Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis wondered what would happen next. A level three King had obviously been far beyond Orthar's ability to deal with. Right now, Orthar was a level five King, but back then, he had only been a level five Lord.

"The King had assimilated my old Tribe and heard about me. The strategies I had employed interested him, and he caught me alive. He intended to use me as a strategist, and I had no choice in the matter," Orthar explained.

"As soon as I arrived in his Kingdom, I was put under constant supervision. He also didn't allow me to become a King since he knew that I have managed to kill a King as a Lord. Of course, I had already created a new plan by then."

"I gave the King what he wanted and allowed him to win several wars. In just two years, he had become a level four King due to his victories. When I have gained his trust, I sent him against a seemingly weaker enemy that had hidden connections with more powerful Kingdoms. I knew that he wouldn't return alive, so I took ahold of the opportunity."

"By then, I knew why I couldn't become a King. As soon as he left, I put my plan into motion. In these years, I managed to gain quite a following of powerful Kings that were willing to follow me. In their eyes, I would be able to give them endless benefits without being a danger to their lives. Benefits blind beasts to danger."

"Not only beasts," Gravis said with a sigh.

"Possible," Orthar commented. "As soon as the King left, my forces overwhelmed the loyalists. Every King willing to follow me became more powerful due to that fight. Additionally, a harem of mates was waiting for me, which I had prepared for this day."

"Just as predicted, the King didn't return. Instead, a level five King came and assimilated my new Kingdom into his. Of course, this was also part of my calculations. My followers have gotten a taste of the benefits I was able to bring them, which gave me a loyal following inside the new Kingdom."

"My followers kept silent about my power and wisdom, and I joined the Kingdom as a normal Lord. After a year, my children had been born, and I immediately became a King. That was when I gained my most valuable weapon."

"The Law that every King automatically learns?" Gravis asked.

"Correct," Orthar answered. "I comprehended a Law regarding the brain that allowed me to manipulate the emotions of others."

Gravis took a deep breath. Such a Law was devastatingly powerful if Orthar was the one using it.

"After I became a King, I acted very high profile and spread my wisdom everywhere. The more beasts knew about it, the better. Some years later, I gained an even bigger following but didn't keep it secret. The leading King saw my following and my wisdom and decided to make me a Commander of a defensive line, a position that I would normally be too weak for."

"I contacted the land beasts and offered them incredible benefits. These benefits were worth far more than their services as spies were worth, but that was irrelevant. Most of them would die anyway. If one of them came to claim the benefits, I had my followers kill them. If someone with an appropriate power level arrived, I also used them to temper myself."

"In ten years, I managed to create a high number of spies, which gave me intel for any upcoming battlefields. I fought many battles and became a level three King. That was when the leading King became careful about me, but it had already been too late."

"I had been prepared for him and consumed my hidden collection of corpses to become a level four King. Then, I staged a revolt and killed him. With this, I had become the leader of a level five Kingdom."

"At that time, I only needed to keep control over some defensive lines and send some beasts to the Empires. The Empires didn't care who led a Kingdom. They only cared about our services."

"By now, my knowledge had spread over nearly the entire ocean. Even Empires were employing my strategies, and the sea beasts won more battles, and about 50 years later, my plan finally showed results."

"What was your plan?" Gravis asked.

"The reason why I spread my wisdom over as many sea beasts as possible was to gain attention. At some point, an Emperor would want to find the source of this wisdom to gain a reward from an even more powerful Emperor."

"A level two Emperor arrived and took me with him. This was what I wanted. I knew that my wisdom was too precious, which would force any powerful Emperor interested in my wisdom to protect me from enemies that were too powerful. Only when I can guarantee my survival can I think about tempering."

"This Emperor gave me to the Strength Ultimate. I talked to him, and he realized that it was better to kill the land beasts instead of continuing like this. He feared the time when the land beasts found out that we had five Ultimates instead of three. He knew that there was a high likelihood that he would die when that happened."

"In the beginning, with his backing, I met no opposition. My command stretched over the entire sea beast territories. Our victories in battles increased substantially, but we gained less powerful Kings and Emperors. That was when the Light Ultimate got involved and tried to dispose of me."

"The Light Ultimate couldn't kill me directly since my backer's fighting style countered hers, but she employed a great number of Emperors and Kings to assassinate me. I used the Kings to temper myself while I dealt with the Emperors by using other Emperors."

Orthar told his story very directly and without great descriptions, but Gravis could imagine that Orthar probably went through a ton of intense life and death situations. Knowing that someone vastly more powerful than him wanted to kill him probably put him under a considerable amount of stress and pressure.

Yet, Gravis knew Orthar. Orthar probably wanted such a situation to occur to become more powerful. Pressure did wonders for becoming more powerful. Instead of tempering himself against land beasts, Orthar tempered himself against sea beasts. He was using the internal conflict of the sea beast camp to his advantage.

'Isn't that the same thing I did with Shira back in the River Tribe?' Gravis thought with a smile.

"That was how the next 100 years went by," Orthar said. "I had free access to any Law Comprehension Areas, and my tempering came to me out of its own volition. I just had to wait to become an Ascender."

"Then, the Life Ultimate attacked," Orthar said.

Gravis smiled in embarrassment since he had been the one that made the Life Ultimate decide to attack. "I guess that seabass carrying human weapons was your backer?" he asked.

"Correct. I gave him a lot of knowledge about the uses of weapons, and he had noticed that it fit perfectly to his fighting style," Orthar said.

"Sorry for getting your backer killed," Gravis said awkwardly.

"Irrelevant," Orthar said. "It is simply another destroyed tool. The Light Ultimate comprehended a level three Law, and she will leave in 50 years. With my reputation, it won't be hard to regain my status."

"That's good," Gravis commented.

"Tell me your story," Orthar said. "I was sure that when we parted ways, you would die."

Gravis chuckled a bit. Then, he told Orthar his story.