Ch. 131..140

Chapter 131

Gravis quickly broke through into the fifth level of Energy Gathering. With his powerful will, it was only a little more difficult than breathing for him. Many cultivators couldn't even reach the second level of Energy Gathering due to their relatively weak wills.

The more Gravis cultivated, the more he realized how right all his seniors in his homeworld were. They always told him that the will was most important, and it had proven to be true. The will was an essential component of every breakthrough starting at the Energy Gathering Realm. Without a powerful will, one wouldn't be able to even reach the second level of Energy Gathering.

After Gravis finished his breakthrough, he grabbed the sack of Energy Stones and the jade token. After that, he walked to the outside and whistled loudly. Some seconds later, Skye appeared and rubbed its head against Gravis. By now, Gravis was used to the gigantic head rubbing on his body, and he only ruffled its gigantic feathers lightly.

Gravis quickly jumped up on Skye's back, and they flew into the horizon. The Wind Guild was closer than the Lightning Guild, but not by much. They would still need around two days to get there. While flying, Gravis talked a lot with Skye, and Skye was getting better and better in communicating with him.

Ironically enough, Skye was also sometimes teaching Gravis its own language. A bird used more than just their vocal cords to communicate with others, but Skye could only use its verbal cues to communicate with him due to their species difference.

Skye told Gravis that it was close to reaching the realm of a high-grade Energy Beast. When Gravis heard that, he was quite surprised. Skye was growing even faster than him. It had started weaker than him, and it would soon grow to be much stronger than him.

Energy Beasts first needed to go through some kind of metamorphosis to reach the next stage. Without this metamorphosis, their strength would increase only slightly. A human in this lower world had nine

stages in the Energy Gathering Realm, and their strength always increased noticeably with every breakthrough.

Yet, the strength of beasts remained about the same in their grade. Based on Energy, a human on the fourth level of Energy Gathering would be weaker than a mid-grade demonic beast. Someone at the fifth level would have the same amount as one, and someone at the sixth would have a higher amount.

Of course, humans were still considered weaker due to their battle experience, will, and physical strength. One could say, based on Energy, that an Energy beast could only be at either the second, fifth, or eighth rank of Energy Gathering. With every metamorphosis, their strength would increase as much as a human that rose three levels.

Skye and Gravis flew for two days until they saw the Wind Guild on the horizon. It looked entirely different from the Lightning Guild. In comparison to the Lightning Guild, the Wind Guild resided on a mountain range with lots of trees around it, and their buildings were built all around the mountains. They were built at the mountains' bases, cliffs, and tops.

The buildings seemed to be made of some kind of wood, and their style didn't look as imposing as the buildings of the Lightning Guild. Gravis was also a little confused when he saw that some entrances on some buildings were not at the base of the building, but in the middle or even at the top of them.

Though, Gravis was not surprised anymore when he saw a disciple flying up to a building and entering. The wind element allowed easy movement in the air, and disciples in the middle of Energy Gathering could fly for a short amount of time. Of course, the flight depended on their Energy reserves and how far away they were from the ground.

Cultivators at the Energy Gathering Realm had impressive eyesight, and they had no issue with seeing such details from kilometers away. Gravis also noticed how they were using their wind to fly. They used their Energy to compress a lot of air under them. Due to their Energy, the air couldn't escape to the

sides, so it could only go up or down, and it was way easier to push a human upward than to push the ground away.

The higher a disciple flew, the more air they had to compress. Gravis guessed that flying like this probably took up a lot of Energy and also a lot of practice and concentration. Keeping one's balance like this would be a nightmare. Yet, if they managed to control it well, they could switch from a 2D battling style into a 3D one.

Just like the Lightning Codex had said, the cultivators cultivating the wind element were the most unrestrained. The element might not have the best offense, defense, or versatility, but it was above average in every single aspect. It was hard to hit them. It was hard to defend against them. It was hard to flee from them or chase them.

Skye also saw the Wind Guild, and it grew excited. It felt a familiar feeling from all this wind, and it felt like this place was made for it. Every beast with a wind element would want to live in an environment that facilitated wind this much.

While Skye looked around the guild excitedly, Gravis furrowed his brows. He had noticed two other shocking things. There were actually Energy Beasts walking around at the edges of the guild. Yet, surprisingly, the disciples didn't seem to mind them and even played with some of them. Gravis grew a little confused when he noticed that not a single beast fought another one in the Wind Guild.

Usually, when beasts met, a bloody fight would break out. They needed to kill and eat other beasts to grow stronger, so there were always wars between beasts. Here, they seemed to ignore the other beasts. "Is this some kind of symbiosis between the Wind Guild and nature?" Gravis asked himself.

The trees were another surprising thing. There were some regular trees, but there were also many tall and mighty ones. Gravis could already guess that all those trees were also Energy Beasts. Some buildings were even built on the branches of those gigantic trees. Gravis considered himself part of the

Lightning Guild, and everyone wanted their own guild to be the best, but Gravis could only admit helplessly that the Wind Guild was superior in nearly every way.

"A nearly unassailable terrain, hundreds of powerful trees, a lot of friendly beasts, and the ability to fight enemies from above. In a war, the Wind Guild would stomp the Lightning Guild into the ground, as long as the number and cultivation level of the Lightning Guild and the Wind Guild were about the same," Gravis said to himself in contemplation.

"SCREE!"

A majestic shout echoed throughout the whole Wind Guild, and all the disciples stopped what they were doing and looked around. Gravis felt his body vibrate from the powerful sound. 'High-grade Energy Beast!' he immediately concluded. Gravis looked to the origin of the shout, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

A gigantic, green bird flew at Gravis and Skye with incredible speed. Gravis couldn't believe his eyes.

This was Skye's parent!

 

Chapter 132

Skye shouted in excitement and flew to its parent. Gravis, who was still on Skye's back, smiled happily for Skye as they closed in on each other. The two birds met in the sky and circled each other, while their heads touched. Gravis was glad that Skye could finally see its parent again.

The disciples from the Wind Guild also watched in awe at the two birds. From the ground, it looked beautiful how the two birds circled each other. All of the disciples knew Skye's parent since it was not every day that a high-grade Energy Beast made its nest in the Wind Guild. The bird was probably the strongest being in the Wind Guild, except for the Guild Master and Vice-Guild Masters.

"Hey, there is a person on the new bird's back," one of them shouted, and they looked closer. Surely enough, there was a young man on top of the bird's back. When the disciples saw the clothing that Gravis wore, their mood changed from excitement to bitterness. They all knew how Heavenborn dressed, and they could also guess why Gravis was here.

Who didn't hear about what Wendy had done in all the guilds and towns? Every disciple that had contact with Wendy in the past told her to stop doing what she was doing. They all knew that Gravis would eventually turn up if she continued. Sadly, she didn't listen to any of them and cursed Gravis even more when they tried to stop her. In their eyes, Wendy was suicidal and insane. What person with a normal head would do something like this?

Ultimately, the day had come, and nearly all of the disciples felt some sadness and regret for one of their disciple sisters. Were they angry at Gravis? A little bit, but not that much. Wendy was the instigator of this whole thing, and she acted like she wanted to fight a life and death battle with him.

Even though Gravis was not the aggressor, they still felt uncomfortable when someone would set out to kill one of their sisters. Yet, when they saw Gravis' smiling face and the happy birds, their bad feelings lessened slightly. They didn't know him, but their first impression was that he wasn't as bad of a guy as Wendy made him out to be.

"Hey, can you at least let me down? You can catch up all you want after that," said Gravis after a while. He didn't know what the disciples of the Wind Guild thought, but he wouldn't care much about it anyway. He was hellbent on moving down the path he had chosen, and the thoughts of others wouldn't change anything.

The parent bird noticed Gravis after he had said something and gave a friendly look. It felt that Skye was close to breaking through, and it knew that Skye probably wouldn't have been able to progress this quickly without him. It was thankful for that, and it cawed at Skye to put Gravis down.

