Ch. 71..80
Chapter 71
The tower seemed magical, but the disciples knew that it would take a long time until they would visit it. The Lightning Tower was something for disciples who were about to break through into the Energy Gathering Realm.
"By the way," said Gorn. "Every day, in the central plaza, a higher ranking disciple is lecturing on the nature of lightning and the cultivation world, as a whole. You might want to attend, though you have to pay money to listen."
'Money, again' thought the disciples and sighed. It seemed like everything in the Lightning Guild was centered around money.
"Anyway," continued Gorn. "I am going to leave you guys to it. Welcome to your new home," he said with a smile to the disciples. "Gravis, follow me," he commanded as he started walking to the guild. Gravis simply followed.
"The best way to manage your time, right now, is to stay in your house and read the Lightning Codex. Reread it many times until you know it by heart. When you have mastered the Codex, you should go to the Lightning Tower. When you know the Lightning Codex by heart, you will automatically know what to do," Gorn explained patiently.
Gravis nodded while he followed. This seemed like the best way to proceed. "Do I need to pay money to access the Lightning Tower?" asked Gravis.
Gorn just laughed. "Of course!" he said, and Gravis only sighed. "The price depends on which level you want to cultivate. We have four different levels in the Lightning Tower. The higher you go, the less Life Energy the lightning possesses. You'll understand what that means when you read the Codex."
Now, Gravis was confused. How were Life Energy and lightning related? Gravis shook his head. Gorn said he would understand when he read the Codex. Everything would probably be explained then.
"Oh, another thing," said Gorn as he remembered something. "You might want to participate in the tournament in three months."
Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Tournament? Again?" he asked in annoyance.
Gorn laughed slyly. "No worries. You will win the tournament without issues. I've seen what you can do, and no one in the Body Tempering Realm is your match. Just try not to destroy the other disciples' fighting motivation."
Gravis furrowed his brows. "Why should I participate in this tournament?" he asked.
Gorn smirked. "Winning the tournament gives you the opportunity to cultivate on the fourth level of the Lightning Tower for a week. You shouldn't miss that. When you read the Codex, you should understand."
Gravis just nodded. They continued walking until they arrived at a house beside the Guild Master's residence. Gorn knocked on the door, and after a while, a young man opened the door.
The young man had long blonde hair and had average height. Initially, his eyes had shown arrogance, but when he noticed the Guild Master, his expression changed to politeness. "Hello, Guild Master. What can disciple do for you?" he asked politely.
"Hello Frank," Gorn said with the majesty that a Guild Master should possess. "The time has come. I have previously said that you could only stay in this house until someone fitting came along. Please vacate the house as soon as possible," he announced.
Frank looked shocked. "Guild Master, I don't mean any disrespect, but my brother, Jaimy, said that I could live here until he left towards the parent-guild," he explained carefully.
Gorn narrowed his eyes. "Yes, but that was under the circumstance that no one else would need this residence. Someone like that has arrived," Gorn pointed at Gravis with his thumb. "Please pack your stuff and look for another house."
Frank looked at Gravis with animosity and disgust. "What makes him so outstanding that I have to vacate my residency for him?"
SLAP!
Gorn slapped Frank flying, and he hit the wall. Luckily, Gorn was careful with the slap and didn't damage the house. "Insolent!" he shouted with rage. "Have you forgotten who I am? I am your Guild Master! I have tolerated your earlier disrespect, but I won't tolerate it a second time. Do what I say and vacate the house!"
Frank got up and touched his cheek in shock and fear. He couldn't believe that he had been slapped just now. No one had ever slapped him before. Due to his big brother, no one even dared to look at him with disrespect.
Frank nearly exploded in rage, but when he looked at the Guild Master, his courage vanished, and he only whimpered. "Yes, Guild Master." He then quickly stood up and started collecting all his things. After some minutes, he ran out of his house and gave Gorn the keys. He shot one last look at Gravis, and made a gesture that said: "Just you wait!"
Gravis didn't care. The whole Lightning Guild was Gorn's property. The disciples didn't own the houses and only used them. If Gorn wanted Gravis to move, he wouldn't complain. The house didn't belong to him, after all.
"Alright, here's the key," Gorn said to Gravis. "The only way to get into the house, without the key, is to break the door. If anyone dares to do that, I would immediately notice. I live next door, after all. I wish
you a happy time in the guild," he said with a smirk and then went into his own house.
Gravis felt thankful. Gorn had even thrown out someone else so that Gravis could feel safer. It was not necessary for Gorn to do that. Gravis remembered this kindness and promised himself that he would repay Gorn.
Gravis went inside the house and looked around. It only had one floor, which consisted of the living room and a bedroom. In the bedroom, Gravis saw a pillow lying on the ground. This was probably for meditation. Gravis could only sigh, as he didn't understand why so many cultivators wanted to meditate.
The windows weren't precisely windows. They looked more like open holes with bars made of stone going through them. That was probably the reason why Gorn said that someone could only enter through the door. Breaking the bars wouldn't be hard, but it would be loud.
Gravis didn't waste any more time and sat down on the pillow. The pillow was actually more comfortable than it looked, and it felt really nice to sit on it. This was good stuff. With an eager look, Gravis took out the Lightning Codex.
It was time that he learned more about lightning!
Chapter 72
Gravis started reading the Lightning Codex, and surprisingly, the first thing the Lightning Codex talked about was Life Energy. Life Energy was the inherent Energy in a body that was used to sustain its life.
One could have an uninjured body and have little Life Energy. Old people were a good example of that. They might be uninjured, but they would be tired, and they couldn't stimulate their bodies too hard, or their bodies might fail.
One could also have a severely injured body and be full of Life Energy. When Gravis came out of the ravine in the Basin of Nature, he was severely injured, yet he still had a lot of stamina and power. His body then worked on healing his injuries.
The concept of Life Energy seemed ethereal. It was not something that Gravis could point to and say: "That's Life Energy." It was basically just a thing inside of a body that allowed people to remain young and regenerate.
After the Lightning Codex explained Life Energy, it described the destruction and creation aspect of every element, which was something Gravis had not thought about before. He had only thought about the power of the elements.
Fire was a destructive element, and it couldn't create. One might think about fertile lands after a fire and how the ash would help new plants sprout, yet that was not the creation of fire itself. The other elements would take over and use the remains of fire's destruction to fuel their own creation.
Yet, there was balance. While fire couldn't create, it reigned supreme in pure destruction. Fire didn't care about anything and just destroyed everything it touched. No other element could beat fire in pure destruction. Yet, from a combat standpoint, fire couldn't help someone heal and couldn't be used defensively.
Earth also couldn't create. Living things might be able to use earth as help to live, yet earth by itself, couldn't create. Earth also didn't have the pure destruction of fire. So, what made earth equal to the other elements?
Earth reigned supreme in defense. The hardness and sturdiness of the earth could be used as a defensive shield and to protect others. Earth was also not too bad in an attack. An earth wave could swallow the enemy.
Water could create. It transferred Life Energy and nutrients. It was said that life originally came from the oceans, yet Gravis was not so sure about that.
Water was incredibly effective in healing. It had the ability to transfer the Life Energy of the user to the patient. This allowed someone, no matter how heavily they were injured, to regenerate, because water was not using their Life Energy to heal, but someone else's. In contrast, water's destructive potential and defensive potential were average to low.
