Way of the Knights

Chapter 886: A Break

“…yeah, this one’s no good either.”

Raven sighed as he wrapped-up yet another failure. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rested his back against his chair. He remained like that for a bit to ease-up his headache since god knows how tired he is.

A full year passed by since the start of their seclusion. The rest aren’t showing any signs of waking-up just yet. Raven’s work also still hasn’t shown any positive signs either, everything he had tried so hard all lead to a dead-end.

The whole fiasco about Blackwing already passed and mostly forgotten. The deterrence has served him well. Nobody dared to cause any large ruckus while they’re in seclusion.

Still, it would’ve been better if Raven could just catch even a vague trail of his true goal.

By now, he her lost count on how many times he had theorized and simulated things. All of it were dead-ends which frankly has a toll on Raven’s mentality.

Again, nobody said this is going to be easy. Even if he has the foundation for it, searching for the correct path is more difficult than searching for a needle in a haystack.

He had tried numerous methods by now. From the basic combinations down to the weird ones. Still, all resulted in a failure. All of these failures are taking their toll on his mind and if this trend continues, Raven might actually lose his mind.

“I need a break.” He figured.

He stood up from his throne and went out of the Throne Room, leaving his team there in silence. He didn’t want to disturb them since he knows that they are at the critical conjuncture of their seclusion. It’ll be bad if they’re interrupted right now.

He appeared in his office which is currently empty. There’s a stack of documents piled up on his table but he ignored it for now. His Avatars will take care of them for him since he had other matters to attend to.

Raven grabbed his tea set and went towards the garden to relax. He wanted to chill and forget about his troubles for now.

As he was making tea, he spared some of his attention to check-up on how his daughter was doing.

Vanessa was currently hanging-out with her friends. It seems that they’re little group expanded a bit since the last time he checked. Her, Richard and Jeanne are still the closest but they’re also friendly with the rest.

Raven could feel that Vanessa has really grown-up. Gone was the naive and immaturity on her face. It is now replaced by a beautiful visage of an experienced young lady who isn’t afraid to confront those who wanted to disturb the peace of her home.

She’s really grown-up, and Raven couldn’t be prouder of what she became.

After checking-up on her daughter, Raven integrated with the memories of the Avatar he sent to watch over Little Stephen.

The kid’s no longer helpless. He had changed ever since their initial meeting. He could now fend for himself at least and doesn’t have any problems on surviving on his own.

Actually, his Avatar did well in supporting his growth. He had subconsciously taught Stephen to not rely on anybody to survive and believe in his own capabilities. He taught him how to be in control of his own life which really changed the boy’s outlook in life.

Now, he’s more spirited in everything that he does. His will was sharpened even further and he had no troubles going on like this if that’s what he wanted.

But then again, he could also feel Stephen’s hesitation.

At this point, Stephen has already moved-on with his life, the days of his distrust with adults and his trauma from what he experience back in orphanage were mostly gone. He had coped-up well.

With him having an active social life, he eventually learned more about the world.

He learned about cultivation as well. This is where his hesitation comes from.

As a young child who had seen cultivators for the first time, he had reacted similarly like other people. Amazed and confused with a hefty amount of longing as well.

Then again, Stephen is a bit different compared to other kids. Life had been difficult for him. What he initially wanted was a peaceful life. A simple dream really but now, he’s hesitating…

Should he become a cultivator as well? This question is what’s been plaguing him for quite some time now.

It had to be known that Raven’s Avatar still hasn’t told him anything yet. So far, the Avatar just taught him all he needed to learn in order to survive on his own and have a decent life since he didn’t want to dictate what kind of life Stephen wanted for himself.

Still, Stephen’s indecisiveness has been distracting him for quite sometime now. There were times when he can’t even get proper sleep because of it.

Well, this is something that Stephen has to figure out on his own. Raven can’t help him with this since Stephen is in control of his own life.

If he decided to pursue cultivation, that’s good. Raven wouldn’t hesitate to groom him as his successor. If he chose not to, then that’s fine as well. Raven would just wait until the next candidate shows up.

After checking up on his daughter and his potential heir, Raven went on and enjoyed a warm cup of tea.

He stared at the horizon and felt the fatigue rolling off his shoulders. His mind was pried off from what was troubling him and he concentrated on the present instead.

“…I’m going on a decent pace. There’s really no need to hurry.” He whispered to himself. “If I could find clues and breakthrough to the realm before the Abyssals arrive, it’ll solve most of our problems. If time isn’t on my side, that’s fine too. At least I’ve prepared this place enough for the invasion.”

“There’s really no need to stress about this too much. If I could do it, I would. If I can’t, then I’ll just focus on what I can do instead. It’s as simple as that.”

Raven rested his back on his chair and cross his legs. He took another sip of his tea and proceeded to observe Divine Realm to pass time.

He placed focus on the random corners of the realm, checking and making sure that no events like what happened with Blackwing was happening somewhere else.

So far, everything looks great. Even though most of the places he checked were considered as Lower Planes, he could feel the air of prosperity in them. All of which were thanks to his and his teams effort all these years.

He also spied on the activities of the other Leaders and saw that they’ve been working hard. Most of them were making their own preparations for the realm war which made Raven satisfied.

At least these people could see the bigger picture…

Don’t be mistaken though, Divine Realm isn’t ‘spotless’, at least not yet.

Raven could still see the signs of corruption and instability in some places. Most of them are faint but they’re still there.

And while he could just take over and force everyone to behave, Raven had no plans on doing that. He didn’t expect Divine Realm to be pure anyways. There’s bound to be some bad seeds here and there and he can’t possibly snuff them all out. Even if he could, he wouldn’t because believe it or not, they are required for the balance of the realm.

All’s good so long as they’re kept in the minimum. Plus, if all the bad things were gone from the realm, the Dawn Council’s Mission Board will lose its purpose.

As Raven spent sometime as an observer, he paid attention on some random group of explorers who were out on a mission. A mission that they received from the Dawn Council.

Raven watched as these people explored lands unknown to them with care and mapped the area for their benefit. They’ve met some hostiles along the way and they fought valiantly side by side.

Raven unconsciously smiled and felt a pang of nostalgia.

He recalled the times where he and his friends used to do the same. Adventuring and exploring. Most of his memories stemmed from his previous life since he’s so busy with his current one. Still, those were the good days.

Back then, things were more simple. Raven didn’t carry this much responsibility on his shoulders. He’s just struggling to keep himself alive and well fed.

This doesn’t mean that he hates what he’s doing right now. It’s just that he has to since nobody would.

Raven can’t help it. He can’t help but feel responsible since he’s the one that knows what’s about to come. He has to do something in order to ensure that his home will remain intact and his family remained safe. They’re everything for him.

For that, he has to be strong. Stronger than ever before. Stronger than his foes and even fate itself.

He has to be Absolute.

“Wait…”

Raven’s eyes suddenly shone.

“Yeah! That’s it!!!”

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