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112 Sudden Danger Way of the Knights

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---
Of course I understand their plight.
Moreover, I also now understand the severity of this mission.
"I share your sentiments Captain Jordan, even so, it's not like we could refuse this task right?" I asked him which in turn made him grimace.
Jordan doesn't really want this mission, it's safe to say that if he could entrust this mission to someone else, he might've done so already, but there are certain rules that any association needs to follow, and it's their turn to do their part.
Good thing I came across this mission this early, maybe I could do something… Aha! That's a good idea!
"Am I allowed to bring another person in this mission?"
Jordan looked at me weirdly and weighed his options. He then asked: "If it's someone who could help our mission then maybe we could arrange something."
"Awesome! When do we leave?"
"Uh…" He hesitated first before saying, "Tomorrow at sunset. We meet at the western gate."
"Okay, got it! See you there!"
***
"Are we late?"
I asked as soon as we arrived at the western gate. The members of the adventurers tavern was already there. They were wearing a dull colored cloaks around their bodies along with the same colored hoods. This should be for camouflaging…
Jordan looked at me, and the person I bought with me. They measured gazes at first before I diffused the tense atmosphere.
"Captain Jordan, this is Sir Jackson, a Lair Hunter."
Just with that title alone, the three people immediately had their eyes wide open. They scampered and hurriedly greeted Sir Jackson in order to not offend him.
Come to think of it, recruiting this guy wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. After asking about the contents of the mission he immediately jumped ahead and told me he's coming.
He's the first one that came to my mind since I know that he could be trusted. Plus, Hopper was with him and this black panther needs some real experiences.
"Greetings Sir Jackson, excuse us for the attitude, we are certainly not expecting someone of your caliber to join our little escapade." Jordan bowed as he apologized to Jackson, the two behind him also followed suit.
I saw Jackson waved his hand non-chalantly before saying: "Don't sweat it. I've been meaning to investigate that place as well anyway, just so happen that this little guy invited me and I jumped in."
"Oh! Where are my manners!? M-my name is Jordan, current Captain of the Adventurer's Tavern. Behind me is Alina and George. Pleased to meet you Sir."
"Same here." Yep, that's his reply. Super plain and flat.
For some reason, I have this feeling Jackson had another purpose for coming with us, but then again not my business.
"How are the preparations?" Jackson asked.
"All good Sir!" Jordan replied like a good underling.
"Move out…"
Is it just me, or Jackson just snagged the leadership in Jordan's hands? He totally did right? Damn, he's awesome.
I guess that's the prestige of a Lair Hunting Knight for ya'.
If there's anyone whom people trust to have great knowledge on what's beyond the walls, it would be them since outside exploration is the main reason why they're called as Lair Hunters.
Well, there me as well but they don't know that, and I have no plans on letting them know. That's unless something important comes up.
We walked up to the guards stationed at the Western Wall, they blocked us first and asked for our purpose. It was Jordan who came up and dealt with them, after showing them some valid documents, the guards allowed us passage and outside we went.
As we took out first step outside the walls, the atmosphere within the group immediately went cold.
I could tell that these folks from the Adventurers Tavern became somewhat intimidated by the scenery outside.
Thick bushes, towering trees, chilling wind, in addition of the blanket of darkness that covers the whole sky. This place isn't for the weak-willed, I'm certain that all of us felt some movements beyond the trail-blazed path before us. If we're not careful, then whatever it is that's lurking beyond would be the cause of our death.
Memories from my past life flooded me. I recalled a great deal things just from coming here. I find it hard to believe that I walked through this unfriendly environment for a fraction of my life and came out alive.
I began spreading my spiritual sense, I'm pretty sure that I am wearing a somber expression right now. I took a brief glance on how the rest was faring and it's within my expectations.
Jackson was relatively calm, while the rest was a bit uncomfortable. This would be a long night for us.
"Take this…" Out of nowhere, Jackson handed out a jar that's filled with some sort of brownish paste. I took one and opened it. The smell that came out of it immediately assaulted my nose with countless profanities, and I'm pretty sure the rest experienced that as well.
"Don't mind the smell too much, you'll grow into it. Spread that in your current clothing, that would prevent some nasty insects from approaching you." Jackson explained as he spread the paste onto his clothes as well.
I didn't say much since I know this stuff is useful despite its pungent smell. The folks from the Adventurers Tavern hesitated at first but when they saw that I was doing what was told, they followed suit as well.
"What even is this paste? I never smelled something so horrible before." Alina muttered softly.
"Something that will make you wish you never knew." I replied, which prompted a glare from her. I shrugged and didn't pay any attention to her anymore.
It's a paste made out of some part of a dead squirrel, piss of a brown bear, lion's feces, spoiled garlic and onions. I could tell since this is not the first time that I placed this on myself. During my previous life, there are some missions that forced me to venture beyond the gates and Jackson would always remind me to do this.
See? I did her a favor by not telling her right? If she had known what's this for, would she even want to continue the journey or immediately back off to clean herself.
Now that the team is ready, we now headed towards the trail-blazed path forward.
Normally, 5 kilometers isn't that faraway, if this was the interior of the kingdom then it would only take us hours to eventually get there. But this is not the place to rush. Like I said earlier, any carelessness would lead to our death even though this is within the Yellow Zone.
We moved in an orderly fashion according to Jackson's arrangement. He was in front, I was in the middle, Jordan was at the back, Alina was on my right and George was on my left.
Well, I can't really say much right? He did this to protect me, I get it. He's the captain now anyway.
Needless to say, I'm not some useless baggage. It is not much, but my spiritual sense is constantly scanning the 10 miles radius of our location. I made sure that I'm taking every detail that I pick up into consideration.
Jackson is also not taking this lightly as well, he had Hopper scout ahead of us while he was viewing the Shared Vision. Jordan and his team was also good at moving stealthily, none of their footsteps were loud and they always watch out where they stepped in order to not raise any alarms.
Without dropping my scan, I also took my time to observe the sky. I'm not particularly looking to stargaze at the moment, I have other purposes for doing this.
"Stop stargazing kid, pay attention to where you walk." It turns out that Alina was watching me, well she's beside me so she could always see what I'm doing.
"Do you see any stars?" I asked.
She looked up briefly before saying: "No."
"Then how could you tell that I'm stargazing then?"
My retort left her speechless and furious again, I rolled my eyes and paid no attention to her. Why is she even here?
Oh right! My ocular technique! Let's see here…
"Shit!"
My cursing was loud enough to catch the attention of the team. They looked towards me in alarm and probably saw the nasty expression on my face.
"What's wrong kid?" Jackson hurriedly asked.
I didn't answer him first, instead I took out my sundial and did some calculations in my head. None of us moved, Jackson closely watched my actions while the rest was puzzled. I don't care about their opinions, our situation just gotten more dangerous right now!
"Quick! Find somewhere to hide! Preferably underground! Move!" I practically yelled.
"What's happening kid!?" Alina asked while clasping my shoulder. This might be her way of calming me down but now is not that time!
"4th Lunar Month! Our Moons are nowhere to be seen! The air contains a faint glitter! Notice the signs!" As I said this, they immediately figured out why I was panicking. Their faces paled and panic started settling down in their guts.
"Diamond Dust Eclipse!"