Wind couldn't create. Wind was able to offer oxygen to living things, yet without life, it was useless. Wind's destructive potential was a little stronger than water, but not outstanding. It also couldn't be used as a shield or something similar. It also couldn't create. So, what made wind so special?
Wind reigned supreme in speed. Speed could be used defensively with evasion, and it could be used offensively by out-speeding the opponent. If no one were fast enough to hit you, you wouldn't be hit. If no one were fast enough to defend against your attacks, they would be hit.
Light could create. Light was an incredible catalyst for Life Energy. Light could stimulate one's Life Energy to multiply and to transform. In comparison to water, light used the inherent Life Energy of the patient. At first glance, light seemed to be inferior to water.
Yet, one would need to make a distinction. If the goal were to save someone from death, then yes, water would be superior.
What about a lighter injury? Water would still be better in healing when it came to the patient.
What about several heavily injured people? Water would be able to heal some of them, but then the user would need to regenerate their own Life Energy. A lot of people would still die. This is where light would shine. Light could keep up the healing indefinitely, as long as the patients themselves had enough Life Energy.
What about several lightly injured people? Water couldn't even begin to compare to light in that department. Light could heal everyone and keep them on full fighting strength. In that scenario, water could only watch on bitterly.
Light's destructive property was the weakest of every element. It could be used to burn the opponent, but it was not nearly as effective as fire. Yet, light was not bad in defense. It could blind opponents and disorient them with well placed light beams. It might even be able to bend the natural light so that the attacker's target was actually in a different position than the attacker thought.
Darkness was a tricky one. It couldn't create, and its immediate destructive potential was also weak. It also couldn't block. So, what made darkness so special? Darkness was incredibly versatile. Darkness attacked the Life Energy in the target directly, so while the target looked uninjured after the attack, they might succumb to injury later.
Darkness was similar to poison. It ate away at the Life Energy until the body didn't have enough of it to remain alive. If a darkness attack were paired with a physical attack, it would be devastating. The darkness would sap the enemy of the ability to heal, and a cut from an attack might never receive enough Life Energy to recover fully. Like that, someone might succumb to a simple cut.
Darkness was also incredibly silent and sinister. It reigned supreme in stealth and had a lot of methods of escaping. In short, the darkness element was the perfect element for assassins.
Before the Lightning Codex started talking about lightning, it first explained all the other elements and also showed a spreadsheet of the elements.
Gravis now understood a lot more about the different elements. The Lightning Codex went into more detail about the other elements. It also explained that the reader first had to realize the strengths and
weaknesses of the other elements so that they could better judge the strengths and weaknesses of lightning. Because...
Lightning was different from the other elements.
Chapter 73
Gravis was surprised when he continued reading the Lightning Codex, as lightning was different from the other elements. The other elements were either good in creation or destruction, but lightning could be good in either one of those, yet not in both at the same time.
Elements like water and light, which were very good in creation, would use their element and create something destructive if they wanted to fight. The elements were, inherently, not destructive. Yet, lightning was inherently neither about destruction nor about creation.
Gravis put the Lightning Codex down for a second and thought. The destruction of lightning was apparent. It could destroy everything it hit, and its destruction was incredibly powerful, yet what's with this creation stuff? Creation had been described as the manipulation of Life Energy, and Gravis couldn't think of how creation and lightning were related.
Gravis continued reading and furrowed his brows further. The other elements were either 100% destruction and 0% creation, or 0% destruction and 100% creation. It was easy to categorize, yet lightning…
Lightning: Variable destruction/variable creation.
What was that supposed to mean? How can an element be variable in destruction and creation? It either created or destroyed. Gravis continued reading, and slowly he started understanding.
Lightning was comprised of pure Destruction Energy and pure Life Energy. The ratio of destruction and creation varied based on the type of lightning. Gravis was surprised when he learned that there were different types of lightning. He had only truly seen Heaven using lightning, and it always used it in an extremely destructive manner.
Life Energy, in itself, was not as concentrated as Destruction Energy. To be more precise, lightning with 90% Life Energy and 10% Destruction Energy would do absolutely nothing. It would not heal, and it
would not damage, since the Destruction and Life Energy canceled each other out. It would merely exist, nothing more.
Gravis grew more confused. He couldn't imagine a lightning bolt striking something and nothing happening. With that ratio, one wouldn't even be able to hurt a small mouse. What's the point of that? Gravis continued reading.
Lightning with the earlier mentioned ratio didn't exist in nature and could only be created artificially. Natural lightning had a 50/50 ratio. Natural lightning, with this ratio, would be about as destructive as fire.
The Lightning Codex then talked about Life Lightning. Apparently, Life Lightning was lightning with 0% destruction and 100% creation. It was incredibly difficult to cultivate and extremely expensive. On top of that, it required a specific mindset.
The more the personality of a person fit the element, the more effective it would be. This was the reason why the Elemental Guilds only accepted specific people into their guilds. The fire produced by someone timid and peaceful would be incredibly weak. The person wouldn't be able to resonate with their element, and they could only force the element to do what they wanted with their will, which would take a lot of Energy.
This demonstrated how difficult and expensive it would be to cultivate in Life Lightning, yet, when Gravis read the effects of Life Lightning, his jaw dropped. Life Lightning was pure Life Energy, and as long as it hit, it would increase the Life Energy of the patient.
This wasn't that impressive, since light and water could do the same. The difference that made Life Lightning so incredible was the source of the transmitted Life Energy. Water used the Life Energy of the user, while light used the Life Energy of the patient.
Life Lightning only used Energy from the user, not Life Energy. This was a humongous difference! Energy filled the person and the surroundings, and someone could just rest a little, and their Energy would recover. Life Energy was way more difficult to regenerate. It would take days or even weeks to recover for a young person, while injured and old people had incredible difficulties in regenerating Life Energy.
As long as the user still had Energy, they could heal as many people as long as their Energy reserves were not used up, no matter how injured the patient was. Of course, everything positive came with its fair share of negatives.
While water and light could still attack with their elements, people who cultivate in Life Lightning couldn't. If they used their element as an attack, they would just heal their opponents. People who cultivated in Life Lightning either had to find protectors or fight without their element.
"If there is lightning with 100% Life Energy, is there also lightning with 100% Destruction Energy?" Gravis asked himself. If natural lightning with a ratio of 50/50 was already as powerful as fire, how powerful would lightning with 100% Destruction Energy be?
Gravis continued reading, and quickly, his face scrunched up. Was there lightning that was 100% destructive?
No.
The highest ratio, that anyone had ever managed, was 60/40. The Lightning Sect had spent a fortune to make their strongest genius into the strongest person. They used up an incredible amount of wealth to increase the ratio of destruction to 60%, yet, it was a successful gamble.
That person had reigned supreme in the Elemental Sects, and no one was able to obstruct him. He rampaged through the Elemental Sects and increased the power of the Lightning Sect. After a long reign, that person finally ascended into a higher world.
The Lightning Codex continued talking about the destructive nature of lightning and why it was so challenging to create. The first problem was the splitting of the Energy. Lightning was one entity, and how could someone split it in two?
The other problem was the destructive aspect. The more destructive lightning got, the harder it was to manipulate it with Formation Arrays. At some point, the lightning would become so destructive that it destroyed the Formation Arrays. Either the Energy of the Formation Arrays went out of control, or the lightning destroyed the materials.
