Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis was quite surprised by what he saw because the whole Earth Guild was built inside the mountain. The sheer size of the gigantic cave made it seem like the whole mountain was carved out until only the outer shell remained. Of course, that wasn't true. Gravis had seen how big the mountain was, and there was still a lot of solid stone left. Yet, didn't they worry that the mountain could collapse on top of their heads?

He could see a lot of buildings carved out of the stone and a myriad of caves at the walls. Judging by the number of caves, Gravis guessed that those were the personal caves of the disciples. There were literally thousands. But one thing hit Gravis even harder than the size of the Earth Guild.

A cacophony of noise assaulted Gravis. He heard the loud clanking of weapons on stone and a lot of imposing voices. The voices all turned into an unintelligible mess of shouts, annoying Gravis. Though he couldn't understand what the voices were saying, he felt no aggression coming from them. They were just really loud.

Gravis looked over to the disciple, who had continued walking by now. Gravis quickly caught up and followed him. The closer they got, the louder everything got. Gravis slowly grew annoyed by all the noise, but there was no way around that. The Earth Guild was respectful, and Gravis just had to deal with all the noise.

As they got closer, Gravis could discern the voices of nearby speakers. He was quite surprised by the content of their dialogue. Most of them were discussing their ways and philosophy. They were discussing the attributes of earth and their beliefs associated with it.

Though they all discussed loudly with each other, they all remained unaggressive and respectful. They were only arguing about why they believe their way to be true, and not why the belief of others was false.

"Hey, you two," shouted the leading guard at the two discussing people. "Move to the discussion hall!" he ordered them. The two disciples looked at the new arrival, but when they saw him, they only nodded and left, moving to a big building.

Gravis watched them leave and then turned to the guard that accompanied him. "What's that all about?" he asked.

The expression of the guard, obviously, didn't change. "Discussing your beliefs outside of the discussion hall is forbidden!" he stated loudly. "If we allowed everyone to discuss their beliefs openly, the guild would become noisy!"

Gravis looked in disbelief at the disciple. 'So, right now, it's not noisy?' he thought. Gravis was constantly under the assault of clanking weapons and shouting people. How was this not noisy? Gravis only remained silent.

Instead of walking more, the guard turned to Gravis. "Do you have any special destination in mind?" he asked Gravis.

Originally, Gravis intended to look around some more, but this noise was grating on his nerves. He could barely hear his own thoughts. If this noise were only temporary, he wouldn't mind, but it was constant without pause.

Due to the Energy in his mind, he already had a constant headache to deal with, so he didn't need another one on top of it. He could tune out the noise with his will, but that would be exhausting if he did that over a longer period.

Right now, Gravis wanted to leave. Yes, the Earth Guild was interesting, but he had already learned enough from the accompanying guard. He wouldn't scam those people. There were other, more fitting targets for that.

"I have a Beast Core of a high-grade Energy Beast with me. Where can I exchange that?" he asked.

"What?" asked the guard.

"I said that I have a Beast Core that I'd like to exchange!" Gravis shouted louder, thinking he hadn't heard him due to the noise.

The guard looked at Gravis with annoyance. "I heard you! You don't need to shout!" he, ironically, shouted. "I was just surprised that it came from a high-grade Energy Beast! You must be strong!"

Gravis rubbed the bridge of his nose to relieve some stress. 'I don't need to shout? Do you not hear your surroundings!?' he thought in annoyance. Gravis took a deep breath to calm down. "Yes, I killed it on the way. Where can I exchange it?" he asked.

The guard looked at him more closely. "What did you say?" he asked.

"I said, I killed it on the way to here!" Gravis shouted.

The guard looked at Gravis unpleasantly. "I heard what you said! You shouldn't shout this loudly while in public! It's bad manners!" he, of course, shouted.

One of Gravis' eyelids twitched in suppressed rage. 'This fucking guy…'

Gravis narrowed his eyes. "Then why did you ask!?" Gravis asked with clear annoyance in his voice. This guy was getting on his nerves more than anyone he had ever met.

"I was only surprised because you made it sound like you killed it alone!" he shouted back, which made Gravis even angrier. This guy said that Gravis shouldn't shout, yet he was shouting louder than him.

"Yes, I killed it by myself. Where can I exchange the Beast Core?" he asked again.

The guard narrowed his eyes and looked at Gravis very closely. After some seconds of intense staring, he finally spoke. "What?"

"Alright, fuck that! I'm leaving!" Gravis shouted and turned around. He used his physical strength to run back to the entrance.

"No need to curse!" came the shout of the guard from behind Gravis.

Gravis only gritted his teeth. 'Calm down! They are nice guys. Don't do something you'll regret, Gravis,' he thought to himself. 'Be the bigger man and just leave. No need to make a scene.'

"Goodbye, Heavenborn!" he heard an imposing shout from his previous location.

Gravis wasn't sure, but he thought that he heard a slight amount of happiness in that voice. 'Did that bastard do this on purpose?' he thought but decided to ignore it. "Bye," he shouted back.

"What?" he heard again and immediately stopped.

This time he had definitely heard the glee in the voice. That bastard was doing this on purpose! Of course, the Earth Guild wouldn't be happy about someone of the Heaven Sect being in their guild. They had to remain respectful, but no one liked the Heaven Sect. It was the hegemon of this world, and it oppressed everyone under its rule. They might not have the ability to go against the Heaven Sect, but they could annoy them.

Gravis turned back to the Earth Guild and looked a little closer. Now, he saw several weird things. Most of the disciples had gathered at a spot closer to where Gravis previously was. The other regions weren't as populated, and therefore, probably also quieter. There, he also noticed some people speaking with a more hushed body language. 'Did they orchestrate this whole thing?' Gravis thought.

Gravis grew a little angry when he realized that this whole thing was orchestrated just to make him feel annoyed. He narrowed his eyes but still left. If he made a scene inside the Earth Guild, the upper echelon may come and detain him until Aion arrived. In their mind, that would be a humiliation for the Heaven Sect. Of course, Aion wouldn't come to get Gravis, but to kill him. So, for that reason, Gravis retreated for now.

Even though they annoyed the shit out of him, there may still be worse guilds out there. 'You just went up a place on my list. I'll take a look at the Darkness Guild, and if they are not worse than you, I'll return here!'

Gravis quickly left the cave and jumped on the back of Skye. Skye was surprised that Gravis was already back but didn't mind. Without saying goodbye to the guard, they both shot off into the distance.

The Darkness Guild was next, and Gravis had a belly-full of annoyance inside him.

They better not be worse than the Earth Guild!