The group traveled for a little over a day. The "inheritance" wasn't very close, but also not very far away. It just so happened that the inheritance was pretty close to the Heaven Sect, which was located in the absolute middle of the Core-Continent.
They stopped and looked at their goal. It was a gigantic mountain chain without any trees on it. It actually looked kind of artificial if one looked closer. The stones that made the mountains were a little too uniform, and the fact that there were no trees, grass, animals, or beasts in the surroundings confirmed the feeling that the mountains were artificial.
Yet, Gravis was still pretty impressed by the mountains. Those were the tallest mountains that he had ever seen. After all, in his homeworld, he had never left the city. They even stretched into the space above the world where no Energy was located. Gravis guessed that the mountains were probably way over 15 kilometers tall, but he couldn't estimate their whole size.
He also couldn't see the top of the mountains with his Spirit. It hadn't been relevant until now, but Gravis' Spirit was unable to continue after it reached a height of around twelve kilometers. 'This is probably where the boundary of the world lies. Heh, it's actually quite funny that this world is so vast but so flat.'
The group also wasn't alone. A lot of groups had already arrived before them and waited in front of a gate leading into one of the mountains. He saw 13 waiting groups, and when Gravis looked closer at the groups, he was quite surprised. It wasn't because of the number of people, but because of their cultivation.
Six groups were from the Elemental Sects, and every member of those groups was at the peak of the Seed Stage. On top of that, all their Will-Auras were powerful enough to reach the Sapling Stage if they wanted to. 'Does that mean that there are, at least, five cultivators who could become elders at any time? That's pretty frightening.'
But Gravis quickly realized the reason for that. 'Well, most cultivators probably aren't very interested in taking up the position of an elder. After all, such a position came with a lot of work, and becoming an elder basically already means that they won't continue on their path. I think all the Sects take this Heaven's Trial very seriously. They are even keeping so many disciples at the edge of the Sapling Stage.'
Yet, what surprised Gravis, even more were the other groups. They either came from some Clans or were just wholly comprised of loose cultivators. He felt a great mix of different elements in those groups, and he even saw some groups that completely lacked an element.
Gravis scratched his chin in interest. 'I've never seen loose cultivators in the Middle- and Core-Continent. I've heard about them, but I've never really come into contact with them. I wonder how they fight. Well, Byron said that they use Battle-Techniques similar to the Rakshasa Saber that he gave me. Hmm, if their Will-Aura is powerful enough, they might even be able to fight disciples from Sects, though there probably aren't many of those.'
'They would probably also have trouble fighting from a distance. If they fight against someone from the Wind Sect, they would have huge issues. The cultivator from the Wind Sect could just continue throwing storms or wind blades at them. Well, to be fair, that would be true for most cultivators, even if they had an element. I just don't have this problem due to my quick acceleration. But hey, there are still the disciples from the Fire and Water Sect. They also have some nice long-ranged attacks.'
Poke, poke!
Gravis turned to his right as he felt someone poke him. "Gravis, everyone's looking at you," Joyce said quietly.
They had just arrived, and Gravis just stopped moving and looked with intense eyes at the groups. Many of them already felt nervous, while some were even afraid. To them, it felt like Gravis was contemplating how he would kill them. His killing intent and will were vastly superior to everyone present, which intimidated them.
Most of them had already heard about the Lightning Calamity, Gravis. A monster that had eradicated the whole upper echelon of the Darkness Sect by himself, for seemingly no reason. No one knew about Byron's scheme against Gravis, and Gravis also hadn't bothered to explain himself.
In their eyes, Gravis was a mad slaughterer. They had also heard that the Heaven Sect wanted to kill him due to his crimes, but Old Man Lightning protected him. Yes, the Lightning Tyrant, Dorian, also called Old Man Lightning, could be considered insane and bloodthirsty, but he hadn't eradicated a whole Sect by himself, though he had tried.
Was the Lightning Calamity taking part in this years' resource war? Wouldn't that break all forms of competition? Yes, nearly all of the trials were against the trial itself and not against other teams, but if two or more teams reached the end, the chances were high that the winning teams would clash with each other. Only on rare occasions would more than one team return alive.
