Lightning Is the Only Way

"It worked," Mortis said. "The 100,000 God Stones have bought you six days the last time. We can delay it."

"Great, how do we continue?" Gravis asked while sweat ran down his back. As time progressed, it only became worse.

"We need to test something else," Mortis said. "Become a level two Star God."

Gravis looked with shock at Mortis. "That would eat up over three million God Stones!" Gravis shouted.

"You're really becoming stupider when under pain," Mortis commented in annoyance.

"You try being in my place! It's not easy to focus with fucking Sin Monsters munching on your fucking will!" Gravis shouted.

Mortis didn't react to Gravis' comment. "If you are a level two Star God, the Sin Monsters might need longer to consume the pieces they eat. They are probably consuming a set amount of Energy, which will increase with time."

"Right now, one Sin Monster needs one minute to take another bite. If you are a level two Star God, they might need four minutes to take another bite," Mortis explained.

Gravis immediately understood and took out more God Stones.

This would make the pain less frequent!

Gravis quickly consumed enough God Stones to become a level two Star God. Gravis felt his power increasing, but he couldn't feel happy right now.

As soon as the Sin Monsters took their first bite, they started chewing.

And…

Success!

They took four times as long to take another bite.

Gravis released a sigh of relief.

It was impossible to imagine how much relief Gravis felt at this moment.

The bites were truly terrifying.

Mortis nodded. "Consume another million God Stones for another test. Then, feed the Sin Monsters your remaining God Stones."

Gravis had already realized that it was hard for him to make correct decisions under such pain. His Emotions were on the apathetic side, but that didn't protect him from the pain.

Because of that, Gravis decided to simply listen to Mortis.

Right now, Mortis was the one that had a clearer head.

The first Sin Monster ate the 16 million God Stones in an instant before going back to consuming Gravis.

"We need to do three more tests," Mortis said. "First of all, we need to check if the Sin Monsters allow absolutely no one to help you or if they will only stop the powerful Cultivators. After all, the best way to repay the debt is to accrue more Karmic Luck, and that's basically impossible to do if you can't interact with anyone."

"How should I test that?" Gravis asked.

"Wait here. I'll scout the surroundings," Mortis said.

SHING!

Mortis left, and Gravis was left alone.

Gravis activated his Law of Perceived Reality and tried to keep himself hidden. Until now, Mortis had kept the two of them hidden since every bite Gravis endured shook his concentration violently.

Essentially, every time Gravis received a bite, his domain of Perceived Reality would break down for a second.

Luckily, Gravis was in a very isolated area right now, and no powerful Cultivators passed by.

Some minutes later, Mortis returned and gestured for Gravis to follow.

Gravis and Mortis teleported a couple of times until they were near a Sect.

It was a Sect with a Peak Immortal Emperor as the Sect Master. However, the Sect had an unreal number of disciples, and they all had different Realms.

Mortis disguised Gravis and made himself invisible.

"Interact with a Body Tempering Cultivator. Try to make a trade or something," Mortis said.

Gravis took a deep breath and entered the Sect.

No disciple seemed to react to him. In their minds, Gravis looked like a very normal disciple.

"Hey, you," Gravis shouted as he pointed at a Body Tempering Disciple that just left the exchange hall with a frustrated expression.

"Huh?" the disciple uttered as he turned to Gravis.

In the disciple's mind, Gravis wore the robes of someone in the Spirit Forming Realm, and the disciple immediately became respectful. "This disciple greets Spirit Forming Elder."

Gravis nodded respectfully, trying his best to hide the pain of the bites.

"That Moon-Glowing Anis is something one of my disciple needs. I'm willing to exchange it for this," Gravis said.

WHOOOP!

Gravis simply created an ore that was used for weapons in the Energy Gathering Realm. With all of Gravis' Laws, creating something like this was easier than breathing.

The eyes of the disciple widened in shock.

His mere Moon-Glowing Anis was far less valuable than this piece of ore!

