Lightning Is the Only Way

Silva's emotions weren't calm anymore. A lot of the things that Gravis had said rung true inside his mind. On top of that, he was also sure that he would try to think of his errors in this hypothetical scenario and what he could have done better. Slowly, he started becoming more open to Gravis' words.

"What can I do to take advantage of my strength?" Silva asked.

Gravis smirked and laughed a bit. "You already did without realizing," he said.

This was not the answer that Silva had expected. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Gravis laughed some more. "You have done something that will help you become stronger that Shira won't ever do," Gravis said as he walked over and now leaned on the statue of Silva. "You've asked for help."

Silva wasn't happy with that sentence. "I asked for guidance, not help," he said.

"That's the thing," Gravis said. "When we refer to help, we don't only refer to the aspect of combat. Guidance is also a form of help. Depending on someone else's strength will be detrimental to you, but asking for guidance is learning, and learning is growing. As long as you fight your battles yourself, this kind of help will only be beneficial to you."

"Tell me," Gravis said. "Is it forbidden for Shira to ask for guidance?"

"No," Silva said.

"Do you think that if she were to ask for guidance, we wouldn't help her?" Gravis asked.

"No. I'm sure that you would answer her questions too," Silva answered.

"Yet, why doesn't she ask for guidance?" Gravis asked.

"Because she is too prideful. Asking for help would feel like she has lost against me," Silva answered.

"And that's her weakness," Gravis answered. "She can grow by asking for guidance, but she doesn't. You could sacrifice some of your assets to kill some of hers, but you don't. These are the weaknesses of both of you."

"Now," Gravis said as he stepped towards the middle of the room. "If it weren't for Shira's pressure, would you have realized these truths? If you weren't backed into a corner, would you have learned all of these things?"

always hard to concede that someone else was right while you were wrong.

whatever else you want. Yet, the end goal

CRRRR!

but they were all the same size. "We all have a few close ones and a countless amount of enemies. There are not infinite resources in this world. Look at these ten statues. Imagine that these statues

Silva nodded.

Yet, there are only enough resources for two of them. What would happen?" Gravis

while some will

if these spots were permanent. Yet, as soon as someone achieves one of these spots, they will ascend to the next world. At

to wait for their chance. Others will form bigger teams and decide on a fixed order of ascension. Some weaker factions will target the one's keeping themselves

take a safe approach. Yet, the strong will never give you a chance, while the weak will first deal

Gravis said as the statues all moved to the same side. Then, another statue appeared. Yet, this one was bigger than all other statues. Another three smaller statues appeared behind

two groups represent Tribes. One group has a Lord and three high-rank Spirit Beasts. The other one has ten high-rank Spirit Beasts but no Lord. What would the

that this was a complex solution, but that he didn't like the answer. "The second camp needs to raise a Lord,"

nodded. "And if there are no

they need to battle each other until one becomes

statues in the second camp were destroyed while one of them grew to the same size as the enemy Lord. "If the Battle-Strength of the ranks were equal, what would be

annihilated while the second camp would have one Spirit Beast

Now, if we hadn't sacrificed the beasts

sighed again. "None,"

of action seems cruel to you, but that's only because

interest at Gravis. "Which is?" he

have only allowed the camp to fight itself until the most powerful beast of the

scenarios. He started understanding why Orthar and Morn liked the concept of the River Tribe that much. It was basically a slightly fairer version

to rise to power," Gravis

camp. Your camp is not your offspring that needs your protection. Just like you have decided to chase supreme power, they

them to chase their goal, fearing that

have restricted their growth. Yet, most of the beasts don't have the intelligence to realize that fact. You don't need to become as cruel and self-serving as Shira, but you need to realize that when they die by their own decision, it's not

camp was his responsibility. Yet, their survival was not his responsibility? To him, it felt contradictory. Yet, what Gravis had told him also