"How come the esteemed Lightning Guild deigns to visit our poor little Fire Guild," said a red-haired man with thick sarcasm dripping from his voice. He was cleaning his nails with his red sword while talking, clearly showing his disdain for the uninvited visitor.
"Don’t be an ass, Flern!" said a woman with long silver hair, annoyed at the leader of the Fire Guild in Earth Town. She carried a long and thin spear on her back as she sat in front of him. She wore blackish-blue robes, clearly showing that she was from the Lightning Guild. "You already know why I am here."
Flern only smiled slyly as he continued to clean his nails. "You tried to hunt down a rogue disciple of yours and failed," he stated plainly. "And now you want to work together with us to hunt him down, yes? I did get that right, right Escura?" he asked rhetorically as he put down his sword and turned to her. "But what’s in it for us?"
The woman, Escura, narrowed her eyes. "He has stolen everything from one of our Proxy-Guilds. If you manage to be of actual help, I’ll give you half of it," she offered.
Flern laughed lightly. "Half the wealth of a Proxy-Guild? That could give us a lot of contribution points if we hand it over. That’s an interesting offer. Are you actually able to make such a call, Escura? You are only the head of a town, after all."
Escura’s expression didn’t change. "I can make the call. Taking revenge for our Proxy-Guild is more important than the stolen wealth. So? Will you accept to cooperate or not?" she asked directly. They both sat a distance away from each other, clearly showing that they were not on friendly terms.
"Don’t tell me you can’t hunt a newly advanced disciple? You’re in the sixth level of Magic Gathering, after all. Why would you need our help?" Flern still wasn’t finished being a dick.
Escura showed immense patience by keeping up her neutral look. "He has a strong body and immense lightning resistance. I would definitely defeat him in a head-on fight, but I can’t guarantee that he won’t get away. I don’t want to defeat him. I want to kill him!"
Flern laughed as he heard that and lifted his sword. He stood up and grinned at Escura. "The Fire Guild is always ready for a fight. If it also brings treasure, even better. When do we go?" he asked as he looked at her with battle-intent.
Escura also stood up. "Right now. Our disciples fought him some hours ago. If we hurry, we can still catch up," she narrated as she took out two black leather gloves and put them on. "I hope you can keep up."
Flern grinned. "We might not have your lightning’s speed, but we have our own ways." Flern turned to the center of the hall, where 40 disciples currently sat, ready for battle. "To battle!" Flern shouted as he raised his sword.
Twenty of the disciples lifted their own red weapons and released a synchronized battle-cry. The other twenty disciples looked at them with disdain. People from the Fire Guild were always such hotheads. No wonder their sect in the Core-Continent wasn’t even in the upper half of the Elemental Sects.
"Let’s go," said Escura plainly as lightning shot out of her eyes. Lightning crackled as every disciple released curved lightning bolts from their bodies, which hit the ground. Everyone was lifted off the floor for about half a meter, lightning continually hitting the ground around them, including Escura.
Suddenly, Escura shot away, being pulled along by the lightning. The other disciples from the Lightning Guild also shot away in a similar manner. Their feet were not touching the ground, as the lightning seemed to pull them forward.
Flern only grinned maliciously. "Ready the Fire Wheels!"
---
Gravis was running along the ground. With the help of his lightning, his speed could double, but he wanted to keep his Energy reserves full for all eventualities. Gravis’ next target was finding an Energy Beast since Gravis had not tested his strength properly ever since breaking into the Energy Gathering Realm. Additionally, he needed to sharpen his will.
Gravis ran through the forest, listening for beast roars. He had met some demonic beasts along the way, but he wasn’t interested in those since they were of no help anymore. He continued searching until he saw a gigantic bird flying in the sky.
Its wingspan was nearly 30 meters, and its green feathers glimmered as green wind pushed them forward. It carried a ten-meter-long high-grade demonic beast in its talons as it flew into one specific direction, which probably meant that it was returning to its nest.
Gravis narrowed his eyes. ’I want to test my strength, but hunting such a beast is not an easy task. Birds are already the fastest existing beasts, and this one also has the wind element, which is also the fastest element. While its physical body and ranged attacks should be below average, its speed should be at the pinnacle,’ he thought to himself.
Gravis sighed and prepared himself for a battle. "It’s the only one I could find. So, might as well hunt it," he grumbled to himself, as he chased the bird. Gravis’ body released curved lightning bolts all around, but in comparison to the disciples of the Lightning Guild, his body didn’t leave the ground.
When the curved lightning hit the ground, it immediately straightened as the earth absorbed it and pulled. The straightening of the lightning bolts shot Gravis’ body forward. The more powerful the lightning, the stronger the force. Earth didn’t care about the Life Energy and only absorbed the Destruction Energy.
Every lightning disciple in the Energy Gathering Realm used this method to move incredibly quickly. Their Energy was more powerful than their bodies, so the physical body’s addition to speed would not make much of a difference. They would rather keep their stamina up than to waste it for a negligible increase in speed.
Yet, Gravis still used his body since his body was multiple times stronger than other humans of the same rank. At this moment, Gravis’ speed on legs and his speed on lightning was about the same. If he used both at the same time, his speed would nearly double.
His lightning consistently moved him forward like he had a hundred legs crawling forward. His physical legs always shot him forward with incredible speed every time he took a step. Gravis followed the bird, and if he didn’t use his lightning, he wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Even when Gravis used all his speed, he could still only barely keep up with the casually flying Energy Beast. Just by seeing this, Gravis could imagine its terrifying speed if it got serious. It was definitely much faster than him.
After some minutes, the bird flew up onto an absolutely massive tree. The tree’s trunk would need over 50 people to hold hands to surround, and its crown shot through the clouds in the sky. Gravis could guess that this tree was special since its size dwarfed everything in the forest surrounding it.
Gravis could also see no beasts in its surroundings. This was probably the territory and nest of the bird. Gravis watched the bird as it stopped on a gigantic branch just some meters below the cloud cover. The sky was very cloudy right now. It didn’t look like it would rain, but the grey cover made everything seem colder and desolate.
"I never fought on a tree before," mumbled Gravis, watching the bird further. It didn’t seem to leave anytime soon. When Gravis saw that it didn’t come out again, he ran to the tree.
GRMBL!
All of a sudden, a thick root shot at Gravis, surprising him. Luckily, he had enough battle experience to be ready for every eventuality. His saber quickly split the root in two, and it fell on the floor. The two halves wiggled around and went back to the tree.
Gravis waited for something else to happen, but nothing did. ’So this is the reason why there are no beasts around,’ he thought. ’The tree should be an Energy Plant. Just like Energy Beasts, they count as life forms with the strength of an Energy Gathering Realm expert. Luckily, they do not want to fight. They only want their food, and if their food is too strong, they won’t attack. The tree probably won’t care anymore about me.’
Gravis stopped before the tree and looked upwards at the towering "wall" of wood before him. He couldn’t see the top from here, and his excitement built. He also grew a little nervous.
"I haven’t had a proper life and death battle since the Basin of Nature."
As Gravis concentrated on the fight, his guilt and shame slowly vanished. He forgot all his sorrows for the moment and only looked forward to the battle.
"I missed this feeling."