Gravis looked at the map, and as soon as he did, he was glad that he came back for it. If he had continued south, he wouldn't have reached the beasts' territory.
The map was very crude and not detailed at all, but it showed the positions of all the Peak Sects and the beasts' territory. However, that was it. There were no villages, cities, areas of interest or anything like that. It only showed these six things.
The five Peak Sects were placed all around the world, about the same distance between each one of them, except for one.
In the middle of the world was a gigantic forest, which was basically entirely blanked out. It took up around 20% of the map.
This was the beasts' territory.
The entire core of the map was nothing but beast territory. However, only 20% of the world belonged to the beast. Gravis had known that the humans probably had more territory than the beasts, but not by so much. There were probably many times more humans than beasts in this world.
The world was split into five regions. As previously stated, the core of the world was one region, and it belonged to the beasts. The other four regions were north, east, south, and west of the beasts' territories.
How were these areas split?
By gigantic rivers!
20% of the world belonged to the beast, but 10% of the world was also filled with water. There were four rivers coming out of the beasts' territory, which stretched across the entire map. These four rivers took up 10% of the entire map.
From the position of the beasts' territory, the rivers were at the northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast.
However, the rivers didn't perfectly leave at one corner and exit the map on a corner.
In actuality, the rivers were curved.
For example, the northwestern river came out of the northwestern corner of the beasts' territory, but as soon as it left the beasts' territory, it made a curve towards the west. It basically went from northwest to north-north-west and then to just directly west.
The northeastern river did the same thing, but it went more towards the east instead.
The same thing was mirrored with the southern rivers. They also stretched more towards the east and the west, respectively.
This meant that the five territories of the world didn't have the same size. Due to the rivers' curvature, the northern and southern territories were far bigger than the eastern and western territories. In fact, the northern territory was about 2.5 times the size of the western territory, for example.
The eastern and western territories had about the same size, same with the northern and southern territories.
So, to put the distribution of size into numbers.
20% of the world belonged to the beasts in the middle.
10% of the world belonged to the water in the four rivers.
25% of the world belonged to the northern territory.
25% of the world belonged to the southern territory.
10% of the world belonged to the eastern territory.
10% of the world belonged to the western territory.
Now, the question was, how does one distribute five Peak Sects across four territories?
Sadly, distributing the territory evenly was impossible. Because of that, two Sects shared the northern territory, while every other region had one Peak Sect.
The western half of the northern territory belonged to the Nine Elements Sect, and Gravis was currently even further to the northwest of this territory.
The eastern half of the northern territory belonged to the All-Matter Sect. These two Sects shared the northern territory since it was so big.
However, even though they shared one territory, their territory was still larger than the territories of the Peak Sects that owned the eastern and western territories. After all, half of 25% is 12.5%, and 12.5% is more than 10%.
The western territory belonged to the Primordial Force Sect. If Gravis had continued to travel south, he would have arrived at the gigantic river. After that, he would have entered the territory of the Primordial Force Sect. Additionally, Gravis had been heading towards the core of the Primordial Force Sect. At that point, his beast body would have been discovered.
Because of that, Gravis was glad that he had returned to get a map.
The eastern territory belonged to the Purist Sect.
As Gravis watched the map, he somehow felt that the Primordial Force Sect and Purist Sect were cut off from others. It was like they were on their own islands.
However, they were not as cut off as the Life Sect.
The Life Sect was in the southern territory, alone!
The entire 25% of the southern world belonged entirely to the Life Sect, which was crazy!
Yet, Gravis was sure that it wasn't that simple. There was probably more to it.
There also had to be sea beasts in this world, which meant that the gigantic rivers were also a massive danger for humans. Calling them rivers made them seem small, but one had to remember that these rivers were absolutely gigantic. One river was already many times wider than Gravis' previous middle world.
Because of that, Gravis was sure that the rivers had to be added to the Sects' territories.
The Purist and Primordial Force Sect probably helped with the northern rivers, but the Nine Elements Sect and the All-Matter Sect probably did the majority of the work there.
