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?"

for a bit as he fought with his emotions. It was always hard to concede that someone else was right while you were wrong. This always felt

have all the morals, ways, assets, techniques, or whatever else you want. Yet, the end goal is the same for everyone. We all want to become more powerful, and when your way

CRRRR!

They all had the appearances of different beasts, 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

Silva nodded.

enough resources

while some will form teams of

nodded. "That would be true if these spots were permanent. Yet, as soon as someone achieves one of

would have a complex mix of sides. Some will stay away and at the sidelines 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 out of the fight. After all, if they win against the strong factions, the sidelines might get involved and kill them when they are

the strong will never give you a chance, while the weak will first deal with you. By not risking anything, you have already accepted that you will never achieve

statues all moved to the same side. Then, another statue appeared. Yet, this one

ten high-rank Spirit Beasts but no Lord. What would the second camp need to win against the

a complex solution, but that he didn't like the answer.

nodded. "And if there are no external

battle each other until one becomes a Lord,"

destroyed while one of them grew to the same size

first camp would get annihilated while the second camp would have one

Now, if we hadn't sacrificed the beasts to raise a Lord, how

sighed again. "None," he

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

looked with interest at Gravis. "Which is?"

decide who the Lord was going to be. We have only allowed the camp to fight itself until the most powerful beast of the ten became a Lord. Isn't this similar to the earlier scenario

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

rise to power," Gravis said.

not the father of your camp. Your camp is not your offspring that needs your protection. Just like you have decided to

chase their goal, fearing that they would die, they will never be able to achieve their goal. To many, not having the chance of reaching their goal is

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

survival was not his responsibility?