Ch. 161..170

Chapter 161

Gravis and Skye flew for around twelve hours. Luckily, the Darkness Guild was not that far away. Gravis had set off a day before the Heaven Sect went to the Core-Continent, so his way to the Fire Guild had not been included in the six days Gravis had before the Heaven Sect returned.

With the additional day of traveling to the Earth Guild and the twelve hours of traveling to the Darkness Guild, Gravis only had around four and a half more days to increase his power. He had to become powerful enough to withstand Aion.

Surprisingly, even after twelve hours had passed, Gravis' annoyance with the Earth Guild hadn't decreased but had actually increased. He wondered why that was and quickly found the answer. 'They have encroached upon my territory, and retreating is not according to lightning's disposition. Yet, for now, I have to bear with this annoyance. Annoying me is not reason enough to kill multiple people of their guild. I'll pay them back later.'

Gravis and Skye reached the Darkness Guild without any interference along the way. When Gravis saw the Darkness Guild at the horizon, he could only sigh. "Why is everyone building their guild around mountains?" he muttered to himself.

Several thick and close mountains enclosed the Darkness Guild. It could already be described as a ring of mountains. Gravis actually didn't directly see the Darkness Guild, but the map said it was right there, so the Darkness Guild had to be inside those mountains. That was probably similar to the Earth Guild in make-up.

Gravis saw an open path between two mountains and also saw some people with black robes and black masks standing in front of it. It was evening right now, so it had been quite hard to spot them. Gravis made Skye descend in front of the path and jumped off. After that, he walked down the path.

"Why are you here, Heavenborn?" came an aggressive shout from the front.

Gravis looked up to the shouting guard but didn't bat an eye. "I'm not here, officially. I am only here for a visit to look around," Gravis explained patiently.

"Tch," the guard spat to the side, showing his displeasure. The mask didn't block the mouth. "Don't you know it's rude to visit people this early in the morning? Didn't your parents teach you any common decency… oh wait, I forgot," said the guard with a mocking voice, acting like he had forgotten that Gravis, as a Heavenborn, wouldn't have any direct parents.

Gravis narrowed his eyes in annoyance but didn't jump to conclusions. "What do you mean, morning? It's evening!" he said.

The other guard laughed mockingly. "That's true for you, but not for us," he explained in disdain. "We live in the night and sleep during the day. For us, it's early in the morning. How can you not even know something this common?"

Gravis furrowed his brows but still remained patient. "Alright, then sorry for coming this early in the morning. Can I enter?" He asked.

A third guard came forward. When Gravis saw him, he noticed that he was more powerful than the earlier two guards. He was probably their leader. "What are you two doing? Don't you see the illustrious status of the visitor? Control yourself!" he shouted imposingly.

Gravis sighed. Finally, someone normal. This should make it easier.

"You are speaking to a Heaven-blessed Heavenborn! You maggots should drop to your knees and kowtow to your superiors. You are not even worthy of licking his boots! Look at him," shouted the guard while gesturing to Gravis. "Heaven gives him everything he needs, and he doesn't need to do anything on his path to the peak! Someone this pamper- eh, this spoil- eh, this… Someone with such status shouldn't be insulted by your words!"

Gravis' eyes narrowed again. 'So, the leader of the guards is also mocking me. Seems like I found my target.'

Gravis actually didn't grow as angry as when he had been in the Earth Guild. The Earth Guild was filled with, kind of, nice people who only disliked him because they thought he was a Heavenborn. Being hated by someone one deemed worthy of respect was totally different from being hated by an enemy.

In the beginning, Gravis had been annoyed by the guards of the Darkness Guild, but that had quickly been replaced by cold indifference. There was no reason to get angry with an enemy.

"So, can I enter or not?" asked Gravis neutrally.

They saw how Gravis didn't get angry, and this only increased their drive to insult him. Gravis was obviously a pushover. They were not like the people from the Fire Guild, who only wanted to confront strong people. They liked trampling on those who couldn't defend themselves.

"I'm sorry, 'illustrious' Heavenborn, but we are currently renovating,' explained the leader, placing a mocking pronunciation on the word 'illustrious'. "I guess you have to go where you came from." With that, he obviously meant that Gravis should die since, as a Heavenborn, he came directly from Heaven.

"Aha, so, you won't let me enter. Is that it?" he asked with a neutral voice.

The guards laughed. "Yeah, we won't. This is our home, and you can't enter without being on official business. Can't you understand what we're saying, or is Heaven protecting you from our bad language? Be a nice little sport and return home, you hear? Daddy Heaven is worried about its treasure going somewhere dangerous," the leader continued mocking.

Instead of growing angry, Gravis continued looking neutrally at the guard. "Well, alright. Might as well do it out here," he said nonchalantly. Then, he turned around and jumped on Skye's back. Skye flew up, and Gravis readied his banner again. He had retrieved it when they left the Fire Guild.

The guards sneered as they saw Gravis retreating. It felt great to insult a Heavenborn. A Heavenborn was the favorite child of Heaven and would have a painless life. Even though Heavenborn were stronger than the people from the Darkness Guild, they weren't worthy of respect. How could a Heavenborn understand the hardships of normal people?

BANG!

A giant banner hit the ground and vibrated for a while. The guards looked over in shock. What was the Heavenborn doing?

"Darkness Guild!" came an imposing shout from Gravis. His body and Energy had grown stronger, which made his voice travel even further. "Today, I give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I will wait 20 kilometers to the north of here for your strongest disciples! I offer a genuine life and death tempering!"

The guards looked at Gravis with shock, but also with confusion. What was this all about?

"What nonsense are you speaking?" came an imposing shout from the Darkness Guild. That was one of their upper echelons.

"Simple! I placed a banner in front of your entrance with a list of body tempering pills! Your disciples only have to throw one of these pills to me, each. After I have received them, we will fight to the death! If your disciples die, they won't mind losing their wealth, and if I die, you can have everything I own! There is no drawback!"

The voice remained silent for some seconds. "Does this come from the Heaven Sect?" it asked.

Gravis smirked disdainfully. "This has nothing to do with the Heaven Sect. If I die, no retaliation will occur! The only two conditions are that only disciples in the Magic Gathering Realm are allowed to

participate and that I have to receive the pill beforehand. Everything else goes!"

After saying this, Gravis flew away with Skye. This should've piqued their interest. They flew for around 20 kilometers until they saw a land barren with life and landed. The only thing in the surroundings were some big boulders. In this place, he could release his Will-Aura without destroying anything important.

He had also decided on the distance of 20 kilometers so that they were outside the range of the Guild Master's and Vice-Guild Masters' Spirits. Who knew what those guys would do if they witnessed countless of their disciples getting slaughtered? Gravis was sure that they probably wouldn't involve themselves, yet he wanted to be sure. Maybe there was just one guy in charge that just waited to do something like that.

Gravis only smirked as he waited. He would thoroughly enjoy himself!

 

Chapter 162

Gravis waited in the middle of the rough terrain while Skye perched itself on some massive stone several hundred meters away. Skye was looking forward to this whole thing just as much as Gravis. Good food was about to arrive.

Initially, Gravis didn't particularly like to scam people into death, but now, he didn't feel bad at all. The Darkness Guild had clearly shown that they hated him. They did their absolute best to make him as angry as possible, which only reaffirmed his decision.

Before Gravis had even arrived, he had already expected as much. Every previous guild that he had visited had an ideology very similar to their element. How would the ideology of darkness be, then?

Gravis had expected them to be sneaky, aggressive, dirty, selfish, and similar things. Darkness took everything it wanted as soon as the light was nowhere to be seen. It didn't matter what others thought or if they even wanted to be in darkness. As soon as the light vanished, darkness took everything.

Yet, just like with every other element, Gravis could also see part of himself in darkness. Due to his will, he was also ready to take what was necessary, even if others didn't like it. He just tried to make it as cleanly as possible. This whole visiting of guilds thing was a good example. He could have just scammed the Earth Guild, which was a very attractive possibility in his mind, by the way, but he first wanted to check if there wasn't a more fitting target.

