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.

explaining, "I have learned a technique that allows someone to push Magic into their Spirit before reaching the ninth level

skepticism. "What's the point of that? Even if you manage to succeed, you would be the weakest Spirit Forming expert in existence

"I know, but there is another use for this

asked Sear in wonder. "What

why people need a

the Vice-Guild Master of earth, "You need that to resist the unreal pain and

him. "Exactly. Now tell me what things can increase

tempering, physical pain, emotional pain, and a change

him who fell into deep thought. Sear and the Vice-Guild Master of wind also fell in thought. The other

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

think you know how incredible that is. With this, we can increase the number of Spirit Forming experts by multiple

smile. "That's why I told you about it. Take it as repayment for the food and

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

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

wasn't really necessary at their levels. The Energy that they passively absorbed kept their bodies in top condition. To them, food was enjoyable,

Vice-Guild Master of water, were already finished. It seemed like they wanted to get back to other business.

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

but to him, only power was important. Socializing was nice, but it didn't help

to share. After several seconds of silence, Sear stood up and dusted off his robe. "Alright, let's finish

stood up. Gravis was a little confused by what Sear had

at Gravis. "Yeah, we all had a mission, which