Way of the Knights

Chapter 735: 735

Raven cultivated the [Myriad Incarnations Scripture] and the [Voidwalking Manual] directly to the 9th Stage.

At the 8th Stage of Myriad Incarnations Scripture, he received a total of 456 Avatars, at its 9th Stage it gave him 912. The total numbers of his avatars already surpassed the thousands, which means more mind to help him progress faster. 

The Voidwalking Manual transformed his body ever further, that was he can exist in any kind of environment without facing any troubles. 

After wrapping up his seclusion. Raven rested for quite some time before entering the 3rd trial. 

The 3rd Trial sent in him a unique space, presumably creature for the sole purpose of this trial. 

His task is relatively simple. In front of him is an enormous boulder. Behind it was a steep slope. He was tasked to push this boulder up the slope and place it on the peak. He has to do it 1,000 times. 

It sounds simple but this wouldn’t be the Celestial Ascension Platform for nothing…

The caveat is, Raven is but a mortal. Once again, everything he has was sealed. He has no cultivation at all, he can’t enter the crown space, the Brush of Wisdom isn’t listening to his summons and even his powerful physic is gone. Not even his spatial rings were spared.

He was completely and utterly mortal. 

To make things worse, there is not a whiff of spiritual energies from his surroundings. It was completely barren. He here, all by himself, expect to clear this task through sheer wits and will. 

Things weren’t looking good for him. 

Raven already tried to move the boulder to check what he’s working with, well it was obviously heavy. Even after he tried his best to push it, he only managed to push it a couple of centimeters away from it’s original spot. 

And to wrap up this whole affair, it was revealed to him that he will have a limitless supply of mortal needs like food, clothing, tools, etc. He didn’t need to look for them as they will appear when he wished for them. 

He can die here and be resurrected, but it has limits. One, when he dies his progress will reset. Meaning that if he managed to push the boulder up to the peak about 500 times but he died on his 501st attempt, the counter will reset to 0.

He will be resurrected after 24 hours of dying, he will be resurrected at his prime condition and he can only die a total of 150 times. 

That about sums it up for the contents of his 3rd trial. 

Sufficed to say, this is a very troublesome trial. Raven can already feel that he’s going to spend a lot of time in here.

The first day when he arrived, he only tested pushing the boulder once. After that, he basically left it alone. He tended to his needs by starting to build some shelter, preparing some food, and etc. 

Raven had a plan in mind. 

The plan was to roam around and test some limits. The morning after that, he woke up and acted. 

First, he decided to work on his physique. He worked out, sculpting his body ever so slightly to make it stronger. He knew that with this body of his, there’s absolutely no way he can push that thing far enough to even make a difference. 

As some wise people used to say: ‘Sharpening the axe wouldn’t delay the wood cutting.’ 

Work-out, get those muscles growing and then he’ll start his attempts. 

After resting from his work-out, he decided to climb the slope. This is the other part of his plan. He wanted to scout ahead and see what kind of obstacles he will face as he push that enormous boulder up. 

The slope was steep so gravity will work against him. He could totally see himself dying by being squashed flat by that boulder. He’s not looking forward to it but it is what it is. 

The slope was uneven at some parts. There are portions where it’s rocky, and portions where it’s slippery. That can be a problem. He can also see that this place functions like any other mortal worlds. Meaning that there is a thing called ‘Seasons’. Right now, it’s spring and the slope is at it’s best state presumably, but if there will ever be; say, a rainy season, then pushing the boulder up would become really challenging. 

As his mind thought of these things, he eventually reached the top of the slope. It was a long way up which made this even worse, just getting here by walking is already exhausting for him. 

At the top, he saw a flat surface which is surrounded with rock formations. It was chilly up here and the air is thin. He looked around and saw that there is a small indent on the center which is large enough to fit the boulder. The moment he saw, he instantly knew that he would have to place the boulder here to make the attempt count. 

Also, there is a small tree up here. It looked like the kind which bear fruits. He approached it and saw that there were three apples in total. 

He was suspicious of it, but since he can die, he climbed-up the tree, picked those apples, and ate them. 

After eating those apples, Raven discovered the way on how to make things easier for himself. 

The apples were Spiritual Fruits. They are of the lowest kind but for a mortal, they are considered as a priceless treasure. The concentrated amount of Spiritual Energy in these fruits coursed through his body, nourishing him and replenishing his energy. 

Sadly though, these apples are nowhere near enough to justify cultivating. They are the only thing that carries spiritual energy in them and Raven knows that it will take some time before the tree bore some fruits again. 

That being said, they did wonders for his mortal body. They were specifically made to strengthen his physique so he planned on integrating them to his diet. 

Judging from his appearance, Raven looked like he’s 16 or 17 years old. There’s still some time before he reaches his prime and he planned on building up necessary foundations in order to make sure that when he ages and reaches his prime eventually, he will be at his best state. 

After making this plan, Raven was basically set. 

He decided to build a home on top of the slope since he figured that he can. He’ll recycle the tools he used for the shelter at the peak or maybe he’ll just leave it there as a back up. 

Raven also created a work out plan for himself to make sure he’s conditioning his body to the best of his abilities. He made weights which he could use to help him sculpt his body and some to attach to his body at all times. 

It’s like starting all over again from scratch. Raven felt confident that his plan was sound, he also knows that there is a possibility for some accidents to occur and that’s fine. Those will eventually reveal themselves when he starts his attempt. 

Now that he had a solid plan under his belt, he began working. 

Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months turned to years. 

During this time, Raven made no attempts are pushing the boulder up yet. Aside from punching and kicking it a few times just to test his strength, he never made an attempt even once. 

He followed his plan closely. He basically trained all day long tirelessly like a machine. Due to the intensity of his training, his strength rose up fast. During his first time, he was already getting tired to climbing up the slope once. Now, he can make laps to and from the peak with weights attached on his body. 

The apples helped him greatly. Granted that their effect reduces the more he consumed, they were still incredibly helpful. He discovered that the tree will bear fruit once a week which really made him happy as he initially thought that he’d have to wait longer than that. 

He also found out that his suspicions turned out be true. The seasons will pose some challenge for him. Spring and summer didn’t give him any problems, it’s the other two; Fall and Winter, as well as the occasional rains, that is really troublesome. 

Nevertheless though, he pushed through. He spent five years training himself and testing out various things. He had gotten to know the boulder really good and due to his loneliness, he even named it: ‘Bouldy’. 

Now, he’s currently at the base of the slope, looking all serious and solemn, in front of him was Bouldy who was ready for their first attempt at climbing. 

Raven calmed himself down and patted Bouldy. 

Then he walked behind it and started rolling it up the slope for their first attempt. 

Surprisingly, the initial stages went fine. Raven made sure to memorize how the slope looked like during his training so he knew which portion was coming. 

Unfortunately, as they reached halfway up to the slope, an accident happen which caused Bouldy’s roll to turn unstable and squash Raven into a meat paste.

Raven had his first death at the 3rd Trial.