Gravis had already noticed that he had similarities to very many elements, but he didn't think that was because of his Elemental Synchronicity. It was probably just because the elements were showing the different parts of humanity. There were nice people, selfish people, stubborn people, people who couldn't control their emotions, righteous people, and many more. He was sure that he would see the same diversity of people in the secular world, where no element was trained. The elements just made these different attitudes more pronounced.

Even after several minutes, no one showed up, which surprised Gravis a little. He had been sure that they would all run towards him as soon as he made the announcement. Maybe not because of the tempering, but because of his wealth. He had made very sure that his announcement included an intentional loophole.

He had said that the disciples, plural, just have to pay a pill up front, and they would fight. With that, he was baiting them to attack him at the same time. That would be a lot of easy money in their eyes. In comparison to the Fire Guild, the Darkness Guild probably didn't care about fighting fair. It was all just about resources.

Gravis waited for two full hours, where nothing happened. Standing like this for an extended period was no issue for his body, but it was boring and annoying. By now, night had already arrived, and the only light came from the moon and the stars. The surroundings were deathly silent, with the exception of Skye's breathing. Skye hadn't slept for the last couple of days, so it used this time to get some shut- eye.

Gravis was also bored, so he tried something that he hadn't tried before. He had actually never tried to manipulate darkness. Most of his fights had been under the daylight, and when he actually fought in the night, he often didn't need his Elemental Synchronicity to come out victorious. Gravis closed his eyes and concentrated on the darkness around him.

WHOOSH!

As Gravis concentrated on the darkness, a picture of his surroundings appeared in his mind. It was like he was looking down from up above. It was a little bit weird for him to see so much from a different perspective. On top of that, everything looked kind of grey. Yet, with this map, he was able to see several things that he didn't before.

Gravis opened his eyes and stealthily looked into a specific direction. He saw nothing there. Yet, the map in his head showed something different. The map only showed the surrounding 200 meters, which wasn't particularly big, but he still saw many people inside. Gravis had thought that the Darkness Guild hadn't arrived, but in actuality, they had been here for a while.

He counted around 50 people. Not as many as in the Fire Guild, but still a good number. They all ranged from the sixth to the eighth level of Energy Gathering, which reaffirmed Gravis' suspicion that they were planning to attack simultaneously. He also saw several of them giving their pills to one person, who put it inside a sack.

After a while, they slowly crept towards Gravis, while the person with the pills walked directly to Gravis's front. Gravis was able to keep the darkness map, and his eyes open at the same time. It felt a little creepy when his map showed him several people surrounding him, while he saw no one but that one guy with his eyes.

The only person not hidden was the person with the sack of pills. He walked over with a friendly smile until he stopped five meters in front of Gravis. He lifted the sack. "In here are ten body tempering pills. Please check," he said as he threw the pills over.

Gravis caught the sack, looked inside, and saw precisely ten body tempering pills, which made him quite happy. He closed the sack and looked back at the person. "Checks out. You are allowed to attack," he said.

The guy grinned and readied his dagger, acting like he was alone. The guy was moving relatively slow so that the others had time to come closer to Gravis. The distance between them and him closed until they all stood directly beside Gravis. Right now, Gravis was surrounded by around nine people, just one meter away from him, ready to strike.

"You ready?" asked the guy with a friendly smile.

"Ah," Gravis said suddenly with surprise, which nearly made everyone around him attack. "Let me just do one thing. It is kind of dark here, so I'll make some light."

"Wha-"

BANG BANG BANG!

Gravis released his lightning all around him to "make some light", but "something" was too close to him, making his lightning jump onto it. The things that were too close were the darkness disciples. Gravis was at the seventh level of Energy Gathering, and his lightning was a little more powerful than natural lightning at the eighth level. In order to resist it, someone needed a fitting lightning resistance or a body equal to the eighth level of Energy Gathering.

Of course, none of those disciples surrounding him had that.

Like this, nine loud claps of thunder rang out, and a cloud of ashes suddenly surrounded Gravis. The ashes were the incinerated bodies of the darkness disciples. The eyes of the guy in front of Gravis opened wide in shock and panic.

SHING!

Gravis cut the disciple in front of him in two with his saber. He could, of course, also use his body, but he didn't want to appear too imposing. That might scare others away.

Clank clank clank!

The sounds of weapons hitting the hard floor appeared around Gravis. The lightning had not incinerated the weapons, so they just fell down. Like this, Gravis had earned ten pills and a lot of Energy.

"Wait, what happened?" said Gravis in surprise as he looked around him. Of course, he knew exactly what had happened, but he needed to keep the act up. He acted like he didn't know what happened. Usually, this wouldn't work, and people would suspect that he had known that he was surrounded since the beginning, but Gravis knew that they wouldn't doubt him. Because…

"Tch, so this is the heavenly luck that Heavenborn are blessed with," whispered one disciple to the other.

"I told you that it isn't that simple to kill a Heavenborn," whispered the disciple back. "We need to create a battle situation where luck won't save him. Those idiots practically begged for death."

A third disciple whispered back. "Let's think of a better plan."

 

Chapter 163

"You tried to sneak-attack me!" shouted Gravis into the surroundings, obviously enraged, at least he appeared to be. "You should fight fair and square if you have any self-respect!" he shouted again. Of course, he wanted them actually to continue to sneak-attack him, but he couldn't show that. He had to appear like a spoiled, naïve brat.

In the surroundings, the darkness disciples sneered in disdain. "Sure enough, he is a spoiled brat," someone whispered to the others. The others nodded in affirmation. How could someone blessed with nearly infinite karmic luck know about the things they had to do to gain power?

Gravis had already collected the Energy of the dead disciples until his Energy was ready to condense into the eighth level of Energy Gathering. Instead of breaking through, he let the remaining Energy disperse. If he absorbed everything, he would probably reach the middle of the eighth level, but he preferred to stay at the seventh level.

If he suddenly broke through into the eighth level of Energy Gathering, some disciples might decide against attacking him. Like this, he might not even be able to reach the ninth level of Energy Gathering, while his actual goal was the tenth.

Gravis shouted some more into the surroundings while the disciples made a new plan.

Whoosh gulp!

The one corpse that hadn't been reduced to ashes was picked up by some wind and thrown into Skye's maw. Skye was looking at Gravis with a disapproving look. That guy had burned its other nine pieces of food. After having a small snack, Skye went back to sleep. In its mind, nothing could harm it while Gravis was around.

After shouting some more, Gravis looked to the ground and found some Energy Stones and weapons. He picked them up, walked to Skye, and placed them beside it. He couldn't carry so many weapons at

once, and he doubted that anyone would dare to steal something so close to a high-grade Energy Beast.

Some of the disciples spat silently in disgust. They had planned on stealing those resources, but now it was impossible.

Inside his darkness map, Gravis saw more people pooling pills together. Sadly, most of them were at the seventh level of Energy Gathering. Gravis did some calculations and realized that if he killed all of the attackers, he wouldn't even reach the ninth level of Energy Gathering. He had to change his tactic. If that ambush also failed, they might not come at him again. He had to make use of this ambush to bait them into another one.

After they pooled ten pills together again, another disciple walked closer to Gravis, visible. The others surrounded Gravis, but this time, several meters were between him and them. They had learned from their predecessors' mistakes. As he saw them, Gravis got an excellent idea. 'That's perfect!' he thought.

The disciple walked over with a friendly smile plastered across his face and gave Gravis the sack with pills. "I apologize for the shamelessness of my former disciple brothers," he apologized. "As an apology, please take these ten body tempering pills. This time, only I will fight you!"

Gravis looked into the sack and nodded with a happy expression. "I accept your apology. Not everyone can be chivalrous, but I can see that you are an honest person! I won't forget you!" Gravis shouted with righteousness.

