Yet, just when Gravis started accelerating, he immediately stopped since he had noticed something.
"Who's there!?" he shouted into the surroundings, but nothing appeared.
Just now, he had felt like someone was watching him. It felt similar to a Spirit, but it was not completely the same. It just felt like someone was watching him. Gravis never had this feeling before, and he trusted his instincts. He was 90% sure that someone was watching him.
Yet, just when he had shouted, the feeling completely vanished. Now, Gravis was 100% sure that someone had watched him. The feeling wouldn't have vanished just like that otherwise. Gravis narrowed his eyes. 'This is troubling. Has this person seen the whole fight? The feeling was very subtle, and I'm sure that I wouldn't have noticed it in a fight. What was going on?'
Gravis increased his speed. 'Someone who can keep their Spirit nearly completely invisible in front of me. I'm 90% sure that the watching person is a Tree Stage cultivator. I can't fight someone like that!' Gravis felt a little nervous while accelerating more and more. Yet, surprisingly, even after over ten minutes, no one arrived. The feeling also didn't appear again.
'What is the goal of that person?' Gravis thought. Yet, the more he thought, the more confused he got. If that were an enemy, they would have attacked him. He was injured, and his Spirit was nearly empty. There was no better opportunity than this. Yet, if that person was a friend, why would they vanish suddenly? On top of that, Gravis didn't have friends with such power. Was it a neutral party?
Gravis suddenly got an idea. 'Was it a powerful Heavenborn? Maybe they have noticed the fight and appeared, but noticing the robes of my enemy and me, they just continued watching? Elder Byron had said that Heavenborn weren't allowed to interfere in this struggle, after all.'
The more Gravis thought about this, the more reasonable it seemed. 'This is the only explanation that I can come up with that makes sense. Everything else is too farfetched.'
After coming to that conclusion, Gravis' nervousness vanished. There were not many people in the Tree Stage in the Core-Continent. Tree-Stage cultivators were at the level of Sect Masters. How many of those would just casually walk around? The highest probability was that it had been a powerful Heavenborn.
After traveling for another twenty minutes, Gravis moved his Spirit to his ring and willed it to contact Elder Byron. "I'm done with the mission. The whole group is dead. Where are you right now?"
"Oh?" the surprised voice of Elder Byron appeared from the ring. "You're done? That's great! I knew that getting you to join us was the right decision! We are still at the same spot as previously. Quickly come back so we can get you some proper body tempering pills!"
Gravis smiled and cut the connection. While the fight with the group leader didn't particularly increase his will, the previous fight against the other three was excellent tempering. He had come close to dying a couple of times and even used nearly all his weapons. The only thing he hadn't used was his lightning parrying, which would influence the swing of a weapon. Their weapons had been too swift and light for that.
And now, he would get more tempering for his body! This was great! The increase of his maximum amount of lightning by absorbing the Energy Stones had also expedited his training speed in regards to his Realm. A higher lightning threshold meant faster lightning regeneration and more lightning to push into his Spirit. Originally, he would have needed a full year for a breakthrough, but now, that time had been cut to ten months total.
'I'm getting stronger. In ten months, I can even fight Tree Stage cultivators. Though…' Gravis mind trailed off as his smile was replaced with a grimace. 'I have underestimated the cultivators of the Core-Continent. Originally, I thought I could maybe take two or three Sapling Stage cultivators at the same time, but apparently, I had been too naïve.'
Gravis thought about the fight and had noticed that the fight had had some close calls. This had been a fight against three Seed Stage cultivators and one Sapling Stage cultivator, though it could actually only be counted as two Seed Stage and one Sapling Stage cultivator. Gravis had immediately destroyed the first one before he could even put up a fight.
Gravis looked at his left arm-stump and felt his nearly completely empty Spirit. 'I even used the Energy inherent in my body, which I normally save for healing. I already had to fight so intensely against such a group. Two Sapling Stage cultivators would have been even harder. The chances of me winning against two of those are actually below 50%.'
Gravis thought more about this situation and noticed that he had been truly naïve. 'The person even managed to condense his Will-Aura. I guess a condensed version of a Will-Aura is a requirement to reach the Sapling Stage. Someone who has such a powerful Will-Aura went through a lot of intense struggles. No one at that realm is inexperienced.'
Gravis gritted his teeth. 'I've been so stupid! I have judged their power just based on their Realm and ignored the fact that every single one of them also has incredible fighting experience. I took the fighting experience standard of the Middle-Continent and applied it to the Core-Continent. If I went into Fear City with this mindset, I might actually have died.'
Gravis thought more about the battle and the Core-Continent on his way to the Greys' camp. After some more minutes, he arrived. Gravis saw the others already present, though Creed was still missing. Creed was not nearly as fast as Gravis, so he was probably still on his way back.
When the others saw Gravis, they all smiled with excitement.
"Nice going, Gravis!" Drake walked over and lightly punched Gravis' chest in a sign of camaraderie. Though his eyes still seemed icy. The iciness of his eyes and his warm gesture and comments clashed violently, making for a weird scene.
"You're incredible, Gravis," both twins said and walked forward, heartfelt smiles blossoming on their faces.
Gravis rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He wasn't used to having friends, so this still felt weird to him. The last friend that he could spend time with had been Ballor. Sadly, he had died very quickly in the first practical test. It had been two years since then. Aion was also Gravis' friend, but they had never had the time to bond peacefully.
"Alright, alright. Calm down, everyone," Elder Byron berated them, but his warm and excited smile betrayed his true feelings. "So, Gravis. What did you think about the fight?" he asked.
Gravis' smile vanished, and he sighed. "I've been too arrogant," Gravis said, surprising the others. Gravis had just killed four people above his Realm, and one of them was even two Realms higher. Such battle-strength was unprecedented! If he didn't have the right to be arrogant, then who did?
Elder Byron smiled like he had expected the answer. "That is what I wanted to show you with this fight. If I have sent you only against one Sapling Stage cultivator, you might not have realized the true strength of cultivators in the Core-Continent. People in the Core-Continent are proficient in teamwork, and if you fight more than one of them, you need to be very careful."
Gravis nodded solemnly. On this day, he realized the power of the cultivators in the Core-Continent.
"Anyway," Elder Byron smirked and retrieved a sack full of pills. "I have your body tempering pills." Then, he threw them towards Gravis. "I took all your Contribution Points for these pills. This is what you wanted, right?"
Gravis nodded and retrieved the sack. He looked inside and noticed many new pills that he hadn't seen before. They felt way more powerful than the ones that he had robbed from the Heaven Sect. He guessed that this small sack of pills was about as good as the whole mountain of pills that he had stolen from the Heaven Sect. Gravis smiled in excitement as he saw them.
Elder Byron saw Gravis' heartfelt smile and laughed. "I'm happy that you like them." Then, he gestured with his head towards a direction. "Let's pack up. Creed will arrive on the way. We should move since staying at the same place could make us a target. Gravis, you can cultivate on the way."
The Greys all nodded and put their cloaks over their heads. Then, they retrieved their belongings into their Spirit Space and left the campsite.
Meanwhile, Gravis was eating pills like a madman.