Skye perked up, turned its head to Gravis, and charged towards the ground. It did a U-turn at the height of 20 meters, and Gravis jumped down. Skye quickly ignored Gravis and went back to its parent. Gravis could only watch with a bitter smile as Skye quickly forgot him as soon as it met its parent. However, he could understand its feelings.

Gravis threw one last look at Skye and then walked to the Wind Guild. The birds circled each other some more for a while and then flew to a massive tree on a mountain. That was probably where the nest of Skye's parent was.

As Gravis got closer to the Wind Guild, some guards walked over from the entrance. They didn't look aggressive at all and even smiled at him politely. Gravis' reception was like Heaven and Earth compared to his reception in the Lightning Guild. In the Lightning Guild, every guard had charged at him with their weapons drawn.

The guards walked closer to Gravis, and the leader stepped forward. "Welcome to our guild, Heavenborn," said the leader with a smile to Gravis.

"Thank you," Gravis said back with a nod. Friendliness felt better than apathy or hatred. It had been a long while since Gravis could talk with someone this peacefully without them being an enemy. Yes, Gravis was also very welcome in the Heaven Sect, but they were still his enemies in Gravis' mind. He

always had to keep up his vigilance and couldn't relax with them. The Wind Guild was the first place where he could talk with people without having to be careful.

"I'm really impressed by your guild," said Gravis with a slight smile. "It radiates harmony with nature, and I can feel the guilds unrestrained nature. It is very much to my liking."

The guards smiled back at the compliment, and the leader gestured for Gravis to follow them. "Thank you for your compliment, Heavenborn. We pride ourselves in our philosophy to be friendly with others until it's proven to be useless. Except for the Light Guild, the other guilds are very distant and careful about every living thing that gets close to them."

Gravis nodded. He could empathize with this philosophy, probably because that was how he wanted to live. Sadly, his infectious karmic luck and everything that happened in this world made this impossible. Gravis looked at the Wind Guild as a reflection of how he wanted to be but couldn't. Maybe this was similar to how Gorn looked at Gravis.

Did Gravis enjoy killing? No, definitely not! He knew that it was necessary, and he had learned from his past mistakes of sparing his opponents. That one weak young man came back with his family to rob him, while the Lightning Disciples told everyone about his whereabouts. He would not spare any of his enemies unless there was a really good reason.

Yet, to Gravis, killing was only something necessary that he had to do. He believed that some people just committed some mistakes and that they only needed a second chance to turn over a new leaf. Sadly, Gravis didn't have the luxury to grant second chances to anyone. His life was too precious for that.

Together with the guards, Gravis walked through the Wind Guild and saw that it was very lively. He could see no fights and no spars, and a lot of disciples had fun with the beasts and trees. The Wind Guild seemed like a wonderland of peace and freedom.

But Gravis knew that the Wind Guild would turn very violent as soon as an enemy would appear. How else would they have managed to establish themselves in this world? In a fight, they would probably transform into an aggressive cloud of hawks and eagles.

They quickly reached a colossal mountain that towered over all other mountains inside the guild. "Do you need help with climbing?" asked the leader as the other guards turned around and walked back to the guild's entrance.

Gravis shook his head and activated his lightning. The leader saw it and nodded as he jumped up and flew upwards along the mountain's surface. Gravis followed by walking upward along the mountain with the help of his lighting movement.

The mountain was several kilometers tall, and they moved for nearly a full minute. They reached the top and jumped onto the flat surface. Gravis noticed how the leader of the guards was short of breath, and he grew surprised. 'He used this much Energy just for this short climb?'

The guard noticed his look and laughed bitterly. "It's easy for us to fly above the ground, but it's hard to climb a wall or a mountain," he explained. "If we flew as we do on the ground, we would shoot away from the mountain, so we have to shape our air pocket into a more complex shape, which costs a lot more Magic."

Gravis nodded with a smile. "Thank you for explaining," he said. The man wouldn't have had to explain why it was hard, but he had noticed Gravis' eyes and explained it to him anyway. This could be considered a potential weakness, and other guilds wouldn't tell those to outsiders under normal circumstances. The Wind Guild was really different than other guilds.

"Let's go inside," said the guard as he walked to the entrance of a castle. Gravis nodded and followed him. The castle was probably where the upper echelon of the Wind Guild resided. In comparison to the

central castle in the Lightning Guild or the castle of the Heaven Sect, this castle looked big but simple. There were no expensive ornaments or exotic materials around its walls.

Gravis wondered how the leaders of such a guild would act.

 

Chapter 133

Gravis and the guard walked into the castle, and similar to the Lightning Guild, they walked up some stairs until they were on the highest floor. A big and heavy door was the end of a long corridor, and the guard gestured for Gravis to enter. Gravis nodded to him and pushed the door open.

In comparison to the Lightning Guild, the door here was just a regular door, and Gravis had no issues in opening it. Gravis stepped through, into a big hall, and the door closed behind him. He looked around the hall and noticed many people.

Instead of multiple thrones, he saw a lot of wooden chairs and tables. Multiple middle-aged and old people sat around the tables and talked happily with each other. Gravis could also see multiple kinds of fruit on their tables. The hall in the Lightning Guild felt weighty and oppressive, while this one felt free and casual.

"Welcome, Heavenborn!" shouted a young man at the end of the hall. The man was maybe in his twenties, and his green hair gently flew around like he was underwater. He wore relatively simple clothing, which only consisted of a green shirt and brown pants. The contrast between the man's looks and his outfit made him look like a rich, young master trying to disguise himself as a peasant.

Gravis noticed that the man sat in the middle of three chairs. Just based on the chairs' looks, Gravis wouldn't know that that's where the Vice-Guild Masters and Guild Master sat. Gravis could only guess that he was the Guild Master based on the position of the three chairs since they were in the middle of the hall and had some distance between the others.

"Thank you, Guild Master," said Gravis with a polite bow.

PAT PAT!

Gravis got a little startled when someone patted his right arm. He turned to his right and saw an elder with a full mouth holding a green fruit to Gravis. "Gust fruit?" he asked Gravis.

'They are really casual here,' Gravis thought as he was surprised by the casual offering of fruit. Instead of politely declining, Gravis went with the flow. "Sure, thanks," he said and took the green fruit. Many of the elders smiled warmly when they saw him accept the fruit. They hated people who always acted righteous and better than others when they couldn't even relax for a second.

Gravis looked at the fruit and took a bite.

WHOOSH!

A big gust of wind blew out from the fruit and blasted into Gravis' face. Gravis got startled and jumped back, dropping the fruit.

"Hahaha!"

The room exploded into laughter, and one elder gave the one that offered the fruit to Gravis a high-five. "Man, Bruce, you really have guts to pull that on a Heavenborn," said another elder to the first one.

Gravis looked at them and nearly couldn't believe that they pulled a prank on him. Gravis was a little overwhelmed with the situation since no one had ever played a prank on him before. In his homeworld, everyone respected him and kept him at a distance. This was something entirely new to him.

Gravis thought about how he had jumped back in fright because of a fruit and thought it was actually a little funny. He also slightly laughed while rubbing his neck in embarrassment. The others saw that Gravis didn't get angry and felt a little relieved. It seemed like Gravis was not a stuck-up prick.

"You see?" said the fruit-offering-elder. "I knew that it was the Lightning Guild's environment that made them all stuck-up pricks and not their elements!" The elder pointed at Gravis. "He cultivates the lightning element and can take a joke, yet every single other disciple of the Lightning Guild immediately gets angry and cries about disrespect!"

Many of the elders nodded. They had debated why some disciples of some guilds weren't able to just relax and go with the flow. Some said that it had something to do with the element, while others said that it was due to the environment in the guild. That's why the elder played the prank on Gravis. He wanted to know how Gravis would react since he had the same element as the disciples of the Lightning Guild but hadn't lived there.

"Alright, enough fun. Let's get down to business," shouted the Guild Master as he clapped to get their attention. The dropped fruit flew over to Gravis. "Don't worry. I caught it before it touched the floor," said the Guild Master to Gravis, who nodded and continued eating it. The fruit tasted pretty nice, actually. There were also no more surprises waiting for him. That gust probably only happened at the first bite. Maybe that's why it was called a gust fruit.

