Chapter 20 - Awakening(II)

'I am a crazy genius.' Raven allowed a rare moment of pride and delusion.

Indeed, his achievement was totally unbelievable. If the nobles heard of this feat, they would definitely rush to pull him into their clan or perhaps even machinate a marriage bond to tie him down. But it was a shame Blaike and Kase forbade him from telling others about the details of his supernatural advancement. 

Raven only welcomed the idea for a brief moment before shaking it off. The dangers of revealing his talent were too immense to ignore.

Raven was gradually coming to understand how things worked in this world. Every mystic would take a span of half a year to a full year to master the ⟪Fundamental Ether Channelling⟫ and even more with ⟪Fundamental Ether Cycling⟫. A good few would achieve that within half a year.

However, Raven was different. He did it all in under a month. Even he couldn't explain how that was possible. It had to be known that the standard proficiency ranks of techniques were; Entry, Normal, Advanced, Master, Grandmaster, and finally, Perfection. Yet Raven skipped past the initial three ranks in less than a month! 

 It all felt natural to him, manipulating ether was a comfortable feeling. Blaike suggested that his sigil was nature-attributed which could explain his talent in ether control.

Thinking about his arcane sigil, Raven couldn't help but become excited. 'I wonder when I will become a True Initiate. It's taking too long.'

He could feel the steady sublimation of ether on his body. He was gradually becoming faster than he could keep up with. Even his appearance had changed over the few days passed. His raven hair had toned down to a wild dark grey, and small green strands grew at an alarming rate.

'Now that I have mastered the fundamentals, I should take a break and focus on studying.'

Over the few days, Raven wasn't just practising the fundamentals, he had also persevered in his study of Adamic and the supernatural. It had taken him a few days, but he was now capable of reading in Adamic and holding basic conversations. Moreover, with the translation book in his possession, he essentially had no problems with regular Adamic. 

As for supernatural studies, there was no better place than the ancestral grove. The library held millennia of knowledge of the supernatural. 

'I could get lost in it if I'm not careful. Luckily, Grove is there to help with my studies.'

A mystic was not all about fighting. Knowledge eclipsed all other aspects. As the saying goes, Knowledge is power. Raven couldn't wait to begin etching into the pages of his grimoire. Once he awakened his sigil, he had already decided to practise in Rustwood forest.

Raven furrowed his brows as he glanced at the calendar on the door. "Hmmm…. The registration is in two days. Got to prepare. There are a lot of participants this year. It would be funny if I failed right from the start. Haha, the old man would kill me. Heck, I would kill myself."

What Raven didn't know was that this year was stated to be full of participants. Raven's competitors were spread far and wide, ranging from foreign aristocrats to talented youngsters. Amidst this spectacular group, even Raven didn't seem jaw-dropping.

However, even though Raven wasn't aware of this, he knew to not underestimate the registration. Fueled with passionate determination, Raven continued his studies.

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The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

Sparks erupted in the abandoned building as three figures clashed against each other with savage intents.

'Just who did I offend in my past life to deserve this?' Raven grumbled as he distanced himself from Blaike and Kase.

The two of them donned sharp smiles, taunting him with hand gestures while suppressing his aura. Their auras unleashed a terrifying pressure upon Raven. His surroundings seemed warped as he faced them. 

Raven felt a shiver course through his spine. His tender aura was rapidly deteriorating. It was as if the world rejected his presence… as though he wasn't qualified to stand in the presence of these two magnificent humans.

Raven sighed. 'These aura… without a doubt, these two shameless fellows are at least at the peak of Class Two–Initiates. No, they have attained the Meister class.'

He wholly believed in his seventh sense. Going by their aura alone, Blaike and Kase were by far the scariest beings Raven had ever met, even surpassing the ghost by a lot.

'They are playing with me. But still, I'm not going down without a fight.'

