Lightning Is the Only Way

After around an hour of traveling, Gravis finally arrived at his goal. Yet, in that one hour of travel, he remembered something peculiar. "I'm 17 now!" he had said.

Yes, Gravis had been in this lower world for nearly a year, and he recently had his birthday. It irked him a little that there was no one around with whom he could celebrate his birthday, but he only had to remember his goal. As soon as he reached the Unity Realm, he would be back with his family. The thought about his birthday had only been just that, a thought. He quickly focused his mind again at his current goal.

Initially, he hadn't had a reason to go here. Originally, Gravis only had four targets in the Middle-Continent, but his new movement technique made Gravis decide on this new goal.

Gravis looked at the gigantic volcano and the many houses. This was the Fire Guild.

Why did Gravis decide to come to the Fire Guild? To explain that, one would need to understand how the Fire Guild made their money.

Different Elemental Guilds had different specialties in earning money.

The Wind Guild made most of their money by renting or selling Energy Beasts. Of course, such a powerful beast wouldn't let themselves be worked like slaves, so those Energy Beasts were less for transportation or work and more for protection. The people that bought or rented those beasts had to treat them like their ancestors, basically. Otherwise, the beast would get angry.

The Water Guild infused their Life Energy and water into different plants, therefore creating incredibly expensive and powerful natural treasures. The Water Guild made their money by selling those herbs. They were also pretty good alchemists.

The Darkness Guild had the most controversial way of earning money. They ran an assassination business. One must never forget that there were a lot of towns and cities with their own nobles and people with high status. Jaimy's past was an excellent example of that. His clan had been an auxiliary clan of the Lightning Guild, and they had fought long feuds with other such clans. The assassinations of the Darkness Guild were precisely for people like that. Of course, their services were expensive.

The Light Guild mainly worked as healers and protectors. They took many towns under their name for protection and collected taxes. Of course, a sick or injured person could also go to the Water Guild for healing, but their prices were multiple times higher. The reason for that was that the water disciples used their own Life Energy to heal, which exhausted them tremendously. That was why most people still went to the Light Guild for healing. The Water Guild was just too expensive.

The Lightning Guild had many smaller ways to earn money. Due to their honest bearing that hated deceit, the disciples were often hired as guards for deliveries, protectors, and surprisingly also as a bank. If someone wanted to keep their belongings safe, there was no better place than the Lightning Guild. No matter how expensive the thing was, it would always stay untouched as long as it remained in the Lightning Guild.

That left the Earth Guild and Fire Guild. How did they earn their money?

Interestingly, they both earned their money the same way. They were the leading figures in creating equipment. In order to forge excellent equipment, one needed supremely tempered materials and high control over fire. Of course, the Earth Guild and Fire Guild only had one of those aspects each, which would not be enough to make them the overlords of forging.

But, of course, the guilds knew that. So, they have long created an agreement that 30% of their own disciples good in forging would reside in the other guild. Like this, they always had a combination of someone who knew how to control the earth and someone that knew how to control fire at the same time. Of course, such a luxury service where two forgers had to dedicate their time to a single item cost just as much.

Gravis decided to go to the Fire Guild for precisely that reason. His newly created movement technique was fast but looked stupid and left a considerable trail in its wake. Anyone could track him by following that trail.

On top of that, it was a pain in the ass if there was just a slight elevation in Gravis' path. The grip of his saber, which obviously couldn't cut, was still above ground, which meant that it hit any minor elevation. Gravis had been thrown off his saber many times due to that. He needed an alternative.

Gravis quickly checked the guild with his Spirit and found the Guild Master. After he met the Guild Masters of Lightning and Wind, he already knew that he had to take the initiative in telling them who he was.

"Hello, Guild Master," he sent to the Guild Master. "You might not recognize me with my new look, but I am Gravis. You know, the guy who had offered life and death tempering about a week back."

Initially, the Guild Master was observing Gravis carefully, trying to figure out who he was. Luckily, Gravis' voice transmission came quickly, and a light of recognition shined in the Guild Master's eyes.

"Oh, Gravis!" he sent back. "You've truly changed. You've also reached the Spirit Forming Realm in only a little more than a week. Honestly, if I hadn't seen you fight previously, I wouldn't believe that your strength increased that quickly. What brings you here?" asked the Guild Master.

Gravis smiled politely. "Thank you for your kind words, Guild Master. I came to request the forging of an unusual object. May I enter?" Gravis asked.

The Guild Master grew interested in what Gravis had said. The forging of an unusual object? This would be interesting. "Wait a moment," the Guild Master sent back. "I'll inform the person responsible for those things."

"Thank you, Guild Master," sent Gravis back.

Not five seconds later, Gravis got his answer. "Hello, Gravis. You want to commission something from our forge?" asked a voice inside Gravis' head.

Gravis was a little surprised that someone at the Spirit Forming Realm contacted him directly because of something as simple as forging. With his Spirit, Gravis looked over at the spot where this Spirit originated and saw someone wearing a Vice-Guild Master's robe hammering away at a weapon. Apparently, this Vice-Guild Master was a qualified forger as well.

"Hello, Vice-Guild Master. Yes, I have a peculiar request. It is kind of hard to describe," Gravis sent back.

The Vice-Guild Master smiled slightly. "Interesting. Come over to my place. I'll be done in around ten minutes. Then, we can discuss as long as you want about this object. I am always interested in special commissions."

Gravis went over to the smithing hall, passing many disciples on the way, who looked at Gravis strangely. It was incredibly rare for outsiders to walk around inside their guild. All the forging commissions were either discussed outside of the guild or came in via letter.

Gravis didn't mind the looks and quickly weaved through the crowd. With his Spirit, he knew where everyone was and had no issue in dodging the thick crowd.

Suddenly, a disciple basically sprinted into the middle of the road, blocking Gravis' way. Gravis hadn't seen that one coming, and they collided.

THUMP!

Gravis tried to stop, but he couldn't stop himself completely. He hit the disciple, who quickly fell over. The disciple groaned a little and rubbed his head. Then, he stood up with anger in his eyes and looked furiously at Gravis.

"Watch where you're going, you blind fuck!"