Ch. 11..20

Forneus sat on his chair. One youngster after another appeared in the hall. Even though their speeds in clearing the test varied greatly, people who took multiple days longer actually appeared just minutes later than the faster ones. The reason for that was that the practical test was performed in a lower world. The lower the world, the easier it was for the laws of the world to operate.

When one day passes in the highest world, ten days pass in a high-rank world, 100 days pass in a medium-rank world, and 1000 days pass in a low-rank world. By that calculation, a week in a low-rank world would only equate to about 10 minutes in their world. For Forneus, not even 30 minutes had passed between the times of when the youngsters left and came back.

The youngsters all came back in different conditions. While some looked healthy, others were nearly dead. Forneus just had to activate the formation, and all the injured people returned to peak condition in no time.

"Oh, another one's coming," Forneus commented casually as purple light flashed. The purple light revealed a youngster wholly drenched in blood. Forneus couldn't even see the color of the boy's outfit through all the blood. His left shoulder was broken, and a massive cut went through his abdomen. The youngster looked at Forneus and the others beside him. His fighting spirit was still shining through his eyes, but when he looked at the other youngsters, their own fighting spirit didn't lose to his.

That youngster was, of course, Gravis. He continued watching the others, but the atmosphere was broken by a loud slurp coming from Forneus smoothie. "Man, you look like you had a ton of fun." Forneus snapped his fingers, and the formation activated. All the blood on Gravis vanished, and his injuries healed nearly instantaneously.

Gravis took a deep breath and felt refreshed. It felt like taking a shower after a hard workout, just many times better. Forneus waved. "Come over and stand with the others!"

Gravis released a long sigh to calm down. He had fought for his life for over two weeks, so it was hard readjusting to normal life. He walked over and stood beside the others, who watched him with interest. Gravis didn't speak and just waited. A couple more youngsters appeared and returned to their classmates.

"Alright, everyone's here." Forneus stood up and stretched.

Gravis looked around and counted 25 people, including himself. Suddenly, he noticed something. "Forneus, where is Ballor?" Gravis asked.

"Dead," Forneus said while stretching to the side.

Gravis paled. "What?" Dead? He died, just like that?

"Yeah, he hadn't thought of staying underwater in the water rapids stage and was completely powered out by the end of it. His next opponent was the Rampaging Rhino, which completely decimated his left arm. His next opponent, the Cunning Shadow, gave him the rest." Forneus commented casually.

Gravis gulped and stayed silent. He went out with Ballor nearly every day for the last two months. They had grown pretty close, and Gravis considered him a true friend, but just like that, he died. Gravis couldn't even say goodbye. He also couldn't remember the last words he said to him.

Forneus clapped loudly in his hands. "Alright, people die. It happens. Get over it." Forneus looked at the others, while Gravis gritted his teeth. "Okay, there are 25 remaining, and seven died. That's a death rate of a little over 20%. That's average. Although..." Forneus looked at Gravis. "I'm surprised you survived."

Gravis was confused. What did he mean? Forneus continued. "Everyone goes through the same opponents but shuffled around. So, even though you all fought the same beasts and environmental

challenges, the order differed." Forneus pointed at Gravis. "You, especially, had shitty luck with the order. Your first opponent was the newbie crusher."

The others were not sure which opponent Forneus meant when he said "newbie crusher". They thought back to the beasts they fought but weren't sure. Gravis, on the other hand, thought of the tortoise. "Do you mean the tortoise?"

A light of recognition shone in the other's eyes. As they continued to think about it, they nodded. The tortoise was no problem for them because of the experience they gained from killing other monsters before. Fighting that slow, but explosive tortoise first would be very dangerous. They looked at Gravis with pity. What shitty luck.

Forneus nodded. "Yeah. About 70% of people die when they fight the tortoise first. They charge in without a plan and get decimated by its snap. If you have the experience, it's difficulty is about average. The reason why it's so deadly in the beginning is that one mistake would prove fatal, while other beasts are more forgiving. Making mistakes on other beasts may give you some scratches, but making a mistake on the tortoise is deadly."

Gravis sighed. What shitty luck. Though, he understood what Forneus meant. Gravis didn't receive an injury from the tortoise, but he had nearly died. If he had continued charging back then, he wouldn't be here right now.

"Okay, let's start reviewing. You all survived the test and killed your opponents. So, congratulations to that." Forneus said as most of the youngsters smiled in relief. "BUT!" Forneus shouted, and the others stopped smiling. "That was a challenge with only one opponent coming at you at a time. The challenges will increase in difficulty the next time. Even though the average death rate of the first test is the highest, at about 20%, the second test still has a death rate of about 10%. So, don't slack off."

Most of the youngsters grimaced. Life wouldn't become easier.

"The next test will take place one month from now. At that time, you will always have to fight two opponents at the same time." Forneus grinned. "You can imagine how fun that'll be."

Fighting one opponent was completely different than fighting two. They knew that, so they didn't look forward to the next test. They laughed at their past selves that were excited about getting to fight. None of them wanted to repeat this experience.

"You can go back home. The next three days will be rest days. After that, we resume our theoretical lessons." And with that, Forneus walked out of the hall, not caring about anyone else. When he was halfway out the door, Forneus seemed to remember something and turned around. "Gravis, come with me," he commanded.

Gravis was confused but walked to Forneus, who continued walking down the hallways. Gravis didn't know what Forneus wanted but followed him anyway. They took a right and walked up several flights of stairs until they were at the building's highest floor. They continued walking until they arrived at the door at the end of the central hallway. A strikingly beautiful young woman was sitting at a desk beside the door.

"He's here. Can I go now?" Forneus asked with an annoyed tone.

The woman smiled. "Thank you. That's all," she said sweetly.

Forneus hmphed and left, leaving Gravis behind. The woman stood up and knocked at the door. "Sir, he's here."

"Send him in," an imposing voice came through the door. The woman opened one of the doors slightly and beckoned Gravis to enter. He hesitated but walked in. The person wanting to see him was probably someone important, judging by the position of his office. What would someone like that want from him?

He entered, and the door closed behind him. Gravis was inside a 10 meter long and wide office, filled with ornaments and art. In the middle of the office sat a muscular, tall man with black hair and black eyes. He wore a suit and appeared very clean. Though, one thing surprised Gravis. The man wore an identical ring to his own.

The man lifted his head from his desk and looked at Gravis with a smile.

"Hey, little brother!"

Chapter 12

"Little brother?" Gravis asked, quite confused. He never met his siblings. He wasn't even sure if he had siblings.

The man just grinned. "Yeah, you're my little brother, and I am one of your older brothers." He stood up, walked around the desk, and patted Gravis on the shoulder. "You can call me Brother Orpheus." Seeing that Gravis still looked unsure, Orpheus laughed. "Man, this brings me back. I had the same look you have when I met my first sibling."

Gravis looked dejectedly at the floor. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I had siblings. Father and mother never talked about their other children." Gravis realized what he said and quickly tried to correct himself. He didn't want to give his newly met brother the feeling that his parents didn't care about him. "No, no! They probably did, but I didn't notice." Gravis rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry."

Seeing this, Orpheus laughed loudly. "Haha, don't worry!" Orpheus patted Gravis' shoulder again, showing that he didn't mind. "Maybe you didn't notice, but our siblings are forbidden to talk to the center child until their way has been established."

Now, Gravis was confused again. "What do you mean with center child?"

"The center child is the newest born child from father and mother." Orpheus pointed at Gravis. "So, right now, that is you."

Gravis furrowed his brows. "Okay, but why? Also, what did you mean with 'established way'?"

