Way of the Knights

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Raven was not new to receiving the a Knight's Salute.

Almost all of his escapades had been heard by common folk and nobles alike. His act of saving the kingdom on multiple occasions was recorded through the annals and gave him a respectable position on the Kingdom. A Knight's Salute is the highest form of respect that someone could receive in the Kingdom. If you receive a salute from someone, that means that they are acknowledged your presence and they held deep respect for you.

At first, those who saluted him are either those he had saved before or those that respected his strength. As time went on, the more he acted for the betterment of the kingdom, the more frequent he had people saluting him. This was even more obvious when the academy was built on his name. At the time, anyone who see would give him a salute. 

He had gotten so used to it that his replies instinctively whenever he receives it. 

This is also why he was a little slow when he realized what Allan and Dennis' Elder Brother did. 

***

"Wait, did you just perform a Knight's Salute?" Raven's voice contained a slight tone of disbelief as he stared at the ten foot tall Ape.

"I merely gave a respectful gesture that one such as yourself, deserves." The ape said in a respectful tone. 

Raven was silent for a bit before saying: "How did you even know?"

The Ape laughed and said: "Others might not be able to see it, but the gleam of your armor wouldn't escape our eyes. It is akin to a blazing sun that shone in a dim place."

Raven raised his brow as he looked at the Ape's eyes. He then caught the briefest glance of his own reflection on his eyes. 

On the Ape's eyes, Raven's image was valiant. Though he might be just be standing there, the aura that emanated off of his body was massive. The Ape was right, Raven might not be wearing his armor as of the moment but in his eyes, it couldn't be anymore obvious. The Ape could truly see the Raven with his armor on, and that was enough for him to guess who he is. 

"I see." Raven said in a whisper. "Your blood is impressive. I'll give you that."

Now it was the Ape's turn to be surprised. Raven's words struck him like a thunderbolt and caused him to freeze on his tracks. But instead of inquiring him, he merely laughed and said: 

"I expected no less from Your Excellency."

"Alright, stop with those honorifics. It's creeping me out." Raven said tiresomely, "Address me by my name, Raven. My status is only takes effect at my home and I'm far from there. Right now, I'm nothing but an ordinary adventurer, treat me as an ordinary guest."

The Ape hesitated for a bit before eventually nodding. He heard the certainty on Raven's words so he could only do it this way, lest he provoke his ire. 

"Ah!" The ape suddenly exclaimed, "Pardon me for not introducing myself. My name is Ronald, the eldest bro of these two. Please excuse them if they bothered you in anyway."

"It's fine. Don't sweat it." Raven shrugged as he replied. 

"Then, shall I we go inside? I think we stayed here for a long time now." 

All of them nodded and Ronald started leading the way inside the Gentle Primates Tribe. 

As soon as Raven stepped inside, a strange look automatically appeared on his face. 

The tribe was surprisingly…normal, specially on a human's perspective.

He could huts made out of straws and a couple of houses made out of stone. He could see primates walking around the places and busying themselves with their own matters. He had seen farmers, fishermen, vendors, construction workers. He could even see some monkey children playing around. He could even see some females gossiping amongst each other, some apes drinking in the middle of the day and some older ones that just enjoyed basking under the sun

Also, all of them are wearing some type of clothes. 

Now that he thought about it, the brothers were also wearing one. He must've missed it because he didn't find it strange, yet it is strange in all aspects.

All in all, this tribe appeared to be more of a small town.

A human town, to be more precise.

'This is creepy.' Raven muttered inwardly. 'But I guess I should've seen this coming.'

He told himself that he should really stop expecting that these guys just would act like regular primates. He already heard about how the tribe was founded, and it shouldn't he surprising that they would truly act like humans since their founders wanted them to act like humans. 

While Raven was thinking about that, he totally forgot that he was not a normal sight for the primates either. 

The instant that he stepped inside, he could feel several gazed locked onto him. He immediately became famous since all of the primates here knew that he was the real deal. 

A Human had come to their tribe. 

His sharp senses backfired at him since he could literally feel that some kids are following them and were silently observing how he acted. He could hear the females switched their topic of their gossip to him. He heard on of drunken apes said that they would invite him to a drink. 

Raven faintly shook his head as he finally realized all of this, Ronald who had been watching him all this time chuckled and said: "This must be surprising for you, but you'll get used to it."

"Anyways, this way is towards our humble home. Ignore them for now, you must be pretty tired from your journey." Ronald offered as they walked through several clearings before arriving at a humble house made out of bricks. 

For some reason, seeing this their house reminded him of his old home back when they were still living at the Outer Circle of the Kingdom. 

At some point, this house looked just like the one they had. And this unknowingly gave him a sense of nostalgia. It made him miss home.

The four of them entered the house and Ronald lead Raven into the guest's room. The ape said that he could rest first while he prepared some feast for them. Raven appreciated the gesture and did what he said. 

The room that he was given also gave him a nostalgic feeling. This room looked just like his old room. The very same one that he woke up to when he experienced his Soul Rebirth. 

A lot of things happened since then. He was thirteen when it all started and before he knew it, he was already accomplished many things not only for his family, but for the Kingdom as well. 

He managed to correct his mistakes and do a better job this time around. He found it funny whenever he compared the state of the Kingdom in his previous life and the current one. Right now, the Kingdom is headed in a bright future. 

It had been more than a year since he left his home but he was convinced that everyone is still fine. Of course, he couldn't help but to miss them every now and then, even the tedious task of being an instructor for that matter. Needless to say, he only had a couple of things to finish right after this and he could truly rest easy.

A faint smile reached his face, he sat on the bed and went on to meditate.

Raven's cultivation is nearing it's saturation again.

The constant training and battles definitely helped out on this. Right now, he was sitting at mid Silver Knight in cultivation. Only a few steps away until the Golden Knight Realm. 

Of course he doesn't plan on being satisfied with just being a Golden Knight. It is natural that he is aiming for something higher. He has to, or else he wouldn't be qualified to ascend.

Golden Knights are represented by their Golden Armor. It boasts with superior defense that couldn't be broken by any normal means. To break the Armor of a Golden Knight is akin to destroying a whole mountain with just a single punch. This is why this stage is this realm is dream of most knights of the Kingdom since they see Golden Knights as Immortals.

 It is said that one's Knightly Armament would reach it's peak state at this form but that is not entirely true. 

A Knightly Armament evolves with it's owner. The only reason why majority believes it to be this way is because it is hard to make any drastic changes nor improvements to the Knightly Armament once it reached it's golden state. This is due to the lack of information about cultivation matters but since Raven is here, then they could rest easy.

In fact, he had already left them an information about this even before leaving to fetch the ingredients needed to cure his in-laws. 

He imparted this method because it was the best time for them strengthen themselves while its still relatively peaceful.. He did all of this because he knew that the peace of the Kingdom won't last long.

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