CRRR!
The door that had been silent for six months finally opened. Gravis turned to it and released a sigh of relief. "Finally, I can continue," he said.
It had felt like forever to him. Being alone without any outside stimuli for six months was incredibly boring to him. Mortals might find such a thought horrifying, but Gravis was already used to it. To him, it was nothing more than boredom.
Gravis retrieved his lightning and Spirit. He had been trying to make the Lightning Bomb stable. It was a huge issue that it always absorbed all of his lightning whenever he summoned it. This made the technique very problematic since he couldn't control the output of lightning. If he managed to use as much lightning as he wanted, he could build new techniques on top of that foundation.
Why did Gravis not ask for more Battle Techniques from the Lightning Sect? The issue with that was that all of the Battle Techniques had the same base. All the techniques were based on a combination of Spirit and will. As long as he couldn't control his lightning's output, any additional Battle Technique became meaningless.
One had to know that the Lightning Bomb and Lightning Crescent didn't have anything to do with the Rakshasa Saber. The attack might be similarly performed, but only up to the base. The Rakshasa Saber needed Energy to function, not lightning. As soon as lightning came into the equation, it stopped being the Rakshasa Saber.
The Lightning Bomb and Lightning Crescent were new techniques created by Gravis. Sadly, without the ability to control the lightning output, the usage of those two techniques became very limited. Gravis had tried to fix that for a long while now, without any result. The sphere would summon another him, basically, and the second him wanted his own lightning. It was just instinct.
Yet, the six months didn't go by without any result. His dodging became even better thanks to his new way of training. His control over his physical power also increased.
What was the use of better control? It was the optimization of the user's power. More powerful attacks needed a longer windup, while weaker attacks would be faster. For example, using a slash with Gravis' full power would be stupid if he fought against a wind cultivator. The slash would be too slow to hit them. A weaker but faster slash would still be powerful enough to injure the person.
"Anyway," Gravis said as he cracked his neck. "Time to go. I wonder what you have in store for me, Heaven. Will you use your secret weapon right now, or later?"
With that said, Gravis walked through the opened door and looked at the walls. "Sure enough, the door was many meters thick. Trying to brute-force my way through that would have taken forever."
Gravis walked for about a minute and then entered a small hall. The hall was identical to the one where his group has split up. And, funnily enough, his group waited for him there. When Gravis saw them, he was pleasantly surprised.
The group also looked at him and smiled. All four were still alive, relieving Gravis. Even though only two people from the group could be considered friends, Gravis still didn't want them to die. He was a little happy that everyone was still alive. He also saw that their wills had grown a little bit. Apparently, the trial had been dangerous, but not that much.
Manuel's eyes lighted up in shock. He was very experienced in battles and with people. The moment he saw Gravis, he felt that Gravis' Will-Aura had become much more powerful. Such an intense increase could only happen if someone went through an incredibly dangerous fight where the chances of dying were way higher than surviving.
He immediately saw many more connections. The trials were supposed to be tailored to the Realm of the user, not the Battle Strength. Only as the trials progressed would they become harder, and therefore, also test the user's Battle Strength. On top of that, the first trial should be the easiest one. With Gravis' unreal Battle Strength, he should have been able to walk through that trial. How could his trial have been this difficult?
Manuel's Spirit was also able to judge the physical body of people very well. He felt that Gravis' body was equal to someone at the Tree Stage. If he had had such a powerful body before going to the trial, basically nothing could stop him. What could be so dangerous as to increase his will that much?
"Gravis! Hey!" Joyce shouted with happiness as she waved her hands. She quickly ran to him and grabbed his right hand with both of her hands. "Thank you so much for your training!" she shouted excitedly as she shook his hand vigorously.
Gravis could only bitterly smile. "It's alright. I didn't do much. I only taught you some basics of fighting."
"Nonsense!" Joyce shouted. "You have taught me creativity! I am still bad at fighting, but I can, at least, see opportunities."
"Well, you could call that creativity," the lightning disciple said from the side with an uncomfortable expression.
Joyce turned to him and went red in the face. "Shut up, Claude! You promised that you wouldn't talk about it!"
