Way of the Knights

---

'I have made quite a progress during these past few days.' Raven hummed inwardly as he rested inside his tent. 

Their training under this heavy pressure really squeezed out their hidden potential, most specifically for Raven who doesn't see much action as needed. Right now, although he could still feel the weight of the immense pressure, it doesn't hinder him so much to the point of rooting him on the spot unlike before, 

Additionally, Raven already managed to circulate his Cosmic Energy under normal speed even while he's at outside of the formation. The immense pressure outside slows down his energy circulation previously, but not that problem was solved. Additionally, since he could achieve what was his previous speed of energy circulation even under the influence of the immense pressure, his energy circulation without it was much faster compared before. 

If that's not enough, thanks to him repeatedly circulating his energy throughout his body, the purity of his Cosmic Energy was exponentially rising. This was thanks to the filtering effects of the World Tree Sprout as it was the medium that purifies his Cosmic Energy. And since he's actively resisting the immense pressure outside, his Cosmic Energy was being purified even more, creating a cycle that benefits him greatly. 

In the short span of days, his improvements could rival what it would normally take him months to accomplish.

Aside from him, the improvement of his current teammates were also nothing to scoff at. Due to the influence of the pressure, they were ironing out the imperfections on their techniques. Slowly but surely, these techniques were being refined into their most optimal state which would undoubtedly bring them immense boost on their upcoming battles. 

All in all, their decision to take advantage of this pressure to boost their growth was a correct one. Thankfully, Raven realized this and brought this to their attention, if not then they wouldn't have been able to grow even stronger. 

---

"Everyone has proper adjusted to the pressure right?" Raven asked after their breakfast, earning nods from his teammates. "Since that's the case, let's move a little forward yeah?"

The War Gods look at each other and nodded. Henry then said: "Sounds good. Since we've already minimized the effects of the pressure outside, then let's see what's lies on the top."

"Meh, I wouldn't jump into conclusions if I were you." Theo interjected, causing Henry and Logan to frown. 

"What do you mean?" Henry asked. However, instead of answering his question, Theo just looked at Raven. This was him telling Henry to listen to what Raven has to say. 

Raven of course knew what Theo implied, so he nodded and explained himself: "Well, it would indeed be nice if we could just charge towards the peak right away. However, I don't think that it would be as simple as that."

"You see, typically in places where pressure like this exists. The closer we are at out destination, the heavier the pressure gets." Raven stated, causing Henry to momentarily be dazed and had the sudden urge to slap himself.

Yeah, how could he forget about that simple fact?

"So yeah, I don't think it would be that simple. I bet the pressure we have to endure will increase as we goes closer to the peak." Raven said, "The guardian at the 13th Checkpoint said that there's 10,000 miles left for us to trek. I bet you once we enter the 9,000 meter territory, the pressure will suddenly spike. Well, I could also be wrong. But we'll find out about it shortly aren't we?" 

"We're going there by foot so we would instantly feel it if there's a spike in pressure. Then, we go back to camping and adjusting ourselves to the increased pressure and move forwards. Rinse and repeat. So yeah, this is going to take a while." Theo explained, allowing the rest to catch a glimpse of how the last stretch of their journey is going to look like.

Raven nodded to Theo's words as he too thought the same. He had been placed in these kinds of situations before that he's no longer surprised. And the rest were experienced people so they too understand what's about to happen. 

"Oh well, that doesn't really sound so bad." Logan commented. "At least there won't be some pesky beast that will hinder us anymore. If there were then this is truly going to be a pain in the ass." 

"Even if there is, Raven would most likely have a way to deal with them so you don't really need to worry about it." Charles commented as well. 

"Oh, true." Logan nodded. 

Raven simply smiled and didn't deny this. He has indeed his ways to deal with beast, if there would be any. Heck, he even had a way to nullify this immense pressure around them if he wanted to, he's being quiet about it. 

The reason being is that, nullifying the pressure would also disperse the chance for them to grasp the opportunity to grow stronger. They already resolved themselves to train and telling them that he could disperse the pressure in a few flicks of his wrist will dampen their resolve. 

Having the formation serving as their safe zone is already enough on it's own. Since he could modify the formation to disperse the pressure, the he could always emulate that through other means. 

With that being said, the team decided to move on and continue their hike. Raven had prepared himself to erect the formation as soon as they needed it. He could even activate it without needed to move. 

As they continued onwards, the pressure remained constant. Thanks to their recent improvements, they could more or less ignore the heaviness pressing them down. They took brief breaks during their travels in order to eat something or to rest. Raven decided to not activate the formation this time around since they could bear with the pressure anyway. 

They followed the road and after two days of travelling, they arrived at the 9,000 mile distance away from the peak. It is also during this time that the pressure around them suddenly spiked without any warnings. 

"Urk!?" Logan released a muffled groan as he felt the sudden increase of the pressure around them. 

The others had more tamed reactions but they were nevertheless affected as well. 

"Well, it's seems that out speculations are right." Raven murmured as he felt the weight around them. He had a visible frown on his face, just like the rest of his teammates. 

"Oh well, at least we weren't taken by surprise unlike before." Theo mentioned, "And come to think of it, this wasn't as bad as before." 

His words caused the others to agree. Compared before when they were literally rooted to the ground, at least now, they could still stand straight under this pressure. 

"Thankfully we decided to use the opportunity to train." Charles commented, "If it weren't for than, then we would be at a much terrible state when we reach this point. And things will only get worse from here." 

"That's right." Henry nodded, "Oh, well. What else can we do? Come on, let's get used to this as quickly as we could." 

"Yeah!" The rest of the team answered.  action

The one who's the least affected to this sudden spike of pressure was undoubtedly Raven as he could still move freely even under its influence.

While the others worked hard to get comfortable with the sudden changes, Raven walked to the side and began activating the formation as their safe zone. Once he was done, he entered and began preparing food for the group since it was already close to noon, and they need to have their lunch. 

As he food cooks, Raven joined then outside to get some training for himself while also keeping the time in mind, 

Although they could do some movements thanks to them adjusting to the initial burst of pressure, it will still take them a few days to fully adjust to this spike of pressure so he had to make sure to keep his teammates at their peak condition

The team then continued doing what they do best and fell into a routine of exposing themselves to the pressure majority of the times and resting at appropriate times as well. Raven made sure to keep them in check and constantly reminded them to be patience and be thorough. 

He wanted them to forge their foundations even stronger and refine their techniques to their acme since they have no way of knowing when they'll be able to come back here or if they could even come back here at all. 

The War Gods followed his advice very closely. At some point, they weren't even questioning him anyone since Raven's image in their hearts was already the epitome of credibility. 

Raven wasn't really aiming for this but he also wouldn't deny that he had ulterior motives on motivating them to be stronger. 

'No need to rush everyone.' Raven muttered inwardly as he observed the War Gods working hard. 'That's it. Grasp this opportunity and grow strong. The stronger you are, the more beneficial you would be...especially to me....'