"Thank you, Heavenborn," said the disciple humbly. Of course, inside, he was sneering at Gravis' naivety. That idiot didn't know that he had just accepted another battle with ten people. The disciple almost felt bad about scamming Gravis like this.

Almost.

"Everything checks out. Let's fight!" Gravis said with a nod, and the disciple nodded back with a deferential smile.

BANG!

The disciple was immediately turned to ashes as Gravis shot a lightning bolt with his full speed. The eyes of the others' widened. They didn't even get into formation, and their distraction had already been eliminated.

"Ha!" shouted Gravis while pointing his fingers into the surroundings. "You see that? You attacked me with an ambush, so I did the same to you! How does it feel?" he shouted self-righteously.

The darkness disciples sneered in anger and annoyance. They didn't care about Gravis attacking out of nowhere. That was actually a quality they admired. What they cared about was that they had already paid for the fight, but their distraction didn't work.

The chances of killing Gravis were way lower if his focus wasn't on something else. If one, or all of them, attacked simultaneously, Gravis might release his lightning into the surroundings. They had to get him when he didn't pay attention!

Yet, they had already paid! Those pills were expensive, and they didn't want to just give them to Gravis. They couldn't give up now.

"Wait," whispered one of the disciples to the others. "We have already paid. We don't need to attack immediately. We just need to wait for a new wave to arrive. Then, we can attack together with them," he explained, and the others realized that that was actually a really good plan.

One of them walked over to some surrounding disciples and paid that disciple some Energy Stones to get some more people. The disciple smirked but actually didn't go immediately. Instead, he said that he

had an even better idea, but the first disciple had to pay him way more if he wanted to hear it.

Those two haggled for quite a while until the first disciple gave the second one even more Energy Stones. After getting the stones, the second disciple whispered something back, and the eyes of the first one lightened up. This plan was brilliant! After that, the second disciple left for the guild. They had to prepare!

Meanwhile, Gravis waited. At least, he appeared to be waiting, but in actuality, he was listening to the disciples. His darkness map not only showed the people but also let him hear what they were saying. Subconsciously, Gravis' eyes narrowed with coldness and a bit of rage. That was too dirty! If he didn't hear them, he might have fallen for their scheme.

Gravis picked up the resources of the dead disciple and carried his weapon to Skye. After that, he returned to his earlier position.

He waited for several minutes until new people arrived. Gravis looked at their strength, and sure enough, they were as strong as he had expected. He saw several people at the ninth level of Energy Gathering.

This would be the last fight that he would fight in the Darkness Guild.

 

Chapter 164

Gravis closely watched the new arrivals, trying to be as stealthy as possible, which was not that hard. He only had to look at the map in his head, and he would see all of them very clearly. Those disciples quickly talked with some other ones to create a more specific plan.

Of course, Gravis heard everything but didn't react. He stealthily clenched his fist in anger. Those bastards were playing as dirty as it got.

WHOOSH!

Skye seemed to be bored at its current position, so it flew a little bit closer. The disciples first felt surprised but calmed down when they saw that Skye was still around 300 meters away. This wouldn't impact their plan. Sadly, the bird had taken all the loot with it, so they couldn't use Skye's absence to steal it.

When Gravis noticed that Skye flew a little closer, he released a hidden sigh of relief. After Gravis had heard about the darkness disciples' plan, he had acted like he wanted to put his loot beneath Skye. In reality, he had told Skye that it should come closer later, but stealthily. Skye and Gravis had known each other long enough, so Skye understood what Gravis had meant. Like this, Gravis could deal with their plan.

"Come on! Does no one in the Darkness Guild have the guts to fight with me one-on-one? I also accept fights with people at the ninth level of Magic Gathering!" Gravis shouted into the surroundings. He had to act his part.

The darkness disciples didn't look angry or enraged but just annoyed and bored. Honor, guts, and glory were unimportant in their eye. Someone who insulted them with one of those three things wouldn't manage to anger them. That person would just draw their ridicule. They didn't look at Gravis like an opponent, but like he was some beast. He just needed to wait for his death, and his words were irrelevant to them.

They finalized their plan, and then they split up. One disciple at the eighth level of Energy Gathering took ten more body tempering pills with him and walked towards Gravis. Gravis just looked with pride at the person. He had to look like he underestimated them. Like this, the bait would be even more delicious.

"I am very confident in my victory, so I am ready to bet ten pills at once, but please, don't immediately attack me, okay?" the disciple said with friendliness as he threw the sack of pills over.

"Don't worry! I only did that before to show you how I felt. I won't do this a second time," assured Gravis as he looked inside the sack. He saw some pretty good pills inside the sack and smirked a little.

"Alright! Everything checks out. You can attack anytime you want," said Gravis magnanimously. While he said that, he also kept his eyes on the disciples at the ninth level of Energy Gathering. They had not contributed to the pills since they were not here to fight with Gravis. They were here to kill Skye!

That had been the idea of that one disciple that wanted more money. He had said that they could probably lure in a lot of their seniors with the bird. High-grade Energy Beasts were rare and very valuable, after all. Those seniors would ambush Skye, and Gravis would quickly turn around and look at Skye in shock. That would be the time when the other disciples attacked Gravis. This was the perfect diversion.

Would the darkness disciples at the ninth level care about Gravis' loot? A little bit maybe, but not enough to risk their lives. Yet, with the addition of a high-grade Energy Beast, the potential gains would be worth the risk. On top of that, they had never paid Gravis, so he was not allowed to attack them, as long as they didn't attack him first. This perfectly took advantage of the rules.

Gravis noticed how the disciples around him came closer and also noticed how Skye had been surrounded. Suddenly, Gravis' eyes narrowed into coldness. All the previous emotions of pride, anger,

confidence, and similar things vanished in an instant. Those who had looked into Gravis' eyes at the time felt like the whole atmosphere changed.

Gravis had not activated his Will-Aura yet, but his whole demeanor had changed. The one disciple right in front of him suddenly felt a deep nervousness and fear. This wasn't right! Something was wrong about this situation!

"You know," said Gravis in an even, cold voice. "I wanted to get some more pills, but you had to target Skye," Gravis cracked his neck. "I could have acted longer like a pig to catch the tiger, and maybe I would have gotten more out of that, but I think it feels better to just kill all of you."

WHOOOOSH!

The onlookers' eyes widened in surprise, but that was quickly halted by them fainting due to Gravis releasing his Will-Aura. The surroundings cracked under the pressure, and every disciple below the ninth level of Energy Gathering fell over. Every single disciple was inside his Will-Aura.

The only ones who could still think were the disciples surrounding Skye, but they couldn't move. It was like their whole bodies were encased in metal, and they couldn't even release their Energy. They could only wait for their deaths.

BANG!

"Oh?" said Gravis in surprise. "Another breakthrough?"

One of the disciples in the ninth level had condensed their Will-Aura right there. The disciple immediately fled into the distance. He knew that, even though he had condensed his Will-Aura now, he would die if he stayed. He was not stupid.

Gravis only smirked at the fleeing disciple. Instead of chasing, he looked at him.

BANG!

Gravis condensed his Energy and broke into the eighth level of Energy Gathering. The level suppression of the Will-Aura got reduced by a level, and the fleeing disciple immediately froze again. Meanwhile, the other disciples at the ninth level of Energy Gathering lost their consciousness.

BANG SWOOOSH!

Skye jumped up and flew away. It could resist Gravis' previous Will-Aura, but this one was too strong. Moving its body was incredibly difficult, and its survival instincts kicked in. It retreated until it left the Will-Aura, looking back warily.

Gravis walked around casually and went from one unconscious body to another. Whenever he arrived at one, he would look through their wealth and pocket anything that he needed. After that, he would just behead them and absorb their Energy.

While walking to the fourth body, Gravis looked at the unconscious bodies of the audience. He only sneered. "You haven't killed or offended me, so I'll keep you alive. If I break the rules too heavily, the Spirit Forming people might actually chase me."

