Gravis waited for the strong people to arrive. The number of people at the ninth level might be small, but there would probably be people at the eighth level with a Will-Aura. Those people knew how to fight since they went through plenty of life and death experiences to get their Will-Aura. Gravis’ excitement grew as time passed.
"I would like to spar with you!" shouted a disciple at the eighth level of Energy Gathering. "I don’t want a life and death battle."
The others looked at him and then thought that that was actually a really good idea. If they paid Gravis the pills, he would surely accept some spars. He didn’t have anything to lose after all.
"I don’t spar," said Gravis back without looking at the person. The other disciples were surprised by what Gravis had said. What did he mean with, he didn’t spar? Why would someone not spar? Through sparring, they could find out their own weaknesses and rectify them. By rectifying their weaknesses, their strength would increase. Not sparring just sounded stupid in their mind.
"What do you mean with, ’I don’t spar’?" another disciple shouted, echoing the other disciples’ thoughts.
"You still haven’t realized yet?" asked Gravis with furrowed brows at the disciples. Seeing that no disciple answered, Gravis just harrumphed. "Sparring might, theoretically, make you find out about your weaknesses, but it also creates new weaknesses."
The disciples also furrowed their brows. This was similar to what some of their seniors had told them, but when everyone saw their own weaknesses in a spar, they ignored their seniors. They all saw their improvements with their own eyes. If put to a choice, the disciples would rather believe their eyes than what other people said.
Gravis saw their unwilling eyes and sighed. ’I’m using the Fire Guild for tempering, so I might as well repay them somewhat,’ he thought.
"Think back to the three fights previously," Gravis said. "Every single one of them knew that this fight would be a life and death battle. Yet, the first guy wanted to test me by using a half-assed attack. That might be possible to do in a spar, but in a genuine life and death battle, the opponent will make use of that weak attack to deal a fatal blow. The first person died because he was basically sparring with me while I tried to kill him."
Before the disciples could say anything, Gravis continued. "The second opponent fought properly and tried to kill me. Unfortunately, his realm was too weak. As you all have already noticed, my body is equal to the Magic of someone at the seventh level of Magic Gathering. So, without actually physically hitting me, he had no way to injure me. I guess that that guy probably had had a Will-Aura for a while and hadn’t met many powerful enemies recently, which inflated his ego and made him overestimate his strength."
"The third guy closed his eyes in a fight. There is nothing more stupid than closing one’s eyes in front of an enemy. If your enemy wanted to kill you, would they just wait for you to get ready? You might as well make some stretches in the fight if you believe that. The third guy was obviously used to sparring, where he could get away with doing something like that, and therefore wasn’t able to adapt to a real fight. He died because he sparred too much."
Gravis was finished with his explanation, and many disciples fell into thought. Most of them would have probably acted similarly to the first and third guy. With Gravis’ explanation, they knew that doing these things was stupid. Actually, they already knew that it was stupid even before Gravis told them, but would they have still done it?
Some of the disciples shivered. They had been used to sparring, which made them neglect the danger. They might recognize the danger with their mind, but their emotions were so used to fighting that they didn’t react differently when a genuine life and death battle was about to commence. They would still stay calm, like in a spar, which made them neglect the danger.
Most of the disciples felt a feeling of fear now. They had seen how the others died, but in their mind, they had survived every fight they had ever fought. Their emotions still hadn’t acted up even after they had seen three of their brothers die. Only now did they realize the actual danger present. Now, they looked at Gravis differently.
They didn’t look at him with disdain or arrogance anymore. Their emotions finally realized that there was a very real chance of them dying here. Ironically enough, the place of logic and emotions had switched places. Before, their head told them that they could die while their emotions didn’t care. Now, their emotions felt fear, while their head told them that Gravis wouldn’t just attack them without reason.
Gravis saw how the disciples reacted and nodded. ’This should be enough payment for using the Fire Guild.’ Gravis looked into the sky. He felt the Spirit of three people watching all this. The fighting area was just barely inside of the ten-kilometer range of newly ascended Spirit Forming experts. They had been watching since the very beginning, and Gravis conveyed his thoughts with his eyes.
-----
Inside the central tower of the Fire Guild.
The Guild Master and the two Vice-Guild Masters sat close to each other on their respective thrones. Normally, they would playfully banter with each other, but this time, the mood was somber. They all looked at each other with narrowed eyes.
"He actually managed to feel our Spirits. That’s unusual," said the first Vice-Guild Master while the other two nodded. "He has a body equal to the Magic of someone at the seventh level of Magic Gathering. He obviously has tremendous fighting experience. Judging by what I have seen, his lightning is also not ordinary, and lastly, he noticed our spirits." The first Vice-Guild Master took a breath. "His talent is absolutely terrifying, way more so than a normal Heavenborn."
"I wonder," said the Guild Master as he leaned back on his throne. "Is this what happens if a Heavenborn actually trains their will?" he asked himself and the others.
All their brows furrowed at the same time. The Guild Master had told them a lot about Heavenborn, and they knew that Heavenborn always had weak wills. "Actually," started the Guild Master again, "you have forgotten about two additional aspects. He’s already this strong, yet he still intends to temper himself in genuine life and death fights. He also still wants to increase his physical power even further."
The Guild Master narrowed his eyes. "If he only wanted to temper his body, he would have acted weak to lure in more people at the seventh level of Magic Gathering. He could get a mountain of pills this way. Yet, he won the fights with as much intimidation as possible. He even helped our disciples realize the actual danger. It is apparent that he only wants to fight the powerful ones. His battle strength at the same level could already be considered peerless, yet that is not enough for him. What an endless hunger for power."
The Vice-Guild Masters also took a deep breath. In their mind, the thought appeared that they might actually be looking at the future High Priest of the Heaven Sect. What other reason would Heaven have to create such a powerful Heavenborn, if not for replacing the current High Priest?
"Don’t offend him," said the Guild Master, and the other two nodded severely. They might be battle-hungry maniacs, but this was something beyond their ability. For once, they had to think about the survival of their whole guild, or maybe even whole sect. They remained silent for a full minute.
"Imagine if that boy weren’t a Heavenborn," said the second Vice-Guild Master with a laugh to lighten the atmosphere.
The other two looked at him and then also laughed slightly.
"That would be even more terrifying!"