Bronze Knight

As Makai sat cross-legged, he was no longer surprised by the system's cold voice that seems to like to appear suddenly, but he was still surprised to see the possibilities of his aura's choices.

Despite this, he decided to ignore his aura's choice for the time being, as he found himself in a dark space lit only by his two vital seeds, as he began to absorb the large amount of colorless vital energy that continually sprouted from the void.

It didn't take long for his vital energy path connected with his sword palace to be fully filled until he encountered a barrier that prevented him from advancing to the vital palace of the sword.

On the right side, the vital energy contained in the horizontal path, which connects both vital seeds, overflowed when it fully filled its second vital seed, and very quickly, the second vital path parallel to the first vital path was completely filled in one breathing.

However, just like the first vital path on the left, the vital energy contained in the second vital path on the right also encountered a barrier when facing the second palace.

Makai understood that he must choose a second path of the Knight or his second palace cannot be awakened and he will be stuck in this bottleneck he has reached.

Aware of this, he plunged his consciousness into his second vital palace, and images of various types of the Knight's paths began to emerge. Swords, Spears, Axes, Daggers, Bows, Hammer, Brush...

Seeing so many options, Makai was undecided, "My predecessor never practiced any weapon other than the sword, and if I'm going to choose a new path now, I'll have to start practicing from zero. That would be a big delay..."

"Besides, no other kind of Knight path interests me..."

"Maybe the Sage Knight path is a good option, but I don't intend to become an old scholar, even if I have two palaces..."

He didn't know what to choose until the cold voice of the system echoed in his mind again.

[The host can choose the King's Aura to house in his second palace]

It was just that simple phrase, but Makai was filled with amazement as he thought of the many possibilities and asked in disbelief, "Is this even possible?"

[Of course, it is possible, after all, you are the host of this system and not a random Child of Fate]

[When a Child of Fate is born and blessed with its aura, that aura is not a King's Aura, but a Knight's Aura]

[The Knight's Aura is integrated with the chosen Knight's Path and they share the same Vital Palace, as the Children of Fate do not have two Vital Palaces like the host]

[As the host's aura is a King's Aura, it has its own consciousness, and even though the will of this consciousness is dormant, it still despises and does not allow itself to share the same Vital Palace with other types of Knight's paths]

[If the host did not have their second Vital Palace, the host would awaken the Knight's Aura and would not have this opportunity to awaken the King's Aura]

[This is why there is no other Knight who possesses the Aura of the King, as there is no other Knight with two Vital Palaces. After all, in the nine heavens, there can only be one King]

Hearing these words from the system, Makai was perplexed as it was all too much of a coincidence. He muttered to himself, "In the nine heavens, there can only be one King? So..."

He shook his head with an ironic smile and quickly put his thoughts aside as he focused on the options he had to choose from.

After looking at the many options, he asked a rhetorical question, "Why do all the options have a different type of dragon in their names?"

[Of course, because dragons are the kings of all species. Otherwise, why would it be an Aura of the King?]

Makai didn't expect a response from the system, but upon hearing his words, he thought it seemed to make sense.

After looking at all the options, he recalled his experience as the strongest player during the five years he spent playing World of Knights and made up his mind.

He knew better than anyone that among all elemental dragons, each had an advantage over the other. However, there were two of them that had advantages over all other dragons, and they are, the Heavenly Dragon of Divine Light, and the Abyssal Dragon of Eternal Night.

Makai didn't understand why the Heavenly Dragon of Divine Light was not among the options and asked the system, but there was no answer, so he had to select the Eternal Night Abyssal Emperor Dragon.

He had his own doubts, but there was nothing he could do about it and he could only hope that, one day, all his doubts would be answered. In the meantime, he had to keep increasing his own strength.

[Are you sure you want to select the Eternal Night Abyssal Emperor Dragon as King's Aura?]

[Yea! No!]

He didn't hesitate and clicked [Yes!].

What Makai didn't know was that, with this simple click, drastic changes would begin to happen not only in your inner strength but also in the outer world.

...

In the calendar year of Larezorth, it is June 13, 1400, late autumn, with only 8 days left until the winter season arrives.

The sun was at its most central point over the Continent Vita and, even though it was lunchtime, the breeze in late autumn remains refreshing as it exudes vigor, and the sun's glow colors the sky in orange-red.

