Ch. 211..220

Chapter 211

Gravis looked through the surroundings and smiled a little. Lots of loot was lying around. Cultivators at the Spirit Forming Realm always kept their wealth in their Spirit Space, so what would happen if that cultivator died? Their Spirit Space would crumble, and all their belongings would fall out into the surroundings.

Of course, not all the loot was safe. The loot from the darkness cultivator, for example, had been completely decimated. He had died inside Gravis' insane explosion, and all his belongings had already appeared in the surroundings when the explosion wasn't even over yet. Like this, everything but his weapons had been obliterated.

Gravis gathered everything together and looked at his loot. "Some gold, lots of Energy Stones, some weapons, some pills…" he narrated as he inspected everything. After a while, Gravis found what he was looking for. Gravis' Spirit made a pill bottle fly up, and he looked at it more closely. "That's the pill that made the others breakthrough," he commented.

Sadly, this was the only one remaining. Sear had died due to Gravis' sneak attack, so he never had the chance to take out his pill. The other four had taken those pills, which made Sear's pill the last one remaining. Gravis smiled. "Let's see how good you are," he said and swallowed it.

WHOOOM!

As the pill fell to his stomach, it rapidly dissolved before it could even reach its goal. A mighty wave of Spirit broke out of the pill's remains and directly shot at Gravis' Spirit. Gravis didn't resist, and the pill's Spirit entered his mind.

BZZZZZ!

And like that, it was over. The lightning in his mind had destroyed the Spirit as soon as it touched it. This wasn't some kind of digestion or absorption. This was only pure destruction. Like this, the effects

of the pill had been destroyed with nothing gained.

Gravis gritted his teeth. "First, the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique doesn't work anymore, and now this pill is also useless? Do I actually need to increase my Realm without outside resources?" he asked with frustration.

How did one increase their cultivation in the Spirit Forming Realm?

It was actually rather simple. The growth of the Energy had stopped and had become irrelevant, and the body's growth, just like before, could only be considered auxiliary. The increase of the Energy or body were both unimportant to the Realm. Only the increase of the Spirit was relevant. So how does one increase their Spirit?

It was the same as the initial breakthrough to the Spirit Forming Realm. The Spirit wasn't able to increase just by itself, so it needed support from outside, and this support was the Energy in the dantian. The Energy of the dantian had to be pushed into the Spirit, which then transformed the Spirit slowly.

At some point, when the Spirit had been sufficiently nourished, the whole Spirit would condense into one small core. This was the Spirit Seed, and when that happened, one would have reached the Seed Stage. Like this, one only needed to push more Energy into their Spirit to increase their Realm.

Of course, there were outside resources that one could use to expedite this process. Some rare plants had some inherent Spirit in them, and when condensed into a pill, could release that Spirit into the user's body. Of course, those pills were expensive, but that was irrelevant to Gravis because even those expensive pills were useless to him.

"The good comes with the bad, and the bad comes with the good," Gravis said with a sigh. "This inability to rely on outside resources might seem bad at first, but I went through enough shit to see the positive in that."

If Gravis could rely on external resources to increase his Realm, he would go out to gain as much wealth as possible to exchange for those resources. All this wealth would have been used to increase his Spirit. Yet, what about his Energy and body?

Gravis was pretty sure that there were ways to further increase the Energy in the Spirit Forming Realm. Wasn't it the same with the body after one reached the Energy Gathering Realm? Like this, Gravis could use his wealth to increase his Energy and body, further solidifying his battle-strength.

Gravis went through all the loot and got about 4,000 Energy Stones, an unimportant amount of gold, and some Spirit Weapons. "Hmm, I think I can sell those Spirit Weapons for an additional 6,000 Energy Stones. With this, I should have around 15,000 Energy Stones. I wonder how much that's worth in the Core-Continent. I need to check!" Gravis said.

With that said, Gravis left in a random direction. He had no idea about the layout of the Core-Continent. He only knew that it was a circle, nothing more. Where were the Sects? Where were the cities? He had no idea.

The open question in all this: How long would it take Gravis to increase his Realm without outside help?

Gravis had already infused a lot of lightning into his Spirit, which gave him the answer. In order to reach the Seed-Stage, he would need around a full year. In Gravis' mind, this was insanely slow, but for others, this was insanely fast.

Normal people would need, at least, ten years without outside help, and only if they already had a powerful enough will. Did Gravis need less Energy, or lightning in his case, to increase his Realm? Definitely not. In fact, the opposite was true. He needed an insane amount of lightning to increase his Spirit. So, how come he would reach the Seed Stage that much faster?

The reason for that was that there was no difference between his Spirit and dantian. An average cultivator had to push the Energy into their Spirit slowly. If they did it too fast, their Spirit would grow unstable. There was a difference between Spirit and Energy. Spirit was Spirit and Energy was Energy. This fact was obvious at first glance, but it held incredible importance!

The Spirit could only transform Energy into Spirit slowly. So, if the cultivators pushed too much Energy into their Spirit, it would grow sluggish. The Energy would mix with the Spirit, making the Spirit's density decrease because it was distributed over a wider area. Therefore, the efficiency of the conversion would suffer.

Yet, in Gravis' case, he had lightning in his dantian and lightning in his Spirit. He could just push all his lightning into his Spirit without any worry. The only issue would be that he would have no lightning left to fight if he emptied all of it into his Spirit. Of course, Gravis wouldn't risk his survival like that. He decided that he would push 10% of his lightning into his Spirit and then wait until he regenerated all of it again before he repeated the cycle.

'I'll use the next year to increase my body and dantian. I should also keep a look out for Joyce. She said I could repay my debt when I reached the Core-Continent. She also mentioned that I just needed to look around to find out who she is. I guess a city would be a perfect first stop, in that case. I can exchange some of my loot for other stuff and also look at some news.'

Like this, Gravis decided to do the same thing that he always did when reaching a new continent.

Look for a city.

 

Chapter 212

Gravis rode on his Lightning Board for multiple hours until a settlement finally appeared inside his Spirit's range. The Core-Continent was smaller than the other two continents, yet it was still gigantic in size. The settlement was only a small village, with no more than 1,000 people living there. Yet, their strength surprised Gravis.

"Every adult has, at least, a fully tempered body. There are even some people in the Energy Gathering Realm, though mostly all of them are at the first level," he said to himself.

As he thought about it, it actually made a lot of sense. The Body Tempering Realm only required resources. The will was only necessary to reach the Energy Gathering Realm, and some people would surely manage to increase their wills.

If everyone had the resources to temper their bodies, at least some of them would be able to condense their Energy Vortex, and judging by the abundance of the Core-Continent, body tempering resources were no issue.

An Energy Gathering expert was nearly non-existent in the Outer-Continent. In the Middle-Continent, there were a lot of those, yet in the Core-Continent, they could apparently only be considered as just some stronger mortals. Gravis guessed that the Sects would probably only accept Energy Gathering experts that were at the age of 16 or below. This was way harder to reach than just tempering one's skin, like in the Outer-Continent.

Gravis used his Spirit to quickly check through all the papers of the village. It only took a couple of seconds for Gravis to find a map. "The next town is to the north-east, while there is no sign of a city. Well, I should check the town first."

After saying that, Gravis left towards the indicated direction. There was no reason to stay in this village. It should only take an hour for him to arrive at the closest town. Yet, the distance was evident by Gravis

taking a whole hour to get there with the ridiculous speed of his Lightning Board. Someone with a fully tempered body would probably need over a day to reach the town.

After an hour, the town appeared inside his Spirit. As Gravis' Spirit went through the town, he was even more surprised about the strength of the inhabitants. Every single adult was inside the Energy Gathering Realm. The guards, especially, had already reached the seventh level, at least. The officers were nearly all at the ninth level of Energy Gathering with their bodies emanating an equally powerful aura.

Gravis laughed a little as he saw that. 'An elder of an Elemental Guild would only count as an officer in a town inside the Core-Continent. That's quite the fall in terms of status.'

An officer of a town had a lower status than a disciple of an Elemental Guild. Those disciples had, in turn, a lower status than the elites of the guild. The elites were lower than the geniuses, and the geniuses were lower than the elders.

Falling from an elder to the level of an officer inside a town would be devastating. One shouldn't forget that an elder in the Middle-Continent had the power to eradicate all towns and cities single-handedly. They wouldn't even need their disciples for that.

