Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis sat under the waterfall for many hours. Since the Skin-Pills nutrients also allowed him to skip meals, he never left in all that time. Some people arrived in those hours and also tempered their skins. Most of them just sat under the waterfall, and when they saw Gravis taking out a Skin-Pill, they just looked at him in envy. Yet, they didn't do anything.

Unfortunately, even though most of the new arrivals ignored him, the pond's skeleton count had been increased by another two. One guy tried to attack him directly. The other guy offered him some poisoned food. Gravis didn't like deceit or people trying to kill him, so he had no scruples killing the two. Heaven was continually sending him weak enemies, and Gravis was starting to get annoyed.

Finally, after many hours, he had successfully tempered his skin. It had taken so much to get here. He had killed a mid-grade demonic beast, four low-grade demonic beasts, and countless ferocious beasts. He had been hunting non-stop for basically two whole weeks. If his body were like any others, he would only need to kill a few ferocious beasts to temper his skin. That would have been so much easier.

Yet, Gravis also suspected that his skin was probably harder than the average tempered skin. He had taken 20 Skin-Pills, after all. The nutrients had to go somewhere. His skin had probably been tempered to the best possible state. He had begun with tempered organs and blood, which gave him a far sturdier foundation than others. He grew a little excited when he thought about his muscles' power in the future.

Gravis left the waterfall and walked into the forest. The pressure of the entrance exams' deadline for the Elemental Guilds had made him rush around everywhere. Finally, he could relax a little. When no one was around, Gravis took out his saber and slashed his left arm.

CLANK!

a lot of strength, but the saber didn't break the skin. He had used quite some force, and the slash would, at least, draw some blood from people with tempered skin. Yet, his

CRSH!

it was only superficial, like someone scraping their arm on the corner of a table. With some cloth, the little blood could easily be wiped away. A

downsides. With this, someone without tempered muscles wouldn't even be able to break his skin.

he still had around 70 days until the entrance exams. On top of that, he also had

unfamiliar starscape. This was the first time where he could watch the stars in leisure while being in the lower world, and his mind wandered. He had been in the lower world for a little over three weeks, by now. With the time dilation, only around half

cups of his coffee in that time. Forneus wouldn't even have finished a lesson. The contrast between the worlds was immense. When immortals and Gods in his

would sink into oblivion. Maybe even new kinds of beasts would evolve. Mortals would rise to immortality, and immortals may even ascend into Gods. Yet, all this changed nothing in his homeworld. The lower worlds could exist for as long as they wanted. His homeworld

a ferocious beast. There were still all kinds of variety and life in the wilderness. If one looked at the world, as a whole, ferocious beasts were actually very rare.