On a mountain range far away from the Crimson Duchy rests an imposing tower 100 meters high on top of a verdant mountain that seemed to reach the white clouds. Your walls are gilded as if plated in gold and the most attractive are the shiny stones like jewels inlaid in different colors on the borders of each floor.

In a study room on the top floor of the tower, the wind blew in through the windows and the pages of a large book on a red wooden table rustled.

A slender white hand gently closed the book and took it to a large shelf that held hundreds of other books with covers mostly in red.

Suddenly, the wind got much stronger as its red wooden windows began to shake from side to side causing knocking sounds.

"Hmm?" After putting the book away, the graceful woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties, seemed to sense something and walked slowly to her window.

She has long silver hair and was wearing a shiny silver silk dress. On her head rests a beautiful silver crown with a jade jewel encrusted in the front, and the glint in her eyes seemed to see through the void as she looked towards the skies towards the southwest.

"That's..." Soon, his eyes gleamed full of astonishment, "How is it possible that in this nether world a Child of Fate with the Aura of the Superior Knight is born?"

"Wait... That doesn't seem to be a Superior Aura..."

"What kind of aura is that?"

Just like this beautiful woman, several great figures in her palaces, castles, towers, not only belonging to the Starffal Kingdom, but also, in the distant Empires of the Vita Continent looked in the same direction with amazement in their eyes.

The once orange sky was no longer the same color. Black clouds began to form at surprising speeds when the day seemed to embrace the night and, between the black clouds, deafening roars of thunder began to reverberate with the formation of crackling lightning.

It looked like a storm was about to brew, but there was no moisture in the air and not even a single drop of rain threatened to fall. However, to the astonishment of all who looked up to the skies above the Crimson Duchy, they witnessed a huge black-scaled body of a large serpent that appeared to be crawling among the clouds.

This large black serpent had a colossal body, and wherever you looked, you could see a black scaly body part as it crawls in waves among the clouds.

While many wondered in shock if some divinity was descending to this nether world, a loud roar reverberated over the skies so loud that all the black clouds were quickly dispersed when revealing the true figure that still snaked through the skies.

"This is not a great serpent, but a True Dragon Emperor..." Many had this thought.

Only the great figures had doubts in their stunned eyes.

...

In the Black Dragon Empire, amidst the shadowy mountain ranges, there was a great Castle Black, and sitting on its iron throne is the figure of a 2-meter-tall strong man wearing robes of black gold. On top of its head are a pair of sharp black horns among its black hair. This man is not a human, but the Black Dragon Emperor.

At that moment, there was no one else present in this great hall but himself, otherwise they would have seen the deep fear in his eyes and his body that had been shaking since he heard the dragon roar in the heavens.

"This is our ancestor's will..." As he looked up at the ceiling of his great black castle as if he could see through the thick walls, he continued muttering, "It seems the prophecy is true..."

...

The massive Eternal Night Abyssal Emperor Dragon gave one last roar as he looked with disdain at the beings of this world before his body started to shrink very quickly and disappeared as he dove towards the Crimson Duchy.

...

Seeing the direction from where disappeared the manifestation of the will of what they believe to be a True Dragon Emperor, the great figures quickly contacted their subordinate Knights and sent them to the southwest to obtain information about the birth of this Child of Fate.

...

Meanwhile, inside the Apprentice Knight's Barracks Pavilion, Instructor Wagner and the rest of the youth had no idea what was going on outside and they were still looking at Makai, Lionel, and the others who were sitting cross-legged, when suddenly, a strong pressure fell on everyone accompanied by the roar of the dragon in the skies.

They wanted to go out and look at what was causing so much turmoil outside, but that thought died instantly when the shadow of a large black dragon like a great serpent with long sharp horns on its head, appeared above Makai.

The silhouette of this dragon snaked in circles when looked at them with disdain and arrogance in his eyes.

"Knight's Aura!"

They couldn't help but mutter, but not as shocked as before, as they knew that every Child of Fate when born awakens their own Knight Aura, except those who inherit their bloodlines like the Royal Family.

Everyone knew that when a Child of Fate was born into a family that had never before had a Child of Fate, he would awaken his own Knight's Aura.

Families descended from their bloodlines for the birth of the next Child of Fate like the Royal family where a single one of them is born each generation, would not awaken their own Knight's Aura, but rather the same Knight's Aura of their past generations.