After a minute, Gravis cleaned up all the people that had surrounded him. He made quite some gains. Then, he walked over to the two unconscious people at the ninth level of Energy Gathering. Just like with the other corpses, Gravis looted and then killed them.

BANG!

The last conscious disciple lost his consciousness as Gravis broke into the ninth level of Energy Gathering. Gravis ignored that guy and continued harvesting his rewards. After he had finished with those two disciples, Gravis also slashed his sword at the last disciple's neck.

CLANK!

"Oh?" Gravis uttered in surprise. "Quite a hard body. That body is probably at the ninth level of Energy Gathering. This guy is probably an elder." Gravis looked closer at his face, and sure enough, the person was not a youngster, but middle-aged. "Huh, interesting." Gravis infused his saber with a lot of lightning and swung down with all his power.

BOOM!

The earth exploded with lightning, and the head flew away into the distance. Gravis had used the same technique as when he had fought Red. With his physical body alone, he wouldn't be able to injure people like that. He used a lot of lightning to move his saber into the elder's neck and then made his lightning explode, which cut the head off.

Gravis also looked through the loot of that guy and found a lot of body tempering pills. His eyes widened when he saw the sheer amount. After he looked at them in shock for several seconds, he started laughing. "Finally!"

Together with those pills, he finally had enough to boost his body into the tenth level of Energy Gathering! After laughing for a while, Gravis calmed down and looked around at the unconscious disciples. "They should be out for, at least, 30 minutes."

Gravis deactivated his Will-Aura and called Skye back. First, Skye didn't dare to return into the range of Gravis' Will-Aura. All its instincts screamed at it that it would die if it entered. Yet, after some coaxing, it arrived before Gravis. "You can eat everyone that is dead," said Gravis.

Skye immediately forgot about Gravis' Will-Aura and only saw food. Without further ado, it started gorging itself. Those were a lot of corpses!

Surprisingly, it took Skye less time to eat all the bodies than it took Gravis to loot them. When Gravis saw that Skye was done, he packed all the dead disciples' weapons into a sack and jumped onto Skye's back.

WHOOOSH!

Skye shot off into the distance, and Gravis smirked.

"Time to temper my body!"

 

Chapter 165

"Why did you want to meet me, big brother?" asked a handsome young man with a warm voice, sitting on a throne made of pure Energy Stones. Besides the person stood a long wooden staff. If one didn't know who the person was, they would think that this staff was only some mortal weapon, but if they knew the person's status, they would know how powerful this staff would be.

The young man looked to be only in his twenties, and his long, woody, brown hair covered nearly the entire throne. If one saw this person, they would mostly feel confused. His aura was that of a mortal's, and nothing on him, except maybe his hair, would feel like that of a cultivator's. Why was such an average person sitting upon a throne that would cost more than a whole sect?

In front of the young man, kneeled a person. The kneeling person was none other than Aion. There was only one human in this world that would require Aion to kneel. One would think that the High Priest calling Aion "big brother" was weird, but the High Priest was actually rather young. He was only in his fifties, and Aion was older.

"I came to report that my branch was missing one Heavenborn at the ceremony, my lord," Aion spoke respectfully and carefully. Even though the person in front of him had called him "big brother" in a warm tone, Aion knew that he couldn't show any disrespect. The High Priest had killed Heavenborn before due to a slight breach of etiquette. At first glance, he would look like a warm youngster, but there was nothing further from the truth.

The High Priest now looked interested. "Interesting," he said slowly. "You know why this surprises me?"

Aion didn't look up. "I don't dare to guess, High Priest."

The High Priest chuckled a little bit. "Father always tells me how many Heavenborn arrive at the ceremony. Father has said that the south-eastern branch had ten Heavenborn. And how many did I see at the ceremony? Exactly ten from your branch. So, I am confused about this alleged eleventh person

from your branch. Are you implying father made a mistake?" His voice was warm and comforting, even towards the end.

Yet, Aion broke out into a cold sweat. Heaven making a mistake? That was impossible! That was blasphemy! "No, never! I would never speak ill about Heaven!" Aion shouted.

The High Priest smirked a little. "Then what about this other person that you mentioned?" he asked.

Aion didn't know how to answer that question. Heaven had said they had ten Heavenborn, yet Aion couldn't forget Gravis. Those two facts clashed in his head, confusing him. "The eleventh person I spoke about is a new Heavenborn called Gravis. I found him about half a year ago in a Proxy-Lightning Guild. Some months ago, he joined my branch. He was supposed to attend the ceremony with us, but he vanished a day before we set off."

The smirk of the High Priest widened, and he rubbed his chin in interest. "So, you say that father didn't commit a mistake, yet you say that there is another Heavenborn in your branch," said the High Priest as he stood up and walked around the giant hall. "I don't think you would lie about something like that," he said as he looked out of a window. "So, what's this all about?"

"Father," muttered the High Priest, "are there ten or eleven Heavenborn in the south-eastern branch?"

The surroundings were quiet, and nothing happened. After some seconds, the High Priest spoke up again. "Father said there are ten Heavenborn in the south-eastern branch." Then, he turned back and looked at Aion. "So, what does this mean?" he asked Aion in interest. The High Priest had been bored for quite a long time, and this situation interested him.

Aion's expression fell in shock and disbelief. What was happening? He knew every single member of his branch, and he was sure that they were eleven, yet the core of his belief said there were only ten. In his mind, his belief conflicted with what he had seen and experienced.

Aion continued thinking for around half a minute until he found a possibility where everything would make sense. But that couldn't be! It was impossible! The only possibility he could think of was that Gravis was not a Heavenborn. But that was impossible! Aion had personally felt Gravis' Heavenly Pressure when he had been in the Body Tempering Realm. If that had been a Will-Aura, someone from the Heaven Sect would have long been sent to kill him.

Yet, no matter how much he pondered, he saw no other possibility. This whole situation was impossible, no matter from which angle he looked at it. For the first time, Aion looked upon the High Priest as he raised his head in terror and confusion.

The High Priest saw that and smirked some more. Usually, he would have executed Aion for this disrespect, but he saw Aion's face and grew more interested. By now, the High Priest was sure that Aion wasn't lying. It was impossible to show such deep shock and confusion without meaning it.

The High Priest looked even more interested as he got an idea. "Father," he muttered. "The south- eastern branch has ten Heavenborn, so let me ask another question, but phrased differently. Father, how many members does the south-eastern branch have?"

Some seconds later, the High Priest broke out into a mad grin. After many years of nothing happening, finally, something interesting occurred. The High Priest looked at Aion. "Eleven."

Aion's eyes widened. So, did Heaven make a mistake? It had said ten before, but now it had said eleven? What was happening?

"So," continued the High Priest. "Father said there are ten Heavenborn in your branch, yet father also says that there are eleven members. I think you can guess what that means," he said.

Aion's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. This could only mean that they had a member that was not a Heavenborn. Yet, if Gravis were not a Heavenborn, many more questions would need

answering. Aion involuntarily started thinking about everything that happened to Gravis, and he started getting to some insane and unbelievable conclusions. Gravis was more dangerous than anyone would believe!

Aion took a deep breath to calm himself down. "High Priest, there are many things that I have to report about Gravis," he said as he lowered his head again.

The High Priest walked back to his throne and sat down.

"Explain."

 

Chapter 166

Aion started narrating. "Gravis first appeared in public when he completed several missions for a Hunting Hall in some town in the Outer-Continent. According to several sources, he had killed low- grade Demonic Beasts when he only had tempered organs and blood. Apparently, he had killed several of those one-on-one."

"Oh?" uttered the High Priest in interest. "That is very impressive. I guess he already had his Will-Aura at that point. You did say that you experienced his Will-Aura, yes?"

Aion nodded.

