Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis immediately noticed a beast standing just a couple of meters away from him. He hadn't noticed that beast at all with his Spirit, but he managed to see it just fine.

It was a harmless-looking red hawk. It wasn't even a meter tall and looked like the pet of someone. It simply didn't look dangerous at all. On top of that, Gravis felt no danger and no power radiating from the hawk. Yet, this made him nervous.

Usually, Gravis only wouldn't be able to feel the power of someone else if they were either much weaker than him or way more powerful than him. Sadly, the fact that Gravis hadn't noticed the hawk showed that the second case was true this time.

When Gravis had been back in his homeworld, he had been able to feel the power of someone at the Early Nascent Nourishing Realm. By now, he had risen by one Stage, and his Will-Aura had also become more powerful. Yet, he felt absolutely nothing from this red hawk. This meant that this hawk was, at least, in the Late Nascent Nourishing Realm. That Realm would also be called a level four King in this world.

"Why is someone as powerful as you interested in me?" Gravis asked directly.

The hawk only smirked and gently flew closer to Gravis. "You reacted very quickly and noticed my power. Tell me, how powerful do you think I am?" the hawk asked with interest.

"You're probably a level four or level five King," Gravis said with narrowed eyes.

The hawk was a bit surprised. "Not bad. Yes, I am a level five King. Quite impressive that you can place my power with such accuracy. Tell me, how did you manage that?"

"When I was weaker, I was able to feel the power of a level two King once. By now, I have become more powerful, and I guess that I would be able to feel a level three King too. Yet, I can't feel your power. I don't think that an Emperor would come to this place just for me, so you had to be a level four or five King," Gravis explained.

The hawk laughed a bit. "Impressive, really," it said. "I am the Red King, Leader of the Red Kingdom. The two beasts you just killed were part of my Kingdom," it said.

Gravis had a sinking feeling. He had just killed this hawk's underlings. Would it want revenge? Yet, Gravis realized that it could have saved them if it wanted. Right now, Battle-Strength wouldn't help him to survive.

"You wanted to test me, right?" Gravis asked.

The hawk smirked as it circled him slowly. "Yes," it said. "One of our associated Tribes has received some news from a two-headed snake around two months ago. It said that there is a beast leading a Tribe made up of sea and land beasts."

"Originally, I didn't care about that. Let the weaker Kingdoms deal with that. Yet, I was interested in the news about your Battle-Strength. Apparently, you are able to jump two whole levels. Something like that is only possible for some very rare Divine Beasts."

between you and a wolf. After that, the agent returned to me

Lord that Gravis

constant suppression of her probably annoyed her to no end. She also couldn't be sure

had said something about some Divine

affinity for battle. Additionally, their

powerful, young geniuses. Yet, as soon as they become Emperors, all their advantages would vanish. After all, if their progenitor was an Emperor, they probably

having a shortcut to the Emperor Realm. Of course, there are still a lot of Divine Beasts out there that will never

words and nodded. Then, he looked at it. "I presume

how you define 'right now' and how you define 'kill',"

sighed when he heard that. He had expected that this situation wouldn't resolve itself that easily. The fact

the King. Gravis gritted his teeth in frustration. He had no control over his life right now. This meant that

do you want?" Gravis asked with annoyance. He knew that it wasn't the smartest choice to sound rude,

leisurely flew to a big stone and stood

Gravis only nodded.

You could say that's one of her hobbies. If I bring such beasts to her, I will be rewarded. So, as soon as I heard about you, I grew interested.

teeth again. The Red King was looking at him like he was some slave or commodity, and

didn't know what the reason for their mission

I died?"

hawk laughed a bit. "Then you would have died, but I was

asked. He wasn't even sure if he would win, so how could this hawk, which didn't even know him, be so sure that

means you see a good chance of victory in such fights. So, I wanted to see how powerful you would be under

words. Had he truly grown complacent? He had managed to kill two level four Lords, but he had only wanted to fight one of them. Yet, hadn't

turned to the hawk and slightly bowed. "Thank you. You have made me realize that I have unconsciously grown complacent. I have searched for a beast that was two levels higher than me but have tried to avoid fighting anything more dangerous. I think, deep inside, my fear of losing my life has taken priority over my desire for power. Thank you for showing me this

had pushed Morn, Silva, and Orpheus into an incredibly dangerous fight. Yet, he had avoided fighting such a dangerous fight himself. Gravis felt like

when it saw