Way of the Knights

Chapter 4: Gift to Dad

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"Amazing. As expected of the Sun Warriors Clan." Raven sighed as he read the note.

The Final Haven Kingdom has a rich history. There were many humans who were born and died in this place. The Royal Family had changed from era to era as well, and the during the Dark Sky Era, it was the Sun Warriors Clan that rose to fame and protected the kingdom from verge of destruction.

Their reign lasted for quite sometime, but as they say, whatever rises will ultimately fall. Try as they may, the Sun Warriors Clan declined but their legacy was still passed down. With Raven's guesses, the last descendant of the Sun Warriors Clan was that skeleton that held this suitcase. Alas, such is the cycle of life.

Nevertheless, their techniques will shine once more, and it will be his father that will do so.

"We're home!" Speaking of which. Raven woke up from his stupor and looked at the door. There he saw his parents carrying some groceries from the market.

"Mom! Dad! Look, I found a treasure!" Raven placed an excited expression while calling them out. His parents smiled and walked towards him. They didn't find it weird that he brought something home again, it wasn't the first time that he did so anyway.

"Oh? What's this?" Luis, his father, asked while ruffling his head.

"It says here that these are elixirs, I think a long lost one. Here's the letter written in Dark Sky Era's language." He said while handing the letter down to his dad.

At first, Luis wasn't really impressed, he was just faking it for the sake of his son. But as he read the letter, his expression turned into excitement. His eyes shone as he eyed the elixirs.

"Where did you find this?" Luis asked.

"On the hill." Raven blinked, "I tripped onto something, when I looked closely it wasn't a rock but the handle. I dug it and brought it here." A lie that he made up.

"What about these?" Luis pointed at the jade slips.

"I don't know." Raven shrugged, "I mean, It's obviously jade slips but I think they're more than that. Must be some kind of tool from the same era as well." A white lie that he told this time around.

Luis picked up one random jade slip. He observed it closely and pondered. After a while. He decided to experiment and send his energy onto the jade slip. After some time, his eyes snapped open and his face wore an expression of shock with a mixture of elation as well.

He hurriedly picked up another one and did the same, after going through each jade slip, the whole inheritance of the Sun Warriors Clan are now printed on his mind. His heart was beating furiously due to extreme excitement.

"What's wrong with you?" Raven's mother suddenly appeared and asked Luis.

"Eva! Here, send your energy inside, you will know why." Evangeline was confused but followed his instructions anyway. After a while, her eyes also went wide, she could now understand why her husband was making that expression.

"Haha! You really discovered a treasure this time around!" Luis said while ferociously rubbing the head of Raven.

"What does it contain?" Raven asked innocently while snickering inside his mind.

"It's a secret for now…" Luis said sternly.

"Boo…" Raven puffed his cheeks and pouted.

"Well, it's a powerful technique. But you can't use it unless you reach Soldier Realm. Until then, you can't tell anyone about this okay?" Luis consoled his son. He was fully aware that he shouldn't be lying to his own son, he was the one who found it after all. He lied because he wanted to protect his son from danger.

He too could approximately tell just how strong the techniques were. If somehow, the news were leaked, it would expose his beloved son into danger which was the last thing that he wanted for him. Of course, Raven understood this, he was just acting so that he could protect the secret about his rebirth as well.

Seeing that his son was still sulking, he sighed and said: "Okay how about this. Tell me what do you want as a present, I'll buy it for you."

Hearing this, Raven's eyes shone and turned his head towards him, he then asked: "Really?"

"Mn!" Luis nodded his head in confirmation and said: "Really."

"Buy me a Gravity Suit!" He exclaimed as he looked at his father with puppy eyes.

"Gravity Suit?" Luis repeated, wanting to confirm if he heard it correctly.

"Mn!" Raven nodded and continued, "For my training."

Luis pondered for a while and nodded. "Okay, I'll buy you a Gravity Suit tomorrow."

"Yey!"

After that promise, Luis kept the suitcase on his spatial ring and the family shared dinner. After helping his mom with the dishes. He returned back in his room and meditated.

"I can't use any of those elixirs yet. Even if we dilute it multiple times, the energies contained in it will just damage my body instead of curing it. Dang it, why do have such a weak body at this age?"

Raven whined in displeasure. His body was the main reason why he wasn't able to practice further even though he really wanted to.

The path towards strength is a long one. It is necessary to build up a solid and stable foundation as he go, or else it will greatly hinder him once he reached the higher realm.

Most kids at his age just started to enter the first step towards Knighthood, which was the Fighter Realm.

The Fighter Path is divided into separate Realms: Skin Toughening, Muscle Training, Organ Washing, Bone Tempering and Marrow Cleansing.

All of this realms is further divided into 4 stages: Early, Middle, Late and Peak Stages.

Skin Toughening Realm, just like the name suggests, is to use the surrounding Qi to nourish the skin and make it more durable. In early stages of this realm, one's skin could be as durable as leather while on the later stages, their skin would be as tough as a mature tree. This is precisely the realm where Raven is currently.

The process of cultivation is painful. Raven remembered that it would feel like countless of needles were poking every fiber of skin. One slip of concentration and they could hurt themselves, like what happened to him. One should be very careful and not ignore these damages since it cou accumulate over time and greatly hinder their process.

This is the main reason why he wasn't able to cultivate so far. He wanted to cure these damages first and the cultivate afterwards. This step is necessary to build a solid foundation and enable him to reach greater heights in the future.

"Speaking of cultivating, school starts next week. I wonder how are my brothers faring so far."

Raven felt a deep sense of nostalgia once more. During the great war for survival, all of his friends died miserably while protecting the kingdom. He personally witnessed their deaths and some of them even died in his arms. He can't possibly forget those moments, specially when his best friends used their own bodies to shield him from the grasp of death. Raven felt the world crumble as he witnessed that and cursed his pathetic self while running away in search for a place to hide.

He repeatedly cursed himself for being weak and blamed himself for their deaths. He even asked why he was the only one who survived, it could've been someone who's far more talented that he is but he was the only one.

When his memories reached here, a group of people suddenly appeared in his mind. It was the Black Curtain Guild.

The Black Curtain Guild is a group of people who were evicted by the Royal Family from the Kingdom. It was due to their atrocious deeds and immoral actions that led to their banishment, yet they haven't given up on the kingdom and longed to return.

Due to the geographical advantage of the Kingdom, it might be the last remaining spot for humanity to develop themselves, anywhere else is just terrible. Raven himself could agree to this as well.

Due to some mysterious method, the Black Curtain Guild could use the demonic beasts and gather them to attack the city, they have often used this as means to probe the current strength of the kingdom. Sometimes, they will even use this opportunity to ambush and kill some important figures of the kingdom in order to eliminate future threats.

Raven was also aware that the forces of this evil guild had already penetrated the kingdom. It was just a pity that he wasn't paying close attention before so he couldn't really point fingers, but he had a vague idea on his mind. If they made a mistake in his presence then they should kiss goodbye towards their future plans.

"Black Curtain Guild. You guys better prepare yourselves. Every debt has it's collector. It won't take me long before I could march in front of your gates and erase you in this world."

Raven said while pulling up the sheets of his bed and drifting to sleep.