"So, it is not wrong to assume that he already had his Will-Aura ever since appearing in that Hunting Hall. That seems nearly impossible," the High Priest narrowed his eyes in thought. "How could someone condense a Will-Aura while only having two tempered parts of his body? He would have needed to kill so many strong enemies. Normally, you gain your enemy's wealth when you kill them, so how would he need to earn money in a Hunting Hall if he had already killed so many enemies?"

Aion continued narrating. "Apparently, he had needed a lot of money. He wanted to take part in the Proxy-Elemental Guilds entrance exams, so he needed to temper his skin. Yet, the amount of money he made in that Hunting Hall was incredible, relatively speaking. He made enough money to buy about 30 Skin Pills before he left the town."

"That's a lot of money for someone at that level," commented the High Priest.

"Yes, though the biggest part of the money came in one particular mission, where he had to kill a middle-grade Demonic Beast. If we take everything into account, we can come to the conclusion that Gravis needed anything from 15 to 20 Skin Pills to temper his skin."

Now, the eyes of the High Priest widened. "Wait," he said. "How old is this Gravis?"

Aion thought for a bit. He had never asked about Gravis' age. "He should be between 17 and 19."

When the High Priest heard that, he did some calculations in his head and came to a terrifying conclusion. "He would have needed to remain in the tempered organ and blood stage for over 15 years to require so many pills. How is that possible if he isn't a Heavenborn?"

Aion's eyes widened too. He had still subconsciously thought about Gravis as a Heavenborn, so he had ignored that aspect. Heavenborn were born with tempered organs and blood, so it was nothing unusual to need so many pills to temper their bodies. Yet, if Gravis weren't a Heavenborn, how was that possible? One more riddle was added to the pile.

"Continue," commanded the High Priest.

"In the entrance exams, it came to light that Gravis had a Will-Aura. Of course, everyone knows that we would execute someone with a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm, so they thought he was a Heavenborn. Then came the incident in the Basin of Nature."

Aion paused after saying that. In his head, he went through the incident. When he had thought that Gravis was a Heavenborn, this incident only looked like Heaven had tempered Gravis, but with Aion's new knowledge, he started coming to several terrifying conclusions.

"What incident? Speak!" said the High Priest with narrowed eyes. He was really invested in this situation.

"Apologies, High Priest. The last exam was held in a basin in some forest. The Guild Leaders put several treasures on low-grade- and middle-grade Demonic Beasts. The participants only had to get one treasure to succeed. On the second or third day, Gravis had tempered his bones. He charged through the whole basin with his newfound power, searching for some middle-grade Demonic Beast spider."

The High Priest nodded. If someone had tempered their bones and skin after remaining in the organ and blood tempering realm for so long, their strength would be incredibly powerful. It was understandable that Gravis wanted some supreme treasure.

Aion took a deep breath. "Apparently," he said slowly and carefully, "Gravis shouted and insulted Heaven while doing that."

BANG!

A part of the throne cracked as the High Priest stood up. His smile was long gone, and only rage remained. "Preposterous! If he did that, he would already be dead!"

Aion sweated like crazy. "Every source said the same thing. He was shouting about Heaven owing him one of the middle-grade Demonic Beasts. After he insulted Heaven, dark clouds and lightning appeared in the sky. Yet, however unbelievable it is, the lightning never directly struck him. Instead, all beasts in the basin charged at him madly. They all wanted to kill him. Some other witnesses report that lightning continually struck beasts and the terrain, but it never touched Gravis."

The interest of the High Priest had long been replaced by sheer confusion and frustration. What was happening? This all made no sense! If anyone dared insult Heaven, the person would die. There was no way that they would be spared! Nothing was stopping Heaven from eradicating Gravis.

"Silence," said the High Priest as he walked to the window again. "I must think."

Aion didn't say anything and continued kneeling while the High Priest thought about several things.

"Father," muttered the High Priest after some seconds, "how strong is this Gravis?"

The seconds passed in silence, and the eyes of the High Priest shifted from rage to shock. After nearly half a minute, his face turned white. What was happening?

"High Priest?" asked Aion carefully.

The High Priest recovered his state of mind somewhat after that. "Father," he said and remained silent for several seconds. "Father hasn't answered."

Aion took a deep breath in shock. Why wouldn't Heaven answer?

"This has never happened before," muttered the High Priest. His amusing interest had vanished, and only seriousness remained. He remained silent for some more seconds.

"Father," he started again. "Where is this Gravis right now?"

There came no answer.

"Father, what color are the robes that Gravis is wearing?"

No answer.

"Father, does Gravis exist?"

No answer.

"Father, how many members does the south-eastern branch have?"

Eleven.

"Father, where is the eleventh member of the south-eastern branch, who is not here right now."

No answer.

"Father, does the eleventh member of the south-eastern branch exist?"

No answer.

"Father, is there a person in this world that you do not speak about?"

No answer.

The High Priest came to several conclusions due to these questions. Every question that directly involved Gravis wouldn't be answered. Then, he only had to make his questions vaguer.

"Father, hypothetically, would it be possible that there could be a person that you do not speak about in this world?"

Yes.

The High-Priest's eyes narrowed.

"Father, hypothetically speaking, what would stop you from speaking about such a person?"

Their background.

The High Priest's eyes widened. Background? Was there a background that could stop Heaven from acting? After thinking for some seconds, the High Priest came to an unbelievable conclusion.

"Father, is it possible for people of higher worlds to appear in ours?"

Yes.

The answer came immediately. Normally, Heaven waited for some seconds to answer, but this time, the answer came immediately. Slowly, sweat started appearing on the High Priest's body. Someone from a higher world would be many times stronger than him and even Heaven. Slowly, things started making sense.

Someone from a higher world had sent their progeny to temper themselves in this world. This person was obviously Gravis, even if Heaven hadn't said it explicitly. Gravis had been sent here to temper himself in a lower world by his background, so Heaven didn't have the power to interfere directly. The High Priest was closer to Heaven than anyone else, and that was why he knew that Heaven was not omnipotent.

Yet, another thought appeared in his mind. Was it bad that someone from a higher world appeared? They would just cultivate and leave this world. Basically, there was no difference between such a person or someone born in this world. Gravis would just cultivate to the Unity Realm and leave. Was there actually an issue or a need to attack Gravis? They could also let him just cultivate in peace, and he would either die or leave.

If the High Priest could see Heaven right now, he would be shocked. Heaven's emotions were going haywire with frustration and anticipation. Its child was so close to figuring things out! He would only need to ask one more question, and Gravis would die! Yet, it couldn't tell the High Priest about Gravis directly. It just wanted to shout to the High Priest to go kill him personally, but it didn't dare to.

The High Priest thought some more, and Heaven grew more nervous. It had seen how Gravis was growing, and it knew that they were enemies. If Gravis continued going like this, then forget about the High Priest, even Heaven itself might come into danger. Its life was on the line right here!

ASK THE QUESTION!

Heaven shouted that continually to itself, but the High Priest heard nothing. After a minute, the High Priest sighed. Gravis wouldn't be a problem. Yet, he had to be sure.

"Father, do you have enemies in-"

YES!

The High Priest shot back in shock and surprise. For the first time in his life, he could hear emotion behind Heaven's words. The emotions he felt were anxiety, frustration, and even fear. He couldn't believe what was happening right now. His father felt fear? How was this possible?

The High Priest started sweating more in nervousness and a little fear. "Father, do you have two or more enemies in this world?"

No.

"So only one enemy then. Father, can you talk about this enemy of yours?"

No answer.

The High Priest's eyes narrowed, and Heaven grew ecstatic!

"Father, if you had an enemy, should we kill that person?"

YES!

 

Chapter 167

The eyes of the High Priest narrowed.

"Father, should I go personally?"

WHOOSH!

The High Priest didn't feel anything, but Heaven felt an apocalyptical pressure. It couldn't move under this pressure.

"You have bent the rules enough. You will answer no and send Aion," an imposing voice spoke to Heaven. To Heaven, it felt like a giant was standing before it, while it was only a small, insignificant ant. Heaven answered the High Priest.