The elders calmed down and straightened up in their seats. The atmosphere changed, and it felt more serious now, though not as oppressive as in the Lightning Guild. Many of the elders were still slightly smiling. Gravis quickly finished his fruit and took out the dossier, which flew over to the Guild Master.

The Guild Master looked at it and sighed bitterly. "Just as expected," he said, and some other elders also sighed. Why did Wendy have to act so suicidal? The Guild Master turned to the only occupied seat beside his own. "Jarrod, could you please keep an eye on Saron? You know how he is."

The only present Vice-Guild Master nodded and left the hall. Gravis watched this with a questioning look. "Saron is Wendy's father and the other Vice-Guild Master," explained the Guild Master with a sigh. "We don't like to be bound by rules and restrictions, and you can imagine what would happen if he saw you."

Gravis nodded. Saron, as a Vice-Guild Master, was obviously in the Spirit Forming Realm. With the unrestrained ideology of the Wind Guild, he might ignore any potential repercussions to kill Gravis. What could Gravis even do against a Spirit Forming expert with the wind element? He couldn't even attempt to flee.

The dossier flew back to Gravis. "We've already expected you, and everything has already been prepared. Wendy has already said her goodbyes in the case that she will fall to you," explained the Guild Master. "Though she has one final wish."

Gravis furrowed his brows. "What wish?"

"She would like to fight you outside of the Wind Guild where no one is around. We would like for you to honor that wish. Is that okay with you?" he asked.

Gravis nodded. It didn't matter where they fought. If she wanted to surprise him with a third party that would help her, Gravis could simply use the Formation Array. In the worst case, Gravis could shout for Skye, and it would quickly arrive, together with its parent.

When the Guild Master saw Gravis nod, he nodded back. "She is in the forest to the north. The guard outside the door will bring you to her. Two disciples on the ninth level of Magic Gathering keep watch over her, and when you arrive, all three guards will retreat and let you fight in peace. We also won't use our Spirits to spy on you. Wendy has explicitly wished for that, and we will honor that wish."

Gravis nodded again, stood up, and bowed politely to the Guild Master. Under the sad eyes of the elders, he left the hall and looked at the guard. "Let's go," said Gravis to him, and the guard nodded.

"Follow me," he said, and they left the castle and the mountain.

They moved rather quickly to the north, and Gravis thought about why Wendy had all these strange wishes. The chances of someone saving her life would be higher inside the Wind Guild. She was making it even harder for herself to survive. On top of that, why was she specifically targeting him? That was still a mystery to Gravis.

After some minutes, they arrived at a clearing in the woods. Gravis saw three people standing in the clearing, and one of them was Wendy. She still looked pretty young and had the same green hair as back in the entrance exams.

The two guards beside her saw Gravis and sighed. They put their hands on Wendy and whispered their goodbyes to her. After some seconds, they went over to Gravis' guard and nodded. All three guards quickly left, and now only Gravis and Wendy remained. Wendy didn't look at Gravis and stood with her back to him.

"Welcome," she said as she turned to him. "Fake-Heavenborn."

 

Chapter 134

Gravis' insides churned as he heard Wendy. This came out of nowhere and threw all his suspicions about why she wanted to meet him into disarray. "What do you mean?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

Wendy released a dry laugh. "You're not a Heavenborn. I have felt the Heavenly Pressure of Heavenborn, and I know that they can't keep their Heavenly Pressure up for more than ten minutes," she explained. "When I saw you keeping your Will-Aura up for several hours, I was already sure that you were not a Heavenborn."

She knew his secret, and he couldn't risk her fleeing and telling others. He walked closer and took out the jade token. She didn't seem to mind and didn't attack Gravis even when she stood inside the Formation Array's activation range. Even though Gravis knew that she could have told others earlier, he didn't want to take any chances.

"Tell me," started Gravis. "If you already knew that I am not a Heavenborn, then why didn't you just publicize it? If you did that, I would already be dead."

Wendy smiled slightly. "I don't want to kill you," she said, and Gravis furrowed his brows. He had thought, based on how she had acted, that she wanted his life. Her not wanting his life came as a surprise to him.

"Then why all this slandering?" Gravis asked her.

Wendy looked a little apologetic. "I wanted to meet you," she explained. "How could I meet you when you were inside the Heaven Sect without awaking suspicion? I also don't know where and when your missions would take place, so I had no choice but to become your target."

Gravis furrowed his brows further. "But you know that becoming my target means that I either have to kill you or flee from the Heaven Sect," he said, "and I don't plan on blowing my cover just yet."

Wendy continued smiling, for some reason. "I know that, and I don't want you to blow your cover."

Gravis lifted one of his brows. "Are you telling me that you intend to die here?" he asked incredulously.

Wendy sighed. "Maybe," she said and made a pause. She sat down and patted the spot beside her for Gravis to also sit down. By now, Gravis knew that he would already be dead if she wanted to kill him. She would've just needed to tell others about his Will-Aura. So, Gravis took her offer and sat beside her. They both looked at the quiet forest.

"I want to tell you my story," she said after a while. "Could you grant me this last wish?"

Gravis nodded. "Sure. I'm also interested in what reason you could have to throw away your life like that."

Wendy's smile brightened a little. "I had a husband once," she started. "We knew each other ever since I was a young teenager. We basically grew up together, and we were best of friends. My father wanted me to become a strong cultivator, so he had sent me out into the Outer-Continent when I was just twelve. Of course, before sending me out, he helped me temper my organs and blood. I met my husband in a town in the Outer-Continent."

Gravis felt that this situation was similar to his own. He also arrived in this lower world when he only had tempered his organs and blood. Gravis looked to the sky and thought about his homeworld.

Wendy looked at Gravis and guessed that he had gone through something similar. She moved her legs closer to her chest and hugged them in a comfortable position. "When we met, he was just a teenager from a town. He was about one year older than me and had already tempered his skin. In the beginning, we fought a lot, but then we started getting closer."

Wendy looked up into the sky. "I stayed in that town until I was 14. By then, I had also tempered my skin and bones by hunting in the Hunting Guild. We were already very close at that time, and some

romantic feelings started blossoming in my heart. Yet…"

Wendy sighed in sadness. "It wasn't meant to last. One particular day, we went on a hunt together, and after we had slain the beast, we were exhausted and injured. Just when we had decided to rest, some raiders jumped out of the bushes out of nowhere. I don't know if you know, but in comparison to bandits, raiders are the real outlaws. They kill, destroy, rob, and do other unsavory things."

Gravis nodded. He still remembered the raiders that attacked that one village.

Wendy sighed. "If we were at our peak, we could have won against them, but at that time, we had no chance. My husband managed to give me a chance to flee while he remained behind to keep them at bay. I wanted to help him so badly, but I knew that that would only make his sacrifice meaningless. I fled to the Hunting Guild and told them what happened. Luckily, we were not that far away."

"About an hour later, I returned with several hunters, and we only found some corpses and some blood, but nothing more. I knew how many raiders attacked us, and I saw that only a third of them died to him. I knew that they had taken him captive. Raiders often do business with slave-traders, and someone with tempered skin and bones was worth a lot of money."

Some tears ran down Wendy's face, but she didn't seem to notice. "I was heartbroken, and I lost all my will to cultivate and live. I remained in the town and waited for him every day. I couldn't accept that he was gone and spent most of my time looking over the wall of the town, into the wilderness, hoping that I would see him return."

Then, Wendy smiled. "About six months later, he actually returned. At that time, I thought I was dreaming. It was a miracle from Heaven! I knew that Heaven wanted him to return! I was so happy, and I wept for days out of happiness. All the light in my life returned at that point, and I was happy that I held out. Before that, I had contemplated suicide every day."

Gravis could feel that Wendy's feelings were genuine, and he felt for her. "How did he manage to escape?" he asked.

Wendy smiled sweetly. "They trained him to be a slave. It's a very torturous process where they break someone down over a long time and make them lose their individuality. At that point, they would only live for their masters. He acted like he was slowly losing himself, but always held out."

