Ch. 711..720

Chapter 711 - 711 – Graphite

It was still tough for Yersi to accept the situation. Something like this had happened to a lot of others around her, but she had never been the fortunate one. It was just like a dream had come true.

Yersi accepted the date. She had no idea what she should think about Jake, but that was what dates were there for, right? Dates were there for two people to get to know each other more.

Because of that, Yersi decided to postpone her Law Comprehension to spend more time with Jake.

On their first date, Yersi asked Jake why he had asked her out and if he minded the look of her body.

Surprisingly, Jake was honest and said that he had no attraction to her physical form but to her personality. Yet, he also said that when Yersi became an Immortal, everything would change. Yersi already considered herself as a human, and as soon as she managed to condense her human form, she would probably stay in that form indefinitely.

At that point, Yersi’s appearance would be just as attractive as her personality to Jake. Many people would have simply said that she was just perfect as she was right now, but how many would actually mean that? Yersi looked like a black, scaly demon. Sure, some people would think of her as cute or maybe even adorable, but only very few would actually find her sexually attractive.

While all of this was going on, Gravis continued comprehending his Laws. He wasn’t certain what he should think about Jake. On one hand, Jake had acted perfectly to both of them, but on the other hand, it was also possible that he simply wanted to build a connection with Gravis’ family.

Many people would be interested in joining the family of the Opposer, thinking that they might get to know some exclusive secrets that made them incredibly powerful. Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Opposer wouldn’t even speak with them.

Yet, just because there was something very attractive about Yersi’s background didn’t mean that this was the only reason anyone would want to come close to her. The same could be said about wealth. There would be a ton of people trying to get close to a wealthy person because of their money, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t people who simply liked the person for their personality.

Of course, all of this was only secondary. If this was Jake’s actual goal, he would very quickly find himself before a brick wall. It wouldn’t be Yersi or Gravis that stopped him. After all, Gravis was too weak for that.

No, it would be Gravis’ mother who would stand in his way. She obviously loved and doted on her granddaughter, and if she found out that Jake was only in it for the money and status, she would find that out very quickly.

Because of all these reasons, Gravis didn’t worry about Yersi. She was over a thousand years old and fought through an army of monsters. She should be able to handle that, and even if she couldn’t, Gravis’ mother would take care of things.

So, Gravis concentrated on learning more Laws.

Next on the list of Laws was Graphite, the level three Law equivalent of earth. Graphite didn’t refer to a specific kind of earth but to all kinds of earth on the third level.

Gravis put the Virtualization Array into his room, and in a matter of seconds, his room basically vanished.

’Fuck, I nearly can’t move!’ Gravis thought as an unreal amount of pressure pressed into his body. The entire room had been filled to the absolute brim with grey, black, and brown stone. Just the pressure of the stone made it nearly impossible for Gravis to move.

Any mortal would have already died since the Graphite didn’t even allow the chest of anyone to rise and fall. Luckily, Gravis didn’t need to breathe.

CRR! CRR! CRRR!

Gravis tried to move, but it was impossible. No matter how much power he used, he couldn’t destroy the stone around him. This meant that he was stuck here.

’Well, not totally,’ Gravis thought as he connected with the Virtualization Array with his Spirit. He could still deactivate it. ’I can still use my Spirit to deactivate it, which is everything that I need. This means that the power of the Graphite around me is actually just perfect for me. I’m getting injured, but not nearly enough to die. This should be the best way to comprehend the Law.’

Starting from this day forward, Gravis remained stuck. He hadn’t expected to be stuck immediately, which was why he was stuck in a half-sitting, awkward position.

Gravis remained in that position for 98 years.

SSSSSSS!

The Graphite turned into its base components, and Gravis deactivated the Formation Array.

’Sure enough, my talent in earth is also not that great,’ he thought as he jumped around, being happy that he could move again. ’The only reason why I managed to comprehend this Law in one sitting is that I know Deep Wood, Storm, Matter, and the Plant Laws. Without the Matter or Plant Laws, I probably would have needed a century more or so, maybe even two.’

Gravis cracked his neck as he looked around. ’Jake said that Yersi should wait with earth, and I think that is one of the reasons. I know so many Laws from so many different categories that I can extrapolate a lot about Graphite simply by referencing so many other Laws. With Yersi’s current Law count, this would be impossible. Heh, I’m basically brute-forcing my way through earth.’

Gravis exited his room again and found Yersi in the "living room" together with Jake. They both sat near the beach, leaning against each other, simply looking at the lake.

’Oh yeah, that’s right. It’s been like a hundred years or so,’ Gravis thought. ’That should be plenty of time to get to know each other.’

Yet, Gravis noticed something else when he looked at Yersi.

"Hey, father!" Yersi said with a smile as she jumped into Gravis’ embrace. Obviously, Yersi seemed to be very happy.

"Hey, Yersi," Gravis said as he returned the hug. "I see you have reached the Peak Law Comprehension Realm. How did that happen?"

Yersi chuckled with pride. "Yes, I’ve been working hard!" she said.

"Have you properly tempered yourself?" Gravis asked.

Yersi nodded. "Sure," she said. Then she summoned some images to show Gravis her fights.

Sure enough, the fights definitely hadn’t been easy. They were not on the level of 50% life and 50% death, but they were still very dangerous. One could say that this was a good compromise between just raising one’s Realm and actual life and death tempering.

If Yersi’s goal were power, Gravis would disapprove, but her goal was only to reach the Immortal Realm, nothing more. She had gone through six Realms while continuing to risk her life. Half-assing one Realm was alright as long as she didn’t aim for the peak.

As to where Yersi got her tempering from?

This city had everything. When there was a need, a supply would be created to fill that need. This city had several arenas where different cultivators and beasts could fight each other. The personnel of the arena would analyze the powers and Laws of all combatants and search for fitting ones.

Of course, one could also slightly skew the results with a well-placed donation. This sounded shady, but it actually wasn’t. One side would be favored in this battle, but if the other side managed to win, they would earn a ton of money. Some people always wanted money and would take the risk. This meant that both sides knew that one side was slightly more powerful.

Yersi had been fighting beasts one level above her and humans on her level. These were all still slightly weaker than her, but they were actually rather powerful in their own regards.

Gravis had to sigh when he saw all of that. Yes, everything was alright for her goal, but he was still a bit disappointed that Yersi couldn’t fight two levels above herself. Of course, Gravis knew that he had no right to put such pressure on his daughter. He simply had to accept that she didn’t pursue power like him.

"Why have you decided to increase your Realm now?" Gravis said.

"That was actually me," Jake said. "Happy to see you again, Gravis," he said politely.

Gravis nodded. "So, what’s the reason?" he asked.

"As long as you remain in the Early Minor Circulation Immortal Realm, you can condense your Avatar whenever you want. This means that she is not under any pressure. Additionally, as an Immortal, it will become easier for her to learn more Laws. This should save her some time and money," Jake said.

Gravis furrowed his brows. That actually made a lot of sense, but there was one thing that Jake didn’t say.

Gravis turned to Yersi. "Has he told you about comprehending the Body Laws as soon as you become an Immortal?" he asked.

Yersi nodded. "Jake told me that it will become more difficult to learn the initial Body Laws when I’m an Immortal."

Gravis nodded. As long as Jake told her this, everything was okay. Yersi was an adult, and she was responsible for her own decisions. Gravis wouldn’t choose to become an Immortal without checking out a ton of Body Laws, but Gravis wasn’t Yersi. Yersi was her own being, and everything was up to her. As long as she was sufficiently informed, everything was on her.

Gravis was not an overprotective parent that didn’t realize that his child was an adult now.

Chapter 712 - 712 – Favor

Gravis went to the Smart Cultivator to get his next Virtualization Array. Paying ten million Immortal Stones every time felt horrible, but it was necessary for his power.

Next on the list was Frost, the level three Law equivalent of water. Gravis knew the related Law of Graphite and the antithesis of Inferno. Just like with everything else, Gravis knew two Laws that would help him.

The more powerful the elements became, the more they changed. Water had been one with a weak offense and great healing, but that changed with Frost. Frost was nearly as offensive as Inferno but still had some minor healing capabilities.

"You’re Gravis, right?" a voice transmission said to Gravis as he just finished his trade.

Gravis looked outside the shop with his Spirit and noticed someone in the streets. It was a man in black, casual clothing with a long and thin sword on his back, which only had one edge.

Gravis immediately noticed several things about this person. First of all, the person was wearing the weapon on his body, which indicated that he was probably a Weapon Cultivator. Additionally, that weapon was a World Weapon. Only Weapon Cultivators would pay so much money for a World Weapon.

Gravis also noticed the power of this person. This was an Early Major Circulation Immortal. This meant that this person was four levels above Gravis since the difference between the Late Minor Circulation and Early Major Circulation Realms were two levels.

This would be a formidable opponent in their own right. Yet, this human also had a Will-Aura, which was more powerful than his Realm. His Will-Aura was in the Middle Major Circulation Realm.

"Yes, I’m Gravis," Gravis answered evenly.

"Could you come outside for a bit so we can talk?" he asked.

Gravis lifted an eyebrow but complied. He teleported out of the store and onto the streets. "Yes?" Gravis said coldly. He already felt a feeling of animosity from this man, which was why he wasn’t polite at all.

"A certain person has requested a favor of another person, who has requested a favor from another person, who requested a favor from my friend, who requested a favor from me. That’s why I’m here," he said with neutral eyes.

"That’s a lot of favors," Gravis said slowly. "Who might the first person be?"

Gravis’ senses were pulled to the Sky Community, to the flying statue. It had been around 740 years since Gravis had encased that scammer.