The last problem was the body of the cultivator. Cultivating something like fire, darkness, and natural lightning was already risky. If someone weren't careful, their body would be destroyed while cultivating.
All these issues made increasing the destruction of lightning difficult, and cultivating 100% destructive lightning was, straight up, impossible. How could someone even absorb something like that? Their whole body would get destroyed. Even Gravis was 100% sure that he wouldn't have even a slight chance of absorbing 100% destructive lightning.
Gravis understood lightning better now, and after the long description of lightning's property, the Lightning Codex finally came to the part about how to cultivate lightning.
Apparently, one would need to start by getting struck by weaker lightning and creating a Lightning Seed. After the Lightning Seed had been created, the person would increase the intensity of lightning until their body couldn't take much more.
The best that anyone could do, without the backing of a supreme Sect, was 50%. That was the threshold of natural lightning, and one couldn't find better lightning anywhere. While absorbing lightning, the person would also slowly temper their muscles and make them lightning resistant.
When the person broke through the Energy Gathering Realm, they only needed to funnel their Energy through the Lightning Seed, and they would be able to create their own lightning, based on the purity of their Lightning Seed. Sadly, the book didn't go into detail on how to continue after breaking into the Energy Gathering Realm.
After several hours, Gravis had finally finished reading the Lightning Codex, and eyes showed his boundless ambition. He finally knew how to cultivate lightning. The first thing he had to do was go into the Lightning Tower's first level and condense his Lightning Seed. After that-
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Gravis looked at the entrance.
"Who could that be?"
Chapter 74
Gravis stood up, walked to the entrance, and opened it. He saw two young men who were about as big as him, yet looked entirely different. One carried a big axe and had brown, brutish hair, while the other had a sword hanging from his waist and hat blonde hair tied in a ponytail. The man with the axe was muscular, and Gravis could see his muscles through his clothes. The other guy seemed refined and carried a smile.
"Yes?" asked Gravis neutrally. He wanted to get back to reading the Lightning Codex. Gorn told him that he should reread it until he perfectly knew it by heart, and Gravis would follow that advice.
The man with the axe grinned in disdain. "I've heard that a new guy with incredible strength joined our guild," then he laughed loudly. "But you really-"
"What do you want?" Gravis cut him off.
The man with the axe got angry and wanted to say something, but the other one gestured for him to be quiet. "The previous owner of the house is the younger brother of our leader, and he has been living here for-"
"Get to the point," Gravis interrupted again. He didn't want to waste more time here.
The man with the sword took a deep breath to remain calm. "Would you be so kind as to switch houses with-"
"No."
BANG!
The door was slammed shut in their faces, and the wind threw their hair back. Both of them blinked a couple of times at the now-closed door and didn't know what to do. That was not the reaction they
anticipated. Weren't new guys supposed to ask and learn about the guild and how it worked around here?
The man with the axe exploded and banged on the door with his fist, multiple times. After some seconds, the door opened again, and Gravis looked at them with annoyance.
"What? I already said no," he said.
The man with the axe couldn't remain civil anymore. "Listen here, you little shit-"
BANG!
The door slammed shut again, and the man was now thoroughly infuriated. He took out his axe and wanted to hack the door down, but the other man quickly tackled him and held him in place.
"Let me go! I will tear his fucking little mouth apart and shit down his throat until all his descendants get mistaken for shit-flies!" he continued shouting like crazy, while the other guy kept him down.
"Calm down, Fred! This house is for Brother Frank, and it's right beside the Guild Master's residence. We can't damage it," the man with the sword tried to calm Fred. "He can't stay in that house forever! He'll have to go on missions at some point. We'll just have to wait on the street."
Fred took some deep breaths and calmed down. "You're right, Steve. We just have to wait for him to come out," then he gritted his teeth. "But then, I will tear him to pieces."
Steve just nodded. "More or less. When he comes out, you can 'spar' with him as much as you want. Come on, let's wait over at the street. We can sit down and keep watch over the entrance."
Fred nodded, and they walked to a bench beside the main-street and sat down, watching Gravis' entrance. "He'll get what's coming," grumbled Fred.
Gravis sat back down on his cushion and continued rereading the Lightning Codex. He had to learn everything by heart. If he started condensing his Lightning Seed and something unexpected happened, he would need to know how to counteract that.
Like this, Gravis spent the next two days reading until he finally memorized the whole thing. As he put the Lightning Codex down, he yawned. All this learning had exhausted him. On top of that, he was also starving. Gravis decided that he would first sleep and get food the next day.
Fred and Steve sat bored on the bench. They were taking shifts in watching the entrance, yet both were bored out of their minds. "Man, doesn't the guy get hungry?" Fred asked.
Steve thought about it. "What if he has rations in the house?" asked Steve back with a helpless tone.
Fred only groaned and stood up. "This is so frustrating," he said while kicking the ground in boredom. "We could've made some serious buck in the last couple of days, yet we're only standing here watching a fucking door." He sat back down again. "What am I doing with my life?" he asked himself.
Steve rolled his eyes. "Come on. It's for Boss. You know how Boss always supports us without ever asking for something back. Think about what Boss did for you," he said to Fred. "Don't you want to repay him?"
Fred sighed. "You're right," he conceded. "It's for Boss, and this is the least I could do for him. It's not nearly enough repayment for what he's done for us, but it's a start." Like this, they continued twiddling their thumbs, and kicking pebbles around until finally…
Creak!
Their eyes quickly snapped to the entrance, and they finally saw Gravis coming out from his house. Just as expected, Gravis started coming to the main street, probably on his way to the plaza. They both quickly stood up and blocked the middle of the road, waiting for him.
Gravis was hungry and wanted to eat something. He wasn't even sure where he could get any food, but there surely was a place that sold some. Maybe he could find some in the Exchange Hall.
Gravis saw the two people from a couple of days ago blocking the middle of the road and just tried to pass them at the side.
Shuffle shuffle shuffle…
Gravis' front was blocked again as the two guys shuffled to the side to block him. Gravis couldn't bother with them and walked to the middle now.
Shuffle shuffle shuffle…
They blocked his path again, and Gravis finally grew annoyed. He looked into their eyes. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked plainly.
Fred simply smiled in arrogance. "Can't hide in your little house anymore, eh? You finally read-"
BANG!
Fred keeled over as Gravis punched him in the gut. Steve's jaw dropped, and he couldn't believe his eyes. That attack had been way too fast! He hadn't even seen Gravis moving before Fred already bent forward in pain. Fred's mouth opened wide in a silent scream, and Steve couldn't hear him breathing.
Fred fell forwards on his knees and hands, still being unable to breathe. Gravis simply stepped forward and walked over him, continuing on his way to get some food.
Steve looked to Gravis, then back to Fred, back to Gravis, and back to Fred again. He didn't know how to proceed. Should he stop him? Should he tell Boss?
What was he supposed to do?
Chapter 75
Gravis continued walking down the road until he arrived at the plaza. There were around 40 people present, most of them standing around the different notice boards. The other 60 were probably already on missions or in their houses.
Many people turned towards him. Everyone knew each other, and they hadn't seen Gravis' face before. Some of them had guessed who he was since the others from the entrance exams were more sociable than Gravis. Of course, they had talked about Gravis before. When the other disciples saw the black saber on Gravis' back, they all realized who he was.