Orpheus sat back down on his chair and beckoned Gravis to sit too. Gravis did just that. "This practice comes from father. He cares very much about us and wants us to find our own way in the world, without outside influence. Only a heart and will born out of itself is the strongest. If, for example, I persuaded you to start cultivating, you might not truly have the heart for it. This would be an obsession implanted by others and not born by yourself. There's a difference in that."

Orpheus continued. "And with 'finding their way' I mean, when someone internally decides which path to take in life. Some choose a quiet life. Some want to cultivate, and some want parts of both. When father sees what his child has decided to do with their life, he brings them on the right course." Orpheus took a sip from his coffee. "In your case, it's 'Becoming the strongest'."

Gravis now looked skeptical. "How are you so sure that is what I want?"

Orpheus smiled. "Because you're here." Orpheus noted that Gravis wasn't fine with that explanation, so he just laughed again and continued. "Father has chosen the hardest path for you. Even if it doesn't seem like it, he cares for all of us. If he weren't sure that you wholeheartedly wanted to become strong, he would have never allowed you to start cultivation from the bottom."

Gravis looked absentmindedly at the window. "I am also confused by that. Couldn't he just grant me strength, or give me techniques or resources? Why send me on this life and death path?"

Orpheus sighed. "Father can only give strength up to the Immortal Emperor realm. You don't need to think about how high that realm is. You only need to know that it is strong, but not very strong in this world. There are multiple major realms above that, and if you didn't forge your path with blood, calamity, and setbacks, you wouldn't have the experience or will to get much further in life. A stable palace must be built one brick at a time. If you complete it but want to expand it to multiple times its size, the foundation won't hold."

Gravis was very interested in what an immortal emperor was. An immortal emperor sounded very strong. Probably stronger than he could imagine. Yet, not even that was the end. He also remembered that his father shouted the word Star God before he fought Heaven. A God should be stronger than an immortal. There was a long way to go.

Orpheus smiled slyly and continued. "What do you think? How many siblings do we have? Give me a number."

Gravis wasn't sure, but he knew that his parents had been alive for a long time. "Don't know, maybe 50?"

"50?" Orpheus laughed loudly again. "There are thousands!"

Gravis' jaw hit the floor. "Thousands? I have thousands of brothers and sisters?"

Orpheus snickered. "Yeah, and imagine that. All those siblings have their own family."

Gravis couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he had thousands of brothers and sisters. "Where are they all?" he asked.

Orpheus took out a canteen and another cup. He filled it with coffee, and the cup moved to Gravis by itself. He beckoned Gravis to drink, and Gravis took a gulp. He had tasted coffee before, but this cup tasted like crap. He tried to hide his disgust, but Orpheus noticed and laughed again. "Do you know how many people would lick my boots just to get a sip of that? Yet, you look like you just faceplanted into a pile of shit."

Gravis went a bit red with shame. He didn't want to disrespect his brother. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Orpheus waved his hand. "Don't worry. As if my coffee can keep up with our father's. I just wanted to tease you."

Gravis sighed, but inside he felt warmth. This was family. He felt that his brother was honest with him and had only goodwill. Though, he was still unused to the fact that he had a brother... or thousands of them. He lifted his cup again and emptied it.

Orpheus slammed his desk. "Good! That's how a man should be! Even if you don't like it, do what you deem necessary without a complaint. You truly are my younger brother." He drank from his own cup and also emptied it. "Now, back to your question. You want to know where our other siblings are?"

Gravis nodded.

"Everywhere," Orpheus said. "You can find a lot of them in this city. You can find at least one sibling in every sect. You can find some of them roaming around. Many of them are in important positions around the world."

Instead of widening, Gravis' eyes narrowed. "Then why have I never met them? By your words, I established my way some months ago. That is plenty of time for them to visit or, at least, say hello."

Orpheus sighed. "Don't be angry at them. I can understand them. Look at where you are right now. You just went through two weeks of life and death battles, and in a couple of months, you will go to the lower worlds. You can only return when you ascend by yourself, and how many people actually manage to ascend from lower worlds? The answer is, pitifully few. The chance that you return alive is less than 1%."

Gravis felt a lump in his throat. He only thought about his preparation and his future journey. He didn't think about how hard it was going to be to ascend. Gravis sighed and kind of understood why his siblings didn't want to see him.

Orpheus continued and confirmed Gravis' thoughts. "Imagine meeting your new brother, only for him to vanish or die a couple of months later. If they meet you, they will get attached to you, and if you die, they will grieve. Even though we live far longer than mortals, the death of a close one never gets easier." Orpheus sighed again. "Please don't think bad of them."

Gravis could understand his siblings. Maybe he would do the same in their shoes, though it still felt wrong. It all boiled down to the fact that he was still too weak. So weak, that his siblings feared to form any attachments to him. Well, there was at least one. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you decide to meet me?"

Orpheus smiled. "Actually, because I chose the same path as you."

Chapter 13

"You took the same path as me?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus nodded. "Yes! Just like you, I decided to become free from constraints and decide my own destiny. I also joined as a research assistant. I went through the lower, middle, and high worlds and continued cultivating here." Orpheus sighed as he thought of his past. "But I found the love of my life in this world and finally created my own family. I went out less and less and just wanted to be with my family more. Over the years, my drive for strength weakened, and now, I am content with living happily with my family."

Gravis thought a lot about what he just heard. This could be him in the future. Maybe, he would also find a family and settle down at some point. Was it really necessary to struggle through so many dangers just to get stronger? Just enough strength that not everyone could kill you also seemed enough. But when Gravis thought about what Heaven did to him, his expression changed, and he gritted his teeth. While living under Heaven, he could never be completely safe. He also didn't want to depend on the security his father provided for the rest of his life.

Orpheus watched as Gravis' expression changed multiple times and waited. He wanted to know what Gravis' genuine desire was. After a while, Gravis looked up at Orpheus. "Why did you stop cultivating?" he asked.

"Because, in order to increase my strength further, I have to struggle for resources with my life on the line. Even if I manage to get all the resources I need and never get injured, I would never reach father's level. For me, it is absolutely impossible to reach his level. So, there is not much difference between my current realm and the highest realm, outside of father's. I also don't want to think about leaving my family behind, if I die," Orpheus narrated calmly. There was no flicker of emotion. His heart had settled and fully supported his decision.

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Why do you say that you can never reach father's level?"

Orpheus frowned for the first time since the conversation started. "Gravis, those are things I can't talk about." Orpheus looked at Gravis somberly. "If I told you, Heaven would not allow you to continue cultivating. You must know, Heaven is antagonistic to our family. Did you think that your run-in with the 'newbie crusher' was a coincidence?"

Gravis felt a little intimidated by the shift of tone. "What do you mean? Forneus said the enemies are random. It's basically just bad luck."

Orpheus nodded heavily. "Exactly! It's bad luck. Luck is in control of Heaven, and no one can influence their own luck. That is why it is called luck. Every living being has a certain amount of karmic luck that Heaven bestows upon them. Karmic luck can also change. Some people stumble upon extremely profound inheritances that suit them perfectly. That is a person favored by karmic luck."

Orpheus narrowed his eyes. "When someone has great karmic luck, they may get rescued when they fight an opponent they can't defeat. They may find an incredibly strong battle or cultivation technique in some run-down shop. They may also arrive in a clearing with an unimaginable treasure, while opponents fight each other to the death, and the person just has to take the reward. Opportunities bestowed by Heaven are called luck."

Orpheus sighed. "Yet, we are children of the Opposer. Do you think Heaven would bestow us with any luck? No, no one in our family has any karmic luck, and since we are the only living beings under Heaven with no karmic luck, we have the worst luck. The fact that the order of your challenges in the practical test was the worst is only natural."