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113 Diamond Dust Eclipse Way of the Knights

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---"Quick! Find somewhere to hide! It doesn't need to be large! We'll make do with what we have."Jackson panicked as well, judging from his personality, he's probably mentally cursing dozens of profanities as of this moment.I hurriedly ran off to several places, not even minding any safety precautions. Beasts have always been more sensitive to their surroundings compared to humans, it's very likely that they've already sensed danger and long since found a hiding spot. That might also be the reason why we sensed some beasts running off, they must looking for a place to hide as well.My spiritual sense is on full bloom right now, I didn't even mind exhausting myself just to ensure our safety.If we don't find any suitable hideouts, then we will most likely die where we stood.A few minutes passed by and my spiritual sense touched something. There was a deep pit just few paces away from me. I hurriedly crouched and swept the twigs that are blocking the entrance, after making sure that it wasn't a death trap, I grabbed the team's attention and pointed at the pit.Everyone jumped in without hesitation, me included. The bottom of the pit was pretty spacious that we don't have to squeeze in to fit. Even so, we aren't safe just yet."We have to build a roof that could shield us during the eclipse. Does anyone have ideas or tools?" George asked as he eyed the opening of the pit."I'll take care of it." I summoned a large sculpture from my spatial ring, huge enough to cover the opening of the pit, that sculpture is made out of pure iron so it should hold up until the eclipse pass. Meanwhile, Jackson took out a small torch and lit it up using a sulfuric rock. "Is that a sculpture?" Alina asked, it seems that she caught a brief glance of the thing I used to cover the entrance.I nodded to answer her question, then she asked, "Why would you place a sculpture on your spatial ring?""Can't you just say 'Thank you' instead? If it weren't for that, then we probably don't have anything to cover this pit." Seriously? Why does she ask strange questions? It isn't her business to pry on the things that I place on 'MY' spatial ring."He's right Alina, don't pry too much." Jordan reprimanded her which caused Alina to pout. She found a spot somewhere and sat down to calm her nerves. "You saved our asses back there. Thanks.""You're welcome." I nodded in acknowledgement.Not even a second after that, we heard some rough and grating sounds on the surface. All of us instinctively looked up to check if the sculpture was holding up, and it seems that it does which greatly relieved me."Rest everyone, preserve your energies. Diamond Dust Eclipse lasts for 10 hours, which means we will stay here for that long as well. We cultivators have strong bodies and can last for an entire day with little air but for safety purposes, monitor yourselves." Jackson ordered, to which we complied.I found a spot to sit down and sank into a meditative state. I have the lowest cultivation here but if I focus enough, I will probably last longer than them.But man, this sucks! I can't believe that our timing was that bad, to think that we will face the eclipse as soon as we head out.The Grand Ancestral Plane has a very weird climate and phenomena, the Diamond Dust Eclipse is one of them.It is an occurence when the environment will completely stay still before a merciless onslaught of what we call Diamond Dust, desecrates everything. This phenomenon is somewhat similar to a sandstorm or a blizzard, but unlike sand or snow, Diamond Dust is extremely fatal.Imagine a glass, right? If you take this glass and pound it real hard, it will be pulverized, correct? Now imagine this powder, but each speck is capable of nullifying any sort of energy, make it extremely sharp as well, where if someone threw a handful of this dust onto someone's face, that person's face would probably be wounded by hundreds of times, don't even mention inhaling some this since it sill carve you up from the inside.Now take all of that, throw in at least a thousand bags of said powder and send it along with a powerful gust of air. What do you think a humans will end up once they were caught up in that thing.That's the Diamond Dust Eclipse in a nutshell. Unless one has a brief understanding with Laws, it would be very hard to survive the onslaught of the Diamond Dust Eclipse. To top things off, this is only one of the hazards beyond the walls. Fortunately, for some mysterious reasons that even I don't know, the Eclipse doesn't occur in the Kingdom. I don't know what causes that or what makes the land so special, but I'm glad that it works that way.Everyone was concentrated on conserving their energy, we will be stuck here for 10 hours and after that we have to move fast since as soon as the eclipse stopped those who are hiding will come out, which means beasts would become active again.I'm getting chills. I don't why but something's amiss, I feel so uncomfortable. This feeling irritated me, causing me to look all around me. Everyone is in deep meditation so I made sure to make as little noise as possible. My ocular technique is active as I scour my surroundings for something, but I can't find anything...There is it again! I'm getting chills all over again! It feels terrible! Like that feeling when you are missing something very important and obvious, you have an idea what it is but you just can't put a finger on it. That feeling is irritating.Just like earlier, I spread my spiritual sense wantonly, I looked all over the place and while investigating some minute details about the pit.Is that...? A gust of air? I moved slowly and quietly, approaching where I think the gust came from. It was a corner not too far away from where I was seated. I got up slowly and approached said corner, and what do you know, gust of air became a breeze, seemingly rewarding me for noticing it, thanks I guess...I activated my ocular technique since it allows me to see clearer, add the fact that I could also magnify the location I want to see if I concentrate further. I scanned this wall not only using my magnified vision but also my spiritual sense, and then I found what I was looking for. There is a hole, blocked by some dirt and a few stones. I swept some of it using my hands, then I saw a piece of iron bar behind it.I frowned and tried pulling the iron bar out but it won't budge at all. A faint guess emerged in my head but I have to do something first to confirm it.I gathered my spiritual sense and molded it into a thin line, then I inserted it between the gap that I made and then dispersed it there so that whatever it bounces to in there, would be reflected on my Soul Sea.The feed I received basically confirmed my guesses, I'm in front of an iron door and it's currently being blocked by a mound of dirt and stones. Without any hesitation, I started making a ruckus, I didn't even care if I woke up the rest, I wanted to show them this anyway.I activated the Iron Fist, not to punch the dirt mound, but to make my digging easier. I'm pretty sure I look like a cat scratching some wood but I don't care. I'm more interested on what's behind this thing...Just like I expected, I disturbed the rest. They gathered behind me, trying to figure out what I'm doing. Alina was about to ask something when Hopper came out of Jackson's shadow and started imitating me.What a cutie, it seems that he figured it out too. Me and Hopper continued at it for a while and then the whole door was uncovered for everyone to see."Is that what I think it is?" Jordan asked.I nodded, "I've been feeling some gusts of air earlier and figured out that there might be a hole somewhere. Turns out that there isn't a hole but an iron door. There's a long tunnel behind it too." I said while pushing the iron door with a great difficulty.As soon as the door opened, we were greeted by a chilling gust of wind, but not particularly dangerous as it doesn't contain any diamond dusts. The torch Jackson was holding flickered a bit but managed to stay lit. We stared at the tunnel for a while, somewhat hesitating..."Should we explore it?" George asked the important question."Who has a bow?" I asked, I just want to check something first. George raised his hand and I told him to take it out. I took the bow from him and dipped the arrow with some oil, then I set it on fire using the torch. I aimed straight ahead and pulled the bow using a moderate strength.I released the shot and mentally counted... but the arrow continued flying until it could no longer be seen."This tunnel is long, that shot covered a good 100 meters and it disappeared which means that it still continues. I'm down to explore, we have a month to finish the mission anyway. How about you guys?"
