As Gravis traveled to the Freya Clan, he thought about the last time he met Joyce. Back then, he had been so naïve. He also remembered how affected he had been by the Hunting Guild's offer to help him. Right now, it was unthinkable for Gravis to be affected by something as simple as that. Well, at least not nearly as much.
It had been nearly three years since Gravis and Joyce had last seen each other. He still remembered how nervous he was while talking to her. Yet, as he thought back, she didn't seem prettier than the two twins that he had rejected when he had still been part of "the Greys".
'By the way, whatever happened to those two?' Gravis thought. 'I guess they should have been part of the Darkness Sect, but they also left after our talk. At that time, I thought that it was because they didn't want to temper themselves anymore, but I think something else happened. It's possible that our talk made them feel something for me. They probably left because they didn't want to be part of the scam anymore.'
Gravis chuckled a little. 'It doesn't matter. Our paths are different. They probably won't ever reach the Sapling Stage. After all, their fear of losing each other is too restricting. This won't allow them to take risks, which will, in turn, make it impossible for them to temper their Will-Auras. Well, right now, the strongest people of the Darkness Sect are at the Seed Stage. The twin's mindset is better than most others from the Sect, so maybe they can change the future Darkness Sect a little.'
As Gravis shot through the environment, he got sidetracked and looked around. It was currently dusk, and the orange hue bathed the surrounding trees, mountains, and clouds in a warm glow. Seeing the glow, some melancholy appeared inside Gravis.
His loneliness wouldn't break Gravis, but being alone also didn't feel good. He had been part of a community for the past one and a half years, and being alone again, reminded him of the other times where he was alone.
"Well, the old man said that friends come and go," Gravis muttered. "Just because I am feeling a little lonely right now doesn't mean that this will always be the case."
Gravis knew that he could join some organizations now. He had kept watch over Old Man Lightning's and Lasar's Karmic Luck, and surprisingly, none of their Karmic Luck had been affected by being close to him. Gravis had thought about this issue for a while and came to a conclusion.
'This whole lowering-the-Karmic-Luck-of-others thing had stopped as soon as I reached the Spirit Forming Realm. This means that something at that point has changed how Heaven looks at me. I also think it's not just this lower Heaven, but also maybe the highest Heaven,' Gravis thought as he rubbed his chin in thought.
'I guess my desperate actions back then made Heaven cautious of pushing me into a corner. The fact that my father had appeared, together with a power that I assume is the highest Heaven, shows that my breakthrough was way more serious than I had anticipated.'
Gravis looked into the sky. 'Well, the results show that the more Heaven suppressed me, the more powerful I became. Without these constant attempts at my life and the pressure surrounding me, I wouldn't have achieved my Destruction Lightning, Unity Will, or my special Spirit.'
Gravis chuckled a little. 'I guess Heaven is taking me seriously now. Yet, ironically, taking me seriously means giving me less pressure and more freedom. It's funny how contradictory some concepts seem if someone doesn't know all the information.'
Gravis shook his head to get back on track. 'Enough thinking about the past!' Gravis shouted in his mind. 'Joyce is the last thing binding me to this lower world. Everything else has been resolved. According to Lasar, this whole resource war thing will also go on for multiple years. At that point, I should already be ready to reach the Unity Realm. After all, the Self Stage needs no accumulation, just like the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering. As soon as I reach it, I can directly advance to the Unity Realm.'
After some minutes, Gravis came closer to the Freya Clan. The plants became bigger and more powerful. Gravis could even see a lot of Energy Plants. Though, surprisingly, he didn't even see a single Spirit Plant. 'The Freya Clan practices Life Lightning, which is the best nourishment for powerful plants, but I guess since the Freya Clan isn't nearly as powerful as a Sect, they probably don't have that many Spirit Forming Experts. Because of that, they probably can't spare so much of their Life Lightning for the plants.'
