Lightning Is the Only Way

"Is this the Secret Name Torture Chamber?" a young man with blue hair asked.

"It says so on the sign, yes," Gravis answered the stupid question.

"I would like to ask for some will-tempering," the young man said. His eyes wandered to the other people in the room.

"AAAAHHH!"

Five other people were impaled on spikes around Gravis, all of them without disguise. Will-tempering didn't need them to spend money to disguise themselves. After all, there was nothing shady going on.

The other five people were also there to temper their wills, and they were having the time of their lives judging by their painful screeches.

"Stop! I don't want to anymore! AAAHH!" one man shouted in pain.

"You paid for 50 years. You get 50 years," Gravis answered absentmindedly.

"No, please! I can't take this anymore! I can't survive 50 years! You can keep the money!" the guy shouted through pain-filled screams.

"You paid for 50 years. You get 50 years," Gravis answered again.

The newest person became a bit nervous when he saw all the people being tortured in the big room. Some of them were even more powerful than him, but they were still shouting with so much pain.

This created a kind of curiosity in the new client. Pain had long since become irrelevant to such powerful people. Pain was already unimportant for Unity Realm Cultivators. Meanwhile, the clients were all Peak Immortal Emperors, at least.

For people this strong, it was basically unimaginable to feel so much pain that they wanted to die. It just felt impossible. They wouldn't even bat an eye if someone skinned them alive.

"What would you suggest for me?" the newest client asked.

"You're a level two Star God with a Will-Aura equivalent to the level two Star God Realm. If you want a one-level increase, the chances of your death are at around 5%, and you would need to survive for 250 years. If you want a two-level increase, you would need to survive for 400 years. The chances of your death would be 30%. Three levels come to 500 years, and chances of your death are at 50%," Gravis explained.

The newest client was surprised. "How come the times get shorter and shorter? Shouldn't each tempering require more time than the previous one?"

"A mortal walking 100 kilometers will find that the last ten kilometers feel equally as hard as the previous 90 kilometers. The mortal carries the exhaustion and stress of the first 90 kilometers with them at the end. The longer you are under the torture, the more stressful it gets," Gravis explained.

"Oh, I see," the man said with a nod. "What can I get for three million God Stones?"

30%. You might think that's not much, but by the end of it, your mind will nearly break, and you will basically lose yourself. You will become a mass of instincts that just want the pain to end. The

heard Gravis' explanation, but he also felt a

the very familiar feeling of

a brush

take the two-level increase," the

and handed it over to the man. "For any procedure with a death rate of above 10%, you need a Vice-Sect Master of your Sect to sign here. It's to protect myself from any enmity with your Sect in

man looked awkwardly at the emblem. "I don't

get an authentication of your aura from the Information Pavilion that says

150,000 God Stones, and I need to

it or leave it," Gravis answered. "Securing my future is more important than the money you bring

The man hesitated.

back later,"

Gravis nodded.

SHING!

The man teleported away.

wouldn't come

Why?

Because he had lied.

told him that he shouldn't go to the torture chambers. In a fight, the man would still have control over his life since he could unleash his strength, but by tempering oneself with the

come into life-threatening danger, which meant that the pain had to be so powerful that one had to actively resist the urge of committing

Battle-Strength became irrelevant.

that point, one would be confronted with

point of going through so much pain? What would power even give them? When they became powerful, they wouldn't need to go through pain, but they could also do that

survival. At that point, one wouldn't only think about themselves, but about the suffering of their loved ones. The thought of their loved ones

been in an irrational state near

only focused on surviving, while Mortis had

his children, and all of his friends, he would have

he had thought about killing himself. The thought was so distant

had been in an irrational state due to

got sick or severely

the ability to instantly kill themselves with a thought,

long process to

single slip-up in one's mindset was

this form of tempering was that his master knew that the client didn't