Gravis shook his head. "But having no luck would only equate to having average luck. Having no luck does not mean that the worst case would always happen."

Orpheus laughed blandly. "That's wrong. The average is not having no luck, but having average luck. Even people with average luck still have some luck. That's why it's average. An average outcome

requires an average amount of luck. You might think that the best luck is a 10, average luck is a 0, and worst luck is a –10, but that's wrong. Bad luck does not exist. Bad luck is the absence of luck. So, in actuality, Best luck is a 10. Average luck is a 5, and worst luck is a 0."

Gravis blanched. "But what about the tortoise? I survived its first hit by luck."

Orpheus just shook his head. "It might have looked like luck, but your weak will saved you. Your weakness saved you, not your luck. You may call it luck, but it was bound to happen. There was no luck involved."

"On the other hand, you 'randomly' got to fight the newbie crusher first, and immediately got an environmental challenge after that. The first opponent is the hardest to defeat. After every opponent, there are about 10 Minutes of rest, yet that does not hold true for environmental challenges."

Orpheus held up a finger. "Imagine this. You fought the most dangerous opponent first and immediately got thrown into an environmental challenge, where you have no time to rest. After that, you fight a mountain lion: an enemy that is fast enough to match you and strong enough to actually kill you. If it weren't for our family's innately high synchronicity with the elements, you would've died."

Gravis' eyes widened. "You know what happened to me in the water and wind challenge?" he asked.

Orpheus nodded. "Yes! Everyone in our family has a very high talent regarding communication with the elements. Our father is, of course, no exception. High synchronicity with the elements will be extremely important later down in your cultivation journey, but that's still far off. Not even I have reached that realm. Let me explain it in a little more detail."

"Synchronicity with elements means absorbing the positive aspects while controlling the destructive aspects of an element. Water has oxygen, yet normal humans can't filter it. With us, the water filters

itself. We can control the flow of water and live in it as if it were air. In storms, we can communicate with the storm and use it to our advantage."

Gravis looked astonished. Didn't that mean that no one could hurt him while using elemental attacks?

Orpheus saw Gravis' expression and laughed blandly. "Don't get overexcited. This only counts when the element is not being controlled. Taking control of something that is not being controlled is different from trying to control something under someone else's control. If there is a free seat, you can just sit down, but if that seat is occupied, you first need to beat the occupant before you can sit down. You won't have any issue taking control of an enemy's elemental attack if they are weaker than you, but what's the point of that? If they are weaker, they are weaker. You don't need the elements to win in that case."

Gravis' mood deflated slightly. Of course, it wouldn't be so easy. 'But it should be useful in some situations,' Gravis thought.

Orpheus took another swig of his coffee. "So, to summarize, always expect to run into the worst-case scenario. Never depend on your luck, because that will immediately fail." Orpheus put his cup away and smiled again. "Anyway, what did you think about the beasts in the challenge?" Orpheus asked, back in his jovial mood.

Both brothers had an enjoyable conversation for a couple of hours until night came, and Gravis went home.

 

Chapter 14

In the next couple of months, Gravis learned a lot more about practical fighting techniques and group strategies. The ice between him and his classmates also melted, and he began to socialize more. This was important for his development because he really lacked in the social aspect. He never had anyone to talk with on the same level. Either people were way above him in strength, or his status intimidated them.

Gravis also found out why everyone in the city knew that he was the son of the Opposer. It couldn't be possible that everyone knew his face, could it? And he was right. The reason why everyone knew that he was the new child of the Opposer was actually his ring. The ring released a special aura that any people with sufficient strength could feel. He never noticed because... well, he didn't have sufficient strength.

The ring released different auras based on the status that the wearer had in regards to the Opposer. When he hadn't found his path yet, his ring said to everyone: "Don't touch him." That's also why absolutely everyone was so scared when they saw him, even though they treated his siblings normally. Gravis asked his brother Orpheus what his ring said now.

Gravis laughed bitterly when he remembered what Orpheus said.

"It says, no protection. But what it actually means was free food."

His father was no longer protecting him. If anyone killed him, they wouldn't need to be worried about any repercussions. He also asked his brother if the ring could do anything else.

"Nah," was the answer he received.

Another interesting fact that Gravis learned was that he was the only one fighting humans with tempered skin. The others fought mortal warriors. Orpheus said that Gravis had been in the tempered organ and blood stage for over 15 years. If the monsters or humans were the same as the others, he

wouldn't receive the intended tempering. Orpheus assured him that, aside from his bad luck, the test was for him just as hard as the other's tests.

After two months, the second practical test started. Gravis was immediately greeted by the perfect combination of another tortoise and the cunning shadow. The shadow always kept close to the tortoise and defended its weak points. The fight took an entire day. Gravis finally made progress when he traded an internal injury for the death of the shadow. With his added experience, the tortoise was no issue.

In the next round, Gravis understood that he had absolutely no luck. The storm environment challenge and the rapids environment challenge came at the same time, creating a massive whirlpool. Every other person would have died since it was impossible to survive this. Ironically, by creating the deadliest stage, he got to relax for some hours due to his elemental synchronicity. Maybe Heaven's absence of luck didn't consider his elemental synchronicity?

Though, if everything only appeared once, it could also mean that he wouldn't have the environment as help in future fights. If a massive storm would have raged while he fought Samuel, would that even be considered a battle? Gravis could simply control the wind and watch Samuel get smashed to a pulp. Even though he could not create his own storm, he could control natural storms to a certain degree.

The next couple of rounds were no big deal. Gravis cleared them quickly, and after a couple of days, he was at the final challenge again. This time, he fought two people with tempered skin. In contrast to expectation, the fight finished exceptionally quickly. Gravis learned from his battle with Samuel that he needed to exploit the surprise of the enemy. While they were talking, he immediately charged forward.

The first guy jumped back, and the second guy hacked at Gravis from behind. Gravis turned around and used a full-powered slash to cut halfway through the enemy's neck, while the enemies axe cut off Gravis' left arm. With a kick to the stuck blade, he finished the job. The other guy was stunned and intimidated. Gravis took up his saber and charged at him with bloodshot eyes. The enemy was so

afraid that he couldn't bring out all of his power. Like Samuel's ending, this guy was also hacked to death after a miserable while of barely dodging and blocking.

Another three people didn't return this time. Gravis sighed as he realized that another three friends died. He was pretty close to those three. Did his 'heavenly luck' include his close ones, as well? Would Heaven not allow anyone to be close to him or help him? Orpheus said that something similar happened to him. Only people that didn't cultivate seemed to be spared from this luck. Orpheus assumed that Heaven would rescind the karmic luck of anyone that got close to him.

Gravis felt frustrated beyond belief. Heaven created Stella in order to hurt him to get back at his father. Then, it stole all his karmic luck. On top of that, it also rescinded all karmic luck of people close to him. Gravis felt a mix of guilt, frustration, and anger. Five people died because they were too close to him. Maybe that was also a reason why no one wanted to get close to him. Gravis decided that he would only get close to people who were mortal, or stopped their cultivation journey. If they didn't involve themselves in life and death struggles, their bad luck wouldn't kill them.

Gravis was depressed for a couple of days after that. The realization that he had to walk his whole path alone without anyone by his side, but his family, gnawed at him. From his family, he only had his father, mother, and one brother by his side. The others didn't seem to care about him.

Gravis couldn't wait to go to the lower realm. The more he remained in his current realm, the more he realized how weak and oppressed he was under Heaven. Heaven's oppression only fueled his ambition to get stronger.

So, Gravis went on a mad quest for power.

