"Alright, everyone," shouted the Guild Master of Water. "Please step forward and announce your name. We will then tell you which guild is willing to accept you. If more than one guild is willing to accept you, you may choose which one to join," she explained.
Every participant scattered around and then waited. The participants threw some glances at Gravis, waiting for him to go first, but he didn't move and just continued waiting. So, the first person stepped forward.
"I am Karl!" he announced.
"The Earth Guild is willing to accept you," said the Guild Master of Earth.
"The Fire Guild is willing to accept you," said the Guild Master of Fire.
"The Darkness Guild is willing to accept you," said the Guild Master of Darkness.
No other Guild Master stepped forward, and Karl chose the Earth Guild. He walked forward and stood behind his Guild Master.
The next person stepped forward, and the same thing repeated. The person chose their guild, and the next one came. This cycle repeated itself multiple times until only Gravis was left. Sigur had chosen the Fire Guild, and the second-place winner had chosen the Water Guild. Sigur only watched Gravis with terror in his eyes.
Gravis stepped forward, said nothing, and just walked behind the Guild Master of Lightning. The Guild Masters of Fire, Darkness, and earth sighed in helplessness. However, they were prepared for that. Gravis and the Guild Master of Lightning seemed too close lately. The others saw that coming.
In the end, most people joined the Earth Guild. From 60 participants, the Earth Guild ate up 15. The guild with the least new recruits was the Light Guild, with only five people, and the other guilds were in the middle. The Lightning Guild had nine new disciples, including Gravis.
The Guild Masters sighed. "Only 60 new disciples. That's really meager compared to the last entrance exams," said the Guild Master of Light helplessly. Gravis had turned the whole exam upside down, and they had to adapt. "This was also the most stressful one."
"Protection disciples, assemble!" shouted the Guild Master of Earth, and all 28 protection disciples ran into the arena. "We're done!" and with that, the protection disciples all went to their respective Guild Masters.
"Alright, this is where we part ways," said the Guild Master of Light with a smile, and all the disciples looked at him. "I wish you all good luck in your cultivation path."
The disciples looked back and bowed slightly in thanks. Everyone said their goodbyes and the disciples left with the Guild Masters. What was strange, was that the protection disciples didn't follow, but went to a different side of the arena. After a while, they drove several carriages around the arena.
The carriages were loaded with a lot of things. Treasures, boxes full of pills, and even the tower bench were on the wagons. So that was why the Guild Masters always seemed to be prepared for everything. They had carriages full of different stuff.
"Alright, let's go home," said the Guild Master of Lightning to his new disciples.
"Home," Gravis didn't know how to feel about this word. He didn't have a place where he belonged in this lower world. He didn't even own a house. Theoretically speaking, Gravis was actually homeless. Yet, he had a home now in this lower world. It might not be his real home, but it still felt nice.
The Guild Master of Lightning walked at the front, while Gravis was slightly behind him. The other disciples left several meters of space between them and those two. The Guild Master of Lightning didn't walk as quickly as when they ran to the Basin of Nature. It was more relaxed now.
"You know," said the Guild Master of Lightning to Gravis. "Most of the Guild Masters are bitter and angry about your participation." Then, he smirked. "But I'm not! Know why?"
"Because I joined your guild?" asked Gravis.
The Guild Master of Lightning laughed. "That is part of it, but not the whole reason. Whenever we hold the entrance exams, we split the costs. Some guilds bring the Fire-Torture Pills. Some guilds bring healing pills and treasure. It always costs a lot of money when we hold the entrance exams."
Gravis looked back at the carriages following them and noticed boxes filled with pills. "I guess we were responsible for the Fire-Torture Pills?" he asked.
The Guild Master of Lightning noticed that Gravis didn't say 'you' but 'we'. He grew even happier when he heard that. "Exactly. Just imagine the cost of producing 5,000 Fire-Torture Pills. Yet, we didn't need to waste any of them. Well, except for the one you took. We saved a lot of money," he said with a smirk.
"That's nice," commented Gravis.
"It is nice," the Guild Master said back.
The Guild Master then looked like he remembered something. "By the way, let me tell you something about how things work in our guild," he started, and Gravis nodded.
"Every disciple is, officially, of equal rank. We are not that many, after all. We are about 100 people in total. Yet, there are, of course, unofficial rankings. Those are based on how far the person has come in their path."
"The lowest disciples are the new recruits," he pointed back with his thumb. "Those guys behind you."
"I don't count as a new recruit?" Gravis asked.
The Guild Master laughed. "You have tempered everything but your muscles. You are basically already at the end. Here, catch," said the Guild Master as he threw a book towards Gravis, who promptly caught it. "This is the way to create a Lightning Seed and how to use it to temper your muscles."
Gravis furrowed his brows. "You're just giving it to me like that?" he asked. Gravis also strangely didn't see any threat of Heaven behind the Guild Master. It seemed like Heaven was fine with it.
