Gravis asked Old Man Lightning about Byron's strength, and he said that Byron is probably one of the weakest ones. However, it was incredibly hard to kill him due to him having the Darkness Element. Byron was incredibly good at stealth, and when he saw an enemy that he couldn't defeat, he would just hide and run away. That was how he managed to escape from Lasar without any injuries, back in the Wind Sect.
Lasar, in comparison, was probably the strongest Sect Master out there. That had nothing to do with him having the Lightning Element but with him having gone through the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering. Just like Old Man Lightning, Lasar would need a level two Unity Will to ascend and a level one Unity Will to reach the Self Stage.
Going through the tenth level of Energy Gathering didn't increase the power of the Spirit but doubled the amount of Energy someone had. With this, Lasar could either hold out for longer or release way stronger attacks without using more Energy, comparatively speaking.
Yet, Gravis wasn't an impatient, hot-blooded youngster. If he just ran straight into the Darkness Sect to get his revenge, he might not return. He first had to make sure that he actually had a chance of winning. The win wouldn't need to be assured. Having a chance was already enough. After all, if Gravis' victory were assured, then wouldn't he waste an excellent tempering opportunity?
Like this, Gravis first exchanged a large amount of his Contribution Points for body tempering pills. He quickly ate those, and his body also reached the Spirit Seed Stage. With this, he wouldn't need to care about any Sapling Stage cultivators. As long as their attacks didn't hit him, he could destroy them without much effort.
Yet, if he wanted to take revenge on the upper echelon of the Darkness Sect, he would require superb dodging abilities. Even though Sapling Stage cultivators weren't very dangerous, their attacks could still injure him.
Gravis had already decided on how he would take revenge. He wouldn't slaughter the whole Sect. After all, even though the disciples had similar temperaments, they shouldn't be liable for what their leaders did. He decided to kill the Sapling Stage elders and Byron. That would be plenty enough for his revenge. A corrupt leadership would only raise corrupt disciples.
The Darkness Sect had the single other Self Stage cultivator outside the Heaven Sect, except for Old Man Lightning. This person was called Old Darkness. At least, that's what Old Man Lightning called him. The Darkness Sect called him Ancestor Darkness. Of course, Gravis would have no chance against someone at that level.
Though, two things made Old Darkness irrelevant to all this. First of all, just like Old Man Lightning, Old Darkness never involved himself with what the Sect did. In actuality, he was even more distant than Old Man Lightning. He was basically not even part of the Darkness Sect anymore. So, that person had no guilt in the matter with Gravis. There was no reason to kill him.
Second, and most importantly, Old Man Lightning would stay by his side. Of course, Old Man Lightning wouldn't involve himself in any fights. Neither he nor Gravis wanted that since Gravis wanted some tempering. Old Man Lightning would only involve himself if Old Darkness appeared.
One had to know that there were differences between Self Stage cultivators. This was apparent by the fact that 90% of all Self Stage cultivators lost their fights against the priests, while Old Man Lightning won. Even before his fight with the priest, Old Man Lightning was already stronger than Old Darkness. Now, with his level two Unity Will, Old Darkness couldn't even put up a fight against him. It was similar to the situation between Byron and Lasar.
So, in order to get ready for his goal, Gravis spent his time playing Dodge Ball. This training was invaluable when fighting against multiple people. He would fully make use of it until he couldn't improve anymore.
And like this, nearly a full year passed.
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
The Spirit Seed was violently shooting around his Spirit Space, and Gravis only moved his body just as much as necessary. One pulled back shoulder here, another leaning of the torso there, though sometimes he still needed to actually take a step or jump. By now, the Spirit Seed only touched him very rarely.
PACK!
Gravis caught the Spirit Seed in his hand. By now, it wasn't as small anymore. In actuality, it was already as big as a ball. After all, his training hadn't stopped in all this time. He was about 95% on his way to the Sapling Stage. In about three weeks, he would reach the Sapling Stage.
"It's about time. In around two months, the war for resources will start. If I don't get to it now, I won't have any more time," Gravis said to himself as he left his Spirit Space.
He opened his eyes and stood up from the grass outside the Sect. He did some stretches and then started walking to Old Man Lightning's house. Surprisingly, lightning was no longer coming out of Gravis' abdomen. Instead, it was coming out of his chest.
After a couple of weeks of training, Gravis realized that if his lightning didn't conform to his dantian anyway, then why even store it there? So, he moved his lightning right into his chest. Like this, it wouldn't look as ridiculous, and it also wouldn't strike the ground when Gravis sat down. That had been annoying.
His chest was also wider than his abdomen, which made less lightning leave his body. It now looked like some white, aggressive ball grew out of his chest. Some of the stray bolts reached his neck, but not always. At least, it didn't look as ridiculous as lightning growing out of his dick.
He also tried to change the form of his stored lightning. If he managed to change its form into an elliptical one instead of a spherical one, nothing would poke out anymore. Sadly, the lightning always popped back into its previous form as soon as Gravis stopped using his Spirit on it. It, apparently, liked the spherical shape and wouldn't consider any other one.
Whoop!
Gravis' visible lightning vanished as he shoved enough of it into his Spirit to no longer be a danger to other people. By storing it in his chest, his new threshold was 80% of his maximum, and he kept it at precisely that threshold all the time. Instead of shoving it periodically in there, he had developed a habit to passively channel it into his Spirit.
He stepped into Old Man Lightning's house and walked up to him.
"You want to go ahead with it?" Old Man Lightning asked nonchalantly.
Gravis shook his head slightly. "Not completely. I first need to test my strength against something with similar power."
Old Man Lightning smiled. "Oh, you mean?"
Gravis nodded. "Yes. I'll hunt a high-grade Spirit Beast."
Old Man Lightning combed his beard. "Which one?"
"I already know which one," Gravis said. "Most of the high-grade Spirit Beasts don't care about fighting. I don't have an interest in fighting something that has no enmity with me or any interest in fighting back. So, I chose the beast living near Quake City, the Ogre."