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114 En Way of the Knights

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[A/N: Third person perspective it is. I guess that was a pretty bold move for me huh? Anyway, there might be some First Person Perspective here and there but I'll make sure to do it sporadically. Off to the chapter then…]---"This tunnel is long, that shot covered a good 100 meters and it disappeared which means that it still continues. I'm down to explore, we have a month to finish the mission anyway. How about you guys?"Raven said which made the rest of the team weigh the situation at hand.If Raven was alone, he might've already walked down this path, after all he never knew that this tunnel was here before, this is a new discovery for him and he's very much willing to explore around. But he's not alone, he can't even go outside of the walls without permission so he needs to consider their opinion as well."I'm down as well." George said, "The Diamond Dust Eclipse won't end for the next 9 hours anyway, we could use that time window to see what's at the end and we could always come back here anyway.""I vote against it." Alina said which made her the center of attention. "I'm getting bad vibes from this. Let's just stay here and wait until the eclipse ends." 'Really now? You're getting bad vibes from this? Are you sure you even have these so-called 'vibes' lady? 'Cause so far, you're nothing but a useless piece of baggage.' Raven mentally thought. He would've said this aloud if it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to sow discord on the team. But he's really doubting this woman's identity, he just can't figure out how someone like her became an 'adventurer'."Uh…" Jordan was caught in a pickle, he stared at the tunnel and weighed his decisions. His curiosity tells him to go, he's an adventurer for goodness sake! If he's not going to explore, then he might as well gl back.But his cautiousness was against this, he thought, 'What if Alina's vibes become true? Then aren't we just running towards our death?' "I-I can't decide, I'll just follow you guys…" Jordan relented and left the decision to the rest of the team."It's decided then, let's go." Jackson replied without hesitation and walked forward to lead the team.Alina bit her lip and Jordan sighed, they have no choice but to follow them unless they want to go in separate ways from the group. Which is a bad idea considering that they were outside the walls where they are exposed to tons of dangers.And thus, the exploration of the tunnel began. The team was relatively silent at first but it was broken down when Raven spoke."We've crossed the 100 meter mark, there's the arrow I shot before." He said while pointing forward. The team saw where he was pointing and made a mental note of it, then they continued exploring for a good while, they must've at least covered 490-500 meters by foot according to Raven's guess. That's until George broke the silence."I-I think I smell something…" He said while sniffing.This raised the alarm of the team and just like him, they too started sniffing around to figure out if George wasn't just hallucinating."I don't smell anything…" Alina said while still trying to sniff around."Wood and tree sap." Raven spoke on the side. "Yeah! That's it!" George nodded and surprised that Raven was able to tell. He originally thought that the scent was familiar, it turns out that it is, it's the smell of wood and tree sap mixed together."You could smell it too?" Alina asked, clearly surprised by Raven's senses. Raven looked at her weirdly and said: "Don't tell me you weren't using your energies to amplify your sense of smell…"Alina went speechless, she blushed due to embarrassment and started using her energy to enhance her sense of smell. After doing so, she immediately smelled what they were talking about before.On the other hand, Raven raised his brow. He turned to George and asked: "How's this woman on your team? She can't even amplify her senses using her energies. Then goes of to tell that she's having bad vibes about this tunnel. What a waste of spot.""Why you!-""Woman." As Alina was about to lunged on Raven, a deep and chilling voice echoed behind her. She stiffly turn around and saw Jackson gazing coldly at her. She instantly deflated like a balloon and forced herself to swallow the insult.Raven just then realized that he contradicted himself, he told to himself not to sow any discord to the team yet he might've done just that. Thinking about like this won't help him either so he just decided to ignore her entirely from now on."W-well! If we could smell wood and tree sap, that should mean that we're near the exit right?" Jordan interjected to dissolve the awkwardness in the group. "Y-yeah!" George hurriedly agreed, "Let's move on shall we?" The team moved on after that and walked for another 500 meters according to Raven's mental calculations. It was then that they saw a faint light at a distance, which means that they're very near the exit. The smell of wood and tree sap also became more and more obvious that it didn't require any of them to amplify their sense of smell just to catch whiff of it.'A kilometer long tunnel. Who made this and what's on the other side?' Raven asked in his mind.This was his thoughts before a shimmer of light blinded them temporarily as they exited the tunnel.When his vision adjusted, his brain almost went blank when he saw what's on the other side.Massive roots and trunks, think vines hanging from the branches, leaves that almost covers the sky. A thick body that needed at least 12-15 people holding hands just to encircle it, and a smiling old face on the surface of the body, seemingly moving gently as if wanting to tell a story.In retrospect, he should've known. It should've been dead obvious to him what's waiting for them on the other side. The smell of wood and tree sap, cold but fresh gusts of wind, those are dead giveaways of what this thing is."Unbelievable!" Jackson exclaimed. "A Kind Ent! It looks very ancient too!" Yes, this is what welcomed them on the other side of the tunnel. A towering Kind Ent."So that's why we didn't see any Diamond Dusts around, it turns out that the ent was eating it!" Jordan exclaimed, clearly astounded by the sight as well.Since there were no dangers around earlier, trekking one kilometer of distance only took them an hour or so, which technically means that the Diamond Dust Eclipse is still on going at this point. At first, they find it strange that they didn't come across with any Diamond Dust at all now the reason why is clear. Ents are a special kind of beasts. They are first regular trees but mutated due to their environment. Some of them could be dangerous and hostile while others are not, like a Kind Ent.Kind Ents aren't carnivores, they absorb energies on their surroundings to eat and Diamond Dusts are their favorites. The scent they exclude is also special because it has a calming effect to beasts who comes near it, meaning that their aggression would be heavily turned down. This causes them to become somewhat of a guardian to beast, and they love building their nests of habitats near them since Kind Ents are considered as a safe environment for them."Iiiiieeeee-aaaaaeee-ooooouuuuu?" The ent emitted a deep grating sound from it's mouth. The sound echoed across all corners of the place and even permeated at the tunnel behind them. It sounded ethereal and ancient, like a sage passing down forgotten knowledge of the past to it's descendants. The team didn't know what was going on, all they felt was that the treant's voice sent chills down their spine but it doesn't contain any malice, it felt more like curiosity instead."We mean you no harm, Elder. We are weary travellers who seek for a place to rest while the eclipse rages on."Raven spoke which surprised the whole team. George sneakily leaned towards Jordan and asked: "Is he talking to it?""Looks like it, you think they could understand each other?""Beats me!" "Ooooooooooomm-aaaaaiiiieeeee-hooooooooooo." [A/N: Shindeiru. LOL]"Thank you, Elder. We'll be in your care." Raven bowed towards the ent. The rest didn't know what was going on but it's obvious that Raven could communicate with ent. And when they saw them bow, they too followed suit, they didn't know why they did so either but it seemed to work.Suddenly, a thick root emerged underground. It wiggled and stopped in front of them, the team was puzzled and Raven became aware of it so he explained: "Get in, he'll take to a place where we could camp for the night."
