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.

and her eyes widened. "A lot,"

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

"I guess not," she said after a while. Her mind was

would get canceled out, leaving you both with your base strengths. Everything besides your body would be two Stages lower. Yet, with only your body, you would still be able to, at least,

be able to injure my enemy once before

"Wrong. Try to change your goal from not getting injured to not dying. You would be able to stab the enemy's body once, but the counterattack would be swift. Yet, thanks to your Life

as Gravis continued explaining. "Yes, I would," she

you can heal yourself ten times, you can stab your enemy

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

the more Joyce thought about it, the more logical it seemed. The others also started realizing the

sever the connection between her mind and her dantian since it would bisect her." Without noticing, Manuel wasn't looking at Joyce as a weak girl anymore, but

about how he would fight her. Yet, now, he needed to actually plan on how to win. The revelation of this possibility completely changed

to counter them. If you two were to fight, she would need to keep herself as low to the ground as possible. Like this, a horizontal slash would be more difficult for you

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

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

not here! Yes, that way of fighting sounds very

that already the case? One hit to your dantian or head, and

to refute that, but she

her shoulder. "If you want 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 do that, then your dream of reaching the top would only remain a

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

as he shook her shoulder gently. She looked into Gravis' eyes as he looked back. "You have the perfect element to become incredibly

my temperament is defined by my element. I can't change my temperament as easily as

to change the outlook of your temperament, not your temperament itself," Gravis said. "Life Lightning is compassionate, but against an enemy, it isn't compassionate.

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. You can heal injuries without any problem, so what's so bad about receiving them? Wouldn't absorbing the injuries meant for your

absorbed every word coming out of Gravis' mouth. It was like he was opening a new door for her future. Her worries about the future seemed so distant now. Even though she hadn't talked about it, she had been anxious about the time when she would

with her weak element, wouldn't she just be wild

lives alone, why wouldn't she be able

uncertainty, they shone with battle-intent. "You're right!" she shouted. "I need to depend

and able to fend for themselves! Having companions was great, but it was not a necessity. Even without them, a cultivator could still reach the