It had been a little over 40 days since Gravis upgraded his Lightning Seed to 40% Destruction Energy. In that time, Gravis had thought a lot about his fighting style with the addition of lightning and also on the nature of lightning itself.
Yet, what he used the most time on was earning money. Gravis had earned a little over 12,000 gold by now. At some point, missions for high-grade demonic beasts vanished again. It seemed like Heaven didn’t want to make Gravis’ life too easy. It had probably judged that Gravis had enough money by now.
Gravis wouldn’t waste his days in hunting for middle-grade demonic beasts. He would need to hunt about ten of them to earn as much money as killing a single high-grade demonic beast. That would take over a week. Gravis was more content in actually training his Martial Arts and thinking about how to use lightning. But on this day...
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The only visitor Gravis got was Gorn. He came over from time to time, and Gravis would bounce ideas off of him on how to fight with lightning. Gorn had been fighting with lightning for decades, so he had a lot of experience regarding that. Gorn also told him about how people with other elements fought. Gravis’ eyes had been opened at that time, and he got a lot of inspiration.
Gravis opened the door, expecting Gorn to stand before his house with his usual smile. Yet, things seemed different this time. He saw Gorn standing in front of the door, but he looked severe. On top of that, he was not alone. Someone else stood beside him. The person stood even a little bit in front of Gorn, meaning Gorn treated this person with respect.
The person was a white-haired young man. He was actually on the short side, with Gravis being bigger by about ten centimeters. His clothes looked luxurious with a gold-rimmed, white robe and ornate rings tied to his belt. The man showed a friendly smile, but for some reason, Gravis immediately disliked that person.
"Hello, Gravis. May I come in?" he asked in a polite voice. He had directly called Gravis by name without offering his own, so he thought himself superior. Gravis narrowed his eyes, but before he did anything, he saw Gorn looking at him with an absolutely intense, serious look. Gravis knew Gorn, and Gravis knew that Gorn was giving him the strongest warning possible.
Gravis trusted Gorn, so he opened the door further and stepped to the side. "Sorry, please, come in," he said in his most polite tone. Gravis was not used to speaking politely, so it sounded a little stiff. In comparison to Gravis’ expectation, the man didn’t seem to mind Gravis’ stiff display. It seemed like he had expected as much.
The man nodded politely and entered with Gorn. "I live alone, and I only focus on training, so I am sorry, but I don’t have tea or similar things to entertain guests," Gravis apologized. He wouldn’t act recklessly until he knew who that person was. Gravis gestured to a nearby bench and table. They came with the house.
The man sat down and laughed. "No problem. I also don’t want to waste too much time," he answered politely and beckoned to the bench on the other side of the table. "Please sit," he gestured politely. Gorn stood behind the man while Gravis sat down on the bench.
"Now," the man started speaking, still a polite smile on his face. "You might be wondering who I am." He let that sit in the room for some seconds. "But before I tell you, I need to verify something about you."
Gravis grew more interested in the person. He obviously came here for Gravis, and he probably also had a transcendent status, judging by how Gorn acted around him. Gravis grew interested in what the person wanted from him.
"Please, release your Heavenly Pressure," he gestured politely.
A light of recognition appeared in Gravis’ eyes. The lie about Gravis being a Heavenborn was still out there, and only Gorn knew the truth. A transcendent status that even the Guild Master of the Lightning Guild had to respect? Someone interested in him being a Heavenborn? There was only one organization fitting that description.
Gorn had explained to Gravis in the Entrance Exams that any guild, which managed to raise a Heavenborn, would be handsomely rewarded by the Heaven Sect. Gravis also remembered the time when Gorn talked to him on the way to the Lightning Guild. Gorn had said that the Lightning Sect was equal to the other Main-Elemental Guilds and only under one other.
Gravis combined those two, seemingly unrelated, conversations and guessed who the person was. The Heaven Sect was probably the most influential presence in the lower world. Also, judging by the name "Heaven Sect", and by them recruiting Heavenborn, Gravis could imagine what kind of sect the Heaven Sect was.
It was a sect directly under Heaven. It gathered Heaven’s chosen and would probably also follow Heaven’s orders and commandments. In Gravis’ quest against Heaven, the Heaven Sect would probably be his strongest enemy, aside from Heaven itself. He was still too weak right now and couldn’t possibly oppose that transcendent existence.
Gravis also realized why he had an innate dislike for the person. The person was blessed with immense karmic luck, while Gravis lacked any karmic luck. Gravis often came in contact with the concept of karmic luck, and he started getting a kind of instinct for that.
Gravis could subconsciously perceive if someone had immense karmic luck. It was hard with ordinary people, but this person had so much that Gravis could easily notice.
Gravis felt like he saw a scene of a black and white object speaking to each other. One was shining as brightly as the stars, while the other only spread darkness. One was blessed by Heaven, while the other was shunned.
Gravis also noticed that the person, in front of him, wasn’t sure if Gravis was a Heavenborn. The person obviously couldn’t perceive karmic luck. Otherwise, that person wouldn’t have asked Gravis to prove his Heavenborn status. Gravis wasn’t sure if he should continue acting on his lie or tell the truth.
If he continued lying, he might get involved with the Heaven Sect. If he got involved with them, he would continue coming closer to Heaven, and it was very possible that, at some point, Gravis would meet a person that could communicate with Heaven directly. If Heaven told them about Gravis’ relationship with Heaven...
Gravis looked at Gorn, who, when noticing Gravis looking at him, Looked down at his robe to brush off some dust on his robe and then looked back into Gravis’ eyes. Gravis realized what Gorn was telling him. He was nodding, which meant, Gravis should comply with the request of the young man.
Gravis was unsure. Gorn knew a lot about Gravis, but not everything. Gorn didn’t know about Gravis’ relationship with Heaven. He also didn’t know about Gravis’ lack of karmic luck. Gorn might think that being a Heavenborn was less of a danger than someone who had a Will-Aura at the Body Tempering Realm.
Gravis quickly continued thinking. What would he do if he was the hegemon of a lower world and saw someone in the Body Tempering Realm with a Will-Aura? In that case, he would either recruit or kill him. So, the first thing he would do...
"Come on, don’t be shy," repeated the man with a smile. "You don’t have to keep it a secret from me," he continued speaking like a snake worming itself into Gravis’ ear. "We are fellow children of Heaven."
Gravis noticed how the man referred to Heaven with "Heaven" and not with "Heaven and Earth". The man knew how Heaven worked. Lying to someone like that was hard, yet, telling the truth was also a problem.
What should Gravis do?