Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis received his Pre-Forming technique under the confused eyes of Aion. Aion couldn't understand why Gravis would want such a useless technique, but Gravis used his own points, so there was nothing that Aion could say about it.

Gravis read through the technique and learned it in under a day since it was not that complicated to perform. He quickly started using the technique to form his Spirit. Gravis moved his Energy according to the way that the book described and noticed a small spot of Energy appearing on his forehead.

The Energy in that one spot continued growing denser as Gravis put in more Energy. After nearly one hour, the dot reached a sufficient density of Energy, and no more Energy could be put into it. Gravis had to use up his whole Energy storage just to create this single dot.

When the dot had been fully created, his mind started resonating with the Energy, and the Energy dot got slowly absorbed by his mind. When the Energy dot was fully absorbed, Gravis felt a slight headache. It felt like something was pressing into the side of his skull from the inside.

Gravis knew that compressing the Energy took a certain amount of will, and he also knew that breaking into the Spirit Forming Realm took even more will. Yet, why was such a firm will necessary?

For the condensing of the Energy, one needed a strong will in order to build enough pressure to force the compression. Yet, why did the Spirit Forming Realm need an even stronger will, even though people at the peak of Energy Gathering Realm had already compressed their Energy to the maximum?

Gravis hadn't known why that was necessary until now. Gravis had only put one point of compressed Energy into his head, and he already had a headache. Was this enough to form his Spirit? Definitely not! It needed a lot more Energy. So, when more Energy got shoved into the Spirit, more pressure would be created, and therefore, a stronger headache would occur.

Gravis looked at the size of the Energy dot inside of his head and also calculated how much Energy it would take to fill his head completely. Gravis guessed that one would probably need a Will-Aura to resist the pain at that point.

He also felt that he could move his Energy away from his mind again. The Energy would leave his mind and regain its former density. If he wanted to put more Energy into his mind, he would first need to re-compress it.

"So that's why Heaven had planned for me to reach the Spirit Forming Realm smoothly," Gravis muttered to himself. If everyone needed a Will-Aura to form their Spirit, Gravis' Will-Aura wouldn't be anything special anymore. He guessed that the strength of his Will-Aura, when he had been in the Proxy-Lightning Guild, would only have been above average for a Spirit Forming expert.

Gravis had created his Will-Aura in his homeworld. At that time, he had a will that was strong enough to support a breakthrough into the Spirit Forming Realm. It had been a newly created Will-Aura at that time and had still been in its infancy.

Gravis' will grew stronger by fighting the demonic beasts in the Hunting Guild, and it grew stronger again in the bloodbath of the Basin of Nature. If he were to compare his Will-Aura at that time, to newly advanced people in the Spirit Forming Realm, it would probably be considered above average.

Yet, what about the people who remained longer in that Realm? What about the people who were a level higher in that Realm? Gravis guessed that his Will-Aura probably would've only been average. With an average Will-Aura, he would lose one of his two most prominent advantages. Together with his lack of karmic luck, Gravis would probably not have any chances of rising again.

If Heaven's plan had succeeded, Gravis would be forced into stagnation. He also would have never gotten his Destruction Lightning. Ironically enough, Gravis' second-worst experience in this lower world had increased his Will-Aura tremendously and also allowed him to get his Destruction Lightning. His worst experience was, of course, his killing of Gorn.

With the subsequent fights with the Lightning Guild and Fire Guild, Gravis' Will-Aura had increased again. He guessed that it could be considered powerful even in the middle of Spirit Forming. But was Spirit Forming his goal? Of course not! Gravis' will could never grow strong enough! There was still the middle world and the higher world before he could cultivate in his homeworld.

Was his will already strong enough to reach this elusive stage that he heard his father shout in the past? The Realm called Star God was beyond Gravis' comprehension right now. Was his will already strong enough to become a Star God? Definitely not!

So, what about the headache that this technique forced on Gravis? Gravis was actually happy about this headache! Pain was also a form of tempering for one's will. On top of that, Gravis had also found another use of the technique.

Gravis' Energy storage was still empty after pushing the Energy into his head, and with a thought, the Energy inside his head moved back into his body.

WHOOSH!

The condensed Energy expanded and filled his body. Gravis quickly used his Energy vortex to absorb the Energy, and his empty storage was nearly completely filled again.

Gravis smirked. "I might not be able to use the compressed Energy as an attack, but I can use it to refill my empty storage. It was just as I had thought," Gravis said to himself in excitement. With this technique, Gravis could basically externally store his Energy and retrieve it whenever he wanted. He only had to resist a headache as payment, which also tempered his will.

"The only downside is that I need to be careful not to break into the Spirit Forming Realm by accident," he concluded. "Why did no one else think about this? It seems so logical."

It did seem surprising that this use was not explained in the introduction of the technique, but who would ever even think about using this technique? No one wanted to break into the Spirit Forming Realm before reaching the peak of Energy Gathering. The technique had only been a thought experiment of some Heavenborn a couple of hundred years ago. He hadn't thought much about it and just created it when he was bored.

What about other Heavenborn? They were too busy thinking about their Realm and material wealth to waste their thoughts on something like that. Their way to Heaven was already set in stone, and they needed no help in reaching that. Who would care about such a useless technique? No Heavenborn was so obsessed with strength and fighting techniques as Gravis.

If the outside world heard about this technique's benefits, the whole world would probably be turned upside down. This would revolutionize the way people in the Energy Gathering Realm fought with each other!

Gravis decided that he would spend the next couple of days, or maybe even weeks, compressing his Energy and storing it in his mind. The headache would increase his will, and Gravis would theoretically have a nearly infinite storage of Energy. With this cheap and seemingly useless technique, he gained another decisive advantage over others.