Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis had never heard of the bulwark before. By definition, a bulwark was a defensive wall or just a very fortified position. It sounded more like a bulwark would refer to the defensive line, but apparently, it didn't.

"It's a defensive line made out of plants," Ferris answered.

Gravis blinked a couple of times. "I was wondering why I saw so few powerful plants. Are they all in this bulwark?" Gravis asked.

"Most of them, yeah," Ferris answered. "Plants can't really move, which makes it hard for them to survive in most areas. Beasts that fight a plant and feel like they would lose simply run away and the plant can't do anything about it. That makes it hard for plants to get food and become more powerful."

"Then, how did this bulwark form?" Gravis asked.

"Our ancestors created it," Ferris answered with his usual excitement. "We have been fighting the sea beasts for forever, and keeping the defensive lines working takes up a loooot of beasts. So, they decided to create a defensive line with only plants. With that, we can send more beasts to other places."

Gravis nodded. "Makes sense. Where is that bulwark?" he asked.

"At the core of the world," Ferris answered. "A third of our area near the Grand Lake is being protected by the bulwark, with us taking care of the remainder."

"Grand Lake? What's that?" Gravis asked.

Ferris was a bit taken aback. "You don't know what the Grand Lake is? That's weird! Everybody knows," Ferris said.

Gravis sighed. "Just tell me, Ferris," Gravis said helplessly.

"Sure thing," Ferris answered with a smile. "The Grand Lake is the very core of the world. It's about 200,000 kilometers wide, encompassing the entire core of the world."

Gravis furrowed his brows. "I thought us land beasts were more powerful than the sea beasts. How come the most important territory is completely underwater? Shouldn't it be like 75% land and 25% sea?" Gravis asked.

"After you leave the Grand Lake, the land and sea are distributed like that, yes, but it doesn't include the Grand Lake itself," Ferris answered.

"Why don't we simply transform this territory into land if we're more powerful?" Gravis asked.

"The Striders live there," Ferris answered simply. "They like water."

Now, everything made sense. Gravis remembered the imposing and impossibly powerful "cows" he had seen from the Mountain of Pride. In fact, when Gravis looked to the north, he could even see them from here. These Striders were all so powerful that it needed a level five Emperor with a level three Law to kill even one of them, and there were ten!

Gravis was way farther away from the core of the continent than when he had been on the Mountain of Pride. Yet, the Striders were simply too gigantic. This distance only made them appear a bit smaller.

Obviously, if the land beasts tried to do anything to the Grand Lake, a Strider might take offense and simply kill them.

"Do sea beasts live in the Grand Lake?" Gravis asked.

"It's full of them!" Ferris said. "It's their headquarters, and their Ultimates live there as well."

"The Striders don't mind?" Gravis asked.

"Nah, they don't care about any of that. As long as you are not a threat to them, don't touch their water, or don't attack them, they simply ignore you. Theoretically, you could even sit on one of them, but no one has the guts to play with their lives like that," Ferris explained.

'The Striders sound rather passive,' Gravis thought. 'Though, it makes sense. After all, the Striders aren't there to kill beasts but to be killed by beasts. If they were aggressive, it would defeat the entire purpose.'

"The bulwark must be powerful if it can defend such a powerful territory, right?" Gravis asked.

"Super powerful," Ferris answered with a frantic nod. "One of our Ultimates is a plant and lives there."

"One of our Ultimates is a plant?" Gravis asked in shock.

"Yeah, but since the plants are on our side, that Ultimate counts as one of ours. The Bulwark is her Empire!" Ferris said.

'Her? Plants have genders?' Gravis thought. 'Maybe they assign themselves genders as soon as they become Lords or something like that? I don't know. I know nearly nothing about plants.'

"Speaking of, how do plants even learn Laws?" Gravis asked. If the Plant Empress was an Ultimate, it meant that she didn't know a level three Law yet. Did plants also need to comprehend Laws?

"They kinda do, and kinda don't," Ferris asked with an uncertain voice as he scratched his ear again.

"Could you elaborate?" Gravis asked.

"Well," Ferris said, "plants don't go out and comprehend Laws. They kinda learn their Laws automatically with age and enough nutrition. It comes automatically."

"That's interesting," Gravis said as he scratched his chin. "How long has the Plant Empress lived to become so powerful?" he asked.

"Like 50,000 years or so," Ferris answered.

Gravis' eyes widened. "But Emperors only have a longevity of 10,000 years!" Gravis said in shock.

Now, it was time for Ferris to become shocked. "We do!? I didn't know that!" he exclaimed.

What beast could possibly live to be 10,000 years old in a Natural World? Because of that, nearly no beasts knew how long the longevity of Emperors was. Gravis only knew it because Orpheus had told him.

"Is the Plant Empress truly so old?" Gravis asked.

Ferris forgot his thoughts about his own longevity as he got distracted by Gravis' question. "Yeah, but don't phrase it like that. The Empress doesn't like it if you call her old."

"But she is literally the oldest thing in the world!" Gravis said. "How is she not old!?"

"She is, but she doesn't like hearing it," Ferris said. "You should be careful with your words when we get to the bulwark."

Gravis groaned at the situation. This made no sense. The oldest being in the world didn't like to be called old. "Sure thing, Ferris," Gravis said helplessly.

"Great!" Ferris said with excitement. "Let's first return to the Icy Pride Empire. The bulwark doesn't count as our Law Comprehension Area, so we should ask the Empress first."

Gravis smiled, but not for the reason one thought. Gravis smiled because of Ferris. Ferris had comprehended a level two and a level three Law in the last four years. This meant that his actual power was probably even higher than the Grand Elder's power. He would even be able to fight with the Empress.

Yet, it didn't even cross Ferris' mind to become arrogant or aggressive towards either of them. He simply accepted that he should ask the Empress first. This showed a lot about Ferris' personality.

"Sure thing," Gravis said. "Let's go!"

And with that, Gravis said goodbye to the Law Comprehension Area he had been in for the past four years. He learned a lot about materials here and also managed to uncover the categorization for a powerful level four Law.

This was the first Law Comprehension Area where Gravis actually had fully focused on understanding more Laws. Back in the Law Comprehension Area for Punishment Lightning, Gravis hadn't focused on Laws at all. He had been busy strengthening his Will-Aura.

Yet, this was only the first of Gravis' stops.

Next stop: the bulwark!