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115 Mindscape Way of the Knights

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---Still mildly confused about what's happening, the team relented and hopped on to the tree root that's suspended in front of them.As soon as they did, the root started to move and take them to the place where they could temporarily spend the night according to Raven.Despite being night time, the place is well lit due to dozens of fireflies dancing all over the place. They are scattered in every tree, herb, flower, and other things, seemingly socializing with each other. The team also saw several beasts sleeping peacefully in between roots and nests that the Kind Ent has provided them. In the wild, these beasts would be very aggressive but inside the Ent's domain, they are neutral and minded their own business."I didn't know you could understand the language of Ents." Jackson said to Raven while admiring the scenery as the root moved."It's not hard actually…" Raven replied, "Kind Ents are inherently wise, they prefer diplomacy over violence. The trick is to not pay attention to how they speak their words, unlike humans, their vocal cords aren't well developed. Using you Spirit to understand them is the key. Like how you communicate with Hopper or any companion beasts."For those who haven't had any experience with communicating with beasts, the method that Raven spoke off would be more challenging to them. But for those who have, it would be easier since all they have to do is to attune their minds towards the ents, like they would normally do with their beast companions."Where did you learn all of this?" Jordan asked."Reading the Beastiary on Libraries. It's pretty common everywhere in the Kingdom, I'm not one who blindly goes in without doing some minor research." Raven replied non-chalantly.For some reason, his words struck a sore spot on the Adventurers, they felt like he was pertaining to them but this is not his intention at all, he just merely answered their question that's all.The root of the Ent took them to the promised location after a few minutes. They travelled a fair distance away from the ent and the beasts around it. From what Raven could tell, they are a bit on the outer reaches of the ent's domain, on a spot where there aren't any beasts around too. They hopped down from the ent root when it stopped, the location that was provided to them seems to be an enclosed area where there are tall bushes and thick vines serving as their wall from rest. The grass around them is trimmed and there's also a wide variety of fruits and root vegetables around them. Not too far away from them, there's also a clear stream of water which they could use to either clean themselves or catch fish for food."Many thanks, Elder." Raven spoke and bowed to the ent. The team followed suit and bowed as well. They watched as the root sunk itself underground and disappeared from site."Oh right! Few reminders everyone." Raven caught the attention of the team to inform them something very important."First, aggression is forbidden here. If you see any wandering beasts, they're pretty much a denizen of the Ent. They won't attack so don't attack them either. Second, don't cut away any plants, herbs or chop some trees, the ent would be mad and kick us out. Harvesting some crops and fruits are fine. Third is about fires, if you're going to cook something, do it by the stream over there, that is to ensure that if any accident occurs, fire won't spread everywhere. Also, don't throw trash anywhere. Got it?"The team nodded though somewhat puzzled by those strange rules. They wondered on how Raven was aware of these rules, yet again he already proven himself to be knowledgable and the rules he listed makes sense anyway, so there's no harm on following them. And it's not like they're going to stay here for a long time anyway, they're just here for the night and for the Diamond Dust Eclipse to be over and they'll continue their journey along."Alright, let's make camp." Raven said and team moved to do some chores to build up the camp. Jordan, Jackson and George went over and built the tents, Alina ran off to the stream to clean herself and Raven harvested some vegetables and fruits for them to eat. He also took out some preserved meat as well as some plates they could use.After doing all of this, he went beside the stream and set up a bonfire. He used wooden planks and twigs that are scattered everywhere, this isn't considered a violation of rules so it was okay for him to do this.Not long after, a steaming hot soup was ready and some side dishes as well. The team gathered around the campfire and ate, they talked some things here and there but it's clear that the awkward atmosphere is still there. No one forced anything nor confronted anyone either, they just sat in uncomfortable silence as they went towards their respective tents and turned themselves in for the night. As for Raven…He could be found inside his own tent as well, but unlike the rest, he doesn't plan on sleeping just yet nor planning on going inside the Crown Space either. His goal tonight is something else.He's sitting down on his tent with his eyes closed, he sank into deep meditation while his spirit vibrates and permeated onto the ground.As his Spiritual Energies spread, it touched one of the roots of the Kind Ent, he followed it consciously as it was absorbed in the root. Then he found his consciousness being absorbed and traveling towards a large network of roots and branches, he grounded himself in order to not have his consciousness dispersed by the will of the Ent. He then take a careful look around around and traced the network towards the main body of the Ent.After which, he then followed the path he traced and arrived at the mindscape of the Kind Ent."Introduce yourself, Intruder."A vast, majestic and ancient voice rang on Raven's ears. His vision adjusted and saw the scenery inside the mindscape of the ent.Calling it Paradise won't be an exaggeration. It was a very brightly lit place, golden curtains of light permeating everywhere and shining down profound golden brilliance to creations. Myriad flora and fauna, branches reaching for the skies and serene songs of birds that sounded like a heavenly tune.In the middle of the mindscape, there is a glowing orb with several roots binding it in place. Some of these roots are connected to the skies above while the others are connected to the ground below."My name is Raven. I apologize for intruding your mindscape Elder." Raven clasped his hand and bowed towards the orb."Ah…" the disembodied voice from the orb spoke once more, "The little one from earlier. I didn't know you were pretending to be a child."The voice made Raven frown, but he did some introspection and figured out why it said that. Raven, having experienced Soul Rebirth, doesn't actually appear as a child in his Spirit Form unless he consciously willed to appear like so."Hmm?…" the voice spoke once more, "How curious. You are an adult, but at the same time, you aren't. How peculiar…"There is a thick curiosity on the orb's voice as it closely inspected Raven. This is the first time that it encountered someone like him. The orb could tell that Raven was indeed an adult and in fact, he was old, very old. But at the same time, it could feel that he's also teeming with youthful vigor, one that cannot be faked and could only be possessed by the younger humans."State thy purpose, little one. What brings you to my core?""I wanna know if Elder has any stories to tell…" Raven smiled, went closer and sat down in front of orb. "Oh? Little one wants to hear stories from dear old me? Are you sure you won't snooze while my story unfolds?""I won't snooze Elder, I want to hear some stories." Raven nodded and said."Very well…" the orb said, "Hmm… how to begin?" It trailed off for a bit and then continued."Why don't we start at the story of my birth? Yes, that is a good idea!""I remember that I was nothing but a mere Oak Tree. The world was too vast for me to understand. I longed to wander it's plains, to see what's beyond the forests, to meet other races, to find where my calling leads me to. But I remembered that I was nothing but a mere Oak Tree.""My roots are firmly planted to the ground beneath me, and should I ever leave where I stood, I will die. So I was forced to remain in place, even though I long to walk the lands and pursue my deep longings. But then again, I am nothing but a mere Oak Tree.""Time passed by and I knew that my life is nearing to an end. Be it as it may, I am willing to go away. However, my longing still remained, still I wondered; 'Since I'm going to die anyway, why not die in my own way?' " "And as I took my first step, the words 'I am nothing but a mere Oak Tree' faded away."
116 Wood Gate Way of the Knights

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---Raven continued listening to the stories of the ent. Despite its language being somewhat old and confusing, he still managed to piece out details of what it is trying to say.Basically, the Ent was just a regular Oak Tree before but somewhat special since it has a tiny consciousness inside. By his guesses, this might be because of exposure to wild and untamed energies of the Wilderness. This tiny consciousness longed to walk the planes and go to different places, however it is an Oak Tree, and trees can't walk. That's why even if it really wanted to go adventuring, it can't. As the Oak Tree aged and nearing the end of it's natural lifespan, it made an exclusive decision to take one step from it's position, it didn't care it will die after that one step since it's longing was that strong that it refuses to go without even trying. And because it defied the Natural Laws, it experienced Demonification and evolved into an Ent, still a tree but can walk and go to venture other lands.Raven asked for more stories, deep down he truly wanted to know more about the ent since it's not just everyday where you meet an intelligent and ancient lifeform. Of course, the ent would be more than willing to tell him more. Based on Beastiaries he read somewhere, Kind Ents are the most talkative type, like a grandfather who always reminisce on their youthful memories, Kind Ents loved imparting knowledges specially to those who thirsts for it.With the continuous story telling, Raven eventually found out that this Ent is about 5000 years old. Which is mind blowing for him since that basically means that this Ent already existed long before the Previous Era ended!It's currently Year 1720 of the Dawn Era, the Lighshield Royal Family had been ruling for about 500 years so far. The previous era, which is the Dark Era lasted for only 20,000 years! This means that on the last stretches