Lightning Is the Only Way

Sear brought Gravis to their campfire. The others had listened in on their conversation, so they already knew what had happened. Though, they didn't seem to care much about it. Sear and Gravis both sat down at the campfire, and Gravis noticed that there were multiple pieces of meat being cooked over it.

The Vice-Guild Master of water noticed Gravis eyeing the meat and smiled. "They'll be done in a few minutes. We all went out and hunted a Spirit Beast together, so this is good stuff," then she winked at Gravis again, "You can have some of mine."

Gravis smiled a little. "Sounds good. Thank you," he said. Right now, Gravis was actually a little happy. He didn't have many opportunities to just talk with some people, so he was rather happy to eat with people who weren't out for his head.

"So," Gravis started speaking, "are you actually doing something other than just eating and talking, or is this a simple get-together?" he asked.

"After we've eaten," the Vice-Guild Master of Darkness started speaking, "we discuss what has happened in the last couple of months and share experiences that we have learned. We talk about how we manage our guilds, exchange experiences on how to educate the younger generation, and experiences on how to further temper our wills."

"Oh? What do you mean with that last thing?" Gravis asked with interest.

"As you know, we have already stopped searching for life and death tempering," he answered evenly. "Our survival has become our highest priority, so we are not ready to put our lives on the line. In these discussions, we exchange ways to increase our will without life and death tempering. There are always alternatives."

Gravis thought about this and nodded. "Yes, that's true. I have a good example of that."

Sear looked pleasantly surprised at Gravis. "You are ready to share such personal experiences?" he asked.

Talking about tempering experiences and how someone managed to rise to power needed a lot of trust. Others might find weaknesses in that or use it for their own gain. Knowledge and experience were worth more than Energy Stones to these cultivators. That was why Sear was surprised.

Gravis nodded nonchalantly. "I don't mind," he said.

The others, except for the Vice-Guild Master of earth, smiled. "Then go ahead, and thank you," said Sear.

"When I was still inside the Heaven Sect," Gravis started explaining, "I have learned a technique that allows someone to push Magic into their Spirit before reaching the ninth level of Magic Gathering."

The others looked at Gravis with skepticism. "What's the point of that? Even if you manage to succeed, you would be the weakest Spirit Forming expert in existence and even ruin any of your future prospects," asked the Vice-Guild Master of wind.

Gravis smiled slyly. "I know, but there is another use for this technique," he said.

"Another use?" asked Sear in wonder. "What use?"

Gravis leaned back. "What's the reason why people need a Will-Aura to reach the Spirit Forming Realm?"

"Tch," spat the Vice-Guild Master of earth, "You need that to resist the unreal pain and to stabilize your Spirit. Everyone knows that."

Gravis didn't mind him. "Exactly. Now tell me what things can increase your will?" he asked again.

This time, it was the Vice-Guild Master of darkness who answered. "Life and death tempering, physical pain, emotional pain, and a change of personal outlook." After saying that, his demeanor changed, and he fell into deep thought.

It wasn't only him who fell into deep thought. Sear and the Vice-Guild Master of wind also fell in thought. The other two had no reactions. It seemed like they didn't get it yet.

Gravis smirked more. "Exactly! So, if you can push Magic into your Spirit, it will give you immense pain. You don't have to push through to Spirit Forming. You only need to put in as much Magic as you can handle and then continue with your life."

Now, the other two also got it. "This is an incredible method," said Sear after a while and then turned to Gravis with a severe look. "I don't think you know how incredible that is. With this, we can increase the number of Spirit Forming experts by multiple times. This is also a perfect way to avoid the deaths of many cultivators. This method is perfect for our purpose."

Gravis nodded with a smile. "That's why I told you about it. Take it as repayment for the food and your company," he said.

The people all thanked Gravis, except for one obvious person, and they also shared some of their experiences. Even though these cultivators were all many times older than him, Gravis already knew everything that they "found out". He went through too much shit, making all these things obvious for him. They all talked happily for about 20 minutes.

"Food's done," said Sear as the multiple sticks of meat flew towards a big plate. "Gravis, you choose first. You gave us the greatest contribution, so the honor should belong to you."

Gravis smiled, and a medium-sized piece of meat flew to him. The others also quickly chose their pieces. Food wasn't really necessary at their levels. The Energy that they passively absorbed kept their bodies in top condition. To them, food was enjoyable, but not essential for survival. They all ate in comfortable silence.

After several minutes, Gravis finished eating. The others, except for the Vice-Guild Master of water, were already finished. It seemed like they wanted to get back to other business. Why else did they eat the food this quickly?

After everyone had finished eating, they continued talking. The topic shifted from methods for will-tempering to how to educate their disciples. Gravis didn't have any experience in that, so he kept mostly quiet, just listening. He also learned many new things. Gravis was mostly alone in his journey, which didn't let him gain much social experience. Gravis' curt sentences, short answers, and direct questions showed that.

Though, in Gravis' mind, these things were not really important. Learning social norms and customs might be important in the secular world, but to him, only power was important. Socializing was nice, but it didn't help in his journey to power. Yet, he was still interested in the discussed topics.

After about an hour of talking, they all didn't have many more experiences to share. After several seconds of silence, Sear stood up and dusted off his robe. "Alright, let's finish our mission," said Sear.

The others nodded and also stood up. Gravis was a little confused by what Sear had said. "Mission?" he asked.

Sear looked with a smile at Gravis. "Yeah, we all had a mission, which was just completed."

Slowly, Gravis narrowed his eyes. They had never talked about any mission. On top of that, they didn't share a common organization. Who would even give them a mission?

"Man," said the Vice-Guild Master of wind while stretching. "I haven't seen the second priest in a while. I bet he will be happy when we deliver the target."

Gravis' heart sank, and his eyes narrowed. Only the Heaven Sect had priests. And target? That could only be Gravis.

"So, you're all from the Heaven Sect?" Gravis asked with a deep, imposing voice.

The Vice-Guild Master of earth just smiled in disdain. "Don't get cocky. You're not scary anymore. The Lightning's Nemesis has, by now, already reached your organs. Just for your information, that's a poison. So, you're helpless in front of us," he said with an arrogant laugh.

The others continued packing their stuff and getting ready as if nothing had happened. Gravis also slowly stood up and watched them intensely. Every single one of them was calm and collected. This meant that all of them had been in on this. Gravis hadn't expected that.

Sear looked like he remembered something as he turned to Gravis. "By the way," he said, "you shouldn't activate your lightning. Activating your lightning would, at least, severely injure you. That's why the Lightning's Nemesis is called the Lightning's Nemesis."

Gravis only looked at Sear with narrowed eyes. The friendly guy had long since been replaced with a wicked snake in Gravis' eyes. "How does it work?" he asked.

Sear laughed a little and slapped Gravis' shoulder in friendliness. "Great that you can handle the situation this well. There's actually no damage in telling you. The Lightning's Nemesis is a poison created from a plant with the same name. They are pretty rare and only grow in areas where there's constant lightning around. They absorb the Life Energy in the lightning, which increases the purity of the Destruction Energy."

Sear lifted one finger like he was lecturing Gravis. "So, when the poison gets digested, the spores go into your organs and hibernate. If lightning comes closer to them, they absorb the Life Energy and grow. Though, that's not the dangerous part," Sear explained with fervent interest. "The dangerous part is that your natural lightning gets completely converted to purely destructive lightning, which would destroy your organs and body. That's why you shouldn't activate your lightning."

Gravis looked at Sear evenly.

"Is that so?"