Way of the Knights

Chapter 676 - 1st Floor: Little Tiger

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[Vendrick 'Raven' Valorheart] - 0th Floor.

This is what was displayed on the stone steele after he was done smearing his blood on it. 

"That Stone Steele would serve as your identification. Keep it safe and after you finish clearing all the mission on the current floor you're in, the information displayed on that plate will be updated. That stone steele will also display all the necessary details about your mission on each floor." Gary explained.

Raven nodded softly and asked: "Are there any missions here in the 0th Floor?" 

"There is none." Gary shook his head. "This floor is a safe zone. Nothing or no one will hurt you here. Each time you clear a floor, you'll be sent back here. You can rest and recuperate here before challenging the next floor. You can also enter seclusion here." 

"I see." Raven nodded, "Will I be able to see the other challengers here?" 

"No." Gary shook his head again. "That would only be possible if you entered at the same time. Even then, the missions you'll receive won't necessarily be the same so you will only meet them upon entering. Once all of you ascend each floors, you won't be able to see each other again until you successfully exit this place."

Gary also took advantage of this time to explain everything that Raven needs to know...

"The Celestial Ascension Platform is mysterious. There is no fixed amount of floors, it all depends on the potential of the challenger. The difficulty of the missions will also depend on your potential. You can die here so don't be careless. If you managed to persist though, the rewards you will get will be satisfactory."

"Aside from the rewards after clearing each floor, you will also have a Final Rewards that you will get after you finished all the trials or after you used all your chances. Each floor will be graded and depending on the result, the amount of rewards you'll get will vary."

"Each challenger has 5 chances to give-up on the floor and move-on to the next one. Remember that using these chances will have a significant effect on your final grade so use them wisely. Of course, if you really are in danger, don't hold back and use them. You have to be alive to enjoy the rewards given after all." 

Raven listened to the lengthy explanation and remember it by heart. Now everything was more or less clear to him. 

'So that's why I have this feeling that I will stay here for a long time. It turns out that there is no fixed amount of trials. If I want to get the grandest reward, I have be careful and take my time. I also has to see this to the end. I need all the strength I can get from this.' 

Raven took a deep breath, unconsciously gripping the stole steele tightly. Gary saw this and a faint smile appeared on his face. 

"How do I challenge the 1st Floor?" Raven looked up and asked Gary. 

"Touch the obelisk and you'll be transported to the 1st floor." The elder replied. 

"Thanks. I'm off, Elder Gary." Raven politely excused himself and touched the obelisk behind Gary. As soon as he touched the obelisk, Raven turned into tiny motes of light and were absorbed into the obelisk."

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"...ow!"

"Hey, bro! Bro can you hear me?" A voice called out to him. He tried opening his eyes but for some reason he couldn't. His whole body felt incredibly painful and he didn't understand why.

He suddenly heard hurried footsteps rushing towards him. He then heard another voice talking...

"Is Little Tiger awake?" 

'L-Little Tiger?' 

"Shit!" 

He suddenly felt a painful sting on his head, it was as if a hammer struck his head badly. He was assaulted by a wave of memories that clearly didn't belong to him. 

"Little Tiger!! Are you okay? Shit! Young Master Jin is too much!!" 

"Shut up, fatty...stop talking." Raven - wait it's 'Little Tiger' now isn't it? 

Little Tiger said to the fat man who's freaking out right next to his bed. 

Inside Raven's consciousness, he finally organized the strange memories of Little Tiger. Next to it, was the stone steele that Elder Gary handed to him. Raven picked up the Stone Steele and saw that it was flashing with light and now has new information available to him. 

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[Vendrick 'Raven' Valorheart] - 1st Floor (In-progress)

Mission: 

: You are possessing the body of 'Tiger Rogers', a kid who's rather unfortunate. He has zero Martial Talent and was deemed as a waste by his Tribe. 

: Your main mission is to Conquer this World. Once you do, you'll be able to clear the 1st floor. 

: Rewards: To be determined.

: Note - The more dazzling your performance is, the greater your rewards will be. Good luck, Challenger.

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The corners of Raven's mouth were twitching...

'Really? Something like this can happen? Come on...'

The mission wasn't exactly that hard. Although he has no idea about the level of this world, Raven's strength can stand-up against an Empyrean if he tried his best. But the problem is...

'I was reduced to a mere mortal...' Raven was depressed, 'I can't access my Crown, my cultivation base is sealed, even my Laws are sealed as well. I can't break this seal since that will means failure. There's also this...'

Raven opened his hand and golden light suddenly materialized from his palms. He a 9 foot long spear suddenly appeared on it which closely resembled an item that Raven has been using for quite sometime now. 

'The Brush of Wisdom turned into a spear? Should I call this Spear of Wisdom then? What the heck?' Raven was really puzzled. 

Raven sighed and felt a little bit stumped, it has been a while since he felt this weak but he has no time to complain. He calmed himself down and started reading through Little Tiger's memories. 

Never in his wildest dreams that the trials of the Celestial Ascension Platform would be something like this. That being said, he remember Gary telling him that the trials will be modified depending on the challenger's potential. He has many doubts right now but it isn't time for him to pay attention to those, there are pressing matters for him to prioritize...

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[A/N: I'd be referring to Raven as Little Tiger until the end of the 1st Floor Arc.]

"Whew..." 

Little Tiger sighed and slowly opened his eyes. He then looked beside him to see the boy named 'Big Fatty' looking at him anxiously. Aside from Big Fatty, there's also a woman there who looked rather haggard. From his memories, this is named Rosa. 

'She doesn't look like a Rosa at all.'

"You're awake, Bro. You've scared me to death." Fatty cried as he plopped on top of Little Tiger. 

"Urk! Damn, Fatty! You're killing me with your weight!! Get off!" Little Tiger tried his best of push Fatty away but he was took weak to do so. He felt like crying, if this was the original him, a flick of his finger would sent this fat guy at least several miles away. 

"You can raise you voice against Fatty, that means that you're mostly fine. That's good. We're worried you know?" Rosa said in a concerned manner. "So? What happened anyway? We only saw the aftermath of the beating, you looked rather awful and we thought you were dead. People said that it was Young Master Jin and his lackeys did it to you. What did you do?"

"You said you didn't see it happening, how the hell did you came to the conclusion that I did something?" Little Tiger groaned. "That asshole never had a reason to beat me up. He just felt like doing so and he did, that's all..." 

"...right, I forgot that we're talking about that asshole here. He's always been a despicable little shit." Rosa shook her head, seemingly disappointed that she forgot about this point. 

From Little Tiger's memories, he in fact didn't do anything against the Young Master Jin at all. He was just sitting under a Peach Blossom Tree, enjoying the fresh wind when they rudely interrupted him and beat the living crap out of him. 

"I think it's best for you avoid him from now on." Fatty commented, "I don't know what's his deal but that guy is seriously fucked-up in the head. He's very unreasonable too. If you try to stand-up to him, he might convince his father to kick you out of the tribe. It's too dangerous. Don't go out from now on, Tiger." 

Little Tiger looked at Fatty and saw that both him and Rosa were seriously worried about him. They are the only people who cared about him in this tribe. Even when everyone shunned him, these two stuck to his side and never left him alone. They even suffered because of him as well. This is probably why he felt a strong bond to these two even though he's originally not Little Tiger...

A sigh escaped from his lips. In the end, these reminded him of his sworn brothers. There's just no way for him to close his heart to this two kind souls...

"Don't worry about me...I'll be fine. And you two will be fine as well...."