By now, the Freya Clan was visible in Gravis' Spirit. It basically looked like a small town. There was one light-green castle in the middle, with lots of houses strewn around the area. In comparison to a town, the houses looked a bit bigger and more expensive. The only cheap-looking buildings were some sheds in some gardens.
'Well, it makes sense. After all, a Clan is basically just one big family. Why wouldn't they give their relatives a nice place to stay? On top of that, I heard that the Freya Clan is warm and welcoming, apparently even to the degree that it's damaging the Clan. The whole world looks at the Clan like they are introverted push-overs that don't dare to raise their voice.'
Another interesting thing was that Gravis' Spirit was blocked from entering the houses. Every single house had its own Formation Array that stopped the Spirits of others from looking inside, which was quite surprising to Gravis. Typically, only cities and Sects had one such Formation Array stretching all over their whole area. Gravis was absolutely sure that deploying one Formation Array over a bigger area was way cheaper than placing many smaller ones.
'Huh, they really are nice,' Gravis thought as he scratched his chin. 'Spirit Forming cultivators live for a long time, so the youngest and oldest members are so many generations apart that any familiar feeling is already basically lost. On top of that, to keep the Clan populated, they need many people from outside their Clan to marry into it. Yet, the Spirit Forming cultivators are actually willing to spend so much money for every single family member. That's really generous.'
Gravis also noticed a gigantic tree beside the central castle. It looked identical to the Freya's Birch in the Lightning Sect, which could only mean that this was the only other Freya's Birch in this lower world. It was even a bit taller than the one in the Lightning Sect, and Gravis felt that it was a mid-grade Spirit Plant. The only one for many miles around.
Gravis also finally saw some other Spirit Plants, though all of them were low-grade. There was a thorny bush that actually stretched all around the whole Clan. They probably had that to protect themselves from attackers. Gravis also noticed something else. Something that he would have entirely missed if he hadn't been so interested in the bush.
Under the bushes, several small mushrooms could be seen. If one didn't pay attention to them, they would look like a lot of small mushrooms, but one had to remember that the actual mushroom was never just the cap above ground, but the gigantic plant underground.
Every single mushroom was connected in the underground, and all their roots met in a big clump below the middle of the Freya Clan. When Gravis saw that, he was quite surprised. 'Another mid-grade Spirit Plant,' he concluded.
One had to know that it was very difficult for one's Spirit to penetrate solid matter. The whole clump of roots was nearly ten kilometers under the ground, barely inside the range of Gravis' Spirit. Gravis' Spirit's range was vaster than the Spirit's range of Tree Stage cultivators. He could, already, barely see the clump, so it would be even more difficult for people at the Tree Stage and straight-up impossible for anyone below that.
As Gravis saw that, he lifted an eyebrow in an unsure expression. 'I thought they were so nice they were pushovers, but such an arrangement is actually very sneaky. Only Sect Masters would be able to barely notice the dangerous mushroom while anyone weaker than that would think that the Freya Clan could be easily robbed.'
Gravis grew more interested as he realized more things. 'An incredibly rich town of people with very weak battle-strength due to their element. Who wouldn't want to rob that? Yet, as long as they didn't have someone at the Tree Stage, the attackers wouldn't even notice the mushroom. The mushroom may only be at the mid-grade, but if it gets the drop on someone, anyone below the Tree Stage will die.'
Now, Gravis smiled. 'Oh, I see. When the Clan is under attack, the bush will become bigger and create a powerful barrier. The attackers will then concentrate on the bush and attack it, but when they are only halfway through, all the mushrooms will probably release powerful spores that kill anyone near the bush.'
'Are they actually luring powerful bandit groups or similar organizations in to attack them? I mean, that would give all the plants some top-grade nourishment while the Clan gets a lot of wealth.'
Gravis chuckled a little. 'So that's how they managed to survive so long with their weak attitude. Taking them down would require power on the level of a Sect. It would probably even require the Sect Master himself to take action. On top of that, they are under the protection of the Lightning Sect.'
"Interesting," Gravis said as he walked closer to the front gate.