Lightning Is the Only Way

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

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

Gravis only nodded.

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

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

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

Orpheus' eyes narrowed. "But you need to be careful! You might have gotten a start bonus with your fights, but if you don't keep honing your will-aura, you will lose that advantage. Let me give you a piece of honest advice. Your goal is not to become strong, but to become the strongest. If you want to reach your goal, you need pressure, real pressure. If you just raise your cultivation realm, you will start losing battles with enemies in your realm. And if you start losing battles, you will lose fights over resources, you desperately need."

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

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

express his sincere gratitude. "Thank you, brother Orpheus. I had already noticed that you had given me lots of resources in the form of enemies." Gravis looked deeply into Orpheus' smiling eyes to show his sincerity. "You have given me the best possible starting point. So, when

together. I didn't do this to expect some return from you. I only wanted to help my little brother." Orpheus patted the side

other youngsters didn't know what to do. Forneus

father, and mother. They were all happy for him, even though his mother also showed

in the future had gnawed at him more than he thought. He had suppressed those feelings with ambition and rage, but that only held for so long. Eventually, the constant suppression would've killed his drive, and only emptiness would've remained. He finally realized that he wasn't alone. His whole family was absent of karmic luck, and they were all the same. His feeling of

office clerk. It was a small office made out of stone, and nothing else could be said about it.

he asked, obviously

"Gravis."

full name," the clerk

he even had a last name. How was he supposed to answer that? "I, kind of... don't know?"

clerk furrowed his brows. "What do you mean you don't..." The clerk looked up at Gravis with annoyed eyes. Then, something caught his attention, and he looked at Gravis'

while, he looked back up. "Alright, all done, only one thing left. Which world?" he asked. Then he grinned. "Let me guess. You're going to an elemental world." Gravis only nodded. "Of course, you do. I would do

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

a cold shiver ran down his back. "No, wait!" The clerk stopped and looked at him with confusion. "Please, let me

sighed in relief. 'That was close. If I let luck decide, I wouldn't even

of cultivation methods classified worlds. Worlds, where beasts reigned supreme, were called naturals worlds. Worlds, where people