"Him? Really?" Gravis asked. "Why didn’t you just break him out yourself? You have the power."

"That would help him once, but he would never be able to come back to Opposer City like this. He wants it cleanly so that he doesn’t lose his trading spot in the Sky Community. That’s why I’m here," he said.

"So, you’re willing to pay the 1,000 Immortal Stones?" Gravis asked.

"No," he said. "The reason why I’m here is to tell you that this person will be under my protection from now on. No one will pay you, but you will free him."

"Ho?" Gravis cooed. "Isn’t a favor from you worth more than a thousand Immortal Stones? Why go to such lengths?"

"Why I have been tasked with this has nothing to do with you," the man said. "You only have to release him and leave him alone."

"And what if I don’t?" Gravis asked.

"Then you will have to fight me," the man said.

"We are inside the city," Gravis said. "As soon as you launch an attack, the guards will drag you away."

"If I were to attack without your consent, yes, but you will consent," the man said.

"Why would I consent?" Gravis asked.

"Because you believe you are powerful enough to fight with me," the man said. "I can feel it from your powerful Will-Aura. Your Will-Aura is even far more powerful than mine, and someone with such a Will-Aura won’t flee from a fight that they can win. Would you do that?"

Gravis chuckled a bit. "You’re right. I wouldn’t flee from such a fight. Yet, when you already accept that I can fight you, why would you want to fight me for some Nascent Nourishing scammer?"

"Just because you believe that you can win against me doesn’t mean that I believe that you can win against me," the man said. "I think you are overestimating your own ability a bit."

"Oh, am I?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

"You are," the man said with narrowed eyes.

Both of them glared at each other as the surrounding people felt the air heat up. Most of the people walking on the streets were either below the Immortal Realm or beggars at the beginning of the Immortal Realm. This was not something that they should come into contact with.

"Hey, we can talk about this, alright?" a third voice appeared as someone teleported beside them.

Both of them looked at the new arrival.

It was Jake.

The man looked unsure when he felt the power of Jake or more like didn’t feel Jake’s power. This was, at least, an Immortal King.

"Jake, keep yourself out of this," Gravis said coldly.

"Hey, Gravis, I’m only here-"

"Keep. Yourself. Out. Of. This," Gravis said slowly and aggressively to Jake.

Jake was a bit taken aback by Gravis’ violent tone. This guy was four magnitudes of power above Gravis. No one in the Immortal Realm could jump four levels, and even if there were a person like this, they would be the most secret disciple of the Peak Sects.

"Come back, Jake," Yersi said as she pulled him over.

Jake didn’t resist his girlfriend but still looked with uncertainty at Gravis and the new person.

"Are you willing to see your father die?" Jake asked Yersi with a voice transmission. "I know that he’s powerful, but the Realm difference is just too much. Additionally, this person also has a powerful Will-Aura."

"Jake," Yersi said like he had just said something silly. "Trust in my father. He is far more powerful than you think. This wouldn’t be the first time he jumped four levels."

"Not the first time?" Jake asked with shock. "Have you seen that for yourself?"

"No, I didn’t," she said, "but I heard it from very trustworthy sources."

Jake looked like he didn’t believe her.

"Just watch," Yersi said to Jake.

Jake wrestled with himself for a bit, sighed, and decided to watch.

"You are that confident, huh?" the man asked Gravis.

"I am," Gravis answered.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis activated the full power of his Will-Aura and concentrated it on the man.

The man harrumphed and also activated his Will-Aura. As soon as he activated it, Gravis’ Will-Aura was pushed back until Gravis was the suppressed one. The level difference was just far too significant.

Jake looked with uncertainty at Gravis.

WHOOOOOM!

Gravis activated his level two Law of Apathy. As soon as it activated, the man felt his Will-Aura being consumed. It was like Gravis’ Will-Aura was destroying the Will-Aura of the man.

The man narrowed his eyes and felt his Will-Aura being pushed back a bit. Yet, the Law of Apathy didn’t eat enough of the Will-Aura to resist the endless push of new power. One shouldn’t forget that the source of a Will-Aura was unlimited. As long as the speed of consumption wasn’t faster than the Will-Aura’s release, nothing would change.

"The Law of Apathy, huh?" the man commented.

WHOOOOM!

"I also have that," he said, and as soon as he finished his words, Gravis felt his Will-Aura being consumed.

WHOOOOM!

The decay of Gravis’ Will-Aura stopped as a superior Law countered it. Gravis had activated the level three Law of Minor Death. The apathy on the man’s Will-Aura seemingly died, but Gravis’ apathy was still consuming the enemy’s Will-Aura.

Additionally, the Law of Minor Death weakened the edges of the enemy’s Will-Aura, like they had been affected by old age. This increased the effect of Gravis’ Law of Apathy.

The man was shocked, but he didn’t relent. He had no idea what this Law was, but he could feel its effect. This Law had something to do with death, but he had never even heard about a Law associated with death.

Gravis was still slightly suppressed, even with the help of the Law of Apathy and Minor Death.

WHOOOOOM!

BANG!

Another layer appeared, and as soon as it showed itself, the man’s Will-Aura was violently pushed back like it had been punched. The man took a deep breath out of shock as he felt that he was on the losing end now. Right now, none of the two were suppressed, but the man was closer to being suppressed than Gravis.

The man would have never believed that someone so many levels below him could suppress his Will-Aura. This was absolutely insane! What was this Law!?

Gravis had activated his level four Law of Major Suppression. The world around them turned to a shade of grey and black as suppression and death combined their power. The power of the level four Law of Major Suppression was incredible.

The man gritted his teeth as a fire burned with battle intent inside his eyes. Right now, he believed that Gravis might be able to fight him. He was still sure that he would win, but the fight would definitely not be easy.

The surroundings had been cleared as the earth around the two of them shook with power. A cold feeling of death, helplessness, suppression and emotionlessness encompassed their surroundings.

Yet, the guards didn’t intervene. As long as nothing was destroyed, they wouldn’t care.

Jake took a deep breath in shock. He was powerful and knew a lot about Laws, which was why he was so shocked. Gravis knew the Law of Apathy and the Law of Major Suppression? As an Early Circulation Immortal? This was absolutely insane! Even more shocking was the fact that he didn’t recognize the Law of Minor Death. He had no idea what this Law was.

WHOOOOOM!

The man felt his Will-Aura nearly being destroyed as he felt like he lost all control over it. It was like his Will-Aura was a wild animal that he had to rear in to control, making it far harder to resist Gravis’ Will-Aura. Right now, the man was the one that had been suppressed by around 20%. 20%! This was insane! What had Gravis just activated!?

Gravis had activated his level four Law of Control. This Law had destroyed the control of the enemy, making it far more difficult for them to resist.

The man looked with severe uncertainty at Gravis.

Step!

Gravis took one step forward.

CRRRRR!

His body transformed into his beast form. Gravis was now two meters tall with six powerful arms. His entire body was made for battle, and even without weapons, he was armed to the teeth.

SHING!

Six different weapons appeared in Gravis’ six arms as the Laws of Cold, Heat, Punishment Lightning, Minor Death, Soul, and Dead World were infused into them. A cacophony of destruction was displayed by his weapons.

SHING!

A black and red armor appeared around Gravis as he stepped forward another time.

The man could barely resist Gravis’ Will-Aura, and Gravis’ last step created an opening.

BANG!

Gravis’ Will-Aura pushed violently into the man, destroying it for a second.

BANG!

The man immediately jumped backward for several kilometers. If this had been a fight, he would have died right now. Getting his Will-Aura broken meant that he had been under the full effect of Gravis’ Will-Aura, making it nearly impossible for him to do anything but move back slowly.

Gravis didn’t chase the guy and only looked coldly into his eyes.

Gravis had been able to fight four levels against the Tornado Emperor when he had been a level five King. Yet, what had Gravis comprehended after that? How many powerful Laws had Gravis learned during this time?

The man released a nervous sigh as Jake couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What was it with this absolutely unreal Battle-Strength? This should be impossible!

The man relaxed and looked at Gravis. "A favor is not worth my life," he said.

And then, he teleported away.

Now, only the imposing form of Gravis remained in the middle of the street.

The enemy had fled.

Chapter 713 - 713 – Gravis And Lightning

Gravis stood in the middle of the road as he looked into the direction his enemy had fled towards. He didn’t say anything, but his imposing and cold aura still shook most of the onlookers. What was he thinking about?

’Should I have attacked regardless?’ Gravis thought as he looked into the distance. ’As far as I know myself, I would have expected me to directly attack and kill him. Yet, I purposely showed my power in front of him to dissuade him from attacking.’

’Is it because I fear putting my life at risk after not fighting for such a long time?’ Gravis thought as he analyzed himself.

’No, I don’t think so,’ he thought after several seconds. ’My power has grown tremendously ever since my fight with Heaven. If the guy had been able to resist my pressure, he would have still been able to put up a fight, but he hadn’t been able to. Someone that isn’t able to resist my pressure is not a true opponent. So, logically, it wasn’t that I feared for my life.’

’Am I going soft?’ Gravis thought. ’When Commander Rime interfered in my fight, I decided to kill him, even though I knew that he didn’t want to hurt me. This guy wanted to kill me, but I simply scared him off. This is definitely not normal.’

Gravis just continued standing there as he thought about himself. ’I think it’s because of my Law of Freedom,’ Gravis thought.

’I didn’t want to accept it in the past, but most of the time, when I killed such people or beasts, it was my lightning commanding me to do it. They had acted aggressively towards me, which meant that they had to be killed with everything I got. In the past, I always believed that this was also what I wanted to do, but was that really true?’ Gravis thought.

