Way of the Knights

Chapter 581 - Treasures

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Just like the Treasures of Zeus, the heir to Chronos is also entitled to receive some treasures in order to protect themselves against the dangers that they have to face. 

Unlike Zeus where each candidate is only allowed to have one, as the Heir of Chronos only appears one each generation, they are entitled to at least three. Before Raven went back to his abode, Lucas already took him to the treasury and asked him to pick the things he wanted. 

According to Lucas' explanation, even the weakest treasure of Chronos is filled with vast antiquity. Even Ancestor Zeus didn't know where in the world did his foster father got them. 

The first time Raven saw the treasury, his jaw almost hit the floor due to astonishment. There was a whole wall filled with numerous scrolls where the description and the treasures themselves are concealed. Even if they were sealed, Raven could feel the ancientness on each of them. 

There was no such thing as a trash treasure amongst them. Every single one was powerful. Raven could even confidently say that if all of these treasures were to be held by the most trusted personnel of the sect, they'll be able to conquer the whole Divine Realm with them. 

Of course such a thing is nigh-impossible to happen since the sect held it's moral values. Still, seeing this at least gave Raven some sort of confidence. 

Maybe their chances to win the upcoming war isn't as little as he initially thought they were. 

Raven then did what he was asked to, and picked three treasures that he likes. Thankfully he wasn't on a time limit so Raven took his sweet time reading through the details and speculating inwardly. In the end, these are the three he picked. 

The first one was something called: 'Rotten Bark of the World Tree.'

He picked this one in order to use it as a catalyst to accelerate his won world tree seed's growth. While it doesn't really fully justify why he picked this branch instead of others, a rotten the first place. Raven didn't  bother explaining. 

He himself felt the yearning of the seed. Although he too was a bit bummed that he had to pick this one, he just followed his instincts instead. He already had an idea how to use this thanks to the world tree seed. 

The next one is called the: Shell of Absolute Beginning. 

This is a treasure of very unknown origins. Even with Ancestor Zeus searching the lands, he never received any traces nor clues as to where this come from. 

The shell was big, it could almost act as a shield. And if Raven saw someone in the future doing just that, he'd probably won't be able to blame then. 

The reason why Raven picked up the Shell of Absolute Beginning is because he was reminded of his Master Geezer. He could still remember how he was pushed to the brink of death by those greedy people in order to claim his research from themselves. 

The reason why he was sent into wherever he is now, is because only his research and experiments about the 'Absolute Beginning' 'somewhat' succeeded. They all thought that Geezer found a way to condense Origin Energy, allowing himself to go beyond the realm of Divinity. 

The description of the shell was somewhat vague though: 

'Fate. Only those who have fate with this shell shall be able to use it.' That was written by 'Chronos' himself. 

Well, Raven didn't know if he was truly fated with the shell or not. He could hold it just fine, he didn't feel any signs of discomfort doing so. Which should mean that he is fated with this shell - that, or it maybe because way too much time has passed and any sort of enchantment placed on the shell were already malfunctioning. 

Raven didn't dwell too long on this matter and made his final choice. Which is a treasure called: 'Primordial Ink'.

This time, just like how it was with the world tree seed, he also felt some sort of attraction towards this item. That attraction was coming from the link he shared with the Brush of Wisdom. 

Raven had no idea why the Brush of Wisdom wanted this ink so bad that it jumped out of his body and rooted Raven in place, disallowing him from moving on unless he picked the ink as well. 

Well, what else could he do right? This was the first time that the Brush of Wisdom made a 'request' to him so he can't really just refuse it after all the help it gave to him. The Brush of Wisdom let his go once he confirmed that he'll be taking the Primordial Ink. 

Once he returned to Lucas, even his Senior Brother felt a bit surprised with Raven's choices. Nevertheless, after confirming it once, the details about his choices were recorded and Lucas passed the necessary documents for Raven to study before he sent him back. 

Now, Raven was currently resting inside the Cultivation Eden, sitting down with the treasures placed in front of him. 

Once he entered his most optimal state. Raven exhaled long and hard, he then picked up the Primordial Ink and took out the Brush of Wisdom. Looking at it, he hesitated before saying...

"Hey, buddy." Raven bit his lips, "I got the ink, what do you want me to do with it?" 

And as if answering to him, the Brush of Wisdom released a few humming sounds which strangely contained a message that Raven could understand. 

"You want me to dip you onto it?" Raven asked in confirmation. The Brush of Wisdom released a few more hums to answer him. "Okay...here we go." 

Raven placed the tip of the brush to the container of the Primordial Ink. 

All of a sudden, the brush released loud buzzing sounds which startled even the avatars minding their own business not to far from Raven. 

Raven was shocked to see the brush quite literally inhaling the ink. Very swiftly, the Primordial Ink was emptied till the past drop, all of it was absorbed the Brush of Wisdom, causing the brush head to darken in color. 

The Brush of Wisdom let out a few jolly hums and transmitted a message that it needs at least one whole year so that it could absorb the ink properly. 

Raven's eyes widened, he initially wanted to stop it but he was too late. The Brush of Wisdom already retreated to his body and he could no longer call for it. Raven fought the urge to not let out a string of curses. 

One year was way too damn long! Many things could happen within a day not to mention a whole year! With the Brush of Wisdom retreating, he felt like he lost an arm or two. Even with the short time that he spent with the brush, he already treated it like his most precious treasure. It wouldn't be a surprise that Raven feeling rather upset and dejected right now. 

Pursing his lips, he could only sigh and say: "Hopefully, the time difference within this place had an effect with that, or else I'd truly be in trouble. 

He returned his gaze back at the remaining treasures he claimed from before and felt rater apprehensive. He started thinking if it would be wise for him to continue since a similar scene from before could end up happening again. And he didn't really want to fall for the same trick twice. 

After thinking for quite sometime though, Raven decided to continue. The reason for that is because he felt that these two remaining treasure wouldn't necessarily inconvenience him. 

The Rotten Branch of the World Tree will act as some sort of a fertilizer for the World Tree Seed. Raven had no problems with it being deactivated for a moment since he's not really getting anything out of it on it's seed form. He need it to bloom first before he could experience its benefits. 

As for the Shell of Absolute Beginning. Although it remained a mystery to him, the worst that could happen is for him to not get anything out of it. Raven, for some reason, was absolutely confident that the shell wouldn't hurt him, 

And even at the instance that he fail, it's not like it would spell the end of the world. He could always try again in the future since he's destined to go far anyway. He could always try again in the future when he's a tad bit stronger. 

And now that he has decided, Raven continued his activities by first picking up the Rotten Branch of the World Tree. 

Placing the rotten branch on his palms, he rubbed it a few times as if trying to transfer some warmth onto it. When he was done with this, he began guiding his Cosmic Energy on his hands. All of a sudden, the branch disappeared from his palms and reappeared at the center of his Inner Cosmos where his world tree seed unhesitatingly sent it's white root-like tendrils to consume the branch instead of Raven's Cosmic Energy. 

Time passed by and somewhere along the process, Raven suddenly lost consciousness.