'Not only that,' Gravis trailed off as he felt two Spirits watching him. The town had two Spirit Forming Experts. Gravis guessed that they were the town lord and vice-town lord, and he felt that they were warily watching him. They were probably afraid that he would steal their positions.

'As if I would care about some town lord position,' Gravis sneered. 'I'm only here to look at the public notices at the town board.'

Gravis used his Spirit to look through the notices but didn't find anything important. There was no mention of any favors or Joyce. Gravis guessed that those notices were probably only findable in the

cities. Gravis also saw a map of the surroundings hanging on the town board, which also indicated the closest city.

'Fear City? Well, that sounds ominous,' thought Gravis as he noted down the location of the city. 'I wonder how the city looks like with a name like that. Anyway, there's no reason to stay here. I doubt that anyone in this town is used to trading with Spirit Weapons, considering their strength. I can probably sell stuff like that only in a city.'

After thinking this, Gravis left for Fear City. The two Spirit Forming experts in the town released a sigh of relief as they saw him go. They had felt the powerful will inside Gravis' Spirit, so they had been afraid of him taking over their positions. If that happened, they would've had no chance. They were not fighters! They were administrators!

Gravis rode on his Lightning Board for another three hours until he noticed something. Gravis slowed down and looked at the sky. "It's getting darker," he said as he rubbed his chin. "It should only be the early afternoon right now, and the sunset is at least several hours away."

Gravis looked to the front and noticed that the sky on the horizon was even darker. Then, he turned around and looked at where he came from. The sky in that direction was brighter. Gravis rubbed his chin in more thought. "Interesting. So, the closer I get to the city, the darker it gets. I guess that is one reason why it's named Fear City."

Gravis resumed his journey with more interest as the sky grew darker and darker. When Fear City appeared inside his Spirit, the sky was already pitch black, no stars to be seen. Yet, something surprised Gravis even more. "My Spirit can't enter Fear City," he commented.

As Gravis' Spirit neared Fear City, it was deflected. It was like Gravis' Spirit was a river, and Fear City was a boulder. His Spirit could only flow around Fear City, but not into it.

Gravis continued rubbing his chin in interest. "So, a city inside the Core-Continent has the ability to even stop Spirits. That sure is interesting. On top of that, I finally know why this city is called Fear City."

Gravis looked at Fear City. It was gigantic, probably tens of kilometers wide. The city's whole border was packed with 50-meter-tall, black walls with red spikes poking out of them. By all intents and purposes, the city looked like the lair of an antagonist in some fairy tale. The perpetually darkened sky surely didn't help its image.

'Well, my Spirit will probably work fine if I enter. The Sects shouldn't know yet that I have killed their "Vice-Guild Masters". This obviously looks like an outpost of the Darkness Sect, but I'll be okay for a time. Though, I need to hurry up. There's no reason to wait!' After Gravis made his decision, he quickly shot towards Fear City. He had to get some information and sell some of his stuff.

Meanwhile, inside the city, five people sat in a darkened room. They all wore grey robes that hid the entirety of their bodies. They all played cards with each other, apparently ignoring the darkness around them. Yet, when Gravis appeared in the surroundings of Fear City, one of them stood up.

"Sure enough, he has come," said the person with a gruff voice. "I knew that he would first come to this city since it's the closest one to his entry point. Look at him charge fiercely into the lion's nest, not knowing what awaits. Fiery youngsters really don't know danger, even when it stares them right into the eyes."

The others also stood up one after the other. "Will we go forward with the plan, boss?" one of them asked.

The earlier speaker nodded. "Yeah, if we don't help him, he is basically dead meat. We don't want that, do we? After all, he is an extraordinary recruit for our cause."

The others nodded in unison.

"Alright, then let's move out before our dear Gravis gets himself killed."

After he said that, they all vanished.

 

Chapter 213

Gravis walked closer to Fear City. Even though he knew that danger could wait for him inside its borders, he still went through with it. This was only a city, and even if it were an outpost of the Darkness Sect, it would only have some Sapling Stage cultivators at most. If they didn't attack him, he wouldn't care, but if they did, this would serve as a good opportunity for tempering his will. Such a fight would be supremely difficult, but there was a chance of victory.

"Gravis, wait," came a voice in Gravis' Spirit, and he quickly narrowed his eyes, readying his saber. He didn't notice where the voice came from, and he didn't feel any Spirit encompassing him, which made him take this situation seriously.

Gravis knew that if he couldn't tell the voice's origin, it meant that the person speaking to him was talking to him from outside his Spirit's range. Gravis knew that someone at the initial stage of Spirit Forming only had a range of ten kilometers. One shouldn't forget that Gravis' Spirit had a range of 50 kilometers! The speaking person had to be, at least, in the Sapling Stage. On top of that, they knew his name, which didn't bode well.

"Over here," Gravis heard a physical voice from his right. He snapped his head to the direction and saw some grey-robed individuals. Gravis hadn't noticed their arrival, which made him nervous. On top of that, he could see them with his eyes, but not with his Spirit. Inside his Spirit's vision, the area was blank.

"Who are you?" asked Gravis with a harsh voice, ready to strike at any point.

"I'll tell you later who we are, but first, you should stay away from Fear City," said the one in the lead with a gruff voice. Judging by his voice, he was an elderly person.

Gravis narrowed his eyes further. "Why?" he asked simply.

"Because you'll die if you enter," the leading figure answered.

"How would you know that?" Gravis asked back.

The elder laughed a little. "I know what you're thinking. Who is this person? He clearly doesn't know my power. Right?"

Gravis didn't answer.

The elder walked forward a little, making Gravis grip his saber tighter. "Actually, I know more about you than you would think."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "And what do you know, exactly?"

The elder laughed again like he had expected that answer. "You have unprecedented battle-strength. You have a Unity Will. You have had a Will-Aura ever since appearing in this world. You are Heaven's enemy. And to top it all off," the elder paused after saying that, and Gravis was sure that he was smirking under his hood. "You are from a higher world."

Gravis didn't react outwardly, but his insides were shaken. How could that person know all this?

"Who are you?" Gravis asked.

The elder laughed slightly again, something that he seemed to be doing quite a bit, which annoyed Gravis. "Because you and I are similar," then the elder did an exaggerated bow. "I am also not of this world."

Now, Gravis could no longer keep his shock secret. His mouth involuntarily opened in shock. After some seconds, he shook his head. "That's impossible! I am certain that you are not from my homeworld, and I am also certain that no other world can send people across different worlds."

The elder laughed again. "You are right. No person can send people to other worlds," he said, and then paused. Then, the elder's smile grew, now showing through his grey hood. "But what about Heaven?"

Gravis was back to his narrowed eyes. "What do you mean?"

The elder lifted both of his hands to grandly gesture to the surroundings. "What if two different Heavens decided to make some kind of exchange program? Both worlds send some of their most talented teachers to the other one, and there, they fight. Yet, how do they fight? Are you interested?" the elder stopped talking here.

Gravis waited for some seconds. "Alright, I'm interested," said Gravis as he slightly relaxed his stance. "Tell me about your so-called exchange program."

The elder chuckled again. "Simple. This world and our world are different. This world mainly focuses on elements while our world focuses on physical combat. Which is better, which is worse? The Heavens disagree about this point, of course. One would always think that their team was the best. So, what if the two Heavens agreed to some kind of battle?"

"And how would that battle work?" Gravis asked.

And again, the elder started chuckling, grating on Gravis' nerves. "Each world sends one talented and powerful teacher into the other one. There, they search for talented people and teach them about the techniques of their homeworld. Like this, they create a force and then war with the leading forces. Of course, forces directly beneath Heaven, like the Heaven Sect, are not part of this deal. This would be unfair, wouldn't it?"

Gravis nodded. That would be unfair.

"Yet, creating such a force is hard," the elder continued. "Nearly every talented and powerful cultivator is already part of the Elemental Sects, so finding good people is hard. That's where you come into play. You are an exceptionally talented person without any affiliation for a Sect. That's why I have appeared before you. I want to recruit you!"

Gravis furrowed his brows. He hadn't expected this development. He had just arrived in the Core- Continent, and before he could even take a look at the Elemental Sects, someone was already recruiting him for something completely different.

