Way of the Knights

---

Six teenagers took a deep breath in and walked inside the large Transmission Gate that will take them into a place where they will spend a year in training.

They stepped inside the swirling light and disappeared. When their visions adjusted, they found themselves alone in a empty white space.

Out of nowhere, a large silhouette of a beast suddenly emerged and materialized in front of them. Alerted by the sudden appearance of the beast, the teenagers took their weapons out and prepared for combat.

All of them faced the same beast, a Wood Turtle Golem. 

Seeing their enemy, the teenagers could only smile wryly. It was clear that they have no chance of beating this thing. 

Wood Turtle Golems are normally pacifists. They tend to avoid conflict as much as possible and plants or any weaker creatures that surrendered themselves. Aside from that, they are very defensive creatures, if they decide to hide on their shells, it's practically impossible for any beast at their level to crack their defenses. 

Based on the energy fluctuations that it has, the Wood Turtle Golem in front of them is roughly equal to Junior Warrior Stage, a step above their current cultivation stage which is the Warrior Stage. Even Raven who has the ability to explode with a ferocious amount of force, isn't confident on cracking this thing up if it decides to go inside it's shell, which means that beast is here for another purpose.

Regardless of their the reason, they can't escape combat. The teenagers charged forward and used every trick and technique they knew on to the beast. None of them hold back since if this scenario is what they think it is, then they have to display their entire potential.

As expected, none of them really made a huge impact against the Wood Turtle Golem who, at the first sign of trouble, decided to seek protection by turtling up. Even so, they used every single thing in their repertoire to display their skills and just as they thought, after spending their entire reserves to attack this thing, it disappeared without a trace and another portal emerged in front of them.

Yes, the Wood Turtle Golem was there to gauge their potential. Now that the Transmission Gate gathered their details, it would now proceed in transferring them to the place where they would spend a year training.

Naturally, before any of them stepped inside the gate, they of course took this chance to recover first. After they were done doing so, they stepped out and the transfer began.

Once their vision adjusted, they arrived at a different place. Somewhere that they've never been to before, additionally, all of them received a mental message about their goals or tasks in their respective places.

Paul arrived at a location called 'Wave Island.' It's an island surrounded with nothing but water. All he could hear was the ruthless surging of water waves crashing down the shore which gave him a fright. The mental message he received is to stand by the shore and block the surging water waves for a whole day. A task that is extremely daunting, considering the fact that the regular waves he could see are enough to completely decimate a house made of bricks.

Mark arrived at a place called 'Myriad Lightning Peak'. He was currently at the base of a tall mountain that is being repeatedly struck with different shades of lightning. From where he stood, he saw some regular colored lightning which is white, then he saw a Green colored one, Violet, some glaring Red ones, Golden and a frightening Black Lightning. His task to reach the mountain peak which is being constantly struck by those horrifying Black Lightning. Of course, Mark felt rather afraid being thrown out to a dangerous place like this but his determination is even stronger. He can't fall behind. For the safety of his home, he couldn't afford to fall here.

Ellen arrived at a place called 'Fire Origin Spring'. As soon as she arrived, she immediately felt the scorching heat that the spring radiated. She stood not too far from the spring but the heat caused her body to be drenched in sweat immediately. Her task is to soak in the spring for a whole day without losing consciousness. A simple task but difficult to do, she knows this because even taking a step closer to the spring is already a challenge for her. Nevertheless, Ellen had a stubborn personality. She knew that this task isn't meant to kill her and only make her stronger so she will do her best.

As for Anne, she arrived at a place called 'Grand Silver Canyon'. She found herself standing on top of a tall and narrow pillar that's only wide enough for at least three people. She was in a such a steep height that any carelessness will cause her to fall towards her death. The task given to her was a bit a strange, and that is to stop enemies from reaching her. Her cunning and sharp mind already found the potential difficulty of this task. She had no way of knowing what or how many enemies she had to face, she had little to no room of maneuvering in this place, and there was no time limit. But instead of stressing out, she calmed herself down and started being on watch. She is very interested to know just how far her limits could go.

Luna arrived at a place called 'True Light Monastery'. She found herself standing in front of a tall monastery that has its doors open for her. With a resolute mind, she stepped inside and as soon as she did so, the doors behind her closed and the task for her appeared. Her task is simple, and that is to beat the enemies that will appear. This task is something that Luna needed. While she had experienced instructions from multiple people, what she severely lacked is a true combat experience. 

'Father, Brother, Avi the task of protecting our home doesn't fall onto your shoulders alone. Wait for me, I'll do good and I'll share your burdens. I'll be stronger so that you guys could rely on me too.'

***

"Well, well." Raven muttered as he admired the scene before him.

As soon as his vision adjusted, he found himself staring at a wide patch of grassy land. He was surrounded with trees and flowers but for some reason, there is a strange gloom on his surroundings. It didn't take him long enough to see an eye-catching scene that captivated him deeply. He could hear the noises from here, which means that it shouldn't take long for him to get to his destination.

And as expected, he arrived after a brief period of time. His eyes shone as he witnessed the spectacle before him.

It was a waterfall. But if its just like the regular ones, then this Ancient Royal Grounds would've been very disappointing. Thankfully, it wasn't.

"Bloody Mary Falls, huh?" Raven whispered with a little bit of madness in his voice. "This is going to be painful, but fun."

It is a waterfall, yes. But the water flowing in it is a viscous red water that almost looked like blood. It stood an impressive 100 meters tall and 20-25 meters wide. The volume of the viscous red waters here was enough to crush a human in a blink of an eye. The roaring sounds of the water falling from that height is enough to deter any strong willed person from even having thoughts about approaching it. Yet, Raven wants to and has to anyway since this is his task.

▪︎ Task: Stop the waterfall at the 10th meter mark.

"Damn, this sure is ruthless. It's already counted as a miracle if I'm able to stand beneath that!" Raven whined playfully. Nevertheless, he won't back down in this challenge. "Alright, I'll try approaching it first."

Thankfully, there are rock formations available for him to do this. He hopped on each on, getting closer and closer to the waterfall. Come to think of it, there is one particular stone platform that has a flat surface that stood directly beneath the waterfall. Raven figured that this stone platform is clearly different since there's no way that it will remain under this water pressure without shattering. 

As he approached the waterfall, Raven's clothes were instantly drenched with that cold and viscous blood-like water. He even tasted some and thanked the heavens that it didn't taste like actual blood, or else he would really question the existence of this place. 

His approach wasn't easy, the strength of the cascades were enough to distort his protective barrier on multiple occasions, he had to constantly supply it using his Chaos Force so that it'll stay but once he arrived at the stone platform, his barrier unsurprisingly broke and his body was shot backwards and carried by the waves. 

Raven smiled painfully as he looked at the peak of the waterfall with shining gaze.

"Bring it on!"