Way of the Knights

Chapter 211 - Progress

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*Splash*

"Oooh! That hurts, you stupid waterfall!" 

Raven spat some water as he stood up from his fall. His body ached, specially on his shoulders. He walked towards the shore to lay down for a bit, calming his breath and his feeling the throbbing of his muscles.

"It's been two weeks." He sighed while his eyes were closed, "Forget about stopping the waterfall, I can't stand beneath the damn thing for too long."

It had been a torturous and ridiculous two weeks for Raven. Because of his stubbornness, not a day passed in this two weeks that his body didn't ache. His only breaks are eating, sleeping, or short breaks. Aside from that, he was always on the move, trying to endure the ruthless cascades of the Bloody Mary Falls.

Despite his painful task, he still endured and continued since he himself could feel the immediate benefits he received under the painful tempering of the waterfall. 

Raven's body is already durable, in fact youths at his age couldn't possibly compare to him, the only one who comes close were of course, Paul or Mark. Nevertheless, Raven knew that there are still room for improvements, and this is precisely what he was looking for. 

Everyday, he could feel his body getting tougher. His 1st Metamorphosis didn't dissolve the sheer amount of energy he used, some of it were still trapped on the corners of his body and through this task, the remaining energies were dissolved and converted into his Chaos Force, which eventually then used to properly nourish his body.

Raven also found out the meaning behind the task he was given. 

When he fought the Wood Turtle Golem to assess his potential, he hadn't have the time to properly get adjusted to his new found strength. This resulted on his application of force to be extremely messy. His control over his own strength went awry after the transformation. 

The Archaic Thousand Arms Hammer became extremely light for him to handle, he remembered wielding it like a stick. In normal cases, this should be a boon but once again, his control went awry so he couldn't properly use it to his liking. This made him extremely gloomy inside, but the task that was given to him came at just the right moment. He decided to take this opportunity to familiarize himself to his own strength once again.

Raven rested for five minutes before flipping up and raring to again. 

He took a deep breath in and hopped to the rocks once again, slowly approaching the roaring waterfall. He already stopped forming a barrier around him, he found out that no matter how much he tried, it will only shatter nonetheless. What's more is that it uses up his Chaos Force which tires him faster so he stopped even trying and decided to face the full pressure of the waterfall using his body alone. 

He eventually reached the flat stone platform that was erected directly underneath the waterfall. The ruthless water pressure fell on his body which felt incredibly painful. He gnashed his teeth, forcing himself to remain steady and calm. He chanted the profound mnemonics of the Book of Chaos which agitated the Chaos Force inside of him into action. 

His muscles relaxed, it fell into a rhythmic pulsation to resist the pressure of the waterfall. Slowly but surely, his back straightened as he passively endured the ruthless volume of water falling on him. His breathing gradually turned deeper and relaxed while he remained aware of the situation around him. 

His body radiated a dark golden glow under the waterfall. If one looked closely, his muscles rose and fell into rhythm, similar to how one breathes. The pressure of the waterfall flowed through his body evenly in waves, they tempered each corners of his body, making him tougher and stronger. 

Raven stood like this for an hour before adjusting his position. From standing up, he sat down in a meditative position and continued circulating the Book of Chaos. This way, he managed to last for at least two hours before metal fatigue caught up to him, causing him to lose concentration and be expelled from the stone platform once again.

Just like before, he went ashore and rested for a while before coming back.

***

This boring and repetitive training continued for another two weeks until one day, Raven became strong enough to withstand the pressure of the bloody red waterfall. He had been able stand beneath the waterfall for a whole day, treating it like it was just a drizzle of water.

Even he himself was surprised by his progress. Initially, he thought that he would be able to reach this state after a month and half or two, but unexpectedly it only took him a month.

Raven wasted no time and took out his hammer to officially begin his assault under the waterfall. Upon doing this though, he nearly stumbled from his place. After regaining his balance, he frowned and looked at the hammer on his hands.

His brain worked fast and soon found out the reason why he stumbled. It was due to the fact that his center of gravity changed as soon as he held the hammer. While he was able to stand perfectly still under the waterfall, it was because he slowly got used to it while holding nothing heavy.

The Archaic Thousand Arms Hammer might feel light to him right now, but it doesn't change the fact that it still has an incredible weight. Just by merely holding it requires him to shift his position which then caused him to lose his balance.

Eyes shining with fighting spirit, he tightened the grip around his hammer and performed a probing swing.

*Boom* *Crash* *Splash*

"Holy shit! What happened there?" Raven asked in a dumbfounded manner as he found himself shooting backwards, crashing onto a rock formation before sliding down to the waters. The hammer he was holding flew off somewhere.

He went ashore and lifted his hand up, the hammer flew back on his hand while he's mind pondered about what happened. 

"I didn't even finish the swing and I was already shot backwards." He looked at his trembling hands and grimaced, "I see, so my arms were shocked by the pressure."

He could feel his legs shaking as well and figured that he did something wrong. 

Raven sat down in a meditative state and recounted the experiences of the old wielders of his hammer. He observed them carefully and concentrated not on the techniques that they demonstrated but on the way they wielded the hammer. 

He remunerated on their actions before opening his eyes with a strange glow in them. He chuckled dryly and said: "How can I forget about a simple thing?"

"Calves. The answer is in the Calves. I'm so stupid!" Raven mocked as he hurriedly gripped the hammer and took a heavy stomp forward. His calves pulsed, then an overbearing force flowed through his body and reached his arms. Borrowing that momentum, he grunted and performed a wide swing.

*Boom!*

The air exploded and a plate-sized projectile came out from his swing. The wind whistled as it flew and it hit the rock formation on the stream, causing it to exploded into larger chunks of rocks that eventually scattered around.

Raven's eyes brightened up, he then said: "That was good! But I can do better!"

Following that, he re-familiarized himself on wielding the hammer. Causing multiple ear-deafening explosions around him. 

Projectiles flew all around, landing on different places which only caused destruction. Raven could hardly care about that since as he was regaining familiarity with his hammer, he could see that the size each projectile become bigger and stronger. 

He was so absorbed into his training that he failed to notice a few things. First is the fact that as he wielded the hammer, it was actually getting heavier by each passing moment. Previously, it weighed 3-4 tons tops, but now it climbed up to 8-9 tons in his hands. Second is that, the hammer head was getting bigger thus making each projectile wider and stronger. Previously, it was only ten inches in diameter but it slowly reached twenty inches. 

He only noticed this once he stopped, and it really took him by surprise. 

"Ah, yes. I also forgot that you grow stronger as I do. My bad." He chuckled dryly, "But you really have an awful timing you know? Aren't you aware that I'm in the middle of a trial? I'm starting to think that you're making things harder for me."

Now that the hammer became bigger and heavier, the difficulty of wielding it under that heavy waterfall just became even more challenging. Nevertheless, Raven didn't shy away from this, in fact he was happy. Conquering a tall challenge will only squeeze out his potential even further, and this is exactly what he wanted. Opportunities to get stronger.

He ate a light meal and rested for a bit. After which, he held the hammer and went hopping towards the waterfall once again.

Raven decided to take things one step at a time.. His goal for now is to be able to stand beneath the waterfall with the hammer on hand and perform his first full powered swing.