of the Sunset Era, this ent already experienced Demonification and roamed the grand ancestral planes! And when the new era was ushered, this ent was there as well! This Kind Ent is even older that the current King! How awesome is that? With this new found knowledge, Raven was even more eager to hear the stories of the ent. 5000 years is no joke! Specially for a mentally aware Ent, the loneliness that it has to bear could drown anyone in sorrow, but to think that it's still arrive and settled down near his home, maybe he could do something with this new found information.Raven did ask why it chose to settle down near the Kingdom, and this is what it said."I am old Little One. This is not the first time that I met your kind nor the first time that I've talked to humans as well, there were times that I was forced to deal with your kind as well.""I've experienced far too many things in my 5000 years of life. I've faced many dangers as well as many opportunities which I often find myself reminiscing to whenever I can.""It was a time when dear old me encountered a difficult situation. Some of your kind wanted to hunt me in order to harvest my core. They said that my core is useful to them so they went after me a couple of times. I tried pushing them away without harming them, but they endanger the ones I protect as well, so I had to deal with them. It then came to a point where I was pushed to the brink of death when someone, a Little One like you, saved from their clutches.""His name is Arthur, and he befriended me and kept me safe and offered me solace and peace near this current civilization of yours."'Wait! Arthur? You don't mean…'"Come to think of it, he's an impressive one. A wise little prince who prefer to seek understanding with other races in hopes to co-exist, unfortunately some of your kind see this as a weakness and deemed him unfit to become a ruler. Nevertheless, he saved me and in return, when he was exiled I provided him home. Yes, this is the place where we stayed, the tunnel that you came out from was something that he personally made in order to sneak in to his home and gather intelligence."'Holy crap! It really is Him!'"Even though he was exiled from his home, he still deeply cared for it. Despite the unfairness he received, he's still willing to die for them in order to ensure their safety.""With his hardwork and kind heart, your people started looking up to him, so much so that they started trusting him again and officially made him their ruler. Despite that, he still goes out of his way to visit me and tell me how his home was doing.""Eventually, old age caught up to him. And during his last visit, we reminisced about our friendship and everything that had happened. In the end, he asked a small request to me and that is too watch over his descendants, and if possible provide them help If I could.""To honor his request, I stationed here, constantly asking the Birds visit them and ask how they are doing. I'll see through it that so long as his bloodline remained, I will watch over them. I will honor our karmic ties to the best of my abilities."Knowing this unknowingly made Raven smile. "It seems that I should bring her here to pay respects to you. Come to think of it, you could be considered as her great godfather.""Hmm? What do you mean little one."Raven didn't say anything, instead he opened his mind and sent a mental link towards the core of the ent. As this link connected, the Ent captured images of Luna. Raven showed the ent of her childhood, the experiences she suffered, her training, and their moments together as friends.As the Ent viewed these memories, it's core faintly shivered. After a while of silence, it then talked."She looks just like Melissa." The orb sighed, "Poor girl, forced to abandon her home to carry a heavy burden with her. She is very fortunate to meet you, and on behalf of Arthur and Melissa, thank you looking out for her.""Don't mention it." Raven smiled and waved his hand, "It's something that I should do.""Lucas, Arthur's son. Balmung and Luna, his grandchildren. It's a pity that he didn't have the chance to meet any of them. But I'm sure that he will be proud of them.""Yeah…" Raven whispered, "He sure will."All of the sudden, the orb shook fiercely and shot a glob of green glow towards Raven. Having caught unprepared, Raven's eyes widened like saucers as he felt a majestic and rich energy trying to invade his Energy Network.He looked up with difficulty, wanting to ask the ent about it's motives, but he was unable to talk due to the sheer density of the energy invading him."Don't fight it, Little One. I mean you no harm." The ent said, "Consider this as a little gift for looking out for her."Raven was a bit confused but he decided to trust the ent. He lowered his defences down and allowed the invading energy to his own networkA flood of vibrant energy threatened to drown him, nevertheless he could also tell that this vibrant energy doesn't have any malicious intent at all, he's just having a bit of difficulty handling it due to it's sheer density.The viscous energy seeped into every pore of his body, Raven felt his spirit become incredibly lively, this is also happening to his real body which is miles away from where his spirit right now. If Raven absorbs all of this energy, he will inevitably waste some of it since his energy network can't handle all of it. This is the time when he remembered that he could redirect the excess energy to somewhere else.With a firm command of his will, a circle formation with several ancient markings appeared on his back. One of the said markings appeared to be especially brilliant as of this moment.Great Elemental Gates of the Body Path. Raven decided to redirect the excess energy to the Wood Gate on his back and coincidentally, the gate also hungers for that viscous energy as well, which is why it is emitting a wild glow right now.The gate shifted and opened wide, it then greedily swallowed the invading energy wantonly like a whale. Raven felt himself growing stronger and stronger as each seconds passed. As the Great Wood Gate opened, he felt that his lost lifespan was returning to him plus some extra. His hair was being lifted by a mysterious sources and was also growing by inches as time passed. His whole body vibrated and a layer of old skin was being peeled away revealing a toned and fairer skin. His muscles are also tightening up and hugging his bones closer, he could also feel that all of his sense were being strengthened along with his organs. With one final gulp, the viscous energy was gobbled up and mark for the Great Wood Gate disappeared from his back. It was also the time when Raven felt an intense closeness towards nature.

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---Great Wood Elemental Gate, opened! That is 1 out of 9 gates to full completion.And it seems that Raven also received an extra.Mid-Soldier Realm, achieved as well! His strength just encountered a huge boost, and just like everyone says: Strength equals Confidence. He's now more confident that he would return from this trip just fine. The consciousness that he sent inside the Ent's core woke up. He bowed down and expressed his deepest gratitude for the Ent's help. In his mind he swore that he would return the kindness that he received and honor the Karma that they had together."Off you go now, Little One. May you and your people have a safe trip in this dangerous place.""Thank you for your kind words, Elder."After saying this, Raven's piece of consciousness withdrawn from the ent's core and went back to his body. He opened his eyes and stood up only to hear his joints creak with pleasure. He let out a satisfied grown and briefly did some mental calculations of his current strength."Due to the disparity of Cultivation Bases along with the techniques I possess, fighting anyone who reached Peak-Warrior Realm should be no problem to me. Maybe I could scuffle with Junior Knight for a little while as well. Anyways, so long as it's not a Veteran Knight or anything above, I am confident of escaping."He muttered under his breath. He walked out of his tent and saw that the sun was starting to rise from the horizon. He made a quick stop at the stream to clean up his body since there are still some pieces of old skin stuck from his clothing and his body. After cleaning himself up, he noticed that his skin actually lighten visibly."My skin tone just cycles from bronze to fair each breakthrough, maybe I should stay out of the sun for too long from now on. Unless of course, if it's absolutely necessary."He also noticed that his hair had grown to reach his waists, before his breakthrough it was only touching his elbows. Shaking his head, he tied it onto a ponytail and while some was left on the sides of his face. He also visibly grown taller too, just that round of breakthrough added at least five inches on his height. Before, he stood at least 4.9", now his height shot up to 5.2" which is very tall for a 14 year old.Chuckling at his changes, he went back to the camp and saw that Jackson was already up. From the looks of it, he's planning to train with Hopper but stopped since they saw him.Hopper went up to say hi to him while Jackson stared at him for a good moment."You had a breakthrough?" He asked, Raven nodded and replied."Yeah, I've been stuck at the peak of Early-Soldier Realm for a while now, I had a sudden inspiration last night and had a breakthrough." He said while petting Hopper.'That's absurd.' Jackson mentally thought while smiling wryly, 'When I was at his age, I wasn't even at Soldier Realm. And when I was at Soldier Realm, it took me 3 months to advance a minor realm. But him, and maybe his friends as well, didn't even took a whole month to make a breakthrough. Just how did he train?'"Oh right! Did you manage to orient where we go after this?" Raven asked, to which Jackson nodded."We didn't strayed far enough from the destination, the general direction of where we should go is also straight ahead from this place, so we shouldn't have a hard time making it back."The journey of the team so far went like this...Not even 200 meters away from the walls of the Kingdom they faced a natural danger which is the Diamond Dust Eclipse. Making it back to the walls is simply impossible before the eclipse occured so they were forced to look for a hiding place. Luckily, Raven found a pit no too far from the main road, they used it to hide for a period of time and while they were underneath, Raven found a hidden entrance leading to somewhere unknown. After going through the tunnel, they ended up within the Ent's domain and now they were here.From Jackson's calculations, the main road isn't far from where they're at. They should make it back before noon, then their journey