The elder smirked at Gravis. "Isn't it obvious how I know all these things?" he asked with a smug voice. "My Heaven told me."
Gravis narrowed his eyes. "Your Heaven?"
The elder laughed a little. "Yes, my Heaven. As in, the Heaven from my world. It is not allowed to help me in any direct way, but it can, at least, send me information about potential recruits. So, are you interested?"
Gravis stayed silent for some seconds and then turned to Fear City on the horizon. "You obviously know my strength, so why do you say that I will die if I enter Fear City?" Gravis asked. He had already decided against going into Fear City at this point. This person knew his power, and he told Gravis that he would die. Was him choosing this city bad luck?
Karmic Luck is a complex concept. For example, if someone runs right into an ambush of several powerful cultivators and dies, that could be considered bad luck, right? Yet, if that person managed to kill those people with his own strength, his will would have been tempered, and he would have acquired several useful resources. Wouldn't that be considered good luck then?
In the end, bad luck only meant encounters with mortal danger. Yet, if someone managed to survive these mortal dangers, one would become more powerful. In the end, Karmic Luck meant lots of enemies. If one dies, it's considered bad luck, and if one survives, it's considered good luck, but in the end, only strength mattered.
So, what about Fear City? Gravis wanted to know what would have waited for him there.
The elder chuckled again. "Fear City is the main outpost for the Darkness Sect," explained the elder. "They always have two people at the Sapling Stage stationed there. A fight against two Sapling Stage cultivators will be supremely dangerous for you, but not impossible. Though that is not the real danger."
Gravis thought for a bit. "If Fear City is the main outpost for the Darkness Sect, it probably means that the Darkness Sect itself is pretty close. So, if I fight those people, they will quickly contact the Darkness Sect, which will send more Sapling Stage cultivators to me. Like this, I would be overwhelmed. Though, I probably still have some time to win and flee. On top of that, why would they attack me?"
The elder laughed again. "You underestimate the Sects and their methods. Spirit Forming people leave part of their Spirits in sealed glass bottles in the sect. When they get killed, the Spirit inside the glass bottle will also get destroyed by the same thing that has killed the cultivator."
The elder pointed at Gravis. "You have killed someone of the Darkness Sect. They know it was a lightning cultivator who killed the person. Of course, they don't know that it's you, but that's not important. I think you forgot a major fact."
Gravis looked unamused at the elder. "Which is?"
"It's unimportant if you killed the person or not," the elder said with a smirk. "You have the lightning element, and are, therefore, in their eyes, a member of the Lightning Sect, and as you know, the Darkness Sect and Lightning Sect are at war. They will attack you simply because they think you are from the Lightning Sect."
Gravis took a deep breath. He had forgotten that part. It was actually logical, and Gravis was a little frustrated that he hadn't thought about that point. He should have seen something obvious like this. Yet, as he thought about this, another thought appeared in his mind.
"How come they haven't attacked me yet?" asked Gravis. "The Spirit for a Sapling Stage cultivator has a bigger range than my Spirit, so all of us should be inside their Spirit. What are they waiting for?"
The elder showed his right hand. On his ring finger, a ring sparkled a little bit, drawing the attention of Gravis. "This artifact is making us invisible to the Spirits of others. Every one of our members gets one of these." Like he had issued a command, the other four people also showed the identical rings on their right ring finger.
"That's possible?" Gravis asked with interest.
The elder did the same thing that he always did. He laughed slightly. "In this world? No. This world hasn't uncovered the methods to forge this object yet. The only person that knows how to create these artifacts is me. Don't forget that my Heaven has chosen me. Forging something like this is nothing special to me."
"Speaking of, what qualifications do you have that your Heaven chose you?" Gravis asked.
"In my homeworld, I am at the Self-Stage," said the elder, surprising Gravis. "Of course, it would be unfair if I went and destroyed all the Sects by myself. Therefore, my strength is greatly reduced in this world. If we were to fight, I would have no chance against you. After all, I am a teacher in this world, not a fighter. I am also a professional in all major cultivation jobs. I have had lots of time to kill."
