Way of the Knights

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Raven was currently standing in front of a huge cave-like opening. The interior of the cave was dimly lit and releases an occasional gusts of cold wind.

Without further ado, he stepped inside the cave and after walking for a while, he arrived at a huge room filled with little lanterns that provide light. He saw a simple wooden table, a small bed and a pillow, and a flat ground below him. With a satisfied nod, then sat at the table and reviewed the time table that the Director gave to them before.

It had been a week since they met Alice.

Unfortunately, they had to part with a heavy heart since at the end of the day, they will still be a part of the Genius Class. She also informed them that if they ever met again, she would act like she knew nothing of them. Her reason was because she didn\'t want to damage their reputation specially now that they just arrived. What happened to Alice became widely known, even to this day, some people could still remember what happened and if these people saw them with her, some rumors would eventually surface, and she did not want them to be affected by her notoriety.

On another note, nothing much happened during the past few days.

Whilst waiting for their abodes to be built, the team went back to their usual heavy training. Speaking of which, Paul raised a point that their training might differ now since they won\'t have enough equipments. Raven was the one who built the dummies and other apparatuses that aided them in their training, and now that they would be separated, they won\'t have those anymore.

To this, Raven just shrugged and left them to their own devices.

This is not to be mistaken by the fact that he no longer cares for them, as that is not true. In fact, the reason why he\'s doing this, is because he care. He had been holding their hands since the beginning, now it\'s time for them to learn how to walk on their own. He won\'t always be by their side to help, both parties knew this, so in order for them to become a true powerhouse, this is a necessary step to do.

His friends understood what he means and wasn\'t totally against it.

In fact, they were already expecting for something like this to happen and was already preparing for this day. The task was simple, and that is to not be left behind. Pulling it off however was a different topic. But Raven had help them gain enough confidence to believe that they can do this. Not to mention, that talked about their plans for the future anyway, and it\'s not like they won\'t meet each other ever again. They won\'t meet frequently but they would still be able to see each other.

Despite this, Raven actually stayed with them for a week before moving towards his new built dwelling.

The terrain that he picked wasn\'t really complicated nor very far. The landmass where all of their abode was built actually looked like a massive crater. There is a cliff overlooking this whole area and on top that was where the guardians were situated as well as the contractors. Raven saw a really inauspicious spot near the cliff, hidden behind tall bushes and trees. There was a large pond nearby and upon seeing this, a brilliant idea emerged in his head, so he immediately chose it.

His instructions were as follows, the contractors were to leave those bushes and trees alone since he value privacy, those were a natural cover and he didn\'t want them to destroy it. Next, is that they only need to excavate a cave dwelling, provide him with a simple table, chairs, bed, and light sources. Additionally, he made sure that his territory included the pond nearby and that he has an exclusive use for it. Fortunately, the contractors confirmed it and reiterated that the area 75 miles around his room would be his territory.

And now, Raven formally arrived to his simple abode and was satisfied by their work.

If anyone was to see this, they would probably think that something\'s wrong in his head for making his home like this. But Raven doesn\'t have time to care about their opinions. Just like he said before, he wasn\'t aiming for a fancy or majestic castle as his new abode, something like a cave dwelling is already sufficient for him.

Raven finished looking through his time table, he placed the book back to his spatial ring and looked at the back of his right hand.

Activating his ocular technique, he was able to see the marking that the Director placed on it before. The marked followed the outline of a tower sitting on top of a cloud, which is the sign of Heavenly Cloud Institute. When the director stamped this marked on their hands, he told them that this mark would serve as a proof that they are a part of the Genius Class from then on. They set up this security because they are afraid that someone might impersonate as them, stealing their identities to do notorious things.

However, aside from added security, the marks do more than just that. In this mostly invisible marks, sealed a special energy that will be activated upon a time of emergency.

When the individual who bore this mark encountered a dangerous situation and were heavily injured, the sealed energy would act as a distress signal which will alert the guardian elders as well as the director about their situation. They could then use this signal to track their location and send help as soon as possible. Aside from that, if mark bearer dies, it will also capture the last moments before they die, allowing the institute to have a solid proof whenever they investigate.

The people of the institute might hide this factor very well from others but Raven could instantly tell from one gaze because this mark is composed of Inscriptions, something that he poured a great amount of his time to research during his past life. Initially, Raven had plans of tinkering with this mark but since the functions aren\'t necessarily going to matter with his plans, he might as well keep it as it is.

Raven paid no more attention to the mark and took out some materials out of his spatial ring to start making something again.

After two hours of tinkering, he wiped off the sweat on his forehead and smiled with satisfaction. In front of him lies twelve small flags that shone with a silver light as well as a black orb that has numerous inscriptions on it\'s surface. He picked the flags and the orb and sat at the center of his cave dwelling.

He calmed his mind for a couple of minuted in meditation and as soon as he felt better, he picked up the flags one by one and stabbed it onto the ground in front of him in a circular formation. Once he was done doing that, he took out a needle and pricked his finger, he then placed a drop of blood on each flag as well as the black orb.

As soon as the black orb absorbed his blood, it hummed with a tune and flew out from his hands. It dropped down at the center of the flag formation and started spinning. At first, it was slow but as time goes on, the speed picked up until the spinning force was enough to influence the wind around him to blow a bit fiercer.

Shortly after that, the flags as well as the black orb levitated off the ground. The black orb emitted a brilliant flash of light, temporarily blinding him and when Raven\'s vision adjusted, he saw that the flags disappeared and only the black orb remained.

He sensed a faint connection with the orb in front of him. A smile flashed pass his lips as he used his ocular technique to inspect his territory once more.

The small flags did not disappear entirely, instead they just flew away and transported to some spots 100 miles in radius around his room. Some flags were even embedded at the depths of the cliff just to fulfill the requirements for the formation. Moments later Raven felt the energy around him become purer and thicken.

Holding the orb on his hand, the image of everything inside a 100 miles around him appeared in his head, he could also see the precise locations of the flags embedded deep on the cliff. Using his thoughts, he focused inside his room, more specifically onto a spot at the northern side of the room.

He then tried using his thoughts to push the a small part of the wall, Raven then felt a great resistance from it but he knows that it\'s not impossible to do so. With a great effort, he felt the wall cave in a bit.

He opened his eyes and looked at the same spot of his room, he then saw that there\'s a spot which seemed to cave in ever so slightly.. This placed a huge smile on his face.