Way of the Knights

Chapter 732: 732

“Hmm? You’re bored?” 

*Woof!*

“You want to play outside too?” 

*Woof!*

“…sure. I mean, there’s nothing much to do here anyway. Be careful out there.” Raven told the space beast which looked and sounded like a mutt. 

It barked again and disappeared to the horizon like a shooting star. 

Time passed by and Raven continued monitoring the young star. He didn’t know much time he had spent here exactly but he knew that he had been here for a while. 

No Outsiders came after Rocky’s bunch, giving him a long period of peace and serenity. Raven continued his routine like a machine, steadily increasing his knowledge and insights amongst the Chaotic Laws which he can sense since he’s close to the Outer Worlds. 

Raven steadily improved upon his own Laws as well as his Heavenly Secret Origin. His cultivation base did became a bit of a problem since even without his desire to increase it or to make any breakthroughs, it was saturating faster than he would like, it doesn’t have that it does this on its own as well.

This caused him to seal his own cultivation base. He didn’t want to have a breakthrough here, not while he’s undergoing a trial. This place is risky, although on those who are breaking through Empyrean Knight and Divine Knights will be branded as Outsiders if they broke through here, Raven has no desires to risk it. So this is the best solution he can think of.

On the other hand, the Young Star’s growing nice and steady at this point. 

Under his constant observations, it started giving birth to life and experimenting with its choices. It’s maturing on a steady place as well. Thanks to Raven’s aid and care it’s growth looked very promising. Should nothing goes horribly wrong, this star should be getting ready to advance to an Independent Star soon. 

Still though, it’s going to take some time before that actually happens so Raven knew he should relax and maintain his serenity as he observed the growth of the young star. 

Unbeknownst to Raven, he’s acting more like a Hermit at this point. He grew so used to the peace that loneliness and isolation brought to him. He isn’t aware that his meditations are lasting for years because of it. To him, the passage of time almost held no meaning, it didn’t effect him nor corroded his sanity. It’s just there, a silent companion like Loneliness. 

His Avatars that’s capable of thinking on their own, noticed this but didn’t dare to say anything. They just let him be and since the original was like this, they were adjusting as well. 

Raven truly didn’t notice it. He knew that he’s steadily losing grip and awareness of time but he didn’t do anything against it. He didn’t fight it nor held on to it. He just allowed everything to pass. 

This very reason is why a long and slow transformation was occurring to him. 

As Raven slowly lost his perception of time, the latter too is losing perception of him. Although this sounds rather complicated and confusing, it’s effect is simple. 

Raven’s starting to fuse with the very fabrics of Spacetime itself. 

Although understanding Spacetime Laws allowed him to virtually become Immortal, he can still be killed through several means, the most effective one is by Karmic Severing. 

While it is true that Raven’s losing awareness of Time itself, that only meant that his mental inhibitions are being lifted. The idea of being eroded by time is slowly slipping away from his grasp. Meaning that he no longer feel any fear of it. At the same time, Time itself is slowly forgetting him as well. This means that Time itself is making an exception for Raven. 

If Time forgets Raven’s existence, then it also means that it will never bother him ever again. If that happens, Raven can and will easily fuse with Time itself, allowing him to become one with it. This will allow him to gain access to everything Time has. 

Basically, if Raven fuses with time, he will be Omniscient.

If he can fuse with Time, he can also do similar with Space. If he fuses with Space, then distance will no longer hold any meaning to him. He can appear anywhere he likes unimpeded. His nowhere and everywhere. 

Fusing with Space will make him Omnipresent. 

Space and Time, two sides of the same coin. If Raven can fuse with Spacetime itself? Well, he’ll arrive at the point where he does not need to fear anything at all. 

Sufficed to say, once Raven becomes an Empyrean Knight, he will already be an Omniscient and Omnipresent entity, which makes him no different from a Divine Knight. 

Killing him will be the same as dooming all existence, so even if they wanted to, they can’t. He’ll be Invulnerable in every sense. 

Of course, there’s still a long way to go before he reaches this state. A long, long way to go. But he’s getting there, with him being aware of it or not. 

Currently, Raven’s time was being occupied by him casually observing the Parallel Timelines due to his Spacetime Laws. He’s observing the lives of other ‘Raven’ in there one by one. 

It truly broadens his horizons, seeing how different endings he can see. It only takes a single, smallest and simplest change for his life to spiral towards different outcomes. 

More often than not, he can see himself failing miserably. He had lost count on how many ‘Raven’ he saw dying before they could achieve their dreams. The trend always begins at the Grand Ancestral Plane. 

So far, not even once did he saw himself being born anywhere else aside from this place. It feels like his birth at the Grand Ancestral Plane is considered as an Event Horizon – meaning that it will always occur, one way or another, it doesn’t change no matter what timeline it is. 

He had seen himself having different families, living different kinds of lives, marrying different people so on and so forth. 

Another thing that he may or may not consider as an Event Horizon is the fact that he will always leave the Grand Ancestral Plane before he turns 100 years old – if he hasn’t died yet.

So far, that’s only the constant things that he noticed so far. 

Similar to how much time has passed here, Raven similarly lost count of how many timelines he viewed so far. Well, considering how many there is, keeping count won’t really benefit him in any way, shape or form. 

That being said, the World Tree within him was growing well. It’s had become big and grew many leaves as well. In turn, the tree’s benefits of increasing the purity of his Cosmic Energy increased as well. Which is the reason why his cultivation is steadily increasing without him taking charge. 

Constellations, Laws, Heavenly Secret Origin, observing different Timelines, practicing runes in his spare time and of course, getting ample rests in between. Raven cycled through these activities one by one, as he waited for the young star’s advancement. 

He remained tranquil throughout the process. He didn’t worry about the situation of the sect. He didn’t worry about their enemies. He only did what he could and did it efficiently.

Time continued to pass by without Raven paying attention to it. 

The Space Beast occasionally returned and left his side. Then, the day comes when he felt a strong fluctuation which interrupted his routine. 

His eyes immediately darted towards the Young Star and saw it trembling. The scene caused him to take a deep breath. He took a step forward and arrived in front of it. He watched closely as its Outer Crust quaked and ruptured. 

The living organisms on the star were in total mayhem. There were volcanic eruptions, storms, earthquakes and etc. everywhere. 

Most of them died while others were barely hanging on to dear life. 

Despite the chaotic scene, Raven remained calm. He felt no panic and just continued watching the scene unfold. 

Though it looked like the star was about to be destroyed, the truth is it is not. This is happening mainly because it’s expanding. It’s trying to advance in one fell swoop. To do that, it needs to borrow the elements of Destruction to re-arrange itself, giving it more freedom to do whatever it deems fit to happen. 

Raven raised his hand and snapped his fingers, he deactivated all of the runes that’s isolating this area. He needed free the star so that it can decide which side to be on; Outer Worlds or Divine Realm. 

Just a reminder, this place is located just outside where the two camps meet. 

As a young star, this one was neither recognized by the Divine Realm or the Outer Worlds yet. But now that it’s advancing, a time will soon come where it needs to make an exclusive decision. It can choose either of the camps or neither, never both.

Raven collected the runes and continued observing the process. His eyes were as placid as still lake. He saw that the hardest part was about to arrive, which caused him to whisper:

“Be brave and bold, Young One. I’m watching you.”

62d67767f92eb560e77c9100