That is not necessary.

The High Priest got his answer and sighed. So, the danger of Gravis was not so severe that he had to move personally. He seemed to have overestimated Gravis' danger.

"Father, whom should I send?" asked the High Priest.

Aion.

Heaven felt awful when it said that. Its parent Heaven from the middle-world, was constantly telling it to finally kill Gravis. Its parent Heaven had gotten orders from its parent, which has gotten orders from the highest Heaven. Heaven could sacrifice itself to tell the High Priest that he should kill Gravis personally, but Heaven wasn't willing to sacrifice itself.

The High Priest sighed. "That should be good enough. As long as Gravis hasn't reached the Spirit Forming Realm, that will be enough," he muttered to himself. Then, the High Priest walked back to his

throne and looked at the still kneeling Aion. Aion hadn't said anything in several minutes, just waiting for further instructions.

"Aion, tell me about the strength of this Gravis."

"Gravis can kill safely two levels above himself," he said, and the High Priest's eyes widened again.

"That's really impressive. Only a select few geniuses in the Core-Continent can do that. How strong is his Will-Aura? When have you last felt it?"

Aion wanted to say that Gravis' will had been impressive, but nothing incredibly special. He had felt it before, after all. But then, he realized that the last time he had felt Gravis' Will-Aura had been when Gravis had still been in the Body Tempering Realm. Slowly, Aion's heart started beating faster. "I ask for permission to do some calculations," he asked.

"Go ahead," said the High Priest.

Slowly, different numbers made of ice condensed on the floor. Aion had a lot of experience with Will- Auras, and he could judge the power of one when he felt it. He remembered how Gravis' Will-Aura was more potent than any Heavenborn's Heavenly Pressure when he had been in the Body Tempering Realm.

He realized that Gravis' Will-Aura had had the strength to already condense into smaller areas. When he realized that, his heart beat faster. Slowly, he started adding several will-tempering experiences.

Near-death to some disciple in the Proxy-Lightning Guild.

Madly cultivating his body in the Lightning Tower.

The accidental killing of the closest person in this world. That was immense tempering for the will!

Fight with Lightning and Fire Guild.

Aion's heart started beating faster as he added more and more will-tempering experiences. Only now did he realize how heavily Gravis' Will-Aura had been tempered since that time in the Proxy-Lightning Guild.

The High Priest also saw those numbers, and his eyebrows lowered. That was a lot of tempering.

Second fight with the Lightning Guild.

Near death-experience when reaching the Heaven Sect.

Fight with Wendy of the Wind Guild.

Severe Body Tempering with Aion's help.

"Wait," shouted Aion involuntarily as he remembered something. "High Priest, do you remember the Pre-Forming Technique?"

The High Priest narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I know all techniques from our Heaven Sect. Did he exchange for that?"

Aion nodded and furrowed his brows. "High Priest, is it possible that someone would use that technique to infuse their mind with Magic in order to temper their will?"

The eyes of the High Priest shone. "Definitely!"

Aion added that tempering experience too, and started calculating. As the numbers increased, his heart started beating even faster. These numbers were terrifying! After a while, Aion calculated the result. Both Aion and the High Priest breathed heavily.

"So," started the High Priest slowly. "You are telling me that this Gravis is at the threshold of condensing a Unity-Will while still being in the Magic Gathering Realm?"

Aion couldn't believe it himself, but he could only nod.

"When was the last time you saw him?" asked the High Priest.

"About four days ago," answered Aion.

"What was his cultivation at that time?" the High Priest asked.

"His Magic was at the sixth level and his body at the seventh," answered Aion.

The High Priest took a breath of relief. Since Gravis came from a higher world, it was a definite fact that he had a strengthened dantian. To fight Aion, Gravis would need to jump from the sixth level of Magic Gathering to the tenth and then form his Spirit in just these four days. This was impossible, even for Heavenborn. He would need to fight a war with a guild to achieve something like that, but Gravis wasn't strong enough to fight a whole guild. Aion should be enough.

"Even if Gravis had the power to kill three levels above him, condense a Unity Will, reach the tenth level of Magic Gathering, and reach the tenth level of the body, Aion should still be able to walk all over him. He might be able to fight normal Spirit Forming Realm cultivators with all of these added together, but we are Heavenborn," muttered the High Priest to himself.

"Aion!"

"Yes, High Priest?" asked Aion as he lowered his head again.

"You will leave immediately and kill this Gravis. Ignore your Heavenborn from your branch. I will send someone else to bring them back to the branch. Make haste and kill Gravis as quickly as possible. You

should only take a single day to return like this."

"Yes, High Priest!" shouted Aion as he stood up.

WHOOSH PACK!

A jade token was thrown to Aion, and he caught it. "If, for some reason, you require help, crush this jade token. I will immediately send a priest to help you."

Aion looked at the token with fear and nervousness. The priests were only below the High Priest in status and strength. Every single one of them was at the Self-Stage in the Spirit Forming Realm. A single priest could decimate a whole Elemental Sect alone. Someone with that power could kill Aion with a wave of their hand. He must not offend such a person!

Aion bowed again. "I will do Heaven's bidding, High Priest."

The High Priest nodded. "Go!"

Like this, Aion charged towards the Middle-Continent with his full speed.

Gravis had anticipated that it would take six to seven days for the Heaven Sect to return to the branch.

Yet, with this new turn of event, Aion would return only four and a half days after setting off.

Aion was coming for Gravis!

 

Chapter 168

Gravis had been training for over two days until he was finally finished.

BOOM!

The surroundings exploded as Gravis stretched his muscles. He grinned and touched the muscles all over his body, which felt harder than steel. "Finally, a body equal to the tenth level of Energy Gathering. Now, I am invincible in the Energy Gathering Realm even without my Will-Aura," he proudly said to himself.

Yet, he also sighed a little bit when he looked at his current wealth. "I only have a couple of weapons from the Darkness Guild left. I even used up all Energy Stones that I have plundered up until now. Luckily, I am only missing 20% Energy to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering. After I sell those weapons, I should have enough Energy Stones to reach the tenth level. Then, I'll immediately break into the Spirit Forming Realm."

Gravis kept the Energy in his head at a constant 99%. If he shot a single dot of Energy into his head, he would immediately break into the Spirit Forming Realm. Of course, that would damage his foundation. The stronger he was before a breakthrough, the better. The amount and density of Energy that he cultivated now would serve as a baseline in the future.

'After I sell those weapons, I will directly break into the tenth level and then ascend into the Spirit Forming Stage. At that time, I only need to finish some unfinished business in the Middle-Continent and then…' Gravis looked up towards the sky, "the Core-Continent."

CAW!

Skye shouted as it noticed that Gravis walked around. For the last two days, he had only been sitting around, eating pills without end. Skye knew that it shouldn't disturb Gravis during that time, so it kept itself busy with other stuff.

Skye quickly landed before Gravis and rubbed its head against his body. Gravis only laughed slightly and ruffled its feathers. "How's it going, Skye? How far are you from a breakthrough?" asked Gravis with a laugh.

Skye pulled its head back and looked at Gravis with an unsure expression. When Gravis saw that, he lifted an eyebrow. "What's up?" he asked.

Skye shook its head, and Gravis immediately understood what Skye meant with that. It meant that it wasn't even close to a breakthrough. As Gravis saw that, he furrowed his brows. "This shouldn't be right. You have eaten so many humans in the later stages of Energy Gathering. You should be close to a breakthrough or even have broken through by now. Something's not right."

Gravis thought for a bit and grabbed a stick from the surroundings. He started drawing a smaller Skye and a bigger Skye with a line between them. Skye looked with interest at the drawings. It was naturally curious, and it was always interested in learning new things from Gravis. Their last lesson had been some time back.

"This is you right now, Skye," said Gravis as he circled the smaller bird. "This is you when you break through," he said as he pointed at the bigger bird. "This line shows how close you are to a breakthrough." Gravis pointed at the line in between.

