Lightning Is The Only Way

"She's awaiting her tribulation. Have you forgotten?" Manuel asked.

"Oh, right!" Gravis answered.

Gravis remembered that Stella had told him that she would undergo her tribulation soon and that he probably wouldn't be present to witness it since he had expected that the Heaven's Trial would take longer.

Gravis had felt like so much time had passed since then that Stella must have already overcome her tribulation, but surprisingly, not much time had passed.

"The Eternal Fire Sect doesn't want tribulations to take place inside their Sect due to the destruction. Additionally, someone has to enter to attack Stella, which would make the political climate very weird. Lastly, it's good manners to go through one's tribulation outside any Sect. That just makes things easier and fairer."

"Makes sense," Gravis answered with a calm voice.

However, Gravis had already started to feel nervous.

Tribulations and tempering were never easy, and they always came with the possibility of death.

Even if Stella had a theoretical 90% chance of survival, at some point, the 10% would hit.

It only needed a single bad fight to end it all.

Based on Gravis' calculations, he was 1.285 million years old at this point. Stella had reached the Star God Realm when Gravis had been about 295 thousand years old.

It had already been a million years since Stella had become a Star God.

At this moment, Gravis also remembered his own tribulation.

Gravis had become a Star God when he had been 345 thousand years old, which meant that his tribulation would arrive when he reached the age of 1.345 million years of age, which would be in 60,000 years.

Who would Gravis' opponent be?

The gap between the Star God Realm and Ancestral God Realm equaled three levels of power. As far as Gravis knew, he could kill someone five levels above himself with confidence, but he wasn't sure about a six-level difference.

Gravis wasn't sure how powerful Ancestral Gods were, but he knew that they were incredibly powerful. Sure, Gravis already knew five level nine Laws and four level eight Laws, but the opponent would have a level eight Law with the power of a level nine Law.

Gravis had the advantage in Laws but jumping six levels was already beyond ridiculous. If Gravis didn't know so many Laws, he couldn't even attempt such a fight. This advantage in terms of Laws was the basis for the possibility of jumping so many levels in the first place.

Seven Levels?

Gravis doubted it.

Sure, Gravis' Battle-Strength had risen by ridiculous degrees, but he had also grown by five levels.

He had gone from the fourth level of the Star God Realm to the ninth.

Because of that, Gravis was pretty sure that he couldn't fight someone seven levels above himself.

So, who would his opponent be?

Three levels above him would be a level one Ancestral God.

Four levels would be a level two Ancestral God.

Five levels would be a level three Ancestral God.

However, a level four Ancestral God would be two levels stronger than a level three Ancestral God. 

This meant that a level four Ancestral God would be seven levels above Gravis.

This meant that Gravis' opponent could only be someone five levels above himself or seven levels.

Someone five levels above Gravis couldn't possibly fight him just based on Gravis' Will-Aura and his True Laws of Apathy and Control. Even if that opponent had an incredible Battle-Strength, as long as their Will-Aura wasn't far more powerful than their level, they wouldn't be able to move very fast under Gravis' suppression.

Because of that, it had to be a level four Ancestral God.

And Gravis was pretty sure that he couldn't win that fight.

He was in a very awkward spot.

Usually, tempering would never be an issue for normal Cultivators. After all, there were plenty of extremely talented Cultivators on one's level. 

If one were an average level nine Star God, they would fight another average level nine Star God.

If one could jump one level as a level nine Star God, they would fight another level nine Star God that could jump one level.

The same thing was true for someone that could jump two levels.

Three levels? That would be the first time things got awkward. One would need to fight an Ancestral God in that case, but an Ancestral God was already more powerful than every other Star God in terms of Battle-Strength since they already knew a level eight Law.

In a way, even though an Ancestral God was three levels above a level nine Star God, they were in essence four levels above a level nine Star God just based on that extra Law.

However, that was still not overly ridiculous.

One could even say that this bit of awkwardness was good since it would push the absolute geniuses of the world even more and would give them the opportunity to become even more outstanding.

But as soon as one could jump four or five levels, things would become super awkward due to the escalating power of the opponents.

After thinking about all these things, Gravis decided to consult with Mortis, but Mortis had put up the equivalent of a "do not disturb" sign onto his Spirit.

This meant that he was probably with Azure right now.

'I should just become an Ancestral God,' Gravis thought. 'Level one Ancestral God sounds rather fitting. At that point, level six Ancestral Gods would be six levels above myself, and level five Ancestral Gods would be five levels above myself.'

'Even more, my Will-Aura wouldn't be overwhelmingly powerful. I would be able to suppress my opponent by a little bit, but they would also not become completely helpless in front of it.'

'On top of that, my Will-Aura is already at the Peak of the Ancestral God Realm. Since I can push my Law of Freedom only to the power of a level eight Law, I can't rely on it to boost my Will-Aura to the Divine God Realm without becoming an Ancestral God first.'

Gravis scratched his chin. 'However, as a level one Ancestral God, I can only push my Will-Aura to the first level of the Divine God Realm. That isn't that much growth.'

'Should I directly become a level two or level three Ancestral God?'

Gravis looked to the side as he evaluated his options.

'I don't know. Every single increase in levels makes the Battle-Strength of my opponents more powerful. I'm not sure if I could jump six levels as a level three Ancestral God right now.'

'Inability to increase my Will-Aura by much or uncertainty in if I even have a chance of fighting my opponent.'

'Both options suck.'

'The True Law of Freedom would solve the issue, but I can't just comprehend it just because I want to.'

Suddenly, Gravis stopped moving.

'Wait, why not?'

'Why can't I just comprehend it whenever I want?'

'Father managed to do it too, and he didn't even have any sort of will or personality back then.'

The other three had already gone back to strategizing while Gravis glared at the sky.

'You will get comprehended right now!'

'You don't tell me what to do!'

'Fuck you, I do what I want, and I want to comprehend you right now!'

Gravis' conviction gathered, and with all of his being, he believed that he could comprehend the True Law of Freedom.

It was like his Spirit entered the Laws and took ahold of one of them.

Then, it tore that Law out and consumed it.

BOOOOM!

And Gravis comprehended the True Law of Freedom.

Surprisingly, it worked!

Yet, if one knew the Law of Freedom, one would realize that it wasn't actually that strange.

Comprehending the Law of Freedom had always been incredibly weird.

Tearing a Law out of the sea of Laws?

That would never work.

If one wanted to do that, one would need to become a Heaven Breaker first.

Something like this required the power to influence physical reality.

Why would anyone try to tear a Law out of the surroundings to comprehend it?

That was like a mortal trying to kick down a gigantic castle.

It didn't work.

It was an act in futility.

However, wasn't acquiring freedom just like this?

If one was suppressed beyond help, wouldn't they also believe trying to gain freedom to be an act in futility?

Their masters were so powerful, while they were so weak.

It was hopeless.

This was true freedom.

Even if it was hopeless, one couldn't know the outcome if one tried.

Freedom only came to those who fought for freedom.

If one never fought, one could never gain freedom.

Comprehending the True Law of Freedom appeared very simple, but it was the opposite.

It was literally trying to do something one thought to be impossible, and one had to wholeheartedly believe that they would succeed.

It was different from comprehending all other Laws in existence.

Luckily, Gravis' mindset had a great affinity towards freedom.

After Gravis comprehended the True Law of Freedom, he nodded with a satisfied expression.

'Problem solved!'