Her cheeks reddened a little. "He said it was because he wanted to see me again and didn't want me to feel bad for him. At some point, he managed to escape, and they chased him. He used guerilla tactics to engage in many smaller fights, and his life was always hanging by a thread. After a particularly difficult fight, he managed to materialize his will."

Gravis was surprised. "So, due to all the torture and the fights, he managed to create a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm?" he asked.

Wendy nodded. "Yes, and with the power of his Will-Aura, he slaughtered every last raider and freed the slaves. After he had taken his revenge, he immediately ran back to our town to meet me. We fell into each other's arms and confessed our mutual love for each other. We decided that we would marry each other as soon as we would turn 16."

Wendy's expression turned back to sadness. "We lived in happiness, and every day felt like I was living in a dream, but after six months…"

"An executioner of the Heaven Sect appeared."

 

Chapter 135

Gravis felt a pit in his stomach.

Wendy looked down at the ground. "You can probably guess what happened next. The executioner had been sent here to kill my husband," her voice quietened. "He never stood a chance."

Gravis also sighed. Wendy went through a lot of hardships. The closest person to Gravis that ever died was Stella, back in his homeworld, which couldn't be compared with losing one's love. They had only been very close friends, and Gravis had still been young.

Wendy continued narrating. "I was devastated for months, and I only felt pain. How foolish was I to believe that Heaven sent my husband back to me? I tried to cope with the situation by learning about history because I wanted to understand why that happened. I went to a city and learned all I could about Heavenborn and how they acted."

"After a long time and a lot of reading, I realized that Heaven didn't care about the individual. It only cares about the whole. Everything that it deems a danger to its rule would be destroyed. The history books said that no one who managed to condense a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm ever survived to reach the Magic Gathering Realm."

Her eyes grew severe, and Gravis could feel rage coming from her. "I was angry, and I started hating Heaven. Why did my husband have to die when he managed to save his life? Did Heaven doom him to be a slave? Was being a slave his only way to survive? At that point, my ambition had returned, and everything I felt before, vanished."

Gravis sighed and thought that if the same thing happened to him, he would maybe also change into something completely different. Something like this could change a person fundamentally.

Wendy gnashed her teeth. "I know that my husband only wants me to live in happiness, and I also know that he would never wish for me to fight against Heaven," then she sighed, "but I am not that

strong. I can't forget him, and I only want to meet him in the afterlife."

Her eyes started burning with rage again. "But then what about Heaven? I couldn't allow for it to never pay for what it had done. On that day, I decided to dedicate my life to fighting Heaven. I was pretty sure that Heaven heard and saw everything, but I guessed that it couldn't read minds."

Gravis nodded. That was about right.

"I kept everything inside of me and buried my hatred. When I wept for my husband, I never said anything bad about Heaven. I knew that I could never release my inner feelings, not even when I was alone," she sighed. "It was incredibly hard to never talk about this, and this is the first time that I have ever talked about this with anyone."

Gravis nodded again. "You're right. Heaven can hear and see everything, but it can't read minds. If you spoke your feelings, it might have sent another Heavenborn or might even kill you directly."

Wendy didn't ask Gravis how he knew about such things and, instead, continued telling her story. "I quickly joined the Proxy-Wind Guild and managed to break through into the Magic Gathering Realm. According to the history books, Heaven had never attacked someone at the Magic Gathering Realm just because they have a Will-Aura."

"Instead of going to the Wind Guild, where my father was, I started roaming the Middle-Continent. I fought nearly every day with multiple beasts and explored a lot. About a year later, I managed to condense a Will-Aura while I was still in the third level of Magic Gathering, but that wasn't the end. I never stopped tempering myself and never stopped exploring. I knew that a Will-Aura wasn't enough to take my revenge. I needed something that could damage Heaven!"

Gravis listened intently, and he could empathize with her undying greed for strength. He was similar to her in that regard.

"One day, I managed to find an inheritance from someone that had ascended," she said, and Gravis perked up.

"Those exist? How is that even possible if they ascended?" Gravis asked. He knew that no one could come back into this world. He was absolutely sure that only his homeworld had that ability, and his homeworld wouldn't allow someone to do something like this.

Wendy looked at Gravis. "When people reach the Unity Realm, they can remain in this world for one month before they are forced to ascend. That's probably something that Heaven grants them so that they could get their affairs in order. What can they do anyway? The High Priest of the Heaven Sect can't be beaten by someone that broke through just recently."

'Unity Realm, huh?' Gravis thought. Now, he heard the name of the fourth major Realm for the first time. He wondered why it was called Unity Realm.

Wendy continued telling her story. "He was also an enemy of Heaven and wanted to take his revenge. When he broke through, he attacked the Heaven Sect and got beaten back by the High Priest. For some reason, the High Priest didn't kill him and just let him continue living. Seeing that he couldn't take his revenge, he created his inheritance in that one month. I accepted the inheritance and grew more powerful."

Wendy smiled bitterly. "But if not even that senior managed to do anything against Heaven, then what can I do, even with his help? At best, I could just do the same as him. What would that change? After I inherited everything, I became very powerful, and I returned to my guild. My family thought that I had died, and they wept for me."

Wendy looked at the floor again. "Yet, when I hugged my mother and father, I felt nothing," she said. "Every feeling of warmth had died, and not even the warmth and love of my family warmed my heart. It

was like I looked on as a stranger hugged their family. It felt like this whole situation had nothing to do with me."

Gravis sighed and felt for her. He couldn't imagine losing his emotions and growing so cold that even his family couldn't help him recover. Compared to Wendy, his life had actually been easier. She couldn't even release her inner rage for fear of Heaven striking her. Gravis could, at least, do that since his father forced Heaven into a fair fight.

"I had been away from society for years and wasn't very talkative," she said. "My father wanted to help me acclimate to society again and sent me down to be a Proxy-Guild Master for three years. I wasn't a fan of that decision, but I followed it anyway. I didn't have a target anymore, because the more I learned about Heaven, the more I realized its power. How could I ever take my revenge?"

Then, she looked at Gravis. "Then I met you," she said with interest. "I noticed your Will-Aura and got reminded of my husband. For the first time in a long while, I felt bad for someone else. I knew that your destiny would be the same as my husband's."

Her eyes focused on Gravis. "And then, the situation in the Basin of Nature happened. I already knew that you were not a Heavenborn, and I slowly realized that Heaven didn't want to temper but actually kill you! I thought you would die immediately when you cursed at Heaven, but for some reason, it never directly attacked you. It only sent beasts at you, and you actually came out in one piece."

Gravis just continued listening. "The other Guild Masters were not even close to me in strength, and they didn't notice, but I saw how Heaven tried to strike you after your last comment. I, somehow, felt Heaven's rage explode at that time. Maybe I managed to feel it thanks to my obsession with it. Yet, when it tried to strike you, everything disappeared, and the clouds vanished."

She looked with burning eyes at Gravis. "At that point, I knew that for some reason, Heaven couldn't do anything against you directly. As far as I know, you are the first person where this situation ever

happened. My lost ambition returned, and I saw a chance in you. Maybe, you can do what others couldn't!"

"When you joined the Heaven Sect under the guise of a Heavenborn, I was sure that something was different about you. Couldn't Heaven just inform the Heaven Sect that you are not a Heavenborn? Yet, it didn't, and you even did several missions for it. Something stops Heaven from acting directly against you. Could you tell me what it is?"

Gravis sighed.

"I'm not from this world."

 

Chapter 136

Wendy's eyes widened when she heard that. "What do you mean?"

Gravis smiled. She had already told all her secrets to him, so why couldn't he tell her? No one was around, and Gravis could feel the Spirit of others. He also didn't believe that the upper echelon of the Wind Guild would break their promise. The only one listening was Heaven, and it already knew his background.

"This is a lower world. Above this world are the middle worlds, and above those are the higher worlds," Gravis explained. "I am from the highest world, and every world is below ours. My father is the strongest being, equal to the highest Heaven. They are enemies, and Heaven has used me to hurt my father before. That's why Heaven is my enemy and why it can't act directly against me. My father forces Heaven into a fair fight."

