Lightning Is the Only Way

"Impossible," Old Man Lightning said immediately.

"Why?" Gravis asked.

"Because you are too strong," Old Man Lightning said. "You have already proven that you can take two Sapling Stage cultivators at the same time, which is an issue. Adding someone too powerful to the war would not be accepted by the other Sects. They would just refuse to fight. You would keep, at least, two Sapling Stage cultivators busy, allowing another Sapling Stage cultivator to roam around freely, killing weaker ones."

Gravis frowned. "Then, can't I just take up two seats of Sapling Stage cultivators?"

"No," Old Man Lightning said. "If you won against any two Sapling Stage cultivators, it would be okay. Sadly, you had to take on an elder and the Wind Sect's Ascender's Talent. An elder counts as one and a half, and Manuel also. You would need to take up, at least, three Sapling Stage cultivator spots to join."

Gravis' furrowed his brows. "And I guess that would be an issue since the others aren't forced to fight me. They would probably just send two to stall long enough, while the last one would tear through our Sect. Before I am able to kill those two, the guy will return while our Sects are at a huge disadvantage."

Old Man Lightning nodded in praise. "Exactly. On top of that, they might all focus their attacks on you since you take up three whole spots. You might be powerful, but you won't be able to resist such a combined attack. Basically, you can only temper yourself against Sect Masters, but you're still too weak for that."

Gravis sighed in frustration. "This sucks! I basically have no opportunities to temper myself until I become stronger."

Old Man Lightning laughed a little. "Now, you know how I feel. Frustrating, isn't it?"

"It sure is. If you can think of anything, please tell me, okay? I feel incredibly antsy with nothing to do," Gravis transmitted.

Old Man Lightning snorted. "For once, you're not in a life and death crisis, and you feel antsy already? With that mindset, it's no wonder that your will is already this powerful. Just relax for a while. Increase your Realm. Maybe increase your control over your power. Experiment with your lightning. Just take the downtime to learn more about yourself. Get used to it because this will become more frequent in the future."

Gravis sighed again in frustration. Was there really nothing he could do?

"By the way, negotiations with the Wind Sect are finished," Old Man Lightning said.

Gravis furrowed his brows. "Negotiations?"

"Yes, after all, you've killed a powerful group of their disciples and were somewhat involved in the Sect Master's death. Even though you were under an illusion, you were still treated as an accomplice," Old Man Lightning said.

Gravis had an uncomfortable look on his face. "I guess I do have some responsibility in that matter. How did it go?"

Old Man Lightning drank another cup of tea. "Originally, we would have needed to pay a whole lot of Magic Stones, but after the whole tree thing, the negotiations changed. The Wind Sect gets one thousand free heals for their disciples. Of course, there are some restrictions on it. After all, one person with a Spirit Forming Body takes up way more Life Lightning than someone in the Body Tempering Realm. If we only consider people with a Spirit Forming Body, they would get ten free heals."

"Another debt," Gravis said with a sigh.

"No, that's not a debt," Old Man Lightning said. "After all, the tree is only here, thanks to you. Your debts have been paid with you granting us access to Destruction Lightning, yet we haven't rewarded you for the tree yet. The Freya's Birch is way more valuable than a week of lightning. Just accept it as us paying you back for the tree."

Gravis thought about it and sighed again. "I guess you're right. It does make sense that way."

"Just relax for a while. You've got nothing else to do," Old Man Lightning said with an easygoing voice.

"I guess I should," Gravis agreed. "Though this will take some time."

With that said, Gravis wandered aimlessly around the Sect. Over half of the disciples had already left the Sect to hunt for beasts, while the majority of the others rebuilt the Sect. Of course, rebuilding the Sect also gave Contribution Points. No work was left unrewarded in the Lightning Sect, no matter how unimportant it was.

'Could I use some Contribution Points?' Gravis thought. 'Maybe I could buy some body tempering pills. Oh, right!' Gravis clapped into his hand as he remembered something. 'I could temper my body by myself. Learning more about my body would be a plus, and with the constant feeling of progression and having something to do, I won't be as bored anymore. I guess that's the best thing I could do, even if it isn't the most efficient use of my time.'

'I think the best way to go about it is to mine some Balzar,' Gravis thought. 'I think the Sect needs a lot of Balzar anyway. After all, they need to rebuild a lot of houses. Like this, I can earn Contribution Points too. With enough of them, I might even be able to buy a Peak-Grade Spirit Weapon. A weapon like that wouldn't break even when I reach the Seed-Stage.'

Gravis quickly checked through the mission boards, and sure enough, the Sect needed a lot of Balzar. Gravis also checked how the Balzar should be delivered and noted that it should be delivered in rather big blocks. 3x3x3 meters was the optimal size that gave the biggest reward. They also accepted smaller blocks, but due to the fact that mining such a huge stone was difficult, the reward was slightly higher for a bigger one. After all, a lot of small fragments fell off the Balzar when one mined it.

With everything checked out, Gravis went over to the Balzar mine. A lot of the stuff was still above ground, but Gravis saw that there was also a lot of it in the ground. His Spirit didn't reach far into the ground, but everything he saw was still Balzar.

Gravis readied himself and punched the Balzar.

BANG!

A perfect 3x3x3 meters cube was created, making Gravis smile.

"I guess it's back to punching boulders."