Way of the Knights

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"Thank goodness the time difference had an effect with this thing!" Raven exclaimed in relief as he held the Brush of Wisdom in his hand. 

A week had passed since he become the official heir of Chronos. Raven had mostly stayed within his residence to study everything he needed to know about his future responsibilities while also adjusting to the current changes on his body. 

During this time, he entered the Crown Space two times, spending a total of one year inside. As soon as he got out from his second entry for the week, the Brush of Wisdom jumped out from his body causing Raven to be surprised but also greatly relieved. 

He hadn't been optimistic before but seeing as the time difference within the crown space had an effect with the designated time for the Brush of Wisdom to evolve, made him very satisfied. At least he will have something to use. 

When Raven got the Brush of Wisdom back, it immediately sent him a mental message telling him what changed during its slumber.  action

Basically, anything that Raven draws using the brush could turn from illusion to reality in a snap, which is something that shocked him greatly. Bridging the gap between Illusion to Reality may not sound much but anyone would know just how difficult it was to achieve. 

Raven was already able to display something like this even before the brush' evolution. This is due to his vivid imagination and his crystal clear intent which makes anything he draw no less than real than what is real. However, with the evolution of the brush using the Primordial Ink, this feat became even more terrifying. 

With this, Raven's power essentially rose up a few notches. If Raven drew a tiger, then this tiger will become an actual, real-life tiger if Raven decided to make it real.

Similarly, if Raven drew a meteor, then...

Still, this is still mostly dependent on his Cosmic Energy reserves. So long as he could supply it, then there's no problem for him.

Once Raven was done admiring the changes on the Brush of Wisdom, Raven ended his week long seclusion. He cleaned himself, shaved, placed on his new uniform which more or less represents his status. 

Compared to the previous maroon colored uniform, Raven's uniform is now a mixture of black and bright red with golden linings. His obsidian badge was also replaced by a crimson red badge, signifying his authority as a High Elder of the sect. 

Raven admired his new look in front of the mirror first and nodded to himself. He then existed his room and went out to check how his subordinates are doing. 

He found Kyrie dressed in new clothes as well. If before she's wearing a uniform made specifically for the Battle Maids, now that she became the Leader of the Battle Maids, she changed too. She now has two pairs of crimson colored wings tucked behind her. These wings looked authentic as if she had always had this...

She's also wearing a maid's outfit, which was somewhat strange but isn't really out of place. Her hair fell like a waterfall behind her and her uniform accentuated her thought-provoking curves. She looked busy, obvious through the fact that she didn't even sense Raven's arrival. 

He saw her neatly arranging several files on Raven's desk, briefly glancing at each one to see which one takes precedence over the other. Everything she does, she does thoughtfully, displaying her passion and credibility as Raven's personal battle maid. 

Of course, actual battle is still Kyrie's specialty.

Raven calmly walked beside her and said: "What did I miss?" 

"Oh!" Kyrie yelped in surprise before calming down once she heard his familiar voice. She carefully retreated and bowed to him. "So you're out of your seclusion Young Lord."

"Mn." Raven nodded gently before sitting in front of the desk. 

"You haven't missed much, Young Lord. Some of your older acquaintances visited before but after hearing that your in seclusion, they left saying that they'll visit some other time." Kyrie reported to which Raven nodded. 

By older acquaintances, she must've meant the War Gods. Raven could more or less knew why they visited him but he can never be sure unless they met them first so he decided to wait until their next visit. 

"Aside from that, Sect Master sent someone here, asking to see this files. I arranged them based on how I think they should be categorized. There are some documents here that are confidential, I placed them as your priority." She added after pausing for a bit. 

"Good work." Raven nodded to her. Kyrie respectfully bowed and stood behind him. "How's the army looking?" 

"Becoming more and more stable as each day passed..." Kyrie answered. "At first, the activities you made for them were challenging even for battle hardened warriors like them, however as they were require to do it every single day, it's become more and more of a routine to them. If they continue this way, then they'll be ready ahead of time." 

"No need to rush." Raven waved his hand. "We've got time. It's okay for them to take it easy every now and then. The activities I made are taxing in all aspects. We don't want them to wring themselves out or for them to severely injured. So long as they're showing progress no matter how big or how little it is, then we're good." 

"I understand Young Lord." Kyrie replied. 

"How's the construction of cultivation environments going?"

"The Endless Slaughter World had been constructed and can used anytime you like, Young Lord." Kyrie replied, "The Spacetime Cultivation Environment is still under construction, they said that it'll take at least one to two weeks before it's ready. Also, your Destruction Cultivation Environment's level had been increased to it's peak. You can now sense all five concepts in there." 

"Great. Everything went accordingly." Raven was relieved. "Congratulations on you Promotion. I'll go check the documents now. If you want a day off, then you can have one just let me know." 

Kyrie was slightly surprised by Raven sudden offer but she managed to keep her composure before saying: "Thank you the consideration, Young Lord. I'll surely keep it in mind. Now then, I shall excuse myself."

As she walked away, Kyrie had a smile on her face. She was genuinely and pleasantly surprised by Raven's sudden offer. In her whole time as a battle maid, none of them candidates, chosen, or heirs had offered her a day off. Perhaps, only Raven would do something like that.

Raven simply nodded and focused his attention to the stack of papers in front of him. Although he appeared rather calm on the outside, he was in fact grumbling inwardly. 

'Come on! Paperwork? Already?' 

Nevertheless, Raven can't really do anything against this. It's one of his responsibilities by now. He first focused on the confidential documents before him since just like Kyrie said, this should be his priority. 

When he started going through them, Raven eventually managed discover a common trend to these documents. 

Although they are indeed confidential, it's not like the information contained through this documents were something that could mean the destruction of the sect should it be leaked, no. The contents of these documents are activity records of the important individuals of the sect. 

Everything they did, from the time they woke up to the time they slept is listed in here in a very detailed manner, even the food they ate was no exception. This might be a very unnerving information to learn about but Raven knew that the sect has a valid reason why they're doing this. 

Although the people listed in this documents are called 'Important Individuals', it'd be more accurate to say that they are suspicious people that're being monitored closely by the sect. They're being suspected as people who are possibly colluding with the enemy side. Not with the Devils nor the Devil Emperor exactly but with the 'Exiles'. 

The sect was being careful since there can't be any mistakes. One wrong move or carelessness might really spell the destruction of the sect and they can't allow that to happen or else, the Divine Realm is over and humanity will cease to exist. 

Amongst these names, there are two people that Raven could recognize, which shocked him quite a bit.

They were Edward and Felix, the two people who became the seeded disciples from Twin Star Academy back at the Azure Sun Great World where the sect exams were held. 

Raven's brow furrowed as he inspected the information listed on the documents about them and what he saw really bothered. 

According to the details, both Edward and Felix hardly killed any devils yet personally the merit points they earned remained stable. These two didn't join any other organizations nor participated on any events yet when it comes to merit point allowance, they didn't lose out to any of their unit-mates.

What's even more bothering is that, throughout the multiple patrols and expeditions that these two participated in, none of them sustained any visible injuries despite their other teammates having one. The most suspicious part is that, these two were seen by their teammates allegedly 'communicating' with the devils. 

Seeing all of this, Raven's brows furrowed even more.