"What's your goal?" asked Gravis. Gravis was actually intrigued by this. If he could learn techniques different from his elemental ones, his strength could increase. He was still relying on the martial arts that he had learned in Body City for his physical attacks. Those were, of course, way too weak for Gravis by now.

The elder didn't chuckle for once. "We have two goals or more like two steps that we have to take." The elder lifted one finger. "The first step is eliminating the Greens."

Gravis furrowed his brows again. "The Greens?" he asked.

The elder chuckled again. "They are some sort of entry test for us. They are another force from my homeworld, chosen by this Heaven to be our enemy. We were chosen by our Heaven, while they were chosen by this Heaven. We first have to eliminate the Greens before we can go to our actual goal."

"Which is?" Gravis asked.

"Becoming the strongest power, except for the Heaven Sect," the elder answered with fervor.

"So, you want to eliminate all the Elemental Sects?" Gravis asked, unamused. Gravis thought that the Elemental Sects were kind of the representation of this world. He wasn't sure how he felt about eliminating all Elemental Sects.

The elder chuckled again. "You are probably feeling uncomfortable thinking about the Elemental Sects' demise, right?" he asked, but Gravis didn't answer. "Might makes right, correct? So, if the path of elements is the correct one, we won't win against the Sects. Don't forget that they have the home

advantage. They are seven Sects, with the best people in this world, while I have to go out myself for every single one of my people. If the Elemental Sects can't even win with that advantage, then what are they worth?"

Gravis thought about this for a while. The advantages that the Elemental Sects had over these people were genuinely immense. The battle-techniques of the elder's homeworld had to be far superior to the techniques of this world. If one person from another world actually managed to destroy all the Elemental Sects, then what were they even worth?

If already another lower world could destroy the strongest powers of this world, then what was this lower world even worth? 'If I imagine both worlds as two ponds with fish inside them, then the middle world would be a gigantic lake. If one pond was already suppressed by a single fish from another pond, then what about the lake? Wouldn't the fish jumping into the lake from the pond be completely suppressed there?' Gravis thought.

A new thought confronted Gravis. 'What if this other world is superior to this world? If that is the case, I should learn from them as well. Wasn't the job of a Research Assistant learning the different techniques of different worlds? I doubt that they could suppress all the Elemental Sects. Yet, if they accomplish that, it only shows that the elemental cultivation techniques of this world are weak.'

Gravis was inclined to agree. Yet, he first wanted to know more. "How did you get all this information about me?"

 

 

Chapter 214

The elder smirked at Gravis. "Isn't it obvious how I know all these things?" he asked with a smug voice. "My Heaven told me."

Gravis narrowed his eyes. "Your Heaven?"

The elder laughed a little. "Yes, my Heaven. As in, the Heaven from my world. It is not allowed to help me in any direct way, but it can, at least, send me information about potential recruits. So, are you interested?"

Gravis stayed silent for some seconds and then turned to Fear City on the horizon. "You obviously know my strength, so why do you say that I will die if I enter Fear City?" Gravis asked. He had already decided against going into Fear City at this point. This person knew his power, and he told Gravis that he would die. Was him choosing this city bad luck?

Karmic Luck is a complex concept. For example, if someone runs right into an ambush of several powerful cultivators and dies, that could be considered bad luck, right? Yet, if that person managed to kill those people with his own strength, his will would have been tempered, and he would have acquired several useful resources. Wouldn't that be considered good luck then?

In the end, bad luck only meant encounters with mortal danger. Yet, if someone managed to survive these mortal dangers, one would become more powerful. In the end, Karmic Luck meant lots of enemies. If one dies, it's considered bad luck, and if one survives, it's considered good luck, but in the end, only strength mattered.

So, what about Fear City? Gravis wanted to know what would have waited for him there.

The elder chuckled again. "Fear City is the main outpost for the Darkness Sect," explained the elder. "They always have two people at the Sapling Stage stationed there. A fight against two Sapling Stage cultivators will be supremely dangerous for you, but not impossible. Though that is not the real danger."

Gravis thought for a bit. "If Fear City is the main outpost for the Darkness Sect, it probably means that the Darkness Sect itself is pretty close. So, if I fight those people, they will quickly contact the Darkness Sect, which will send more Sapling Stage cultivators to me. Like this, I would be overwhelmed. Though, I probably still have some time to win and flee. On top of that, why would they attack me?"

The elder laughed again. "You underestimate the Sects and their methods. Spirit Forming people leave part of their Spirits in sealed glass bottles in the sect. When they get killed, the Spirit inside the glass bottle will also get destroyed by the same thing that has killed the cultivator."

The elder pointed at Gravis. "You have killed someone of the Darkness Sect. They know it was a lightning cultivator who killed the person. Of course, they don't know that it's you, but that's not important. I think you forgot a major fact."

Gravis looked unamused at the elder. "Which is?"

"It's unimportant if you killed the person or not," the elder said with a smirk. "You have the lightning element, and are, therefore, in their eyes, a member of the Lightning Sect, and as you know, the Darkness Sect and Lightning Sect are at war. They will attack you simply because they think you are from the Lightning Sect."

Gravis took a deep breath. He had forgotten that part. It was actually logical, and Gravis was a little frustrated that he hadn't thought about that point. He should have seen something obvious like this. Yet, as he thought about this, another thought appeared in his mind.

"How come they haven't attacked me yet?" asked Gravis. "The Spirit for a Sapling Stage cultivator has a bigger range than my Spirit, so all of us should be inside their Spirit. What are they waiting for?"

The elder showed his right hand. On his ring finger, a ring sparkled a little bit, drawing the attention of Gravis. "This artifact is making us invisible to the Spirits of others. Every one of our members gets one

of these." Like he had issued a command, the other four people also showed the identical rings on their right ring finger.

"That's possible?" Gravis asked with interest.

The elder did the same thing that he always did. He laughed slightly. "In this world? No. This world hasn't uncovered the methods to forge this object yet. The only person that knows how to create these artifacts is me. Don't forget that my Heaven has chosen me. Forging something like this is nothing special to me."

"Speaking of, what qualifications do you have that your Heaven chose you?" Gravis asked.

"In my homeworld, I am at the Self-Stage," said the elder, surprising Gravis. "Of course, it would be unfair if I went and destroyed all the Sects by myself. Therefore, my strength is greatly reduced in this world. If we were to fight, I would have no chance against you. After all, I am a teacher in this world, not a fighter. I am also a professional in all major cultivation jobs. I have had lots of time to kill."

The elder then looked deeply into Gravis' eyes. "So, let me ask again. Will you join or not?" he asked, some impatience appearing in his voice.

Gravis had already made his decision. "Yes, I will join you, but only until those so-called Greens are defeated. As soon as the Greens are gone, I will leave. There shouldn't be an issue with that, right?"

The elder laughed louder now. "That's not a problem. As soon as the Greens are defeated, I'll get more ways to advertise my organization. Killing the Greens is already plenty. Anyway, let's go somewhere else. We'll talk more when we're not outside Fear City. If someone at the Tree Stage arrives, those artifacts won't help."

With this said, the five people in grey cloaks started running towards a nearby forest. Gravis had already said that he would join them, so he followed. After traveling for some kilometers, they stopped

inside a dark cave.

Whoosh!

The five people took off the hoods of their cloaks, finally showing their faces. Gravis was quite surprised since the other four people were all youngsters. They were probably not much older than him. Yet, what truly surprised Gravis was the face of the elder.

The elder had long, grey hair, and the deep wrinkles on his face showed his experience. Yet, that was not what surprised Gravis. What surprised him was the aura and feeling that the elder emanated. When he had worn the hood, he appeared sinister, yet without the hood, he appeared like a kind old grandpa. When he looked at Gravis, Gravis felt like he could trust the person. Of course, Gravis wasn't so stupid as to trust someone just based on their looks.

"Ah," the elder sighed gently. "I'm not a fan of acting," he said.

Gravis lifted one brow. "What do you mean?"

The elder turned to Gravis and laughed, but this time, his laugh seemed like an amused elder and not like a sinister snake. "The most important thing while wearing a disguise is changing your personality," the elder slowly explained with a kind voice. "If some intelligence has leaked and the Sects know what's going on, I won't be able to walk among cities and towns anymore."

The elder laughed slightly again. "You might not care, but it's important for me. I need to recruit more people, and if I appear as the sinister, grey-cloaked snake, they are not as likely to join me. You must remember, Gravis, that not everyone is like you. "

Gravis leaned against one of the walls of the cave. "What do you mean?"

