Way of the Knights

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After Victor announced the winner of the match, the class was still reeling where they stood.

Zelor, the young master of a prestegious family, was beaten to the point of begging. One can't imagine just how muchstain this will leave on the reputation of the Mort Family.

Aside from being astonished, they were also slightly worried about the implications of this result. They knew Zelor for a long time now, he's incredibly vengeful and petty, they have no doubts that he will try to come for Raven and/or his family, specially now that Raven just deeply offended the Mort Family.

"Cedric." Victor called using a mark on his wrist. Instantly, a shadow came running towards him and kneeled as soon as it arrived. 

"You called Master?"

"Take Zelor to the medics and have then nurse him back to health. When he wakes up, take him back to his family and give them my letter. Tell them that Zelor's formally expelled from the Genius Class and never to return. If they want details then tell them to read my letter. You are not to leave his side until then, make sure that he won't be harmed while he's under your protection."

"As you wish, Master." The man named Cedric then went towards Zelor's fainted body and carried him away.

The class watched as Cedric disappeared, leaving behind a silence that's somewhat uncomfortable.

"Let's huddle up everyone, take a seat somewhere." Victor smiled and changed the atmosphere of the class.

The students followed his instructions and huddled together, previously there were sixteen of them here but now there's one person less. 

"I have to say..." Victor looked at them one by one before continuing, "What a strange day, right? I for one thought that there will be no expulsions today but it seems that I was wrong." Upon saying this, his gaze inevitably landed towards Raven, who was only smiling which made it hard for others to imagine what his thoughts are.

"So, did any of you had an idea of what was the method I hand in mind to help you reach the 100% conversion?"

The class was silent for a bit, majority of them them was pressed hard into thinking, they recalled the battle earlier to find more clues but they can't find the answers.

"Don't think too much people..." Wilbert's voice caught the attention of the whole class. "It's not that complicated, it's Energy Control."

The clueless students looked at Wilbert in confusion. Scenes of the earlier game flashed through their minds but they're having a hard time convincing themselves to believe him.

"Precisely." Victor's clear voice confirmed it, making the rest of the students look towards him.

"Surface Walking, Energy Vision, Energy Sense, Energy Cloaking, Voice Transmission, these are the tricks that everybody learns as early as they start cultivation. People might think that these are just mere parlor tricks but your classmates right here just gave you guys a rude awakening."

The class can't help but to look at Raven and the rest of his friends, they knew Victor was referring to them when he said those words.

"The only reason why 100% Energy Essence Conversion seems impossible, is because you were told that it is very hard to control and manipulate them. Well? What if you get better at controlling your energies then? Wouldn't that fix the problem?" 

Victor's rhetorical question left most of the students gobsmacked, it was a little hard to believe that the answer they were looking about was this simple. 

"Now you might be thinking that since the answer was so simple, then you are good to go. I'll tell you this early that, yes, the solution might sound simple but it doesn't mean that it's easy to achieve." Victor already warned before they even start overestimating themselves.

"From now on up until the time when you breakthrough, I want you to polish your Energy Control. I'll give you a homework exersises to follow and whenever I call you guys for a class, you have to perform the homework I gave you. There won't be any rewards nor punishment if you're not able to do your homeworks, but because of my requirement, you're breakthroughs will be pushed further and further, that will set behind your classmates. If you don't want that to happen, then try your best."

Victor added yet another obstacle for the class, most of them just finished their monthly task and haven't even rested yet but now there's another headache for them. At some point, they wanted to just laze around for a bit and enjoy life, but it seems that Victor won't let them be.

"I will demonstrate your first homework so watch closely."

Victor spoke, allowing everyone's attention to be focused on him. Once he was sure that everyone was watching, he raised his hand and imemdiately a thin layer of energy spread ang formed a protective sphere around him. This is Energy Barrier, another widely known technique that everyone knows. 

Before anyone could speak, all of them felt a sharp fluctuation on Victor's Energy Barrier. The feeling was faint but unmistakably there, despite this they still can't find any visible changes on the energy barrier.

"Energy Vision everyone." Raven's leisurely voice echoed across the ears of his classmates. A tremor ran pass their bodies and they all started looking at Victor's Energy Barrier using Energy Vision.

When their vision adjusted, their eyes constricted a bit. The Energy Barrier surrounding Victor shone with clean sheen and also incredibly solid. Compared to what majority of them could conjure, Victor's Energy Barrier was three times denser.

"This will be your first homework. Conjure an Energy Barrier that's at least three times thicker that what you previously could."

Sufficed to say, this first homework was already giving them a severe headache. They all thought that the toughness of Energy Barriers depend on one's cultivation but they were so wrong about it. Who knows just how much experimentation they have to do in order to clear this task.

"Alright. You guys saw the demonstration, now it's up to you on how you will acheive it." Victor said as he deactivated his Energy Barrier, "Remember, asking for clues from you classmates is fine, but don't completely rely on them. They won't be the one who will cultivate for you, so it has to be you own efforts." 

"Are there any questions?" 

No one said anything for now, the class remembered their lessons and everything they experienced today would need time to be slowly realized and added to their knowledge.

"Since no one has any questions, then class dismissed. Oh, Raven please stay for a bit, I'll have some matters to discuss with you."

Raven nodded and said goodbye to Luna and the rest. In the wreckage of the training field, only Victor and Raven remained. Their eyes met for a bit, Raven scrutinize Victor closely and he was pretty sure that the other was doing the same to him as well.

Raven had a little impression of this person, but this was from the rumors during his past life. They said that Victor is a very capable man, some of his actions might appear very suspicious but he's very loyal to the kingdom. 

"Well, I'll be." Victor said after inspecting Raven in a close proximity, "I did not expect Luis' son to be this impressive."

Raven's brow rasied up as soon as he heard him say this, he then replied: "Teacher's acquainted with my Dad?"

Victor laughed, his expression turned into a melancholic one. "Acquainted? Yes, very acquainted. We we're once part of the Genius Class."

Raven's eyes widened, he didn't know that! He knew that his father made it onto the genius class before but he never knew that Victor attended the class with him.

"It's understandable that you have no idea, my apperance went under a complete transformation since then. I used to be fat, obese even, back in the day."

When Victor said this, an image suddenly surfaced in his mind. His eyes widened once more as the image in his head gradually overlapped with the current image in front of him.

"Oh! So you're that guy!" Raven exclaimed, the only reason why he realized this was because his mother used to show him some albums when he was a child, and there was one image there where the whole genius class was gathered.

'Now that I think about it.' Raven thought, 'He awfully looked a lot like Fatty Rupert when teacher was in his youth, are they related?'

"Is Teacher related to Rupert?" Raven asked, unable to hold his curiosity.

"Yes." Victor didn't deny this at all and confirmed it with a nod, "That fat child is my nephew."

"Oh, I see." 

"How's your Dad doing? It's been years since we last talked." Victor asked.

"He's been doing great. He broke through Silver Knight not too long ago, that made him even more inspired in his work." Raven shared.

Delight flashed on Victor's face when he heard this, he smiled and said: "Good, that is indeed a good news. He finally escaped that quagmire."

Silence reigned between them for a bit, Raven saw Victor hesitating before placing a determined expression on his face. He looked at Raven and asked:

"Are you willing to join the Eternal Horizon Clan?"

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