Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis didn't need long to tell his story. Even though he told it with a lot of details, he hadn't had as many extraordinary things happening to him as Orthar. When Gravis compared his story to Orthar, he felt like his story was boring.

He had only had some fights, some children, and in the remaining time, he had been mostly comprehending Laws. His story didn't have political intrigue or grand plans that spanned over many years. All this excitement of having a long-standing plan succeed was absent from Gravis' story.

"If I had been in your position, I would have long died," Orthar said.

Gravis was a bit surprised when he heard that. "Why? There were no times when I needed to use some grand plan to guarantee my survival, while you had to constantly rely on your planning to survive."

"That's because of your power, Gravis," Orthar said. "You don't need scheming and planning to survive. If I had been in your position, the very first battle after we parted ways would have resulted in my death. All my planning would have become irrelevant and meaningless when two Lords, two levels higher than me, had been ordered by their King to kill me."

Gravis thought about Orthar's words, and he quickly realized that Orthar might be right. Orthar would have died in Gravis' position. "Okay, that might be true," Gravis said, "but I would have also had problems in your position, Orthar."

"I don't think so," Orthar answered, surprising Gravis again.

"But I can't scheme like you due to my closeness to the lightning element," Gravis said.

"That doesn't matter," Orthar said. "You don't need to rely on scheming if you have enough power. If you had met the association in my place, you wouldn't have needed to employ any schemes. You could have just run in and kill all of them and easily become a level five Lord. I hadn't had that power, which was why I had to resort to scheming."

"But what about the Kings that had chased you? Even my power wouldn't have been enough to battle a level three King as a level five Lord," Gravis said.

"Irrelevant," Orthar said. "Just because you don't use schemes doesn't mean that you are dumb. You are smart, Gravis. If I were able to see the approaching danger, you would have also been able to see it coming and act accordingly."

"Don't forget that you managed to survive years while the most powerful being in your lower world wanted to kill you. Scheming only helps marginally against an omniscient being that knows your exact power and whereabouts," Orthar said.

The things that Orthar said made sense to Gravis, but his feelings disagreed. All these things sounded incredible when spoken out loud, but to him, these things only appeared natural. Of course, Gravis tended to believe his head more than his emotions.

a sigh. "Even though my story might not appear as exciting as yours, my path was not

through and what they had learned. Surprisingly, Gravis didn't learn much at all. It was

had never gone through any grand plans of scheming, but

told you all about these plans in detail, Gravis?"

in confusion. "Don't you just want to share your experiences with

Orthar said directly. "Momentary emotional relief isn't conducive to my goal. I had a specific goal in

in uncertainty. "Then, why

that it is all your knowledge that allowed me to reach

said. "You are you, and you learned a lot

this question in seriousness. "Have you learned any new concepts while I told you my experiences?

silent for some seconds. "Honestly, no,"

every beast in this world. Every beast that would hear my story would become shocked and intrigued by the advanced concepts shown to them.

goal in telling you my experiences is to confirm something and then show it to you if it turned out to be

did you find out?" Gravis asked, honestly

were constantly opening a new world to me. Even now, when

a bit uncomfortable

is very powerful in this world. Yet, that is not what I wanted

Gravis said with

have realized the power of the knowledge

but because it was evident that

the true extent," Orthar said. "You need to realize the true effect that your knowledge has on the world. Without you, the Inferno Emperor would still be the Red King. Without you, I would have

comes into contact with you for an extended period of time has their destiny changed significantly, and the most terrifying aspect

was my main reason why I chose you as my guide back then. It wasn't my sole