Way of the Knights

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It had been three months since the school year started. Many things happened in the Academy since then. Students had been learning in a relatively peaceful manner. But today, it seems that the peace would be somewhat disrupted.

"Good Morning Class." 

"Good Morning Instructor Raven." Raven nodded towards the students and asked them to sit down. He then continued by saying: "Before we start the class, there's an important announcement that I have to make, pay attention because I'm only going to say this once."

The Leader Class immediately perked up and paid attention to what Raven has to say.

"Since the first three months since the start of the class had passed, it is due time that we crank up the intensity of your training." 

As soon as he said this, most of his students inwardly cursed him. What does he mean by cranking up the intensity of training? Haven't they suffered enough? 

Well, no one could blame them for groaning since it is true that they had been through a lot during the past three months under Raven's hands. 

As the Leader Class, they have experienced many stressful scenarios due to Raven's machinations. Most of those situations weren't taxing physically but mentally. It is precisely due to this reason that their numbers had gone down to 20 from 30 students, since some just couldn't endure his regimen. 

Nevertheless, those who managed to pull through had been forged well. Their mentalities had been sharpened to a degree where they would be able to remain clam under some pressure. Of course, the students noticed these changes but still, they would appreciate some sort of rest.

"In order to truly test your leading capabilities, I hereby announce that all of you here will have your own Six-man Cell."

Gasps were heard from the class. They looked at each other with faces filled with mixed reaction. Some of them felt excited while some felt scared. Some of them wondered what kind of teammates they will get while some didn't particularly care. 

"Your teammates are chosen carefully after a long deliberation. If you want to change a member, then you must directly report it to me and give me a good reason for replacement. If your reason is plausible, then we will replace your member. Remember, the exchange must happen officially, if we discovered that you switched members by yourselves, we will be forced to impart some punishment to you and your team."

"All in all, there are a total of 100 students who enrolled in the Leaders Class. Which means that there will be a total of 100 teams which consists of six members."

"You will be given missions, depending on the performance of your team the difficulty of the missions you receive will vary as well. Of course, the higher the mission difficulty is, the more generous the rewards your team will get."

"We also decided to spice up your lives by making a Ranking List." Raven added as he pushed his badge and showed them an empty diagram. 

"You will introduced to a new currency called Team Points. These points are earned by clearing out missions that required a whole team. D-rank Missions gives you 10 Team Points, C-rank Missions gives you 20. B-ranks will give you 30, A-ranks will give you 50 and S-rank Missions will give you a 100 Team Points."

"Be aware that the amount of team points I've listed earlier is just the minimum amount. Your client will have the power to reduce or add points depending on their satisfaction. The maximum amount they could add is as much as the minimum for the mission rank and the maximum amount they could reduce is half of that. Do you still follow me?"

The class nodded and continued listening, "With Team Points, you will be able to afford many kinds of resources. Here's the list of items available, have a look."action

As soon as Raven showed the list, his students immediately flocked over and read the contents one by one. The lower priced items are the more common items like C-rank Body Restoration Fluids, Energy Gathering Pills and so on. But the more they looked at the list, the more incredible things they see. From A-rank medicines which even included Longevity Pills, to the A-rank weapons, array formations and such. 

"Excuse me, Instructor." One student of his called out and asked: "This item here that costs 500 Team Points, named Second Scriptures. Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes." Raven answered, "It is. If you avail that, you will receive the Second Chapters of the Cultivation Scriptures that we gave you."

All of his students gasp in that realization, their gazes grew heated as they automatically made a mental note to save up at least 500 Team Points to avail the Second Chapters of their Cultivation Scriptures. 

"Instructor, is this price for one person only or for the whole team?" Another student asked.

"It will be for the whole team." Raven replied, "Which means that once you bought that, everyone on your team will receive the Second Chapters."

His reply made them even more fervent, this means that purchasing this prize now becomes a priority. The students once again went through the list and saw more mind boggling prizes. What's more ridiculous is that one prize in there that was eyed by all of them.

One brave student then asked: "Instructor, this Apprentice Ticket that has your name in it. This should be what I think it is right?"

Raven somewhat froze when they mentioned that, he recovered quite fast but he could only let out a defeated sigh since he couldn't really do anything about it.

"Yes…yes it is." He replied with difficulty. "If you could afford that ticket, come to me and show it. I will then accept one from your team to become my Apprentice."

All of them froze and looked at the item that will practically allow them to soar through the skies in one step. An intense feeling of desire crept up to their chest but when they looked at the amount of team points needed to exchange for the ticket, their desires dampen and most of them couldn't help but smile wryly.

The Apprenticeship Ticket costs 10,000 Team Points. It is amongst the most expensive items that's on the list. Additionally, there's only one ticket available.

"It's so expensive…" One of the students groaned in displeasure, the rest of them agreed and couldn't help but feel pity since they would really like to afford it.

How many missions would they have to take in order to afford that? Some of them even think that the ticket was really overprices, almost as if Raven didn't want anyone to afford it. 

Well, it's not wrong for them to think of it that way since that was the whole point. Raven, in fact, really didn't want anyone to afford that ticket at all.

The idea to place that in there didn't come from him anyway. It was that shameless Paul who thought that it would be a good idea to make a ticket like that. 

Raven didn't want to have an Apprentice since he was a busy man. He had a lot of matters to attend to each day and he didn't know if he could properly look after his Apprentice at all. He initially opposed this idea strongly but Ian supported the idea of his son, which was also supported by the rest of the Instructors, even Luna herself. 

In the end, Raven reluctantly agreed but he told them that he will be the one who will set the price for the ticket or else he would resign. In the end, there's nothing they could do to stop him from making the price expensive. It seems that Raven truly didn't want to have another responsibility to be thrown at his way for now.

"Alright, you've seen everything." Raven said as he closed the exchange list. "Now for the Ranking List."

"Like I said earlier, we made this Ranking List to encourage a healthy competition amongst you people. Each time you submitted a completed mission, your Rankings will change depending on how many Team Points you have accumulated so far. Take note that your Rankings won't change even of you spend your Team Points."

"This Ranking will remain active until the ultimate showdown, which will be the Year-end Tournament. Those who managed to secure the Top 15 Spots, will receive prizes that may or may not change your lives for the better."

"In spite of this, I want you all to be aware of one thing." Raven said in a solemn tone. "By the end of this year, you will be given a choice whether you want to remain with your current team or not."

"Unlike when you change team members, when that time comes, we won't ask questions. If you want out, then we'll get you out. Simple as that. But once you left the team, do remember that you can never go back and thus you have to recruit teammates of your choice."

"As for those who remained in their respective teams, you must also know that there will be no changing from that point on. In the end, whatever your decisions are, you must bear it's consequences. Am I clear?"

The students nodded and took his words to their heart.

"Very well then. We'll start with Team 1, the members are…"