Old Man Lightning and Lasar had learned to trust in Gravis' imagination. Due to him not being raised in this world, he had a broader view, which enabled him to think outside the box.
"Oh? Now, I'm interested. Tell us!" Old Man Lightning said.
Gravis scratched his chin in thought. "Think about the situation like this. You would need 50 years to start your tempering again, so it will definitely take longer than 50 years to reach the Unity Realm for you, right?"
Lasar nodded.
Gravis lifted a finger. "Now, how long would it take you to recultivate from the Sapling Stage?" Gravis asked.
Lasar furrowed his brows. "I am halfway through the Tree Stage right now, so it will only take five years to return to my peak, but from the end of the Sapling Stage, I would probably need over ten years. The beginning of the Sapling Stage would be 20 years."
Gravis smirked. "Right, isn't that shorter than 50 years?"
Lasar still furrowed his brows. "I guess it is, but-"
WACK!
Old Man Lightning hit Lasar on the head with his cane. "Are you stupid? Don't you get it?" He asked with annoyance.
Lasar thought about this for a while. Then, after some seconds, his eyes widened, and he clapped thigh in realization. "Of course!" he shouted, and Gravis smiled. "In the Self Stage, I can only temper myself against others in the Self Stage. The same holds true for the Tree Stage. Sadly, due to me going through the tenth Stage of Magic Gathering, no one in the Tree Stage would fight me. My Unity Will would also make fighting against high-grade Spirit beasts too easy."
"But at the Sapling Stage, I could temper myself again since I would have plenty of opponents," Lasar said.
Gravis continued smiling and nodded. "Yes. With your bigger storage of Energy and your stronger will, you can probably manage to fight Tree Stage cultivators or high-grade Spirit Beasts. Though, you would have to fight one Stage higher than yourself." Then, Gravis shrugged. "After all, if I can fight two Stages above myself, you should be able to fight one Stage higher."
Whoosh!
Gravis evaded a cane. "Stop being so arrogant!" Old Man Lightning said with frustration.
Gravis smiled back at Old Man Lightning. "Why? Did I lie?" he asked with a slight laugh.
Old Man Lightning tightened the grip on his cane, harrumphed, and turned his head away from Gravis. He didn't want to get into a discussion with him.
"Becoming weaker to become stronger," Lasar muttered while scratching his stubble. "It sounds quite contradictory, but it should work. This is a good idea, Gravis."
Gravis only waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry! I'm just giving some ideas. After all, it's you that has to make this work."
Lasar smirked and nodded. "Right you are." Then he chuckled a bit. "The new generation will always surpass the old," he said.
Gravis smirked. "Well, that may not always be true, but, right now, I couldn't put it better myself."
Whoosh!
Gravis sidestepped another cane. "I said, dial back your arrogance!" Old Man Lightning shouted in frustration.
Gravis had stopped smirking and frowned at Old Man Lightning. "I wasn't talking about myself!" he shouted back. "I was talking about all those new disciples that are getting their Destruction Lightning right now! Don't always jump to conclusions, you old shit!"
"Old shit, eh?" Old Man Lightning said evenly. Surprisingly, he didn't sound angry. "You dodged some of my canes, and now you think that you can walk all over me, is that it? I think you have forgotten all your past beatings."
Then Old Man Lightning cracked his knuckles as Gravis noticed that he had forgotten that Old Man Lightning was still way more powerful than him. "Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" he said.
Old Man Lightning only smirked. "If sorry were enough, we wouldn't have fights."
And like this, after a long time, Gravis got beaten again.
One and a half days later, the three returned to the Lightning Sect. Gravis had already healed himself and Lasar during that time. The helpless beating that he took from Old Man Lightning reminded him of his first days in the Lightning Sect. It was just as annoying now as it was back then.
'Well, I walked right into that one,' Gravis thought. 'I think it would be better not to forget the power of the people I am talking to. In other worlds, an attitude like this could cost me my life. Seems like there is always something to learn.'
Gravis wasn't really angry at Old Man Lightning. After all, this beating had shown him another one of his weaknesses. If he talked like this with other, more powerful people, they might not stop after only beating him up a little. In a sense, Old Man Lightning's beatings taught him some things about humility.
Gravis had no interest in the Darkness Sect's wealth. His Spirit couldn't be enhanced with pills and his lightning was already flowing out of his body. The only interesting thing would be body tempering pills, but he didn't want to increase his body right now. After all, if he got even more powerful, he wouldn't be able to temper himself anymore.
