Lightning Is the Only Way

Joyce and Gravis looked at each other with uncomfortable expressions. They remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time, eliciting a look of surprise by the other.

"What are you sorry about?" Joyce asked in surprise. "You showed me a truth about the cultivation world. I should be the sorry one since I let my emotions guide my actions." Joyce was a little red in the face due to embarrassment. "I also didn't mean what I have said previously. Those words were uncalled for."

Gravis sighed. "Don't worry about it. I didn't take them to heart. Also, I should apologize for saying it that directly. I didn't take your cultivation path into account. After all, everyone's experiences are different."

"Hey, don't steal my line!" Manuel grumbled.

Gravis only smiled slightly. "Your wisdom is my wisdom now," he said with a smirk.

Manuel rolled his eyes, but inside, he was happy. He felt proud of himself. After all, not everyone was able to teach the Lightning Calamity something.

Joyce looked with confusion at both of them but then turned to Gravis again. "Anyways, I'm sorry for my words. I know that you only wanted to help me."

"Water under the bridge," Gravis said with a dismissive wave.

Joyce smiled happily, and, for some reason, Gravis also felt a bit happy when he saw her smile. Yet, he quickly caught himself. 'I might actually feel attracted to her,' he thought. 'This could become dangerous. If I get too close to her, I might have doubts about my future path. I don't know how I will act in such a situation. I can't take the risk into account that I might decide to not leave this lower world. I can't get too close to her.'

Joyce was quite confused about Gravis' involuntary changes in expression. For a second there, she could've sworn that Gravis showed a genuine smile, but it had quickly vanished. Now, he only looked troubled. 'I really don't get him,' she thought.

Manuel watched them while cultivating, and he could only muster a troubled smile. 'I think I know what's going on with Gravis. No matter what he chooses, he will lose,' Manuel thought. 'For once, I'm happy that I'm not him.'

Who didn't want to be a powerful genius? Just imagining the possibility to fight two Stages above oneself would elicit feelings of longing. Yet, everyone had their own problems, even powerful people like Gravis. Nearly no one had an easy life.

Like this, time passed.

of hours later, Manuel reached the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering and immediately broke into the Spirit Forming Realm. When

went over to fetch the new person, while the other, obviously, was the new person. The new person quickly went over to Manuel and thanked him for this opportunity. If

waved him off. He saw his actions as more selfish than selfless, so he didn't really

after that,

Brrr!

themselves. Many people retrieved their weapons and moved into different formations. A couple more groups arrived, but there was

Joyce's group knew that no group from the Lightning Sect would come. After all, in order to not force Gravis to fight against

else of note. Even though some new groups had arrived, the total number of groups didn't increase. That was because the groups from the Water, Light, and Darkness Sect had left. They decided against taking the risk of fighting Gravis. Even if they

part in this year's resource war. One was the Wind Sect, while the other was the Fire Sect. The Fire Sect was comprised of battle-hungry maniacs, while the people from the Wind Sect were rather

after another charged

with motivation as she pointed forward with a

that. "That pose would look better if you were on a horse,"

pouted. "Hey!

then walked forward. "Let's just go," he

the group quickly followed. A long, dimly lit corridor greeted them, and only some lit

the path wasn't straight. The path went up and down, left and right. The construction of the corridor resembled the body of a snake more than an

kilometer with my Spirit. On a straight path, I could see further with just my eyes,' Gravis thought. 'Well, it actually makes sense. If everyone could investigate the paths,

braziers stood in the middle, illuminating the surroundings. The stones were brownish, and the design reminded people of an old temple or the ruin of one. Two old gates stood before them. Above each gate was a sizable stone tablet, which was inscribed. One had a giant '1' while the other had a giant

and those gates are also weird," Manuel said with narrowed eyes. "This doesn't fit the info I got from

to meet in a gigantic hall with a lot of gates. In the hall,

to their discussion and quickly found the answer. 'No wonder the hallway was so crooked. After the other groups entered, Heaven quickly changed the path just for us. The other groups are probably really confused about a sudden wall appearing behind them. If we went in first, the same thing would have happened, and if we entered in the middle,

but he had a suspicion. "Let me guess. The numbers above the gates say how many people are

have an option to choose. We are forced to split up. This is so strange. Normally there would be hundreds of

the gate with the big '1'. "This is where

casual?