Wendy was shocked and couldn't process all the information she was receiving right now. There were so many worlds above this one? Also, Gravis' father was this powerful? She couldn't imagine how powerful he had to be.

Gravis smiled happily. "When Heaven tried to strike me in the Basin of Nature, my father slapped it away. That's why everything vanished. The Heaven of this lower world is nothing in my father's eyes," said Gravis with pride.

Wendy still couldn't fully believe Gravis' tale, but everything pointed to it being the truth. Why else did these things happen in the Basin of Nature? Gravis remained silent for a while, and Wendy also didn't say anything. She kept thinking about the whole situation.

After a while, Wendy smiled happily. "If Heaven is forced to fight with you fairly, then you are probably the only person who has a shot at damaging it," she looked upwards into the sky. "I am happy that my gamble and all my hardships paid off. If I gave up earlier, I would have never had the chance to change

anything. This is the first time in a long while, where I'm truly happy," she said as some tears rolled down her eyes.

"Here, take this," Wendy said as she passed a jade token, as well as a piece of paper to Gravis. "This is the core of the inheritance. It's a Formation Array, and everything about it is explained in the piece of paper. You only need to use your lightning on it, and you will understand everything about it. The ascended senior took great care in keeping what the token can do a secret."

Gravis nodded and injected his lightning into the paper. A lot of information appeared in his mind, and he completely understood why the senior kept it a secret. "It's incredibly powerful, but you shouldn't underestimate Heaven. I'm sure it already knows that this Formation Array can block one attack, no matter how strong," Gravis said.

Wendy shivered, but could only sigh. "You're probably right," she said. "Yet, this won't stop it from working. With this, you could at least block one attack from Heaven."

Gravis nodded with a smile, but inside, he felt incredibly shocked. If one looked at the paper only with Energy, they would learn that the token could block one attack. Yet, when an element was infused into it, the element would return and spell out some words in the user's mind. It was a genius way of keeping its true secret hidden. Heaven probably never learned about its true secret.

Gravis' plan for the Pre-Forming technique slowly changed into an even more reckless one. There was a high chance that he would die when performing it, but his goal was the peak. If he couldn't reach the peak, then he couldn't reach his goal. His goal was more important than his life. She also passed him a sack, which carried hundreds of Energy Stones.

They both remained silent for several minutes and just looked at the sky. Gravis had accepted Wendy's wish for revenge. Yet, the situation could only end in tragedy. Wendy wanted to return to her husband

and take revenge for him. Her wish for revenge was transferred to Gravis, and now, only one wish remained.

Gravis felt a little nervous, and not even his powerful will could stop these emotions from affecting him. He learned more about Wendy than every other person in this world, which created a special connection between them. Yet, because of that, Gravis knew that her mind was made up.

It didn't matter what he said. Wendy would go through with it. The closer they got to the moment of goodbye, the more Gravis' whole being revolted against the situation. He felt a genuine feeling of companionship with Wendy, and he didn't want to do it. It felt so wrong in his mind. He didn't mind killing strangers, but it was a different thing if he knew the person.

Yet, what other way was there? It wasn't like others forced her to go through with it. She had decided it for herself. It was her only remaining wish and her last goal.

What if Gravis decided to spare her? He would blow his cover, and he would probably die. If Wendy actually wanted to keep on living, he would maybe try to find a third way, but what was the point of jeopardizing his goal, if she just decided to end her life some time later?

There was no right way out of the situation. Every decision would end in tragedy, yet, for the first time, Gravis couldn't blame Heaven for the situation. Yes, Heaven was at fault for how her life went, but it was her own decision, what she would do with her life now. It was her decision, and she made it. Sometimes, one could only choose one of two evils.

"Alright," said Wendy as she stood up and dusted off her robes. She took out a mirror and looked at herself. She took out some water and cleaned up every last piece of dirt on her face and clothing. She wanted to be presentable for her family.

Gravis' insides shook as he watched her. He also stood up and grabbed his forehead due to the stress that he was feeling right now. The Energy in his head still gave him a massive headache, but he

couldn't care about that right now. Anxiety, rage, frustration, helplessness, a little bit of sadness, and unwillingness all mixed together inside him, and he couldn't discern what he was feeling anymore. He felt like he was about to take a step into a direction, he didn't want.

Wendy saw him and smiled slightly. "I know that it's not easy for you, but you can't give up your goal for this. I entrusted you with my revenge, and if you decide to give up, I'll haunt you," she said with a joking tone. "Also, if you manage to get through all this pain, you will only grow stronger. Isn't your wish to defeat Heaven?"

Gravis didn't care about the strength of his will right now. He was not his father. His father killed millions of humans just to get one over Heaven, and Gravis was not like that. He wanted to live without regrets and grow strong. 'Maybe I am too naïve,' he thought as he looked upwards at the sky. 'Maybe it was impossible from the very beginning to have both. If I must decide between having no regret and achieving my goal, then I will choose my goal. Even if it is wrong.'

When Wendy was finished, she took out a letter and nailed it to a tree. "This is a letter to my family. I wrote my whole story down so that they don't come looking for you in the future. I don't want you guys to become enemies."

Wendy walked back and stopped one meter in front of Gravis. "Do it," she said, "and I'm sorry."

Gravis' body shook, and he couldn't look at her. Gravis wasn't feeling all these feelings because of Wendy, but because of what he was about to do. With his will, killing another person was not difficult at all, and they had also only talked for some minutes. He shakingly put his hand on her head and closed his eyes firmly. "I'm sorry," he said.

Gravis released his lightning, and Wendy immediately died. Her outside wasn't injured, and only her brain stopped functioning. She fell over, and Gravis caught her with his arms. One small tear rolled

down his right eye, and he could only look at her with unwillingness. He wasn't crying about her, but about the way he had chosen.

'Is this what I am ready to do for power? I said that I am not my father, yet I see myself becoming more like him the further I progress on my path. Is this truly what I want to be?' he thought as he laid her down on the floor. Her body smiled happily, and Gravis' felt her Energy entering his body. He felt incredibly disgusted by the Energy and wanted to reject it, but he stopped himself. She gave Gravis her wish for revenge, and he couldn't betray that wish.

When Gravis laid her down, he looked at her for another minute and then walked away. While walking, he thought about if that is truly what he wished to become. Was it worth it to do things like this for strength?

After Gravis had left the clearing for a while, a minuscule lightning bolt appeared from above and hit the letter, which had been nailed to the tree.

The letter burned until nothing remained.

 

Chapter 137

Gravis went out of the forest, still thinking about the whole thing. Logically, he knew that he couldn't have changed anything about the situation. He had to keep up his disguise, and he also needed power. Her willingness to die actually only had positives from a result-oriented standpoint. Yet, logic and feelings rarely agreed with each other. Even though he knew, logically, that he couldn't do anything about it, his feelings were still screaming at him.

As Gravis continued walking, he looked up into the sky through the leaves of the trees. "Is this the only way to acquire strength and freedom?" he asked himself. "Am I required to act like this to become truly free? Do I want to crush the hopes and dreams of countless other people just so I can realize mine?"

Gravis knew that he had already killed many people and that he already crushed a lot of dreams. Yet, enemies were enemies, and companions were companions. If someone tried to kill you, you wouldn't feel as bad about killing them as if you killed a companion. The emotions would grow distant, and one wouldn't think much about what they had done. Yet, the current situation was gnawing at him. To him, it felt like he had betrayed someone to gain more power, even though he knew that that wasn't true.

After a while, Gravis met the three guards, and when they saw him coming out of the forest, they sighed. The fact that Gravis was casually walking out of the woods meant that his mission was complete. They felt bad for their junior sister, but there was nothing they could do.

"Let's go," said Gravis to them, and one of them turned around to lead the way, while the other two went inside the forest to retrieve the body. The guard and Gravis quickly reached the guild again, and Gravis stopped in front of its gates. Initially, he had intended to stay here for a while so Skye could talk more with its parent, but with Wendy's father being a Vice-Guild Master and with this whole emotional situation, his mood changed.