’I think it was a coping mechanism. I heard about lightning’s temperament in the lower world, and I became so strongly connected to lightning that it would be hard to even distinguish myself from it. I think I simply couldn’t accept that I had an inner conflict going on. I thought I had everything under control, blinding me to the truth.’

’My father reminded me of the words I spoke after I found Skye’s dead parent. Apparently, I said that I am I, and that won’t change, no matter how much I change. Yet, I don’t think that these words are accurate. These words might be accurate for every other living being, but not for me.’

’Orthar has also said something similar. He said that he was himself, but he was not the only himself. I’m not sure what he was referring to, but I can see a connection between myself and these words. I am I, but lightning is also I. Yet, does that mean that there is only one of myself?’

’When I think of the time I suppressed my emotions against Heaven, I would think that this person wasn’t me. Yet, this was definitely me. I know that nearly everyone has a good side and a bad side in them. After all, I have never met a truly evil being before.’

’The lower Heaven acted like a tyrant against me without me even provoking it. Yet, the lower Heaven probably only wanted to protect itself and show its competence towards its parent Heaven. The High Priest in the lower world also reigned like a tyrant, but he was also stuck in his position forever, without any chance of becoming more powerful. Additionally, if Heaven wanted, it could have killed him. People with a weak will would also lose their minds in that position.’

’I don’t even need to think about the beasts. Every beast was gunning for supreme power, and stepping over others is natural. Even the middle Heaven only followed the orders of the highest Heaven. Everyone has a story and a good and a bad side.’

’Yet, this might not be true for me. Azure has already commented several times that it is very unusual that I can adjust my own mindset this quickly and without issues. When I believe that I am right, I can kill an entire world without feeling bad. Yet, I can also spare this person that acted aggressively towards me. From an outsider’s perspective, this would make no sense.’

’When has this entire thing started?’ Gravis thought as he went through his life in his mind. ’When was the first time my mindset rapidly changed?’

Some seconds passed.

’Manuel,’ Gravis thought. ’It was right before I entered the Heaven’s Trial. Manuel said that I had a ton of emotions bottled up, and I had realized that he had been right. I was able to accept such a devastating thing without thinking much about it.’

’The next time was when Nero told me about his philosophy about darkness. After that was my talk with Skye after I killed the lower Heaven. I had felt like a monster, but just some simple words from Skye made me completely throw most of my guilt out of the window. Was this supposed to be that easy?’

’All of these instances happened after my Spirit had become acclimated to lightning. Before that, I hadn’t experienced any of these kinds of rapid changes. Additionally, I even spared the middle Heaven just because I wanted to spite the highest Heaven. Would I have done that in the past? Would I have let someone go that terrorized me for hundreds of years? Definitely not.’

’Lastly, there are the words that the Black Magnate spoke to me. He said that I have an inner conflict and that he didn’t know how this would play out.’

’The more I’m thinking about this, the more sense it makes. In the lower world, I completely followed and did whatever my lightning wanted. The first time I didn’t follow it was when I didn’t immediately kill Joyce’s teacher after he mistakenly attacked me.’

’It was like my lightning was dictating my actions, and me not wanting to see this truth, thought that this also concurred with my own personality. After that incident, it was more like we made a compromise. I didn’t fully follow my lightning anymore. After all, if I did, all these beasts that confused me for Aris would have died since they charged at me with aggression.’

’Then came the incident with the middle Heaven, and as soon as I comprehended the Law of Freedom, I started to be the one in charge. My lightning is angry. I feel it. My lightning hates me for not killing the middle Heaven, but it can’t. My Law of Freedom is more powerful than Punishment Lightning. My Law of Freedom grants me freedom, even from myself.’

’My Law of Freedom is suppressing my lightning.’

Gravis took a deep breath. ’But what about the time when I convert my body from Punishment Lightning into Divine Lightning? What then? Then, my lightning will be more powerful than my Law of Freedom, and therefore, also more powerful than my true self. What will happen?’

’I can only see two scenarios. Either my lightning directly kills me, or it takes over control, forcing me to follow its rules. It all depends on the rage of my lightning. Is it angry enough that it would even kill itself to kill me, or is its survival more important than revenge?’

’Energy doesn’t have this problem since Energy can become everything. It has no personality. It has no temperament.’

Gravis moved for the first time in several minutes and summoned some lightning in his hand. It seemed completely normal to everyone, but to Gravis, it felt angry.

’I might be lightning, but is lightning me? Is that really true? Is this another form of myself or something else entirely?’

’I don’t know.’

’The only way I can see out of this situation is to comprehend the level six Law of Freedom before using Divine Lightning. With the power of my Avatar supporting the Law of Freedom, it would still be more powerful than my lightning.’

’Yet, that would only constitute as postponing the problem. It would be like running away. As soon as I reach the highest world, I would be able to come into contact with the next level of lightning, and I would face the same issue again.’

’I need an actual solution to this, but I can’t think of one right now,’ Gravis thought as he scratched his metallic chin.

"Excuse me," someone said from beside Gravis, and Gravis looked over. He wasn’t really angry at the interruption, just a bit annoyed.

A Law Comprehension Cultivator contacted him from the Sky Community, and Gravis looked back.

The man became incredibly nervous, but he had to say it now. "I have the 1,000 Immortal Stones, sir," he said politely.

Whooop!

Then, he summoned the Immortal Stones. Apparently, he had seen that using force didn’t work or would cost more than 1,000 Immortal Stones. Gravis was already confused about why someone would hire such a powerful Immortal for a mere Nascent Nourishing Cultivator. This seemed like absolute overkill.

Gravis realized what the guy wanted.

Whoop!

Gravis pocketed the Immortal Stones and also took back his ore. The statue in the Sky Community became a human again, and the scammer took a deep breath in shock. He was free! He was finally free! He had been in this prison for over 740 years! That was over 20% of his entire longevity.

He had expected that Gravis would run out of patience first, but Gravis hadn’t been bluffing when he said he would stay here for a long time. So, in the end, he had to ask for several favors and, lastly, pay his debt.

Several people appeared around him, but they weren’t looking with happiness at him.

All of them looked with severity at him, like he owed them money.

Which was actually the case.

He better repay them!

Chapter 714 - 714 – The Unsolvable Issue

After releasing the scammer, Gravis sighed and transformed back into his human form. He also deactivated his Will-Aura, which had still been active during the time he was thinking. The surroundings calmed down, and the eagle-eyed guards stopped paying attention to Gravis. As long as he was not destroying or hurting anyone without their consent, they didn’t care.

"You look troubled," Yersi said in a soft tone as she came closer.

Gravis sighed again. "This confrontation has given me a lot to think about," Gravis said solemnly.

Yersi felt a bit nervous, and Gravis noticed.

Pack!

Gravis put his hand on Yersi’s scaly head and stroked her for a little bit. "You don’t need to worry about me," he said with a warm smile. "I won’t just disappear like Orthar. I simply need some time to think about things."

Yersi felt a bit embarrassed, but she also felt relieved when Gravis reassured her that he wouldn’t disappear.

"Gravis, I’m sorry for getting involved," Jake said as he also came closer.

"It’s alright," Gravis said. "You couldn’t have known about my power. You only wanted to help, and I understand. Maybe I shouldn’t have used such an aggressive tone towards you."

Jake was relieved when he heard Gravis. Jake was far more powerful than Gravis, but Gravis was one of the most important people to Yersi. Jake truly loved Yersi, and if Gravis disapproved of him, there could be consequences for his relationship with Yersi.

"That’s good. Thank you," Jake said.

Gravis nodded. "Right now, you’re not part of the family, but in the future, you might be. Just treat Yersi with honesty. That’s all that I want. As long as you do that, you and I will have no problems with each other."

Jake felt a bit reassured by Gravis’ words. He hadn’t intended to betray Yersi or anything similar in the first place. This meant that there would be no issues between them.

"I need to think and concentrate on my Laws," Gravis said. "We can hang out some other time, but right now, I need to be alone."

Yersi still felt worried about Gravis. Something wasn’t right with him, but she also knew that she couldn’t help. Something that stumped even her father wouldn’t be something that she could help with. She could only offer her support with his problems.

The three of them said their goodbyes, and Gravis quickly went back to his room. He already had the Virtualization Array for Frost, but he didn’t immediately activate it. He simply sat in his room and tried to think of a solution to his problem.

How would he even go about solving this issue?

Every solution Gravis could think of was unfair. Letting his lightning run wild would endanger his life and would suppress his true self, maybe forever. So, this was not an option.

What about comprehending the more powerful Law of Freedom to suppress his lightning? This was also a bad idea. After all, his lightning was also a victim in this case.

If Gravis looked at his lightning like it was another person, right now, it would be like a person that was inside another person’s body without any ability to do something. Gravis’ Spirit acted as an actualization of the ethereal will of lightning. Thanks to Gravis’ Spirit, his lightning was able to think for itself and come to its own conclusions.

The fact that Gravis had been able to reason with his lightning in the past was proof of that. Being able to think but not being able to act or do what it wanted was one of the cruelest forms of Suppression.

Yet, if his lightning left his body, it would be like it died. It would lose access to Gravis’ Spirit, and therefore also lose its rationality, personality, and self. This would be no different from death.

So, in short, they were both stuck in this together. No matter who was in control, one of them would always be suppressed.

Swapping control? That wouldn’t work. They were inside the same Spirit, mind, and body. No one would want to see themselves do things they severely disagreed with. This was not some dissociative personality disorder. They were not two separate beings, but the same being with different mindsets. The borders between them were far blurrier.

