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?"

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 last piece of rationality in your mind

deep breath as he heard Gravis' explanation, but he also

the very familiar feeling of

a brush with

increase," the man

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 the case that

"I don't really have

that says

discomfort. "That's like 150,000 God Stones, and I need to

Gravis answered. "Securing my future is more important than the money you

The man hesitated.

come back later," he

Gravis nodded.

SHING!

The man teleported away.

come back

Why?

Because he had lied.

and his master had 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

someone beyond the point of rationality. It genuinely required someone to come into life-threatening danger, which meant that the pain had to be so powerful that one had to actively resist the urge

point, Battle-Strength became irrelevant.

that point, one would be confronted with their own personality and

that only lived for power had a very high chance of dying. In their irrational state, they would start questioning their goals. What was the 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 now. They didn't need power for

loving family had the highest chance of 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

state near the end of his adventure

on surviving,

hadn't had Stella, his children, and all of his friends, he would

thing, Gravis couldn't believe that he had thought

Gravis had been in an irrational state due to all the

people, when they got sick or severely stressed out,

instantly kill themselves with a

effort and a long process to commit suicide. Cultivators could just make their bodies

in one's mindset

didn't want him to undergo this form of tempering was that his master knew that