Lightning Is the Only Way

After some years, Gravis lost himself again.

And after seemingly no time…

BOOOOM!

The Law of Inferno's Efficiency was comprehended!

Gravis could now combine the Law of Inferno's Efficiency with the Laws of Inferno's Heat and Inferno's Decomposition to give his attack more longevity. The Law of Inferno's Efficiency would cancel out the heightened Energy cost of the Law of Inferno's Decomposition. However, that was only for his own Energy. The enemy would still feel the full effect of the Law of Inferno's Decomposition.

This combination was extremely powerful.

These Laws allowed Gravis to attack a vast area with the power of a level five Law. It was still weaker than his Lightning Crescent, but the advantage was that the enemy couldn't evade this attack.

This was just as powerful as Samantha's Domain of Cold back then.

'444 years. I'm becoming faster.'

Gravis answered his questions again and went to the next area.

SHING!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Fire exploded everywhere.

Balls of fire were flying around in the sky, hitting each other and exploding. The Law Comprehension Area was in a massive crater that went thousands of kilometers deep into the earth. Sometimes, new balls of fire would exit the walls made of lava while the lava would flow down.

Over a long period of time, the lava ate a massive hole into the earth, constantly being kept warm from the explosions of fire above it.

Gravis informed the disciples and stopped before the exploding fireballs.

This was the Law Comprehension Area for the Law of Inferno's Explosiveness. Its effect didn't require any explanation.

Gravis didn't come into contact with the balls of fire since he couldn't ignore or absorb them. Coming into contact with them meant that he would use up a ton of their Energy, which might break the equilibrium, destroying the Law Comprehension Area.

So, for the first time, Gravis comprehended the Law at the same place as everyone else.

The disciples looked at Gravis weirdly from time to time.

This was the infamous ogre!

However, after some days, they got used to Gravis and ignored him.

Meanwhile, Gravis lost himself again.

"So, how's it going?" one disciple suddenly asked Gravis.

Gravis opened his eyes, and his fury nearly exploded.

Gravis looked over at the disciple and narrowed his eyes. "Speak to me again, and die," he said threateningly.

The disciple felt like he was close to death.

He only wanted to have some small talk, but Gravis nearly exploded! The disciple didn't dare to say another word and sat down far away from Gravis.

Meanwhile, Gravis went back to being lost again in the Law, which required some time.

After some years, Gravis finally got lost again.

BOOOOM!

And he comprehended the Law of Inferno's Explosiveness!

Gravis stood up and left the Law Comprehension Area.

'523 years,' Gravis thought. 'The fact that I couldn't come close to the Laws and that one interruption cost me several years. Sadly, there's nothing I can do about that.'

Gravis quickly answered his questions again and left for the next Law Comprehension Area.

SHING!

This time, Gravis saw a small ball of fire in front of him, simply hovering in the sky.

This was the Law Comprehension Area for the Law of Inferno's Concentration.

The Law of Inferno's Concentration and the Law of Inferno's Explosiveness worked really well together. The more something was compressed, the greater the explosion. These two Laws were perfect for single-target attacks.

Just like with the last area, Gravis couldn't enter the concentrated ball of Inferno. Not only would this destroy the Law Comprehension Area, but Gravis would also die. The power of that single ball was just far too concentrated.

Gravis sat down near the disciples and comprehended the Law.

This time, no one interrupted him.

BOOOOM!

After seemingly no time, Gravis finished his comprehension.

Gravis immediately left the Law Comprehension Area and checked the time.

'497 years. It's okay, I guess,' Gravis thought.

After that, Gravis answered his questions again.

However, instead of going to the next area, Gravis took a deep breath.

The second set of Element-Specific Battle Laws was done. Seven more to go.

Gravis added the time in his mind. 'I spent something like 2,450 years in comprehension,' Gravis thought. 'That's nearly 60% of the time I had been alive for when I started.'

Gravis looked around his Spirit Space with a complex expression.

'However, it doesn't feel that long. It feels more like 30 years. This is weird.'

Gravis sighed and decided to check his answer. He put all the jade tokens in front of him and compared his answers.

It took some seconds, but Gravis managed to check all his answers.