"To you, it probably made no difference in what persona I appeared. You are confident in your power, so you have no inherent aversion towards dangerous people. You believe that you are powerful enough to handle everything that Heaven throws at you. Many others are not like this," the elder said with a kind voice and then gestured to the other four youngsters.

"All of these younglings have been shunned from their clan, Sects, or similar things. Some have committed a mistake," the elder said as one of them lowered his head. "Some of them have lost control." Another disciple looked to the side as if this had nothing to do with him. "And others have lost their home to other people." The last two disciples looked at each other.

"All members of the Greys have had some issues in their past that drove them away from their homes," the elder narrated as he walked closer to Gravis. "Some are afraid of losing control again, some have been betrayed and don't trust other organizations, and nearly all of them don't have unfaltering confidence in their power."

The elder reached Gravis and put a hand on his shoulder. "Lost children are lost children because something happened to them. On their way to power, they all need to overcome their past trauma. This is one of the things that I had promised them when I took them in."

Then, the elder smiled bitterly. "Though, I will be honest with you, Gravis. Honesty is very important, even if it damages my image."

The others looked away like they knew what was coming. Gravis was interested in what the elder was going to say.

"You might have already guessed, but it is important that I say it myself," the elder said with a sigh. "I don't take these lost children in because I am some benevolent grandpa. They are simply the only recruits that exist. I don't treat them like lost children but like full members of my organization. They need to work, and they need to go through danger."

The elder gestured towards the surroundings. "All this is just a trade. I am not their family, and I am not their home. I am simply helping them to gain enough power to create a new home. Of course, they need to do missions for me in return."

The elder looked back at Gravis. "You can leave whenever you want, Gravis. I won't keep you here, but don't forget! I have a lot of things that I can teach you that you will learn nowhere else in this world." The elder smiled happily at Gravis. "Will you join us?"

Gravis smiled a little. "I will."

The elder laughed happily and patted Gravis' shoulder.

"Then welcome to the Greys!"

 

Chapter 215

"Let me introduce everyone," said the elder. "My name is Byron." Then he gestured to one of the others. The youngster walked forward and stood beside Byron. "This is Drake. He was once part of the Fire Guild in the Middle-Continent. He fled the Fire Guild when he killed one of his disciple brothers. I won't go into the details since it's personal, but he had a good reason to do that, and I won't fault him for that."

Gravis looked at Drake, and they shook hands. Drake had red hair, yet his eyes seemed sinister. Gravis didn't judge people based on their looks, so he didn't really care.

"Hello, Gravis. I've heard much about you from Elder Byron," Drake said with a cold face, which didn't match his words. "I know that you will be a tremendous help to us."

"Likewise, Drake," Gravis said with a smile.

By now, Gravis was not worried about his Karmic Luck infecting others. Byron came from a different world, and they were here with Heaven's permission. On top of that, the other Heaven surely also kept watch. If this Heaven reduced the Karmic Luck of a member of the Greys, the other Heaven would most likely protest.

As Gravis thought about it, he was actually quite happy. Due to the circumstances, this was probably the first organization where he didn't have to keep his distance from everyone. Finally, he could truly work together with others and build some companionship.

Elder Byron then gestured for another person, who also stepped forward. "This is Creed. He was born in the Core-Continent but never managed to join any Elemental Sect. Sadly, this talent bloomed after he was already too old to join. He has managed to reach the power of average cultivators of Elemental Sects without having ever cultivated an element. Of course, with my Battle Techniques, his strength only increased even more."

Gravis was astonished by this. Battle Techniques that didn't involve elements were supremely rare in this world. Creed had to basically create a whole new fighting style without any guidance. This was really impressive!

"That's really astonishing, Creed. How did you do that?" asked Gravis as he shook Creed's hand.

Creed had normal black hair and an average body. Nothing on him looked exceptional. This reminded Gravis of his own looks before they had changed. His looks could have been described with the same adjectives.

Creed rubbed the back of his neck as his face went slightly red in embarrassment. "Hello, Brother Gravis. It's nothing special. I just continued fighting, and everything appeared by itself. I didn't do anything to create my Battle Techniques," he spoke quietly.

Gravis looked at him and couldn't conclude what fighting style Creed used. "What weapons do you use?"

Creed smiled and retrieved his weapons. Two black daggers appeared in his hands. "Please don't look down on me, but in the beginning, I couldn't win against other cultivators in a head-on fight, so I mainly focused on the daggers. I know that ambushing people is not the true way to power, but it was the only way I had to grow in power," Creed said, shame showing on his face.

Gravis laughed. "There is no wrong way to power! The only wrong way is completely relying on others!" Gravis said, patting Creed on the shoulders. He also meant what he said. A fight was a fight. It didn't matter how one won, as long as they accomplished it with their own power. Power was power, after all.

When Creed heard Gravis, he smiled and stepped back a little. Elder Byron then gestured to the last two people. Those two people were two women, and now Gravis noticed that they looked identical to each other. 'Identical twins?' Gravis thought. Their faces looked the same, and they both had long blue hair. The only difference was that the hair of each one fell down at a different side.

"These are Lory and Lena," Elder Byron introduced. "They had been in the Water Guild of the Middle- Continent, and they left their guild because of ideology conflicts. You need to ask them yourself if you want to know more."

Both women bowed slightly at the same time. "Welcome, Gravis," they said simultaneously.

Gravis felt a little embarrassed from that. He hadn't had much contact with the opposite sex, so he didn't know exactly how to talk to them. His Unity Will didn't change anything about that. "Thank you, Lory and Lena."

One of the two spoke up. "We don't mind you knowing about our background. You actually need to know it so that we can fight together."

Gravis was surprised that they were so open with sharing their secrets. "Thank you," he said.

The other woman spoke up. "We actually never intended to join the Proxy-Water Guild in the Outer- Continent. Our family was killed when we were young, so we desired battle-strength instead of support. As you know, water is not cut out for that. Sadly, the Water Guild had been the only one that was willing to accept us."

She then spat to the side, while the other one sighed. "It was probably because we were women," the other one spoke up. "You might not know this, but most women are inside the Water and Light Guild. Those two guilds take up over 80% of all female cultivators, while the Wind Guild has another 15%. They probably thought that we were tame and abhorred violence, like most other women."

Now, the first one spoke up again. "As we increased our Realm, we got less and less opportunities to temper our battle-strength. When we went out to temper ourselves, we even got punished for that. Remaining inside the Water Guild, healing patients, and cultivating plants was not why we started cultivating. When it was too much, we left, and we swore that we would never use our water element to heal someone again. We only want battle strength!"

Gravis was a little surprised about the reason, but he could understand it. Gravis also wouldn't want to only heal people and cultivate plants. He wanted freedom, and freedom only came with power. If the same thing happened to him, he would have probably also left the guild.

Gravis smiled and nodded. "I understand. I would have probably done the same in your case. You don't need to worry. I won't force you to use your Water Element to heal me in a fight. I respect your decision, and I also trust that you have enough power to contribute. You probably wouldn't be part of the Greys if you didn't."

The two women smiled. "Thank you for understanding, Big Brother Gravis," they said at the same time, and Gravis rubbed the back of his neck when he heard them calling him big brother. This was the first time anyone called him big brother, which made him feel a little shy.

The two women saw his reaction and giggled. "When I first saw you, you looked cold and arrogant," said one of them. "Who knew that the famed Gravis would have such a cute side."

Gravis laughed nervously. The last time he had any non-aggressive interaction with a woman was back in the Proxy-Lightning Guild. At that time, he had been to busy with finally getting his lightning, so he hadn't cared much. The whole thing with Stella had also been some years ago, and the personalities of youngsters quickly changed in puberty. The thing with Wendy would have also ended with Gravis killing her, so that also didn't count.

When someone was an enemy, Gravis wouldn't flinch even if that enemy was a peerlessly beautiful fairy, but it was different if they were his comrades. Gravis had many incredible attributes that made him exceptional in many viewpoints, but he had no experience with women. Sadly, Gravis wasn't perfect.

"Alright, alright," said Elder Byron as he went between them. "Enough flirting. You can do that in your spare time."

"I didn't-"Gravis wanted to say, but stopped when he saw the two women giggle slightly. 'Wait, were they actually flirting? I'm not sure! How do I find out if they were flirting or not? How does flirting even work? Should I just directly ask them about it? I'm not sure if that is a good idea. That would probably be weird.' Gravis thought in nervousness.

