240 Skynet Array (1/2)

---

It's been two weeks since the approval of the reform.

In the middle of the night, inside Raven's room, he suddenly appeared out of thin air. His face was pale and he was taking in several deep breaths to calm down his racing heart.

His clothes were badly damaged, it was like he just escaped from a life and death battle. He had several bruises and cuts on his body, he couldn't even open his left eye since the eyelid was wounded as well.

Raven dragged his wounded body towards the medicinal bath that's always available in his house. He didn't even bother taking off his clothes nor his shoes for that matter, all he wanted was to rest after that chaotic battle.

As soon as his wounds hits the medicine bath, he inhaled sharply and gritted his teeth, nevertheless he endured the stinging pain and soaked his body in. After a couple of minutes, he felt the wounds on his body already closing and scabbing away, the stinging pain was replaced by a comfortable feeling and his complexion was getting better as well.

”It took me fifteen tries to kill that son of a bitch.” Raven murmured while his eyes were closed. ”It's just a pity that I still haven't been enlightened into any Laws. If I did, then that battle would've been easier.”

Raven just got out from the crown space after tackling the fifth pocket dimension. For the first time ever since he got the crown and tackled the pocket dimensions, he experienced death under the hand of the person he faced on the fifth one.

The challenge of the Fifth Pocket Dimension is to kill the person trapped in there. Raven didn't know who that was since as soon as he arrived, the person attacked. It was a middle-aged man who wielded a sword. And that guy has a very good foundation towards Wind Laws.

During the first time, he didn't even last a single bout from that guy. One swipe of his sword, powered by Wind Laws and his head was separated from his shoulders. Thankfully, he was practically immortal inside the crown space so he just woke up outside of the pocket dimension, but the sensation of pain is something that lingered on his mind longer than he wanted it to be.

Wind Laws allows one to carry the same properties of the Wind. If one's understanding was enough, they could borrow the tiniest gusts of winds to create a devastating tornado. They are also lithe on their feet, tracking their movements would've been impossible if it weren't for his ocular technique. It also didn't help that his enemy could practically attack anywhere he pleases so long as there was air.

Raven was beheaded twice before he could even fight back. On his subsequent tries, he managed to adjust to the tempo of battle and give the guy a decent fight before he was killed. On his attempts, Raven managed to learn more about his Crystal Sky Eye.

Aside from giving him a complete 360° vision and the ability to focus on the structure of things. His Crystal Sky Eye could also detect negative intentions as soon as it manifested. If one showed him an ill intent while his eyes were active, the silhouette of that person would darken. It was like a cloud of dark smoke was surrounding their bodies. And depending on the intensity of ill intent, that dark aura would change as well, so much so that it will start to form a face similar to them that expressed their true intentions.

Also, as long as Raven placed enough Chaos Force on his eyes, he found out that his surroundings will start to ever so slightly slow down, while his own body was unaffected. This allowed him to dodge attacks that would claim his life.

Through that hectic and dangerous battle, Raven was able to iron out some flaws on his hammer techniques. He was able to progress much faster in these situations unlike from some regular spars he had with his friends.

Raven took down that person after his 15th attempt, he wasn't proud of the way he defeated him but a pass is a pass. That guy won't just stop and he was clearly stronger than him even though he couldn't gauge what his cultivation was. Raven had to resort into some tricks to land a deadly blow to him which took his life.

Needless to say, he didn't come out unscathed from that fight, as shown by how bad he came out of the crown space. After many nights of dealing with that guy, at least he was through with him.

And because of his exhaustion and relief, Raven passed out while soaking in the medicine bath just like back in the days at the Inner Court when he was still a part of the genius class.

Raven woke up the next day, feeling light and refreshed. He smiled as he did some light exercise. He felt energetic and stronger. When he inspected his cultivation, he was surprised to find out that he actually broke through. He's in mid-stage Veteran Realm right now.

This surprised made him genuinely happy, at least he was still advancing with relative speed even without actively attempting a breakthrough. But he suppressed this happiness as there are other matters he had to attend today.

But before he could do any of them, he had to go at the Royal Palace first.

***