Way of the Knights

Chapter 273 - Venus

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"Okay, that should be it for preparations." Raven murmured after standing up.

He turned around and waved his hand at the wall nearby, this action caused the walls to slide away and reveal a small chamber which is littered with many inscription marks everywhere. 

Raven stepped inside the chamber and closed the entrance behind him. As soon as he was the only one remaining inside, the inscriptions one the wall lit up with golden light and illuminated the dark chamber. In the middle of that room, there is a small platform with something on top of it. 

This object appeared to be the reason why this chamber exists since all of the inscriptions on the wall eventually meet at the surface of this object. 

What's on top of the platform was an egg. More precisely, this is the Mount Seed that Raven received a while back.

The Mount Seed had gotten so big compared to its size when Raven received it. Back then, the Mount Seed was a literal seed, now however its at least the size of an ostrich's egg. 

Raven created this chamber as the incubator for the Mount Seed for about a year ago. It had always been here ever since. This chamber was in his father's office, he placed a seal on it so that only him could enter the place as to prevent any accidents on happening. 

The array he set for the seed is programmed to absorb large volumes of energy and convert it into the purest form, feeding it to seed as nourishment. Even before Raven set up this incubator, he already knew that this process is going to take a long time, which he didn't mind since the longer the mount seed absorb nutrients, the more exceptional the results would be. 

This is also part of the reason why Raven often visits his father's office. He comes frequently to check this Mount Seed. And today, he got the signal that it's ready to be hatched.

Making sure to be very careful, Raven started turning off the array. He watched as the golden inscriptions dimmed down and disappeared on the surface of the walls in an orderly fashion. As the inscriptions disappeared, the Mount Seed was freed and started radiating with an intense energy fluctuations. 

Raven had no doubts that whatever's inside the egg, was alive. This is shown by how the egg was shivering on it's place even without him touching it. He didn't want anyone to be alarmed of what's happening inside this chamber so Raven activated one of the array discs that he prepared earlier which shrouded the entire chamber and prevented any kind of energy fluctuations to be felt outside. 

After erecting the concealing array. Raven slowly approached the egg and performed the final step in order to hatch his mount. And that is by establishing a connection with it.

Raven sank his perception in the mount seed and placed a mark on the life source inside. After establishing the connection, the mount seed shivered in excitement and started trembling fiercely.

*Crack* *Boom!*

The Mount Seed shattered, causing Raven to shield himself with his hands in order to not get hit by the shards that flew everywhere. He then slowly turned around in order to see what his mount looks like but before he could do so, he felt something bit arm.

He was about to instinctively slap whatever that was but he stopped upon seeing what it was.

It was a big albino snake. It's at least four meters long with a girth of 10 inches, it's reptilian eyes stared at Raven as it experienced it's first feeding by sucking his blood. 

Raven gazed at it and wondered how in the world did his mount turned into a snake. He stared at it and felt the connection they shared through the mark which clearly told him that this is what really came out of that seed. Although it doesn't make sense how this four meter long-ten inches thick snake fit inside that small space, it won't matter since it already hatched anyway. 

He touched the snake by petting it, the snake wriggled its body and closed its eyes in response. It seems that it likes his touch. 

"Happy birthday." Raven greeted it which caused the snake to move happily. "Take your time, it's your first feeding after all." 

Raven just allowed the snake to suck out as much blood as it wanted. He wasn't really afraid of experiencing any blood deficiency since the purity of his blood as well as its density were very high, this was due to his first 3 Transformations that elevated his physical body to another level. 

The snake was more than happy to obey, it knows that the subsequent meals after this won't be at this quality so it's taking advantage of his master's generosity. 

"What should I name you then?" Raven remunerated for a bit while staring at his mount. "Whitey? Snaky? Albina?"

The snake presented its displeasure at those names by sending signals through the mark that connects both of them, since its mouth is busy doing something. Raven pouted and said: "It seems that you also don't like my naming sense."

"Hmm…" Raven thought about good names for a while and kept on suggesting things but will always end up being rejected by the snake. Nevertheless, Raven kept on listing names he came up with: "Venus? How does that sound?"

The snake pondered for a bit and sent happy signals to Raven. He sighed in relief and said: "Alright, I'll call you Venus then, you picky girl." He laughed and caressed her shiny scales. 

Venus then finally released her fangs at Raven and nudged her head on his palms, clearly enjoying the adoration he was giving. Raven mobilized his energies and closed the wounds on his arm. He then asked her: "Come girl, let me see how heavy you are."

Venus then moved according to his wishes and allowed herself to be weighed by Raven. After inspecting for a while, Raven said: "Oh, quite healthy you are. Almost 500 kilograms, very good."

Venus hissed and wrapped herself lovingly on Raven's body. He didn't mind this since for Raven, she is actually very light - that or Raven is just used to having weights around his body. 

"Alright, girl. Now's the time to show me what you can do." Raven urged, to which Venus nodded in understanding. 

Moving at an alarming speed, which should be impossible for a snake at her size, she dislodged herself from Raven's body and slithered around the chamber. Raven watched in wonder as Venus started climbing at a smooth and flat surface of the walls without any signs of falling. 

One thing that shocked Raven is when Venus coiled herself at the corner of chamber and instantly activated a camouflage. If it weren't for her connection with Venus, Raven wouldn't suspect a snake to be inside this chamber at all. Raven nodded happily since this ability would offset the curse of albinism to her.

Seeing her Master happy, Venus became happy as well. She then started to show another set of her abilities to impress him even more. 

Venus could spit out a metal corroding acid. Something that she used to melt down the metal platform, where the seed previously were placed, in mere seconds. She is also powerful enough to bury herself underground and stay there for at least half an hour before eventually needing to re-surface. 

She also has this one final ability, where her scales would brighten up and release a special type of energy that could protect her. Venus couldn't communicate well with Raven as she's just an infant but from what Raven could tell, attacks under Knight Realm power shouldn't hurt her while she at this state. 

Raven was immensely satisfied. Though she couldn't act as a mount for now, it doesn't matter since she'll eventually grow into one. She's already four meters long during her infancy so as long as Raven treats her properly, she should be able to grow into a massive snake. 

Raven didn't doubt even for a second that Venus will eventually grow so large that he will eventually have problems where to keep her. He had seen snakes like that before. Some of them were so large that they could wrap themselves around a kingdom or two. But in all honesty, Raven thought it would be cool to have a mount as big as that.

"Alright, girl. I'm impressed." Raven chuckled and picked her up, Venus lovingly wrapped her body around him as they began walking out of the room. "Time to introduce you to my family, stay still and try to not freak them out okay?"

Venus nodded and wrapped her body around Raven's neck. She then surprised Raven as he felt her shrinking and transforming right before his eyes. 

She hid her head on Raven's collar, her body then transformed into a piece white cloth that adorned Raven's neck like a scarf. This caused Raven to be shocked once more and couldn't help but to adore her cleverness for thinking like this.. He petted her now scarf body and said: "Good girl, now let's go."