Gravis quickly went to the town and bought two Skin-Pills. He wanted to keep some money as a contracting fee for future hunts, so he didn’t buy three. When he received the Skin-Pills, he left the town and went to a nearby river. He didn’t want to be disturbed when he was training.
Gravis had learned in his world that external skin training would help in bringing out the best effects of the Skin-Pills. So, he ran along the river until he found a waterfall. Waterfalls could cool the skin and slowly temper it. It was an excellent way to train it.
When Gravis arrived, he saw another person sitting beneath the waterfall. He was a young man in his teens, and he seemed to be also training his skin. Gravis didn’t mind since the waterfall was wide enough for multiple people. As Gravis got closer, the youngster opened his eyes and watched Gravis with wary eyes. His hand was slowly moving to his weapon.
Gravis noticed but didn’t care. He went to the other side of the waterfall and sat down. The youngster didn’t do anything but remained wary of Gravis.
After some minutes, Gravis’ emotions fully calmed down, and he began to synchronize with the waterfall. He took out one of the pills and swallowed them. When he ate the pill, Gravis slowly felt a warmth spreading all over his body. The medicinal effects were nourishing his skin.
With his elemental synchronicity, Gravis increased the power of the waterfall above his body. The stronger the tempering, the more effective it would be. He would remain like this until all the nutrients in the pill would be fully absorbed.
When the youngster saw Gravis taking a Skin-Pill, greed shone in his eyes. He had been training for over a year under this waterfall, and he never had the money to buy those expensive pills. If he could steal Gravis’ pills, maybe he could fully temper his skin in a matter of days.
The youngster was watching Gravis warily. If he could take him by surprise...
Gravis had his eyes closed, but his connection to the water allowed him to see every change in the youngster’s expression. ’Is this another one of your weak enemies, Heaven?’ Gravis thought to himself. If the youngster didn’t do anything, Gravis wouldn’t bother with him. But if the youngster decided to attack him...
The youngster was unsure. On the one hand, he thought of himself as an honorable person. He never attacked anyone out of greed, but on the other hand, a Skin-Pill was just what he needed. Those pills were incredibly expensive. The youngster was wrestling with himself. Should he, or should he not?
Some hours passed where nothing happened. The youngster gritted his teeth, grabbed his weapon, and stood up slowly. He leaned against the stone wall behind the waterfall until he couldn’t be seen anymore. Then, he slowly crept closer to Gravis.
He moved until he was behind Gravis, gripping his sword tightly. The youngster couldn’t see, but Gravis’ eyes had already opened and looked to the front with a sharp look.
The youngster lifted his sword and remained in that position for multiple seconds. He was trying to force himself to attack Gravis, but it was incredibly hard. After a while, Gravis took out the second Skin-Pill, like he didn’t notice the youngster behind him. The effects of the first one already ended, and he didn’t want to waste more time.
When the youngster saw the second pill, his greed took over, and he slashed down with his sword.
SWOOOOOSH!
The waterfall immediately went wild and pushed the youngster’s body into the river below. He couldn’t even finish his attack before he was already underwater. He did his best to swim towards the surface, but the currents were pulling him down for some reason. The youngster began to panic and began to swim wildly.
After around a minute, when he was nearly out of air, the currents eased up, and the youngster broke through the surface, taking a huge breath. His panic slowly subsided, and he turned around towards Gravis.
Cold eyes. That was the only thing the youngster saw. Gravis was looking at him with cold eyes from his position under the waterfall. The youngster felt fear and had a distinct feeling that Gravis was responsible for the waterfall’s weird behavior. He felt like Gravis was warning him not to do something this foolish again.
The youngster gritted his teeth again. Suddenly, he turned around, swam to the riverbank, and ran towards the town. Gravis looked at the youngster’s leaving back and shook his head. Had he not seen how the youngster was always in conflict with his own emotions, he would’ve killed the youngster. The fact that the youngster was this conflicted, meant that he was not beyond salvation. He hoped this would wake the youngster up.
Gravis continued training under the waterfall and didn’t think about the encounter anymore.
About an hour later, Gravis noticed a commotion coming from the river. Four men were walking towards the waterfall. Judging by their armor, two of the men were personal guards. One of them was a middle-aged man in beautiful robes. His muscles bulked through the robes, and he walked at the front of the group. Behind the three men, Gravis could see the youngster from before.
Gravis’ eyes narrowed. He spared the youngster so he may learn from his mistakes and grow. Yet, the youngster returned with reinforcements. Gravis shook his head. ’Seems like I was too naïve,’ he thought to himself with regret. He tried to believe in the good of the people, but that was apparently only a dream.
The middle-aged man stopped a couple of meters in front of Gravis, pointed his fingers at him, and shouted. "How dare you! You attacked my-"
"What do you want?" Gravis interrupted the man.
The man felt a little shocked, and one of the guards walked forward. "Insolence! Who do you think you are? You are speaking to-"
"Stop with the bullshit. What do you want?" Gravis interrupted again.
The men gnashed their teeth. Surprisingly, the middle-aged man didn’t feel rage, but relief. Obviously, he was here to steal Gravis’ wealth and silence him. He initially felt a little bad about doing it, but Gravis’ infuriating behavior made it easier for him. He beckoned to his guards, and they ran towards Gravis.
Gravis sighed. It didn’t have to be this way. Suddenly, the water in the river went crazy and grabbed the men like a whip. They couldn’t even react before they got pulled underwater. The youngster’s eyes showed deep panic. ’Why did I do that?’
The surroundings were silent again. Gravis continued training, while the four men were slowly drowning in the river. Gravis felt helpless in this situation. He wanted to spare the youngster, but he realized that the youngster probably wouldn’t have changed.
Now that he thought about it, if Gravis were weaker, he would be dead by now. The youngster would’ve probably made his first human kill, and the next time would be even easier for him. The only reason why Gravis could feel pity right now was because he was multiple times stronger than his opponent. If he were weaker, he would be dead.
Gravis sighed again and shook his head. "The cultivation world really is cruel."
Some hours later, Gravis finished his training and inspected his skin.
"Are you serious?" he shouted towards himself in anger and shock. His skin had only been tempered to about 10%. He had used two pills already! Would he need 18 more pills to temper his skin? Gravis gnashed his teeth. Forneus had said, in one of his lessons, that the stronger the body was, the harder it would be to temper it. Gravis had had tempered organs and blood for 15 years. He knew that he would need lots of pills, but not THAT many.
Gravis sighed in exasperation, stood up, and ran towards the Hunting Guild.
"Oh, wait!"
Gravis stopped and turned around. The water parted, and he jumped to the four corpses at the bottom. He searched through the bodies and took everything of value.
"About five gold. That’s nice. Seems like this guy wasn’t some nobody," Gravis said to himself with a grin. He jumped out and ran towards the Hunting Guild.
He needed more money!