Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis had to convince Aion for many minutes. He really didn't want to work. Gravis even had to say that he would do the next three missions free-of-charge to finally convince him to help. Gravis knew that getting Aion's help was risky. Whenever Gravis trained his body, he would tear the whole thing apart to get as much out of the training as possible. That required a strong will.

Heavenborn usually didn't have a strong will, and that could arouse suspicion about him from Aion. Yet, Gravis was sure that Aion's fanaticism towards Heaven would make him blind to nearly every clue about Gravis not being a Heavenborn. Gravis expected that he might even be able to show the condensed version of his Will-Aura, and Aion would probably only consider him some genius Heavenborn. Of course, Gravis wouldn't try that.

Though, Aion wanted to watch Gravis temper himself first. Aion didn't want to hurt Gravis so severely that his "weak will" couldn't take it anymore. So, Gravis stayed in Aion's office and started tempering his body.

As soon as he ingested the pill, he felt incredibly hot and felt a massive well of power circling throughout his body. Gravis immediately started by literally exploding his body with all of his power. His skin, muscles, bones, and some organs got blasted away from him. Gravis even exploded his face away and turned back into the skeleton look he had, when he had been rescued from the cesspool in the Proxy-Lightning Guild.

Aion's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath in shock. This was way more intense than he had believed. He knew that Gravis was a little different from normal Heavenborn, but that was just crazy. Aion couldn't imagine staying sane under so much pain, and he thought Gravis was crazy. Who would do such a thing?

The Body Ascension Pill also had a lot of Life Energy saved. If it didn't even have something as basic as Life Energy, then why would it be so expensive? Gravis' body started regenerating quickly, but before it was even healed to an eighth of his peak condition, his body exploded again, together with some other vital organs. Gravis couldn't explode all his organs at the same time. If he did that, he would die.

This continued for many hours as Aion watched on in horror. In his mind, this was absolute madness. He couldn't understand Gravis' mad need for strength, at all. This was insane! Luckily, the pill also had a lot of Energy inside it, which allowed Gravis to have enough Energy to continue exploding his body.

It became challenging for Gravis to gather enough Energy to explode his body after half a day had passed. "I… need… your… help," croaked Gravis with a nearly inhuman voice. His vocal cords were nearly destroyed, and it was hard for him to speak.

Aion sighed deeply. He had watched how Gravis trained and even used his Spirit to completely understand how Gravis managed to keep his body going, even when 80% of it was annihilated. He saw how Gravis circulated the destruction of his organs and knew what he had to do. Yet, he still had to hold himself back from healing Gravis with his water in the beginning. It was just too horrifying to him.

Though, Aion was still nervous since even a small mistake could spell Gravis' doom. Of course, with Aion's control, it was impossible to make such a mistake. It was just Aion's weak will that made him stress-out about the situation. He had never been put into such a bad situation. His life had always been going smoothly, and he had never needed to do something this difficult.

Aion took a deep breath to calm down and then released his ice. He nearly froze Gravis' whole body with ice and then let it explode. When a body froze, its whole composition changed, and muscles wouldn't be muscles anymore when that happened. Similar to fire, it broke down the whole body and changed it into something else.

Gravis only gnashed his teeth but didn't say a word. Like he had expected, Aion's control had been perfect, and the destruction was identical to how Gravis would have done it. Aion continued destroying Gravis' body throughout three days without a pause. He had enough Energy as a Spirit Forming expert, and his Energy regeneration was faster than his expenditure.

After those three days, Aion and Gravis both noticed how the regeneration slowed down for his body. The description had said that the pill held on for seven days, and that was true, but Gravis' crazy training had pre-emptively used up the saved Life Energy in the pill. When Gravis noticed, he looked into Aion's eyes with a crazy gleam.

Aion felt a shiver run down his spine and then sighed. "Alright," he said, defeated. "But only because I don't want to see the Body Ascension Pill being wasted!"

Starting that moment, Aion supplemented the healing of the pill with his own Life Energy. He was a cultivator with the water element, and people with the water element were the best in healing. Someone at the Spirit Forming Realm had an incredible amount of Life Energy, and it would be no issue in healing Gravis for a couple more days.

In the seven days where Gravis was training his body, several Heavenborn came to Aion's office to receive their missions or to exchange for some stuff. Whenever they saw the skeletal Gravis in the corner, they would exclaim in fright. Aion always had to explain that he was not punishing Gravis but helping him train his body. The other Heavenborn didn't believe him and started fearing Aion. Starting that day, Aion wouldn't receive any complaints from them anymore about anything.

After seven days, the pill's effect wore off, and Gravis noticed that his body was not growing stronger anymore, at least not as fast. "Aion… the pill- AAAH!"

Gravis' body exploded again from the ice, and Aion looked at him like he didn't understand him? "Did you say something?" he asked innocently while using his water to heal him.

"The pill-"

BOOM!

His body exploded again before he could finish his words. "What was that?" Aion asked as he put his hand to his ear like he didn't hear him.

"Stop!" Gravis shouted.

Aion showed a look of surprise and stopped destroying Gravis' body. "Why didn't you say that earlier?" he asked innocently. He wanted to relieve some of his frustration on Gravis since he had forced Aion to work for nearly seven whole days. By now, Aion had grown used to destroying Gravis' body, and he didn't feel bad about playing that prank on him.

Gravis could only bitterly smile as Aion healed his body. Gravis could understand Aion's frustration, and he didn't grow angry about Aion pulling the prank. Gravis was actually really thankful to Aion because he had done many things that he wasn't required to do. Gravis decided that, when they would, involuntarily, become enemies in the future, he would spare his life once.

When Gravis was fully healed, he stood up and stretched his body. He tested out his physical power and was surprised by the result. "My body should be a little stronger than the Energy of someone at the seventh level," he concluded as he muttered to himself.

"Energy?" asked Aion in confusion.

Gravis shook his head quickly. "Oh, sorry, I meant Magic. I don't know why I said Energy," he said with a bitter smile. Luckily, Aion didn't mind Gravis' slip-up. Aion was too preoccupied with feeling exhausted and lazy to care about the stuff that Gravis said. He walked over to his chair and sat down.

"We're done here. You better not come in here in the foreseeable future. You've worked me harder in that week than I have worked in the last three years," he said as he waved his hand.

BOOM BANG!

Gravis felt himself getting thrown out of the office into the hallway, and the door to Aion's office violently closed after Gravis was thrown outside. Gravis didn't mind and kept up a happy smile. His strength had substantially increased, and some of the Energy also increased his realm. He felt that he was close to a breakthrough. He would probably only need two weeks of meditation to reach the sixth level of Energy Gathering.

Gravis' element was unique, and one could consider the power of his element always one level higher than others. Destruction Lightning was a little over double the strength of natural lightning, after all. So, when Gravis reached the sixth level of Energy Gathering, his body and element could both exert the power of someone at the seventh level, each. Like this, he had regained his body's advantage and could probably fight someone at the ninth level of Energy Gathering, as long as the person didn't have a Will-Aura.

Gravis felt excited by his new power and smiled like an idiot. He went back to his room and started meditating.

Meanwhile, in Aion's office, Aion sighed. "I am too nice," he muttered to himself. "I worked so hard to increase the strength of one of my brothers. Not everyone can be so magnanimous as me."

Aion looked up into the sky. "I am sure you are proud of me, Heaven."

It wasn't.