Then, he laid them down and furrowed his brows.

'It's subtle, but there's a trend,' he thought. 'If I simply compare one sheet of answers to the one before that, I wouldn't be able to see a difference. The answer is seemingly the same, but the wording is slightly different.'

'But when I compare the first one to the last one, I notice the difference. There isn't much difference yet, but that might change in the future.'

One of these questions could be used as a good example of what Gravis meant.

Question: "If someone interrupted you during the Law Comprehension Session, what would you do?"

Answer 1: "Tell them to stop."

Answer 2: "Tell them to leave me alone."

Answer 3: "Tell them to go away."

Answer 4: "Make it very clear that I don't want to be interrupted by anyone."

Answer 5: "Threaten them to reduce the possibility of being disturbed."

If one compared one answer to the one before or after it, one wouldn't see much of a difference.

However, when one compared the first and fifth one, one would see a significant difference.

The first one was a simple request or admonishment, while the last one was an aggressive threat. The first answer showed humanity, compassion, and rationality, while the last one showed aggression and disregard.

Right now, the latest answers were still alright, but Gravis feared what the future might bring.

It was very possible that one of the next five answers might become "Kill them as an example".

Then, even further in the future, the answer might become just "kill them".

At that point, the answer would probably remain the same for the remainder of Gravis' Law Comprehension Session. However, this only meant that Gravis had arrived at rock bottom.

There was a definite trend that Gravis noticed, and he didn't like it one bit. The answers Gravis gave had become colder and colder as more time passed. He feared that, at some point, every question about anything that could count as interrupting his Law Comprehension might be answered with "kill".

Would Gravis still be a human then?

However, the worst part was that Gravis saw no problem with his current conduct. He saw the answers of his past self and somehow felt a feeling of loss. He felt like he was supposed to feel ashamed of his change, but he didn't.

Yet, Gravis knew that his past self would disagree.

Sure, people changed when they became older, but that change might also be negative.

Gravis didn't feel any differently from back then, but that didn't mean anything. If this continued, Gravis might not recognize himself anymore.

Then, in the future, he might become a cold human with no emotions. He would have no other goals but power.

However, Gravis knew that this would be a horrible mistake. If he followed that path, he would forget how to love and laugh.

'Right now, the change is not very great, and I can still reverse it. I feel like I don't need to, but I need to realize that I am on a slippery slope right now. If I don't do anything about it, it might be too late.'

Gravis sighed when he remembered something.

'Additionally, I still hold great attraction towards Stella. Our story definitely isn't over yet, and I want to meet her again in the future.'

'However, if I keep changing like this, she won't recognize me anymore. Then, even if I resolve the issue with my lightning, I will still be unrecognizable.'

'It would be like Joyce and me right now. Joyce has changed significantly and is still attracted to me. However, she has changed so much that I feel no attraction anymore. If I stop being careful, I might land in the same situation as Joyce.'

'So, what to do about it?' Gravis thought.

Gravis remained silent for some seconds as he fell into thought.

'I only came into contact with Laws for the last millennia. I think more contact with humans could help me in remaining a rational human. I should try to find somewhere I can spend some time with others.'

'But where?'

'The Sect Alliance doesn't really work. As soon as I affiliate myself to one Sect too much, comprehending Laws will become difficult since people might view me as part of that Sect. Going to the Core Regions takes too long, and I might create new enmities. I might also attract attention.'

But then, Gravis suddenly realized something.

'Arc!' he thought. 'Or more like, Arc's home! They aren't connected with the world, and I can spend a lot of my time there with them. Maybe I could become some kind of teacher or something? Maybe I can take up a job there?'

Gravis' mind was filled with possibilities. 'The area there seems like a pretty peaceful land, filled with empathy. All the children act like there is no danger. Even the weaker children came up to me without any care back then.'

'Just being among humans should realign my emotions and moral compass.'

Gravis went through a lot of possibilities and plans in his head.

'Like a century or so sounds good. That should be plenty of time to return to my roots. As long as I take a break after every set of elements, it should be fine.'

Gravis smiled and took out Arc's emblem.

'Let's see if he agrees.'

Then, Gravis broke the emblem and vanished.