Gravis looked at the gigantic tree where the two birds currently stood and whistled. Skye turned its head to him and then back to its parent. The parent looked a little sad for a second, but then roughly

shoved Skye away with a serious caw. Skye gave one last rub to its parent, which promptly shoved it again.

Skye said its goodbyes, picked up Gravis, and then flew away into the horizon. There was no sense in saying goodbye to the Wind Guild. It was not Gravis' home, and even though he liked it here, he couldn't remain. Short goodbyes were easier for everyone.

Skye flew for a couple of days, and Gravis used the time to think more about his eventual, reckless plan. It was incredibly dangerous, but if it worked, he could get a unique advantage. This might be the only chance he would have to actually become strong enough to damage Heaven, later down the line. He had to prepare early for his eventual showdown with this lower Heaven.

Gravis took out the jade token that Wendy had handed him and thought about the whole situation. 'I have no karmic luck, and Heaven doesn't grant me any opportunities or special chances, but father told me that we can steal the karmic luck of others. Let them get their chances and then just take them away. Although this couldn't be considered stealing, Wendy getting her inheritance was probably due to karmic luck. So, all in all, I benefited from the luck of others.'

Yet, it took all of Wendy's power to meet him. She wanted to hand over her karmic luck, and she still had to work hard to meet him. If others didn't want to give up their luck, then it would be difficult for Gravis to get it since Heaven was constantly up in his business.

Gravis put the jade token away and changed his focus to cultivation while Skye continued flying into the direction of the Heaven Sect. Like this, a couple of days passed.

Some days later.

Aion looked through the bag and counted the Energy Stones. When he finished, he nodded. "Looks good. Well done," he said as he put the bag away. He then looked at the jade token, which had the

Formation Array that could imprison anyone in the Energy Gathering Realm and threw it back at Gravis.

Gravis' eyes widened in surprise, and he caught it. "You can keep it," said Aion as he stretched himself. "Everyone in the Heaven Sect has at least one. I just forgot yours."

Gravis smiled bitterly and put the jade token away, but didn't leave. Aion noticed and furrowed his brows. "What's up?" he asked.

'Well, let's see if this works. This sounds incredibly stupid, but it should work,' thought Gravis as he readied himself for the following conversation.

"So," he started. "We can't exchange Magic-Stones for Mission Points, right?" he asked.

Aion lifted a brow. "Yes?" he confirmed, not sure what Gravis' goal was.

"But we also have a job where someone has to exchange the gold for Magic-Stones, right?" asked Gravis.

"Yeees?" confirmed Aion.

"Could you tell me, how many Mission Points does the exchange of one Magic-Stone give in that mission?"

Aion scratched the side of his head, trying to think about what Gravis was up to. "One exchanged Magic-Stone is ten Mission Points," Aion said.

Now, it was finally time for Gravis to get to the point. "So, when I switch jobs for a minute and then exchange my Magic-Stones for our gold, I can get Mission Points, right?" Gravis asked.

Aion's hand froze, and his brain started going wild. The more he thought about the situation, the stupider it seemed. It was impossible to exchange Energy Stones for Mission Points, but it was possible to exchange Energy Stones for Mission Points and gold? What's even the sense in that?

Then, Aion started scratching his chin in thought. "Man, I really screwed up when creating this system," he mumbled while thinking. "Though, exchanging it for gold would make it easier on our storage. Man, the more I think about it, the stupider all this seems."

While Aion continued thinking, Gravis hoped that his choice was correct. Wendy had given Gravis a lot of Energy Stones, and he could break through multiple levels with those. Those stones could make him nearly invincible in the Middle-Continent, yet, with wealth came decisions.

He could sharply raise his Realm, and that would save time, but is saving time good? Not always. In this case, Gravis would skip several levels, and he would also skip possible tempering experiences on those levels. Yet, on the other hand, his chances of survival would be way higher.

Wasn't surviving the most important? Honestly, in Gravis' opinion, it wasn't. His goal was more important than his life, and everything had to be perfect to reach the peak. Gravis' Will-Aura might be strong enough to still be outstanding in the Spirit Forming Realm, but what about the realms in the middle world or higher world?

If he decided to use the stones for cultivation, he would sacrifice relative battle strength for a sharp rise in actual strength. Yet, in comparison to now, his relative strength against people in the same Realm would be weaker than now.

The foundation was most important to Gravis, and even if Gravis could skip straight to the Unity Realm, he wouldn't. He might be able to damage Heaven and return, but then what? He would have immense problems in the middle world. This was basically killing the chicken to get the egg.

So, in the end, Gravis decided to exchange his Energy Stones for pills to increase his body's strength. This would increase his relative battle strength. With the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique, it was easy to find resources to increase his Realm, but it wasn't easy to find resources to increase his relative battle strength. Gravis couldn't ignore the future to make his current situation easier. If he died due to his decision, so be it!

"Alright, I decided," said Aion as he turned to Gravis.

 

Chapter 138

Aion turned to Gravis with a grin. "I have decided!" he said proudly. "It is now allowed to exchange Magic-Stones for Mission Points," he said, and Gravis released a sigh of relief. With this, he could buy several of those expensive pills that strengthened the body. With that, his body would no longer be useless in an actual fight.

"But," said Aion loudly. "I need to be fair to Cerb. He is working hard to exchange the gold for Magic- Stones, so I need to give others some kind of restriction. So, I have decided that you are required to regain your wealth by yourself."

Gravis furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

Aion put his hands on his hips with pride. "Simple! If you exchange 1,000 Magic-Stones for Mission Points, you need to regain those 1,000 Magic-Stones by yourself. After the exchange, you are required to reach the same amount of wealth three months later and show it to me! If you don't manage, you will lose half of your Mission Points!"

Gravis raised an eyebrow. "Why, though? Are you sure that this is a good way?" he asked confusedly. In Gravis' mind, this rule made absolutely no sense. To him, it seemed like the rule only existed to make the lives of the exchangers harder. What was even the point of that?

"Shut up! I decided, and that's how it is now," said Aion as he pointed at Gravis. "I am the branch manager, and you need to follow what I say!"

Gravis could only sigh and roll his eyes. The rule seemed senseless, and Aion, apparently, didn't accept any counterarguments. 'Well, it doesn't matter. Heaven probably won't allow me to stay in the Heaven Sect for much longer.' In three months, Gravis would probably already be fleeing all around the Middle-Continent. Not only from other guilds but also from the Heaven Sect. This restriction might as well not exist for him.

"Alright. I want to exchange these Magic-Stones," Gravis said, as he handed the sack of Energy Stones, which he had gotten from Wendy, to Aion.

Aion looked through the sack, and his eyes widened. "Man, that's a lot of Magic-Stones," he said in surprise. "Are you sure you can regain that in three months?"

Gravis nodded. "Heaven won't let me fail. I trust in Heaven! It will surely give me an opportunity to regain all this," Gravis said. Obviously, he was lying through his teeth. Heaven wouldn't even throw any leftovers at him.

Aion smiled and nodded. "You're right. Heaven always has our back, and we shouldn't be afraid of taking risks. As long as we believe in Heaven, everything will turn out fine. Alright, let me count the stones," said Aion as the sack of Magic-Stones disappeared.

"Alright, that's 1,628 Magic-Stones, which comes to 16,280 Mission Points. Together with the reward for your mission and your leftover Mission Points, you have something like 19,500 Mission Points. Damn, that's a lot of Mission Points, but what else could I expect from a fellow Heavenborn?" Aion said with a laugh.

When Gravis heard the exact number of Energy Stones, he sighed. He had decided to trade all of them, but it was still hard for him to give away something that could increase his Realm several times over.

Gravis calculated how much his strength would increase if he were to absorb all of those and concluded that he would nearly reach the ninth level of Energy Gathering. He would only be missing about 20% of the Energy requirement. If Gravis reached the ninth level of Energy Gathering, he would be invincible in the Middle-Continent with the exception of Spirit Forming expert.