Chapter 15

In his quest for strength, he even asked his father if he could train anywhere near the city. Gravis had realized by now, that pressure and life and death fights made him grow more powerful, even if his cultivation realm didn't increase. Also, he wanted to release some rage and frustration. His father shot the idea down immediately. Apparently, even the weakest beast in the city's vicinity was more powerful than the strongest person in a lower world.

"You can go ask your brother Orpheus. He should be able to help you with that," his father commented. "I am actually very happy that you seek strength this much. The more your desire for power rises, the firmer your will gets. You may not realize this, but only a small minority of people look for Life and death tempering, willingly. Others may look at you like you're insane, but if you survive and continue down this path, you will always be the strongest in your cultivation realm."

The Opposer ruffled his son's hair for the first time in his son's life. Gravis was shocked since his father never showed physical affection before. He also saw his father smile genuinely for the first time. His father said encouragingly, "I am looking forward to your return from the lower world. You have the will and talent to succeed. So what if you don't have any luck?" The Opposer harumphed. "If someone stumbles upon some big inheritance, you just need to kill them and steal it. You may not be able to gather your own luck, but you can obtain luck from others. Look at it like rearing pigs." The Opposer grinned slyly.

Gravis smiled happily. He may not agree with his father's cold attitude towards life, but he was happy that his father was proud of him. They talked some more, and Gravis returned to his brother Orpheus. Orpheus told him that he could theoretically let him fight in the practical test as much as he wanted, but he shouldn't forget about his age. The perfect time to start one's cultivation journey was the age of 16. Gravis was about 15 ½ now, and he still had two months of theory ahead of him.

Orpheus told him that the third practical test would be different than the other ones and that it wouldn't take up much time. The third test was different in a sense, that there were no cycles. All the enemies

would appear after a set time, no matter if the previous enemy died or not. If one weren't fast enough in ending the fights and keeping their stamina, they would get overwhelmed. On the same day, Gravis did his third practical test. The time for new enemies to arrive was one minute. Gravis had no issue in clearing that since everything died before the minute was up.

He only spent a couple of hours fighting, but was incomparably exhausted. In the next two months, he repeated the practical test a couple more times, raising the difficulty every time. After a couple of times, his brother informed him that their standard beasts were running low, and they had to save some for the actual third practical test. Gravis frowned, but Orpheus smiled instead. Orpheus went out and captured a lot more beasts, and nearly all of them were new.

Though, the difference between the standard beasts and those new ones was that the standard beasts were tailored to have some strong points and some weak points. Those newer beasts were just any random wild beasts. They could be fragile beasts with no strength or strong beasts with nearly no weaknesses. Gravis accepted this condition and fought again.

Most of the beasts were average. They didn't have any major weaknesses or major strengths. Everything was about the same level as Gravis. The fights were harder this time, since exploiting a weakness was harder. Gravis took longer to complete this challenge but also received valuable new experience. He was getting better at spotting the slight imperfections in his enemies, which couldn't even be called weaknesses.

On top of that, when he noticed that multiple enemies used the same tactic against him, he realized that he, himself, also had weaknesses. He used his enemies as a mirror and tried to reduce his imperfections. He had some success in that, but one was never perfect.

In the last two months of his theory classes, he spent a total of an additional four months in the practical tests fighting. The time dilation was 1 to 1000, so it always only took him some minutes to complete the battle. His classmates slowly noticed that Gravis' aura changed. He seemed colder...

somehow. They were not sure why he felt colder, but he just did. When he looked at them, they also felt slight nervousness.

The reason for all that was, that Gravis was always in battle mode, even when he didn't battle. He was unconsciously releasing his will, which subconsciously influenced others. Of course, people in a higher realm wouldn't care, but his classmates were in the same realm as him. Through Gravis' crazy slaughter-fest, he slowly built a will-aura, which generally only appeared later in the cultivation journey.

Just like Gravis, Orpheus also had a crazy light in his eyes. He wanted to throw more enemies at his younger brother and see how quickly his battle intent would grow. Sadly, they had no more time. If they continued going like this, Gravis would miss his golden opportunity to start his cultivation journey.

In the last couple of days, Gravis just waited by himself. He had accepted that no one could come close to him. He always looked at others coldly, so they wouldn't want to get to know him. He didn't want to kill more friends just by being friends. He felt lonely inside, but he suppressed this feeling with rage and cold ambition. The only two options were death or reaching the peak of power. There was no in- between.

Finally, the day came when the last practical test was held. The youngsters waited in the hall for the portals, with Gravis at the head. The others didn't want to come close to that cold psycho. He seemed warm, awkward, and innocent when they first met, but now he only acted like a madman. They kept each contact with him to a minimum, lest they said anything wrong.

If one looked closer, one would notice something peculiar. The youngsters didn't want to talk with him due to fear of him. Also, when Gravis did anything they didn't like, they wouldn't voice their opinion.

If one looked closely, they would notice...

That the youngsters looked at Gravis...

The same way as the world looked at the Opposer.

 

Chapter 16

Forneus didn't arrive too early or too late. He looked at the youngsters and announced loudly, "It's time for the last test. The enemies will appear after a fixed interval of 45 seconds. It doesn't matter if the previous enemy died or not. After 45 seconds, you have to fight the next one. If you haven't defeated your opponent by then, you will have to fight two enemies simultaneously. Environmental changes will be kept up for three minutes and do not count as enemies. Be prepared to fight your enemies in unfavorable environments." Forneus narrowed his eyes. "Also, there will be no breaks until the test is over."

The youngsters narrowed their eyes. This would be hard. In comparison to the others, Gravis didn't react. He went through harder tests by now. He didn't even know why he was required to attend. This test held no meaning for him.

As the portals appeared, the youngster's eyes narrowed, and they walked forward. "Gravis, stay here," Forneus suddenly said. The others were too preoccupied with the preparation for their test, to care about Gravis right now. When all youngsters vanished, Gravis looked at Forneus and waited. He kept looking in Forneus' eyes, with his, by now, usual cold look.

Forneus grinned slightly. "That's a good look you have there." Forneus' eyes also narrowed, and suddenly, Gravis felt cold. Gravis felt like a blade rested on his throat. "But don't get cocky," Forneus coldly remarked and went back to his usual bored self.

Gravis released a sigh. This woke him up. For the first time, he felt utterly outclassed. Just Forneus' aura alone reminded him that, while he was the strongest in his class, he was still weak in the world. For the first time in a long while, Gravis restrained his aura. With a deep breath, he calmed himself down.

"Do you think it's a good idea to curb someone's Will-Aura right before a battle, Forneus?" An imposing voice appeared from the entrance of the hall, and Orpheus entered. He looked at Forneus with a sharp

look. Just like Forneus curbed Gravis' Will-Aura, Orpheus destroyed Forneus' Will-Aura.

Forneus gulped deeply, but he didn't falter. "So what? He provoked me by releasing his killing intent while looking at me." Forneus got some courage back and spoke louder. "You would do the same in my case."

Orpheus narrowed his eyes even further. By now, cold sweat was flowing down Forneus' back, and his breathing became heavier. But surprisingly, Orpheus did nothing further. This was an excellent opportunity to teach Gravis.

Orpheus turned to Gravis. "He is right, you know. You were constantly unleashing your battle-intent. That's what we call a Will-Aura, or killing-intent. Normally, the Will-Aura is only released when someone wants to fight someone else. By openly showing your battle-intent, you basically shouted at him to fight with you."

Gravis closed his eyes and sighed. Orpheus was right. By always killing weaker opponents, he forgot that he was still at the bottom. Gravis turned to Forneus and slightly bowed. "Thank you for the reminder, Forneus. And I apologize for my disrespect," Gravis said politely.