"I can't take advantage of Elder!" the disciple shouted respectfully.

"Nonsense!" Gravis said with a snort. "I need it, and that makes it worth the trade for me. I don't care about this mere piece of ore."

The disciple became exhilarated and quickly chose to trade with Gravis.

When Gravis held the flower in his hand, he looked at the mosquitos on his body.

They didn't react.

Gravis took a deep breath and vanished from the disciple's reality.

The disciple immediately forgot his meeting with Gravis and continued doing whatever he was doing. He only knew that he had a piece of ore. He didn't know why he had it, but it was only natural for him to have it.

The same thing repeated itself many other times with Cultivators of different Realms.

Yet, at some point, things changed.

As soon as an Immortal Elder started to hand Gravis a piece of ore she found, one of the mosquitos looked at her.

Silence.

The Immortal Elder stopped existing.

The entire Energy that comprised her being was canceled out with Death.

Like a mathematical equation equal on both sides, her existence was reduced to zero.

Gravis and Mortis immediately teleported away since their tests were finished.

"So, you can interact with beings below the Immortal Realm. Anything above that, and the Sin Monster gets angry," Mortis said.

Gravis gritted his teeth. "That makes things way harder. I need Star Gods, but I can't even interact with Immortals. That means that I have to become the master of Law Comprehension Cultivators and hope that they can become Star Gods. That's ridiculous!"

"Quantity over quality," Mortis said as he scratched his chin. "We need to test the next thing."

"Transform into lightning. I want to see what happens," Mortis said.

Gravis took a deep breath.

This could severely anger the Sin Monsters, and they might kill him in one attack.

However, if it worked, Gravis could heal himself from their damage.

BZZ!

Gravis transformed into Heavenly Lightning.

The Sin Monsters left Gravis' body and only looked at the Heavenly Lightning in front of him.

Then, when one of them was finished with munching, it simply took a bite out of the lightning and continued chewing.

Gravis transformed back, and the three mosquitos went back on his body.

It had changed nothing, but this was good news!

The tiny holes the mosquitos had created had vanished!

Mortis nodded. "The situation doesn't seem as inescapable now," he commented.

"Last test, Lightning Fork," Mortis said. "If that also works, our best plan can be put into motion."

Gravis nodded.

"Do it like you've done it with the disciples," Mortis added. "Go from weak to strong."

BZZ!

Gravis summoned a Body Tempering body and kept it levitating with his Spirit.

Splash!

"Whoops," Gravis said. "I accidentally used too much force."

The body had been ground into nothing.

"Just try a Unity Realm body then," Mortis said.

"Oh, smart idea!" Gravis said.

BZZZ!

A Unity Realm body appeared, and the Sin Monsters didn't react.

"Try a Law Comprehension body," Mortis said.

BZZZ!

A Law Comprehension body appeared beside Gravis, and nothing happened.

"Wanna try an Immortal body?" Mortis asked.

Gravis gritted his teeth.

"I have to!" Gravis said.

BZZZ!

Gravis created an Immortal body.

As soon as the mosquitos noticed the body, the first mosquito shook.

Plop!

A fourth mosquito came out and hung onto Gravis' clone.

And then…

Hell!

The mosquito bit at Gravis with unreal speed!

It was taking so many bites per second!

The faces of all the Gravises whitened in terror and pain, and the Immortal Gravis immediately exploded.

This avalanche of bites had been the most painful thing Gravis had ever felt in his entire life!

The Gravises all shook in terror and pain.

The fourth mosquito saw that the Gravis had vanished, and it went to Gravis' main body.

Now, there was a fourth Sin Beast on Gravis' body.

However, Gravis couldn't focus on that.

Why?

Because Gravis had just seen his future.

When the mosquitoes multiplied more times, this would be his future.

He would have to endure that until everything was over.

Gravis looked at Mortis with a horrified expression.

"We need to do something!"