towards the mission site should continue.Raven played with Hopper for a while and left to prepare a meal for the team. After eating, they went ahead to do their personal stuff before regrouping to head out. They gave one final bow towards the direction of the ent and off they go towards the main road."We're out of the Ent's domain, that means that danger surrounds us once more. Stay alert and try not to make as much noise as possible." Jackson warned the team.The solemn atmosphere descended and everyone raised their senses to the maximum. Raven flared his spiritual sense once more to look for any signs of danger.As they walked out of their safe haven, they already saw the devastation that the Diamond Dust Eclipse did to the area.Fallen trees, shredded plants, brittle barks, ruined fields, corpses of unlucky beasts and more, all scattered everywhere piecing out a scene of disaster.The land is also field with what looks to be snow but isn't. These are diamond dusts, or at leasts what's left of them, if anyone looked at them closely for a while, they will see that each piece of dust are losing their glimmer as time goes on.This is because it's dispersing the energies it absorbed back to it's surroundings. Once it releases everything it absorbed, it will disperse into nothingness and only leave devastation around. But the energy it releases will help new life bloom on it's place, the purity of energies that it releases are pretty decent too so it wouldn't take too much time before the Wilderness is back to it's tip top shape.But despite of devastation that took place, the team would have to be even careful on their tracks. 10 hours is a long time, too many things could happen in an hour much less 10. The more aggressive beasts must already been out and already laying an ambush for any unsuspected victims, specially now that some beasts must be starving already. All hell would break loose if they made one careless mistake here."Stop." Jackson said softly, Raven pulled the team down to hide immediately since he was also aware of why Jackson told them to stop.They ducked inside a thick bush and stared straight ahead. Raven signalled the rest to not utter any sound. He flared his spiritual sense once more and saw the scene in front of them.A beast lied, resting in an open space. It is a four legged beast with a menacing set of fangs, a glorious red and white stripes on its body, razor sharp claws, and two small horns on it's head.It is Blood Burst Tiger.Something that could place them in dire danger should it wake up.From Raven's guesses, this Blood Burst Tiger should be equivalent to a Peak-Warrior Realm to Half-Step Junior Knight Realm expert. But what made this beast dangerous is it's tendency to enter a Berserk State when it faces danger.The Berserk Stage amplifies its striking power, speed, and ferocity by at least double, what's worse is that it last for a whole 10 minutes and has no side-effects. But if it's only this, then Jackson is more than capable of handling this. After all, he himself is a Peak-Junior Knight, and along with hopper and of course Raven, taking down this beast should he a piece of cake.Well, what if they included the thing behind the opposite bush? It's very clear that this beast is a hunter, if it weren't Hopper, Jackson might've already walked in carelessly. Raven noticed this beast at the same time as Jackson did because of the range limitation on his Spiritual Sense. The dead giveaway was a red gleam in the eyes of what's behind that bush, now anyone who's not paying will certainly miss that and it would result in their deaths. Raven flared his spiritual sense in full bloom and inspected the hiding predator closely, he even turned on his ocular technique for this.The beast behind the bush is also a four legged creature. It has a thick brown colored fur, enormous claws and deadly fangs, a wicked looking red-eyes, bulky body, and a majestic garb of red mane on it's neck.There is no doubt on his mind that this is a Fire-Spitting Lion. It's a beast that, by physical abilities alone, could rival a Junior Knight powerhouse. Add the fact that that it could also spit balls of fire or even cover its whole body in flames makes it harder to deal with. Seeing this beast here gave the idea that it should be hunting this tiger and just looking for a change to pounce on it when it was spotted by the team.Just as when Jackson was about to signal the retreat, the bush where the lion was, shook fiercely.'Shit!'
118 Face-Off Way of the Knights

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---The team's blood froze as they heard the ruffling of the bush, following that the Fire-Spitting Lion's body flashed and went straight towards the resting tiger.Hearing the noise, the Blood Burst Tiger woke up and immediately searched for any potential dangers, to which it saw the lion ferociously sprinting towards its location. A deep snarl came out of the tiger's throat as it hurriedly went on fours but the lion was too fast and if the tiger didn't do anything, it may never stand up again.It seems that the lion knows this as well so with a mighty leap, it pounced on to the tiger to not give it any chance to retaliate. However at the last moment before the lion made contact with the tiger's body, the tiger spun and slapped the lion using it's tail mid-air.This caused the lion to miss bearing it's fangs on the tiger's body, which also allowed it to stand up and face the lion properly.The two beasts stared at each other, sizing their foes with rapt attention. The tiger realized that it was outclassed and wanted to escape but the lion was watching it closely, and will react to anything the tiger plans to do be it escaping or facing it straight on.The stare down lasted for a while, they snarled at each other multiple times, several threatening growls and feinting advances later, the lion seemed to lost its patience and decided to take initiative.It pounced once more, and during it's sprint it's body lit up with flames and it's eyes glowed with fierce red light. The image it left on the team was truly menacing, somehow its red man seemed to pulse with fire, those flaming paws which left a burnt mark wherever it passes, that flashing red eyes which belonged to hunter and that ferociousness is truly fit for the King of the Jungle.Realizing it's dangerous position, the Blood Burst Tiger lowered it's posture. A deep guttural roar emerged from it's mouth and suddenly the red stripes on it's body seemed to have come to life.Its fur stood up, an aura tinged with black hue covered its body. The tiger's eyes also turned a deep shade of red, its fangs seemed to be longer as well as its claws. All of the fear that it has was gone and the only thing that it has, is a deep bloodlust. It wants to shred this lion into pieces, chew on its flesh, gnaw on its bones, sever its head and place it around its territory to serve as a warning to others.'It entered berserk mode.' Raven thought while watching.He glanced shortly at the people beside him. Jackson was watching the battle with rapt attention, Jordan was sweating but is also staring, George was fascinated but nervous, and Alina had her eyes closed in a prayer, asking the gods above to save her from danger.Raven shook his head as he saw this. This woman is no adventurer, no one could tell him otherwise. He turned back his attention to the battle and prepared for any emergency situations, just in case.The tiger managed to dodge the pounce of the lion, it also delivered a counter attack by scratching its face. The lion was hit by not too serious as it also sensed the attack before it connected. Nevertheless, it was first blood for the tiger and this did not sit well to the lion.The tiger was also hurt from that exchange, the fire around the lion's body roasted it's left paw but because of the berserk state its in, it didn't notice that.With a deep and ferocious howl, the lion pounced once more, the tiger dodged but as soon as it did, a fireball came out of the lion's mouth and hit the tiger square on the face.The tiger emitted a pain howl, the lion landed and pounced once more. A fireball in the face is a pain that not even the berserk state could ignore, nevertheless the pain was still minimized and the tiger was able to dodge during the last second before lion did a real damage to it's body.While it dodged, the tiger's tail slithered like a steel whip and poked the eye of the lion. It was now the lion's turn to emit a painful howl. The tiger used this chance to deliver a serious attack. The tiger pounced and took a bite out of the lion's neck. The lion felt the long and sharp fangs of the tiger sank on the flesh of its neck, it growled with unprecedented ferocity and tried to shake off the tiger but it won't let go. Needless to say, the tiger was also taking damages, it's mouth is being seared due to the flames around the lion's body, but that wasn't enough to stop it.With its rich battle experiences, the lion had an idea. It stopped shaking off the tiger and instead focused its mind on strengthening the flames that covered its body. The flames surrounding the lion burned with resplendence, the tiger didn't want to let go but it has to.When it backed off, it's mouth was smoking and the smell of burning flesh was present. The team could see that it's tongue was completely seared along with some parts of its nose and the fur covering those areas are burnt as well.Free from the tiger's clutches, the lion once again spat a fireball towards the tiger. It missed because the tiger evaded but clash didn't stop. Every once and a while the lion will spit fireballs and the tiger will always evade it, then they would proceed to bite or scratch each other. As time goes on, both of them were severely injured. The lion has multiple scratches on its body but its most serious injury was the deep wound from its neck, it came from the bite of the tiger earlier. It is still bleeding but not noticeable since the flames burned it off before it stained its fur. The other serious injury was on the eye, which came from the tiger poking its tail on it. The tiger could only somewhat see on the injured eye which causes it to miss the tiger multiple times.As for the tiger, its also badly injured. Its mouth is totally seared from flames on the body of the lion. It's tail is now missing since the lion caught it and bit it off. There's also several wounds on the sides of it's body, some of it were deep ones which stained its fur red from blood.Both of the beast had a short stare down, the lion then tried to spit a fireball, the tiger familiar with the attack evaded but it turned out that it didn't have to since nothing came out from the lion's mouth. The flames on its body was close to being snuffed out as well.The