"Anyway," said Elder Byron with a smile. He retrieved something and threw it towards Gravis, who quickly caught it. "This is your welcome present. Any future Battle Techniques or resources need to be exchanged for Contribution Points."

Gravis looked at what he had caught and saw that it was a thin booklet. On the cover were violently written, red words that spelled "Rakshasa Saber".

"Learn it," said Elder Byron. "In a week, I'll put you to the test!"

Gravis bowed slightly. "Thank you, Elder Byron."

 

Chapter 216

During the next couple of days, Gravis spoke more with the other people, but the vast majority of his time was spent on the Rakshasa Saber. The Battle Technique was actually really interesting and opened Gravis' eyes to a whole new way of fighting.

The Rakshasa Saber needed four components to work. It needed a powerful will, Spirit, Energy, and a physical saber. Normally, a powerful attack with a Spirit Weapon would need the element and the Spirit of the user. The Spirit controls and strengthens the element inside the weapon, increasing its destructive potential. Yet, the Rakshasa Saber was different.

The regular usage of a Spirit Weapon didn't require the will. It only required the element and Spirit. Yet, this Rakshasa Saber also required the will. What did the will do to make the technique work?

Spirit and Energy were not inherently dangerous. The Spirit was only dangerous when paired with something dangerous, like an element. The Spirit could be considered as a tempering agent or support for something else. Energy was also not inherently dangerous. One first had to transform it into an element to make it destructive. At least, that held true for this lower world. Other worlds surely had different techniques.

One could summarize the whole thing as such.

Energy was the basic component and resource.

The element was the forging of the resource into something destructive.

Spirit was the tempering of the destructive material.

The Rakshasa Saber threw the concept of the element completely away. Instead, it used the will to change the Spirit from a tempering agent into a forging resource to transform something harmless like Energy into something destructive.

The Rakshasa Saber showed a method that would use the will in such a way that it fused with the Spirit. At that point, the Spirit would be fused with the will and, therefore, also carry its suppressive and destructive property. Usually, the element used the Spirit as a resource that would make the element stronger. Yet, for the Rakshasa Saber, the opposite was true.

It used the Energy to strengthen the mix of will and Spirit. Like this, the user's will would manifest in a physical form and could directly injure others. Normally, a Will-Aura only affected the will of others, and it wasn't able to injure people directly. It only suppressed them.

Yet, when it achieved physical manifestation with the support of the Spirit and the strengthening of Energy, it could damage others. If the mix was used correctly, it could be transformed into a destructive wave that could cut or destroy the things it hit.

After understanding how the Rakshasa Saber worked, Gravis sighed. "A whole new world has opened before my eyes," he said.

In the last couple of days, the Greys had moved multiple times. According to Elder Byron, there was no headquarter since that would give them a permanent residence and, therefore, a target for the Greens. They were always on the move, and right now, they stayed inside a mountain chain.

Gravis quickly left the encampment to find a place where no one could watch. Gravis trusted the Greys, but he was still cautious about showing his abnormal centers of power. After he was many kilometers away from the encampment, he retrieved his saber and readied himself.

WHOOOSH!

His Will-Aura appeared, and the surroundings shook a little. Surprisingly, the ground and mountains didn't get damaged. Apparently, due to the higher Energy density in the atmosphere, the terrain had been hardened. In the Middle-Continent, when Gravis had released his Unity Will, a dome of suppressed earth always appeared around him. Not here, though.

Gravis followed the instructions of the booklet and combined his will with his Spirit. It took some time, but he quickly managed to achieve it. When he was done, he felt something entirely new appear. It felt like a big part of his Spirit's vision had been compressed, making the area appear somewhat bigger in his mind. Of course, Gravis knew that this was only an illusion created by the Spirit's compression.

The compressed area had the form of a sphere, and Gravis moved it around slightly. Moving it around didn't cost any Spirit, so that was one worry less. Gravis then made the mix of Spirit and will hit the ground.

BANG!

A loud bang resounded like someone had punched the floor. The floor sunk down for a meter, but nothing more happened. Gravis could achieve more with a punch, but one shouldn't forget that Gravis hadn't infused any Energy into the mix.

Gravis quickly realized that the mixture had vanished, and the infused Spirit was used up. Luckily, a will was inexhaustible, so, therefore, couldn't be used up like Spirit. In total, around 10% of Gravis' Spirit had been used.

"Interesting," Gravis muttered as he scratched his chin in thought. "Now, let's try again with some Energy from my body."

Gravis summoned the mixture again and then infused the inherent Energy from his body into the mixture. He used around 50% of the Energy, which was not a lot. One should remember that the inherently saved Energy inside Gravis' body was only equal to the Energy in the dantian of someone at the seventh level of Energy Gathering.

Gravis felt the sphere become more powerful, and he could now see it with his eyes, kind of. If one looked at it with their eyes, they would only see a grey, distorted area with a diameter of about a meter.

The objects behind the sphere appeared warped and dimmed in color. After looking at it for a while, Gravis made the sphere hit the ground again.

BOOOOM!

A ten-meter-wide crater appeared, yet no debris flew out of the crater. It was like the stone and earth inside the crater vanished. One would think that the sphere had eaten the debris, but that wasn't true. The stone and earth had been ground down into dust, which quickly scattered into the surroundings.

When Gravis saw that, he was surprised by the destructive potential. One had to know that he had used only half the amount of Energy that someone at the seventh level of Energy Gathering would have. All in all, the destruction was about as strong as a regular punch from Gravis.

Gravis then used the remaining 50% of his inherent Energy again to create another sphere, yet this time, he infused the sphere into his Spirit Weapon. As the sphere entered the saber, the saber's color dimmed to a greyish color, and it started vibrating a little bit. Gravis checked his saber and concluded that it could withstand such an attack.

One shouldn't forget that his saber was a weak Spirit Weapon. He had gotten it from Elder Red when he had killed said elder in a fight. That someone at the Energy Gathering Realm already had a Spirit Weapon was already impressive enough. Of course, it was basically impossible that someone on that level would come into contact with stronger Spirit Weapons.

Gravis then used his saber and swung at a mountain about 100 meters away.

WHOOOM!

A thin crescent that followed his swing was created and then shot with incredible speed at the mountain. It made no noise when it hit the mountain, and no destruction was apparent to the naked

eye. Yet, in Gravis' Spirit, the destruction could be seen.

A millimeter-wide cut appeared on the mountain, which extended tens of meters into the mountain. When Gravis saw that, he took a deep breath. "That's nearly as strong as my lightning loaded punch with added acceleration."

Gravis knew that the saber slash would be powerful, but this even surprised him. One had to know that the infused Energy made up most of the destructive potential of the attack, and Gravis had only used 50% of the amount of Energy that someone at the seventh level of Energy Gathering would have!

The seventh level of Energy Gathering and a physical attack with a Spirit Forming body with Destruction Lightning were worlds apart. How was this so destructive with only so little Energy?

Of course, Gravis quickly found the answer. "It's my Unity Will," he concluded. "My Unity Will is already, as the name suggests, part of the Unity Realm, which is a whole Realm higher than my cultivation. Since the attack uses my will, a stronger will also means a stronger attack."

Yet, Gravis had a dilemma. This attack would use up the inherent Energy in his body, which he usually required to heal himself. Using this attack used the same resource that he needed for healing, so he could either do one or the other if he used his body's Energy.

"The manual said I can't use this technique with an element since the mixture will be used up if it comes into contact with anything physical that isn't Energy. Yet, isn't my Spirit special? It's adapted to lightning, so infusing it with lightning shouldn't be an issue."

"Maybe it works with lightning."

 

Chapter 217

"Let's see," Gravis said, readying his saber again. "Let's try with something small, like 5% of my Spirit."

Gravis summoned a mixture with only five percent of his Spirit, yet something unforeseen happened.

POP!

The mixture wasn't able to stabilize and scattered into the surroundings. This hadn't happened before, so Gravis was confused for a second, but he quickly noticed the difference between this time and last time. "The last couple of times, I always used 10% of my Spirit. I guess I need a minimum amount of Spirit to make the fusion work. Funny, the manual hadn't mentioned that," Gravis muttered.