Forneus harumphed, looked at Orpheus, and left grumbling. Orpheus watched Forneus leave and turned back to Gravis. "Your test will be different than the other's."

Gravis narrowed his eyes, and his battle-intent was building again.

"Your test will be difficult."

Gravis' Will-Aura rose further.

"We've never done this before, but I believe that you can manage." Orpheus smiled.

Gravis looked into Orpheus' eyes, and his aura reached his peak. "What will I fight?"

Orpheus' smile changed to a smirk. "You'll fight a low-grade demonic beast."

Gravis' will slightly shook, but returned even stronger. He had learned a lot in the last months, and wild beasts were among those things. He had only fought against ferocious beasts until now. The strongest among them could theoretically, still be killed by people in the mortal realm, or with tempered organs and blood.

Yet, low-grade demonic beasts were not ferocious beasts anymore. They were a grade higher, and people of the earlier mentioned stages were just food for them. With luck, someone with tempered skin could kill a low-grade demonic beast. Only if someone additionally tempered their muscles or bones, could they securely win against such an opponent. Gravis knew this would be difficult.

Orpheus nodded. "Good! Your will didn't falter and became stronger instead. Only like this can you hope to defeat your opponent." Orpheus took out a saber made of void-stone and threw it to Gravis. "You won't have time to pick up your weapon."

By now, several youngsters already returned, exhausted beyond belief. They didn't even notice that Forneus wasn't here and just collapsed onto a wall to catch their breath. Orpheus and Gravis ignored them. "Go!" shouted Orpheus, and a portal opened.

Gravis tightened his grip on his saber and walked silently through the portal. The scenery changed, and Gravis was back in the red cave. In front of him stood a two-meter high, golden lion. Its head looked down at Gravis, sizing him up. Gravis felt its pressure. None of his earlier opponents felt this powerful, yet his gaze did not falter and looked back into the lion's eyes. His will-aura erupted and slammed into the lion.

The lion felt threatened and roared. While Gravis was physically weaker than his opponent, his will- aura was superior. The opponent didn't even have one. The lion had fought for its meal, but never

fought an opponent that could threaten its life. Inside its forest in the lower world, it was king. None dared challenge it! Its mane stood up to intimidate its opponent, but it didn't work.

Gravis knew that the initiative was important, so he immediately shot forward. The lion roared again and swiped with a claw.

'Fast!' Gravis thought and raised his saber to block. The paw smashed into the saber, and Gravis flew back for about five meters. When he hit the floor, he rolled off with his back and managed to stand up again, before he even finished sliding. Gravis' arms shook. There was immense power behind that swipe, and the lion didn't even use its full body weight for that attack. He could not contend with its strength.

The lion, encouraged by its own attack, ran to Gravis and swiped again. Gravis wouldn't fall for its speed another time and ducked under the attack while moving forward. He quickly raised his saber and slashed the lion's neck.

CLANK!

His saber bounced back, and his hands shook from the impact. Its mane felt similar to a steel wall. Gravis quickly rolled forward to dodge a paw that smashed down. Then, the lion tried to hit him with its back leg, but Gravis sidestepped easily while half-crouching. He gripped his saber with both of his hands and stabbed upward, towards its torso.

His saber only left a shallow cut. There was just some blood flowing out, but not much. Yet, the lion screamed in pain and jumped away, trying to hit Gravis in panic. Gravis had no issue evading such uncoordinated attacks and kept close to the lion, like a leech. The lion swiped again, but Gravis kept low to the ground and went under its elbow. With a sharp blow, he hit the inside of the lion's elbow, while it was still swiping. The lion's attack's added power made the saber go in deep and even cut its tendon.

The lion roared again and tried to jump back, but the cut tendon in its elbow only made the lion stumble back. Gravis didn't let up. He learned in his many previous fights that having the initiative was important. While the lion was recovering, Gravis stabbed his saber in its left eye. The lion seized and only managed to close its eyes before the saber penetrated it. The saber had destroyed the eye, but a saber was not made for stabbing, so it didn't majorly injure the brain behind the eye.

The lion completely panicked and swiped its claws everywhere. Gravis kept his cool and kept himself to the blind side of the lion. He chopped into its side a couple of times and left some additional cuts. The lion realized in its panicked mind, that no matter how fast it turned, it wouldn't be able to get Gravis in its sight like this. So it turned the other way. Gravis was just waiting for that and looked at the tail coming towards him, stretched by centripetal force.

Gravis did a simple chop and severed the tail. Blood spilled, and the lion jumped away from Gravis, but in its panic, it forgot that its front paw was injured. It crashed to the floor and rolled onto its side. Gravis didn't pause and slashed the spot where front-leg met torso. For humans, that would be the armpit. The fur was soft on that spot, and a lot of important blood vessels gathered there. More blood gushed, and after he did that, he jumped over the lion. Just when it stood up again, he stabbed its other eye from the side.

The lion screamed and just fled into any random direction in panic.

BOOM!

It blindly ran into the cave wall and bounced back, its mouth now broken. While lying on its side, it tried to roar but only managed a whimper. Gravis quickly jumped to its front and stabbed his saber through a mutilated eye-socket, right into its brain. The lion seized up, and Gravis finished the fight with a kick into the handle of the stuck saber. The saber cut deep into the lion's head, and the lion lost all its strength.

Gravis watched the corpse, while his breathing was only slightly quicker than usual. 'This was too easy,' he thought. The lion outclassed him completely in speed, defense, power, and probably also stamina, yet it died so quickly. After thinking for a while, Gravis finally realized the reason.

"The lion was inexperienced," he concluded. It had not bitten him a single time. It didn't even try to bite him. If it tried to bite him at the beginning, Gravis wouldn't have been able to get beneath it that easily. If he were to slide beneath its head, the lion could just swipe him with one of its paws. He wouldn't be able to evade that attack and would probably crash into the side of the cave. Some of his bones would break, and deep cuts made by its claws would appear.

The fear the lion had, stopped it from bringing its head anywhere close to its enemy. The head was the most important part of its body and needed to be protected. What if the enemy stabbed its eyes? Yet, those seemingly logical thoughts were the lion's downfall. It should've realized that its enemy would forfeit their life if they were to stab its eyes in that situation. A more experienced lion could have wiped the floor with Gravis.

Gravis looked up to the ceiling. "Was this what brother Orpheus wanted to show me? That will and fighting experience could close the gap of realms?" Gravis muttered to himself. Gravis was right, but will and fighting experience could only close the gap to a certain extent. If an opponent's body were so hard that he couldn't even break its skin, all the fighting experience in the world wouldn't help him. Yet, it dramatically increased his power in a fight.

His will-aura had suppressed the lion and made it act more cowardly. Without his battle-intent's intimidation, the lion might've decided to bite him. Then, only death would've awaited Gravis.

Gravis sighed again, and in a purple flash, he vanished.

 

Chapter 17

Only a couple of seconds passed between Gravis left and returned. If one didn't pay attention, they wouldn't even have noticed him leaving and returning. The youngsters still sat at the walls, exhausted. Some had noticed that Gravis had left and returned, but they couldn't care about that right now. Orpheus just looked at Gravis with a grin. Gravis didn't look exhausted or injured and walked back to Orpheus.

"Admit it, the fight was different than you thought," he commented with a smirk.

Gravis only nodded.

"A strong will can suppress people and beasts with weaker wills. They will feel more afraid and will fight more defensively. Without an indomitable will to kill, you will be suppressed and can't show your full fighting strength. Some might not even be able to fight at all." Orpheus was speaking with a severe tone. This was important knowledge that Gravis had to learn. "At some point in a cultivator's life, nearly everyone will have a will-aura. Of course, that only counts for cultivators that fight for their own resources."