pulsing red eyes of the tiger flashed and its predatory instincts screamed 'Kill!' But before it could do so, the tiger regained its deep maple colored eyes, the black aura covering its body disappeared and the red stripes on its body became less pronounced. It became a little bit confused and also winced because it felt the sting of the wounds from its body.Ten minutes has passed and it berserk mode ended. Because of the berserk state, the pain receptors of the tiger was somewhat numbed which allowed it to ignore the some minor pain, like stings of the wound, earlier. But now that the berserk mode ended, the pain caught up and reminded the tiger of it's insanity earlier.Both beast, severely weakened due to multiple clashes, stare at each other down. The lion took initiative once more and once again the tiger dodged. What's different is that the lion's attack still connected because the agility of the tiger was lessened due to berserk state ending as well.Now the realization dawned up on the tiger, it was severely outclassed from the very beginning and should've fleed right from the start.And because of this realization, it did what other beast of its position would do as well. That is..to escape.It turned tail and hurriedly ran. Its direction? The bush where Raven and his team where hiding. Seeing the beast running towards their location made their faces ugly. Well, all except for one.Raven already had an idea of this scenario happening, so he placed on hand on Jackson's shoulder. Jackson looked at him and saw Raven nodded towards him. A gleam appeared on his eyes as he realized what Raven wanted to do. He nodded as well and began giving instructions to Hopper, who stealthily moved between bushes. Jackson took out his weapon, a spear, and prepared for the right timing.As the tiger arrived closer and closer to the bush with lion hot on it's tracks, Raven watched closely and waited for the perfect timing to release the signal.Inches away from where they were hiding, the tiger jumped. But that jumped was a big mistake and it realized that when it heard as sound."Now!"
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119 Kill! Way of the Knights

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---Jackson felt the familiar sensation of his spear sinking into a flesh, an indicator that his thrust penetrated the belly of the Blood Burst Tiger. The beast's eyes widened in disbelief and it tried to struggle free from the spear tip, however instead of freeing itself, its struggles proved to only wedge the spear tip deeper onto it's body. Blood flow on the corners of its mouth and it glared hatefully at the human that impaled it, but no matter how much hate are in those eyes, Jackson returned an even colder gaze to it."Jordan, George! Take care of the lion. It's severely weakened right now! Don't let it escape!" Raven hurriedly said as he saw Jackson successfully impaling the tiger.The two men panicked for a bit and scrambled to take out their weapons. It is very clear that they're not hiding anymore. Unknowingly, the phrase: "Mantis stalks the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole behind." Became the situation that they're currently in.Both of them took out their sword and leapt out of the bush, they then rushed forward and faced the weakened lion to prevent it from running away. A ferocious roar came out of the lion, but its wounds greatly nullified the intimidation it gives which means that it was incapable of scaring neither Jordan nor George for that matter.While the two faced the lion, Raven placed his attention to the tiger. As Jackson's spear was still embedded to it's chest, Raven rushed forward and faced it directly. He clenched his hand into a fist and threw out a punch, when the tiger saw this, it attempted to bite of his hand but before it connected, Raven feinted his attack and instead grabbed both the top of its head and its jaw.He grunted roughly and with one strong twist, the neck of the tiger snapped and its eyes lost their brilliance. The tiger fell limp on Jackson's spear tip signifying its death.Meanwhile, Jordan and George had not been idle. They tried to corner the beast a couple of times by slashing away at it, making sure that it does not have any time to rest between attacks. Their goal is to exhaust the lion even further to make sure that it won't even have the slightest energy to run away later."Harvest whatever we could get from it, I'll go help the two." Raven said as he rushed forward to help Jordan and George. When he arrived by their side, the lion immediately growled and changed targets. Directly ignoring the two, it rushed forward and pounced on Raven, clearly wanting to chew on his flesh. Unfortunately, it picked the wrong target…"Hmph! Vile beast! Think that I'm a pushover? Come then! I'll show you!" Raven grinned maliciously as he assumed a stance.Jordan and George perspired nervously as the beast successfully passed through them and went for Raven instead. They tried to catch it but they reacted a bit late, the lion was already pouncing towards him. Just as they thought that Raven was done for, his body spun vertically and the heel of his foot struck the head of the lion.The lion plummeted on the ground like a meteor, kicking a cloud of dust as it did. Raven's kick contained all the force he could muster, and he was pretty sure that this lion is suffering from hemorrhage right now. Trickled of blood coming out of its ears was a clear indication that it was severly injured with that exchange, the flames on its body were directly snuffed out and the lion can't even muster up enough energy to stand back up."End it now!" Raven said. Jordan and George blurred into action. Grunting loudly, their swords impaled the beast. George impaled its back all the way to its heart and Jordan stabbed its head all the way down to its jaws. With both beasts down, the team finally heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed. It was at this moment that both Jordan and George felt that their backs were actually soaked with sweat right now. And this is from barely doing anything. All they did was to make sure that the lion won't escape, it was Raven who made it possible for them to kill it, yet the stress and pressure they felt was enough to make them feel like they ran for a couple of miles.While the two spent time to catch their breaths, Raven went towards the carcass of the lion and quickly went to work. He summoned a couple of old papers from his spatial ring and covered the carcass of the lion with it. After that, he took out some ropes and tied the carcass nicely before placing it on his other spatial ring. He then faced the two and said: "I'll hand over your share once we get back and sell this."Jordan and George was surprised to say the least. They weren't expecting him to even consider giving them a share since what they did was negligible. But Raven's tone offered no refusal so they could only accept and thank him.The three went back to where Jackson and Alina is, they saw that he was already done harvesting the Tiger while Alina, was still drying up her tears behind the bush. "Let's move away from this place as soon as we can. The clash and the smell of blood will attract other beasts in here." Jackson explained earning nods from the team.Without any further ado, they stood up and moved along. Minutes after their departure, a couple of beast showed up in that place, searching for that delicious smell of blood that they smelled earlier. But instead of finding food, they will instead find other beasts who are also looking for food. And since two predators met, it will inevitably result in a huge fight.Good thing that the team is long from there.***The team went along the suggested path, on their way they did their outmost best to stay hidden and remain alert to their surroundings.The situation earlier is just one instance that one could never become too careful in the middle of this wilderness. They were forced to stop on their tracks multiple times because of activities near them. Sometimes, they needed to spend a couple of minutes before moving, while other times they have to stay low for longer. Since it's out of their sensory capabilities, they guessed that some of those activities were from beasts moving around and hunting for food, either that or these beasts are just migrating. Either way, they took their time and proceeded with caution, they don't want to be stuck between a rock and hard place again.As time went on, they approached the point of investigation closer but dusk was fast approaching so they were forced to search for a place to rest. Luckily, they found a cave relatively close by and it's hidden behind a shrubs which serves as a natural concealment for them.They went in, and after making sure that it wasn't a nest of some sort of beast, they decided to settle down and rest for the night.The team was visibly exhausted, being placed at a constant danger truly take its toll on their body. This is specially true for Jackson and Raven.The stress of constantly observing for any potential danger and giving mental commands, plus dealing with the disorienting Shared Vision from Hopper really exhausted Jackson. In fact, Hopper was also exhausted.As for Raven, he's faring a little bit better compared to Jackson since he's only using his Spiritual Sense and his ocular technique from time to time. Add the fact that he's no ordinary child, of course he had it better that the rest. But it's only the two of them who's doing all the work, and he doesn't trust these people enough to relax while he's with them so he's exhausted as well.The Adventurers knew this very well, specially Alina.She knows just how useless she is. She is aware that she's just a useless baggage right now, that's why she haven't even said a word so far, in case that she sows further discord to the team and cause them to leave her behind to die. Alina don't want to die just yet, and if not saying anything will save, then she will remain silent for the rest of this journey, count on it.Jordan and Alina took the initiative to cook for the team while the rest built up tents. Once he finished up his tent, Raven went in and cleaned himself of all the grime from his body and made sure to apply some medicine from all the scratches he received, he didn't even remember where he got these from but just in case something poisonous injured him, he might as well take care of it.Besides, having the Great Wood Elemental Gate opened gave him absolute immunity towards weaker poisons, so it's not like he has to worry about it too much.After cleaning himself, he went out of the tent and ate with the team. After briefly discussing their agenda tomorrow, each of them went on their tents and slept like logs.