Then, Gravis summoned another mixture with 10% of his Spirit. Like the first three times, it remained stable. "So, it really requires a minimum of Spirit to stabilize," Gravis muttered while scratching his chin in thought. "I wonder how lightning interacts with it."

Then, Gravis started slowly infusing the mixture with lightning.

WHOOOM!

Suddenly, all the lightning in his body started crazily going into the mixture. He tried stopping the lightning, but it was hopeless. It just wouldn't listen! Gravis immediately started sweating with nervousness.

BOOOOOM!

After the sphere had absorbed 10% of Gravis' lightning, it couldn't take anymore and violently exploded. The surrounding 30 meters got completely decimated and a crater formed, which was around five meters deep. Luckily, Gravis was immune to his own lightning. An attack like that could have killed him otherwise.

Gravis continued standing there, unable to process what just happened. After some seconds, he finally calmed down and started scratching his chin again. "It felt like I didn't have enough control over the mixture when the lightning entered it. In the beginning, it was no issue controlling the sphere. Yes, I lost control over my lightning, but I hadn't lost control over the sphere at that point. Though, why did I lose control over my lightning in the first place?"

Gravis started thinking about the concept of Spirit, will, and lightning. How did he control lightning in the first place? This question appeared in Gravis' mind for the first time. He had actually never questioned how he was able to control lightning. One shouldn't forget that he already had control over lightning when he had reached the Energy Gathering Realm, though not as precise as now.

"I think it should be my Spirit," Gravis said as he continued thinking. But didn't the Spirit only appear at the Spirit Forming Realm? How had Gravis controlled his lightning in the Energy Gathering Realm then?

The answer was actually pretty simple. The Spirit had always existed, as the Spirit was the soul and the mind of the cultivator. If one didn't have a Spirit, they wouldn't be human. The Spirit Forming Realm didn't actually "form" the Spirit in the sense that it was created, but in the sense that its form would change.

The Spirit Forming Realm only made the Spirit adapt to Energy, or in Gravis' case, lightning. This allowed the Spirit to manipulate Energy, or lightning, with substantially increased precision and power. Before that, one only had rudimentary control over an element.

CLAP!

Gravis clapped his hands together as he got the answer. "Of course!" he shouted. "If I combine my Spirit and my will, the created thing is basically another me. My lightning didn't listen because this

sphere was adapted to lightning and, therefore, tried to absorb it crazily. So, when it started absorbing the lightning, it basically overate itself and collapsed."

Gravis looked to the ground in deep thought. "So, in order to stop my uncontrollable mixture of Spirit and Will from exploding, I need to make the amount of Spirit in the mixture bigger than the amount of absorbed lightning. Though, the issue is that I can't keep my lightning from being absorbed. Hmmm."

After some seconds of deep thinking, Gravis found a solution. "If it absorbs all the lightning in my body, then I only need to put in more Spirit than I have lightning remaining. Currently, my Spirit reserves are at about 55%, while my lightning reserves are at around 90%."

Gravis had a plan, but he was a little worried about it. "What if the sphere doesn't stop absorbing when it ate all my lightning? Will it eat the lightning in my Spirit as well? If that happens, I'll lose several weeks of progress. I need the lightning in my mind to increase my cultivation, after all," he muttered with worry.

Gravis thought about this for a long time until he made a decision. "If I put this off, I still won't know how it will act. If I try it later, even more of my cultivation time would be in danger. Risking a couple of weeks of progress now is better than risking years of progress later." Gravis sighed. "Well, here goes nothing."

BZZZZ!

Gravis shot 45% of his lightning into the horizon. In his time thinking, his lightning and Spirit had recovered a little, so Gravis now had 50% of his lightning, and 60% of his Spirit left. If there were nothing more to absorb, then, logically, the sphere couldn't absorb more. Though Gravis still remained careful. Slowly, he created another mixture of will and Spirit. This time, he used a little over 55% of his Spirit.

The sphere appeared, and it was multiple times bigger than before. Every previous sphere only had 10% of his Spirit, while this one had over 55%. When Gravis noticed that the sphere was stable, he

started to funnel lightning to it.

BZZZZ!

Like before, the lightning violently left Gravis' body and shot right into the sphere. All the lightning vanished in less than a second, and Gravis felt utterly drained. His dantian was completely devoid of lightning, and his Spirit had less than 5% of its reserves left. Gravis used the Energy inherent in his body and shoved all of it into his dantian, which quickly got converted to a small amount of lightning.

Then, he took the small amount of lightning in his dantian and shoved it into his mind, reloading it somewhat. This eased the stress on his mind. After that, Gravis took a deep breath and looked at the sphere.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

A two-meter-wide sphere of purely concentrated lightning lingered in the air. Many peals of thunder per second exploded out of the sphere, creating a cacophony of violent sounds. The ball was also incredibly bright, and when Gravis looked into it, he was quickly forced to avert his gaze. To him, the lightning sphere appeared brighter than the sun.

Yet, Gravis also grew excited. The sphere didn't collapse, and after it had stopped absorbing the lightning, the connection between the lightning inside his dantian and the sphere had been cut. As long as Gravis didn't touch the sphere with more lightning, it wouldn't absorb more. Yet, the best part was that it hadn't even touched his Spirit. All the lightning inside his mind remained, taking a load of Gravis' shoulders.

Gravis continued watching it for several seconds with his Spirit, enraptured by its glory and power. After watching it until he was satisfied, Gravis willed it to move.

WHOOM!

A small shockwave traveled into the surroundings as the sphere started moving, its power decimating everything it touched. Yet, there was a slight issue.

"Why is this thing so fucking slow!?" Gravis shouted in frustration.

He was using everything in his power to make it move, but it was moving even slower than the walking speed of an average mortal. Hell, even a weak old man would walk faster! After trying it for a couple of seconds, Gravis gave up.

"Alright, so using it as a weapon like this won't work. Creating it takes over a second, and anyone that feels its destructive potential would have long fucked off into the distance. Well, not everything can be perfect, I suppose," Gravis muttered as he scratched the side of his head.

Then, Gravis looked at his saber with an unsure expression. "I guess I can only infuse the sphere into my saber. Though, I'm scared that my saber will just immediately explode. I really doubt that it can handle so much power."

Gravis looked at his saber, unsure. He had gotten the saber only relatively recently, yet it was already too weak again. "I need a better one," Gravis said. He also checked his Spirit Space. When he had killed Sear, a saber popped out of his Spirit Space. Back then, Sear didn't even have the chance to retrieve his weapon before he exploded into a shower of blood. Sadly, the saber was only about as good as Gravis' current one.

Gravis sighed. "Delaying won't help. In the worst case, I lose my current saber. At least I still have another one left. Here goes nothing… again."

Then, Gravis willed the sphere to move towards his saber.

 

Chapter 218

"Could you fucking hurry up?" Gravis shouted in frustration again.

The sphere was moving very slowly towards his saber. It actually took nearly a full minute until it came close enough. When it arrived, Gravis took a deep breath, activated the Formation Arrays in his saber, and then plunged it into the sphere.

WHOOOM!

The sphere quickly vanished into the saber, and Gravis wasted no time in inspecting it.

BRRRRR! CRK! CRK!

The saber was violently vibrating, and parts of it were already falling off. When Gravis saw that, he realized that it would not even hold for a single second longer, so he quickly slashed into the direction of a distant mountain.

CRACK!

While slashing, the saber released a crescent of lightning that shot into the distance, directly at the mountain. During the slash, the saber completely collapsed into fragments that scattered into the surroundings. Luckily, the collapse came from the inside, so the fragments didn't shoot away in a violent manner. If they had, Gravis might've received a couple of new holes in his body.

Yet, Gravis didn't pay the saber any attention. His eyes and Spirit were entirely focused on the bright, silver-colored lightning crescent that shot into the distance. Its speed was incredibly fast, even faster than Gravis when he was traveling on his Lightning Board. In practically no time, the crescent hit the distant mountain.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Gravis' eyes burned as he immediately averted them. The light had been so bright that he had been blinded temporarily. Luckily, he could still keep track of things with his Spirit.

With his Spirit, he saw that when the crescent hit the mountain, it didn't cut through it like the earlier attack without lightning. Instead, when the crescent had hit the mountain, it destabilized and exploded violently. The explosion grew and grew until it reached a diameter of about 100 meters. If one looked at the explosion with their Spirit, they would notice that the explosion was silver, but if one looked with their eyes, they would only see white due to the incredible brightness.

