Way of the Knights

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The Monument of Stars...

It appears like an enormous stone steele which was filled with multiple engravings of stars. Each star were dim and lifeless, yet they were filled with an ancient air and vicissitudes of time. 

Raven never understood why Geezer left this here. None of the previous Heirs explained it to him either, maybe because it's too early for him to know or they too, don't know. Needless to say, everyone who became the official Heir, had once interacted with this.

And now, it's Raven's turn. 

He had no idea what to expect and even if he did, it would be useless since he'd probably have a different experience anyway. Therefore, he just relaxed and placed his hand on the Monument of Stars. 

*Woosh!*

All Raven felt was an irresistible pull and his consciousness woke up in an entirely different place. 

He found himself standing in a wide space surrounded by stars. There was a road beneath him that stretched to the far-off distance. The road was quite narrow, it glowed with a faint blue-ish color and was quite illusory. At first glance, anyone would hesitate to even step on it since it doesn't appear solid but Raven stood at it without any problems. 

Raven however was confused, all of the signs were pointing him to follow this road and there's only one path forward. He didn't expect this kind if development but he's in no position to ask since he's already here. 

He then started walking forward, quite determined to see where this road will take him. 

As he started his journey, Raven looked around him in awe and slight confusion. 

It would seem as if he was in the middle of the outer space. He didn't know whether any of this was real or not since to his surprise, his ocular technique wasn't working here. It wasn't just that. His Cosmic Energy was locked, he also can't call upon the power of the Cleansing Flame Sprout.

In short, Raven was extremely vulnerable in this place. And raised some alarm within his mind but he still walked forward. 

When Raven got to a specific distance, he suddenly stopped on his tracks. His gaze was plastered towards his left, more specifically, at the formation of stars in there.

His mind trembled as he felt that these ones looked somewhat familiar, however he couldn't remember where they saw them for the life of him. 

That didn't stop him from staring at them though. Raven racked his memories in order to remind himself. Thankfully, his efforts were paid. 

"It's the same Constellation I saw within the Monument of Stars..." Raven murmured. 

To his astonishment though, as soon as he said that. That particular group of stars began moving towards him. Raven was shocked but he really didn't have anywhere to retreat so he could only stand in place and find out what's going to happen next. 

The Constellation arrived in front of him. Looking at it caused Raven feel a strange connection between him and this one. All of a sudden, the constellation suddenly released stronger fluctuations which caused Raven's expression to change.

'Is it...communicating with me?'

*Buzz!*

"It is!" Raven was gobsmacked. But he frowned once more since he had no idea what it wanted him to do. 

The constellation kept urging him by constantly releasing fluctuations however Raven remained clueless as to what it wants from him. 

Raven decided to lift his hand just to test things out, he had no other idea anyways. 

Surprisingly, just as he did that. The constellation suddenly shrank and released a faint brilliance that formed a link between it and Raven's palms. 

Once they connected, Raven's mind suddenly trembled. He was then assaulted with waves of information that doesn't belong to him. It was chaotic at first but Raven persisted through it. 

He felt as if he was a lone sailor amidst the raging sea, trying his best to remain afloat and survive. 

It was quite painful even with Raven's strong Will and formidable consciousness. As he persisted through the raging sea of memories, Raven felt as if he himself lived through it but as a bystander.

He saw years passed under his watch and felt jaded by everything. Even with his formidable mentality, he couldn't help but get close to being swept away by the passing memories. However, Raven held on to himself and guarded his consciousness. He knew the horrible consequences of losing one's self in this kinds of situations. 

If he couldn't resist this, then his consciousness will suffer a breakdown and he'll be reduced to idiot. Raven cannot allow himself to be like that. 

After god knows how long, Raven woke up from his suffering. His eyes were bleak and bloodshot, his chest heaved as he gasped for air. He looked incredulously at the shrunken constellation in front of him with a complicated gaze.

It took some time for him to calm down but he turned out to be okay. He also took some time to digest what he just experienced but to his surprise, he only managed to recall some parts of it. What made him quite excited was, aside from a few useful information, his consciousness experienced tremendous improvement thanks to what just happened. 

Right now, the advantages of his improved consciousness might not be visible but time will tell. 

He then returned his attention to the shrunken constellation in front of him and said:

"Extreme Yang Illumination." Raven muttered, "That's what you're called."

The constellation buzzed and all of a sudden, released an unparalleled brilliance that covered the entirety of the space. Under normal circumstances, people would cover their eyes or look away from this kind of brilliance but Raven merely squinted. 

The constellation released it's unparalleled glow for quite sometime before  slowly dimming. It's light turned faint until it was reduced to an orb which closely resembled a sun...a white sun. 

"So this is you're true form. The true form of the Extremely Yang Illumination." Raven nodded to himself. He stared at it for quite sometime before he saw it floating closer to him. 

Raven did nothing to prevent this from happening, he merely stood still and allowed the constellation to come closer to him. 

Eventually, the white sun fused with his body. Raven unconsciously closed his eyes as he felt warmth coursing through his body. It was so comfortable that he couldn't help but groan a few times. 

Raven's consciousness was also submerged into an ocean of profundity. He could feel that he's gaining some clues and short bouts of enlightenment yet he can't recall any of them. It was too mysterious, Raven had no idea what was going on but he didn't force it. He just let everything happen on its own. 

Several minutes later, Raven opened his eyes. And when he did, his eyes released two rays of divine radiance which illuminated everything before him. The glow on in his eyes subsided and without his permission, he felt another pull. 

When his vision returned, he found himself standing in front of the enormous stone monument once more. This gave Raven an idea that he could only gain the acknowledgement of one constellation at a time. 

"Hmm?" Raven frowned when he saw something at the corner of his eyes.

He looked over and to his surprise, he saw one of many constellations engraved in the stone monument releasing a faint glow. He inspected it briefly and realized that this one coincidentally looks the same as the constellation that represents the Extreme Yang Illumination. 

"So the Monument of Stars tracks my progress." Raven murmured. "And it looks like it doesn't have any particular order either."

"Correct." A voice sounded behind him. Raven looked around as saw another person standing in front of him. 

"Inos! It's been a while." Raven smiled. 

"Yeah, it's been a while." Inos replied, he had that good-natured smile plastered on his face as he looked at Raven. "Congratulations on gaining the acknowledgement of Extreme Yang Illumination. Do well in digesting what it gave to you, it'll be of significant help to your overall strength."

"Yes. I'll do that." Raven nodded. He then asked: "To be honest, I was quite nervous when you told me that I have to gain the acknowledgement of the constellations. I prepared myself for the worst, since your faces looked very ominous when you told me about that."

Inos laughed out loud upon hearing that. 

"Sorry about that Partner. It's quite a tradition you see. If you want to blame someone, blame Geezer for starting this whole trend. He was the one who conned the 1st into this. He's quite vengeful you see, and he wanted revenge. He can't do it to Geezer so the 2nd became his target. It then became a tradition just like that." 

Hearing that caused Raven's expression to turn strange. He then remembered something he wanted to ask...

"Am I eligible to enter the other areas within the Palace now?" 

"Not yet, I'm afraid." Inos shook his head, "When you reach a certain level of strength, some of them will eventually be available to you. The same deal if you were acknowledged by more constellations."

"So work hard, Partner.. The earlier you unlock those areas, the more you'll be able to benefit."