On top of that, Gravis had been the one that invited the lightning into his Spirit. It didn’t force itself into Gravis, but Gravis opened the door for it, knowing what could happen. This was a consequence of his own action.

Additionally, this wasn’t just some stranger. Gravis had benefited from his intrinsic connection with lightning for several thousand years. Without it, he would have surely already died.

So, right now, Gravis felt like he had pulled an innocent bystander into his house and forced them to work for him without giving them any payment. This was not something that Gravis wanted to do at all. Gravis loved freedom, and because of that, his mindset also abhorred suppressing others.

Yet, he was suppressing a dear and helpful friend of his right now.

"Freedom can only be taken by the person themselves," Gravis said. "Yet, my freedom automatically means the suppression of my other self, if it even is another self of mine. I’m still not certain of that."

"If I annihilate the will of my lightning, if that’s even possible, it would be like killing it. If I give it control over my body, it would be like killing myself. By swapping, none of us would be happy. As soon as anything significant happens, we both would want to take control. We wouldn’t be willing to see something, in our minds, terrible being committed by ourselves," Gravis said to himself.

Gravis sighed.

"I’m sorry," Gravis said, "but I need to stay in control. I know you very well, but I also don’t know you at all. I can only stay in control until I find a solution to this problem. Right now, I don’t have any other choice but to suppress you."

"When I ever find a solution to this issue, you can be angry all you want."

Obviously, this didn’t calm his lightning at all.

Lightning hated being suppressed, and no matter what Gravis said, it would continue to hate it.

Gravis only said these words for himself because he knew that his words changed nothing. The situation would still continue until there was a solution. There would be no immediate consequences now, but in the future, all of this might change.

At the latest, the consequences would rear their ugly head when Gravis needed to use Divine Lightning in order to survive. This time would come at some point.

Gravis was certain of it.

This meant that he had to find a solution until then.

Sadly, no amount of thinking could solve the issue right now. No matter what powers Gravis used, he wouldn’t be able to solve the issue. He didn’t even think to ask his father or anyone else about this because this was his problem, which he had caused. He was an adult, and he had to deal with this problem.

After several more hours of thinking, Gravis finally gave up. He didn’t have the power to change anything right now, but that didn’t mean that he would never have the power. As long as he became more powerful, he might be able to find a solution.

So, Gravis started to comprehend Frost.

Only power would give him a chance to find a solution for this issue.

Chapter 715 - 715 – Frost And Shadow

Gravis put the Virtualization Array into the socket. There was no reason to continue thinking about his issue. In the future, he would find a way. He was sure of it.

CRRR!

Mist and ice appeared in the room, coating it in a blueish-white color. The ice broke down and turned into mist, which broke down after a while and turned into ice again. It was a magical circle of transmutation without any rhyme or reason.

BANG!

Some of Gravis’ scales broke off due to the cold, exposing his flesh. This happened a couple of times, but Gravis easily had enough Life Energy to heal himself. One shouldn’t forget that Gravis had learned the Law of Energy Healing while fighting Heaven. Such injuries were no problem for him.

’Interesting,’ Gravis thought as he looked at his freezing and dying hand. ’Just like nearly every other element, Frost attacks the outer layer first. The only two elements that attack something else are Deep Wood and Brilliance. Deep Wood directly attacks the soul while Brilliance attacks the entire body.’

’I had thought that maybe more elements had peculiar forms of attack, but that isn’t the case, apparently. I was a bit surprised when Brilliance completely ignored my scales and my entire defense, directly attacking my most vulnerable parts. Yet, its attacking power was far weaker than all the other elements.’

’However, if someone used Brilliance against someone with an incredible defense, it could probably be the most useful element out of all. Yet, if the enemy only has a weak defense, it won’t be even nearly as effective as the other elements. Advantages and disadvantages, eh?’

Gravis concentrated on the Frost and let it destroy his body all it wanted. The Smart Cultivator tuned these Virtualization Array just perfect for him. One had to remember that Gravis had a beast body and also knew a ton of Life Laws. Such a powerful Virtualization Array might actually kill even a Late Minor Circulation Immortal. Of course, that was only true if they didn’t know much about the Life Laws.

This time, Gravis only needed 60 years to comprehend the level three Law, his fastest one yet. If Gravis were to tell anyone that he managed to understand a level three Elemental Law in just 60 years, they would probably not believe him unless he used his Law of Honesty.

The reason why Gravis had been so fast was because of all the other Laws he knew. Gravis knew Graphite, Inferno as the antithesis, the Law of Cold, the normal Law of Water, the general Law of the Elements, several Life Laws connected to water, and the general Temperature Law. Water was related to many different Law categories, and Gravis knew a lot of these categories.

SSSSSHHH!

Gravis turned the Frost into Energy and retrieved the Virtualization Array. Usually, he would have smiled and felt great about his accomplishment, but he didn’t feel like it this time. The entire problem with his lightning had unveiled itself, and Gravis couldn’t completely let go while this problem was still going on.

Without saying anything, Gravis exited his room again and directly went to the Smart Cultivator, not even looking into his "living room". He just couldn’t be bothered with anything else right now. Becoming more powerful and fixing this problem with his lightning was his highest priority right now.

Additionally, by relaxing, Gravis would feel like he was betraying his lightning. A close friend of his was being suppressed by him, and he had the gall to go out and have fun!? This was not the person Gravis wanted to be.

"Shadow, please," Gravis said to a random clerk as he handed over the Virtualization Array for Frost.

The clerk accepted the array, checked the store database for Gravis’ data, tuned the Shadow Virtualization Array, and gave it to Gravis. "Only two more to go," the clerk said with a smile. "Will you also take the Higher Pure Elemental one after that?"

"No," Gravis said. "I could earn the money, but I doubt that I would be able to learn it in three centuries or so, which would need me to work for several centuries more. I’m not yet ready to spend around a thousand years on only a single Law."

"You don’t need to," the clerk said. "As long as you get the Law to around 60%, you can get the rest via tempering. Maybe you won’t get it in one shot, but every real fight pushes your understanding forward."

Gravis scratched his chin. "I’ll think about it," he said.

Then, he teleported away with the Virtualization Array for Shadow.

The Higher Pure Elemental Law was the level four Law comprised of all the level three Pure Elemental Laws. There had also been a level two variant of that Law, but Gravis had directly skipped it by understanding the Mixed Elemental Law first.

The Higher Mixed Elemental Law was a level five Law and included all the level three mixed Laws. Just understanding all the components would take Gravis a thousand years or so. This was not something he wanted to do right now since it had already been around 800 years since his last fight.

Gravis hadn’t fought anyone in 800 years, his longest break yet. He would, at least, want to get one fight in between millennia of cultivation to keep his edge sharp.

Gravis retrieved the Virtualization Array and put it into the socket. Shadow was the level three Law equivalent of darkness. It was related to water, earth and had light as its antithesis. The Law of Cold also slightly helped with comprehension.

This was the first Law where Gravis understood all three components.

WHOOOM!

Absolute darkness appeared, and there was absolutely zero light in this room anymore. Even worse was the fact that this darkness also clouded Gravis’ Spirit. It wasn’t that Shadow attacked his Spirit, but that it was so dark that it could even hide things from Spirits.

There were only very few things that were able to escape the detection of a Spirit. One of these things was a very high level in space, another one a far higher cultivation Realm, and the last one was the Shadow Element.

Gravis closed his eyes and felt his body. He didn’t feel any pain all over his body, but he felt his Life Energy decrease all over his scales. It was like his body was growing old and dying.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis activated his Law of Energy Healing and pushed his Life Energy production to the maximum. After doing this, Gravis noticed that his Life Energy regenerated a bit faster than the damage of Shadow. As always, the Virtualization Array had been perfectly tailored to his power.

After 45 years, Gravis managed to understand the Law of Shadow. He knew all related Laws and had a ton of Law Comprehension experience. It was only natural that he understood this Law with incredible speed.

Whooom!

The darkness inside the room vanished, and its Energy density increased. Gravis retrieved the Virtualization Array again but didn’t immediately leave.

’Darkness and light are a gradient. The more powerful they become, the more they should blur into each other. It’s a bit like Life Lightning and Destruction Lightning. You can have both of them, but you can also mix them however you want.’

’This means that there is probably an overarching Law, which is not just the result of fusing two Laws together to create a mixed element. Someone able to combine both of them would probably have a level four Elemental Law, which when used as an Avatar, would be able to unleash the power of a level five Law.’

’Level five Law, huh?’ Gravis thought as he remembered his years together with the middle Heaven. ’The middle Heaven’s power was actually really insane. Even now, with the level four Law of Control and these other new level three Laws, I would have no chance against it.’

’I would be able to put up a fight. With the Law of Control, I would be able to fight against the middle Heaven’s Will-Aura to a stalemate. Then, my Law of Freedom would guarantee that I could use my full speed.’

’Yet, as soon as Heaven would unleash its Avatar and level five Laws, I would very quickly die. The only way I would have been able to fight it would have been to condense an Avatar from the Law of the Dead World, understand the Higher Pure Elemental Law, and incorporate that Law into my Avatar. Then, I would have also been able to unleash the power of a level five Law. At that point, I would probably win.’

Gravis looked to one of the walls of the room absentmindedly. ’I met the middle Heaven for the first time around 1,600 years ago, and even now, I wouldn’t be powerful enough to kill it. The power difference is so incredibly vast.’

Gravis sighed as he remembered how he had proudly proclaimed that Heaven would die. Oh, what an ignorant fool he had been.