Orpheus lifted a finger and pointed to the sky. "For example, about 98% of our living siblings don't have a will-aura, even though their strength is completely incomparable to yours. If any of our siblings without a will-aura, fought someone a major realm lower than them, who had one, chances are that they would get mercilessly massacred."

"You can only increase your will-aura by battling others with similar strength to yours. So, someone with a strong will-aura has also fought lots of people with similar strengths. This means that a will-aura also shows their battle experience." Orpheus pointed at Gravis. "In your cultivation realm, will-auras are extremely rare. Very few can find so many similarly strong enemies in such a short time."

Orpheus' eyes narrowed. "But you need to be careful! You might have gotten a start bonus with your fights, but if you don't keep honing your will-aura, you will lose that advantage. Let me give you a piece

of honest advice. Your goal is not to become strong, but to become the strongest. If you want to reach your goal, you need pressure, real pressure. If you just raise your cultivation realm, you will start losing battles with enemies in your realm. And if you start losing battles, you will lose fights over resources, you desperately need."

"This is exactly why the cultivation journey is so dangerous. You need battle-strength to get resources that increase your battle-strength. It's a cycle. As soon as your battle-strength or resources diminish, your journey is likely to end. Either by not getting resources to rise in your realm or by dying. If you ever change your goal in life, you only need to stop looking for strength. Stagnant cultivators are no danger to other cultivators and are not enclosing on their resources, so they don't care."

Gravis listened carefully. He had already known most of the things he heard, but the explanation helped him combine his scattered knowledge into a whole concept of strength. As strange as it sounded, he realized that enemies and cultivation resources were, kind of, the same thing. If you fight your enemies, your battle strength increases, and if you get resources, your cultivation realm increases. Both things would increase his strength, but one was obviously more dangerous than the other.

Gravis bowed lightly to Orpheus to express his sincere gratitude. "Thank you, brother Orpheus. I had already noticed that you had given me lots of resources in the form of enemies." Gravis looked deeply into Orpheus' smiling eyes to show his sincerity. "You have given me the best possible starting point. So, when I am strong enough, I will repay everything ten-fold."

Orpheus laughed and patted Gravis' shoulders heartily. "Don't mention it! We are family, and family needs to stick together. I didn't do this to expect some return from you. I only wanted to help my little brother." Orpheus patted the side of Gravis' shoulder. "Come on! Let's go drinking today. In one week, you will leave for a low-rank world. So, let's relax for a while." He pushed Gravis out the hall and followed him.

The other youngsters didn't know what to do. Forneus wasn't here, and Orpheus hadn't even looked at them.

A week passed, and Gravis didn't train during that time. There was a high chance that this would be the last time he could see his family. He spent his days with his brother, father, and mother. They were all happy for him, even though his mother also showed worry. After all, Gravis was her child, and she wanted nothing more than for him to be happy. Yet, she had also shown him her full support in his journey.

This week did wonders for Gravis' heart. In the last couple of months, he had sunk into a sea of bitterness and isolation. The realization that he would need to journey alone in the future had gnawed at him more than he thought. He had suppressed those feelings with ambition and rage, but that only held for so long. Eventually, the constant suppression would've killed his drive, and only emptiness would've remained. He finally realized that he wasn't alone. His whole family was absent of karmic luck, and they were all the same. His feeling of belonging increased.

Gravis stood lonely in an office, looking at the middle-aged office clerk. It was a small office made out of stone, and nothing else could be said about it. The clerk noticed that someone had arrived, but didn't look up.

"Name?" he asked, obviously bored.

"Gravis."

"Your full name," the clerk commented rudely.

"Uhm..." Gravis didn't know how to answer that. He didn't know his last name. He wasn't sure if he even had a last name. How was he supposed to answer that? "I, kind of... don't know?" He said unsurely.

The clerk furrowed his brows. "What do you mean you don't..." The clerk looked up at Gravis with annoyed eyes. Then, something caught his attention, and he looked at Gravis' ring. Now, he understood. "Oh... Oh! Yeah, that makes sense." The clerk looked back down at his papers and began to write down multiple things.

After a while, he looked back up. "Alright, all done, only one thing left. Which world?" he asked. Then he grinned. "Let me guess. You're going to an elemental world." Gravis only nodded. "Of course, you do. I would do the same thing with all that compatibility with the elements and stuff." He activated a small array formation on his desk, and a transparent screen appeared in the air. He clicked through some things. "Any specific preferences?"

Gravis shook his head. The clerk shrugged. "Alright, then I'll just choose one at random."

When Gravis heard that, a cold shiver ran down his back. "No, wait!" The clerk stopped and looked at him with confusion. "Please, let me see the list."

The clerk shrugged and turned the screen around. Gravis sighed in relief. 'That was close. If I let luck decide, I wouldn't even know how I died.'

Gravis went through the screen. It was already filtered so that it only showed unresearched elemental worlds. The leading theme of cultivation methods classified worlds. Worlds, where beasts reigned supreme, were called naturals worlds. Worlds, where people mainly cultivated with their weapons, were called battle worlds. Of course, there were more categories.

Elemental worlds, as the name implied, were worlds where cultivators mainly relied on cultivating a specific element to increase their strength. Gravis quickly chose one, received a card, and walked to the portal hall.

The hall was massive and grand with a one-hundred-meter-long formation in the middle. A similar clerk was operating the central formation. Gravis handed his card over, and the clerk opened a portal.

Gravis drew his saber, which he had received from Orpheus. It was one of the standard void-stone sabers. It would be useful in the body tempering realm, but it would absorb all of his energy when he reached the energy gathering realm. So, it was only useful until that point. He had to get a new one, later down the line.

With one last deep breath, Gravis stepped through the portal.

Gravis chose an elemental world for two reasons: First, he had high elemental synchronicity. Second, his goal was the most ambitious goal in existence. He wanted to trample upon Heaven!

And the best way was to steal Heaven's strongest weapon and use it for himself: The lightning element!

He had seen how Heaven only used the other elements to obstruct his father, while lightning was its actual weapon. If he could absorb or resist the lightning, Heaven would lose its strongest weapon. If he wanted to trample upon Heaven, then...

Gravis spoke with ambition.

"Lightning is the only way!"

 

Chapter 18

Gravis materialized some meters above the 'ground'. He immediately felt the absolutely smoldering air. Before he could even look at where he was, he started to fall. He quickly looked down into the brightly glowing lava below his feet. The very first thing he did when he realized in what situation he was currently in was panic. Then he realized that he should, theoretically, be able to survive this fall without any issue due to his elemental synchronicity.

Though, he didn't want to try his elemental synchronicity in such a dangerous scenario. 'Well, I don't have any choice right now,' he thought as he plummeted into the lava. It was hot, but not that hot. It felt more like a bath that was a little too hot for his liking. Yet, it was still manageable. He floated on the top for a while and looked around. He was in a humongous pool of lava. On the edge of said pool were towering walls of stone. Obviously, he was in a volcano.

It surely was 'great luck' that the portal dumped him on top of an active volcano. His exit point was chosen 'at random' after all. Gravis sneered. "At least I now know that Heaven's 'luck' doesn't take my elemental synchronicity into account," he said to himself.

Of course, he would materialize over an active volcano.

"Wait, is it getting warmer?" Gravis looked at the blinding lava and felt the heat rise. On top of that, the lava started bubbling at multiple places. Gravis' face whitened when he realized what was about to happen. "Really? A volcano that is about to erupt?" He immediately concentrated, and his body rose above the lava until he stood on top of it.

Even though he had his elemental synchronicity, a blast this strong would distribute his corpse upon the surrounding couple of kilometers, to multiple places. He had to flee, fast!

