Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis walked closer to Fear City. Even though he knew that danger could wait for him inside its borders, he still went through with it. This was only a city, and even if it were an outpost of the Darkness Sect, it would only have some Sapling Stage cultivators at most. If they didn't attack him, he wouldn't care, but if they did, this would serve as a good opportunity for tempering his will. Such a fight would be supremely difficult, but there was a chance of victory.

"Gravis, wait," came a voice in Gravis' Spirit, and he quickly narrowed his eyes, readying his saber. He didn't notice where the voice came from, and he didn't feel any Spirit encompassing him, which made him take this situation seriously.

Gravis knew that if he couldn't tell the voice's origin, it meant that the person speaking to him was talking to him from outside his Spirit's range. Gravis knew that someone at the initial stage of Spirit Forming only had a range of ten kilometers. One shouldn't forget that Gravis' Spirit had a range of 50 kilometers! The speaking person had to be, at least, in the Sapling Stage. On top of that, they knew his name, which didn't bode well.

"Over here," Gravis heard a physical voice from his right. He snapped his head to the direction and saw some grey-robed individuals. Gravis hadn't noticed their arrival, which made him nervous. On top of that, he could see them with his eyes, but not with his Spirit. Inside his Spirit's vision, the area was blank.

"Who are you?" asked Gravis with a harsh voice, ready to strike at any point.

"I'll tell you later who we are, but first, you should stay away from Fear City," said the one in the lead with a gruff voice. Judging by his voice, he was an elderly person.

Gravis narrowed his eyes further. "Why?" he asked simply.

"Because you'll die if you enter," the leading figure answered.

"How would you know that?" Gravis asked back.

The elder laughed a little. "I know what you're thinking. Who is this person? He clearly doesn't know my power. Right?"

Gravis didn't answer.

The elder walked forward a little, making Gravis grip his saber tighter. "Actually, I know more about you than you would think."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "And what do you know, exactly?"

The elder laughed again like he had expected that answer. "You have unprecedented battle-strength. You have a Unity Will. You have had a Will-Aura ever since appearing in this world. You are Heaven's enemy. And to top it all off," the elder paused after saying that, and Gravis was sure that he was smirking under his hood. "You are from a higher world."

Gravis didn't react outwardly, but his insides were shaken. How could that person know all this?

"Who are you?" Gravis asked.

The elder laughed slightly again, something that he seemed to be doing quite a bit, which annoyed Gravis. "Because you and I are similar," then the elder did an exaggerated bow. "I am also not of this world."

Now, Gravis could no longer keep his shock secret. His mouth involuntarily opened in shock. After some seconds, he shook his head. "That's impossible! I am certain that you are not from my homeworld, and I am also certain that no other world can send people across different worlds."

The elder laughed again. "You are right. No person can send people to other worlds," he said, and then paused. Then, the elder's smile grew, now showing through his grey hood. "But what about Heaven?"

Gravis was back to his narrowed eyes. "What do you mean?"

The elder lifted both of his hands to grandly gesture to the surroundings. "What if two different Heavens decided to make some kind of exchange program? Both worlds send some of their most talented teachers to the other one, and there, they fight. Yet, how do they fight? Are you interested?" the elder stopped talking here.

Gravis waited for some seconds. "Alright, I'm interested," said Gravis as he slightly relaxed his stance. "Tell me about your so-called exchange program."

The elder chuckled again. "Simple. This world and our world are different. This world mainly focuses on elements while our world focuses on physical combat. Which is better, which is worse? The Heavens disagree about this point, of course. One would always think that their team was the best. So, what if the two Heavens agreed to some kind of battle?"

"And how would that battle work?" Gravis asked.

And again, the elder started chuckling, grating on Gravis' nerves. "Each world sends one talented and powerful teacher into the other one. There, they search for talented people and teach them about the techniques of their homeworld. Like this, they create a force and then war with the leading forces. Of course, forces directly beneath Heaven, like the Heaven Sect, are not part of this deal. This would be unfair, wouldn't it?"

Gravis nodded. That would be unfair.

"Yet, creating such a force is hard," the elder continued. "Nearly every talented and powerful cultivator is already part of the Elemental Sects, so finding good people is hard. That's where you come into play. You are an exceptionally talented person without any affiliation for a Sect. That's why I have appeared before you. I want to recruit you!"

Gravis furrowed his brows. He hadn't expected this development. He had just arrived in the Core-Continent, and before he could even take a look at the Elemental Sects, someone was already recruiting him for something completely different.

"What's your goal?" asked Gravis. Gravis was actually intrigued by this. If he could learn techniques different from his elemental ones, his strength could increase. He was still relying on the martial arts that he had learned in Body City for his physical attacks. Those were, of course, way too weak for Gravis by now.

The elder didn't chuckle for once. "We have two goals or more like two steps that we have to take." The elder lifted one finger. "The first step is eliminating the Greens."

Gravis furrowed his brows again. "The Greens?" he asked.

The elder chuckled again. "They are some sort of entry test for us. They are another force from my homeworld, chosen by this Heaven to be our enemy. We were chosen by our Heaven, while they were chosen by this Heaven. We first have to eliminate the Greens before we can go to our actual goal."

"Which is?" Gravis asked.

"Becoming the strongest power, except for the Heaven Sect," the elder answered with fervor.

"So, you want to eliminate all the Elemental Sects?" Gravis asked, unamused. Gravis thought that the Elemental Sects were kind of the representation of this world. He wasn't sure how he felt about eliminating all Elemental Sects.

The elder chuckled again. "You are probably feeling uncomfortable thinking about the Elemental Sects' demise, right?" he asked, but Gravis didn't answer. "Might makes right, correct? So, if the path of elements is the correct one, we won't win against the Sects. Don't forget that they have the home advantage. They are seven Sects, with the best people in this world, while I have to go out myself for every single one of my people. If the Elemental Sects can't even win with that advantage, then what are they worth?"

Gravis thought about this for a while. The advantages that the Elemental Sects had over these people were genuinely immense. The battle-techniques of the elder's homeworld had to be far superior to the techniques of this world. If one person from another world actually managed to destroy all the Elemental Sects, then what were they even worth?

If already another lower world could destroy the strongest powers of this world, then what was this lower world even worth? 'If I imagine both worlds as two ponds with fish inside them, then the middle world would be a gigantic lake. If one pond was already suppressed by a single fish from another pond, then what about the lake? Wouldn't the fish jumping into the lake from the pond be completely suppressed there?' Gravis thought.

A new thought confronted Gravis. 'What if this other world is superior to this world? If that is the case, I should learn from them as well. Wasn't the job of a Research Assistant learning the different techniques of different worlds? I doubt that they could suppress all the Elemental Sects. Yet, if they accomplish that, it only shows that the elemental cultivation techniques of this world are weak.'

Gravis was inclined to agree. Yet, he first wanted to know more. "How did you get all this information about me?"