Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis looked at the man. "You seem unconvinced," he commented.

The guy harrumphed again. "No, I believe our teacher," he said, "but I just can't believe that you have thrown away your future in order to make money now."

The other nine kept themselves out of this, though they were on the burly man's side. 

"Elaborate," Gravis said.

"You know exactly what I mean," the man said with a sneer. "To make money, you decided to artificially learn the Law of the Dead World. There is no other way. After all, no Early Minor Circulation Immortal can possibly comprehend such a powerful Law."

Not everyone knew that there were Immortals out there that understood the Law of the Dead World. 

"What makes you so sure?" Gravis asked.

"Stop these meaningless questions," the guy said. "You're only here to make our weapons, not to defend your fragile ego."

Gravis' brows furrowed, and he looked at the teacher. 

The teacher only kept himself out with a smile. 

"Am I allowed to activate my Will-Aura?" Gravis asked the teacher evenly.

"Go ahead. As long as you don't kill or cripple someone, everything goes," the teacher said.

Gravis looked back at the burly man.

Yet, the burly man only laughed a bit. "Seems like your attempt of showing off your power backfired," he said. "You expected that our teacher would say that fighting is forbidden, right? Sadly for you, we are not conflict-averse."

His laughter continued. "On top of that, you decided to threaten me with your Will-Aura? Me? The one with the most powerful Battle-Strength out of everyone present?" he said, but when he saw his teacher's frown, he corrected himself. "Except our teacher, of course."

"I know five level three Laws, rookie," the burly man said. "If you want to have a go, simply say so. I'll gladly accompany you. Otherwise, hurry up and make our weapons."

Suddenly, Gravis relaxed as he looked to the side. 

The burly man saw this as a sign of weakness and spat to the side. "Knew it," he said.

"It has been a while," Gravis said.

"You're still talking?" the burly man said.

Gravis looked back at the burly man. "I have been in a natural world for the past 2,000 years," Gravis said. "This world was full of beasts, and nearly no beasts acted like this. I have completely forgotten that this was a common mindset amongst human Cultivators."

"What?" the burly man said with a sneer. "You're not only someone that threw their future away, but also a grandpa? Who the fuck takes 2,000 years to become an Immortal? Even the slowest among us only took 800 years. 2,000 years," he said as he laughed loudly. "Man, two entire fucking thousand years."

Gravis looked at the burly man, but his face didn't show any ill will.

He only looked at the person with pity.

This was someone that had been blinded by their own accomplishments so much that the thought of someone more superior than them on their level didn't exist. One had to remember that a middle world could only count as a puddle. In comparison, a higher world would be a lake, and the highest world would be an unimaginably vast ocean.

This person had been the most powerful person in his tiny puddle and jumped into the ocean, thinking that he's also the most powerful there. 

When he had initially heard the man's words, Gravis felt a bit annoyed, but the more that man spoke, the more Gravis' annoyance vanished. The reason for that was Gravis' dwindling respect for the man. 

When a stranger insulted someone, it was annoying. Someone might even become a bit angry.

When a friend insulted someone, it was hurtful. 

Yet, when a kid insulted someone, it was meaningless. 

The kid didn't know anything about the world, and the kid's mind had not been fully developed yet. They were talking about things they had no idea about. One couldn't fault such a kid for coming to these conclusions. After all, they were simply kids.

This was how Gravis viewed this person. 

This person had no idea what he was doing.

Gravis sighed as he lamented about the stupid person. Initially, he had planned to teach him a lesson, to show him that there were people far more powerful than him out there.

Yet, Gravis decided against that.

He would do absolutely nothing.

Why?

Because Gravis didn't care about this man. Showing someone that they were wrong was showing them what they could do better. If Gravis "faceslapped" this poor man, he would allow him to see the error in his way.

Yet, why should Gravis give him a chance to better himself?

With such a mindset, this person would not survive the higher world. Gravis could increase the man's chances to survive the higher world by showing him the error in his mindset, but he decided against it.

This person had nothing to do with him.

"Please tell me what kind of weapons you want," Gravis said.

The ten students sneered in arrogance. Sure enough, the forger was only bluffing.

The teacher furrowed his brows. This was not good!

In a different room inside the building, someone else also furrowed his brows.

Then, he sighed. "This is not good," he said to himself. 

This was the Star God that had commissioned Gravis' services.

One of the reasons why he had commissioned Gravis was to show the new Researchers that there were taller mountains behind the horizons. Whenever a new Researcher appeared from the middle worlds, they had a high likelihood of being quite arrogant. After all, they could already see that 90% of Immortals in the city were weak. Additionally, they had just dominated an entire world.

Gravis was supposed to show them what amazing people lived in the highest world. He was supposed to humble them and show them that they needed to work even harder on themselves. 

Yet, Gravis let them play and feel powerful in front of him. 

The Star God sighed again. "Seems like my plan backfired. Instead of curbing their arrogance, they became even more arrogant."

After some seconds, the Star God contacted Gravis. "One million extra Immortal Stones if you show them the error of their ways," he said.

"I apologize," Gravis answered politely, "but I'm a forger, not a teacher. It is not my job to teach your students."

The Star God sighed again. "Okay, excuse me for the inappropriate request," he answered.

"It's okay," Gravis answered.

Meanwhile, in an entirely different office, someone was drinking some coffee as he watched all of this.

"I wonder, does this development have something to do with Gravis' Law of Freedom?" Orpheus mused with a smile. "Lurner had incorporated Gravis into his plan without informing him of it first. If someone were pedantic, they could say that this is a form of suppression."

"And just like this, the carefully laid out plan of a Star God backfired," Orpheus said with a slight chuckle to himself. "I think, by now, Gravis doesn't even consciously go against every form of suppression. His entire being just instinctively fights against anything that encroaches on his freedom."

And with this, the path the day would take had been set. 

Under the students' scornful eyes and the teacher's worried eyes, Gravis created ten perfect World Weapons. The additional three World Cores had been delivered by an Immortal King after Gravis had been halfway done. The rude behavior of the ten of them didn't influence the quality of Gravis' weapons.

It took Gravis around 15 hours to finish all weapons, and the students told Gravis that the weapons were good enough. Gravis didn't really care.

When Gravis was done, the Star God appeared and gave Gravis his payment, 79,000,000 Immortal Stones. 

Gravis thanked the Star God and left the building.

The Star God looked at the students, who were demeaning Gravis, and sighed. Then, he turned to their teacher. "Try to find a way to curb their arrogance," he said.

"I'll try, but it's not easy," the teacher said. "This would have been our best opportunity."

"Just do your best," the Star God said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. Then, he teleported away.

Gravis didn't think more about these kids.

To him, they were dancing fools on the edge of a volcano that was about to erupt. 

If they wanted, they could continue dancing. 

Even if they danced themselves to death.