we'll discuss that later." Jason said, once again taking the lead as how it should be. 

The cultivation enhancement pill was distributed to each member. Now, only the last crate remains and once again, Raven did his own ritual of sniffing the scent, thinking and consuming some of its shavings before explaining the effects. 

What's different is that, this third pill appears to be something that Raven found the most absurd of it all. He hadn't said anything yet but its already visible on his face. 

"God damn, this is some good shit." Raven spat in a vulgar tone. He cleared his throat and recovered his composure since his teammates are looking at him weirdly. After that, he started explaining.

"My energy reserves just expanded by a percent just now." 

That right there, was enough for everyone to know what Raven wanted to say. But that didn't make it any less than surprising. In fact, that's probably the most impactful way to reveal the effects of the pill. 

"B-but…how?" Even Ryan, the guy who appears as stoic as rock most of the times, lost his composure and were stuttering. 

"How can that be? I mean, I get it this is the Ancient Elysium Sect but this is just…I don't even know what to say! Are you sure?" Jason was too shocked by this revelation that even he couldn't help but to ask one more time. 

"It's not some secret anymore that I have large energy reserves right?" Raven asked, to which most of them agreed. They witnessed it first hand during their time with the constructs. While most of them dismounted early since they were running out of energy, Raven remained on it until the end of the siege. 

"Medicines that has an effect like this doesn't have any effect on me anymore. But this one is different. I could clearly feel its effect. And there's no reason for me to lie to you. Additionally, it expands your energy reserves in a systematical way. Meaning that it won't raise your cultivation level nor will cause it to be chaotic. Because of that, in your future breakthroughs you would still gain the benefit of the natural energy reserve increase."

"My god…" Michelle whispered breathlessly as her stare at the pill bottle turned a little too heated. 

"Aha-ahahaha…" Edward awkwardly laughed, "What the hell is this place dude? What did I get myself into? I don't feel like I'm fucking worthy of these." 

"I know how that feels." Juniper murmured, but was heard by majority of the team. 

"How many pills are in each bottle?" Floyd asked with a solemn tone.

"There's five."

"FIVE!!!???" Majority of the team reacted violently. 

"I feel like there's a punchline somewhere. If there's not then I'm going to faint from shock." Jason stated with twitching lips. He then had an idea, "There should be some side-effects right? I refuse to believe that something this good doesn't have any side-effects."

His words was like a wake-up call for everyone, they all looked at Raven and waited for him to answer.

Hearing his question caused Raven's face to turn weird, which somehow got them nervous. He sighed and said:

"Well…"

(To be continued…)