He still felt a slight sting when he thought about the strength he had just lost, even though he knew that it was for the best. He could never allow for his battle strength advantage to be lost! His goal was not

survival, but the peak. The firmer every step, the higher his chance of achieving his goal!

"Can I take a look at the exchange list?" asked Gravis.

Aion shrugged and then put a small booklet on the table. "Knock yourself out," he said as he walked to his balcony. He sat back down in his chair and continued relaxing. Meanwhile, Gravis took a look through the exchange list. He had to find the best way to increase his physical strength.

Gravis looked at the pills and quickly found the pills for body strengthening. Some pills increased the strength of specific organs. Some pills increased physical strength overall. Some pills expedited the training of the body.

Cultivators in the Energy Gathering Realm could still train their bodies, but the growth of the body's power was dozens of times slower than the growth of the Energy's power. That was why no one cared about training the body anymore. Resources for body strengthening were way rarer and more expensive than pure Energy Stones.

For example, if someone wanted to get their physical power to the same level as the Energy on the third level of Energy Gathering, they would probably have to spend around 150 Energy Stones. That might sound not as over the top as one thought, but one shouldn't forget about how few Energy Stones one needed to get to the third level of Energy Gathering. Going from the first level to the third level only needed 8+16 Energy Stones. That was about a sixth of the cost.

Gravis compiled a list of pills over the next couple of minutes until he noticed something.

Body Ascension Pill – 20,000 Mission Points

Gravis had subconsciously ignored the pill since the price was so high, but now, he was very close to being able to afford it. He read through the description, and his eyes sparkled with motivation. This was perfect for him!

The pill sharply increased the ability of the body to strengthen while healing. One first needed to tear down their old body to create a newer, stronger one. The description was simple, but the simple description showed the pill's power when it was paired with the price.

Gravis turned his head to Aion, who was still relaxing in his chair. "Hey, Aion," he said.

"What is it?" asked Aion, not turning towards him.

"Shouldn't I get a reward for pointing out the flaw in your mission system?" Gravis asked.

Aion craned his body so he could look at Gravis with furrowed brows. Then, he used his Spirit to take a look at the exchange list and noticed that the booklet had been opened to the page of the Body Ascension Pill. He then looked back up to Gravis and smiled.

"Fine."

WHOOSH PACK!

Aion threw a bottle at Gravis, who quickly caught it. He looked at it and could see a pill shining through the bottle, which was about as big as a plum. "But consider all your Mission Points used up," said Aion as he turned back to relax on his chair.

Gravis smiled in excitement. "Thank you, branch manager!" he said. With this, his body would be able to become much stronger, though he needed a way to break his body. If he really concentrated, he might be able to break his own body with his lightning, but not for very long. The pill would hold for an entire week, and Gravis' lightning would probably become useless at around the second day already. He needed a way to consistently damage his body.

Gravis' eyes turned to the relaxing Aion and shone.

Aion's body slightly shivered. Over a long period of time, Aion had managed to train this reaction towards something specific. He knew precisely what the shivering meant! Aion turned to Gravis and watched him with an apprehensive look.

His body always shivered before he had to work.

 

Chapter 139

Gravis had to convince Aion for many minutes. He really didn't want to work. Gravis even had to say that he would do the next three missions free-of-charge to finally convince him to help. Gravis knew that getting Aion's help was risky. Whenever Gravis trained his body, he would tear the whole thing apart to get as much out of the training as possible. That required a strong will.

Heavenborn usually didn't have a strong will, and that could arouse suspicion about him from Aion. Yet, Gravis was sure that Aion's fanaticism towards Heaven would make him blind to nearly every clue about Gravis not being a Heavenborn. Gravis expected that he might even be able to show the condensed version of his Will-Aura, and Aion would probably only consider him some genius Heavenborn. Of course, Gravis wouldn't try that.

Though, Aion wanted to watch Gravis temper himself first. Aion didn't want to hurt Gravis so severely that his "weak will" couldn't take it anymore. So, Gravis stayed in Aion's office and started tempering his body.

As soon as he ingested the pill, he felt incredibly hot and felt a massive well of power circling throughout his body. Gravis immediately started by literally exploding his body with all of his power. His skin, muscles, bones, and some organs got blasted away from him. Gravis even exploded his face away and turned back into the skeleton look he had, when he had been rescued from the cesspool in the Proxy-Lightning Guild.

Aion's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath in shock. This was way more intense than he had believed. He knew that Gravis was a little different from normal Heavenborn, but that was just crazy. Aion couldn't imagine staying sane under so much pain, and he thought Gravis was crazy. Who would do such a thing?

The Body Ascension Pill also had a lot of Life Energy saved. If it didn't even have something as basic as Life Energy, then why would it be so expensive? Gravis' body started regenerating quickly, but

before it was even healed to an eighth of his peak condition, his body exploded again, together with some other vital organs. Gravis couldn't explode all his organs at the same time. If he did that, he would die.

This continued for many hours as Aion watched on in horror. In his mind, this was absolute madness. He couldn't understand Gravis' mad need for strength, at all. This was insane! Luckily, the pill also had a lot of Energy inside it, which allowed Gravis to have enough Energy to continue exploding his body.

It became challenging for Gravis to gather enough Energy to explode his body after half a day had passed. "I… need… your… help," croaked Gravis with a nearly inhuman voice. His vocal cords were nearly destroyed, and it was hard for him to speak.

Aion sighed deeply. He had watched how Gravis trained and even used his Spirit to completely understand how Gravis managed to keep his body going, even when 80% of it was annihilated. He saw how Gravis circulated the destruction of his organs and knew what he had to do. Yet, he still had to hold himself back from healing Gravis with his water in the beginning. It was just too horrifying to him.

Though, Aion was still nervous since even a small mistake could spell Gravis' doom. Of course, with Aion's control, it was impossible to make such a mistake. It was just Aion's weak will that made him stress-out about the situation. He had never been put into such a bad situation. His life had always been going smoothly, and he had never needed to do something this difficult.

Aion took a deep breath to calm down and then released his ice. He nearly froze Gravis' whole body with ice and then let it explode. When a body froze, its whole composition changed, and muscles wouldn't be muscles anymore when that happened. Similar to fire, it broke down the whole body and changed it into something else.

Gravis only gnashed his teeth but didn't say a word. Like he had expected, Aion's control had been perfect, and the destruction was identical to how Gravis would have done it. Aion continued destroying

Gravis' body throughout three days without a pause. He had enough Energy as a Spirit Forming expert, and his Energy regeneration was faster than his expenditure.

After those three days, Aion and Gravis both noticed how the regeneration slowed down for his body. The description had said that the pill held on for seven days, and that was true, but Gravis' crazy training had pre-emptively used up the saved Life Energy in the pill. When Gravis noticed, he looked into Aion's eyes with a crazy gleam.

Aion felt a shiver run down his spine and then sighed. "Alright," he said, defeated. "But only because I don't want to see the Body Ascension Pill being wasted!"

Starting that moment, Aion supplemented the healing of the pill with his own Life Energy. He was a cultivator with the water element, and people with the water element were the best in healing. Someone at the Spirit Forming Realm had an incredible amount of Life Energy, and it would be no issue in healing Gravis for a couple more days.

In the seven days where Gravis was training his body, several Heavenborn came to Aion's office to receive their missions or to exchange for some stuff. Whenever they saw the skeletal Gravis in the corner, they would exclaim in fright. Aion always had to explain that he was not punishing Gravis but helping him train his body. The other Heavenborn didn't believe him and started fearing Aion. Starting that day, Aion wouldn't receive any complaints from them anymore about anything.

After seven days, the pill's effect wore off, and Gravis noticed that his body was not growing stronger anymore, at least not as fast. "Aion… the pill- AAAH!"

Gravis' body exploded again from the ice, and Aion looked at him like he didn't understand him? "Did you say something?" he asked innocently while using his water to heal him.

"The pill-"

BOOM!

His body exploded again before he could finish his words. "What was that?" Aion asked as he put his hand to his ear like he didn't hear him.

"Stop!" Gravis shouted.