"No time to waste!" And with that, Gravis was off. He ran as quickly as possible to the closest wall of stone. "Earth element is also an element. So, theoretically..." Gravis put his hand on the wall and tried

to move upward. "Yes, it works!" he shouted as his hand stuck to the wall. He quickly climbed up the wall like an insect, the lava below him getting more turbulent.

Just when he jumped over the edge, the volcano exploded. The lava shot into the sky, and the top of the volcano exploded outward. Huge rocks flew through the air, and one of them carried Gravis. Multiple bones in his body broke in the explosion, and if he hadn't had tempered organs and blood, he wouldn't be alive right now.

He soared through the air on the rock and didn't look forward to the landing. The rock spun in the air with Gravis holding on for dear life. He tried to judge if the rock's side with him on it would land first, but the rock was spinning too quickly. It would depend on his luck.

When Gravis had that thought, his eyes widened, and he immediately gripped the rock and moved along its surface. It was challenging, and his arms hurt. His broken bones didn't help. Just when he managed to reach the other side, his previous position struck the ground, and the rock bounced. Gravis pushed himself off and left the rock when it bounced. Chances were, his new position would 'accidentally' hit the ground next.

Gravis touched the ground after falling for a couple of meters, but a fall from this height was not dangerous to him. Yet, it was not pleasant with all his broken bones. Gravis didn't relax and looked towards the sky. Then, he immediately jumped to the side. Shortly after that, another sizable rock struck his previous spot.

Gravis caught his breath, looked at his previous spot, and sneered. "Of course," he said in disgust. He quickly looked to the sky again, but no more rocks seemed to come toward his direction. He finally had a moment of calm. He took a deep breath.

KREEE!

He heard a loud screech and looked to its source. A two-meter tall, blue falcon was flying in front of the, now still, second rock. Under the rock was a broken tree, and if one looked closely, one could notice a slight amount of blood at the edges. The bird circled the rock and looked around in fury. It quickly spotted Gravis, a fire of rage in its eyes.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Gravis shouted as he gripped his saber. At least, he would have, but his saber had vanished. During all the commotion, the saber had left Gravis. It could be anywhere. The bird charged at Gravis, and he did another jump to the side.

Lava was raining from the sky by now, but Gravis didn't need to care about that. When lava touched his body, it would just slide off like viscous water. The bird was too angry at the presumed killer of its kids and didn't realize the danger it was in right now. Lava could hit it at any moment and burn through its body. Yet, like a miracle, not a single drop of lava touched it.

BANG!

A huge chunk of lava, several meters wide, struck the earth beside them. The bird flew around it and chased Gravis, who was full-on running by now. In no time at all, it reached him again and tried to strike him with its talons. Gravis quickly blocked with his left arm, redirecting its force to one direction, and ran into the other. His arm received some deep cuts, but that was better than losing his life.

He quickly realized that he couldn't flee from the bird, and without a weapon, he couldn't fight it, at least not in his current condition. It was a ferocious beast, so in normal circumstances, Gravis would slaughter it like a chicken. Sadly, without a weapon, that would be impossible. He had to survive somehow. If his body was in top condition, he might be able to take down the bird even without his weapon, but healing his bones would take days.

Suddenly, Gravis got an idea. He changed direction and ran for the massive chunk of lava that fell down earlier. The bird followed him, but before it could reach him, he had already jumped into the lava.

Lava wouldn't cool off that quickly, and it was slowly melting a hole in the ground.

The bird angrily circled the lava, but couldn't get close. Just the surrounding heat could set its feathers ablaze.

After a couple of seconds, Gravis poked out his head and looked at the bird. The bird flew at him and tried to claw him with its talons, but Gravis' head pulled back into the lava. In its rage, the bird had flown too close to the lava, and a couple of feathers already started burning. It quickly flew away and picked those feathers off.

Gravis poked his head out again and sneered at the bird.

This time, he would be the tortoise.

 

Chapter 19

Gravis and the bird looked at each other, one in smugness, the other in fury. Gravis had no intention of leaving any time soon. He would stay in here until he had completely healed.

"Just you wait, shitty bird!" Gravis shouted at the bird, who just squawked back in rage. The bird kept squawking incessantly, trying to taunt Gravis out of the lava. But the more it showed its anger, the better Gravis felt. "Yeah, go die of frustration, shitty bird! Just wait until I'm healed, then I'll whoop your ass!"

The bird didn't understand human language, but it understood that Gravis was provoking it, so it only got angrier. It tried several times to reach him but had to stop each time. A couple of times, some feathers even caught on fire, and the bird had to put them out. With time it was slowly losing feathers, but it also managed to come closer.

"Yeah, go pluck your feathers, shitty bird. Then I don't have to do it myself when I cook you!" Gravis continued his provocation. Even though it didn't understand what he said, the bird got angrier. Its fury could blow up the sky. By now, the lava chunk had cooled slightly and had melted a several meters deep hole. The lava looked like a small glowing pond now.

Gravis' head poked out of the top of the lava pond, like a growing watermelon.

After a while, the bird couldn't take it anymore and made a major decision. It landed and started plucking out all its feathers. Every plucked feather hurt, but its anger suppressed the pain. "Yeah, go on, you idiot chicken! While you're at it, come over and cook yourself!" The provocations never ended.

This only fueled its rage, and it increased its speed. After a couple of minutes, the bird was clear of feathers. It plucked the feathers on its head with its talons, leaving some gashes along the way. Its determination was astounding.

The naked bird now walked over to Gravis, getting closer and closer. The air was still scorching, but at least the bird didn't catch on fire. The bird stopped in front of the lava pond and glared into Gravis' eyes. Gravis still had a smug look on his face. They continued looking at each other for some seconds.

PECK!

The bird pecked, and Gravis head immediately sunk. The beak of the bird didn't touch the lava. Being close, and actually touching it, was a huge difference. The bird had missed, and Gravis' head poked out again, still looking at the bird with a grin. The bird pecked again, but Gravis' head dodged.

This continued for a while, like a variation of whack-a-mole. The bird started pecking faster, giving its best to catch Gravis, but he always dodged easily.

Suddenly, when the bird pecked again, Gravis caught its beak. "Got you!" and he pulled down. He could control parts of the lava, and when he started pulling, it wasn't just his strength, but the whole lava pond that pulled it down. The bird immediately splashed into the lava and screamed. The lava ran down its throat and burned its insides and outsides. It died very quickly.

Some turtles hunted birds similarly. When a bird got too close, they would snap and grip a part of its body. Then, they would pull the bird underwater and drown it. Gravis said he would be the turtle this time, and he stuck to his word!

When Gravis noticed that the bird had died, he immediately threw it out. He didn't want to burn his meal. He couldn't eat the center due to the swallowed lava, but the outside was still ok. Gravis sighed. Finally, for the first time in this world, he had time to relax. He looked around and noticed that he was in a forest... which was on fire. Many trees had ignited due to the lava rain. In the distance, he could see the smoking remains of the volcano. It seemed like he had flown for multiple kilometers.

He couldn't see or hear any more animals or beasts. They probably fled from the natural catastrophe. The sky had darkened from the smoke, and ash was starting to rain down.

The dark sky, the ash rain, the burning forest, the lava pool, and the, otherwise, quiet forest reminded Gravis of the environmental challenges in the practical test. This would probably be how a fire challenge looked. His nerves relaxed more and started cooking the bird above the lava. Its feathers were already plucked, so that saved him a hassle.

After a sumptuous meal, he went back into the lava pond and slept. He preferred the lava's safety instead of the open forest, even though the forest was burning all around him. Nothing else of note happened when he slept.