As they are seeing the manifestation of what appears to be a Black Dragon's Aura, Makai's next descendants would also awaken a Black Dragon's Aura.

Instructor Wagner felt great pressure as the black dragon manifestation looked at him with disdain and he couldn't help but think, "That's definitely a Superior Knight's Aura..."

Soon, he began to recall how it felt when he first witnessed the 1st Prince, Orion Kaiser, lead his Elite Cavalry when he activated the Intermediate Knight's Aura to slaughter the Gusman Kingdom's Elite Cavalry in the War of Kings in the last century, and Wagner could be sure that the feeling he is feeling now is much stronger than the feeling he felt in front of the 1st Prince's Intermediate Knight's Aura, therefore, he concluded that the Aura of Makai is definitely a Superior Aura, which he had only heard of, but never seen.

Wagner began to have various thoughts of how strong Makai would become as of today, as he couldn't help but think of how powerful the Children of Fate are as he recalls the 1st Prince's conquests.

If in the War of Kings, Duke Marvin was a shining star in achieving many military merits, then the 1st Prince can be seen as a Galaxy.

After all, Duke Marvin was just a Baron at the time, and both his own strength and his cavalry couldn't compare to the royal family. The 1st Prince was the one who obtained the most military merits during the 10 years of war and everyone knew that this was due to the Gusman Kingdom not having a single Child of Fate. This is also the main reason why the Gusman Kingdom had never before dared to wage war against the Starfall Kingdom, but by becoming vassals of the Avalon Empire, they gained courage.

Unfortunately, the Avalon Empire had not sent any Sons of Fate, and the 1st Prince found no rivals. All this because he had an Intermediate Knight's Aura.

Now, before his eyes, there is a young Makai with an aura much stronger than that of the 1st Prince. How strong will he become?

Thinking about it, Wagner clenched his fists tightly and his eyes were steady as he looked at Makai differently than before. He seemed to have made a decision he never thought make.

...

Makai didn't know what was going on out there, as he was very focused on the changes taking place in his vital seeds and palaces.

Since he accepted his aura, all the vital energy overflowed as it filled the second palace and the silhouette of a black dragon emerged within it.

Initially, he thought that the Eternal Night Abyssal Emperor Dragon would be the same one he had killed on the 99th floor of the abyss, but this dragon that appeared in his second palace is clearly an eastern dragon and not a western dragon.

"Maybe it's because this one has the Emperor name in his name and the other one doesn't..." He guessed, but with no certainty.

When his second palace was activated, information about the King's Aura began to emerge in his subconscious, and he decided to observe its details at another time, as now, his palace of the sword was also being activated when the barrier was broken and, the silhouette of the sword that was dark before, began to light up with the aura of the color of bronze.

He had advanced to a Bronze Knight. Not only that, his mastery of the basic sword has also increased to the advanced sword, and even though he isn't practicing with the sword right now, he felt he was much more proficient than before. His senses seemed to have gotten stronger too and he could even hear Lionel's breathing and the other youngsters nearby, even though he was concentrating inwardly.

His body was much stronger as well, but he didn't know the exact extent and would need to personally experience it in combat later.

When his two palaces were activated, the changes didn't end. Their two vital seeds were being absorbed by their respective palaces and a new horizontal path was being formed connecting the two palaces directly to each other.

Very quickly, the three vital paths along with the two vital seeds were fully absorbed and integrated into the two vital palaces which assumed the position of the vital seeds as they descended and created a new vital energy path that connects both palaces horizontally. Soon, new vital paths were formed as they climbed parallel to form two new palaces on top, where both were unlit.

"Well, it looks like it's finally over..." After a while, Makai opened his status in the system panel.

[Name: Makai Floyd Collins]

[Age: 15 < 200]

[First Path of the Knight: Swordsman (Mastery: Advanced Sword < 5%)]

[Second Path of the Knight: Aura of the King (Eternal Night Abyssal Emperor Dragon: Advanced Realm < 5%)]

"My life expectancy has increased by another 100 years... It also looks like my aura will rank at the same nomenclature of mastery..."

After a better understanding of the changes in his body, Makai opened his eyes with a smile on his face, but his smile stagnated after seeing that everyone was looking at him with fervent eyes.

Even Instructor Wagner had a strange gleam in his eyes as he stared at him.