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.

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

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

smiled slyly. "I know, but there is another use

use?" asked Sear in

people need

need that to resist the

him. "Exactly. Now tell me what things can

it was the Vice-Guild Master of darkness who answered. "Life and death tempering, physical pain, emotional pain, and a change of personal outlook."

also fell in thought. The other two had no

push Magic into your Spirit, it will give you immense pain. You don't have to push through to Spirit

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

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

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

the multiple sticks of meat flew towards a big plate. "Gravis, you choose first. You gave

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.

finished. It seemed like they wanted to get back to other business.

so he kept mostly quiet, just listening. He also learned many new things. Gravis was

customs might be important in the secular world, but to him, only power was important. Socializing was nice, but it didn't

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

also stood up. Gravis was a little confused by

"Yeah, we all had a mission, which was just