’What has passed, has passed,’ Gravis thought. ’Don’t think about it too much but remember your previous mistakes. You have fought one weak Heaven before and then one powerful Heaven. As far as I can see, probably all Heavens have this much Battle-Strength from now on.’

’Well, not exactly. I think the higher Heavens are actually even more insane. I could very well envision that the higher Heavens even know the Law of the Living World, which combines the Law of the Dead World and the Law of Life. I can’t even imagine how powerful such a Law as an Avatar would be.’

’There is even a possibility that they know the Law of the Sentient World, which includes emotions. I should never take any Heaven lightly again.’

Gravis sighed again and left his house to exchange for the last Virtualization Array, Core.

Chapter 716 - 716 – Magical Past

Gravis went to the Smart Cultivator again and got the last Virtualization Array, which was for Core. This was the level three Law equivalent to metal. It was related to Graphite, Inferno, and had Deep Wood as its antithesis. The Matter Composition Laws would also help somewhat, but not that much. Matter in the higher worlds was completely different from matter in the middle worlds.

"This one might take you a while," the clerk said. "Understanding Core means understanding around 50% of the Higher Hard Pure Matter Law, which is a High Tier Law. Because of these reasons, understanding Core takes several times longer than understanding all the other ones."

Gravis looked at the Virtualization Array. "How much longer?" he asked.

"Take the one that took you the longest to comprehend and triple the time. This is about the general time someone needs when they have already understood all the other Elemental Laws," the clerk said.

"Three times, huh?" Gravis commented. He didn’t feel like it would take him that long. After all, he only needed 45 years for Shadow. Three times his longest comprehension would be over 500 years. Was the difference really that great?

"Can I directly rent it for 500 years?" Gravis asked. Of course, this decision was risky. If Gravis were to understand it in just 100 years, he would still have paid 500 years. Yet, being able to completely concentrate on the Law without having to abort in the middle would be far easier.

Gravis was pretty sure that he wouldn’t take that long, but he remembered his thoughts when he challenged the middle Heaven. He had thought that he would be able to win against the middle Heaven, but he had been mistaken. Maybe the same thing was happening again, and he was severely underestimating the difficulty.

For once, Gravis decided to trust the opinion of someone else when it concerned his own power. Because of that, Gravis directly rented it for 500 years. The evaluation of the clerk had been over 500 years, but Gravis only rented it for 500. Trusting someone’s experienced opinion was one thing, but fully trusting it was something else.

The clerk modified the Virtualization Array again, unloading several God Stones into it to increase its storage. ’No wonder these Virtualization Arrays are so expensive. Just level three Virtualization Arrays already need God Stones.’

"Here you go," the clerk said as he gave Gravis the Virtualization Array. Gravis paid the 50 million Immortal Stones, feeling like a chunk had been taken out of his body. This was so much money!

Gravis nodded and teleported away. Then, he informed Yersi about his prolonged cultivation. 500 years was a lot of time, even for Gravis.

Yersi said goodbye to Gravis, but it wasn’t that bad. She could still see him in his room if she wanted. His room wasn’t isolated or anything, so if she missed him, she could just look at him.

Gravis also informed Orpheus, who only wished him success. 500 years was not long for Orpheus.

Gravis didn’t need to inform anyone else since the remaining people he knew would know how long it would take to understand Core.

Then, Gravis entered his room and put the Virtualization Array into the socket.

CRRRR!

Nearly the entire room was filled with different kinds of metal. On top of that, Gravis could see a particular form of Energy entering and exiting the different metals. This was probably the essence of Core, which demonstrated the elemental component of metal.

In comparison to all the other times, Gravis wasn’t attacked by anything. He could just walk around and look at the different materials.

As Gravis stood upon the mountain of ore, he couldn’t help remembering the time he started his Law Comprehension journey in his Realm Stop. Azure had introduced Ferris to him to keep watch over him. This mountain of ore reminded Gravis of the time he tried to comprehend all the different Pure and Complex Matter Laws.

Gravis still remembered how he had needed over 30 years to understand a Law. Back then, it felt like forever to him, but now, that would have been an incredibly short time frame.

Gravis picked up one of the ores and looked at it. "I still remember how I thought how horrible it must feel to not comprehend a single Law in hundreds of years. Yet, now, I can count myself lucky when I need less than a hundred years. This one is going to take several hundred years."

Gravis looked around and released a sigh as he thought about his past evaluations. "500 years is long, but it seems appropriate. This is one of the most difficult level three Laws to comprehend, and it will also push my understanding of Higher Hard Pure Matter to 50%. 500 years for a level three Law and 50% of a level four Law seems just right, actually."

"Sadly, it still feels different," Gravis said to himself with melancholy. "Back then, I didn’t know what would help me in understanding what. Now, I know exactly what I will learn. The wonder of discovery and surprise is gone. Finding out all the related Laws and which Laws I needed to understand them felt exciting. Now, everything just makes sense, and I know exactly what I need."

"Well, I guess that’s normal. I simply got better at understanding Laws, taking a lot of magic out of the process. The Black Magnate might have been wrong regarding happiness, but when he spoke about the feeling of having supreme power, he knew exactly what he was talking about. The magic of the Laws is gone, and only a normal interest remains. In the future, this feeling might even be replaced by boredom or annoyance."

Gravis sighed again. "It’s only a slight inconvenience. My happiness is not defined by understanding more Laws and becoming more powerful. Now, this has simply become my hobby and goal. One could also call it work. Many people despise work, but when they don’t work for a long time, they become unhappy since they don’t have a goal anymore. Work is bothersome for the moment, but it also gives one a goal."

"Success and happiness are two different things, after all," Gravis said to himself.

Then, he started concentrating on the different metals.

He tried using them to forge weapons but received one surprise after the other. He wasn’t able to push them together to create a hardened edge, for example. The matter rejected itself as soon as the pressure increased. When Gravis used even more pressure, the weapon would just shatter like glass.

Gravis didn’t even try to fuse the materials with other materials. The Higher Complex Laws would be level five Laws and would be far more challenging to learn than the Pure ones.

Gravis ignored the stream of Core Energy for now and concentrated on the different materials. The more he experimented with them, the more he got reminded of the time he tried to learn the Complex Material Laws.

For some time, Gravis felt like he had returned to the past. He was simply walking around, looking at one stone after the other, trying everything he could to learn more about it.

"This is actually far more interesting than I had thought," Gravis said with a light smile. "There is something about comprehending different materials one at a time that other Laws don’t have. Just looking at something is different from manipulating and changing it. One is understanding, while this feels more like playing."

Gravis paused for a second and looked around the room. He could envision the stream of water, the forest, and the desert surrounding the mountain. He could also envision Ferris looking at some butterflies, randomly comprehending Laws. Gravis had to laugh when he remembered how Ferris annoyed him back then.

It was like he had returned to the past.

"Would I want to go back to that time?" Gravis asked himself.

Gravis thought about this question for several seconds.

"Maybe a little bit, but not forever. I have my father, mom, Yersi, and Orpheus here. Back then, I had my three kids, but I couldn’t meet them whenever I wanted. Additionally, our bond hadn’t been as close as it is now. I would enjoy feeling the magic of comprehending my first Laws again, but I would also miss my family and friends," Gravis said.

"Right now, if there weren’t the issue with my lightning, I would be as happy as never before."

Gravis looked around with a smile.

"I think I’m actually rather content with my life currently."

Chapter 717 - 717 – Mother

Gravis lost himself to time. For once, he was able to forget everything about himself and dedicated his entire being to understanding the different kinds of stone directly in front of him. It was like the magic of understanding Laws had returned, and Gravis felt like it was even more beautiful than back then.

Back then, Gravis wasn’t able to properly appreciate the feeling of wonder. Only when someone lost something and regained it much later would they truly be able to appreciate it.

It was simply a joy to look at all the different stones.

Whooom!

Suddenly, the Energy inside the ore stopped moving. The metallic essence vanished, leaving behind only dead stone. Gravis frowned as he inspected everything. Was something wrong with the Virtualization Array?

Gravis checked the Virtualization Array, but it didn’t move at all. It had simply stopped working for some reason.

Gravis concentrated on the Virtualization Array and felt that there was no more Energy inside it. It was empty.

"Empty?" Gravis asked himself. Then, his eyes widened. "Are 500 years already over? But I didn’t manage to comprehend the Law of Core!"

Gravis inspected his surroundings with his Law of Time and noticed that 500 years had passed. Sure enough, Gravis had stayed here for the entire duration.

"What!? That was never 500 years!" Gravis said.

"Father, has it been 500 years?" he asked.

"Yes," his father answered.

"What? How?" Gravis asked in shock. "I only just started!"

"You were so entranced with the Laws that you lost track of time, Gravis. It happens. Just rent it again," his father said in a bored manner.

Gravis still couldn’t wrap his head around it, but everything pointed at that 500 years had passed.

"500 years, over just like that," Gravis said to himself as he grimaced. "So much time has passed, and I didn’t even notice. This feels similar to when Heaven told me that I had stayed 200 years in the gap between worlds. It feels like time has been stolen from me."

After a while, Gravis sighed. "I guess these occasions will happen more frequently in the future. Understanding the Laws will take longer and longer."

Gravis looked at the mountain. The mountain was still there since the Virtualization Array only controlled the metal essence, which created different kinds of ore on its own.

Gravis thought back to the time he met Ferris. "Back then, Ferris had been around 3,000 years old. He felt absolutely ancient to me. 3,000 years was such an incredibly long time. I also thought about how much I could learn in 3,000 years."