Gravis had left his other saber in his house. The whole reason why he went through all this drama to get that particular house was so that Gorn could keep watch. Gorn wouldn't covet Gravis' saber since he already had his own weapon and didn't need another one. This whole thing was more for protecting the saber against other people.
Gravis saw a cart selling noodles and meat. That was probably where most people bought their food. He went over and bought some smoked meat, which he placed in some of his sacks, and some noodles, which he ate immediately. Compared to a city, the food price here was extreme. The price was written in silver.
Yet, no one batted an eye since everyone in the guild counted their money in gold. The insane prices were probably the only reason the guy even sold his wares in such a small 'village'. Gravis got his noodles in a small box so he could walk around while eating.
Gravis didn't want to waste more time and started walking to the Lightning Tower. He still had around 80 gold from selling his treasures from the Basin of Nature. He wondered what the prices were in the Lightning Tower.
When he was about to enter the tower, two burly men started blocking the entrance into the tower. They both wore spears and armor, and Gravis thought that this was weird. Gorn said there were no
guards in this guild, yet those two looked precisely like guards.
Gravis finished a mouthful of noodles. "What do you want?" he asked and then took another mouthful of noodles.
The guard on the right stepped forward imposingly and puffed out his chest. "It's one gold as an entrance fee."
Gravis slurped his noodles and looked at the guard. The guards waited for Gravis to say something, but Gravis first finished his mouthful of noodles. Talking with a full mouth was impolite. "The Guild Master said nothing of an entrance fee."
The other guard stepped forward and looked aggressively at Gravis. "It is one gold as an entrance fee. I don't care-"
SLUUUURP!
Gravis was slurping his noodles and looked the guard in the eyes. For some reason, the guard got really angry when he saw Gravis' dismissal. Was he not taking the situation seriously?
The guard waited for Gravis to finish his mouthful. "It is one-"
SLUUUURP!
Gravis slurped again and watched the guard. He knew that those guys were up to no good. If the Lightning Tower needed an entrance fee, Gorn would have told him. They were probably more powerful disciples trying to extort money from weaker disciples.
The other guard pushed the first one to the side and stepped forward and leaned his face close to Gravis. He, obviously, was trying to intimidate Gravis. He closed in and spoke in a deep and intimidating voice: "It seems like you-"
SLUUURP!
Sauce splashed onto the guard's face. Slurping noodles was a messy affair. The guard finally exploded and lifted his spear.
BANG!
Gravis' leg lifted and hit the guard between the legs, while he still ate his noodles. He didn't have a free hand right now, so this should do. The guard froze and then fell to the floor in pain. All other disciples watched because they wanted to see a stimulating scene of the seniors beating up a new junior. They also went through the same when they first arrived.
Yet, they now only looked in shock at the guard screeching on the floor in pain. This was not how this was supposed to go.
"Bastard! I'll tear-"
BANG THUMP!
Gravis kicked the floored guard into the other guard, and they both slammed into the Lightning Tower's wall. Gravis' kick was strong, and their injuries were not light.
SLUUURP!
Gravis slurped another mouthful of noodles while watching the guards. After some seconds, he got bored and entered the Lightning Tower.
The inside of the Lightning Tower looked simpler than its outside. It looked like the entrance to some public hall with a reception. Sitting at the reception desk, Gravis saw a young woman reading a book. She was the first female disciple that Gravis had seen inside the guild.
Lightning was a pretty aggressive element, and not many women had an appropriate disposition for it. Gravis finished the noodles and put the box into one of his sacks. Then, Gravis walked over to the counter.
"What do you need?" the woman said without looking up from her book.
"What are the prices for the Lightning Tower?" he asked.
"First level, one gold an hour. Second level, ten gold an hour. Third level, a hundred gold an hour. The fourth level is off-limits," narrated the woman with practiced ease while turning the page of her book.
Gravis was shocked. The first level was cheaper than he had thought, and the third more expensive. There was surely a reason for those enormous price differences. "What's the level of Destruction Energy and Life Energy on the different levels?" he asked.
After hearing this, the woman put her book down and looked at Gravis in surprise. Every time new disciples joined the guild, the first thing they did was inquire about the Lightning Tower. It was the center of the guild, after all. She had thought that this was just another new disciple, yet, Gravis had spoken of Destruction and Life Energy.
"Interesting," she said with a smirk. "You've already read the Lightning Codex?" she asked with interest.
Gravis just nodded.
The woman looked surprised. "I haven't seen you before. That means you should be one of the new guys. How come you already read the Lightning Codex?" she asked in interest.
"I have tempered everything but my muscles. Creating the Lightning Seed is my next step," Gravis explained neutrally.
"Oooh," the woman cooed in surprise. "You must be the special new guy everyone is talking about. What's your name?" she asked.
"Gravis," Gravis said with his usual neutral look. "So, about those levels…"
The woman felt a little angry that Gravis just changed the topic like that. She was obviously showing her interest in him, yet he didn't seem to care. She felt a little insulted. She thought that her charm was better than this.
"First level is 20/80. Second one is 30/70. Third one is 40/60. Fourth one is natural lightning," she explained, back in her bored manner while reading her book again. Gravis didn't seem interested, and she didn't want to prolong the conversation anymore. She could take a hint.
Gravis now understood why it was so expensive. Natural lightning was the highest lightning anyone could create without an absurd amount of money. Even 40% Destruction Energy was a lot. If he managed to get a Lightning Seed with 50% Destruction Energy, he would receive the same tempering as the most supreme geniuses in the Core Continent. That was a place where Spirit Forming experts lived.
Gravis had read that it would take a long time to create a Lighting Seed, so he took out 20 gold and placed them on the counter. "20 hours, first floor," he said.
The woman stood up, took a key, and threw it to Gravis. "Room 16. Wish you luck," she said nonchalantly, still reading her book.
Gravis took the key and walked deeper into the Lightning Tower.
Today, he would condense his Lightning Seed!
Chapter 76
Gravis walked down the corridor until he found a room with a "16" painted on the door. Gravis put the key in, opened the door, and entered.
The room looked different than he thought. He had expected lightning coming out of the walls, yet he only saw a small cabin with two holes. One hole was on the ceiling and the other one on the floor beneath it. The two holes were only about five centimeters wide. This was probably where the lightning was supposed to be.
Gravis closed the door and thought back on the Lightning Codex. When he was confident, he started walking forward and sat on top of the hole. He waited, but nothing happened. After a while, Gravis noticed a lever to his right, which could be accessed easily from his position.
He prepared himself and pulled it down.
BZZZT!
Lightning came from the top hole and hit Gravis' head, but Gravis didn't react. His Elemental Synchronicity was always active, and lightning without a will behind it could do nothing to him. The lightning went through his body and into the bottom hole.
Gravis pulled his hand back, and the lever popped back into place. The lightning also immediately stopped. "Interesting," Gravis thought. Gravis took a deep breath and readied himself. This would probably hurt a lot.
While using his Elemental Synchronicity, Gravis could ignore the lightning, yet he was supposed to temper his muscles. If he didn't absorb the lightning, he wouldn't be able to temper his muscles nor create a Lightning Seed.
He could let elements pass through his body, unhindered. Back when he fought against the low-grade demonic beast snake, he had used it to get rid of the poison. He had been bitten and Gravis had used fire to cleanse his body. While his body remained unaffected, the poison was burned since it was not part of his body, after all.
