Way of the Knights

Chapter 561 - New Moves

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"5th Stage of [Myriad Incarnations Scripture] achieved. 54 Avatars...damn!" Raven clicked his tongue as he stared at the mini-army of avatars in front of him. 

As expected, this technique was truly heaven-defying. 54 Avatars means 54 Raven's working together to decipher something. Not only that but since they are Avatars and not clones, they possess at least 50% of Raven's total strength. That is an insane concept when one thought about it closely. No wonder Avatar Techniques are extremely rare even in the Divine Realm. 

"Alright, now that's done. Let's get them to work." With that in mind, Raven handed out order to his Avatars and told them to start gaining enlightenment to laws, techniques and etc. While the original started familiarizing himself even more with the Brush of Wisdom. 

It has been a week since Raven used the official writ to bind the Grand Ancestral Plane to him. Once he saw that his home was heading to the right direction, he had set his mind at peace. They're going to be fine, and if something drastic happens, then he will always know since he's connected to the plane anyway. 

After seeing his parents after a long time, Raven felt his ambitions re-invigorated. His consciousness returned to the sect and he began training once again. The faster he gets his job done, the faster he could retire and enjoy his days in peace back at him home. 

During the week, Raven consistently trained. He refined his techniques even more and managed to cultivate the Myriad Incarnations Scripture to the 5th level, granting him another batch of Avatars which he could use freely.

As he sent them to work, Raven himself decided to explore more uses for the Brush of Wisdom. And even though only a week passed since his return, he entered seclusion inside the Crown Space which was equivalent to a whole year in a span of two days. This means that he had been researching for more than one year already. 

Now Raven was currently testing out something that he discovered rather recently.

Ethereal lights bloomed from his body like a lotus flower. These streaks of light transformed into a hunch of illusory hands which seemingly composed of cosmic elements. With a thought, one hand from the bunch moved towards him. 

Raven stared at the palm before lifting the brush started drawing a rune on the surface of the palm. 

A brilliant glow of violet-gold covered the tip of the brush, it left several streaks of precise and beautiful lines intersecting on the surface of the palm. 

It hasn't been long since Raven started but his forehead was already covered in sweat. It's not like he was creating a very complex rune anyway, in fact he's just drawing one of the basic runes on the palm. 

The real reason why Raven seems to struggle with this is because he's not just drawing the rune on the ethereal hand, he was actually engraving it. 

Although the Archaic Thousand-armed Wheel had transformed into this, it doesn't change the fact that it is now a Quasi-Divine Artifact thanks to Raven's nourishment throughout these years. Making changes or adjustments to it became a more challenging task as it evolved, more so now that it reached this state. 

Raven couldn't afford to fail since he only has one chance on each palm. Due to that, he had to dedicate an absurd amount of time and effort in order to accomplish this. 

From the moment he secluded himself, Raven had only managed to engrave a rune on a total of 100 hands. Of course his goal the full one thousand arm but the further he goes, the more difficult it gets. 

To others, what Raven was doing was a waste. Why bother engraving basic runes on a Quasi-Divine Artifact when you can do it with Empyrean-ranked Seals instead? This question would make sense but in truth, how could it be that easy? 

One has to know that engraving even a Basic Rune in this thing already drains so much of Raven's energy both Cosmic and Mental, not to mention that it only gets harder as one goes. Engraving Empyrean-ranked Seals in this thing will not only be hard but also unwise. 

Even though the Archaic Thousand-armed Wheel reached a Quasi-Divine Artifact level, it wouldn't be able to endure 10 Empyrean-ranked Seals not to mention 1000. 

And to top it all off, Raven had a different idea anyway. His plan doesn't need to include an Empyrean-ranked Seals. It needs to be the Basic Level Seals and Runes. 

Raven released an exhausted sigh as he finished engraving the seal on the 100th hand. He put the artifact away and lied on the ground to rest. His body was dripping in sweat and his face a bit pale, he was even huffing for air. 

"900 more to go..." Raven smiled weakly, resisting the urge to slap himself or to curse out loud. 

Even if he did that, there was no turning back. He already began doing this so there's no use on regretting his decisions. 

"I'm going to sleep for a bit." Raven decided. "Once I wake up, I'll start producing the formations."

Speaking of Formations, Raven was now the un-official Head Inscriptionists of the Sect. 

Un-official because only a select representatives know about his new identity. He received this title due to his achievements in Inscriptions and Formations which were greatly displayed on the great battle last time. 

This title didn't really come with a huge responsibility nor did it conflict with his identity as the 9th Chosen of Zeus. It only requires him to provide the sect with the improved Formations, the same thing that he used on Asphodel. 

According to the agreement, for every ten Formations Raven submitted, he'll be rewarded with 15 million Merit Points. However, he needed to hand out the formations first and let it be tested. Once it's confirmed that each one was working as intended, that'll only be the time that he'll get paid. 

Additionally, Raven as to submit at least one unique Formation that could benefit the sect every two years. If he failed to do that, then his position will be revoked. Thankfully, this rule doesn't impose any kind of difficulty for Raven since he already has at least five of those formation that only needed to be tested out. 

Thanks to the Brush of Wisdom and his knowledge about Seal which were gradually increasing as time passed, this requirement was far from enough to stump him. 

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"Kyrie."

"Yes, Young Lord?" 

"Can I trouble you to pass this to the Deputy of Merit Exchange Market? Tell him that these are the first batch of Formations that they asked from me." 

Kyrie accepted the spatial ring and nodded. She then excused herself from Raven's chambers as she delivered the first batch of formations to the Merit Exchange Market Deputy Head. 

Once she left, Raven changed his clothes and went to the Training Field within his pocket dimension. 

Upon his arrival, he brought out the Brush of Wisdom and began regulating his breath. He closed his eyes and calmed his emotions down. When he opened his eyes, his aura and expression changed. Displaying a calm disposition akin to a placid lake. 

Raven slowly lifted the Brush of Wisdom and drew an uneven line. Not even a second after it was drawn, the line transformed into something very astonishing. 

A silhouette of an Azure Serpentine Dragon rose up in the air. It' body coiled up and bared its fangs at the empty field. It released a majestic roar the shook the nearby surroundings before pouncing on ground. 

*Boom!*

The ground shook fiercely as an explosion occurred. The Azure Serpentine Dragon disappeared, leaving behind a massive crater in front of Raven. 

However, Raven's still isn't done. 

With another wave of his hand, a Vermillion Bird, Snake-tailed Black Tortoise, and White Tiger emerged in quick succession. Each one let out their battle cries before transforming into streaks of light, causing a large explosion and leaving an even bigger crater in front of him. 

Once he's done, Raven released a sigh an said: "I'll name it Four Divine Beast Slaughter. It's a little rough on the edges right now but it'll become powerful with practice. Moving on..."

Raven once again lifted the Brush of Wisdom and began drawing an ominous picture. Once he's done, his surroundings suddenly changed into a battlefield filled with Destruction and Ruin, whilst Raven felt this place was right up his alley, to others it might not be so. 

"I used my Destruction Laws and Domain there...hmm, I guess I'll call it 'Ruined Kingdom'." 

Ruined Kingdom is a move that is derived from his Destruction Domain and Laws so he's at home there, the only difference between this and the Domain is that, the Ruined Kingdom move concentrates everything, allowing Raven's power to be amplified by at least twice. 

Raven began testing the moves he created one by one, deciding which ones to improve and to abandon. After that, Raven rested to recovered his lost energy. He then returned to his palace and saw Kyrie waiting for him there. He ate something light first and once he's done, he looked at Kyrie and said:

"Alright, I guess it's time for me to meet my men."