The explosion created a deafening sound that created a small earthquake that even reached Gravis' current position. It sounded like the loudest thunder that could possibly exist. The explosion swallowed a massive chunk of the mountain, demonstrating its supreme power.

All this took a long time to describe, but the explosion actually appeared and vanished in less than a second. Just like a lightning strike, it only left an afterimage that lingered for longer than the actual explosion.

When the explosion vanished, nothing could be seen anymore inside its domain. There were no fragments or debris. The whole one-hundred-meter-wide, sphere-shaped area was utterly blank. When Gravis saw the mountain, he took a deep breath through his clenched teeth.

A gigantic, sphere-shaped hole appeared on the mighty mountain. Gravis was over a kilometer away, and seeing the destruction that he had caused from such a distance, awed him. "This is true power," Gravis muttered unconsciously.

Gravis had never achieved such a pure form of destruction before. An attack like this could probably even take down someone at the Tree Stage, though the attack had to hit first. Gravis looked at the destruction for over a minute. Of course, he could only do that with his Spirit since his eyes were still blinded.

After that, he looked at his saber. After around 40 seconds, his vision had started recovering, so now he could actually see again. Gravis only held a short, lonely hilt in his hand. The blade of the saber had been scattered before him, eliciting a bitter smile from Gravis.

"Even though I can achieve such destruction, I need to waste a Spirit Weapon saber every single time I use it. On top of that, since I can't control the lightning flow towards the sphere, I would have no lightning left after the attack. If I don't kill someone with this attack, I'll be helpless," Gravis muttered.

Gravis thought about using this technique with other weapons, but that possibility quickly got extinguished. The manual included a specific way to infuse the sphere into the saber, and Gravis had no reference on how to do it with other weapons. After all, it was called the Rakshasa SABER. If he wanted to figure out how to use it with other weapons, he would need to waste lots and lots of Spirit Weapons in experimentation, making this basically impossible.

Gravis sighed in bitterness again as he also realized something else. "I can't create the sphere inside my saber directly. The Formation Arrays don't support something like this, and the saber would probably collapse even before the sphere had absorbed enough lightning. I literally have to create the sphere outside and then absorb it with my weapon after that. This kind of makes it hard to use."

Gravis took a deep breath again, but quickly released it. "I shouldn't be too greedy," he said with motivation. "I managed to create an incredibly powerful attack. If I use it in the right circumstance, I'm sure I'll be able to make it work!"

Gravis then thought of something. "Oh yeah, that attack is not part of the Rakshasa Saber. After all, the Rakshasa Saber only works with Energy. The sphere and crescent also differ in their properties. I should give them new names. Let's see…" Gravis trailed off.

"I think I'll call the lightning sphere Lightning Bomb, and the lightning crescent, well, Lightning Crescent, I think? Yeah, those are good names!"

After saying that, Gravis nodded in satisfaction and then threw the saber hilt away. After that, he quickly took out the saber that he had retrieved from Sear and familiarized himself with it. This would be his new weapon from now on. This saber was completely black in color, reminding Gravis of his Void- Stone Saber.

"Huh, I wonder what happened to that," Gravis muttered. "When Jaimy backstabbed me, he touched it and lost a cultivation realm. That was the last time I saw it. Since he most probably died to Heaven, the saber could be lying around anywhere. That thing is probably still absorbing Energy right now." Then, Gravis shrugged. "Well, not my problem."

Then, Gravis also remembered something else. "Oh yeah, what about my ring? I remember throwing it at that one guy to block his attack, outside the Heaven Sect. I could've picked it up when I robbed the Heaven Sect, but eh, who cares? It only shows my status, and if it's important, father has probably already retrieved it."

Gravis didn't mind his lost objects any further and sat down. He had to regain some Spirit and lightning before he returned. He trusted the Greys, but he wanted to be sure.

After about an hour, his Spirit and lightning had recovered. Sadly, the inherent Energy of the body took longer to recover. Though, that wouldn't be an issue. He had already regained his peak fighting strength with the recovery of his lightning and Spirit.

Gravis jumped up and then left towards the encampment of the Greys.

 

Chapter 219

When Gravis returned to the encampment, he saw that the others were all gathered together, talking. 'Did something happen?' Gravis asked himself as he walked closer. "What's up?" he asked with his Spirit to everyone.

The others turned to him, and all started grinning. Gravis raised an eyebrow in a questioning look.

"We found a group of the Greens," said Elder Byron. "They are currently traveling from west to east about a thousand kilometers to the north." Then Elder Byron started smiling at Gravis too. "We still need to test you, so I hope you'll accept the honors this time."

Gravis now also smirked. "Well, I said I would join you guys, so I don't see a problem with that," he said. "Though, I hope I get some Contribution Points from that."

Elder Byron nodded. "Of course! While we're at the topic, what do you intend to buy for your future Contribution Points? I have a lot of things stored in my Spirit Space, but I need to procure stuff that you might request. If I know what you intend to buy, I can get the resources earlier."

Gravis already had some things in mind. "Are there ways to increase the Energy in my dantian separately from an increase of Realm?" he asked.

Elder Byron lifted an eyebrow. "Energy?"

Gravis shrugged. "That's what we call Magic in our homeworld. Many worlds call it differently. Some call it Magic. Some call it Qi, some others Yuan. It all refers to the same thing. Energy is just the most direct description of it." Everyone already knew that he wasn't from this world, so there was no reason to keep such things secret.

Elder Byron combed his long beard with his fingers in thought. "Energy, huh? It actually makes sense. Anyway, you were asking if there was a way to increase the Energy in your dantian, right?"

Gravis nodded.

Elder Byron nodded back. "There's not really an external method to increase the Energy. You can only do that yourself."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Myself?"

Elder Byron nodded again. "Yes. Just do the same thing as when you were at the Magic Gathering Realm. Oh, you probably call that Energy Gathering then, right?"

Gravis nodded.

"Just do the same thing as in the Energy Gathering Realm. The only issue is your dantian. It needs to be able to resist the increased pressure from your Energy. There are several ways to increase the hardness of the dantian but…" then Elder Byron smirked at Gravis, "you don't need them."

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

Elder Byron lifted his right index finger. "Simple!" he said. "Starting at the Spirit Forming Realm, an increase of your body also increases the hardness of your dantian. The dantian is part of your body after all, no?"

Gravis inspected the walls of his dantian, but he wasn't sure about that. The walls were harder, yes, but he actually felt no pressure from inside his dantian. Now that he thought about it, that was even weirder. The gentle Energy already generated incredibly powerful pressure, so shouldn't the pure Destruction Lightning completely tear his dantian apart?

Gravis didn't think much about it. Many weird things had happened after he broke into the Spirit Forming Realm. This was just one of them, and he had learned to accept them. Though, if there was

no pressure on his dantian, didn't that mean that he could absorb as much Energy as he wanted? He had to try that.

"I need to try something. Please bear with me," he said. The others nodded back, showing that they didn't mind.

Gravis then retrieved all his Energy Stones and started absorbing them. With his Spirit, absorbing the Energy Stones was many times faster than before. Gravis actually absorbed 20 Energy Stones per second. The others looked at him with interest. They wondered how far he could go with that.

The Energy of the stones went into his dantian and quickly got converted into Destruction Lightning. Yet, Gravis was quite surprised when he saw what happened next. The Destruction Lightning inside his dantian actually started breaking through his dantian. It was like his dantian didn't even exist.

As the Destruction Lightning inside his dantian became bigger, more and more lightning bolts left his dantian, circling it. Gravis now finally realized what was up. 'No wonder I don't feel any pressure in my dantian. My dantian doesn't exist for my lightning.'

Gravis narrowed his eyes while the others continued looking at him in interest. They weren't able to feel the lightning moving. In their perception, the little Energy inside Gravis wasn't moving at all.

Meanwhile, Gravis started realizing more things. 'Energy needs the dantian to keep it contained, yet my lightning doesn't need to be contained. I am lightning, after all. My lightning doesn't want to escape. So, I can basically fill my entire body with lightning as if my body didn't exist. That's kind of insane.'

Gravis tried to retrieve the next stone, but he noticed that there were no more. Gravis looked over and saw that the huge pile had vanished. His eyes widened as he realized that he had just eaten all his wealth. Then, he turned to the others. "Did I absorb all of the stones?"