Gravis pulled the lever down again, and the lightning returned. With a last sigh, Gravis stopped his Elemental Synchronicity, and the lightning fully hit his head and rampaged throughout his body. Gravis clenched his teeth but stopped after a while. It was not as painful as he had thought, actually. He had expected something more painful.
Gravis concentrated on the lightning and made it move towards his dantian. He couldn't place the Lightning Seed inside the dantian since it would just destroy the whole thing, but he could place it right outside it. In the future, Gravis would use his dantian as the place for his Energy Vortex.
Manipulating the lightning inside one's body was usually done differently than Elemental Synchronicity. The practitioners would manipulate their bodies so the lightning could only go in, but not out. When enough lightning was compressed in a specific spot, it would condense a Lightning Seed.
Gravis smirked. "Even though condensing a Lightning Seed is different from my Elemental Synchronicity, I can still use it to make the lightning gather in one spot," he said to himself.
He willed the lightning to move towards his dantian, yet also willed the lightning to attack him. He had to temper his muscles, after all. All the lightning started gathering in his dantian, and not even a little bit left his body. Without his Elemental Synchronicity, this would be impossible.
After a while, Gravis felt something condense beside his dantian. "It's already done?" Gravis exclaimed in surprise as he inspected his body. There was something akin to a small star beside his dantian, and it was continually sparking with lightning. Sure enough, Gravis had already condensed his Lightning Seed.
Gravis was quite surprised. The Lightning Codex said that creating the Lightning Seed took, by far, the longest time in cultivating lightning. Normal people had to bathe in lightning for weeks before they could condense it. Gravis' Elemental Synchronicity had saved him a lot of time by forcing all the lightning to stay in one place.
Gravis couldn't use his Lightning Seed yet. He could only create new lightning by funneling his Energy through the Lightning Seed, and he didn't have any Energy. He would first need to step into the Energy Gathering Realm before he could use it.
Gravis looked at the timer above the door. In the beginning, it had shown 20 remaining hours, and now it showed a little more than 15 remaining hours. Gravis had taken less than five hours to create his Lightning Seed.
"Well, no point in wasting good lightning," he said as he continued tempering his body. His Lightning Seed was automatically at the Destruction Energy ratio of the lightning in the room. There was no point in pushing more lightning into it. Instead, he would use all remaining lightning to temper his body.
After 15 hours, the lightning stopped flowing, and Gravis couldn't activate it anymore. He looked at the timer and saw that his time was up. Gravis stood up and performed some practice attacks, yet he didn't feel a difference.
"15 hours of pure tempering in lightning, and I don't even feel a difference in my muscles," he sighed. "This will take a while. The Codex said the tempering depended on the destruction and recreation of muscles. My muscles are probably already too strong to be harmed by such weak lightning. I need stronger lightning," he concluded as he left the room.
He locked the door and went back to the reception desk. He placed the key down and also 50 gold. "five hours on the second floor," he said to the woman.
The woman didn't show an expression as she took out a new key, but inside, she was sneering. A lot of first-timers underestimated the time it took to create a Lightning Seed, and some of them tried to condense it on the second floor, thinking that would expedite things.
Of course, it didn't work that way. Their bodies first needed more lightning resistance before they even could attempt to temper themselves on the second level. "Room 3," she said and tossed the key over.
Gravis received the key, nodded, and went back into the Lightning Tower. He quickly found his room on the second floor and entered. The room was identical to the last one. Gravis sat down and pulled the lever.
BZZZT!
The lightning came down, and Gravis already felt the difference. It was way more painful, and it also felt more violent. Gravis could still take this pain easily and smiled. "Now, this is way better," he said to himself as he started pushing the lightning into his Lightning Seed. He would first increase the purity of his Lightning Seed before he went onto tempering his body.
Gravis concentrated on increasing the Destruction Energy ratio of his Lightning Seed, and he felt like he was already halfway there when the lightning suddenly stopped. Gravis pulled the lever down, but nothing happened. When he looked at the timer, he noticed that his five hours were up. 'What? Already? I'm only halfway there!' he thought in frustration.
It seemed like Gravis' situation was the opposite of a normal person. Regular lightning practitioners needed, by far, the longest time to condense their Lightning Seeds, but for Gravis. For him, it took longer to increase the purity of the lightning.
Yet, Gravis made a mistake in his assumption. He thought that he took longer to increase the purity of his lightning than other people, but that was far from true. He was still around three times faster than
other people in increasing his Lightning Seed's destruction. It only felt so long for him because his condensation of the Lightning Seed was many tens-of-times faster than others.
"Seems like I need about another five hours to get my Lightning Seed to the right destruction purity. The Lightning Codex also said that every additional 10% take double the time of the previous 10%. So, in total, it would take me 10 hours to go from 20% to 30%. By that calculation, I would need 20 hours to go to 40% and 40 hours to go to 50%," Gravis said while narrowing his eyes.
Gravis then started calculating. "I have ten gold left, and I need another five hours on this level, which is 50 gold. So, to finish this level, I need another 40 gold. Then I need around 20 hours on the third floor, which would come up to… 2,000 gold," he uttered while taking a deep breath.
"I need money."
Chapter 77
Gravis stood up and performed some practice punches. His punches were a little faster, but not much. "Seems like I can actually temper my body here, though most of the lightning went into the seed. Maybe I should stay in here for a couple more hours to temper my muscles," he explained to himself. Because of his need for social interaction, he had created a habit of talking to himself.
"Anyway, off to earn some money." Gravis went out of the door and walked to the reception desk. He put the key down and left the Lightning Tower.
"He's out!" Gravis heard a shout coming from his front and saw eight people dressed in the same armor as the two previous 'guards'. It looked like the two guards from before were not alone. Some disciples had, apparently, created an entire organization, judging by their armors.
They quickly surrounded him and readied their weapons. "You'll regret the day when you crossed- Aaah!"
Gravis had activated his Will-Aura, and the surrounding disciples stepped back in fear. Their eyes opened wide in terror, and their breathing grew heavier and faster. Cold sweat ran down their entire bodies, and their weapons started rattling because of the trembling of their bodies.
"Let this be your last warning," Gravis explained with an emotionless tone. "Block my path again and see what happens."
The surrounding disciples gulped in terror and couldn't react to what he had said since they were scared stiff in fear. Gravis just walked away, and when he arrived at a distance of about ten meters, he deactivated his Will-Aura.
The disciples could finally breathe normally again, and their eyes followed Gravis' back as he walked towards the notice boards. The disciples then looked at each other, not sure if they should defend their honor or not.
"What should we do? If we don't teach him a lesson, we will lose all respect from the other disciples, and extorting money will get harder," asked one disciple.
"He's only one guy," shouted another one. "I don't know what happened, but this time, we will be prepared! We just need to attack togeth-"
BANG!
Gravis had destroyed a tile on the floor and threw one of the pieces at the shouting disciple, which pierced through the disciple's body and destroyed a kidney in the process. The piece was pretty hard since the tiles of the road were not made with ordinary stone.
Contrary to how it looked, Gravis had actually been quite careful with the throw. Those disciples probably had tempered bones, and a throw with a tile piece wouldn't break them. The kidney was not protected by any bones. Furthermore, a person could still survive with only one kidney, so it didn't matter if the disciple had tempered his organs or not.