Claude only smiled bitterly and became quiet.
Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? What happened?" he asked.
Joyce pouted with her still red face. "Can't you see that I am obviously embarrassed about this!? Read the atmosphere, dummy!" she shouted.
Gravis rolled his eyes. "Sure, keep your secrets then," he commented.
As Gravis saw the group, he got an idea. "Do any of you have more body tempering pills?" he asked.
The group was a little taken aback, but Claude, Joyce, and Manuel nodded. "I left the Sect with enough body tempering pills to reach the Tree Stage," Manuel said. "I also don't need them for the time being. My body is already more powerful than my Realm, which makes it difficult to use my element."
"I only have enough to reach the Seed Stage," Claude said.
"I have enough to reach the Sapling Stage," Joyce chimed in.
Gravis rubbed his chin for a bit. "No offense, but that amount of pills won't help me, Joyce, Claude," Gravis said. "Manuel, do you know how to use a spear?"
Manuel scratched the side of his head. "I know how to use a lot of weapons. I am most comfortable with a long sword, but I am also fine with a spear. Though, I already have a weapon. So, if you want to trade one, I'll probably decline."
Whoop!
Gravis summoned the spear. "You sure?" he asked with a smirk.
When Manuel saw the spear, his eyes widened to their limits. "Holy shit, is that a peak-grade Spirit Weapon? Only Sect Masters carry these!"
The others hadn't been able to judge the weapon's quality, but when they heard Manuel's shout, their eyes also widened in surprise. Where did Gravis get that? The spear quickly floated over to Manuel, and he looked at it even closer. After that, his breathing became even faster.
"This isn't just an average peak-grade Spirit Weapon!" he shouted with shock and surprise. "Normally, about 80% of the weapon's grade is decided by its Formation Arrays. The materials are not the main point of the weapon. Yet, this spear is entirely made out of Core!"
Joyce was a little confused. "Core? Like a Beast Core?" she asked.
Manuel shook his head to regain his bearings. "No. The material's actual name is Core Ore, but it became an inside joke to just call it Core. It's the best material for weapons in existence. It can only be found in the deepest mines in the Core-Continent, and it's incredibly rare. I've never seen a weapon made out of pure Core before! Only the Heaven Sect would have such a ridiculous amount of wealth, and even then, only the priests would-"
Manuel suddenly went quiet and then looked at Gravis in shock. Only the Heaven Sect had the ridiculous amount of wealth to make a weapon out of Core? Gravis went through an incredibly difficult tempering experience? The dots inside Manuel's mind connected, and he took a deep breath.
"How are you still alive?" he asked involuntarily in a quiet voice.
Gravis smirked. "It was pretty close," Gravis said.
The others also connected the dots and were just as shocked. Gravis had fought a priest? And he won!? This was impossible! Gravis was only at the Sapling Stage! Didn't this mean that Gravis was the strongest person in the Spirit Forming Realm while he was still at the Sapling Stage? This was way too ridiculous!
"Anyway, so you up for the trade?" Gravis asked as everyone was watching him with open eyes.
Pack!
A huge sack of pills was immediately thrown at him. Manuel didn't even need to consider. After that, he immediately started exchanging some of his wealth for all the body tempering pills in the group. Even if he scrunched up enough body tempering pills to promote a physical body to the Self Stage, it still wouldn't be even close to enough. This spear was worth about as much as the whole Wind Sect!
Gravis wanted to protest about the additional pills that Manuel was fervently trading for. Yet, Manuel just shouted at him that the spear was way too expensive and that he wouldn't feel at peace if he didn't do his best to repay Gravis. After scratching his head a little, Gravis gave up. If the spear was worth that much, why not accept the additional pills?
"Oh, by the way," Manuel said. "Why are you not using the spear?" he asked.
Gravis summoned his saber. "I have this."
And again, Manuel was shocked. "This is also made of Core! How are you so rich!?" he shouted.
Gravis scratched his chin. He didn't think that he was rich. After all, his Spirit Space was nearly empty.
The group sat down and talked for some hours. They shared their experiences and what they have gone through in their trial.