The others looked with wide, shocked eyes at him. Elder Byron shook his head slightly. "You're a monster," he said with a sigh.

Gravis was really shocked since his lightning hadn't increased by much. In total, it was maybe 10% bigger than before. 5,000 Energy Stones for only a 10% increase? That was insane! One had to know that going from the first to the tenth level of Energy Gathering Realm took only a little less than 4,000 Energy Stones. That was a whole major Realm!

Yet, he needed even more than that to increase his lightning by only 10%. Though, there was still an open question.

BANG!

The others jumped back in fright as Gravis shot around 10% of his lightning into the horizon. He wanted to see if the increased volume of his lightning now acted like the usual lightning in his dantian. If it were like this, then it should regenerate fully in some minutes. "Please wait a minute. I need to check something," Gravis said to the others, who quickly looked at each other unsurely. What was he doing?

Gravis waited for about a minute and noticed that his lightning was regenerating to its new peak. When he saw that, he released a sigh of relief. He was happy that he hadn't wasted 5,000 Energy stones in vain. At least now, he had a way to increase his lightning further.

After he was done observing, he turned to Elder Byron again. "I'll be using nearly all my future Contribution Points for body tempering resources," Gravis said.

Elder Byron lifted both his eyebrows. First, Gravis asked about a way to increase his Energy, then he absorbed a small mountain of Energy Stones, and then he completely changed his mind and went for body tempering medicine.

Elder Byron shook his head but didn't question Gravis. "Alright. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll keep my eyes open for those. Anyway, you should go to the north and handle the Greens."

"But first, we need to outfit you with the proper gear for the Greys."

 

Chapter 220

"You mean that grey cloak?" Gravis asked.

Elder Byron nodded. "Exactly, though that's not all." Then, he took out a grey ring. "Remember when we showed you our rings? This is an identical one, but for you. We don't want others to find us, do we?" asked Elder Byron with a slight laugh.

Gravis also laughed. "Of course not."

Gravis quickly retrieved the two things with his Spirit and then resummoned them on his body. The grey cloak completely enveloped his body and head, and no one would be able to recognize him like this. But Gravis was actually more interested in the ring. He remembered how it managed to keep the Greys hidden from his Spirit, which was a handy ability.

Gravis looked at the ring on his hand. As soon as he put it on, he felt a kind of membrane enveloping his body, which was probably the cloaking field that diverted the Spirits of others. He also felt his own Spirit and vision pass through it.

Elder Byron laughed a little. "The ring is great, isn't it?" he asked with a smirk.

"It also has a different effect," a voice came out of the ring on Gravis' right hand, which surprised him. He was sure that that was Elder Byron's voice.

Gravis looked at Elder Byron again. "This is a communication tool, as well?"

Elder Byron simply nodded. "We need to talk over long distances after all. Like this, we can communicate even when someone with a more powerful Spirit is close to you. If you get surrounded by others, you might need backup."

Gravis looked at the ring, smiled, but then shook his head. "I won't ask for backup. If I die, I die. If you always are ready to intervene, it won't be genuine life and death tempering."

Elder Byron was surprised for a little, but then also grinned and nodded. "That's an excellent mindset. Oh, one more thing," he said as if he had remembered something. "Don't be surprised if you can't take full ownership of the ring. It is worth a lot, and I don't want to lose one if something happens to you. Like this, I can retrieve it."

Gravis had already noticed that he hadn't had the full ownership of the item, but he had already guessed the reason. That Elder Byron said it himself also showed his honest attitude again. "Don't worry. I get it," Gravis acknowledged. "Anyway, where are the Greens right now?"

"Let me ask," said Elder Byron. Then, he looked at his ring for a while. After some seconds, Elder Byron turned to Gravis again. "They didn't go far. It seems like they are not running at full speed. Creed is currently following them and waiting for you. Just run towards the north-north-east, and you can get updates from Creed on the way. Just experiment with the ring, and I'm sure that you will get the hang of it."

Then Elder Byron looked like he remembered something else as well. "Oh, I totally forgot," he said. "If you release your Spirit, the Greens will notice it. Try to keep your Spirit hidden until you have them in your vision. As soon as they feel your Spirit, they will be ready for a fight."

Gravis nodded again. He had already guessed that. "I'll be off then," said Gravis as he retrieved his Lightning Board. He quickly jumped onto it and started accelerating to the north.

"I wish you success!" shouted Elder Byron after him, which Gravis answered with a wave of his hand. In nearly no time, Gravis left the vicinity of the Greys.

He quickly started accelerating until he broke the sound barrier. If he moved slower than sound, it would take him over an hour to get to his destination. Only like this could he arrive quickly enough.

After around half an hour, Gravis checked his ring again and willed it to connect with Creed. "Creed, can you hear me? This is Gravis."

"Oh, Gravis. Where are you right now?" Creed's voice came out of the ring.

"I've traveled for nearly 1,000 kilometers to north-north-east. Where do I need to go?" Gravis asked.

"Do you see a gigantic Spirit Tree somewhere?" asked Creed through the ring.

Gravis looked around for a bit. After some seconds, he saw a humongous tree on the horizon. "I see an about ten-kilometer-tall tree some kilometers to the west from here."

"That's the Spirit Tree," answered Creed. "Just move towards the east from there. I'll release my Spirit. You should be able to feel it at some point."

"Alright," answered Gravis, and shot towards the east.

After some minutes of traveling, he felt a powerful Spirit encompass him. 'This should be the Spirit of a Seed Stage cultivator,' Gravis judged. Gravis hadn't felt the Spirit of his new colleagues before since they always wore the ring, so he wasn't sure if this was Creed's Spirit. Gravis looked at his ring again. "I feel the Spirit of a Seed Stage cultivator. Is that yours?"

"Yeah, that's me," answered Creed. "If you feel it, then move towards the north-east again. I'm on a hill beside a forest."

Gravis check his surroundings and saw a close forest.

WHOOM!

Gravis used his strength to push the Lightning Board down with his feet, which then shot into the air together with Gravis. From the air, Gravis could see over the forest's canopy and saw the hill that Creed had mentioned. After Gravis landed, he changed his course to the hill.

Some seconds later, Gravis arrived, and he saw Creed waving towards him. Gravis stopped beside him. "Where are they?" he asked.

"I left their vicinity to release my Spirit so that you can find me," said Creed and then took out a map. "You should know that the Spirit's area always increases by a matter of two. They have a Sapling Stage cultivator, so I needed to build a distance of at least 40 kilometers to reach you."

Creed then pointed at the map. "We are currently here, and they are going exactly this way," he said as he pointed at another location. "This is Storm City, an outpost of the Wind Sect. You might think they are pretty close, but this map encompasses a huge part of the Core-Continent. The city is still around 2,000 kilometers away. As long as you follow along this path, you will find them."

Gravis checked the map and nodded. "How do I recognize them?" he asked.

Creed laughed a little. "That's easy! They wear the same kinds of robes as us, but green in color. Of course, they are not allowed to keep themselves hidden with an item. They are our entrance test, after all, and not the other way around. There are one Sapling Stage cultivator and three Seed Stage cultivators. So, be careful, okay?" Creed said.

Gravis smirked and nodded. "No worries. I'll be off. See you later!" Gravis said as he continued his journey.

After around two minutes, Gravis saw several people on the horizon. Yet, when he saw them, his eyes and mouth opened in shock. What did he see? The four people were flying on their weapons low to the ground. How was that possible? Wind Cultivators could fly with the help of their element, but they didn't ride on weapons. Gravis couldn't think of another element that was able to fly in this manner.

"They really are from a different world," Gravis unwittingly uttered. Gravis still had had some doubts before. That people from another world arrived in this one was an extraordinary claim, and Gravis

wouldn't wholly believe someone if they said something like that. He still needed to see it with his own eyes to be convinced.

Yet, when he saw those people flying on their weapons with no help of an element, he was convinced. His last doubts towards the Greys vanished. Something like this couldn't be faked. Gravis had to accept that something that he had accepted for a fact had been wrong. Apparently, lower worlds could send over their own people to different ones.

"I wonder how they will fight. They probably won't use elements since they came from a different world. Will their fighting style be similar to the Rakshasa Saber? I also wonder if they are stronger than the cultivators from this world."

"Now, this will be interesting," Gravis said as he shot towards them.