Would the Lightning Calamity even have issues in beating the trials? The trials were, after all, appropriate to the Realm and Stage of the cultivator. The Lightning Calamity couldn't be judged by his Realm. He had already eradicated a whole Sect while being at the Seed Stage. What if he reached the Sapling Stage inside the Trial? Wouldn't he be able to even fight cultivators at the Self Stage?
Step. Step. Step.
One person stepped forward from one of the groups, and Gravis recognized him. "Manuel," Gravis said in greeting.
Yes, this was Manuel, the Ascender's Talent from the Wind Sect. Gravis had fought Manuel and an elder, but their fight had been interrupted by the Wind Sect Master's arrival. Gravis still felt a little bad about the fact that he had almost killed Manuel and kind of killed the Wind Sect Mater by proxy.
"Gravis," Manuel said with neutral eyes, which quickly transformed into a genuine smile, surprising Gravis. "Thank you for taking revenge on Byron," he said with a polite bow. "Byron has killed master. I wanted to take revenge myself, but it would have taken at least another decade, and that was considering that Ancestor Darkness wouldn't interfere."
Manuel sighed. "To be honest, I am kind of frustrated that it wasn't me who killed Byron, but if it had been me, he would have survived for, at least, another decade. After thinking about this, I decided that I would rather prefer a swift death performed by someone else instead of a delayed one performed by me. So, thank you."
Gravis sighed. "You don't need to thank me," Gravis said. "I didn't do it for you or your master, after all. It was a personal enmity with Byron. He has used me to kill your disciple brothers. I am also sorry for your master's death. When your master arrived at our battleground, he didn't kill me indiscriminately but actually saved me from Byron's influence. I honestly regret his death."
Manuel smiled a sad smile. "Thank you. You know, I was angry at you for a long while, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that all of this wasn't your doing." Manuel chuckled a little. "And to be frank, our fight has given me quite some tempering. Though this is also a bittersweet feeling."
Gravis looked at him. "Because, if your master hadn't died, it would have become very difficult to temper yourself in the future, right?"
Manuel nodded. "Yes. Getting saved by someone in a fight is a big issue. If he had survived, my path forward would have become way more challenging." Manuel sighed again and looked at the horizon. "Sometimes, I even think that he had already realized Byron's scheme when he arrived. He probably knew that he would die, yet, for my path forward, he sacrificed his life."
Gravis sighed when he heard that. It actually made a lot of sense. This made Byron's scheme even more terrifying. It was not only a hidden scheme that was difficult to see through but also an open scheme for the Wind Sect Master. Byron's scheming and planning ability had been really terrifying.
"So, you taking part in the resource war?" Manuel asked.
Gravis nodded.
Manuel looked at Gravis' group. "Their cultivation is a Realm lower than yours. On top of that, their cultivation isn't even at the peak. I'm guessing that you are splitting up?"
Gravis nodded, but before he could answer, he was interrupted.
"Hey, are you one of Gravis' friends?" Joyce asked with interest. Then, she offered her hand. "Hi! I'm Joyce! Nice to meet you!" she chirped.
Manuel looked at Joyce with a smile, but deep in his eyes, one could see shock. This person had a Unity Will! That was incredible! "Hello, Joyce. I am Manuel," his eyes also shone with another light of recognition. "You have gone through the tenth Stage of Magic Gathering?" he asked.
Joyce nodded. "Yes! Gravis has told me many secrets that made me change my mind."
Manuel's eyes shone again. "So, you hadn't gone through the tenth Stage before you met Gravis? Why is that?"
Joyce scratched the back of her neck. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you those things. You should ask Gravis," she said.
Manuel turned to Gravis. "Would you tell me?"
Gravis sighed. "Alright. Take it as my repayment for almost killing you," Gravis said.
And with that, Gravis told Manuel about the Middle-World and how it was imperative that every cultivator that wanted to go there needed to go through the Self Stage.