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120 Illusion Way of the Knights

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---The team woke up the next day and as usual, Raven was the first to be up.After doing a set of warm up exercises, he took care of today's breakfast and waited until the rest was up.It didn't took long before the rest was up and had already eaten breakfast. After taking care of business and discussing their agenda, they went out of the cave and once again went on their way to the investigation point.As usual, Jackson had Hopper scouting in front while he looked at the shared vision between them, Raven was constantly pulsing his Spiritual Sense, making sure that there is no danger around. The adventurers also scouted using their own methods, this secured that no one will miss any sign of danger.If there is a time for them to be even more careful, it would be now. As they moved along, they are fast approaching the true Red Zone of this vast wilderness. Only the 5 kilometers within the kingdom's radius is deemed 'safe'. This route that they are following was supposed to be the safest amongst them but due to the cases of adventurers and Lair Hunters not returning after taking this route, they were forced to investigate it and find out what's wrong.The team walked for a while, they continued doing so until Jackson raised his hand and signalled for a quick huddle. He also recalled Hopper by his side while they discussed things."Alright, according to my calculations from this point onwards we are less than 50 meters away from the edge of the Yellow Zone, which means that what you see in front of you is our point of investigation." The team nodded in acknowledgement from his words."Now you." Jackson turned towards Jordan who was startled. "Prior to our expedition, do you have any plans for when you reached this point?"Raven saw Jordan place an embarrassed face and said: "In all honesty, I don't have any concrete plans. The mission said to investigate, so I thought that scanning the perimeter and writing down everything that we see is good enough. After that, the plan is to retreat in order to reduce further exposure to danger."Raven rolled his eyes when he heard about his plan. Don't get him wrong, this plan would work, and no one will dare to say anything about them doing so. But the gist is that, going about the situation this way will endanger more people. While Jordan and his team might be able to come back safely, the result of the mission would be more or less a failure. The trip is wasted since Jordan only brought back the scenery within the place. Without doing a thorough investigation, the kingdom will send more people after this place. What if the next batch don't make it out alive? The kingdom will once again, send more people after this place. It would just be a cycle of repeated failures then.And it's not like the next batch won't have any ideas like his. And if all the the next batch of people think like this, then it is highly possible that the danger of this place will eventually grow large to the point where it will become a serious threat."I like the first half of you plan." Jackson said, Jordan was astonished but he found out that Jackson wasn't finished speaking. "But the retreating immediately part, is outright stupid.""We'll do it like this." Jackson brought out an hourglass and showed it to the team. "We will scan the perimeter of this place separately to cover more ground. Take note of everything that you see, make it more detailed as you could. One hour later, will regroup here in the same spot and compare the notes that we have. Remember, make sure you stay low and beware of any dangers. Once you found yourself in trouble, run away and don't clash. If you can't run, shoot the SOS signal but only as a last resort! Do you all understand?"As Jackson explained his plan, he made sure to emphasize his last few words and even faced Alina to make sure she gets the message. Alina bit her lip and forcefully nodded like the rest of the team. Jackson then handed out direction where each member will investigate. Alina's task was to investigate the 10 meters around their rendezvous point, this is should be the safest spot for her.George was to investigate West, Jordan goes South, Jackson goes North and Raven towards east. Everyone saw Jackson flipped the hourglass which was the go signal. Everyone then went their separate ways.***After Raven passed through Alina's investigation domain, he used his ocular technique and brought out a pen and a paper. Using his spiritual sense, he scanned his surroundings as well looking carefully at each thing that he could see.In order to not waste time, he also used a fraction of his spiritual energy to write his observations. This is just so that he could use his hands for something else, like parting bushes slowly to not raise any alarms, to feel the soil and so on. This also prevents him from constantly having to stop on his tracks only to write down something, this will save him more time and, as a result, will allow him to cover more ground.So far, he had seen nothing worth of notice. It was the regular, like bushes or whatever's left of it due to the Diamond Dust Eclipse. Occasional sounds of beast growls, damaged trees or fallen ones, some mounds of dirt, and a terrible stench of wastes.Nevertheless, all of this was written on his paper. It's better for him to document everything that he sees instead of missing out on a potential clue for the mission.As he continued on scanning his area of responsibility, there were several times where he had to pause for a bit.Sometimes, he would hear scuffles too close from his spot, like something moved. But he was sure that there is none since both of his ocular technique and his spiritual sense are active. Then he would blame this to the strong and chilling wind in this place. It was really giving him mixed signals.It was then that something within his senses scream irregularity to him which made him stop.He immediately crouched down and hid as best as he could. He kept his eyes peeled for what's in front of him but the scene he saw was just something else.What he saw was a definite example of a Nature Wonder.In front him lies a wonderful field of floral and fauna. There were tall trees and golden light shimmering in the distance. The flowers are unusually lively and one could see things that promotes inner calm. Insects sucking pollen from the flowers and then buzzing off somewhere, deers drinking water from the stream nearby and then hopping away towards the depth of the forest. Raven could even hear how the birds sand playfully and flew away. He saw how the trees bloomed with life, their trunks showed overflowing vigor, each branch has a plump and juicy fruit waiting for any lucky ones to claim them and savor their flavor.The flowers carried a sweet scent that seemed to invite everyone in, and off to the depths of this forest, one could see a small hut seemingly empty, but a looked like a safe place to stay and wind up for some time.Now, if Raven was dumb. He would be all over this place. He won't even think twice and run towards the hut, but that would mean that he might never come out alive."Good thing I'm the one who was sent here and not the girl. Or else, we would've lost a member already."He's not so naive to fall for this. Besides, it was too obvious!If he had seen this place before the Diamond Dust Eclipse then maybe he would think twice, but now? This place sticks out like a sore thumb.Raven doesn't even need to gaze that far to see the devastation that the Diamond Dust Eclipse did to this place, even the bush that he's hiding from wasn't spared from that, and yet for some miracle the place just ahead of him was completely fine? So fine, that there wasn't even a trace of Diamond Dust lingering on any of it's surface? Add the fact, that with his ocular technique active, this place looked like an amalgamation of fuzzy lines and hollow interiors, the energy reading that he received from his spiritual sense also doesn't match the general aesthetic of the place.From this clues alone, it was so obvious that this place is nothing but a mere illusion.Still, that didn't help with Raven current position. In fact, he actually somewhat torn right now.From his mental calculations, not even thirty minutes had passed yet when he arrived here. He might've covered a solid distance but since it's not yet time to return, should he go back and inform the team or scout for a little bit by himself?
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