Way of the Knights

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"It seems that they're about to come out."

Raven smiled and faced the portals. Bradley heaved a sigh of relief as he heard this, he truly wanted to comfort to his daughter since she might feels terrible upon her first death experience.

Bradley's heart sank as he once again reminded of how his daughter died. Fear gripped his heart and squeezed it hard, if Raven didn't tell him that this was just virtual reality, he wouldn't hesitate to wreck havoc right then and there.

Both of them heard a whirling sound and five figures stepped outside of the portals with their faces pale. Just like what Bradley expected experiencing death, even through simulation must've feel terrible, not to mention they were kids, he thought that it was a little too early for them to be thinking and training this way. That being said, he also knew how they feel, barely getting out from the filthy hands of the Black Curtain Guild must've influenced their mentality quite hard.

"Hmm?"

Unexpectedly, Raven felt that his friends are behaving quite strange. He expecting something like shock and exclamations, specially from Paul and Ellen, like a typical reaction when someone realize that they escaped danger and they're alive. But they were just standing there with their pale faces and not really saying something, in fact they wore a constipated look on their faces.

Raven began to worry so he immediately activated his eye technique to see the energy workings on their body, on the instant that he saw what was happening inside, Raven broke into a smile and immediately said:

"Focus and make your breakthroughs! It's going to be painful but endure it, let the energies penetrate your bones naturally."

His voice was amplified by energy which instantly woke the people up, once they heard his words. None spoke any unnecessary words and they sat right then and there. Bradley was confused too but when he heard the word 'breakthrough' he felt relieved and a little glee in his heart. It seems that the training really pulled out the hidden potential in their bodies which in turn caused this.

"To reach Muscle Training at thirteen years old, not the first but definitely rare." Bradley commented on the side.

Raven almost spat his tea when he heard him say this, he gave him a wry smile and said: "I don't mean to rude Uncle but aren't you underestimating us a little bit?" action

Bradley raised his brow and asked: "What do you mean?"

Raven didn't speak, instead he let his friends do the 'talking'. As soon as he asked that, Bradley felt the surrounding energies go wild. The doors were closed and the windows too but the wind kicked in hard. Strings of energy started appear form a miniature whirlpool on top of their bodies. Bradley felt his mind go blank at this sight.

After that, loud popping sounds echoed out of their bodies. The sounds came from their bones which were now being penetrated and enhanced by energies. There were also some faint sizzling sounds, these were the impurities on the bones being melted by the energies as well.

Their faces went paler as they gnashed their teeth in attempts to endure the pain, they could feel the searing sensation in every piece of bone they had, the feeling was even worse than any fractures so far.

It had been fifteen minutes of this pain before the relief washed over them. Now they could feel their strength rise into an enormous degree which they didn't think possible before. As they finished their breakthrough, Bradley was yet to close his mouth on shock.

"B-bone Tempering Realm! How is this possible?"

His shock was understandable, in fact if the whole kingdom knew about this news they too would feel the same shock as he did.

To be honest, he was already impressed by thought of these kids reaching Muscle Training Realm this early. In fact, that was already enough for them to receive attention from the academy and be provided with the better environment to cultivate and train.

Imagine his surprise upon finding out that their breakthroughs aren't for the Muscle Training Realm but to Bone Tempering Stage, which is two stages higher than what he was expecting. He didn't understand Raven's words earlier but now he did. He truly underestimated these kids.

"Daddy? Why are you here?"

Bradley's reeling mind were brought to reality by his daughter's voice. All of his confusion and surprise were pushed aside and he rushed to check up on her.

"How are you feeling? Are you fine? Did you properly settle down your cultivation?" He immediately asked a string of questions out of worry.

"I'm fine, I'm fine and yes I did settle it down properly so don't worry." Ellen answered his questions one by one while nodding.

Bradley heaved a sigh of relief when heard this, he also broke into a smile and said: "Look at you, keeping secret from me. Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Ellen giggled but looked cautiously at Raven, seemingly asking him if it was okay for her dad to know. Raven smiled and answered for her.

"Out of caution Uncle. We can't let some unwanted people to know."

His answer was simple but it cleared up many doubts on Bradley's heart. So they kept is as secret for their own safety. He realized that this was a good move and if he was on their position, he would do the same thing as well.

It won't take a genius to realize that if this kids continued with this cultivation speed, they would be incredible powerhouses that could secure peace for the kingdom. And it's the same reason why the Black Curtain Guild would spare no effort and use every means that they have to take them down. If this was to get out, then these kids would be subjected to fear of being assassinated that it would affect their mentality. It would also prove rather stressful for them to deal with all of the scheming folks who wanted to ride along their coattails.

"I see, good move there Avi." Bradley praised, he then turned around and looked at the rest of the crew. "Your parents would definitely be proud if they were aware this."

His words struck a deep chord on their hearts, isn't this part of the reason why they were working hard? Even though Bradley was very formidable Royal Guard, his words were spoken as a parent, and this amplified the feeling it gave them when he said those words.

His eyes then landed on Luna, based on his informations only Anne and Ellen knew about her true identity. "It's been a while since we met, are you doing fine?"

"I'm all good Sir Bradley." Luna replied with a smile on her face, "My illness is cured so I don't have to worry about it anymore but please don't tell them yet."

Bradley's eyes constricted as he heard these words. This was a huge thing! If her parents were aware of this, then the whole palace will shake and there will be a huge celebration!

"No need to act so constricted Daddy. Everyone here knows that she's a princess already." Ellen said which woke Bradley up. He roamed towards the boys and saw them nod, he exhaled and said:

"Her majesty is very vengeful you know? If she knew that I'm keeping a secret from her, specially when it comes to your health, she would make me clean the entire palace all by myself." Bradley smiled wryly, based on the Queen's personality, his words aren't very far from reality since many personnel already suffered from her tantrums.

"Then you have to get better at lying!" Ellen chuckled which made Bradley smile.

"Let's go downstairs and eat, I'm sure you guys are famished from all that jazz earlier." Raven said as he turned around and deactivated the formation. The rest agreed to his suggestion and followed him there.

While eating, Bradley were then filled in with all of the details about their encounter with the criminals. His gaze towards Raven became weirder and weirder as he heard about his meticulous schemes and how easily he dealt with those troublesome people.

Another things is that the crew also told him how they trained and even showed him the materials they used to train. And just like Old Lee's take about all of this, he too thought that the bottomline was simple but also highly effective. He actually started wondering what would happen if these training materials were to be mass produced so that they whole Institute could use them. They might not reach the same cultivation as they are but it's benefits will truly be massive.

"Alright! Just a little more training and we will reach Marrow Cleansing Realm, afterwards we will be allowed to participate with the Righteous Bestowal Ceremony. We will be even more formidable then." Paul rubbed his hands in excitement which also make the rest anticipate for it as well.

"I will be the bad guy and say that you might face a difficulty with that.." - Bradley.