Lightning Is the Only Way

"It's ready. Please come over so we can test it!" a voice appeared in Gravis' head. It was the voice of the Vice-Guild Master of the Fire Guild, who had been forging Gravis' board for the past two days. In those two days, Gravis had remained close to the Fire Guild, relaxing and thinking about different stuff. It felt good to take a break.

"Coming," sent Gravis back as he stood up from the branch on which he currently sat. Gravis stretched himself and then walked over to the Fire Guild. The Vice-Guild Master, together with the visiting Vice-Guild Master of the Earth Guild, was already waiting for Gravis at its border. The Vice-Guild Master of the Earth Guild didn't know about what had happened in the Earth Guild. If he did, he might not have forged the board.

As Gravis arrived, he saw the Vice-Guild Master hold the creation. The board was completely silver with four black wheels. Obviously, they had used a different material for the wheels. Gravis didn't question it. Those two knew more about forging than him, so they probably knew what they were doing.

At the back end of the board, Gravis saw it curve upward. The curvature was a little over 90°, creating a wall, which bent a little over the board's backside. The wall was round, and Gravis could imagine his leg fitting right into it. The height of the wall went to about Gravis' knee.

"It looks amazing," said Gravis with an excited smile. Finally, he no longer had to ride on the shaft of his saber. This board should be able to increase his speed even more.

"Try it first before you praise it," said the Vice-Guild Master with a laugh, though his expression betrayed his feelings. He was obviously happy about Gravis' praise. He threw the board over to Gravis, who quickly caught it.

Gravis was a little surprised by the weight. This thing probably weighed over 200 kilograms. Though, in comparison to Gravis' body, it was not that heavy. The stronger a body grew, the denser its muscles became. Right now, Gravis weighed over a ton. It was understandable that the board was heavy since it had to resist Gravis' weight while moving with insane speeds.

Plonk!

Gravis threw the board to the ground, noticing it bouncing a little bit. The springs were doing their job. Gravis jumped onto it, and the board bobbed a little bit. It made no sounds of cracking or screeching, which showed that it had no problems resisting his weight.

Gravis stood on it and leaned back a little bit. He noticed that it was more comfortable standing on it when he turned his body to the side. Gravis felt his right calf come into contact with the wall at the board's back and felt that it snugly supported him. The wall had the perfect angle to support Gravis' leg. He had no doubt that the board would be able to support his acceleration.

"It's perfect," said Gravis with excitement.

"Of course it is," said the Vice-Guild Master of the Earth Guild, speaking for the first time. "We have fine-tuned it for nearly half a day. If we couldn't even do that, we might as well never forge again."

Gravis nodded with a smile. "Thank you. I'll try it now," then he looked at them with a questioning look. "Should I try my full power right from the get-go?" he asked.

The Vice-Guild Master of the Fire Guild nodded with a smirk. "That's what it's designed to do."

"Alright, here goes," said Gravis and then shot lightning to the front.

SCRRRRRR!

The board leaned backward, and its back hit the ground, creating a grating noise as it started moving forward. Gravis nearly fell off, and the only reason he didn't was that the lightning's magnetism kept pulling the board forward.

"No! No! Stop!" shouted the Vice-Guild Master of the Fire Guild. Gravis retrieved his lightning, and the board straightened again. "If you shoot the lightning to the front, the magnetism of it will pull it diagonally up, therefore grating on the ground. You need to summon lightning on the ground so that the board gets pulled forward and a little downward."

Gravis facepalmed. Why hadn't he thought of that? Usually, he was so creative with his lightning's usage. Well, even smart people made dumb mistakes sometimes. Gravis stopped the board and then followed the instructions. He summoned lightning at the ground, a couple of meters in front of him.

WHOOOOSH!

The board kept its balance, and Gravis felt his right leg getting pushed violently. He lost his balance but managed to keep himself on the board by leaning on the wall.

SCRRRRRR!

The magnetism wasn't enough to counteract Gravis' entire weight getting pushed to the board's back. Therefore, the board tilted back again. Gravis pushed his weight forward again, straightening the board. He hadn't summoned any new lightning, yet the board still moved. The wheels were doing wonders.

Gravis readjusted his position so that most of his weight rested on his left leg, which stood on the board's front. Then, he summoned more lightning.

WHOOOSH!

This time, the board didn't tilt. Gravis still felt the violent shove of the wall on his right calf, but this time, he had been prepared. The board shot forward as Gravis remained on it. Slowly, Gravis summoned more lightning, making the board accelerate even more. He was still not used to keeping his balance on the board, but he had superb coordination. In mere seconds, he grasped the right way to keep his body stable.

As Gravis summoned more lightning, the board sped up, and soon, Gravis was moving far faster than ever before. He also learned how to turn. He only had to readjust his weight to one side, making the board turn slightly. Sadly, sharp turns were impossible since the inertia would make the board and him topple.

Gravis circled the Fire Guild as his speed increased more and more. At some point, Gravis felt some kind of force hindering his body from moving faster. He was a little surprised by that. "Is that the sound barrier?" he said, but his actual voice sounded incredibly weird in his ears. He guessed that he was probably moving too fast to hear the sound of his voice and only felt the vibration of his vocal cords in his ears.

As Gravis continued traveling, he felt the force stopping him become stronger. Gravis summoned more lightning to make his board speed up even more.

BOOOOOM!

Gravis felt a kind of explosion, and the force stopping him vanished. With the force vanishing, his speed skyrocketed. He continued summoning lightning with a mad smile. He wanted to see how fast he could go!

His surroundings were a complete blur by now, and if he hadn't had his Spirit, he might've lost track of them. Thanks to his Spirit, he was able to keep watch over his surroundings and his route. Gravis continued speeding up until it was no longer possible.

He was already constantly summoning lightning at his front, yet the air resistance pushed hard against his body. By now, he was leaning completely forward, his right foot basically already standing at the bottom of the wall. By all intents and purposes, Gravis was kneeling on the board with his right knee.

Gravis had circled the Fire Guild a couple of times now, and he had already noticed the shocked and excited expressions of the two Vice-Guild Masters. The board was working perfectly. As Gravis passed them, he shouted, "It's wonderful!"

The Vice-Guild Masters heard a high-pitched and very fast "It'swo", which quickly became slow and low pitched until they only heard "ooooonnndeeerfuuuuuulll". First, the two Vice-Guild Masters were confused by the sound of Gravis' voice, but they quickly understood. They laughed at Gravis' weird voice.

"Everything to your satisfaction?" the Vice-Guild Master transmitted to Gravis with his Spirit.

"Perfect!" sent Gravis back.

"Happy to hear. What will you call it? It's a new invention, after all." asked the Vice-Guild Master.

Gravis thought for a while. "Jimmy," he sent back.

The Vice-Guild Master opened his eyes widely in surprise. Jimmy?

"Hehe, only joking," sent Gravis again.

"I think I'll call it a Lightning Board."