Surprisingly enough, the Lightning Sect also wasn't interested in the wealth. All the expensive stuff had been carried by the elders and Byron. Sadly, it all got obliterated. On top of that, the Lightning Sect thought that the Darkness Sect had paid for their crimes. Leaving them their wealth could be considered as a small help. After all, the Lightning Sect wasn't interested in completely eradicating the Darkness Sect. That would just be a waste. Like this, the Darkness Sect itself remained untouched.
Lasar was still in the Tree Stage. He first wanted to inform all the elders in the Sect about his future plan. By falling to the Sapling Stage, the Lightning Sect wouldn't have anyone at the Tree Stage anymore. On top of that, Gravis was about to leave the Sect for the resource war. He would leave in about two weeks and stay inside the Freya Clan for a month. After that, it was already time for the resource war.
As soon as Gravis would enter the resource war, Old Man Lightning would ascend to the next world. After all, Gravis would be untouchable inside the closed area for the resource war. One shouldn't forget that the resource war would stretch over multiple years. If Gravis managed to survive, he would come out with probably even more power than Old Man Lightning currently had.
This meant that in two months, both Old Man Lightning and Gravis wouldn't be there anymore. The Lightning Sect would become way weaker than before. Lasar could remain in the Tree Stage to secure the Lightning Sect's foundation, but he had decided that his own cultivation was more important. He had given enough to the Sect over the years.
Of course, the Lightning Sect wouldn't remain completely helpless. Even at the Sapling Stage, Lasar would still be as powerful as an average Sect Master. With the Wind Sect also being close-by, the Lightning Sect was safe enough for Lasar to lower his strength.
Like this, around two weeks passed.
Right now, Gravis could break into the Sapling Stage anytime he wanted. Of course, he didn't. After all, Old Man Lightning and Lasar had told him that he could only participate in the resource war as long as he remained in the Seed Stage. As soon as he officially entered the resource war, he could break into the Sapling Stage at any time.
His Will-Aura was also way more powerful than before. The tempering against the Darkness Sect helped a lot, and Gravis could now condense his Will-Aura to an area of about 13%. As soon as he would reach 1%, he would have condensed a level three Unity Will.
Priests of the Heaven Sect had a Heavenly Pressure, which corresponded to a level two Unity Will. That was the main reason why they were more powerful than ordinary Self Stage cultivators. With the current strength of Gravis' Unity Will, he had the third most powerful will in the entire world. The only beings with more powerful wills were the High Priest and Heaven itself.
Gravis stood at the front gate of the Sect. Old Man Lightning and Lasar stood opposite him with smiles on their faces. Gravis also smiled at them. He had already said his goodbyes to the only other being that he felt a connection with in the Lightning Sect. The Freya's Birch. It didn't want to see its father going, but there was no way around it.
"So, this is it, huh?" Gravis said.
Old Man Lightning nodded. "Yes. It's time to say goodbye."
Gravis sighed. "I probably won't go to your higher world," Gravis said with melancholy. "I will probably go to a completely different kind of world to further my horizon. There is basically no chance that we will ever see each other again, old man."
Old Man Lightning continued smiling. "It's alright. I have already thought as much. Friends come and go. Such is life."
Lasar also smiled. "I will still be here after you return from the resource war. I'm looking forward to your fight with Heaven," he said, encouraging Gravis.
Gravis sighed bitterly. Saying goodbye was always hard, even with a powerful will. "Thank you for everything, you two. You have shown and taught me a lot of things about myself."
Old Man Lightning waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. You did the same thing for us." Then, he gripped his cane and swung it around. "Now get going before I beat you again!"
Gravis could only smile bitterly when he heard that. Then, he looked at the sky and then back at them. "As long as you keep ascending, you will reach my homeworld at some point. Just ask anyone with similar power to you about the Opposer. As soon as you see that they are familiar with that title, you will know that you reached my homeworld."
Lasar and Old Man Lightning looked with furrowed brows at each other, then turned back to Gravis. "The Opposer? Who is that?"
"That's my father," Gravis answered with a smile. "Maybe there are other people that call themselves something similar, but only in my homeworld will the cultivators have a powerful reaction to that title."
"Your father sounds powerful," Lasar said.
Gravis nodded. "He is."
Then, he turned around. "Goodbye. I hope I will see you two again in the future."
"Goodbye, Gravis," they said.
After that, Gravis jumped onto his Lightning Board and drove away. Old Man Lightning and Lasar remained silent for a while and sighed.
After some minutes, they walked back into the Sect.