The elder then looked deeply into Gravis' eyes. "So, let me ask again. Will you join or not?" he asked, some impatience appearing in his voice.
Gravis had already made his decision. "Yes, I will join you, but only until those so-called Greens are defeated. As soon as the Greens are gone, I will leave. There shouldn't be an issue with that, right?"
The elder laughed louder now. "That's not a problem. As soon as the Greens are defeated, I'll get more ways to advertise my organization. Killing the Greens is already plenty. Anyway, let's go somewhere else. We'll talk more when we're not outside Fear City. If someone at the Tree Stage arrives, those artifacts won't help."
With this said, the five people in grey cloaks started running towards a nearby forest. Gravis had already said that he would join them, so he followed. After traveling for some kilometers, they stopped inside a dark cave.
Whoosh!
The five people took off the hoods of their cloaks, finally showing their faces. Gravis was quite surprised since the other four people were all youngsters. They were probably not much older than him. Yet, what truly surprised Gravis was the face of the elder.
The elder had long, grey hair, and the deep wrinkles on his face showed his experience. Yet, that was not what surprised Gravis. What surprised him was the aura and feeling that the elder emanated. When he had worn the hood, he appeared sinister, yet without the hood, he appeared like a kind old grandpa. When he looked at Gravis, Gravis felt like he could trust the person. Of course, Gravis wasn't so stupid as to trust someone just based on their looks.
"Ah," the elder sighed gently. "I'm not a fan of acting," he said.
Gravis lifted one brow. "What do you mean?"
The elder turned to Gravis and laughed, but this time, his laugh seemed like an amused elder and not like a sinister snake. "The most important thing while wearing a disguise is changing your personality," the elder slowly explained with a kind voice. "If some intelligence has leaked and the Sects know what's going on, I won't be able to walk among cities and towns anymore."
The elder laughed slightly again. "You might not care, but it's important for me. I need to recruit more people, and if I appear as the sinister, grey-cloaked snake, they are not as likely to join me. You must remember, Gravis, that not everyone is like you. "
Gravis leaned against one of the walls of the cave. "What do you mean?"
"To you, it probably made no difference in what persona I appeared. You are confident in your power, so you have no inherent aversion towards dangerous people. You believe that you are powerful enough to handle everything that Heaven throws at you. Many others are not like this," the elder said with a kind voice and then gestured to the other four youngsters.
"All of these younglings have been shunned from their clan, Sects, or similar things. Some have committed a mistake," the elder said as one of them lowered his head. "Some of them have lost control." Another disciple looked to the side as if this had nothing to do with him. "And others have lost their home to other people." The last two disciples looked at each other.
"All members of the Greys have had some issues in their past that drove them away from their homes," the elder narrated as he walked closer to Gravis. "Some are afraid of losing control again, some have been betrayed and don't trust other organizations, and nearly all of them don't have unfaltering confidence in their power."
The elder reached Gravis and put a hand on his shoulder. "Lost children are lost children because something happened to them. On their way to power, they all need to overcome their past trauma. This is one of the things that I had promised them when I took them in."
Then, the elder smiled bitterly. "Though, I will be honest with you, Gravis. Honesty is very important, even if it damages my image."
The others looked away like they knew what was coming. Gravis was interested in what the elder was going to say.
"You might have already guessed, but it is important that I say it myself," the elder said with a sigh. "I don't take these lost children in because I am some benevolent grandpa. They are simply the only recruits that exist. I don't treat them like lost children but like full members of my organization. They need to work, and they need to go through danger."
The elder gestured towards the surroundings. "All this is just a trade. I am not their family, and I am not their home. I am simply helping them to gain enough power to create a new home. Of course, they need to do missions for me in return."
The elder looked back at Gravis. "You can leave whenever you want, Gravis. I won't keep you here, but don't forget! I have a lot of things that I can teach you that you will learn nowhere else in this world." The elder smiled happily at Gravis. "Will you join us?"
Gravis smiled a little. "I will."
The elder laughed happily and patted Gravis' shoulder.
"Then welcome to the Greys!"