Lightning Is the Only Way

"Catch," Gravis heard a shout from his front, which tore him out of his reverie. Gravis saw a saber flying at him and quickly caught it. He looked at the saber and was stunned by its beauty. It was completely black, similar to his Void-Stone saber, but compared to that, this new saber had a lot of fine Formation Array lines going through its body. It was an Energy weapon and an incredibly impressive one at that.

Gravis looked up from the saber and at Aion, who just smiled at him. "Why? I can understand the cultivation technique since everyone trains in it, but why the saber?" he asked confusedly.

Aion chuckled a little. "That is a personal present from me," Aion said. "You have seen the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique, so you should know why I am grateful to you."

Gravis thought for a second and then knew what Aion meant. "You mean that guy from the Lightning Guild?"

Aion nodded. "Exactly. He is at the same level as me, which means that killing him granted me quite some Spirit. The Cultivation Technique also works with Spirit, by the way," Aion explained lightheartedly. "It's hard finding Spirit Forming cultivators out here in the Middle-Continent, so I am actually quite thankful for your help."

Gravis smiled bitterly. "But I have done nothing. I have not helped you in killing him."

Aion just laughed. "Even though we are the strongest sect in the world, we still have to abide by Heaven's rules. Heaven is fair, and I am only allowed to kill cultivators that have broken the rules. If that guy hadn't jumped into the sect, I couldn't have killed him."

Gravis sighed and accepted the saber. Even though Aion had been kind to him, Gravis always kept in mind that the Heaven Sect was his enemy. Just him saying that Heaven was fair reminded Gravis of that fact. Gravis had to act thankful, but he didn't need to overdo it. With that thought, Gravis put his new saber onto his back without any bad feelings. For him, this could be considered as plundering his enemies.

He had already looked at the saber and judged that it was a peak-grade Energy weapon. This meant that this saber could even be used at the first level of Spirit Forming without it breaking immediately. Gravis had just thrown out his old saber to save his life from the Spirit Forming expert from the Lightning Guild and immediately got a new one.

Gravis chuckled lightly in his mind but didn't show it outside. 'Father was right. We might not have any karmic luck, but we can take from people with karmic luck. Through my deception, I managed to take two treasures from an organization with a lot of karmic luck,' Gravis thought.

Gravis knew that if Aion and the Heaven Sect ever found out the truth, they would have never given anything like this to him. They would have killed him instead. From the very beginning, it was inevitable that he and the Heaven Sect would become mortal enemies, and Gravis was continually treading on thin ice while being around Aion. Even though it didn't feel like it, one wrong sentence could doom him immediately.

Did Gravis feel bad for taking the stuff from the Heaven Sect? Maybe just a tiny bit, but not much. They were his enemies, after all, and Aion being nice didn't change a thing.

"Alright, let's get out of here," said Aion as he walked back to the entrance, the gold moving to the side by itself. Gravis followed Aion, and they quickly walked out of the door. A lot of gold was in the reception room, and Gravis wondered what they were even doing with all this wealth.

Aion used his Spirit and pushed all the gold back into the storage room. He then closed the door with a lot of force and locked it.

"Wait!" shouted a voice from the entrance of the reception hall.

Gravis looked over and saw a young man with fiery red hair and white robes with gold rims entering through the door. He wore the same outfit as Aion, just without the rings. The young man carried a big and full sack behind him. "I need to put this into the storage room," he said, looking at Aion.

Aion turned to him. "Cerb, is that another delivery of Magic-Stones?" Aion asked with furrowed brows.

Cerb walked closer. "Most of it, yes. I managed to exchange the gold for Magic-Stones, but on the way, I found an abandoned wagon that had huge amounts of gold in it, so I took that as well," he said with guilt.

Gravis was confused. Why was this man guilty if he brought in some gold? Aion, on the other hand, just sighed helplessly. "Stop bringing home all this gold, Cerb! We don't have any space for it! Why do you think I send you out to exchange all the gold for Magic-Stones?" Aion said, annoyed.

Cerb looked to the side. "I'm sorry. I know that I shouldn't bring more gold, but I just can't help myself," Cerb said with embarrassment. "I just see it lying there, and I feel sorry for the poor, abandoned gold."