Gravis created three marks on the line. One mark was closer to the smaller bird, one in the middle, and one closer to the bigger bird. "This means you are at the beginning stages," he said as he pointed at the first mark. "This means that you are in the middle, and this one means you are close to breaking through. Do you understand?" asked Gravis.

Skye looked for some seconds at the drawings and then nodded. "Where are you right now?" Gravis asked.

Scratch.

Gravis' eyes widened as he saw where Skye marked the line. Gravis looked at Skye with concerned eyes. "You are a bit further than the beginning? How is that possible?" he asked Skye and also himself. If that were true, then it meant that Skye had made nearly no progress ever since they left the Heaven Sect. This didn't seem right in Gravis' eyes. What was going on?

After thinking for a while, Gravis got a thought. 'Something had to be wrong with all the food it ate. What is the difference between Skye eating something it had killed and eating something that I have killed?' Gravis thought.

Slowly, he realized what the issue was. Gravis took a deep breath as he looked into the sky. "The Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique," he deduced. This was the only difference. As Gravis got the thought, he remembered that one Beast Core that he still carried around. He took it out and looked at it.

"Just as I thought," sighed Gravis. "This core is empty of Energy," he muttered to himself. Normally, the Energy of a corpse would slowly seep out into the world over multiple days as part of the natural decomposition process. The Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique made all the Energy inside of the corpse explode outward and scatter, instead.

If Skye killed something by itself, the Energy wouldn't scatter. In the next couple of days, Skye would absorb most of the Energy of its prey. With Gravis using the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique, there was no more Energy for Skye to eat. No wonder it made no progress.

Just four days ago, Skye had been stronger than Gravis, but now, it couldn't even come close to Gravis. Gravis wouldn't even need his Will-Aura to win. As that thought came, other thoughts appeared too. Gravis had given Skye lots of food without it having to hunt for it. Was this the best way for Skye to increase its power? If Gravis continued giving Skye free food, it would not gain more combat experience.

Gravis' eyes narrowed as he thought more about the situation. What if it managed to become a middle- grade Spirit Beast by following Gravis? At that point, its battle experience would be below average in comparison to similar beasts. At that point, it would become incredibly difficult to increase its strength by itself. Gravis realized that by wanting to do something nice for Skye, he had brought its independence into jeopardy.

Skye looked at Gravis with confused eyes. It was smart for a beast, but it couldn't hypothesize or think far into the future. That was something exclusive to humans. Skye didn't even realize the "danger" of continuing like this.

As Gravis continued thinking, he grew a little nervous. If he didn't have such a powerful will, his emotions would be going haywire right now. Skye was his only companion inside this world, and if Skye left, Gravis would be completely alone again.

Yet, if it remained, it would face many difficulties. The places where Gravis would go to in the future would be full of enemies in the Spirit Forming Realm. The Heaven Sect would also hunt him down. What could Skye do in such a situation?

Every enemy and beast would be more powerful than it, and the only thing it could do was watch from a distance, trying not to die. Like this, Skye would become fully dependent on Gravis. It wouldn't be a companion anymore, but a pet.

Gravis turned to Skye and looked at it. What about remaining in the Middle-Continent and waiting for Skye to rise by itself? Gravis immediately threw this idea away. There were multiple issues with that.

First of all, with Gravis always around, Skye would not feel that its life was in danger. That would impact its tempering severely. On top of that, the Heaven Sect would start searching for Gravis crazily. If Gravis didn't continually increase his power, his enemies would eventually overwhelm him.

Right now, Gravis was actually happy that the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique stopped Skye from growing. If it broke through to become a Spirit Beast like this, it would become even more challenging for it to regain enough battle experience to rise by itself.

Was Gravis ready to sacrifice Skye's future prospects just so he didn't feel lonely anymore? Definitely not! Gravis saw Skye as a life-and-death companion, and sacrificing its prospects for his own happiness would be a betrayal. There was only a single thing he could do that would help Skye, and he didn't look forward to it.

"Skye, we need to talk."

 

Chapter 169

It took four full hours until Gravis was able to teach Skye about its current situation. Thinking and planning far into the future was something incredibly difficult for beasts, yet Skye managed to understand. It might actually be the only beast that knew about such concepts in this lower world.

After Gravis finished explaining, he just looked at Skye with sad eyes. After understanding its situation, Skye looked back at Gravis, unsure what to think. After some seconds, it just rubbed its head on Gravis.

Gravis scratched Skye with a bitter smile. "I know that it's difficult to accept, but I know that you want to become strong," he said. "I know that you wouldn't be happy like this. Don't think about me, but about yourself."

Skye didn't react much. Gravis and Skye had been together for multiple months by now, and it understood Gravis' emotions. It might not have the mental faculties to plan far into the future, but beasts were good at feeling the emotions of others.

It knew how lonely Gravis was. It always felt happy when Gravis smiled at it with a pure, innocent smile, and it was the only living being in this lower world that knew this side of Gravis. It understood that it couldn't rise to power while following Gravis, but it didn't want Gravis to feel lonely.

Beasts were simple. When they saw one of their companions being sad, they tried their best to comfort them. Skye was no different. It wanted to comfort and help Gravis through those tough times.

Gravis gently pushed Skye's head away. "I know that you want to stay and that you don't want me to feel lonely, but is it worth it to sacrifice your future? You will forever regret it, and if I die, you will die too. I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for me," Gravis explained calmly.

Of course, he only tried to appear calm. In reality, he was hurting inside. Even though he knew that this was the best for Skye, it still hurt him inside. He didn't want to say goodbye, but there was no other

way. He didn't want Skye to just be an accessory to him. It should be its own beast, with its own strength, and not a simple pet. Skye could only truly be happy if it were independent.

Gravis' calm voice didn't fool Skye. It knew Gravis well enough to know how he felt. Its instincts were telling it to help him, so it went closer to Gravis again.

Woosh!

Gravis jumped back from Skye. "Skye, you need to leave," he said with seriousness. "By sticking with me, you won't be able to truly be happy. You must leave!" Gravis' voice was a little shaky when he said that, but he had to be the strong one now. If Skye didn't have the willpower to leave due to emotions, then he had to force it, even if it hurt him immensely inside.

Skye looked at Gravis with sad eyes. It understood the implications of staying with Gravis, but it just couldn't resist when it saw how hurt Gravis was. It felt the conflict and frustration inside Gravis. Gravis was its companion and best friend, so it didn't want him to feel sad. Slowly, it walked closer again.

BANG!

A violent lightning bolt hit the earth in front of Skye. It got frightened a little and took a step back. This lightning bolt was powerful enough to injure it severely. It looked at Gravis with shock and pain. Why was Gravis doing this? Wasn't this its own decision to make?

"Skye, you need to leave!" Gravis shouted aggressively. "I won't allow you to sacrifice your future for me!"

Skye shook a little when it saw that. It felt deep unwillingness inside, and it didn't want to leave Gravis. Slowly, it walked towards Gravis again.

WHOOM!

An apocalyptic pressure pressed into Skye, and it started fearing for its life. In the past, it had only passively been inside Gravis' Will-Aura, but now, Gravis' Will-Aura looked at Skye like an enemy. In Skye's mind, a deathly iciness spread from Gravis into the surroundings. Its instincts were screaming at Skye to flee. Its instincts told it that it had to leave or it would die. Skye felt betrayed. Its closest companion was showing killing intent towards it.

"LEAVE!" Gravis shouted violently with all his power, and the surroundings shook even more. Skye's body shook in fear. After breaking into the ninth level of Energy Gathering, Gravis' Will-Aura had destroyed any level suppression. If Gravis released it fully, he would be able to knock Skye unconscious.

Of course, Gravis didn't release his full power. He wanted Skye to leave by itself. He wanted it to realize how serious the situation was. It would feel regret for the rest of its life if it continued following him. He wouldn't allow this to happen!