Gravis laughed bitterly. "Yet, look at me now. If I add everything together, I’m already around 3,650 years old. I’m even older than Ferris back then. It felt like I had been only 100 years old, only one year ago. I have become ancient."

"Time is unforgiving," Gravis said, "but I already know that."

Gravis remained silent for a couple more minutes, just thinking. Then, he sighed again and pocketed the ore mountain. This was a byproduct of the Virtualization Array, and it belonged to Gravis. One could say it was a nice bonus.

Gravis estimated the ore’s worth and concluded that this was around three million Immortal Stones worth of ore. This sounded like an enormous number, but one shouldn’t forget that Gravis paid 50 million Immortal Stones. On top of that, Gravis had seen the clerk putting around 25 God Stones into the Virtualization Array. So, in total, this ore was not even nearly enough to make up for the cost of producing it.

After that, Gravis pocketed the Virtualization Array and inspected the city to find Yersi. He wanted to talk to his daughter after such a long time.

Gravis’ eyes widened in surprise when he found two people in his "living room". One of them was Jake, while the other one was a cute girl, seemingly 20 years old. The girl was also an Early Minor Circulation Immortal.

"Already?" Gravis asked himself.

Gravis teleported over to them and looked with wonder at his daughter.

She had pale skin with extremely long, black hair. Her hair actually reached the floor, and for some reason, Gravis got reminded of a scorpion’s tail when he looked at it. Her hair kind of looked... dangerous.

"Father!" Yersi shouted in surprise as she jumped into Gravis’ embrace. "I’m a human now!" she said with excitement.

"I can see that," Gravis said with a bit of shock and a smile. Then he put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "You look beautiful. Honestly, if you had a different hair color, you would look very similar to your mother."

Yersi halted. "Mother?" she asked uncertainly. "I have actually never seen mother. Back then, I was very deep in the philosophy of beasts and didn’t care about meeting her. Now that I think about it, I think I regret not meeting her."

"You never saw her?" Gravis asked in surprise. "I thought you would have seen her at least once," he said as he broke the embrace to look into her eyes.

Yersi looked towards the ground and shook her head. "No, I didn’t," she said.

"Do you want to see her?" Gravis asked.

Yersi hesitated a little bit as Jake remained silent. He didn’t want to interrupt the reunion. Then, Yersi nodded.

Gravis used the element of light to create an image of Azure. Then, he adapted his Will-Aura and Spirit to emulate Azure’s aura. Lastly, he used the wind to emulate her voice.

Gravis decided to show Yersi the time he first met Azure, in the middle of the competition for her future mate.

Yersi looked with confusion at her mother. She told herself that this was her mother, but she couldn’t feel a connection at all. Looking at the images of her mother felt very foreign and weird.

Gravis showed her a lot of his conversations with her, and when Azure said that she didn’t care about her children, Yersi winced a little. Yet, she knew very well how beasts were. She only had to look at Cera and Aris. Hearing these words from her mother hurt her, but she could also understand her. It was not her fault. This was simply how beasts were.

"Thank you, father," Yersi said. "I think that’s enough."

Gravis stopped the simulation and looked at his daughter with a complicated look.

"There was no love between your mother and me," Gravis said.

Yersi nodded. "I know. I can understand your predicament, and I also know how beasts think," she said. But then, she smiled at her father warmly. "But even when everyone else said you don’t need to care about us, you still watched over us and helped us. Even when we rebelled against you, you only showed us the error of our ways."

"I’m glad that you’re my father," she said wholeheartedly.

Gravis felt like his heart stopped when he heard that. A sweet wave of love, happiness and caring went throughout his body as he hugged his daughter again.

"Thank you, Yersi," he said.

Yersi only giggled a bit. "Why? I’m only telling the truth. You don’t have to thank me for that."

Yersi had seen her mother now, and she had realized that she and her mother had no chemistry. Azure was prideful and distant. Even when Gravis showed Azure’s constant complaining, she had still felt somewhat distant. It was like her inherent pride didn’t allow anyone to get too close to her.

Because of this, Yersi could finally say goodbye to the mother she never had.

They simply were two different beings from different worlds.

Chapter 718 - 718 – Scheme?

"You’re very impressive, Gravis," Jake said from the side with a distant look. It was like he fell into melancholy and was thinking about someone dear to him that he had lost.

"What do you mean?" Gravis asked.

Jake sighed. "Many people try to create a loving and close family while still cultivating. Yet, as you know, not everyone can keep up. For mortals, a century is their entire life, while for us, it’s basically nothing. When Cultivators create families, they always have to decide between cultivation or their family."

"One Law Comprehension session can take multiple centuries, and even Spirit Forming Cultivators would see their entire life end during that time. To us, not seeing our family for a hundred years is not a big deal, but to someone far weaker, it may even be their entire life."

"We feel like we take a lot of time for our loved ones, but our loved ones feel abandoned since we haven’t visited them in over a decade. Families break apart and get estranged. The children will feel like their father had never been part of their life, while for their father, it only felt like a coffee break."

"When someone that still chases after power creates a family, it nearly always ends in tragedy, but not you," Jake said. "You managed to have a loving daughter while still chasing power. You can take your breaks to comprehend Laws and return while nothing has changed."

Instead of appreciating the sentiment, Yersi felt sad. She knew exactly why Jake envied Gravis.

How powerful was Jake? How long had Jake lived? How long would one Law Comprehension session of his take?

To put this into perspective, Jake planned to dedicate himself to a 10,000 year long Law Comprehension session as soon as he had worked enough. This would be five times as long as Yersi had already been alive.

This was like a 20-year-old meeting their love for the first time. Then, that love would leave for 100 years until they would return. How long would that feel? Their love would have been gone for far longer than the person had been alive for.

Because of this, Jake made the decision to extend his shift for another 10,000 years. Only when they had been together for 10,000 years could he feel comfortable enough to leave for 10,000 years.

Yersi was keeping Jake away from his cultivation, and she felt guilty for that.

Jake wanted to become more powerful, but he had to put his goal on hold because of Yersi.

Additionally, what about after that? Yersi was probably not powerful enough to survive her first tribulation, which meant that she would die in about 48,000 years. If Jake wanted to continue cultivating while still keeping in contact with Yersi, he would probably cultivate for around 20,000 of the 48,000 years. This meant that Yersi would only see him for around 50% of her life.

What about completely abandoning cultivation until Yersi was gone? Then, Jake would have lost an entire 25% of his longevity. After 50,000 years of peace, would he even find the strength to risk his life again?

Jake loved Yersi, but this love also hurt him. He wanted to become more powerful, but he couldn’t accept leaving her for this long. Yet, cultivating in shorter bursts wouldn’t be nearly as effective as concentrating fully on the Law. It would be a waste of time and money.

Yersi decided to tell her father about Jake’s worries. Yersi and Jake had talked a lot about this topic. Jake always said it was not such a big deal, but Yersi knew that he was only saying this to reassure her. Yersi knew precisely how important cultivation was to Jake.

In the past, Jake had had a family already, but it had ended in tragedy. Back then, he had vowed to never create a new family again until he achieved true power. This had continued for over 100,000 years.

Then, he met Yersi, and he immediately felt like she was the one. He also felt like he must not let this opportunity slip away from him, or he would never get this opportunity again.

Jake and Yersi leaned against each other. Jake spoke slowly and quietly with some humor in-between to disguise his pain, while Yersi had some tears in her eyes from time to time. She knew that Jake was only hiding his actual pain and regret.

Gravis listened to all their worries and looked to the side. Yet, he didn’t look to the side with an expression of pain.

He had an expression of pure rage in his eyes.

"Highest Heaven," Gravis said with gritted teeth.

Yersi and Jake were surprised by Gravis’ rage. "What do you mean?" Yersi asked.

"This is the highest Heaven’s doing," Gravis said as he looked back at them. "You said you wanted to stop cultivating. You were fine with being an Immortal. Yet, what would that mean for me? It would mean that there was a chance that you would already be dead when I return. I don’t know how long I will stay in the higher worlds, but it might be several times my normal longevity."

"I know this, but I still decided to go through with this. Yet, while doing so, I will lose you. I accepted that since this was your own life, and I want you to be happy. However, when you die, there would be one less person to use against me in the future."

"Then, just a short time after you decided to stop cultivating, you just so happen to meet a perfectly compatible life partner that swore to never have a family again. Yet, after over 100,000 years and seeing billions upon billions of beings, this one person just immediately fell in love with you and broke their oath."

"Staying with you means pain, but that person still decides to stay with you. Giving you pain might not motivate you to continue cultivating but giving pain to the most loved person in your life will."

"Heaven is doing this so that you will decide to continue cultivating because as long as you become stronger, your longevity will increase, and the more your longevity increases, the happier you two will become together."

"And it can use you against me in the future."

Jake looked with awkward confusion at Gravis while Yersi also wasn’t sure what she should think about Gravis’ words. She knew that Gravis had beef with the highest Heaven, but this sounded more like a conspiracy. Did Gravis see the highest Heaven’s hand behind every minor setback?

BANG!

Gravis punched the ground, destroying a lot of it. "And the worst thing is that I can’t even be angry at it!" he nearly shouted.

"What am I supposed to be angry about!? Am I supposed to be angry that the highest Heaven brought your one true love to you!? Am I supposed to be angry about that!? I can’t!" Gravis said with aggression.

"It gave you an incredibly sweet reward, free of charge, but then it said that you will get an even sweeter reward if you do something for it. Yet, in the end, it’s not forcing anything on you! If you want, you can keep that sweet reward without doing anything. I can’t get mad at something like that."

"Yet, I am furious!" Gravis shouted.

Yersi felt worried for her father while Jake narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of Yersi.