However, the Life Sect was obviously overwhelmed with their massive area. Taking care of the southern rivers would put a strain on their resources even more.
Because of that, Gravis was certain that the Primordial Force Sect and the Purist Sect probably completely dominated one of these southern rivers. The Life Sect already needed to fully withstand the beasts' assault on a major territory on their own. They couldn't also deal with a ton of sea beasts on two different rivers.
As far as Gravis saw, the Life Sect was probably the most endangered Peak Sect. The northern territories had two Sects that probably worked closely together. The Laws of the Elements and the Laws of Matter were intrinsically connected. Understanding one of them helped with understanding the other. Additionally, both categories represented dead stuff that one could see and feel.
Because of that, the northern territory was probably the safest territory for humans.
The western and eastern territories were not as big, and one Peak Sect should be enough for each. Gravis had already heard about the ideology of the Purist Sect, which made him guess that the Purist Sect was probably fighting a lonely battle.
The Purist Sect was probably not very interested in helping the other Peak Sects and simply dealt with their portion of assaults, which was the eastern front of the land beasts, southern front of sea beasts, and northern front of sea beats. Gravis even guessed that the Purist Sect probably claimed the entire southeastern river as their territory, allowing nearly no outsider to enter.
Meanwhile, the Primordial Force Sect probably had close connections with the Nine Elements Sect to their north and the Life Sect to their south. However, this was a completely blind guess based on the map. Gravis had never come into contact with anyone from the Primordial Force Sect.
However, the eastern and western territories were probably also rather secure. Maybe not as much as the northern territory, but still quite secure.
Now, the southern territory looked troublesome.
A Sect of Cultivators focused on Life and healing owned and defended an entire 25% of the world?
That was a lot of work!
'Well, the Life Laws also include the Laws of the body,' Gravis thought. 'I shouldn't immediately assign the status of healer to everyone from the Life Sect. They probably also have a ton of fearsome close-combat warriors with powerful bodies. Maybe their bodies could even rival some beasts? It's a possibility. In that case, these Cultivators would become beast killers, basically.'
Gravis had learned a lot about the world from simply a single picture. Additionally, he now knew where he had to go.
Gravis had to go to the southeast.
He would need to pass the Nine Elements Sect and continue towards the southeast to arrive at the beasts' territory.
Gravis nodded as he made his plan and looked back at the old man.
"Why did you directly give me this map?" Gravis asked, suspicious. "You didn't even ask for anything in return. Why?"
The old man only smiled in a gentle demeanor.
"So that you know where you can find the Life Sect," the old man said.
Gravis furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?" Gravis asked. There had to be more to this.
"Well," the old man said with a smile. "You should know where you can find your future home."
"I said that I am still considering which Sect I want to join," Gravis said evenly.
"You can consider, but it won't change the result," the old man said as he stroked his beard.
Gravis raised an eyebrow. "You're saying that I will join the Life Sect regardless?" Gravis asked.
The old man nodded.
"What makes you think that? Don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for your cooperation, and I've only had positive dealings with the Life Sect up to now, but that isn't enough to base such a major decision on," Gravis said.
"You're right. It isn't," the old man said with a smile. "However, you have no other choice in that regard. You either join the Life Sect, or you join no Peak Sect."
Gravis narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat?" Gravis asked coldly.
The old man laughed. "No, it isn't," he said. "It really isn't."
"Then what do you mean with that I have no choice?" Gravis asked.
"How about I show you by helping you some more?" the old man said with a smile, which slowly transformed into a smirk.
Another picture arrived in Gravis' mind. It was the same map, but this time, there was a curvy, red arrow leading to the beasts' territory. It made a considerable curve around the Nine Elements Sect.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Gravis asked. He no longer felt that this old man was a kind grandpa but a wily old fox. It was like the entire situation was somehow under the old man's control.
"That's a path that avoids every major city and Sect," the old man said. "After all…"
"You don't want the Beast Crystals to react to your body, right?"