Way of the Knights

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"Well, that's all there is too it." Raven said as he saw the still on going madness around him. 

With the Madness rune hanging above their heads, the monsters around him continued slaughtering each other mercilessly. So long as the rune remained in there, every beast that will see it, will turn mad and will start killing each other. Sufficed to say, it's pretty much sure that the rune will remain in there since it could sustain itself even without Raven's assistance. 

While the madness went on around him, Raven wasn't shy. He sneakily harvested some materials from the fresh corpses around him such as the feathers and claws of the Snow Harpies, the club, sinew and skin of the Ice Trolls, the tridents and dorsal fins of Northern Merfolk. These items might not look much but they are valuable. 

Some of these items could be used in Alchemy. Some of them could be used as catalyst for blacksmithing and so on. If Raven were to take these items at the Merit Exchange Market, he'd probably receive a good amount of Merit Points. However, as Raven's not really lacking in that department, he decided to use these items himself. 

"I could tinker some pretty neat items out of these things. Heck, I could even use some of them to improve the overall quality of the formation, making it no less than an actual fortress. I essentially got them for free so why not?" Raven murmured as he continued his harvest. 

After sometime, the large horde of beast which appeared earlier, was now virtually gone. The ones remaining were extremely injured and would succumb to the everlasting embrace of winter pretty soon. 

Raven no longer concerned himself with these beasts. He had made a killing with barely an effort, a feat that only Raven might be able to pull off. 

He was in the middle of enhancing the formation right now. He was focused on the task since one wrong move and the formation will fall apart, placing him at risk with each passing moment. 

Proceeding with care, Raven eventually was able to bolster the defense of the formation. Now, it would even be tougher for beasts to locate it, and even if they could, they won't be able to go past its defense. 

Raven had a smile of relief once he was done with his job. As he was deciding whether to take eat or go straight to sleeping, something occurred within him that completely changed his plans. 

He felt a commotion within his inner world, strong enough to rock his body. His eyes went wide as he immediately sank his perception within his Inner World. When he does, he became immediately surprised with what's happening. 

His attention went straight towards the center of his Inner Cosmos since that's where he felt the fluctuations from earlier. When he took a look, he discovered that the World Tree Seed was shaking fiercely as if it was about to erupt. 

Raven hurriedly calmed his nerves down and concentrated. Moving swiftly, he immediately entered the crown space, going straight towards the Cultivation Eden. He sat on the largest Stargazing Mat and consumed supplements that aids his concentration.  action

Once he was good to go, he entered a meditative state and began releasing his control over the World Tree Seed. 

Chaos ensued after that. 

Raven's body visibly rocked back and forth due to the intense fluctuations within his body thanks to the World Tree Seed. His Inner Cosmos went chaotic, but he wasn't really injured thanks to the tempering he had went through. 

Audible cracking sounds echoed on his ears, being released by the World Tree Seed. Raven's energy was being absorbed at an alarming pace, yet at the same time Raven could feel a large mass of insight crashing through his brain. 

These insights were focused on Spacetime Laws, what shocked him is that, the seed hadn't even bloomed yet and he's already gaining tons of insight. So far, he had only heard the rhythmic cracking sounds of the seed's shell, yet for some reason it is filled with profound mysteries that sent Raven's brain in an overdrive already. 

Raven tried to devour these insights as swiftly as he could, he even had his Avatars helping him with it. Still he's was just barely making it through. However that didn't really stumped him at all. If anything, this encounter just fired him up even more. 

Raven being at his absolute best state when it comes to deduction thanks to the assistance of supplements and tools, upped the tempo. Now, he was able to deduce the mysteries and insights to the point that he's no longer being overwhelmed. In fact, he's now waiting for it to release more instead. 

Raven didn't get confident of course, he knew very well that this is just the start of everything. And he's totally right about that. 

When cracks actually started appearing at the surface of the seed, that's when things went more intense for him. Everything about the appearance of the seed was now filled with Spacetime Law insights, even the ambiguous cracks that had formed on its surface were also filled with profundity, not to mention the sounds it makes. 

Raven devoured the insights like a starving hyena. He could feel that his knowledge about the concepts of Spacetime Laws were solidifying and becoming richer as time goes on. 

More cracks appeared at the surface of the World Tree Seed. From within it, Raven could hear a faint hymn which sounds like the rhythmic beating of a heart. 

All of a sudden, a massive fluctuations rocked him once more. This time around, there was a massive explosion that occurred within Raven's Inner Cosmos. 

Everything went in chaos, yet for some reason, as Raven experienced this chaos, he found himself in a trance. Entering the state of enlightenment amidst the chaotic environment within his body. 

As Raven fell in trance, a great transformation occurred within his body. His Inner Cosmos shrank considerably, yet it's overall quality rose up as well. At the very center of the Cosmos, there was a fog which hid the most important transformation of all. 

Since Raven was at a state where he's in no control, his perception can't pierce through this fog. Yet if one would've looked closely, the fog serving as a veil to hide the transformation of the World Tree Seed is actually filled with a strong yet also very familiar feeling to it. 

Time passed just like this. As Raven and his Avatars processed all of the insights that were drowning them, they were making large strides towards the Spacetime Laws, so much progress that it's actually starting to overtake the overall progress of the Destruction Laws. 

At some point, the fog covering the center of the cosmos suddenly made a large movement. Every single bit of it were sucked within the center, more specifically at the lone yet somehow massive sprout at the very center of his Inner Cosmos. 

The spout has taken root, and currently has two leaves. One was green, filled with veins at the surface that traces back at the main vein at the very center of the leaf. Its color was vibrantly crisp, filled with vigor and numerous profundities of Spacetime Laws. This leaf, is the actual leaf of the World Tree. 

This leaf might just look like some plain old leaf at the surface but once one discovered the seemingly endless profundities within, one would be able to unlock a world-shaking secret. 

The other leaf was pure white in color. Unlike the other leaf, this one doesn't have a stable form. It erratically sways and changes shape at any given moment. Nevertheless, it still contained the same amount of profundity within which also holds an earth-shaking secret. 

This leaf is in fact, the new form of Raven's Cleansing Flames. The Cleansing Flame Sprout was devoured by the World Tree Seed back then but it wasn't completely gone. It experienced a rebirth along with the World Tree Seed blooming. 

Now it is a part of Raven's World Tree Seed, and it evolved into something that still has the characteristics of the Cleansing Flames and more. 

The World Tree Seed had sprouted and greatly rewarded Raven for his patience and diligence. It has stopped draining his energies which were almost sucked dry. 

Now that it had turned into a World Tree Sprout, Raven's progress with Spacetime Laws would only improve even further. Just the blooming of the seed, expedited the time it will take for Raven to reach the 3rd Concept of Spacetime Laws. What's more is that, it doesn't stop there. There are still profundities that Raven could deduce by observing the leaves of the sprout. 

If Raven could unlock the earth-shaking secrets behind them, then Raven strength would shoot through the roof. Who knows, he might even reach the same level of strength he had back at his previous life even if he hadn't reached the Empyrean Rank yet. 

Still, the amount of insights he received when the seed bloomed were too much. It would take him months before he could eventually digest them all so he'd be in this state for quite sometime. 

Thankfully he decided to go at the cultivation eden to seclude himself.