Chapter 300: Splitting Up (1/2)

Joyce and Gravis looked at each other with uncomfortable expressions. They remained silent for a couple of seconds.

”I'm sorry,” they both said at the same time, eliciting a look of surprise by the other.

”What are you sorry about?” Joyce asked in surprise. ”You showed me a truth about the cultivation world. I should be the sorry one since I let my emotions guide my actions.” Joyce was a little red in the face due to embarrassment. ”I also didn't mean what I have said previously. Those words were uncalled for.”

Gravis sighed. ”Don't worry about it. I didn't take them to heart. Also, I should apologize for saying it that directly. I didn't take your cultivation path into account. After all, everyone's experiences are different.”

”Hey, don't steal my line!” Manuel grumbled.

Gravis only smiled slightly. ”Your wisdom is my wisdom now,” he said with a smirk.

Manuel rolled his eyes, but inside, he was happy. He felt proud of himself. After all, not everyone was able to teach the Lightning Calamity something.

Joyce looked with confusion at both of them but then turned to Gravis again. ”Anyways, I'm sorry for my words. I know that you only wanted to help me.”

”Water under the bridge,” Gravis said with a dismissive wave.

Joyce smiled happily, and, for some reason, Gravis also felt a bit happy when he saw her smile. Yet, he quickly caught himself. 'I might actually feel attracted to her,' he thought. 'This could become dangerous. If I get too close to her, I might have doubts about my future path. I don't know how I will act in such a situation. I can't take the risk into account that I might decide to not leave this lower world. I can't get too close to her.'

Joyce was quite confused about Gravis' involuntary changes in expression. For a second there, she could've sworn that Gravis showed a genuine smile, but it had quickly vanished. Now, he only looked troubled. 'I really don't get him,' she thought.

Manuel watched them while cultivating, and he could only muster a troubled smile. 'I think I know what's going on with Gravis. No matter what he chooses, he will lose,' Manuel thought. 'For once, I'm happy that I'm not him.'

Who didn't want to be a powerful genius? Just imagining the possibility to fight two Stages above oneself would elicit feelings of longing. Yet, everyone had their own problems, even powerful people like Gravis. Nearly no one had an easy life.

Like this, time passed.

A couple of hours later, Manuel reached the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering and immediately broke into the Spirit Forming Realm. When someone's body was powerful enough, they wouldn't need a strengthened dantian. Manuel's and Joyce's bodies easily fulfilled that requirement.

Some more hours later, two disciples from the Wind Sect arrived. One of them was the person that went over to fetch the new person, while the other, obviously, was the new person. The new person quickly went over to Manuel and thanked him for this opportunity. If Manuel hadn't left the Wind Sect's group, the new person wouldn't have been able to join.

Manuel waved him off. He saw his actions as more selfish than selfless, so he didn't really feel comfortable with accepting the new person's gratitude.

For a full day after that, nothing of note happened.

Brrr!

Suddenly, the door to the mountain started opening slowly, creating an uncomfortable sound of stones grating together. The groups all stood up and readied themselves. Many people retrieved their weapons and moved into different formations. A couple more groups arrived, but there was still no group from the Lightning Sect.

Many of the groups had been confused about the Lightning Sect's absence, and only Joyce's group knew that no group from the Lightning Sect would come. After all, in order to not force Gravis to fight against his disciple brothers', Lasar decided against sending a group to the resource war.

Yet, there was something else of note. Even though some new groups had arrived, the total number of groups didn't increase. That was because the groups from the Water, Light, and Darkness Sect had left. They decided against taking the risk of fighting Gravis. Even if they survived all the trials, fighting Gravis at the end was just suicide.

Since the group from the Earth Sect had also met an untimely demise, only a total of two Sects took part in this year's resource war. One was the Wind Sect, while the other was the Fire Sect. The Fire Sect was comprised of battle-hungry maniacs, while the people from the Wind Sect were rather carefree. Whatever happened, happened. They wanted to temper themselves, so why shouldn't they?

When the gate fully opened, one group after another charged in until only Joyce's group remained.

”Let's go,” Joyce said with motivation as she pointed forward with a long and thin sword.

Manuel chuckled a little when he saw that. ”That pose would look better if you were on a horse,” he said with a smirk.

Joyce turned to him and pouted. ”Hey! Don't ruin my moment!”