The disciple fell over and held his bleeding side in horror. He couldn't process what had just happened. The others looked at him in shock and gasped. This was a serious injury and went beyond a simple "spar". That madman was actually ready to lose all pretenses with them!
They decided not to mess with Gravis any further. Gravis had injured one monkey to scare all the others… Well, nearly all the others.
"Are you insane? We are part of the same Guild-"
BANG!
This time, Gravis threw the piece at the forehead of the shouting disciple. The piece was pulverized in the process, but the disciple's skin and flesh also exploded. The others could see parts of the skull
through the hole. The bone looked uninjured, but…
THUMP!
The disciple fell backward to the floor, his eyes remaining wide open. His head hit the ground pretty hard when he fell over, but he didn't notice. A lot of power from the throw went to the disciple's brain, and the brain had smashed around in his skull. The disciple was still alive, but he had a severe concussion.
Meanwhile, Gravis had another tile piece in his hand and repeatedly threw it up and caught it again. He was watching if those disciples would continue making trouble for him.
This time, no one dared to make more trouble for Gravis. They quickly collected their injured comrades and carried them to the Exchange Hall. Their comrades needed some serious healing medicine.
Gravis threw the tile piece to the side and walked to notice boards. The other disciples, who had watched the spectacle, gulped and gave him a wide berth. Even though there were many disciples around the notice boards, Gravis didn't have to wait for his turn to look.
The first notice board he saw was about hunting beasts. Gravis sighed. 'Why do I always have to fight beasts? Ever since I came to the lower world, I hadn't had a true life and death battle with a human. It's always beasts, beasts, beasts…' Gravis thought.
He was a little fed up with beasts. Yes, they were excellent tempering for his will, but he also wanted some variety. On top of that, Gravis thought that evil humans were worse than rampaging monsters. At least, beasts were honest with their intentions. You only had to look at them, and you would have a fight to the death.
With humans, things grew a little more complicated. You could never truly judge a human's character by just one look or one conversation. Murderers could use their silver tongue to sound upright and then
stab you in the back when they gained your trust.
On the other hand, some people insulted and demeaned you when you first met them but would prove to be upright and loyal people in the future.
"Why can't people just be a little more honest?" he grumbled to himself in helplessness. Gravis looked through the notice board for beast hunts and was surprised about the number of missions. "Over 50 hunts for middle-grade demonic beasts, yet not a single one for a high-grade demonic beast."
Gravis sneered in disgust. This was obviously Heaven interfering again. Heaven knew that high-grade demonic beasts would serve as good tempering for the current Gravis, so it didn't allow any of those to approach human settlements. Yet, middle-grade demonic beasts, which Gravis could easily kill, were filling up the entire notice board.
Gravis left the notice board and looked at a different one. This one was for escort-missions and transportation. When Gravis saw the rewards, he showed another look of disgust. The highest paying mission gave 50 gold and would take two whole weeks. In comparison, one middle-grade demonic beast gave 100 gold as a reward plus the carcass of the beast itself.
Gravis went to the next notice board. This one was for assassinations and for recruiting mercenaries, and the payment was actually pretty good. On average, an assassination gave a little more than a middle-grade demonic beast. But what Gravis didn't like was the fact that the mission said nothing about the reason why a specific person was chosen as a target.
Gravis could be morally flexible if it involved his survival, but that didn't mean that he liked it. As long as there were other ways, he wouldn't consider accepting those missions.
Gravis went to the last notice board. This one was for miscellaneous jobs, so basically, everything that didn't fit into one of the other three categories. Gravis read through some of them and saw a lot of
missions for specific pills or specific gear. Some others were for beast-parts and teaching.
The rewards varied immensely, but Gravis saw only some well-paying jobs that he could do. Sadly, those jobs would take too long. Gravis could only sigh.
"Back to hunting, it is."
Chapter 78
"Oh, what do you have for me this time?" asked the clerk behind the counter in the Exchange Hall as he looked at the corpse Gravis was carrying.
THUMP!
Gravis put the corpse down. It was a two-meter tall, yellow mantis. Like all the other beasts he had killed in the last week, this was a middle-grade demonic beast. He needed around two days to complete one mission. It wasn't that the missions were hard, but that the way to the mission areas was pretty long.
The missions came from all over, and Gravis had to travel to those places on foot. He ran pretty fast, but it still took some time. He was running for hours on end, ending the fight in one exchange, and then running for hours again. This was boring Gravis immensely.
Gravis was waiting while the clerk looked over the corpse. After a thorough inspection, he walked behind the counter and took out some money. "As always, an incredibly well-preserved carcass. I'll give you 85 gold for it."
Gravis nodded and took the money. He didn't care about haggling on the price, since that was only a small amount of money to him. As Gravis walked out of the Exchange Hall, he counted his money. "Three missions with 100 gold each as a reward. Another 210 gold from the corpses. With my ten gold from before, I should have 520 gold now."
Gravis pondered his situation for a while. He could finish upgrading his Lightning Seed with only 50 gold, yet he would need 2,000 gold to upgrade his Lightning Seed to 40% Destruction Energy.
After some time, Gravis decided that he would invest all his gold on the Lightning Tower's second level. He would only need five hours for his Lightning Seed, but he wanted to temper his muscles as much as
possible. So, he decided to buy 45 hours on the second level. He would still have 70 gold left, and his muscles would have gotten pretty strong by that point.
Gravis walked into the Lightning Tower. The two 'guards' at the entrance ignored him like he didn't exist. Gravis went into the tower and exchanged his money for 45 hours on the second level. He quickly walked to his room and started cultivating.
Five hours later, his Lightning Seed had upgraded to 30% Destruction Energy, and Gravis started tempering his body. This time, Gravis had brought some food so that he wouldn't get hungry in the middle. The constant destruction and recreation of his muscles was quite painful, but Gravis also realized that this could temper his will further.
While tempering his body, Gravis thought more about the exorbitant amount of money he would need to fully temper his body and to upgrade his Lightning Seed to 40% Destruction Energy. This could take a while.
Suddenly, Gravis got an idea. "Hey, Heaven," he muttered. He knew that Heaven could hear and see everything. "We don't talk a lot, but right now, we have the same goal. You want me to cultivate as quickly as possible to the Spirit Forming Realm, yes?"
Gravis waited, but obviously, Heaven didn't answer. "I also want to cultivate faster right now. I will be tempering my muscles for about 35 more hours in here, and they will be pretty strong by then. You know my strength, Heaven," he continued.
"Right now, fighting a high-grade demonic beast would still be a real fight, but not truly life-threatening to me. When I am done here, my muscles will be even stronger. At that point, hunting a high-grade demonic beast won't be a problem. So, for the benefit of both of us, how about you let some high-grade demonic beasts return, ok?"
Gravis waited a couple of seconds, but nothing happened. Yet, Gravis was pretty sure that Heaven would accept his offer. For Gravis to increase his realm was also Heaven's goal, after all.
When his time was up, Gravis tried out another attack and was very surprised by his new power. Before Gravis had tempered his muscles, his muscular strength was already equal to someone with tempered muscles, but now, his strength had multiplied.
