Way of the Knights

---

6 months later.

*Boom!*

Somewhere in the depths of the Red Zone, we see Raven relaxing on top of a very tall tree. 

He was watching as a two beast duke it out. One the left side, there is a Blood-Crazed Bear. A bear that has a bright red fur and a ferocious aura fitting for a Tier 4 Demonic Beast. This particular one stood about 15 meters tall, has an old scar on its left eye down to its cheeks, long and sharp fangs as well as claws which appeared to extremely intimidating at first glance. 

On the right side, there was an Albino Snake. With its length of about 20 meters and 5 foot girth, no one would guess that it is but an infant. Its scales were harder than a rock, and despite its size it is incredibly quick. The Albino Snake's Aura paled in comparison to that of the bear but its stood tall and didn't back down from the fight, specially not while her father is watching. 

Of course, this snake was none other than Venus herself. 

Raven watched on fondly as Venus decided to take care of the bear for him. They have been travelling for, more or less, seven months now. This girl had experienced great transformation throughout their journey, this is evident by her size which easily stumped the bear. In fact, she can already serve as a mount and had been doing so recently. 

Throughout their travels, Raven rarely missed an opportunity to fight. In a sense, it was like he was searching for it. Of course, Venus frequently participated in these battles, some were even directly handed to her. This is to temper her and sharpen her predatory instincts. She might only be radiating the aura of a Tier 3 beast, but it would be a great mistake to underestimate that. 

Raven also didn't know how Venus was able to grow this big and this fast. For all he know, it was just from all the eating she done. Well, she's not particularly picky either. Every time Raven defeated a demonic beast, it goes straight onto her stomach. 

While Raven was stuck in deep thought, he missed the scene of Venus defeating the Blood-Crazed Bear. When he returned his focus back on their battle, all he saw was a dried up corpse of the bear which Venus swallowed in one go. 

Seeing her jaw stretch to an absurd degree to swallow her prey is something Raven could never get used to. He watched as a bump became visible in her body, slowly going towards the mid-section of hers. Venus flicked her tongue towards Raven, looking at him with a gaze asking 'Did I do good?'

Raven laughed and gestured her to come closer, she stood up and brought her face towards Raven who's sitting on top of a tree. He petted her face and said: "Very good. Very good."

Venus closed her eyes and rubbed her face onto his, it was evident that she liked this pampering that her father was giving her. She pulled back and hissed at him, Raven got the message and said:

"Going to sleep now? Alright, do your thing." 

He held her face as her body shank. In a couple of seconds, her body turned into a long white scarf. She wrapped her body around Raven's neck as he let go of her face. She hid her face beneath the loops and closed her eyes to sleep. 

"Seriously, you always like sleeping after a meal." Raven sighed as he jumped down from the tree. He turned into a blur and resumed travelling by foot. 

After travelling all this time, he was finally close to arriving to one of his destinations. 

The Withered Forest of the West.

Thanks to the map that Myrna gave him, he had avoided potential waste of time and getting lost through the sheer density of this wilderness. He's near to the exit of the wilderness, only a few kilometers away in fact. He planned on at least reaching the edge before the sun sets. 

Of course, it wasn't just Venus who improved during their travels, Raven did too.

He's officially a Silver Knight now, peak of the Early Stage. His fourth transformation gave him a massive boost over all. And since his cultivation path is unique to him, he wasn't lying when he said that he could stand up against the Golden Knights and safely escape if needed. 

Raven had no visible changes apart from the fact that his hair became longer and the blue color mostly covered it aside from the roots. His body remained compact yet capable of exerting explosive strength when needed. His skin remained fair and his face remained handsome. He still fashioned a neat ponytail with a few strands of hair loose. He still wore an all black attire that fits to his body perfectly.

However, there's one weird thing that he noticed after his 4th Transformation. 

It was inside his core where the sun-like orb was located. 

Upon visiting that place after his breakthrough, he saw there is a new development inside. The seal were loosened for quite a bit, meaning that he received a boost on the amount that he could use. However, there is now a new film of energy mixed in with his Chaos Force. 

It was his Destruction Laws. 

He couldn't be mistaken since he was extremely familiar with that feeling. What's weird is that it seems to be merging with his Chaos Force but it couldn't for some reason. He didn't even know why it's trying to do so in the first place. 

Raven tried asking Inos or Astrid about this new development but none of them answered him. He figured that both of them must be slumbering for now so he didn't attempt to disturb them anymore. 

Besides, he didn't feel like this was a dangerous development at all. If anything, something tells him that he had to eventually merge the two together, but that is a matter for his future self as he didn't have any clue on doing so. 

As for his adventures inside the Crown Space, it's going rather well. 

Since he could now stay for longer periods of time, his progress received a boost. Specially after the enlightenment about the advanced application of the Breaking concept. 

He was now at the 25th pocket dimension. His enemies are getting more and more stronger but so does he. Raven still frequently dies but not without giving a good fight. The feeling of dying still sucked but at least it pushes him to his limits, bringing immense progress to his techniques. 

Through his constant battles, his techniques were refined to a whole new level. His control over strength and his laws have reached an impeccable heights that none could replicate in the whole Kingdom. Whether he wanted a small scale destruction or a immense one, he could decide in a blink of an eye and act on it with ease. 

His proficiency on using his hammer was constantly raising as well. At some point, he could even feel that his connection with his weapon was deepening. 

Speaking of which, Raven developed a neat trick with his hammer. 

He could now manipulate its size according to his liking. 

From a hand held hammer, similar to what carpenters use, to a 7 foot hammer with a hammer head size of 10 x 10 inches and anywhere in between. 

Over all, Raven is grossly strong now. If he went all out, who's to say that the Golden Knights could keep him down in a direct confrontation? Still, he knows that this is still far from enough. If he wanted to stand up against the looming threat above them, he had to improve more.

As Raven travelled like a phantom within the wilderness, his eyes suddenly brightened as he saw the exit. 

Pushing his speed even further, he quickly arrived at the edge of the wilderness. Once he stepped out of the exit, he was immediately greeted with a sight that refreshed many memories within him. 

What he saw wasn't pretty at the very least, but it still brought him great deal of nostalgia. 

"The Withered Forest of the West." Raven muttered under his breath, "Still as gloomy as I could remember."

As he stood on the elevated area, what he saw was a decaying forest at a distance. Bald and withered trees, lifeless soil, he could even see some ashes and decaying bones within the entrance. And even though there's still some distance before he truly entered the forest, he could already smell the foul air coming from it. 

"Ugh." Raven's face wore a disgusted expression, "This smell. It takes me back. I can't believe I made this place my home in the past."

It wasn't like he had any other choices. He was weak back then. Thinking how he managed to go all the way here without becoming food for the beasts on the way, still eludes him. Nevertheless, he had stayed here and even considered this his home for a decent while. 

He's eager to know if he still knows this place like the back of his hand.