"Calm down, Gravis," he said with a deep voice. "And just to be clear, are you insinuating that I am manipulating Yersi?" he asked with aggression.

"Of course not!" Gravis shouted back. "You are a victim just like her. You can’t do anything about this. I know that you love her with all your heart. That’s exactly the thing that makes me so angry! Absolutely nothing bad has happened. Not even the highest Heaven has done anything bad."

"Yet, it still feels like I’m being suppressed!"

"Gravis," Jake said with furrowed brows. "You are paranoid. Not everything bad that happens is the fault of Heaven. I know that you have quite a shaky past with Heaven, but that doesn’t mean that everything bad that happens to you happens because of Heaven."

"This is simply how the world is," Jake said. "Sometimes, we simply decide to be together with someone we love, even if we already know that the love might end in tragedy."

"Why? Because we love them, and our time together outweighs the pain of the tragedy," Jake said.

Gravis took a deep breath to calm down. He knew exactly how crazy he sounded right now. No one would believe someone if they said that the overpowering ruler of the world involved themselves into their life this much. This showed an extraordinary delusion of perceived grandness about oneself.

"Forget what I said," Gravis said. "I have handled the situation incorrectly and made it about myself. This is your life, not mine. Not everything revolves around me."

Jake’s eyes sparkled with a hidden gleam of shock, but he didn’t let it show. Then, Jake nodded. "I know it’s painful, but as long as you understand, everything is fine."

Yersi felt torn and wasn’t certain what she should feel right now. She felt like Gravis didn’t mean what he said, but she also knew that Gravis never lied. Because of that, the things that he had just said must be true, right?

"Let me just calm down and finish my comprehension about Core," Gravis said with a superficial, warm tone. "We can talk all we want after that, okay?" he said as he stroked Yersi’s hair.

Yersi’s body shook when she felt Gravis’ touch, and some tears streamed down her face. She looked at Gravis and nodded. "Okay."

Then, Gravis teleported away.

Silence.

While Gravis was flying, he felt his lightning, and it was absolutely furious.

Jake had seen it because of his superior power.

And Yersi had felt it due to her close connection with her father.

Gravis had lied.

Chapter 719 - 719 – Sharing Worries

Gravis got another 200 years added to his Virtualization Array since he was sure that he wasn’t close to comprehending it. The clerk wanted to have some small talk, but Gravis blocked it and left quickly.

Gravis felt guilty.

When was the last time Gravis had lied? That had probably been before his mind had become attuned to lightning. Lying after such a long time felt like a betrayal to Gravis, even if he lied for a good reason.

Gravis entered his room again but didn’t put the Virtualization Array in it immediately. Instead, he only stood in the empty room, staring blankly into space as he was lost in thought.

Gravis wasn’t sure what he should feel since this was a complex situation. He wasn’t even sure what he was actually thinking about. It was more like processing emotions and trying to make sense of what he was feeling.

After around ten minutes, Gravis sighed. "I’m overcomplicating things," he said to himself. "When I can’t make sense of this situation, it’s most likely not as complex as I think."

Gravis made his decision and left his room.

SHING!

Gravis appeared in front of Jake and Yersi again, who were still not certain what they should do.

"Listen, I think I’ve handled the situation incorrectly," Gravis said slowly.

Jake was positively surprised that Gravis returned this quickly. Immortals often took months or even years to think about their decisions, but Gravis returned after only a couple of minutes.

"You don’t need to apologize, father," Yersi said. "I know that you have not been truthful, but I can also understand you. You didn’t want to worry me and betrayed your own principles so that I can feel better."

Gravis sighed again. Hearing his daughter’s words only made him feel even more guilty. "I know, but that was wrong of me," he said as he came closer. "I was treating you like a child, not like an adult. You are over 2,000 years old, and I’m sure that you can handle and understand these kinds of problems."

"I’ve already said that you don’t have to apologize," Yersi said with a quiet voice. "You have done nothing wrong. Most people would lie to protect their loved ones, and I don’t think that there is anything wrong with that."

Yersi looked at Jake. "After getting to know Jake, I know how much we want to protect the ones we love, even if it hurts us. In my opinion, you not being entirely honest to protect me only shows that you care about me."

Gravis went closer and held his daughter close to him. What had he done to deserve such a wonderful daughter? She was so compassionate and understanding of his problems, even though these were problems that shouldn’t involve her. As a parent, it was Gravis’ responsibility to deal with all these problems.

A minute of closeness passed.

Yersi felt her father’s feelings, and she also felt happy that Gravis had been her father. Gravis’ life had not been easy, and she knew that he had to deal with a lot of problems. Yet, even with all these problems, he still found the time to protect her. Gravis had also never belittled her problems in the past.

Well, except for that one time when her two siblings thought that Yersi was going through hell under the Tornado Emperor, but that truly wasn’t anything major. This couldn’t be used as an example.

Gravis slowly stepped away from Yersi and looked at Jake. "Jake, I think it’s time that I tell you more about my life. You have been together with Yersi for a long time and have treated her honestly. You deserve at least this amount of respect from me."

Jake was not an arrogant and unreasonable person. In his opinion, he also didn’t fault Gravis one bit for his lie. After all, Jake also had often said that not cultivating was not a big deal for him to make it easier for Yersi, when in fact, it was a huge deal to him.

"I’m fine with hearing it, Gravis," he said.

The three of them sat down on the shore and looked at the gigantic lake as Gravis started to tell his story.

Yersi had told some things about Gravis’ past to Jake, but not much. After all, it was her father’s decision if he wanted to share his past or not.

The first thing that Gravis said to Jake was the fact that he had zero Karmic Luck. In the past, telling someone about Karmic Luck had been a no-go, but that was because of the individual Heavens. The individual Heavens controlled Karmic Luck, and the lower Heaven didn’t want anyone to know anything about it that it didn’t want them to know.

In the middle world, Karmic Luck had become irrelevant since no one had Karmic Luck.

And in the highest world, every powerful Cultivator knew about Karmic Luck. At some point in their journey, they would be able to unravel the mystery of luck. Because of that, the highest Heaven saw no point in trying to keep it secret.

Jake had already heard that all of the Opposer’s children had this trait. This was nothing new to him.

But when he heard about the actual effects of Karmic Luck and what the lower Heaven had done, the reality set in for him. Thinking that having worse luck than everyone else didn’t sound bad. After all, you only had to be more powerful than everyone else. Then, luck didn’t matter anymore, right?

That might be true to an extent, but Gravis’ "bad luck" in the lower world was not entirely due to his lack of Karmic Luck. The bulk of his problems came from the lower Heaven constantly trying to kill him or stop him from becoming more powerful.

The first huge shock came to Jake when he heard how Gravis had adapted his Spirit to Destruction Lightning. Sure, with Jake’s current Will-Aura, he wouldn’t have any issues dealing with the pain, but to deal with such pain as someone in the Energy Gathering Realm was simply insane. On top of that, this made no sense in regards to any Laws he knew.

Jake knew a ton of Laws due to his Realm and due to his job. One could say that his comprehension of Laws was outstanding, even among Peak Immortal Emperors. Yet, in his mind, it was absolutely impossible to fuse something as destructive as Destruction Lightning with something as fragile as a Spirit.

The next shock came when Gravis said how he had killed the lower Heaven. Jake had never heard about anyone having killed any kind of Heaven before. He hadn’t even known that this was possible.

To the Cultivators in the highest world, Heaven was only a concept, a kind of amalgamation of rules. There seemingly was no intent behind Heaven as it only enforced rules. Almost everyone believed that Heaven wasn’t even sentient, but just the Laws themselves.

When the Opposer revolted, they all felt like he was trying to destroy the world with Heaven always stopping it. To them, it felt like someone was attacking an immovable wall, the debris killing a ton of bystanders. Why would you attack such a passive wall? Because of that, the Opposer was universally hated by everyone, but of course, no one dared to show that hatred.

Yet, the more Jake listened to Gravis, the more he could see a personality in Heaven. The fact that Heaven could become angry when someone didn’t break the rules was the perfect example.

Something without a personality wouldn’t get angry because of some words, but Gravis managed to enrage the lower Heaven with his words and even managed to enrage the middle Heaven with his words. Getting angry at provocations was what living beings did, not dead things.

Jake felt more nervous as he listened to more of Gravis’ story. It was like he had lived in a village on top of a mountain for his entire life, not knowing that the mountain was actually a gigantic, living beast that listened in on everything.

And right now, Jake felt like another village kid was insulting this beast by simply unveiling what it had done in the past.

Gravis noticed that Jake became more nervous and quickly reassured him. Heaven didn’t care. It was a believer of true power, and even if Jake ever became a Heaven’s Magnate, Heaven still wouldn’t care. After all, everyone was under Heaven’s control.

Jake managed to calm down somewhat, but it still felt scary when someone spoke unpleasant things about something much more powerful. This felt no different than if someone insulted the Opposer in front of Jake. This was just unnecessarily putting their life at risk.

The nail in the coffin was Gravis’ showdown with the middle Heaven. The fact that it didn’t immediately kill Gravis and that they talked quite a bit showed the cunning and planning nature of Heaven. This was not a mere concept but an actual living being.

"And that is why I still believe that this is one of Heaven’s schemes," Gravis said. "My most important friends are all still alive while my less important friends died. What’s the chance that the four closest friends I made in the lower world would all reach the higher worlds? This chance is probably one in a trillion. It’s insanely unlikely."

"That is also why I believe that Manuel will also continue cultivating in the future. Heaven won’t allow for his longevity to run out. I don’t know if it truly wants to repay me or if it wants to use everyone as a backup plan. It might even be both," Gravis said.

