Way of the Knights

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Raven couldn't help but to purse his lips upon seeing that, he then laughed wryly and felt stupid. 

"I was asking for it, aren't I?" He shook his head and thought to himself for a bit. 

Although it was impulsive for him to search for ways to make improvements for his gauntlets, Raven was bound to do that in the future anyway. 

The Crimson Dragon Emperor's Gloves are still suited for his needs. Raven understood the difficulty of promoting it to a true Empyrean level Spiritual Treasure, so finding out the it's going to cost him at least two and half million Merit Points to do so didn't really come as a surprise for him. Needless to say, the price is still too staggering for him. 

Not to mention, gathering the materials needed for the upgrade has its own risk. He just didn't believe that it will be this easy. Sure, the cost was expensive but there's no telling how long he'll stay within the sect anyway. It is also highly probable that he could find a way to earn merit points easier compared to normal disciples. And even if he could produce the necessary amount to invite an Empyrean level Blacksmith to do the job, there's no way for him to ensure their success. 

If the blacksmith succeeds, then it's all good. But what if doesn't? What if the gloves were destroyed in the process? Would the blacksmith be responsible for it? And even the process was a success, who's to say that the blacksmith won't just steal the gloves from him or tell the whole sect that he has an Empyrean ranked Spiritual Treasure, causing his life within the sect to be more miserable? 

Everything sounded very simple but there's just too many variables, and Raven wouldn't necessary want to attract that many enemies by his side. 

"Why am I think about all of this? I'm not even a disciple yet. I'll worry about this once I managed to enter, for now let's see if there's anything that I could buy or want to by for now."

After shaking his head and throwing the matter about upgrading his gloves back in his head, Raven casually skimmed the list to check if there's somethings that could catch his attention or if there's some items that's necessary for him right now. 

Raven spent roughly an hour skimming through items and let out a sigh. The Ancient Elysium Sect was just too formidable. Almost every item and material he could think off is listed and priced accordingly on this list. Those that he didn't manages to see were either too rare or just outright priceless. There are even things that he had never heard about here. 

What really got his attention are the following items:

#1809: Lower Plane Official Writ - 500,000 Merit Points.

#201: Residence at Ares Secret Realm - 800,000 - 1,500,000 Merit Points

# 10: World Tree Seed: 10,000,000 Merit Points

The first item, which is the Lower Plane Official Writ is something that Raven has to posses. He was too familiar with this item as he had seen and heard about this during his previous life. The official writ is a necessary item in order for him to claim ownership of the Grand Ancestral Plane. 

The Divine Realm is a place filled with possibilities, but it also means that the fight over it is incredibly fierce and bloody. Some people who were born from here may decide to try their luck on the lower planes. And even though the Grand Ancestral Plane is quite far from the Divine Realm, it is not invisible. 

Though he left some contingency plans behind that could help him avert the unnecessary attention to his home, Raven's still not satisfied with that. In fact, owning a writ of ownership was one of the reasons why he came here in the first place. His heart will never rest easy unless he achieve this. 

As for buying a residence at the Ares Secret Realm, this will allow his progress on his Destruction Laws to hasten. From the limited information he could gleam at the pearl, this secret realm is a holy land for battle maniacs and those who's Laws align to aggression. This isn't Raven's priority but he thought that he might as well try and see if the rumors were actually true. 

As for the final item, the Seed of the World Tree, this is something that Raven didn't expect to be here. As far as Raven was aware, the World Tree is something that the Ancient Elven Race greatly valued. What he knew about the World Tree is extremely limited, most of it came from the narrations of his old master Tenrou. 

According to Tenrou, the fully grown World Tree is incredibly massive and its branches were completely capable of connecting worlds. It is said that the Ancient Elven Race were its descendants, therefore they were bestowed with the ability to manipulate space. Additionally, only their race were able to travel within the World Tree's branches, allowing them to visit one world after another without taking much risk at all. 

Raven doesn't know how much of this was real and how much was fabricated but it made him interested enough to look at the item with gleaming eyes. Of course, the ten million merit points price tag was a sight for sore eyes but since it is astronomically priced, then it at least means that the legends were true, no?

But then again, simply desiring for these things are too useless for the current him. Not to mention that his puny 620 Merit Points were not even close enough to afford him anything useful, he's not even an official disciple of the sect just yet. 

Yet even so, seeing all of this just proved one point. 

"Joining this competition was truly the correct decision. Joining the sect would be even better…"

And if Raven could think something like this just by looking at the item list, then others could do the same thing as well. 

***

"Sis, look! It's here! It's truly here! There's is hope!"

"Mn! I can see it too! Therefore we must work hard! It would be best if both of us could enter but whether its you or me, we have to do it! We have to purchase this writ!"

"I agree! Don't worry Sis! I won't hold back!"

…

"Kukuku…how rich! How filthy rich this Ancient Elysium Sect truly is! Kukuku…"

"You even placed the item I want for so cheap! Are you baiting me or what? Well, no matter. Kukukuku, there will be no stopping me when I get my hands on it…"

"And those who tries to get in my way…I'll make sure they'll die a horrible death! Kukukuku…"

…

"I can finally understand why you want me to join this sect so bad, Master."

"You taught me all of the skills I possess. You raised me so well but it doesn't change the fact that what you can give to me is ultimately limited."

"A mountain beyond a mountain, a sky beyond the sky. Master, I get it now."

"I won't fail. I promise. Once I carve out a name of fame, once my name is renowned to every corner of the Divine Realm, I'll go back to you and spend the rest of my life by your side."

"Wait for me…"

….

"Kuh! What a formidable sect! I'm hyped! I'm super hyped!"

"Damn! They're even selling beautiful concubines! Man! I think my dream of creating a whole clan by myself might just actually happen! Kuh, I'm so hyped! I'm super duper hyped!"

"This can't go on! I need to get in! I NEED to join this sect! There's just no other way! My dreams will only come true if I managed to get in! So I HAVE to be chosen!"action

"Alright! Come at me you retards! I'll take you all on!"

….

"Hmph! Hmph!"

"Flaunting wealth in front of this Young Master? Hmph, hmph! Don't you know that I…don't you know that I-"

"Am completely broke! Huhu! This Young Master is poor! Poor I say! Wretchedly poor, you hear!? Huhu~"

"You are looking down on me huh? Gosh darn it, you people really are looking down on this Young Master! Fine! Fine! I'll show you! I'll let you know who you're messing with!"

"There will be a day, that all of you will regret looking down on me!"

"Huhu, but I'm still broke! My spirit stones! Huhu~"

***

"Jason! Come on! Snap out of it! It's over!"

*Pa!* *Pa!*

"Brr! I can do this! I can do this! I am capable! I am strong!"

"The competition is fierce, but I've never shied away from a challenge! I've entered hell before. I've experienced hell before! Heck, I haven't even exited hell just yet, but I can still fight."

"There might be a lot of formidable people around but I have no reason to fear! Compared to them, I've experienced more hardships! And even though my burden is quite heavy, I'm not going to give up!"

"Champion's Physique doesn't represent all. And even in that category, I'm not really behind…"

Jason closed his eyes and looked at the fake blue skies above him, his thoughts became a bit messy and an expression of loneliness surfaced on his face. 

"I miss you Junior Sister.. Behave just a bit longer, I'll come home soon."