Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis sighed and readied himself. He hadn't expected for one of his friends to die that quickly, but that had always been a possibility. "Who was it?"

"The one called Lasar," his father said.

Gravis took a deep breath. "How did he die?" he asked.

"Normal tempering," his father answered, "he underestimated the power of the weaker of his two opponents. After killing the stronger one, he had thought that the weaker one was easier to kill. The weaker opponent self-destructed, taking your friend with him."

Gravis looked to the side, at the windows, into the outside. "That was in the middle world, right?" he asked.

"Yes," his father answered, "he met up with that old man that you also consider your friend. That's something, at least."

Gravis took another deep breath. He was no longer running away from his pain. He felt the shock and grief inside him. He also remembered how he had met Lasar and how he had accepted Gravis back into the Lightning Sect.

They both stayed silent for a couple of minutes. Gravis was lost in thought, and the Opposer simply waited for him. Gravis had to deal with these things by himself.

"The others have also already reached the middle world?" Gravis asked after some minutes.

The Opposer nodded. "Every person you consider as a friend is in the middle world now."

Gravis had expected that already. He had been back home for nearly three weeks. With the time dilation, that would be over 50 years for the lower world.

"The lower world is still about the same?" Gravis asked.

"Nothing much changed except that there are many more people going through the tenth Stage of Energy Gathering," his father said.

Gravis had also anticipated that. The changes to the world would be very slow, except for the greater power of the Elemental Sects. With Heaven no longer killing people with a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm, more powerful people would emerge.

Gravis remained silent for some more minutes, just thinking about his friends and the lower world. Over 50 years had passed in the lower world, giving Gravis a feeling of disconnect. The lower world was quickly changing while he had only talked to some people. The worlds were really different.

about that surprise that

surprise?" his

to our conversation?"

his father said. "That's your thing, and you're not in danger inside

things to protect him, and when it wasn't necessary, he wouldn't care. After all, listening to others talking

would go to a Natural World next, but I said that I was more interested in

father nodded and then looked Gravis in the eye. "If you want to continue cultivating, you have to go to a Natural

an eyebrow.

as he pointed to Gravis. "It's too weak and not in

potential by having such a weak body, but what does it have to do with going to a Natural World? I'm sure there are some resources that

centers of power are connected. By strengthening one, you involuntarily strengthen the other ones

and your other centers of power, losing your strongest weapon, or you will need to reach the peak of the Nascent Nourishing Realm. At that point, you could increase your physical

furrowed brows. "Which

physical strength at that point would be very challenging, costly, and time-consuming. There is a very high chance that you wouldn't be able to achieve it before

eyes widened. "It would take that long?" he

Opposer nodded. "I've taken your personality into account. Due to your drive, you have a slight possibility to achieve it before you die. Everyone else wouldn't even have that. On top of that, with the uneven ratio, you wouldn't

is this weapon?"

take away all the surprises. You'll naturally know when you reach that Realm

"Okay," he simply said, "and what does all of this have to do with going to

breeding ground for beasts that will function as tempering for humans later. Therefore, when you enter a Natural World, you won't be able to enter as a

eyebrow. "Then how do I

order to accommodate the rules of the world, your body will

since the bodies of beasts are way more powerful than humans, I would be able to deal

nodded. "Exactly. Humans have the most powerful Energy and Spirit out of all living beings. Before you have reached the Unity Realm, you have tempered your Spirit and lightning to the strongest possible level. Therefore, you need a

have the most powerful Energy and Spirit, while beasts have the most powerful bodies. Having both the advantages without the drawback sounds too good to be true. Heaven probably won't

balance?" his

balance?" Gravis asked back. "Heaven has created living beings like this, so it probably wanted to create some balance. Wouldn't breaking it make it act directly against me? I've