"Hehe, normally, you would need to buy it for 1,000 gold." When Gravis heard that, his face blanched, yet, the more he thought about it, the more affordable it seemed. He was not in a minor Hunting Guild anymore. Everyone could take on low-grade demonic beasts, and more experienced disciples could probably even take on middle-grade demonic beasts.
"But you don't have to pay," continued the Guild Master. "Because thanks to you, we saved around 5,000 gold since every Fire-Torture Pill costs around one gold. Giving it to you for free is the least I could do."
Gravis felt some warmth inside. Even though he had saved the Guild Master a lot of gold, Gravis had never intended to do that. It just happened. The Guild Master could have kept this a secret, and Gravis would still be thankful. Yet, the Guild Master had given him something he desperately needed, just like that.
"Anyway, let me continue," said the Guild Master. "After new recruits arrive, they first need to temper their organs and blood. They have to pay with their own money for that. So, how do they get their money?" asked the Guild Master.
"Missions, probably," guessed Gravis.
The Guild Master laughed. "Exactly. We get many different kinds of missions. Transportation, escort, monster hunting," the Guild Master grinned. "We even act as mercenaries sometimes."
"Why mercenaries?" asked Gravis.
"Because our disciples need to learn how the real world works. We have a lot of bad and selfish people in the cultivation world. It's every individual disciple's decision if they want to hunt those people or become those people. My job as the Guild Leader of the Proxy-Lightning Guild is just to send strong disciples to our parent guild."
Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Proxy-Guild?" he asked.
The Guild Master nodded. "Yeah. Our Lightning Guild is only a subsidiary of our parent guild in the middle continent. Our specific parent guild is responsible for twelve Proxy-Lightning Guilds. The parent guild receives all disciples from the Proxy-Lightning Guilds that have broken through into the Magic Gathering Realm."
The Guild Master laughed a little more. "Actually, our parent guild is also a subsidiary of the Lightning Sect of the Central Continent. That is our true headquarter," explained the Guild Master with pride.
Gravis was really shocked by that. He didn't know that he had joined such a gigantic organization. "So, the Lightning Sect is probably very powerful?" he asked.
The Guild Master smiled in disdain. "There is one organization above everyone. Then come our seven Main-Elemental Guilds. Then there are several Clans and some Secondary-Elemental Guilds. So yeah, the Lightning Sect is pretty powerful."
"That is impressive," said Gravis.
The Guild Master laughed, but then noticed something and grew annoyed. "Could you stop asking all these questions? You've constantly been sidetracking the conversation. Let me get back to the topic," he said in mock annoyance.
Gravis smiled. "Sorry," but judging by his tone, he obviously didn't mean it.
"Hehe, cocky kid," the Guild Master smiled a little. "Anyway, the lowest rank disciples are the new recruits. Then come the disciples with tempered bones. Then come the disciples with tempered blood. Then come the disciples that had tempered everything, except their muscles. Lastly, the highest disciples are the ones with a fully tempered body that only need to break through into the Magic Gathering Realm."
Gravis nodded. So, in short, he was the strongest person around, again. Wherever he went, he mainly found good people and was always the strongest person. Gravis knew that this couldn't be a coincidence. Heaven was still trying to reduce the pressure on him as much as possible.
Heaven tried to stop Gravis from making any enemies. No enemies meant no life and death tempering… at least not with humans. If Heaven succeeded with this plan, Gravis might not be able to temper his Will-Aura anymore, and his advantage would vanish in the latter part of his cultivation.
Gravis frowned as he realized that his way was too clear. It was so clear, that if he just continued cultivating, he would probably reach even the Spirit Forming Realm in no time.
Gravis could already guess that when he broke into the Energy Gathering Realm, and went to his parent guild, that there would probably be more coincidences that would destroy all obstacles in his way. Reaching the Spirit Forming Realm would be a piece of cake like that.
Yet, he might start meeting people with a similarly strong Will-Aura when he reached that realm. On top of that, the lack of enemies for months or maybe years would have weakened his fighting instincts and killing intent. Heaven was playing the long game.
"Anyway," said the Guild Master, and Gravis looked at him. "I kind of noticed something awkward."
Gravis furrowed his brows. "What?"
The Guild Master smiled bitterly. "I don't know your name," he confessed.
Gravis suddenly understood. Every disciple at the will test stated their name, but since he never participated, he never announced his name. The disciples also stated their names in the tournament, but he didn't participate in that either. The participants also announced their names when they chose their guild. Yet, Gravis had just walked to his Guild Master.
"Huh, I never said my name," commented Gravis as he thought.
At this day,
The Guild Master smiled. "My name is Gorn."
The fate of Gorn,
Gravis smiled. "I'm Gravis."
And the entire Lightning Sect changed.
