Way of the Knights

Chapter 727 - Cultivating A Star

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"...I could feed it some dying stars..." Raven muttered, "I mean, there are some nearby but it's risky. Most of these stars are independent stars, if I'm not careful, what remains of their sentience might take over the star I'm in charge of. That would be bad."

Within the vacuum of space, Raven hovered around and carefully considered his options. Beneath him was the star that he's in charge of. Currently, it's recovering but it's going to take time before it completely stabilized. 

New born stars have a lifespan of about 20,000 years, it's quite short but depending on its potential and fortune, there are chances for it to evolve into Independent Stars. 

What makes Independent Stars different is its sentience. New born stars doesn't have sentience which will be crucial for the further growth of the star. The sentience of an Independent Star is the one that will give birth to living creatures of the star. 

After a star becomes independent, it's longevity will extend up to 500,000 years. Quite a leap really and enough time for it to accumulate resources for its next evolution which the Small World/Plane. After evolving to this stage, the star can now create advanced lifeforms like Humans, Demi-humans, Beastmen, etc.

Advanced lifeforms like this are the ones that will determine whether their world will evolve into a Great World all the way to a Divine World. Since advance lifeforms' fate and destiny are tied with the star itself, their achievements will be reflected to their home world. 

Grand Ancestral Plane - Raven's home world, is said to be the home of humans who made the first step towards the Divine Realm, at least according to the historians, this is the case. As for whether they're the first intelligent creatures who stepped foot onto the Divine Realm well, that's still up for discussion. 

The only reason why the Grand Ancestral Plane hasn't evolved into a Great World or higher yet is because of it's unique circumstances. 

See, as what stated above, the fate and destiny of the Advance Lifeforms - in this case Humans, are tied to their home world. Everything they do will be reflected to their home world. Now, considering the fact that the Grand Ancestral Plane is the true home for humanity, it should've evolved into an Empyrean World by now at least, but it still hasn't. Why is that?

Well, that's because nobody came home. Its that simple.

If they just returned to the plane, literally any of them, that should allow the sentience to receive the contribution based on the fate of that individual and their collective bloodline. However, nobody came home. They left and never looked back. All of them stayed on their new found home, only sending some apparitions back to check on the lands which doesn't count at all. 

The ones who lead the first batch of humanity to the Divine Realm at least had the heart to send an apparitions bearing gifts that will protect and extend the life of their old home, but again...they sent apparitions which didn't count.

Going back to this...failed abortion of a star. It's probably the unluckiest star that Raven ever encountered. Again, as to why the Celestials...who ever they were, paid attention to this particular star? Raven has no idea, however his work is clear and that's what he should focus on. 

Currently, as he thinks of other ways to hasten the stabilization and development of the star, Raven was still drawing runes just to expedite the process. 

Using his Heavenly Secret Origins - his enlightenment that all creations were born out of Runic Inscriptions, he was aiding the process ever so slightly by supplying it with his own since the still born star doesn't have any. 

As he hovered around the star, Raven's body was constantly releasing strings of light which behaved in different ways. Some flew down and fused with cracked crust of the star, others intersected and fused with the very thin film of atmosphere the star has. Some just revolved around the star aimlessly, so on and so forth.

Raven knows that this is a huge project and it will take a long time before he see any visible changes. Therefore he's not feeling anxious about it since it won't do anything good for him anyway. 

This is sink or swim for him. What's left is just to try his best. 

Raven fell into a routine. Being out here, he's hardly aware of how much time has passed. He could've been here for an entire year by now and he'd still wouldn't know. 

In his waking hours, Raven will do his round of work. Diligently inspecting the current state of the star, afraid of missing out on a single detail since that might cost him his life. After inspecting and correcting some patterns here and there, he will supply the world with everything he has that's useful for its growth, this comes in form of his Law Insights which are growing at a steady rate. 

He'll work himself to exhaustion, do a last check before resting within the crown space. There he will continue to cultivate and accumulate as much as he could, trying to at least make a difference that will hasten up this process. 

With time, Raven's mood eventually turned tranquil. With no one to talk to other than himself, his mental state gradually became serene and peaceful. His work might be monotonous but it has its own charms. He's essentially cultivating a star rather than terraforming it. 

With this kind of mental state, Raven didn't care about the passing time. He didn't feel bored nor anxious, he didn't feel too relaxed either. Just tranquil. And this exact mental state was the exact reason why his work here was going faster than he's aware off. 

See, tranquility of one's mind allows a person's horizons to broaden. It's not exactly as effective as the Enlightened State but Tranquility is something anyone can achieve under the right setting, and its benefits are just a shy away from the Enlightened State as well. 

In this state, Raven wasn't aware that his expertise in wielding Runic Inscriptions were being refined beyond perfection. His Heavenly Secret Origin is far from completion but it's growing at an alarming pace. 

Just as a reminder, Heavenly Secret Origin is a key component for someone to breakthrough to Empyrean Knight Stage. Meaning that Raven's foundations to become a strong Empyrean is being solidified at quicker pace that he himself could realize. 

His Law Insights are growing at an alarming state too. Both his Spacetime and Destruction Laws are swiftly rushing towards the acme of their respective 3rd Concepts. 

Aside from this, Raven's understanding towards the Constellations in general are growing at a very fast pace too. His Avatars are influenced by his current mental state as well which in turn, allowing them to comprehend things in a much faster way. 

Raven used these comprehension to aid the star's growth and stability. What he didn't know is that, he's unknowingly plucking the string of fate and connecting this young star to the Ancient Constellations as well as the new ones.

His connection with the Brush of Wisdom, the very item that drew the constellations themselves, allowed him to do this, and as his expertise and comprehension towards the stars increase, so does his connection to the Brush of Wisdom grew.

At this point, only time will tell what his actions will trigger and what its effects for the young star but for now, everything's going on as he intended.

With the passage of time, the still born star was very close to stabilization. With Raven's constant efforts, it was responding with its own tune as well. Unknowingly to Raven, the star is beginning to have some form of sentience.

It's not much. It's not nearly enough to even call it an instinct just yet, but its there. 

Unbeknownst to Raven, he's been here for two whole years, nearly three actually. But again, due to his mental state and the empty silence of the Spatial Vacuum, he isn't aware of this. More specifically, he's no longer paying attention to it. 

By now, the outer crust of the star is no longer quaking every so often. In fact, they were beginning to disappear little by little. Now thin layer of the star's atmosphere is no longer on the verge of dissipating, in fact it's now showing signs of stabilization. The pulse of life was no longer as weak as it once was. 

At this point, Raven still didn't understand the purpose of this trial. Why did they give it to him and so on. All he knew is that he's doing it in order to survive, to live. There's so much left for him to do. He can't allow himself to fall here just yet. 

Time continued to pass by without his knowledge. It was during his 5th year ever since starting this trial, that the star began to transform. 

Under Raven's calm, almost indifferent gaze. The star released a brilliant flare which healed all of it's surface wounds. The atmosphere changed and patches of life began appearing on the star's surface. 

Raven watched all of this with a contented gaze, but he knew that this was far from over.