Affinity: Chaos

The next day.

Grey and his grandfather had been practicing all through the previous day, given their cultivation stages, they didn't have any reasons to stop, especially with Grey almost close to achieving the inscription method.

Martha and her mother didn't have anything important to do, so the duo stayed to watch them.

Grey didn't know how many times he had tried it, or how many ways he had tried to manipulate the elemental essence around him. But he didn't stop, he tried after each failed attempt, he didn't show any signs of frustration even when things weren't going the way he wanted, he still didn't give up, he continued trying different methods to manipulate the elemental essence around him. During the process, he noticed that his control over each of his attacks were on the rise. He hasn't even tried to make any normal elemental attacks, but he could already sense the difference in his body.

Just like before, Grey tried to create the array once again, around his arm, just below his wrist. The array started to form as he manipulated the essence around him in a certain manner. This was a bit different from normal arrays, but it wasn't too far from it.

The array started to form, this time, the size and shape was perfect, and so was the manner in which it was being formed. It was obvious that Grey had improved a lot over the past day, and he didn't seem far from achieving it.

The array formed, only this time, it didn't collapse like the previous times, rather, it stayed there.

When Grey noticed that he had been able to keep the array stable, it was time for the next task, attacking with it. This wasn't the first time he had been able to fully form the array, but he has always been unable to unleash an attack with it. This time, he was hoping to be able to achieve this. From all the tweaks he has made, he believed that he should be able to properly use it to attack now.

He tried to use a fire elemental attack since it was his favorite element. A snake made from flames appeared, around three meters long.

When the snake appeared, its aura shook, but then the snake flew into the air, spitting out with a sea of flames that covered almost a hundred meters radius.

Grey burst out laughing like a madman, he has achieved it, he has created an attack with this new inscribing method.

His grandfather was just as elated as he was, he couldn't help but also join Grey in a fit of laughter, one could see pride and excitement in his eyes, he couldn't wait to teach Grey something else.

Martha and her mother were both shocked that Grey was able to learn the array in just a day. They knew just how hard it was for people who are regarded as geniuses to achieve this, yet it took Grey only a day. The fact that he was already a master in array formation couldn't be denied, but his speed and dedication when it came to learning is the reason he was able to achieve this in such a short time.

The shortest time it took for anyone to learn it was a week, and that person is regarded as one of the greatest geniuses ever born into that Lyttelton Family, and this genius was also a master in arrays before he started his training, yet it took him a week before he completed it. Grey on the other hand did it in a day. The difference was massive.

Grey controlled the snake to fly back down, he was beyond himself with excitement.

"Grandfather, I'd like to spar with the Elders once again, this time, they should be stronger." He asked excitedly.

The Elders he fought the last time were in the Fifth stage of the Sovereign Plane, while Grey was also in the Fifth stage, he was able to defeat them cleanly, but he didn't feel like he used most of his strength. Now, he wanted to test out his newly acquired skill. He preferred honing his skill during battle.

"I have the perfect person that'll fight with you." Grey's grandfather smiled.

The fire snake disappeared, as Grey collapsed the array.

After some time, Grey's grandfather took him once again to the Lyttelton Arena, this time, there were a few more people. Some Elders were present, as well as a few people from the younger generation. Most of them were around Grey's age, while some were younger, and others older, but not by more than five years. However, with the exception of five people, the rest of them were in that Venerable Plane, only one person Grey's age was in the Sovereign Plane, and she was only in the First stage, the others were in the Second and Third stages respectively, but they were all older than Grey was.

When they saw Grey step on the platform, they couldn't help but stare at him intensely, after all, he did cause some commotion in the Lyttelton Family two days ago, not just that, he is the famous Grey Dawson, the genius whom even the Gnomes wanted dead. The fact that the Gnomes wanted him dead and even issued out such amazing rewards meant that he was special.

And Grey's face alone was enough to make him the center of attention wherever he goes, he was that handsome. Some of the young ladies in the crowd looked at him with glowing eyes.

Grey wasn't new to being stared at by everyone. He has been in too many competitions to care about how people looked at him. In some instances he barely even sees the faces of those in the crowd.

The Elder who stepped out was the one who took him to the Hall when he just left the secret realm, a Seventh stage Sovereign. Grey was only in the Fifth stage, so him wanting to fight against someone two stages above him seemed absurd to some of these geniuses. It's not that they hadn't fought across stages before, but that was while they were still in lower cultivation Planes, the gap between each stage in the Sovereign Plane was huge, and closing the gap of one stage already shows that one is a genius, going above two stages is just crazy, especially when it means who he's fighting is in the next major stages. A mid stage Sovereign battling a Late stage Sovereign didn't seem like something they thought they'd see, especially one of such caliber.

If Grey were fighting someone his age, the difference in experience wouldn't matter, but here, he not only has the disadvantage in cultivation level, but also in terms of battle experience.

The young geniuses all started to converse about the upcoming battle.

"People tend to overestimate themselves when they've not suffered a huge loss." A young man said coldly. He was in the Third stage of the Sovereign Plane, and could be said to be the number one in this generation. Seeing Grey having a higher cultivation stage while being younger than he is made him a bit envious of him.

"I heard he defeated two Elders on the same stage as himself a few days ago. I feel he has the right to battle against this Elder." The young lady who was in the First stage of the Sovereign Plane spoke up.

"He won by fluke. The Elders underestimated him, and they naturally paid for it. But it was all due to it not being a life or death battle." The young man said once again.

He didn't believe that Grey would be able to defeat the two Elders unless they were careless. This was the only explanation he thought made sense.

"The Elders didn't underestimate him. Everyone here has heard of Grey Dawson and how he easily battles across stages. This should be the norm for him now I fear." Another young man in the Third stage of the Sovereign Plane commented. He didn't have the same opinion as his brother.

"There's no point talking too much, we'll see it for ourselves here." A young lady in the Second stage stopped the others from arguing over if Grey would be victorious or not. They were watching him, so why argue when they could just wait and see.

Grey and the Elder stood across each other, each studying the other.

Grey's grandfather looked at the duo and after seeing that both parties were ready, he called for the start of the fight. .net