"Heaven is achieving its goal and is changing and running part of my life without me being able to change it myself. Yet, at the same time, it’s doing it in a way that is only a net positive. It’s like someone coming over and shoving huge amounts of God Stones into your Spirit Space without you being able to stop them."

"Should I become angry with that? I mean, it’s a net positive, so I shouldn’t become angry. Yet, it also feels like I’m losing control over my freedom. This is an insanely effective method of suppression."

Gravis looked over at Yersi. "I know that you don’t want to continue cultivating, and I would really prefer if you didn’t. Simply live your life however you want. Live life however you feel like it."

Gravis sighed. "At least, that’s what I would want to say," he said. "Yet, even if you followed these words perfectly and did exactly that, in the end, you would most likely still return to cultivation. Heaven’s methods are soft beyond belief, and I’ve already noticed a pattern."

"Heaven never forces you to do something, but it changes your environment and perception until you see and believe that the path it wants you to choose is the best one. It will grant you nearly everything you want but will leave exactly one path open to make your life even better, and this last path is the path that Heaven wants you to tread."

"In the end, you will decide to follow Heaven’s path out of your own free will, and you will feel happy while doing so. That’s why I’m so frustrated," Gravis said.

"Because no matter what I do, it feels like I will still follow down its path."

Chapter 720 - 720 – Freedom And Power

"Gravis, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t see the problem," Jake said. "Isn’t being happy the goal of all of us? So what if I have to follow someone else’s orders to become happy? I feel like this is a worthwhile trade. I don’t see it as a form of suppression, but like the guidance of a parent figure."

"Older, more experienced beings know more about the world than us, and when they help us in achieving what makes us happy, what’s the problem with that?" Jake asked.

Yersi was undecided on this issue. Both things seemingly had a good and a bad side.

Gravis sighed. "I know, and that’s a valid opinion. This is not something black and white. Following Heaven isn’t even a detriment for many peoples, while having a better life is a great reward. As I’ve said, it’s a net positive."

"Then why are you so angry about that?" Jake asked. He wasn’t trying to anger Gravis but was genuinely confused. In his mind, he saw no problems with that. Happiness was happiness, right? It didn’t matter where this happiness came from.

"Because happiness is only part of my goal," Gravis said. "My other goal is freedom because if I can’t have freedom, I can’t guarantee the longevity of my happiness. I want to be in control of my life, not someone else. I’m chasing freedom to be free of suppression."

"How are you certain that you need freedom?" Jake asked. "I don’t get your chase for freedom. If you want to be free, you need to be stronger than Heaven, and that’s impossible. Also, are you sure that you even need freedom to reach great power? What if following Heaven is the only way to become powerful?"

Gravis looked at Jake. "Jake, you’re an Immortal Emperor, and you know a lot more about Laws than me, but in regards to these things, I can tell you with absolute certainty that I know something you don’t."

Jake furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"You know what Laws you need to become a Heaven’s Magnate?" Gravis asked.

Jake hesitated a little. Nearly no one knew anything about the Heaven’s Magnates. It was even a general consensus that they actually didn’t exist. No one ever saw them, and no one heard about meeting one for millions of years. One had to remember that Jake hadn’t been involved with the peak powers until he met Yersi.

"The legends say that you need the Law of the True World," Jake said with a bit of uncertainty.

Gravis nodded. "Correct. What categories is the True World comprised of?" Gravis asked.

Jake wasn’t sure since he had never gotten any conclusive info about that topic. These power levels were simply too far away from him. "I think it should be the Dead World and True Life, right?" he asked.

Gravis nodded, "Yes, but you also need the Pure Emotional Laws and the Laws of Perceived Reality," Gravis said.

Jake furrowed his brows. "I get the Emotional Laws, but what do you mean with Perceived Reality?" he asked.

Gravis was a bit surprised when he heard that. Not even Jake knew of the category of Perceived Reality? Gravis was sure that Jake knew some Laws inside of that category. After all, they had once talked about them before.

"We talked about them before. They are the Situational Laws," Gravis said.

"Oh, them," Jake said as he remembered. "You need those to create a True World?" he asked.

Gravis nodded. "The Laws of Perceived Reality are the last step to becoming a Heaven’s Magnate most of the time. As far as I know, there should be five of them, danger, safety, suppression, freedom, and control. Without all five of them, you can’t create the Law of the True World."

Jake scratched the side of his head. "I know of danger, suppression, and control, but I don’t know of the other two. Are you sure that the Law of Freedom even exists? It seems like a very abstract concept."

Whooom!

Gravis summoned his Avatar. "Look at it," Gravis said.

Jake hadn’t seen Gravis’ Avatar before, and when he inspected it, he became shocked. He didn’t recognize this Law at all!

"This is the Law of Freedom?" Jake asked.

Gravis nodded. "This is the High-Tier variant of the Law of Freedom. You also know that I know the Law of the Dead World. Yet, are you not surprised that the Law of the Dead World is not my Avatar?" Gravis asked.

Jake’s eyes widened. Right! Gravis knew the Law of the Dead World! Why wasn’t the Law of the Dead World his Avatar!?

"This shows my dedication to freedom," Gravis said. "This is how important freedom is to me. It’s so important to me that I would rather choose freedom over pure power, and this Avatar also symbolizes the first time I ever managed to escape out of Heaven’s grasp."

"By abandoning the path that Heaven had chosen for me, even if it was the best path, I have managed to taste freedom. That is why I can’t ignore Heaven’s schemes."

Yersi listened in from the side, letting Jake and Gravis talk. She was glad that the two of them could talk about something serious together.

Jake remained silent for a while and sighed. "Then you are simply different from me," he said. "I don’t put as much value in freedom as you, and even if all of this is orchestrated by Heaven, I don’t mind."

Jake pulled Yersi closer to him. "If this is orchestrated by Heaven, I should thank it because it has introduced me to my one true love," he said as he looked at Yersi with a warm smile.

Yersi blushed a little and leaned on Jake’s shoulders. She was also happy to be with Jake.

"That’s alright," Gravis said. "My father told me that his fight is not my fight, and I will tell you that my fight is not your fight. Even if you decide to become faithful worshippers of Heaven, our relationship won’t change."

Yersi felt a slight bit of guilt. It was like she was betraying Gravis’ feelings by even considering to follow Heaven’s path. Yet, she also knew that it was her decision and that she shouldn’t feel guilty.

This was not her fight.

Jake looked Gravis in the eyes and nodded deeply in respect. "Thank you, Gravis," he said. "This means a lot to us."

Gravis smiled weakly at them. "Freedom is freedom, even if it means that everyone close to me does things I don’t like. I want freedom, so it’s just fair that I give everyone else the choice to do what they want."

Yet, when Gravis said that, he got reminded of his lightning. He had just said these grand words, but he was suppressing his lightning at this very moment. Due to that, Gravis felt like he was saying empty words without any meaning behind them.

Gravis kept his problem with his lightning secret since he didn’t want to worry either of the two. This was not something they could help with, and knowing about it would not change anything, except for making them more worried about him.

Sure, if they asked him about it, he would tell them, but he wouldn’t involve them out of his own volition.

Some seconds in silence passed.

"Man," Jake said, "it’s really a shocker that Heaven’s Magnates actually exist. Does that mean that your father is a Heaven’s Magnate, Gravis?"

Gravis furrowed his brows and looked at Jake in confusion. "How did you come to that conclusion?" he asked.

Jake scratched the back of his neck in confusion. "Well, we only ever hear some news about Divine Gods. Even the Sect Leaders of the Peak Sects are Divine Gods. Since no one has heard of any Heaven’s Magnate for millions of years, most people don’t believe that they even exist. Because of that, the world thinks that the Opposer is a mighty Divine God."

"A mighty Divine God?" Gravis asked with furrowed brows. "Does that mean that people also think that the Sect Leaders can fight him?"

Jake scratched his chin as he evaluated the question. "Probably only the most powerful ones, but if several of them band together, most people would think that your father would die."

Gravis became more and more skeptical. "And why would he get away with killing every Star God then?" he asked.

"Because the powerful Divine Gods don’t want to risk their lives," Jake said. "At least, that’s the general consensus."

"Huh," Gravis uttered as he looked at the lake again. "So, even the highest world has a limited horizon. Not everyone knows the power of the world."

"So, is your father a Heaven’s Magnate?" Jake asked.

"There are several Heaven’s Magnates," Gravis said, surprising Jake quite a bit. "I had even met one just a bit more than a thousand years ago. According to how he phrased it, I think there are at least seven, maybe even ten, but they keep themselves out of everything for a reason I don’t want to share right now. I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about these things without permission. After all, it’s personal information."

Jake scratched his chin. "But if there are several, why have they not stopped your father yet? No offense," he said.

"Because my father is not a Heaven’s Magnate," Gravis said. "As far as I know, father is the only being in existence that can fight Heaven, and Heaven is definitely, at least, a Realm higher than a Heaven’s Magnate."

"In front of father and Heaven, there is no difference between an Immortal and a Heaven’s Magnate," Gravis said. "They can squash either of them like bugs."

Jake almost couldn’t believe these things. "Then, why is there only one Opposer?" he asked.

Gravis chuckled a bit. "Isn’t it obvious?" he asked. "Because if there were a second Opposer, Heaven would already be dead."

"And Heaven won’t allow a second Opposer to rise if it is not absolutely certain that they won’t go against it in the future."

Gravis furrowed his brows and looked at the ground.

"And that’s probably also the reason why it’s trying to butter me up as much as possible."