Lightning Is the Only Way

'I'm 50 now, huh? 'Gravis thought with a disconnected and surreal feeling. 50 had always seemed kind of old to Gravis, but now that he was 50, he didn't feel that old. However, Gravis also remembered that if he compared his age to his longevity, it could be compared to him only being five years old. For mortal standards, he was old, but for cultivation standards, he was incredibly young.

Nearly no one reached the Unity Realm by going through the Self Stage before the age of 60. The ones able to reach it way sooner were either from higher worlds or were incredibly rare. Additionally, Gravis was about to reach the Nascent Nourishing Realm.

Reaching the Nascent Nourishing Realm in such a short amount of time was also quite outstanding, though not as outstanding as reaching the Unity Realm in his 20s. For humans, there were no bottlenecks between the Unity Realm and Nascent Nourishing Realm. Therefore, humans could also reach that Realm in a short time.

"I've never cultivated in seclusion for so long," Gravis said to the Grand Elder.

"You didn't? How old are you?" the Grand Elder asked with surprise.

"I should have reached the age of 50 recently," Gravis said.

The Grand Elder blinked a couple of times. "That's really young. Not bad, Gravis," he commented. For beasts, reaching the power of a level five Lord in 50 years was really good, but nothing that hadn't been seen before. After all, beasts didn't have any bottlenecks until they became Kings.

"Thanks," Gravis commented. "I'm ready to return to the Empress now."

The Grand Elder nodded. "Give me a minute to inform the others. We will return shortly."

The Grand Elder stopped moving after he said that while Gravis only waited. The Grand Elder was probably informing the present elders about some things.

A minute later, the Grand Elder appeared directly in front of Gravis. Then, he grew until he was just as big as Gravis. "Grab my hand," he said.

Gravis did so, and in an instant, they were already gone from the Law Comprehension Area. Gravis' body hadn't become more powerful, so he still felt the pain of the rapid acceleration.

As they were traveling, Gravis looked at the lightning leaving the Grand Elder's backside and lost himself in thought. He started remembering the pool, but the pool in his mind transformed into lightning in nearly an instant.

The pool had only been a metaphorical picture that Gravis had seen while tempering his Will-Aura. Obviously, he had actually looked at his lightning during all of this. He remembered his years of interacting with his lightning, and he quickly realized that he knew a lot more than before.

For some reason, Gravis started understanding how lightning could be that fast. He saw the movement of the Energy inside the lightning, and understanding appeared inside his mind as he lost himself in watching the Grand Elder's usage of the lightning's Law of Speed.

"Please stop for a second," Gravis said.

Whoom!

The Grand Elder stopped immediately and kept holding Gravis' arm so that he didn't fly off into the distance due to inertia. Some muscles in Gravis' arm tore, but he couldn't pay any attention to that now.

The Grand Elder looked at Gravis with a raised eyebrow while Gravis looked at his right hand.

BZZZ!

Gravis summoned some lightning and looked at it. Then, he remembered the Grand Elder's usage of the Law.

"Oh, I get it," Gravis commented.

"What do you get?" the Grand Elder asked in confusion.

For the first time in a long while, Gravis smiled a heartfelt smile. The Grand Elder was a bit surprised when he saw that since he hadn't really seen Gravis smile like this before.

"Look!" Gravis shouted.

BZZZZ!

Gravis flew into the distance. Yet, lightning came out of his backside, and he moved just as quickly as when he used his Lightning Transformation. Right now, Gravis' speed with his actual body was the same as his speed inside his Lightning Transformation.

Gravis zapped around the place as he tried out this new method of moving as the Grand Elder watched him with widened eyes. "Did you just comprehend the lightning's Law of Speed?" the Grand Elder asked.

Gravis stopped and looked at the Grand Elder with a smile. "I did! Watching lightning has unconsciously increased my knowledge about it. This Law is amazing! I can finally move around that quickly without transforming into lightning!"

The Grand Elder was still taken aback. "It's great that you understood, but why are you so happy about it? I already realized that you have a frightening talent in regards to lightning, but you could have moved this quickly even without understanding this Law."

Gravis only smirked. "Well, I have this saying. Advantages have disadvantages, and disadvantages have advantages. You probably haven't noticed, but I can't just transform into lightning without taking a huge risk."

Now, the Grand Elder grew interested. "Which is?"

Gravis was about to share his life story anyway, so he might as well tell the Grand Elder about his Lightning Transformation. "When I transform into lightning, my foundation becomes fluid…" Gravis explained as he told the Grand Elder how his Lightning Transformation worked.

The Grand Elder was incredibly interested in the Lightning Transformation, and after understanding it, he finally understood why Gravis was so happy. While being in the middle of a fight, transforming into lightning would decrease Gravis' comprehensive strength.

This meant that the Lightning Transformation was only really useful at the beginning of the fight. Yet, as soon as Gravis was in a losing position, his Lightning Transformation would become nearly useless.

In short, the Lightning Transformation only gave him an edge if he already had the edge in the fight. As soon as he lost his advantageous position, the usefulness of the Lightning Transformation would drop drastically.

The true usefulness of weapons only showed itself in a crisis since that was the moment when one needed the weapon the most.

With this new Law, he could make use of the Lightning Transformation's biggest strength without having to transform into lightning. Yet, just as Gravis always said, using this Law had another drawback.

"It wastes quite a bit of my lightning to use it," Gravis said. "My Lightning Transformation doesn't use up any Energy while moving this quickly, but this kind of movement does. I can probably only use it in short bursts in a fight. If I don't, my lightning will drain very quickly."

The Grand Elder nodded. "That's normal. Laws always require the Energy in our bodies to work."

Gravis nodded back. "However, it's still quite an upgrade for my fighting style. Additionally, this new Law allows me to use an ability that hasn't been useful for a long while."

"Oh?" the Grand Elder uttered in interest.

"Look," Gravis said as he landed on the ground.

Then, Gravis readied himself.

BANG! BZZZZ!

The ground below Gravis exploded with lightning as his body shot forward with incredible speed. While he did that, lightning also left his backside. With the combination of the explosion and the Law, Gravis was even faster than inside his Lightning Transformation.

"Impressive," the Grand Elder commented. "That's a lot of speed for your Realm."

This was what Gravis hadn't been able to use for a long time in serious fights. He still remembered how he had managed to accelerate rapidly in the lower world with these explosions. Yet, as soon as he got the Lightning Transformation, this technique had become nearly useless.

Yes, he had used it against the crocodile, but he had only used it because he hadn't unleashed his full power in the first place. In a serious fight, he would have simply transformed into lightning. But now, he could actually use it in serious fights again. His old, lost technique had returned.

Of course, this kind of insane acceleration still ate up over 10% of Gravis' entire lightning reserves. He had to use it sparingly, but that was only a small price for his gains.

BZZZ!

Gravis shot over to the Grand Elder again. "Let's continue," he said.

The Grand Elder nodded and shot off with Gravis in tow.

After some minutes, they arrived on top of the Mountain of Pride, and Gravis saw the Empress again. Just like last time, she still sat on her throne in the same position.

The Empress looked at Gravis. "You have accepted that it's impossible to become a King without going through the mandatory procreation?" she asked directly.

Gravis nodded. "Yes, I have accepted it."

The Empress nodded back as the Grand Elder took up his position beside her.

"Then, fulfill your promise and tell us your circumstances. As long as I'm here, no other beast will be able to eavesdrop on our conversation."

Gravis sighed.

"I didn't come from a lower world, and I'm not a beast," Gravis started as he began to tell his life story.