Gravis narrowed his eyes in thought. "I might not be able to use an element of an Energy Gathering expert, but I am probably physically stronger and faster. If I manage to evade all the Energy Attacks, I might even be able to kill the weaker ones in a head-on fight."
Gravis' strength had reached the Energy Gathering Realm while his body was not fully tempered, yet. This had never happened before in the lower world. In Gravis' homeworld, there were probably many people like this, but Gravis was not in his homeworld right now.
"People in the Energy Gathering Realm could safely hunt high-grade demonic beasts, and my strength is equal to someone in the Energy Gathering Realm. I could probably kill high-grade demonic beasts even without using my Will-Aura. The missions for hunting high-grade demonic beasts have probably returned already," he muttered to himself.
Gravis exited the Lightning Tower. It was time for him to earn some money. When he arrived at the plaza, he saw some disciples gathered around the notice board for hunting beasts.
"Man, another high-grade demonic beast? Four groups have already accepted hunts for high-grade demonic beasts, yet they just keep on coming," said one disciple to another one.
Gravis only sneered inside. If Heaven wanted to give him missions for hunting high-grade demonic beasts, it didn't matter how many other people decided to hunt them. Gravis would get his mission. For the first time in his life, Heaven was on Gravis's side, even if only temporarily.
"Is this how it feels to have karmic luck?" he muttered to himself. Like Heaven answered him, his body felt warm on the inside, and it felt like something that he was previously missing appeared. Yet, it vanished just as quickly. Heaven was showing Gravis what he could have if he just conceded.
"Oh, shut up," muttered Gravis quietly. "You don't want me for me. You only want to make my father mad by making one of his children betray him. Sorry, you need to look for another target."
Heaven didn't answer, and Gravis just walked over to the notice board. The other disciples quickly gave him some space, and Gravis looked at the missions. Sure enough, there were multiple missions regarding high-grade demonic beasts. Gravis quickly picked the closest one and left the guild.
"I wonder how strong high-grade demonic beasts are," he said to himself while he shot away like a rocket. His speed was multiple times faster than people with a fully tempered body.
His muscles weren't even fully tempered yet!
Chapter 79
Gravis was looking at a massive bug with imposing horns. It was around five meters high and double as long, and its horns were just as long as the bug itself. This was the first high-grade demonic beast that Gravis had ever seen. While Gravis was watching it, it was munching on the crop of a village. It had already eaten so much of it that the village had nearly no food left.
"Let's see how my strength compares to a high-grade demonic beast," he muttered to himself as he shot to the bug.
SHINK!
The bug couldn't even react before Gravis cut off one of its legs. Gravis was just too fast. The bug immediately grew panicked and opened its shell so its wings could unfold.
SHINK!
Gravis' saber cut off all the wings on one side, and when the bug tried to jump to get airborne, it only received lift from one side. It quickly toppled over and fell onto its side.
Gravis was no longer attacking and just looked at the bug. 'This is such a disappointment. No wonder Heaven had no issue with me hunting high-grade demonic beasts,' he thought as he saw the bug getting up. It turned towards Gravis in fear, panic, and rage. With all its strength, it stabbed its horns at him.
Gravis easily sidestepped the horns. He was faster than the beast, and together with his battle experience, he could dodge all of its attacks for hours on end. The beast rammed him again with its horn.
BANG!
Gravis wanted to test his strength and blocked the next strike. Gravis got pushed back for some meters, but that wasn't due to its strength, but due to the weak ground. Gravis' arms shook a little, but that was about it.
'This should be its strongest attack, yet I blocked it without an issue. My body strength is probably equal to the bug's. Yet, due to my weight, I am actually way faster. It takes a lot of power to move such a massive body, after all,' he thought.
The bug stabbed with its horns again, Gravis sidestepped, and then he used his full power to attack the horns.
CRRRRRRK!
Gravis' saber went through about 75% of the horn before it stopped. With another strong push, Gravis split the upper horn in two. This was probably one of the hardest parts that a high-grade demonic beast could have. If Gravis managed to sever that, he would manage to pierce anything in the Body Tempering Realm.
Demonic beasts were the beasts equivalent to the Body Tempering Realm. Under normal circumstances, a high-grade demonic beast would have a stronger body than anyone in the Body Tempering Realm. That was what made them so powerful. Humans only had their wits and intelligence to fight against the beasts if they fought on the same level.
Yet, Gravis easily destroyed that preconceived notion, and his muscles weren't even fully tempered. If Gravis tempered his muscles fully, he probably wouldn't even need a weapon to kill a high-grade demonic beast.
"I can't even fight Energy Beasts, because they all left for richer lands in the middle-continent. The only enemies in the outer continent that can properly fight me are those Guild Masters of the Proxy-
Elemental Guilds. No other Energy Gathering Realm expert would walk around in this destitute land," Gravis narrated to himself while constantly sidestepping the bug's attacks.
When Gravis avoided another attack, he quickly stepped forward and stabbed the bug through its eye, right into its brain. The bug froze and then collapsed. Gravis realized that he had grown too strong for the outer continent and looked towards the north. That was where the middle continent was located. "Soon," he said.
Gravis knew that he had to build upon his preexisting advantages. He had an impossibly powerful body for someone in the Body Tempering Realm. Theoretically, he could break through into the Energy Gathering Realm right now because his body was strong enough to withstand the Energy's natural pressure.
Yet, that would destroy his foundation. If he did that, he would not have reached his maximum potential before advancing. Later down the line, this might be a problem. He first needed to get his Lightning Seed to 50% Destruction Energy and then fully forge his muscles. Breaking into the Energy Gathering Realm would be incredibly easy, after that.
Gravis grabbed the dismembered horn and the bug corpse, and he started sprinting back to the guild. That bug would bring him a lot of money.
Back at the Lightning Guild, Gravis shoved the corpse of the bug into the Exchange Hall, and the clerk behind the counter went nuts. "This is the most well preserved high-grade demonic beast corpse I've ever seen!" He walked around the corpse and exclaimed again. "You even severed its upper horn. Getting those off the corpse takes a lot of work. If you sever the other one as well, I'll increase the bounty!"
Gravis simply severed the second horn, and the clerk shouted in glee and shock. He quickly inspected it and also asked Gravis to retrieve the Core. Gravis helped and, in the end, got a hefty 1,500 gold for
the corpse alone.
Apparently, those bugs were a rare commodity. They were rather cowardly and sturdy, so it was hard to break their defense, and when you finally broke it, they would often just fly away. That was why the corpse was worth so much money.
Gravis got his gold for the corpse and also the gold for the mission. Gravis had over 2,500 gold now. "Well, that was fast," he mumbled to himself. Just like that, he had enough money to get his Lightning Seed up to 40% purity of Destruction Energy.
Gravis didn't waste any time and bought 25 hours on the third level of the Lightning Tower. He went to his room and started increasing the purity of his Lightning Seed. The pain of the lightning was definitely noticeable now. The pain was about as intense as the Fire-Torture Pill. Luckily, due to his immense will, he only needed to concentrate on dealing with the pain. He didn't need an external release for his pain.
After roughly 20 hours, he had upgraded his Lightning Seed to 40% Destruction Energy. After that, he used the remaining five hours to temper his body. The tempering was definitely faster than on the second level, but only by around half. Two hours on the third level equaled to three hours on the second level. Using the third level to temper his muscles, was a luxury and a waste of money.