Gravis opened his eyes after a good sleep and noticed that it was very tough moving in the lava. It had started to harden into obsidian. He poked his head out and saw that only ash remained around him for several hundred meters. The floor and the sky were black. It looked like a world of fire and brimstone.

"Man, Heaven really doesn't care about collateral damage when dealing with me," Gravis noted as he looked around. His body had healed to around half of its peak condition. He decided to stay here for another day. It was safer in this hellscape since no beast would want to come here. When Gravis looked back at the hardening lava pond, he got an idea and jumped back in.

He tried to control the lava as well as possible and saw some success in his plan. Since he had to wait for his body to heal anyway, he might as well waste some time on his idea. Only his head remained above the surface, and he stayed in that position for the whole day.

Night had arrived, and a team of four people was walking through the remains of the forest. They wore green clothes and carried bows. Obviously, this was a party of hunters, looking for resources. The party consisted of three men and one woman. The men were probably in their 30's, but the woman looked young. She only hit her 20's recently.

"Are you sure we'll find something here, Sarah? There's only ash as far as the eye can see," one of the men commented. "Maybe it'll be better if we hunt in an actual forest and not this ash-land." The man

didn't sound rude but concerned. He wanted to find some beasts to hunt.

The woman, Sarah, smiled slightly. "After a natural calamity, the elements will be in disorder. If we're lucky, we can find an opportunity in this wasteland, and this opportunity might finally turn our luck around. Even if we find nothing, we can at least say that we've tried."

The other men sighed and continued looking. After walking for some time, they arrived at a clearing with fewer remains of half-burned trees. The clearing was exceptionally flat.

One of the men raised his eyebrows. "What is that?" He pointed at the center of the clearing. The others looked over, and their eyes widened. A solitary head was sitting in the middle of a flat black platform. Its eyes were narrowed, and it felt like it was looking at them. When they looked into its eyes, they felt a cold shiver.

"Why is there a head in the middle of a black platform in the middle of a forest?" One of the men commented while looking at Sarah. "Is this the opportunity you spoke of?" He asked unsurely.

Sarah narrowed her eyes. This was too strange! This couldn't be natural! She hesitated, but finally gritted her teeth and started walking towards the head. The other men nervously looked at Sarah but followed with courage.

The closer Sarah got to the head, the more she felt as if its eyes followed her. She arrived at the black platform and-

"Stop!" the head shouted before they could step on the platform.

The party jumped back and felt like their spirits left their body. The head had spoken! What was going on? Sarah's heart raced, and her fight and flight instincts were screaming at her. Yet, she didn't retreat. It took all her courage not to flee.

"What are you?" She asked.

The head spoke in an imposing voice. "I'm an earth spirit!"

 

Chapter 20

Gravis saw an opportunity in those hunters. Strength-wise, they were obviously not his match. He could judge that just by how they felt to him and their cheap bows. Also, they were walking around in a team of four, which means that one of them can't take down a ferocious beast solo. Those hunters could solve a problem he currently had.

The hunters looked at him with shocked expressions. They looked at each other and then back to Gravis. They waited for him to continue talking, but he remained silent. After a while, Sarah stepped forward.

"Earth Spirit, we request your assistance." Sarah bowed slightly. "If you can help us, we will repay you with everything we have," she pleaded.

Gravis still looked at them with imposing eyes. Though, it felt weird to him, since he had to look up. "If you complete one request of mine, I shall grant you one wish," he declared.

Sarah looked worriedly at the others. "Earth Spirit, what request should we complete for you?" She asked worriedly.

"Somewhere in this land of ash, there lies a black saber. It is my spirit weapon, and someone stole it!" Gravis narrowed his eyes in fury. "They dared to steal my weapon, so I awakened the mountain of fire and buried them in flames! Find my saber and return it to me, and I shall grant your wish."

The jaws of the hunters dropped to the floor. This Earth Spirit was the reason for the sudden eruption of the volcano! If they said something wrong, they wouldn't know how they died! Sarah looked at the others, and they nodded grimly. This was dangerous, but also an opportunity.

"We can return you your weapon, but we can't guarantee it. People who dare to steal your spirit weapon must surely be strong!" She said in helplessness.

Gravis' expression turned to smugness. "You don't need to worry about the thieves. They have attracted the curse of my weapon and must surely have already been turned to ash!" His eyes narrowed again. "Be careful when you find my spirit weapon! It is cursed and will slowly sap all energy in the surroundings. If you return it quickly, there shouldn't be an issue, but you must make haste."

The hunters narrowed their eyes and nodded. "Alright, we will return your weapon!" Sarah declared.

Gravis would nod imposingly if he could. Sadly, the obsidian was in the way. Instead, he closed his eyes in an attempt to seem mysterious.

The hunters looked at him and left, searching for his saber.

When they vanished, Gravis smiled smugly. "As if I would waste days searching for my weapon," he mumbled to himself.

About half a day passed until the hunters returned. They arrived in front of him, and Sarah took the saber from one of the men. She approached the obsidian platform and lay the saber down.

She looked at Gravis in awe. "You were right. The spirit weapon was stuck in the ground, and only ash surrounded it. We couldn't find any sign of anyone. They probably met an unfortunate end. Also, I felt something being sucked into your weapon from the surroundings. We sincerely hope you will fulfill our wish."

'Oh? That woman can already feel energy? She is probably very talented!' He thought to himself.

When she laid the saber down, it sunk into the obsidian slowly until it was completely submerged. Earth and stone were also elements, but sucking something into the ground took considerable concentration. The saber moved slowly to his right hand under the obsidian. He gripped it tightly and felt some security.

Gravis looked at Sarah. "I am not like humans who lie and deceive. Speak! What is your wish?"

Sarah sighed in relief. "Bandits have taken hold of our village. They demand food, wine, money, and women regularly. If we don't do something soon, our village will be empty, and then we fear that our life will end." Sarah fell on one knee and pleaded. "Please save our village!" She begged.

'Bandits? They may have some people with tempered skin. Though, I am in the lower world, so they probably skipped tempering their organs and blood. I have also gotten stronger and more experienced. If the bandits were stronger, they wouldn't care about some village's resources. I can do that!' He thought to himself.

He internally sighed in relief but didn't show it. If they had requested something more challenging, he could only disappoint them. Luckily, for once, they demanded something manageable. "So, it shall be! You have returned my spirit weapon, so I will grant you your wish. Step back, for I will rise!" Gravis shouted.

The hunters quickly retreated to a ten-meter distance of the obsidian platform. Any movement of the Earth Spirit could cause their demise. The obsidian platform started quaking and cracking apart, and the surroundings of Gravis' head began to rise. A body-wide pillar rose until it was as high as an average human. Then, it broke apart, showing what was beneath it.

The hunters' eyes widened when they saw an imposing black armor surrounding Gravis' body. It was completely black like the obsidian and seemed to absorb light. It covered his whole body from neck to toe without any seams. It was almost like the armor formed around him naturally. In Gravis' right hand was his saber, while he carried an imposing helmet in the other.

This was the idea Gravis got a day before. He could move the lava around, so he tried to give himself an armor. He kept the lava pool and his armor separate so they wouldn't stick together when they hardened. It was a resounding success. It cost him a lot of time and concentration, but it was worth it.

Gravis put the helmet on his head and used a lot of concentration to make it fuse to his armor. He stood imposingly in front of the hunters. They couldn't see anything of his body except for his eyes, which seemed to emanate a cold killing-intent. All the hair on the hunters' body stood up in fear, but they remained rational. The Earth Spirit said it would help them with the bandit problem.

"Bring me to those bandits!" He demanded. His voice sounded muffled behind the helmet, and there was not much room for his mouth to move.

"They shall taste death!"