Gravis felt utterly disconnected from reality right now. The Heaven Sect had so much wealth that it was even considered bad behavior to bring in more. Aion sighed again and massaged the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "It's okay. How much is it this time?" he asked.

Cerb looked up and emptied the sack full of gold and Energy Stones. Gravis could see hundreds of Energy Stones and thousands upon thousands of gold coins. Energy Stones were about as big as gold coins, so exchanging 1,000 gold for an Energy Stone would really help with the storage issue. Yet, judging by the gold coins that Gravis could see…

"You idiot!" shouted Aion. "That's even more gold than you have exchanged! Why do I send you to exchange gold constantly? It's to decrease the volume of gold! Yet, you come back with even more gold! That's it! The guild is not accepting any more gold from you! You took it, you keep it!"

Cerb's expression turned nervous. "But where? My room is even fuller than our storage!" he said nervously.

"Not my problem!" said Aion angrily. After Aion said that, the Energy Stones started levitating and flying towards him. When they reached Aion, they just vanished. "Here!" said Aion aggressively, as the door to the storage room burst open again. The gold in the storage flowed out again, and Aion made a whole cubic meter of it levitate. The remainder got pushed back, and the door closed again.

PLOMP!

The gold hit the floor in front of Cerb, and his face whitened. "Exchange all that, and don't come back until you do!" Aion remarked angrily. "And don't you dare exchange your own gold!"

When Cerb heard that, he fell onto his knees and looked devastated. What was he supposed to do with all this gold?

"Senior brother?" Cerb heard from his side and now noticed Gravis. He had never seen Gravis before and wondered who that could be. "I could take your gold," said Gravis carefully.

When Cerb heard that, he looked like his savior had arrived. "Really?" asked Cerb. "You would do that for me? But we don't even know each other! Why would you help me?"

Gravis remembered how Aion acted and followed suit. "Because we are brothers. Your glory is my glory, and your problems are my problems," Gravis proclaimed with a brotherly aura.

Gravis' sacrifice deeply touched cerb. "Thank you so much, junior brother," he said, honesty and thankfulness radiating from his voice. "I'll never forget this!"

Gravis walked closer, and his hands shook as they closed in on the gold. Cerb saw this and felt even more grateful. His junior brother was probably also oppressed by a mountain of gold, yet he still deigned to help him.

"Stop!" shouted Aion, and Gravis froze. Gravis turned to Aion with a questioning look. "Heaven has made you poor for a reason! I might not know what Heaven is planning with keeping you poor, but how could our mortal minds comprehend the thoughts of Heaven? You are not allowed to take gold or Magic-Stones, Gravis!" Aion declared.

Gravis' outstretched hand clenched into a fist and shook even more, and his face scrunched up into a cocktail of emotions. After a while, he sighed and retracted his hand. "I'm sorry, senior brother Aion. I have nearly acted against Heaven," Gravis apologized through clenched teeth. "This won't happen again."

Cerb was thrown back into devastation and grabbed his hair in panic. The poor guy looked like he was close to having a mental breakdown. After some seconds, Cerb started listlessly taking out two sacks. He shoved his own gold into one sack while looking at the sect's gold before him. It seemed like he evaluated how many sacks he needed to carry that.

Cerb looked hopefully at Gravis and then at Aion. "Can our new junior brother help me? He can surely keep watch over me, so I don't bring more gold home," he nearly pleaded with Aion.

Gravis' eyes lighted up. He could surely get some gold by staying close to Cerb!

"No, Gravis already has another job," said Aion and both, Gravis and Cerb, deflated. "He's an executioner!"

Gravis' eyes narrowed, while Cerb looked confused. Cerb turned to Gravis and looked closer at Gravis' cultivation, which made Cerb, apparently, even more confused. "Our new junior brother is at the fourth level of Magic Gathering. We already have Adis on that level, and we don't need two in that range," commented Cerb.

Aion smiled slyly. "Gravis will work as a fifth level executioner. He can kill confidently two levels above his level," stated Aion proudly.

Cerb's eyes widened. "What?"