After his time was up, Gravis came out and went back to his house. He checked if his saber was still there and nodded when he saw it. After that, he sat down on his cushion and started thinking.
"I only need to wait for the tournament in about 80 days. After I win that, I won't have any problem getting my Lightning Seed to 50% since I get a full seven days on the fourth level. I'll also finish tempering my body when that time comes. I will then break into the Energy Gathering Realm immediately, and then I'll set off to the parent guild on the middle-continent." Gravis muttered to himself.
"I should probably make some money in the remaining days. Everything in the future needs money, and now is a good time to earn some," Gravis sighed. "I have nothing else to do either way."
Gravis also pondered about lightning and how he could include it into his fighting style, in the future. He could add it to his attacks to strengthen them and even use it from a distance. His opponents would also fight differently.
Like this, Gravis spent his days in the Lightning Guild, either hunting or thinking about lightning.
Until…
Chapter 80
It had been a little over 40 days since Gravis upgraded his Lightning Seed to 40% Destruction Energy. In that time, Gravis had thought a lot about his fighting style with the addition of lightning and also on the nature of lightning itself.
Yet, what he used the most time on was earning money. Gravis had earned a little over 12,000 gold by now. At some point, missions for high-grade demonic beasts vanished again. It seemed like Heaven didn't want to make Gravis' life too easy. It had probably judged that Gravis had enough money by now.
Gravis wouldn't waste his days in hunting for middle-grade demonic beasts. He would need to hunt about ten of them to earn as much money as killing a single high-grade demonic beast. That would take over a week. Gravis was more content in actually training his Martial Arts and thinking about how to use lightning. But on this day…
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The only visitor Gravis got was Gorn. He came over from time to time, and Gravis would bounce ideas off of him on how to fight with lightning. Gorn had been fighting with lightning for decades, so he had a lot of experience regarding that. Gorn also told him about how people with other elements fought. Gravis' eyes had been opened at that time, and he got a lot of inspiration.
Gravis opened the door, expecting Gorn to stand before his house with his usual smile. Yet, things seemed different this time. He saw Gorn standing in front of the door, but he looked severe. On top of that, he was not alone. Someone else stood beside him. The person stood even a little bit in front of Gorn, meaning Gorn treated this person with respect.
The person was a white-haired young man. He was actually on the short side, with Gravis being bigger by about ten centimeters. His clothes looked luxurious with a gold-rimmed, white robe and ornate rings tied to his belt. The man showed a friendly smile, but for some reason, Gravis immediately disliked that person.
"Hello, Gravis. May I come in?" he asked in a polite voice. He had directly called Gravis by name without offering his own, so he thought himself superior. Gravis narrowed his eyes, but before he did anything, he saw Gorn looking at him with an absolutely intense, serious look. Gravis knew Gorn, and Gravis knew that Gorn was giving him the strongest warning possible.
Gravis trusted Gorn, so he opened the door further and stepped to the side. "Sorry, please, come in," he said in his most polite tone. Gravis was not used to speaking politely, so it sounded a little stiff. In comparison to Gravis' expectation, the man didn't seem to mind Gravis' stiff display. It seemed like he had expected as much.
The man nodded politely and entered with Gorn. "I live alone, and I only focus on training, so I am sorry, but I don't have tea or similar things to entertain guests," Gravis apologized. He wouldn't act recklessly until he knew who that person was. Gravis gestured to a nearby bench and table. They came with the house.
The man sat down and laughed. "No problem. I also don't want to waste too much time," he answered politely and beckoned to the bench on the other side of the table. "Please sit," he gestured politely. Gorn stood behind the man while Gravis sat down on the bench.
"Now," the man started speaking, still a polite smile on his face. "You might be wondering who I am." He let that sit in the room for some seconds. "But before I tell you, I need to verify something about you."
Gravis grew more interested in the person. He obviously came here for Gravis, and he probably also had a transcendent status, judging by how Gorn acted around him. Gravis grew interested in what the person wanted from him.
"Please, release your Heavenly Pressure," he gestured politely.
A light of recognition appeared in Gravis' eyes. The lie about Gravis being a Heavenborn was still out there, and only Gorn knew the truth. A transcendent status that even the Guild Master of the Lightning Guild had to respect? Someone interested in him being a Heavenborn? There was only one organization fitting that description.
Gorn had explained to Gravis in the Entrance Exams that any guild, which managed to raise a Heavenborn, would be handsomely rewarded by the Heaven Sect. Gravis also remembered the time when Gorn talked to him on the way to the Lightning Guild. Gorn had said that the Lightning Sect was equal to the other Main-Elemental Guilds and only under one other.
Gravis combined those two, seemingly unrelated, conversations and guessed who the person was. The Heaven Sect was probably the most influential presence in the lower world. Also, judging by the name "Heaven Sect", and by them recruiting Heavenborn, Gravis could imagine what kind of sect the Heaven Sect was.
It was a sect directly under Heaven. It gathered Heaven's chosen and would probably also follow Heaven's orders and commandments. In Gravis' quest against Heaven, the Heaven Sect would probably be his strongest enemy, aside from Heaven itself. He was still too weak right now and couldn't possibly oppose that transcendent existence.
Gravis also realized why he had an innate dislike for the person. The person was blessed with immense karmic luck, while Gravis lacked any karmic luck. Gravis often came in contact with the concept of karmic luck, and he started getting a kind of instinct for that.
Gravis could subconsciously perceive if someone had immense karmic luck. It was hard with ordinary people, but this person had so much that Gravis could easily notice.
Gravis felt like he saw a scene of a black and white object speaking to each other. One was shining as brightly as the stars, while the other only spread darkness. One was blessed by Heaven, while the
other was shunned.
Gravis also noticed that the person, in front of him, wasn't sure if Gravis was a Heavenborn. The person obviously couldn't perceive karmic luck. Otherwise, that person wouldn't have asked Gravis to prove his Heavenborn status. Gravis wasn't sure if he should continue acting on his lie or tell the truth.
If he continued lying, he might get involved with the Heaven Sect. If he got involved with them, he would continue coming closer to Heaven, and it was very possible that, at some point, Gravis would meet a person that could communicate with Heaven directly. If Heaven told them about Gravis' relationship with Heaven…
Gravis looked at Gorn, who, when noticing Gravis looking at him, Looked down at his robe to brush off some dust on his robe and then looked back into Gravis' eyes. Gravis realized what Gorn was telling him. He was nodding, which meant, Gravis should comply with the request of the young man.
Gravis was unsure. Gorn knew a lot about Gravis, but not everything. Gorn didn't know about Gravis' relationship with Heaven. He also didn't know about Gravis' lack of karmic luck. Gorn might think that being a Heavenborn was less of a danger than someone who had a Will-Aura at the Body Tempering Realm.
Gravis quickly continued thinking. What would he do if he was the hegemon of a lower world and saw someone in the Body Tempering Realm with a Will-Aura? In that case, he would either recruit or kill him. So, the first thing he would do…
"Come on, don't be shy," repeated the man with a smile. "You don't have to keep it a secret from me," he continued speaking like a snake worming itself into Gravis' ear. "We are fellow children of Heaven."
Gravis noticed how the man referred to Heaven with "Heaven" and not with "Heaven and Earth". The man knew how Heaven worked. Lying to someone like that was hard, yet, telling the truth was also a
problem.
What should Gravis do?