Lightning Is the Only Way

After this happy event, Gravis continued narrating his story. After all, he still wasn't finished with it. He finished talking about the first fight at the tree, and Lasar nodded. He wasn't happy about Gravis killing so many people from the Lightning Guild, but in his mind, everything had been repaid.

"The things that happened in the Proxy-Lightning Guild were what pushed you past the realm of an Ascender's Talent. The tempering of your will due to these circumstances and the following fight made you the best Ascender's Talent. Yet, with the addition of your Destruction Lightning, you broke through that threshold. Before that, you would still have rivals in your Realm, but starting at that point, not anymore," Lasar analyzed.

Gravis nodded. "That's also what I thought."

Gravis then told them about how he managed to barely arrive at the Heaven Sect.

"Where is that ring?" Old Man Lightning asked in interest. Gravis had just told him about how he had used his ring to block an attack from the Spirit Forming attacker.

Gravis revealed a bitter smile. "I might've forgotten to look for it. It's probably still somewhere around the Heaven Sect," he said while scratching the back of his neck.

Old Man Lightning groaned. "You get such an amazing treasure, and you don't even care to pick it up off the ground?"

"I mean, my father said it's just some ring to indicate my status to other people in my homeworld. It doesn't have any other uses. After all, if it had some kind of effect that protected my life, my cultivation journey would take a hard hit if it ever took effect. If I want to reach the peak, I can't carry something that might protect me. Any future tempering would be an issue after such an incident," Gravis explained.

Old Man Lightning sighed. "I think that mindset is too extreme, but what do I know? After all, the people in your homeworld probably know more about this than me. Just continue," he said in defeat.

Gravis then told them about the Heaven Sect and the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique.

"That cultivation technique is just ridiculous," Old Man Lightning said in annoyance. "Combining tempering with a Realm increase is basically the ultimate form of cultivation. No wonder new, powerful Heavenborn are sprouting out of the ground like weeds. There are not many, but nearly all of them quickly reach the Spirit Forming Realm. So this technique was the reason for that," Old Man Lightning said in envy.

Lasar and Old Man Lightning didn't ask for such a technique. After all, it was granted to the Heavenborn by Heaven. Heaven would never allow them to touch its things. They didn't have a powerful backer in comparison to Gravis.

Gravis continued narrating and soon arrived at his second encounter with Wendy.

"So that's where your secret was exposed," Lasar said. "The Darkness Sect was overhearing your talk, while the Heaven Sect probably found out in another way. The Wind Sect and we also found out due to the Darkness Sect. That one talk has revealed your origins to the world. After all, it only takes one person to know a secret to no longer make it a secret."

Gravis sighed and nodded. "Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have told her of my origins. I've underestimated the intelligence and resources of the Sects, not thinking that someone way more powerful than me was watching. Well, aside from Heaven," Gravis admitted. By now, he had realized his mistakes.

"It's good that you know," Lasar said. "Continue!"

After a lot of talking, Gravis finally arrived at the incident at the Wind Wall. When he told them that Aion had overwhelmed him, they honestly couldn't think of any way that Gravis could have survived.

"And that's when I knew that my plan had worked! I needed Heaven to strike me with lightning in order to make my plan work!" Gravis said. "The Jade Token absorbed Heaven's lightning and transformed it into Primal Energy, and I could form that Energy into whatever I wanted. So, I willed the Primal Energy to transform into Destruction Energy, which quickly created another Lightning Seed."

Then, Gravis pointed at his head. "And then I moved the Lightning Seed into my Spirit."

Old Man Lightning and Lasar took a deep breath through their teeth. This was absolute madness! They couldn't even imagine the pain something like that would have caused. Old Man Lightning had an incredibly powerful will, yet he doubted that he could have survived something like that. According to their knowledge, that was absolutely impossible!

"That's impossible," Old Man Lightning said evenly. "Even if you managed to get through the pain, instead of getting an affinity with the neutral Magic in the air, you would have been completely taken over by the temperament of lightning. The fact that you are not completely taken over by lightning makes it impossible."

Gravis smiled uncomfortably. "Well, for some reason, my father and the Heaven from my homeworld intervened. Normally, Heaven wouldn't allow my father to intervene like this, yet it even helped him. As unrealistic as it seems, the only possible explanation that I can come up with is that I would have become a danger to the Heaven in my homeworld. Though, that seems incredibly farfetched."

Lasar and Old Man Lightning were unsure what to think. "Well, Body Tempering cultivators would think several of the stuff we can do is impossible. Your homeworld is higher than ours, which means that there are also people with powers beyond our comprehension. Maybe they have a way to make it happen. After all, the proof is before us. If your Spirit weren't adapted to lightning, it would be impossible to unload your lightning without us noticing," Lasar said after a while.

Old Man Lightning nodded, though this still shook him. Cultivators with more power than he could imagine had arrived in his world. Had something like this ever happened before? The fact that someone from a higher world came made the concept of a wider world more real in their minds.

"How many higher worlds are there?" Lasar asked with interest.

Gravis smiled a little. "There is more than one higher world," he said. If he told them that they were in the lowest of four levels, they might despair. Revealing such a vast chasm between them and others would maybe make them believe themselves to be useless. After all, they had both worked for over a hundred years yet hadn't even left the lowest level.

Lasar looked with shock at Gravis. "So the world above ours is not the strongest," he said.

Gravis didn't react. He didn't want to give off any clues. After all, there was a difference in the environments they grew up in. Gravis had been born at the absolute peak, and ever since he was born, he could look down from the peak and see all the other, smaller peaks. He was used to it. Yet, those two had never come into contact with something like this.

What if Lasar and Old Man Lightning saw some random, poor people in the street just teleporting around the place? Gravis was used to this since even the weakest beggars in his home city could teleport. To him, it was nothing special. Yet, Lasar and Old Man Lightning couldn't even fly. Telling them such truths would only damage their cultivation path.

After a while of talking about worlds some more, Gravis continued his story. This time, it was without interruptions. When Gravis arrived at his meeting with Byron, he stopped speaking. After all, Old Man Lightning had watched him for the majority of that period. Though, there was still one open question.

"So, Byron has given me this technique called Rakshasa Saber. It doesn't use an element for its power but still creates an impressive amount of destruction. If he wasn't from another world, how did he get such a technique?" Gravis asked.

Old Man Lightning waved his hand dismissively. "That's nothing special. We also have several of those. Every couple of centuries, a power created by all the loose cultivators that don't have an element rises. Then, they create their techniques and flourish. Yet, when they become strong enough to battle with our Sects, they get eradicated. Like this, we accumulated a lot of these techniques over the years. You can even buy them in cities."

Gravis sighed. "I was truly naïve. I would only have needed to enter a city to realize this," he lamented.

"Eh," Old Man Lightning said as if it was no big deal. "It's not a problem. The Darkness Sect is the best in subterfuge, subtlety, and deception. On top of that, you were up against the Sect Master himself. Of course, he would be able to fool you. Just look at it as a learning experience."

Gravis smiled slightly. "You're right. This has been a learning experience, and I have learned a lot about myself through it. Maybe it was actually better this way. After all, if I hadn't fallen for the trick, Byron would have just killed me."

"So, what now?" Gravis asked.