His aura began to crack under the pressure. Raven smiled and expanded his aura for a definitive eruption. The grey atmosphere swallowed the surroundings in a frantic attempt.

Immediately, Raven augmented himself with ether and kicked off into the air. A sharp silver glint appeared in his hand before vanishing abruptly.

"A reckless charge? If that's all you have, you are better off dropping out of the registration. I will not allow someone this weak to represent–"

A sharp object instantly emerged in front of Kase, hurling towards the old man at an insane speed. Kase's eyes widened in shock. He reacted quickly with a swift dodge.

"Old man, watch out!"

Blaike's warning was too late. The attack was already in motion.

Raven appeared silently behind Kase and landed a nasty kick in his guts. His eyes froze in shock as Kase caught his leg with an annoyed smile.

"Hehehe, stinky brat, you are getting more snakey. Allow me to return the favour."

Before Raven could blink, a punch broke past his inner circle. The air whistled as the attack gathered an unstoppable momentum. If this attack were to land, it would be game over. However, Raven had already anticipated the punch.

'Now!'

Just as the punch was about to hit him, Raven caught Kase by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

He immediately followed up with a kick that sent Kase hurling through the air. Instantly, his hands blurred as four silver daggers shot towards the old man.

Suddenly, a weird sensation overwhelmed Raven. His seventh sense focussed on the hidden danger and his eyes sharpened like the eyes of a predator. Yet, just as he was about to decipher the nature of the danger, a mysterious force slammed into his face!

Raven gritted his teeth and twisted his body midair. Two more silver streaks flew past his hand.

*Kachink!* 

The two daggers fell to the ground effortlessly with a single hand swipe from Blaike. 

Blake smirked, "Impressive. The old man might be rusty but he isn't someone that gets easily surprised. You are getting better with daggers and your weird sensing ability is as rare as red clouds. What's even better is your fighting instinct."

A sharp glint appeared in Raven's eyes and his mind searched for a way out of this embarrassing situation. Nothing he seemed to do worked against Blaike. 

His body was starting to burn out from his reckless use of ether. There was a weird tingling sensation at the back of his body that ached continuously, but Raven ignored it. 

'I have one or two minutes left. I don't think I can win but can I bring this to a draw?'

"Hehe, it's my turn, stinky brat," Kase's voice drew closer and he soon appeared in the vicinity.

In the blink of an eye, Kase grabbed Raven by the neck and smashed his face into a nearby pillar.

Blood spilled onto the ground but Kase showed no mercy as he continued his assault.

"If you want to give up, just say the word, Rae. I'm getting tired of this."

Suddenly, Raven twisted his body and flung another dagger.

"Hmm… mere parlour tricks."

Although he said that, Kase was astonished by the velocity of the dagger. It carried a force that shouldn't be possible from a young Initiate. 

Kase nodded inwardly, 'What an amazing talent. He learns at a rapid rate and has no lack of courage and innovation. Very well then. I want to see where the limit of his potential lies.'

Kase glanced at the hand that caught the dagger. A tiny mark was left from the attack. Although it didn't leave an injury, that was because the person Raven fought was him, not the regular mystic.

Kase decided to increase the intensity of his attack. His speed caused a flurry of wind blasts and his attacks echoed throughout the abandoned building.

*Boom!*

Following another attack, Raven fell into a pile of stone. Brown dust spread about, obstructing the clear surroundings.

'Ahhh, I might have gone overboard this time. Is he okay?' 

As Kase contemplated his action, he suddenly raised his brow and looked towards the pile of stone. While he couldn't see quite well, he felt a vile aura spreading from that region. It felt primal like the uncontrolled aura of monsters but had a touch of antiquity to it.

Two bright green orbs appeared amidst the dark surroundings. The weird aura surged as the green orbs shifted in Kase's direction, staring at him with hostile intent. 

Looking at the green orbs, Kase smirked, "There you are. You finally woke up. This is getting more interesting, right?"