Skye looked at Gravis with a mixture of confusion, sadness, unwillingness, betrayal, and even some pity. Even though Gravis tried to appear as heartless and aggressive as possible, he couldn't fool Skye. It knew him too well. It didn't leave and only implored Gravis to reconsider with its eyes. "Please, don't leave me!" it said with its eyes.

Gravis' heart constricted when he looked into Skye's eyes, but this was necessary. Even though Skye understood the situation it was in, it didn't realize how long-lasting the consequences would be. Gravis was hurting immensely inside, but he had to do it! For Skye!

WHOOM!

Skye's eyes rolled back into its head as it lost consciousness. Gravis looked at Skye as it fell over to the ground, and he couldn't keep his emotions in check anymore. Tears were building up in his eyes, but he still retained his stoic look. It was necessary.

He walked closer and gently patted Skye one last time. "I'm so sorry, Skye, but it's for your best. I hope you can forgive me," he uttered with a trembling voice. "I know that we will see each other again. I won't leave this lower-world without seeing you again. I wish you all the best on your journey, Skye."

Gravis sighed. "Is this how my father felt when he allowed me to cultivate?" he wondered. "He had to let me go so that I could walk my own path, and now I have to do the same thing for Skye."

After some minutes of petting it, he stood up and walked off. Skye would wake up in about another two minutes. He shot one last look at Skye.

"Goodbye, Skye."

 

Chapter 170

After leaving Skye, Gravis stayed around for a little while longer, though hidden inside the earth. He had to make sure that Heaven didn't pull anything while Skye was unconscious. When Gravis noticed that Skye regained its awareness, he slowly snuck away. He didn't want to hear its cries or see its pain.

When Gravis sneaked away to a sufficient distance, he sped away with his full strength. His ninth level Destruction Lightning, and his physical body made him even faster than Skye. This was an additional reason why he decided to let Skye go. If he fought an enemy that he had problems with, Skye wouldn't even be able to escape since such an enemy would most likely have an even faster speed than Gravis.

The only reason for keeping Skye was that Gravis would feel less lonely, but obviously, that reason was not good enough. Gravis could only sigh. "Am I still too naïve? Was thinking that we could rise to power together naïve? I honestly can't tell," he muttered to himself.

After running for some minutes, Gravis stopped and started thinking about his next steps. He only had to sell the weapons he got from the Darkness Guild. If he managed to do that, he would have enough Energy Stones to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering.

The only question was, where would he sell those weapons? The Darkness Guild would be the most profitable option since those weapons were tailor-made for people with the darkness element. The issue with that was that the Spirit Forming experts would probably immediately apprehend him. He killed some people who hadn't paid the pills, which was technically against the rules.

What about selling them in a city? Gravis wasn't so sure if that would work. All the weapons he had were made for people in the later stages of Energy Gathering. How many of those would even be around in a city? Probably not that many. If he spent some weeks in a city, he might be able to sell them, but he didn't have multiple weeks. He had to sell them quickly.

Fire Guild? Would be a possibility, but they were rather far away. Nearly five days had passed, and if, for some reason, Aion returned early, Gravis would be in danger. Wind Guild was also a no-go since

they were even further away. The Lightning Guild probably wouldn't even accept a trade from him out of spite.

The Water Guild was the furthest guild from here, so that fell through too. The Light Guild was relatively close, but Gravis doubted that they were interested in daggers, shivs, and short swords. If he went there and they weren't interested, he would have wasted about half a day. As Gravis eliminated one possibility after the other, his face started scrunching up.

'Are you actually serious?' he thought to himself in annoyance. 'Do I actually have to trade with the Earth Guild? I didn't even get my revenge from the last time, and I have to come back and be nice?' Gravis really didn't like this option, but he didn't see a better one.

After a minute, he only sighed in helplessness. 'Just my luck. Alright, I'll trade with the Earth Guild. If they don't try some shit this time, I might actually reconsider taking revenge. Fuck, I hate this!' Gravis thought to himself in annoyance.

Like this, Gravis changed his trajectory and shot towards the Earth Guild. He didn't have any time to waste. The sooner he broke through, the better.

RAAAAAH!

After running for two hours, Gravis saw a high-grade Energy Beast bird. It was nearly as big as Skye and circled the forest. Judging by the way it was shouting, Gravis concluded that it was probably warning other beasts not to invade its territory.

Gravis' eyes shined a little. "2% Energy isn't much, but if it's already on the way, I might as well accept," he said and charged towards the bird.

The bird noticed Gravis when he was still several kilometers away, yet contrary to expectations, it immediately turned tail and fled. Gravis' eyes narrowed and followed it. He was faster than the bird,

and it would only take around a minute until he caught up. At that point, the bird would be in the range of his Will-Aura. Gravis would only need to release it, and the bird would be dead.

As Gravis chased, he reminisced. "Man, this reminds me of when I first met Skye," he said to himself. There was no one around again, so Gravis went back into his habit of talking to himself. "I saw it running back to the tree, where I fought it and then…"

CRRRR!

Gravis immediately stopped. His eyes changed to coldness as he watched the bird fly away. "Just like back then, huh?" he sneered to himself. "This won't work this time, Heaven!" he shouted and continued running towards the Earth Guild.

In actuality, Gravis wasn't sure if this was Heaven's scheme, but he wanted to be careful right now. The last time he had been close to a breakthrough, Jaimy had assassinated him out of nowhere. When someone was close to victory, their vigilance would decrease. They would only have their goal in their eyes and ignore potential dangers they would spot under normal circumstances.

Even though Gravis was not sure if that bird had been sent deliberately by Heaven or not, he couldn't risk it right now. Nothing would sidetrack him this time! Gravis grew even more vigilant than usual. The next couple of hours would be the best opportunity for Heaven to strike.

Gravis guessed that Heaven was like a beast backed into a corner. The fact that Heaven might have sent this beast also worried Gravis. If Heaven were ready for him, it wouldn't need to delay him. If Heaven couldn't do anything to him, it also wouldn't have sent this beast and waste Energy. This beast would only have been sent if Heaven was really close to having a possibility to stop Gravis. Every minute counted. That was why Heaven had sent this beast!

'I can only think of a single thing that would require Heaven to delay me,' Gravis thought and narrowed his eyes. 'Aion returned early! On top of that, I am also sure that Heaven has another contingency plan

to delay me further. I guess that if I charge with my full speed, I can sell my stuff before Aion appears, but it will probably be close. So, Heaven will probably send something else to stop me.'

Gravis charged with his full speed towards the Earth Guild. Running this fast was draining his Energy immensely, but he was prepared to use the Energy storage inside his mind for this. He had to gain as much time as possible.

If Heaven had teeth, it would be gnashing them right about now. It had tried to delay Gravis for a couple of minutes, but instead of delaying him, it had even warned him further. With Gravis' new speed, he would arrive several minutes earlier than if Heaven had never sent that beast. Heaven grew more and more frustrated and nervous as Gravis' strength increased. It got increasingly more difficult for it to bring him into mortal danger.

After some hours, Gravis saw the mountain of the Earth Guild in the distance. Instead of being relieved, he only grew more solemn. "Let's see what you got, Heaven!" he shouted.

WHOOM!

As Gravis ran closer, he entered the range of someone's Spirit. Initially, Gravis thought that this was just the Spirit of someone of the Earth Guild's upper echelon, but he felt how the Spirit concentrated on him as soon as he appeared. Gravis could also feel bottomless hate being transmitted over it.

CRRR!

Gravis immediately stopped. 'Someone at the Spirit Forming Realm wants to kill me this badly? I can't remember offending anyone at the Spirit Forming Realm, other than maybe Aion. I am also sure this Spirit doesn't come from Aion. I would know if it was him. Nevermind, Plan C it is!' he thought as he shot to the north.

Plan C was his plan for if he met someone at the Spirit Forming Realm.

He hoped that he would survive until he reached his goal.