Aion showed a look of surprise and stopped destroying Gravis' body. "Why didn't you say that earlier?" he asked innocently. He wanted to relieve some of his frustration on Gravis since he had forced Aion to work for nearly seven whole days. By now, Aion had grown used to destroying Gravis' body, and he didn't feel bad about playing that prank on him.

Gravis could only bitterly smile as Aion healed his body. Gravis could understand Aion's frustration, and he didn't grow angry about Aion pulling the prank. Gravis was actually really thankful to Aion because he had done many things that he wasn't required to do. Gravis decided that, when they would, involuntarily, become enemies in the future, he would spare his life once.

When Gravis was fully healed, he stood up and stretched his body. He tested out his physical power and was surprised by the result. "My body should be a little stronger than the Energy of someone at the seventh level," he concluded as he muttered to himself.

"Energy?" asked Aion in confusion.

Gravis shook his head quickly. "Oh, sorry, I meant Magic. I don't know why I said Energy," he said with a bitter smile. Luckily, Aion didn't mind Gravis' slip-up. Aion was too preoccupied with feeling exhausted and lazy to care about the stuff that Gravis said. He walked over to his chair and sat down.

"We're done here. You better not come in here in the foreseeable future. You've worked me harder in that week than I have worked in the last three years," he said as he waved his hand.

BOOM BANG!

Gravis felt himself getting thrown out of the office into the hallway, and the door to Aion's office violently closed after Gravis was thrown outside. Gravis didn't mind and kept up a happy smile. His strength had substantially increased, and some of the Energy also increased his realm. He felt that he was close to a breakthrough. He would probably only need two weeks of meditation to reach the sixth level of Energy Gathering.

Gravis' element was unique, and one could consider the power of his element always one level higher than others. Destruction Lightning was a little over double the strength of natural lightning, after all. So, when Gravis reached the sixth level of Energy Gathering, his body and element could both exert the power of someone at the seventh level, each. Like this, he had regained his body's advantage and could probably fight someone at the ninth level of Energy Gathering, as long as the person didn't have a Will-Aura.

Gravis felt excited by his new power and smiled like an idiot. He went back to his room and started meditating.

Meanwhile, in Aion's office, Aion sighed. "I am too nice," he muttered to himself. "I worked so hard to increase the strength of one of my brothers. Not everyone can be so magnanimous as me."

Aion looked up into the sky. "I am sure you are proud of me, Heaven."

It wasn't.

 

Chapter 140

It had been about a month since Gravis had tempered his body. Nothing special happened in that time, except that he broke into the sixth level of Energy Gathering. There were no missions for him to do, and Gravis was bored. After his breakthrough, he went outside and looked for Skye. Gravis was happy that he finally was stronger than Skye again.

Though Gravis' excitement quickly transformed into a bittersweet feeling. Skye had reached the level of a high-rank Energy Beast. Gravis was incredibly surprised when he saw Skye's new size. It looked nearly identical to its parent and was probably also as powerful as it, maybe even stronger. Skye was incredibly smart and had learned a lot from Gravis. With its increased smarts, it might actually be stronger than its parent.

Gravis could only smile bitterly. He was happy that Skye grew that quickly, but he also felt a little defeated by its rapid progress. Though, he didn't grow envious. Skye was continually hunting for strong beasts, and it had weathered way more life and death experiences in the last couple of months than Gravis.

When was the last genuine life and death experience that Gravis had experienced? Gravis thought back and concluded that the last real one was when he reached the Heaven Sect. He hadn't gone through a single life and death experience while he had been in the Heaven Sect. This was an issue. His realm had increased by two levels with no real fights in-between.

Though, that didn't mean that his will hadn't increased during that time. Due to the whole situation with Wendy, his will had increased substantially. The whole thing made him question his goal and what he wanted to become, which made it similar to body tempering. His will had been injured and shaken, and when his will had recovered, it had become more powerful.

Gravis had decided that his goal was most important. Wendy would have died either way, with or without his interference. He had also been sent to kill her, which made it substantially easier for him to

accept it. The only thing he could do for her was to never forget her thirst for revenge on Heaven. He had accepted the situation.

His will had also slightly increased in his body tempering experience, but not by much. It had slightly increased during the first day, but after that, physical pain was no longer enough to temper his will. Due to that, he decided to increase the Energy in his mind. By now, his head had been filled to 90% saturation, and the headache would kill someone with a weak will.

Reaching this saturation of Energy already required someone to have a Will-Aura. Yet, it only allowed them to keep themselves alive while they cultivated their Spirit. Feeling the pain for days on end was something completely different. The pain in the mind was multiple times stronger than the pain that Gravis had felt while tempering his body. The headache was unbelievably powerful and constant, but Gravis was happy about that. Like this, his will would rise.

Gravis spent a couple of days with Skye and remembered that his birthday was coming up in about two weeks. Gravis grew a little shocked when he realized that he had only been in this lower world for less than a year. It felt much longer to him. He had remained in the Outer-Continent for about six months and had stayed in the Middle-Continent for about three or four. Gravis had already been sixteen when he came to the lower world. All this only happened in less than a year.

Gravis could only sigh as his mind wandered and thought about everything he had done. The whole thing about Gorn still gnawed at him, and he could probably never forget that. Gorn had been a turning point in his life, and the whole thing had changed Gravis' path substantially. Gorn's death had created several life and death experiences for Gravis, making him stronger, but Gravis didn't want to think about his death this way.

Gravis didn't consider his death as a way that made him stronger, but about a reminder that he had to keep himself in check. Yet, when Gravis thought about his reckless plan, his mind wavered. His plan

involving the Pre-Forming Technique and the jade token from Wendy could change him if it succeeded. Would he still remain himself when that happened?

Gravis shook his head to ignore that thought and had some fun with Skye. They flew around for a full day and did whatever they wanted. Of course, with Heaven constantly keeping an eye out for Gravis, they couldn't possibly meet any other high-rank Energy Beasts. Those might actually be possible for Gravis to defeat, and Heaven didn't want any tempering experiences for him.

Yet, Gravis was not that annoyed by that. The higher the power of a beast, the harder it was for Heaven to control it. In order to keep all the strong beasts away from Gravis, Heaven probably used a lot of power. Gravis had already seen how difficult it was for Heaven to control such beasts when Skye's parent first appeared. In the beginning, it wanted to kill him, but Skye managed to convince it otherwise. This showed that Heaven couldn't absolutely control such powerful beasts.

Gravis guessed that it was probably nearly impossible for Heaven to control Spirit Beasts. He actually didn't mind the lack of high-rank Energy Beasts. He already had a plan for the time when he would leave the Heaven Sect, and he would get plenty of tempering then. Until that time arrived, Gravis relaxed.

And just like that, the time had arrived just a day later.

"In three days, our branch will visit our headquarter in the Core-Continent for the yearly gathering," said Aion to the gathered Heavenborn in front of him. "As always, we will travel for about three days and then stay there for about a day. Meeting the High Priest is an honorable experience for every one of you, so you better cherish it!"

The gathered Heavenborn nodded at Aion. They remembered the last time they had met the High Priest and were still impressed by his awe-inspiring presence. Gravis showed an expression of longing, but inside, he sighed. 'The time has come,' he concluded.

Meeting the High Priest? Gravis wasn't suicidal. Aion might not notice that he was not a Heavenborn, but the High Priest would surely notice it straight away when he saw him. Gravis didn't care about the other Heavenborn, but he felt a little bad about "betraying" Aion.

Yes, Aion was his enemy, and that had been decided since the very beginning, but he still had helped Gravis a lot. Yet, Gravis' decision had been made. They couldn't remain friends or allies. As soon as Gravis was outed as not being a Heavenborn, Aion would kill him without hesitation. They were Heaven's lackeys and children, and they wouldn't go against their creator just for Gravis.

It was not always possible to change reality, no matter how much one wished.

After the meeting was over, all Heavenborn returned to what they were doing. There were no more missions for anyone during that time, and they all waited for the three days to pass. For the next two days, Gravis always went outside to play with Skye and would return early in the morning.

Yet, when the third day arrived, he didn't return.

Gravis was gone.