Chapter 158: Introspection (1/2)

Some hours later, Skye and Gravis reached their destination. Gravis was confused because he saw nothing but a gigantic mountain. Even at their height of several kilometers, he could still not see the top of the mountain. There were no buildings or anything on that mountain, but the map clearly stated that this was where the Earth Guild should be.

Gravis looked up, trying to see the top, but he doubted that the Earth Guild would be built that high up. He could understand building a guild at the height of nearly ten kilometers if it was for the Wind Guild, but for the Earth Guild? Gravis doubted that. ”Skye, fly lower,” he said, and they started descending. The Earth Guild had to be here somewhere.

They flew along the base of the mountain, not seeing anything unusual for a long while. After they had circled around a quarter of the mountain, which had been a distance of many kilometers, Gravis finally found something. He saw a big cave entrance, over a hundred meters tall. Gravis would've ignored such an entrance if it weren't for the multiple guards in front of it. ”So, they're inside a cave.”

The guards were around two meters tall and wore earthen-yellow robes. They carried long lances and heavy tower-shields. The shields were about as big as the guards themselves. Gravis imagined fighting someone from the Earth Guild with comparable strength to himself and concluded that it would be frustrating to fight someone like that.

They were probably able to wield those shields skillfully. Even if Gravis' physical power were stronger than theirs, they would still be able to stop him from overwhelming them with attacks. On top of that, their earth element was incredibly good in increasing their physical power.

The enemy would only need to commit a single mistake, and the disciples of the Earth Guild would unleash a devastating counter. Gravis did not doubt the ability of those disciples to stall a fight long enough for their opponent to grow impatient. 'It's an unusual way to fight, but I can see its effectiveness.'

Gravis already noted several key-points of the Earth Guild. The disciples were patient and steadfast. If something encroached on their territory, they would block it with all their might. Gravis guessed that they were probably not very aggressive. Their disposition seemed similar to lightning, actually.

Lightning also didn't do anything until something encroached upon its territory. In that sense, earth and lightning were similar. The difference, though, was that as soon something came too close to lightning, it would attack with all its might to destroy the offender, while earth would stay immovable.

As Gravis saw other elements, he also learned more about lightning. Gravis guessed that the disposition of lightning could be summarized by taking half of the disposition of earth and half of fire. Lightning would act like earth, but when something came too close, it would act like fire. ”Huh, this actually sounds like me,” Gravis muttered to himself.

Gravis fell into deeper thought. 'Was I always like this?' he asked himself. 'I don't think so. A year ago, when I just came to this world, I let all those bandits escape that tried to stop me. I mean, later, I learned that those bandits aren't actually such bad people, but I didn't know that at the time.'

Gravis continued thinking. 'On top of that, I also gave second chances to that one youngster from the waterfall and the Lightning Guild disciples. That doesn't seem to fit lightning.'