Lightning Is the Only Way

The group looked with questioning gazes at Gravis. What was he talking about? Someone with Life Lightning wouldn't be able to use their element offensively. This gave them a severe disadvantage over their opponents. Someone like that could be the strongest fighter? How would that even work?

Joyce waved her hands defensively. "No, no, no!" she said quickly. "How would I be able to win against the others? Their elements suppress me, and I would be on the defensive the whole time!"

Gravis smirked while rubbing his chin. "Let me explain," he said. "First of all, why didn't you upgrade your body to the Seed Stage already?"

The group got even more confused as they furrowed their brows. What's it with this stupid, obvious question?

Joyce also furrowed her brows. "Because my own body would hinder my element, and if I wanted to release it, I would probably spend over double the cost. My element would be weakened significantly like this."

Gravis nodded. "Yes, but that is only a disadvantage if you wanted to release it to fight, right?"

"That also counts if I want to heal someone else. If I don't use my Life Lightning to heal others, what would be the point of having it in the first place?" Joyce asked with skepticism.

Gravis wasn't deterred by her question and only chuckled a little. "But can't you still heal yourself?"

Joyce scratched her neck. "I mean, sure. The healing of my own body wouldn't be hindered. I would only need to use more Life Lightning to heal it since a stronger body requires more Life Energy."

Gravis continued smirking. "Right. Now, let's think logically about this. You can probably heal yourself to your peak condition from a near-death state about 20 times, right?"

Joyce nodded.

"With a body at the Seed Stage, you would still be able to heal yourself around ten times, right?"

Joyce nodded again.

"Alright. So, if you fight as you are now, you can probably take down one enemy one Stage above yourself thanks to your Will-Aura, right?" Gravis asked.

Joyce nodded.

"Then, how many enemies at the Seed Stage would you be able to take down with a body at the Seed Stage?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

her eyes widened.

other elements can't increase their body above their current Stage because of their element's detriment, but your case is different. After all, you don't fight with your element, do

thought. "I guess not," she said after a

Stages. Both of your Will-Auras would get canceled out, leaving you both with your base strengths. Everything besides your body would

still in thought. "Yes, but I would only be able to injure my enemy once before I would die

be swift. Yet, thanks to your Life Lightning, you only need to protect your head

excited as Gravis continued explaining. "Yes, I

times, you can stab your enemy ten times, right? Wouldn't that

unreal. Fighting one Stage above herself was already like a dream to someone with Life Lightning. Yet, Gravis

about it, the more logical it seemed. The

mind and her dantian since it would bisect her." Without noticing,

he wouldn't even need to think about how he would fight her. Yet, now, he needed to actually plan on how to win. The revelation of this possibility completely

be able to counter them. If you two were to fight, she would need to keep herself as low to the ground as possible. Like

evade a vertical slash, a cultivator needs to move their body around a meter to the side. But in Joyce's case, she only needs to move a couple of centimeters. As long as it doesn't hit her head or dantian, the connection won't be severed. This also lowers the speed requirement to dodge

but your enemy wasn't even injured. You would have wasted your most powerful attack for basically nothing. Like this, without her even

I'm not here! Yes, that way of fighting sounds very impressive, but one mistake and I would lose my

turned to her with even eyes. "Isn't that already the case? One hit to your dantian

to refute that,

to reach the top, you need to unearth all your potential. You need to get comfortable with injuring yourself to slay the enemy. If you can't even

looking at the floor. Gravis' words hurt her, but she realized that he was right. If she couldn't even beat the people

he looked back. "You have the perfect element to become incredibly powerful, but in order to truly

looked with unsure eyes into Gravis' eyes. "But, my temperament is defined by my element. I can't change my

itself," Gravis said. "Life Lightning is compassionate, but against an enemy, it isn't compassionate. With a more powerful body, you will still be able to heal others,

long as you remain compassionate to yourself, I see no problem. You will still use your Life Lightning to heal, but instead of focusing on healing others, you are focusing on healing yourself.

future. Her worries about the future

weak element, wouldn't she just be wild

lives alone, why wouldn't she

her eyes for a short moment and then reopened them. Yet, instead of uncertainty, they shone with battle-intent. "You're right!" she shouted. "I need to depend on myself! Additionally, if I absorb all the injuries, my close ones won't suffer anymore! I can take the injuries, so why not take

a cultivator should be! Strong and able to fend for themselves! Having companions was great, but it was not a necessity.