Lightning Is the Only Way

It had been two months since Gravis started going to the research assistant preparation course. In that time, he learned more about pitfalls in cultivation and what he had to look out for in the lower realms. Some basic fighting methods and general weapon usages were included as well. He also got a crash course in every essential side-path in cultivation.

Pill refinement: Alchemists mix and refine natural resources into pills, which increase aspects of a cultivator. Faster cultivation speed, one-time upgrades, auxiliary uses, and many more different pill effects were all covered. A general overview of how pill concocting worked was also part of the course.

Equipment forging: Forgers mix and refine natural resources into armor, weapons, artifacts, and treasures. At some point, either the cultivator got too strong to use mortal armaments, or the necessary natural resources got too hard to refine into useful gear. Gravis also learned the absolute basics of that.

Formation arrays: Rules, attributes, laws, and similar things were used as a basis to create a specific effect. It required one to be at the energy gathering stage in order to make any progress in formation arrays. Without energy, it was impossible to come into contact with these kinds of concepts. It was even harder to manipulate them for one's wishes.

Cultivation inscription: at early levels, everyone could write down their cultivation and battle techniques, but starting at the spirit accumulation stage, the description of said methods only got harder. Words were not enough to describe all concepts at this stage.

There were, of course, other side-paths in cultivation, but those four were the essential ones. Every single one of them was vital to progress in one's path. Pill refinement was necessary to speed up or stabilize cultivation. Without useful equipment, one can't bring out their full battle power. Formation arrays were essential for fleeing or for fortifying one's base. Without cultivation inscriptions, one would not be able to learn new techniques from others, starting at the third major realm.

all, those two months varied between boring and exciting for Gravis, but in the end, he was happy that the theoretical part was over. The remaining four months were for gaining practical fighting

30 other classmates. Not much light came into the building, the only source being the door behind them. The expressions in the faces of his classmates varied like the

the youngsters. "Everyone will take one portal each. Inside those portals, you will fight a varied mixture of things. Monsters, humans, plants, cultivators, and even the environment itself will be your enemy. Since it's your first time, you will only face one enemy at a time. Your only goal is to kill your enemy. If

sighed in relief. When Forneus saw that, he grinned maliciously.

every youngster got pushed towards one portal each. "For your info: On average, about 20% of people die in their first test." Forneus grinned more. "Good luck!" With a clap from Forneus, everyone shot into a portal, no matter if they

hall, and in the next, he only saw a humongous glowing red cave, at least a hundred meters in diameter. The stones and walls in the cave looked like they were at their melting point, but he did not feel any heat from them for some reason. Fortunately, the light of the walls illuminated the entire cave in

axes, poleaxes, hammers, daggers, and many more. Every weapon was made of black stone. Through his basic course of equipment forging, he could tell that all weapons were made entirely out of void stone. Void stone was very sturdy for the lower realms, but using it as a weapon was senseless since it absorbed all the energy it came into contact with,

still ringing in his head. He could actually die here. He thought this was just a practical test

Gravis learned about the different weapons in the theory lessons, he felt that the saber suited him the best. A sword was an allrounder and was the most popular weapon, but it lacked the purity of killing power the saber had. While a sword could cut both ways, the necessity of an edge on both sides took away from the weapon's weight. For Gravis, swinging a saber felt way

made his choice and could not change it anymore. The tortoise was only around a meter high, but its head looked imposing. Dark red scales covered the head, and some of the scales poked out like natural blades. As the tortoise slowly moved toward Gravis with a neutral